View source for USS Shark (SS-174)

{{short description|Submarine of the United States}}
{{other ships|USS Shark}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Shark SS-174 H42075.jpg
|Ship caption=''Shark'', just after launch
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1942}}
|Ship name=USS ''Shark''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[General Dynamics Electric Boat|Electric Boat Company]], [[Groton, Connecticut]]<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates">{{cite book | last = Friedman | first = Norman | title = U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History | publisher = [[United States Naval Institute]] | year = 1995 | location = [[Annapolis, Maryland]] | pages = 285–304 | isbn = 1-55750-263-3 }}</ref>
|Ship laid down=24 October 1933<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship launched=21 May 1935<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=25 January 1936<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship fate=Probably sunk by [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Japanese]] [[destroyer]] {{Ship|Japanese destroyer|Yamakaze|1936|2}} east of [[Manado]], 11 February 1942<ref name="Register">{{cite book | last = Bauer | first = K. Jack |author2=Roberts, Stephen S.  | title = Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants | publisher = Greenwood Press | year = 1991 | location = [[Westport, Connecticut]] | pages = 268–269 | isbn = 0-313-26202-0 }}</ref>
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[United States Porpoise-class submarine|''Porpoise''-class]] [[diesel-electric]] [[submarine]]<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1316|LT|t|abbr=on}} standard, surfaced<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs">''U.S. Submarines Through 1945'' pp. 305–311</ref>
*{{convert|1968|LT|t|abbr=on}} submerged<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship length=*{{convert|287|ft|abbr=on}} ([[Length at the waterline|waterline]]),<ref>Lenton, H. T. ''American Submarines'' (New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.45.</ref>
*{{convert|298|ft|abbr=on}} ([[Length overall|overall]])<ref name="Lenton, p.45">Lenton, p.45.</ref>
|Ship beam={{convert|25|ft|.75|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship draft={{convert|13|ft|9|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="Lenton, p.45"/> 
|Ship propulsion=*(as built) 4 × [[Electro-Motive Diesel|Winton]] Model 16-201A [[V16 engine|16]]-cylinder [[Two-stroke engine|two-cycle]]<ref>Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). ''The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy'' (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.210.</ref> [[diesel engine]]s, {{convert|1300|hp|kW|abbr=on}} each,<ref name="Alden, p.210">Alden, p.210.</ref> driving [[electrical generator]]s through [[Reduction drive|reduction gears]]<ref name="Register"/><ref name="FriedmanSubs1-engines">''U.S. Submarines Through 1945'' pp.261–263</ref>
*2 × 120-cell [[Exide]] VL31B [[battery (electricity)|batteries]]<ref>Alden, p.211.</ref>
*4 × high-speed [[Elliott Company|Elliott]] [[electric motor]]s,<ref>total {{convert|2085|hp|kW|abbr=on}}<!--Alden, p.211, lists them as 1075 hp each, an obvious error.--></ref>
*3 × [[General Motors]] six-cylinder [[Four-stroke engine|four-cycle]] 6-228 auxiliary diesels<ref name="Alden, p.210"/>
*(re-engined 1942) 4 × GM two-cycle Model 12-278A diesels, {{convert|1200|hp|kW|abbr=on}} each<ref name="Alden, p.210"/>
*two shafts <ref name="Register"/>
*{{convert|4300|shp|kW|abbr=on|lk=in}} surfaced<ref name="Register"/>
*{{convert|2085|shp|kW|abbr=on}} submerged<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship speed=*{{convert|19.5|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}} surfaced<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
*{{convert|8.25|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} submerged<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship range=*{{convert|6000|nmi|mi km|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|10|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}}
*{{convert|21000|nmi|mi km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|10|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}} with fuel in the main [[ballast tank]]s<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship endurance=*10&nbsp;hours at {{convert|5|kn|mph km/h|abbr=on}}
*36&nbsp;hours at minimum speed<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship test depth={{convert|250|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship capacity={{convert|85946|-|86675|gal|L|lk=on|abbr=on}}<ref>Alden, p.58; Lenton, p.45, puts it at 347 tons.</ref>
|Ship complement=5 officers, 49 enlisted<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship sensors=
|Ship armament=*6 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|21 inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s (four forward, two aft, 16 [[torpedo]]es)<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
*1 × [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}}]]/50 [[Caliber#Caliber as measurement of length|cal]] [[deck gun]]<ref name="Lenton, p.45"/>
*2 × {{convert|0.30|in|mm|abbr=on}} [[machine gun]]s<ref>Lenton, pp.39 & 45.</ref>
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

{{USS|Shark|SS-174}} was a [[United States Porpoise class submarine|''Porpoise''-class]] [[submarine]], the fifth ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for the [[shark]].

==Construction and commissioning==
''Shark''′s [[keel]] was [[Keel-laying|laid down]] by the [[Electric Boat Company]] in [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Connecticut]], on 24 October 1933. She was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 21 May 1935, [[Ship sponsor|sponsored]] by Miss Ruth Ellen Lonergan, the 12-year-old daughter of [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Augustine Lonergan]] of Connecticut, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 25 January 1936.

==Inter-war period==

===Asiatic Fleet===
Following shakedown in the North [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] and the [[Caribbean Sea]], ''Shark'' transited the [[Panama Canal]] and arrived at [[San Diego, California]] on 4 March 1937. She spent the next year and one-half in training exercises and Army-Navy war problems as a unit of Submarine Squadron 6 ([[SubRon]] 6). Following a regular overhaul at [[Mare Island Navy Yard]], [[Vallejo, California]], ''Shark'' got underway from San Diego on 16 December 1938 bound for [[Pearl Harbor]] and reassignment to SubRon 4.

Following two years of operations in the Hawaii area, ''Shark'' set sail from Pearl Harbor on 3 December 1940 to join the [[United States Asiatic Fleet|Asiatic Fleet]] based at [[Manila]], where she engaged in fleet tactics and exercises until the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. Departing Manila on 9 December 1941, she was at sea during the Japanese bombing raids on Manila the next day. For the next week, ''Shark'' patrolled [[Tayabas Bay]] until ordered back to Manila on 19 December to embark [[Admiral (United States)|Admiral]] [[Thomas C. Hart]], Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, for transportation to [[Soerabaja]], [[Java]].

==World War II==
On 6 January 1942, ''Shark'' was almost hit by a [[torpedo]] from an [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] submarine. A few days later, she was ordered to [[Ambon Island]], where a Japanese invasion was expected. On 27 January, she was directed to join the submarines patrolling in [[Molucca Passage]],<ref>DANFS</ref> then to cover the passage east of [[List of islands of Indonesia|Lifamatola]] and [[Bangka Strait]]. On 2 February 1942, ''Shark'' reported to her base at [[Soerabaja]], [[Java]], that she had been [[depth charge|depth-charged]] {{convert|10|nmi|lk=in}} off Tifore Island and had failed to sink a Japanese ship during a torpedo attack. On 7 February, she reported chasing an empty cargo ship headed northwest, for which the Asiatic Fleet submarine commander, [[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]] [[John E. Wilkes]], upbraided Shane.<ref>Blair, Clay, Jr. ''Silent Victory'' (New York: Bantam, 1976; reprints Lippincott 1975 edition), p.165.</ref> No further messages were received from ''Shark''. On 8 February, she was told to proceed to [[Makassar Strait]] and later was told to report information. Nothing was heard and, on 7 March 1942, ''Shark'' was reported as presumed lost, the victim of unknown causes.<ref>Blair, p.165.</ref> She was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 24 June 1942.

''Shark'' may have been the first U.S. submarine sunk by enemy [[Antisubmarine warfare|antisubmarine forces]]. Post-war, Japanese records showed numerous attacks on unidentified submarines in ''Shark''{{'}}s area at plausible times. At 01:37 on 11 February, for example, the Japanese [[destroyer]] {{Ship|Japanese destroyer|Yamakaze|1936|2}} opened fire with her {{convert|5|in|mm|0|adj=on}} guns and sank a surfaced submarine. ''Yamakaze''′s crew heard voices in the water, but made no attempt to rescue possible survivors.

==Awards==
*{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} [[Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal]] with one [[Service star|battle star]] for [[World War II]] service

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/shark-ss-174-v.html}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-shark-174.htm On Eternal Patrol: USS ''Shark'']

{{coord|1|45|N|127|15|E|display=title}}
{{United States Porpoise class submarine}}
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shark (SS-174)}}
[[Category:United States Porpoise-class submarines]]
[[Category:World War II submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Lost submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Groton, Connecticut]]
[[Category:1935 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Submarines lost with all hands]]
[[Category:Submarines sunk by Japanese warships]]