USS Redfin

History
United States
Name	USS Redfin
Namesake	Redfin shiner
Builder	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Laid down	3 September 1942
Launched	4 April 1943
Sponsored by	Mrs. B. B. Wygant
Commissioned	31 August 1943
Decommissioned	1 November 1946
Recommissioned	9 January 1953
Decommissioned	15 May 1967
Stricken	1 July 1970
Fate	Sold for scrap, 31 March 1971
General characteristics
Class and type	diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,525 tons (1,549 t) surfaced; 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged;
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft	17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators; 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries; 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears; two propellers ; 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced; 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged;
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced; 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged;
Range	11,000 NM (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol;
Test depth	300 ft (90 m)
Complement	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 forward, 4 aft; 24 torpedoes; 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun; Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon;

USS Redfin (SS/SSR/AGSS-272), a

Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the redfin, any of several North American fishes

with reddish fins.

Construction and commissioning

Redfin was

Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisconsin; launched on 4 April 1943, sponsored by Mrs. B. B. Wygant; and commissioned

on 31 August 1943.

Fremantle, Australia. On her first war patrol 4 January to 17 February 1944, she encountered an enemy convoy of four ships in the South China Sea 16 January and damaged the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Amatsukaze. From 8 March to 14 March, she patrolled north of Australia to defend against a possible Japanese

attack.

Second war patrol, March – May 1944

On her second war patrol 19 March to 1 May, Redfin sank the 1,900-ton Japanese destroyer Akigumo off Zamboanga, Mindanao, 11 April. During the night of 15 April – 16 April, she sank two Japanese passenger-cargo ships, Shinyu Maru, 4,621 tons, and Yamagata Maru, 3,807 tons. On the night of 22 April – 23 April, she landed four of her crew near Dent Haven, Borneo, to evacuate a British reconnaissance party. Attacked by the Japanese, the landing party returned to Redfin, but the British agents were later evacuated by an Australian officer, and transferred to Harder (SS-257).

Third war patrol, May – July 1944

On her third war patrol, 26 May to 1 July, she landed six

Leyte

on 24 June, she sank the 3,028-ton Japanese passenger-cargo ship Aso Maru, before returning to Fremantle.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth war patrols, August 1944 – September 1945

Departing Fremantle 6 August, she laid a

Palawan Island on 30 August. After lifeguard duty for airstrikes against Balikpapan

, Borneo, she departed Fremantle 26 October, and sank the 15,226-ton Japanese tanker Nichinan Maru No. 2 west of the Philippines 8 November.

Completing her fourth war patrol 7 January 1945, she proceeded to

Kyūshū

, Japan.

Radar picket submarine, 1953–1959

Decommissioned at New London, Conn., 1 November 1946, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in April 1951 for conversion, and was reclassified SSR-272. Recommissioned 9 January 1953, she engaged in radar picket duty for the next 6 years in American coastal waters, off northern Europe, and in the Mediterranean.

Auxiliary research submarine, 1959–1967

In April 1959 she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and received an

inertial guidance system. Redfin became a laboratory and training ship for the testing of inertial guidance systems used in Polaris submarines. She preceded the first ballistic missile submarine George Washington (SSBN-598) as flagship of Submarine Squadron 14

.

After searching for the lost submarine Thresher (SSN-593) in April 1963, she was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-272, on 28 June 1963. Operating in the Atlantic, she continued to assist in special research and development projects, including of the Polaris A-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Decommissioning and disposal

Redfin decommissioned on 15 May 1967 to become a

United States Naval Reserve Training Ship at Baltimore, Maryland. She was struck from the Navy List on 1 July 1970 and sold to the North American Smelting Company of Wilmington, Delaware

, on 3 March 1971 for scrapping.