81 Personal photos from the USS Pampanito

[DaveyJ576]

Originally Posted by ATR-42

lol i knew someone was gonna say that! you got me thinking mush, i love these high res shots, i was able to zoom in on that plaque.

the prop shown is from the USS Darter a Tang class, built in 1953. The prop weighed 2000 pounds. was 7' in diameter.

Gentlemen,

The prop in question is the only surviving major piece of my old boat, the USS Darter (SS-576). When I visited the Pampanito in 2003 I was shocked to see it sitting on the pier. The Darter had been sunk as a target in 1992 and I was unaware that any piece of her still existed. If you look closely the prop has a nick in one of the blades that probably drove our Sonar Techs nuts with the whine it created.

The Darter was a unique boat of her own class. Commissioned in 1956, she was an update of the preceeding Tang class, her major innovation was the introduction of airplane style controls, set against the forward bulkhead of the control room as opposed to the port bulkhead in all previous submarines. This enabled rapid changes in depth to be combined with banking turns, greatly increasing maneuverability. The Darter also incorporated three conventional and reliable Fairbanks-Morse 38ND8 1/8 diesel engines from the very start, the Navy having learned their lesson with the accursed GM 16-338 Pancake diesels in the Tang class. She was supposed to have two sisters, the Grayback (SS-574) and Growler (SS-577), but these boats received major modifications to become Regulus cruise missle submarines.

The original design proved to be a bit cramped, and in 1966 she received a 16 1/2 foot addition between the after battery and the engine room, along with some other upgrades. The Darter provided the USN with outstanding service for 35 1/2 continuous years, currently a record for USN submarines. She was a good boat that is fondly remembered by her crews.

For some good photos, check out the following link:

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08576.htm