My Dad's photo of the crew on his submarine, the Blackfish

[marble falls]

1. I was a boomer. My hats off to all pigboat swabbies. See how crowded together they are in the photo ...

... that's about as crowded as they were beneath deck, too. Subs are the only boats where you can vote a man off it if he doesn't fit in.

Bless your WWII vet dad, bless you and thanks for the photo from times when the US military wasn't the plaything of an asshole in DC.

Heres another photo for you:

Blackfish being launched

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The crew of the Blackfish (SS-221) salute the colors as she is sliding down the launching ways at the Electric Boat Co.
The launch of USS Blackfish (SS-221) on 18 April 1942.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History
United States
Builder General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down 1 July 1941[1]
Launched 18 April 1942[1]
Sponsored by Mrs. Henry de F. Mel
Commissioned 22 July 1942[1]
Decommissioned 11 May 1946[1]
In service 5 May 1949 (non-commissioned)
Out of service 19 May 1955 (non-commissioned)
Stricken 1 September 1958[1]
Fate Sold for scrap 4 May 1959[2]
General characteristics
Class and type Gato-class diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced,[2] 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged[2]
Length 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2]
Beam 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2]
Draft 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion

4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators[3][4]
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries[5]
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears[3]
two propellers [3]
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[3]
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged[3]

Speed 21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced,[6] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged[6]
Range 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)[6]
Endurance 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[6] 75 days on patrol
Test depth 300 ft (91 m)[6]
Complement 6 officers, 54 enlisted[6]
Armament

10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
6 forward, 4 aft
24 torpedoes[5]
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun[5]
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Blackfish (SS-221), a Gato-class submarine in commission from 1942 to 1946, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the blackfish. During World War II, she completed five war patrols in the Atlantic Ocean between October 1942 and July 1943 in waters extending from Dakar, Senegal, to the north of Iceland. She supported the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch in November 1942, and is credited with sinking the German vorpostenboot V 408 Haltenbank off the north coast of Spain in February 1943.[7][8]

Later in 1943, Blackfish proceeded to the Southwest Pacific. Between 19 October 1943 and 14 August 1945, she completed seven war patrols in an area including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea. She sank one Japanese cargo ship of 2,087 gross register tons during her Pacific patrols. She completed her twelfth and final war patrol on 14 August 1945.

Decommissioned in 1946, Blackfish later served as a non-commissioned training ship for United States Naval Reserve personnel from 1949 to 1955. She was sold for scrapping in 1959.