There have been 2 Tritons in the USN Submarine Service
- SS-201
Commissioned at the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
in July, 1940. She was on patrol off of Wake Island on December 7th, 1941.
Triton was the first USN submarine to sink a Japanese vessel by gunfire,
and by September, 1942, Triton had sunk more Japanese tonnage than
all other USN submarines operating out of Pearl Harbor. USS Triton
made six war patrols against the Empire of Japan, sinking 19 Japanese ships
and damaging 7 more before being lost with all hands somewhere in the Pacific
Ocean in March 1943.
- SS(R)N-586
This Triton is world famous for completing the circumnavigation of the
globe completely submerged.From February 16 to May 10, 1960, Triton
covered 41,500 miles, mostly at a steady 21 knots.
Triton's keel was laid on May 29, 1956 at Electric Boat. She was
launched on August 19, 1958 and commissioned on November 10, 1959. Triton
was the last USN submarine to have a conning tower. She was also the last
submarine to have any significant deck superstructure, or casing, twin screws
and a stern torpedo room. She is the only USN submarine to have two reactors. On her maiden voyage she completed her famous around
the world cruise.
Triton was originally designed as a radar picket submarine. She
was to have operated in advance of the fleet, and would dive once she
had spotted an incoming air raid, thus being invulnerable to attack. (The
USN lost many destroyers in WWII which were operating as radar
pickets, being well out from the main body of the fleet, they were vulnerable
to attack, especially by Kamikazes.) This mission was rapidly
superseded because of the development of airborne early warning aircraft.
Her main role obsolete, too big (and noisy), and lacking the sonars
to be an effective attack sub, in 1969 Triton became the first
nuclear submarine to be decomissioned.
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