>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1976) Vol. 6, pp.217-218.





SABLEFISH





		Sablefish:  A large, dark fish found along North 

America’s Pacific coast from California to Alaska.





SS-303



Displacement:

	Surfaced:  1,526 t.

	Submerged:  2,424 t.

Length:  311’8”

Beam:  27’3”

Draft:  15’3”

Speed:

	Surfaced:  20 k.

	Submerged:  8.75 k.

Complement:  66

Armament:  1 5”; 1 40mm; 2 .50 cal. MG; 10 21” torpedo tubes

Class:  BALAO



	SABLEFISH (SS-303) was laid down on 5 June 1943 by 

Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pa.; launched on 4 

June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. E. W Burrough; and commissioned 

at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 18 December 1945, Comdr. R. 

U. Crane in command.



	Following a shakedown cruise from New London, Conn., to 

Balboa, Canal Zone, the new submarine conducted type 

training in the Panama area until mid-May 1946.  She then 

returned to her home port, New London, and spent the 

remainder of the year supporting ASW exercises off the east 

coast, participating in fleet exercises off Bermuda, and 

making a three week cruise off Greenland.



	Her duty in 1946 established a pattern for her 

operations during much of her subsequent career.  Highlights 

of her service for the next few years were:  testing a new 

type of submarine escape buoy in January 1948, and again in 

September of that year participating in ceremonies at 

Havana, Cuba on 14 February 1948, the 50th anniversary of 

the sinking of battleship, MAINE; conversion to a snorkel 

submarine during the first half of 1951, and a starring role 

in one of Edward R. Murrow's "See-It-Now" television shows.



	On 15 July 1952, the submarine broadened her experience 

by departing New London and sailing to the Mediterranean for 

her first deployment with the 6th Fleet.  After exercises 

with other United States warships and vessels of the navies 

of NATO allies during the rest of the summer, SABLEFISH 

returned to New London in October.  Thereafter, she made six 

more deployments to the Mediterranean.



	When back on her home side of the Atlantic, the 

submarine was busy with exercises which took her as far 

north as Nova Scotia and south to the Caribbean.



	In June 1959, she was one of the Navy's representatives 

at the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and she operated 

in the Great Lakes until mid-August.  A second cruise up the 

St. Lawrence returned her to the Great Lakes in 1961.



	In May 1967, SABLEFISH again headed east across the 

Atlantic; but this time, instead of transiting the Straits 

of Gibraltar for service in the 6th Fleet, she visited ports 

in the British Isles and along the Atlantic coast in France, 

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden.  On her homeward voyage, she 

also touched at Iceland.



	The ship began her last Mediterranean deployment in the 

fall of 1968 and returned to her home port on 1 February 

1969.  On 30 June 1969, while operating out of New London, 

she was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine and 

redesignated AGSS-303.  She was decommissioned there on 1 

November 1969 and struck from the Navy list the same day.  

She was subsequently stripped and sold on 29 July 1971 to 

Union Mineral and Alloys Corp., New York City, N.Y.





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com