USS Salmon

USS Salmon has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:

USS Salmon (SSR-573)

USS Salmon (SSR/SS/AGSS-573), a Sailfish-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the salmon, a soft-finned, gamy fish which inhabits the coasts of America and Europe in northern latitudes and ascends rivers for the purpose of spawning.

Salmon was laid down on 10 March 1954 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 25 February 1956 sponsored by Mrs. Albert M. Bontier, widow of Commander A. M. Bontier who was lost when the submarine USS Seawolf (SS-197) was sunk during a war patrol in the South Pacific early in October 1944, and commissioned on 26 August 1956 with Lieutenant Commander Robert R. Hale in command.

Service history

1956–1959

Salmon was the second of a class of two radar picket submarines, which were the largest conventionally-powered submarines in the United States Navy since the Argonaut of 1928. She was equipped with BPS-2 and BPS-3 radars in and aft of the sail. Designed to scout in advance of carrier groups using long-range radar, the Sailfish-class were designed for a high surface speed. However, their speed achieved was only a few knots more than converted World War II radar picket submarines. Salmon conducted her shakedown cruise between 19 February and 10 May 1957, ranging from Newport, Rhode Island, to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She departed Portsmouth for the West Coast in late May, transited the Panama Canal on 3 July; visited Callao, Peru; and proceeded to San Diego, California, arriving on 25 July.

USS Salmon (SS-182)

USS Salmon (SS-182) was the lead ship of her class of submarine. She was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the salmon, a soft-finned, gamy fish which inhabits the coasts of America and Europe in northern latitudes and ascends rivers for the purpose of spawning.

Her keel was laid down on 15 April 1936 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 12 June 1937 sponsored by Miss Hester Laning, daughter of Rear Admiral Harris Laning, Commandant of the 3rd Naval District and New York Navy Yard. The boat was commissioned on 15 March 1938 with Lieutenant M.M. Stephens in command.

1939 – 1941

After shakedown training and trials along the Atlantic coast from the West Indies to Nova Scotia, Salmon joined Submarine Division 15, Squadron 6 of the Submarine Force, U.S. Fleet, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. As flagship of her division, she operated along the Atlantic coast until she relinquished the flag to sister ship Snapper (SS-185) late in 1939 as the division was shifted to the West Coast at San Diego.