Captured by: SiteView
SS-246 is on the National Register of Historic Places and represents the Navy’s “silent service”. One of 77 Gato class submarines constructed, she was part of the most lethal submarine class of WWII. Commissioned in 1944, she celebrated her 75th birthday in 2019. Conducting six war patrols in the pacific theater, she sank 11 Japanese vessels, four of which were capital or military vessels, and seven auxiliary or support vessels.
She is not in her original WWII Configuration, as after WWII she was converted to a “hunter-killer” submarine with added sonar, radar and quieting capabilities to combat the Russian threat during the Cold War. She was decommissioned in 1971 and brought to the Buffalo Naval Park in 1988. Head below to see what it was like to be part of the 80-man crew.
SS-246
Length: 311 feet
Beam: 27 feet
Draft: 17 feet
Displacement: 1,525 tons
Armament: Eight Mk-44 torpedo tubes
Complement: 81 Sailors
