USS Rock

Coordinates: 11°40′N 109°16′E / 11.667°N 109.267°E / 11.667; 109.267
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
USS Rock underway, ca. the 1960s.
History
United States
BuilderManitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin[1]
Laid down23 December 1942[1]
Launched20 June 1943[1]
Sponsored byMrs. B. O. Wells
Commissioned26 October 1943[1]
Decommissioned1 May 1946[1]
Recommissioned12 October 1953[1]
Decommissioned13 September 1969[1]
Stricken13 September 1969[1]
FateSold for scrap, 17 August 1972[1]
General characteristics
Class and type
diesel-electric submarine[3]
Displacement
  • 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced[3]
  • 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged[3]
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[3]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3]
Draft17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced[2]
  • 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged[2]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[2]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged[2]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth300 ft (90 m)[2]
Complement6 officers, 54 enlisted[2]
Armament

USS Rock (SS/SSR/AGSS-274), a

United States East Coast
.

Construction and commissioning

Rock was

laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on 23 December 1942; launched on 20 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. B. O. Wells, and commissioned
on 26 October 1943.

Service history

World War II

After a month of intensive training in

New Orleans on 29 November 1943, and got underway 6 days later for Panama, where she received further training before sailing for Pearl Harbor
on 2 January 1944. Following voyage repairs Rock departed from Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol on 8 February 1944.

First and second war patrols, February–May 1944

On 29 February 1944, Rock contacted a large enemy convoy en route to Truk. Detected by destroyer Asashimo while making a night surface approach on the convoy, she fired a spread of four torpedoes from her stern tubes at the closing enemy destroyer without scoring. Then illuminated by the destroyer's searchlight, and under fire from the surface ship's 5-inch (130 mm) guns, she dived. For 4 hours she underwent depth charge attacks, but survived. That night she surfaced and found that her periscopes were excessively damaged and that her bridge had been riddled with shrapnel. The damage necessitated a return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Later that night, the busy Asashimo sank Trout.

Rock began her second war patrol on 4 April 1944, destination

Sagami Wan area without action, she returned to Majuro where she was refitted by Sperry (AS-12)
.

Third war patrol, June–August 1944

Rock, in company with

coordinated attack group to patrol the Luzon Strait. At dawn on 19 July Rock attacked a Japanese
convoy of seven large ships and three escorts, firing 10 torpedoes, six of which exploded. But, as she immediately dove to escape a depth-charge attack, she could not observe their effect.

Two days later Rock contacted another enemy convoy consisting of six large ships and four escorts. She launched four torpedoes, two of which seemed to hit but, again Rock was forced down by depth charges and unable to assess damage to her targets. During the remainder of her time on station, Rock weathered a severe typhoon and witnessed the sinking of Japanese submarine I-29 by Sawfish. On 27 July she headed toward Pearl Harbor.

Fourth war patrol, September–November 1944

Rock departed Pearl Harbor on 9 September 1944, en route for the

, for refit.

Fifth and sixth war patrols, December 1944–May 1945

On 14 December 1944, Rock departed Fremantle on her fifth patrol. On 12 January 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS English (DD-696) mistook her for a Japanese sailboat while Rock was on the surface in the South China Sea off Japanese-occupied French Indochina and opened gunfire on her at a range of 9,200 yards (8,400 m).[7] Rock crash-dived to 300 feet (91 m) and sustained no damage.[7] The only other event of note during the 64-day patrol was the rescue of a downed pilot from USS Lexington (CV-16).

At the start of her sixth patrol, which lasted from 7 March to 4 May 1945, she picked up 15 merchant seamen from the SS Peter Silvester, adrift in a life raft for 32 days, and landed them at Exmouth. Continuing northward the next day, Rock was bombed by an aircraft and that night she was struck by a dud torpedo. Neither attack caused any critical damage. In a night attack on 27 March, Rock fired on an enemy destroyer escort without success. On 18 April she joined Tigrone in bombarding Batan Island to leave the Japanese radio station in ruins. Rock then turned toward Saipan to complete a 54-day patrol.

From the

gross register tons
of enemy shipping during her six war patrols,

Post-World War II

1945–1946

Rock participated in

Atlantic Reserve Fleet
.

Radar picket submarine (SSR-274), 1953–1959

In early 1951 Rock was towed from New London to the

CIC and the majority of her new electronic equipment. Reclassified SSR-274 on 18 July 1952, Rock recommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
,on 12 October 1953.

After a short period of training with

United States West Coast
. She made six-month deployments to the western Pacific in 1956 and during the winter of 1958–1959.

Auxiliary general submarine (AGSS-274), 1959–1969

By 31 December 1959 there no longer existed an operational requirement for a radar picket submarine in the fleet, and on that date the Air Control Center was decommissioned and Rock was redesignated an "auxiliary general submarine," AGSS-274,. Following operations off the U.S. West Coast and another overhaul, Rock again deployed to the western Pacific in November 1961. She made subsequent six-month deployments to the western Pacific in 1963, 1965, 1966–1967, and 1968.

Operating in the eastern Pacific during the first half of 1969, Rock departed San Diego 11 July and conducted operations in support of fleet training in the Hawaiian operating areas until proceeding on 16 August 1959 to the U.S. West Coast.

Decommissioning and disposal

On 13 September 1969, Rock decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Struck from the Navy List on the same day, she was designated for use as a target to destruction. She was sold for scrap on 17 August 1972

Awards

References

Citations

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ .
  5. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
  6. ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  7. ^ a b Hinman & Campbell, pp. 185–188.
  8. ^ https://goatlocker.org/resources/nav/1650.pdf “OpNavNote 1650 September 2002, Pg. 388”

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

External links

11°40′N 109°16′E / 11.667°N 109.267°E / 11.667; 109.267