USS ''Sturgeon''

By Crusader1307

0ne of the first "Fleet" Submarines commissioned for use by The US Navy in World War II, The USS "Sturgeon" was a "Salmon"-Class Submarine. Designed to provide support to Battleships, "Sturgeon" was a 308-foot long, 25-foot high Submersible which displaced 1,485-tons. Powered by 4 General Motors V16 Diesel Engines and twin Electric Generators, these supplied (2) 120-cell batteries. "Sturgeon" could achieve a surface speed of 31-knots per hour and a submerged speed of 9. She could stay submerged up to 250-feet for 2-days. "Sturgeon" crewed 60 men. Her armament included  (24) 21-inch Torpedoes, arranged in the configuration of (4) Tubes Front and (4) Tubes Rear. She also had (1) .50 Cal Deck Machine Gun and (4) .30 Caliber Deck Machine Guns. Launched in 1938, The USS "Sturgeon" was assigned to The Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1940. She was on patrol off the Philippine Islands during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. The first US Submarine to commence actions against Imperial Japan, a tragic chapter in her history came in 1942. Sinking The Japanese Merchant Ship "Montevideo Maru", she wad unawares that she was carrying 1,100 Australian POWs. Almost all were lost. "Sturgeon" played an important part in The Battle of Truk Lagoon (1944), which broke the final resistance of The Japanese Navy. "Sturgeon" is credited with over 300,000-tons of Japanese Shipping and Warships. Deployed to Boston Harbor (US) in 1945, she was eventually scrapped in 1948.