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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Tambor (SS-198)

Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Golf - November

Tambor Class Submarine: Laid down, 16 January 1939, at Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 20 December 1939; Commissioned, USS Tambor (SS-198), 3 June 1940; Decommissioned, 10 December 1945, at Portsmouth, NH; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; Placed in service and assigned to Naval Reserve Training Center, Detroit, MI., from April 1947 to 1959; Struck from the Naval Register, 1 September 1959; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping. Tambor received 11 battle stars for World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,475 t., Submerged: 2,370 t.; Length 307' 2" ; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 13' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20 kts, Submerged 8 kts; Max. Depth Limit 250'; Complement 5 Officers 54 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 caliber machine guns, two .30 caliber machine guns; Propulsion, diesel-electric, four General Motors diesel engines, 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity 93.993 gal., four General Electric motors, 2,740 hp, Battery Cells, 252, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
13k	The Tambor, or Red Rockfish.	Photo courtesy of mbayaq.org. Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation.
19k	Commemorative postal cover marking the keel laying of the Tambor (SS-198), 16 January 1939, at Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
80k	Miss Lucia Long Ellis, Sponsor for the Tambor (SS-198), breaks a bottle of champagne on the boat's bow. The date was December 20, 1939 at 4:15PM.	Electric Boat Photo courtesy of Ric Hedman. Photo added 04/02/07.
21k	Commemorative postal cover marking the Tambor's (SS-198) launching, 20 December 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
19k	Commemorative postal cover marking the commissioning of the Tambor (SS-198), 3 June 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
16k	Commemorative postal cover marking the Tambor's (SS-198) visit to Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, in September 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
14k	Tambor (SS-198), underway during her shakedown period off the New England coast, circa 1940-41.	US Navy photo courtesy of Hyperwar US Navy in WWII.
19k	Commemorative postal & photo inset of the Tambor (SS-198) 2 Sept 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
46k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Navy Day, 27 October 1940, commemorating the participation of: Sailfish (SS-192), Seadragon (SS-194), Sealion (SS-195), Searaven (SS-196), Seawolf (SS-197), Tambor (SS-198), Tautog (SS-199), Thresher (SS-200), & Triton (SS-201). Note: YN1 Loyal Day was a plankowner of *Sealion* and aboard when she was bombed on Dec 10, 1941.	Courtesy of Ric Hedman.
203k	These U.S. Navy diagrams show how the Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) was to have been used. At left is the pair of own and target dials, showing the target and the submarine. The officer making the approach had to work out the course needed to obtain a given track angle. If the two dials were mentally superimposed (as at center), they showed the angle between the courses of the submarine and the target. For a stern shot, the necessary course angle appeared opposite the angle on the bow corresponding to the desired track angle. For a bow shot, the necessary course angle was read off 180 degrees from the angle on the bow. True (as well as relative) bearings were shown on these dials because they corresponded to directions actually steered. Arrows on the TDC indicated torpedo course and gyro angle, as shown at right (solid arrow for bow tubes, broken arrow for stern tubes). The arrows on the target dial indicated present track angle, the angle at which the torpedo would hit if it were fired at any given moment (i.e., how good a shot was likely to be). Present track angle for a straight shot could be read off the dials by transposing the number on the outer ring opposite the submarine's disengaged axis to the target outer ring, then reading the corresponding inner number. In this example, submarine & target are on converging courses. The Tambor (SS-198-203 class) was the first designed specifically to accommodate the TDC.	Majority text & photo courtesy of U.S. Navy via Terry Lindell as it appeared in the book U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. Partial text courtesy of chinfo.navy.mil.
97k	Tambor (SS-198), off Diamond Head, Hawaii, circa 1943.	USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org.
46k	Tambor (SS-198) was fitted with a 5 in/51 gun. She is shown off San Francisco after a refit, 6 December 1943. Note the double row of additional limber holes.	Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. US Navy photo.
51k	Tambor (SS-198), taken at Mare Island on December 6, 1943. Among the noticeable changes are a reduced bridge silhouette.	USN / USNI photo.
108k	Bow on view of the Tambor (SS-198), off San Francisco on 6 Dec 1943.	US Navy Photo # 8089-43, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
107k	Stern view of the Tambor (SS-198), off San Francisco on 6 Dec 1943.	US Navy Photo # 8090-43, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
119k	Broadside view of the Tambor (SS-198), off San Francisco on 6 Dec 1943.	US Navy Photo # 8092-43, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
88k	Broadside view of Tambor (SS-198), off Mare Island on 23 February 1945.	US Navy Photo # 1381-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.The photo is off a negative from the Vallejo Naval Historic Museum. Photo added 03/31/07.
242k	Aft plan view of Tambor (SS-198), at Mare Island on 24 Feb 1945. She was in overhaul at the yard from 11 Dec 44 until 9 Mar 45.	US Navy Photo # 1398-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
201k	Forward plan view of Tambor (SS-198) at Mare Island on 24 Feb 1945. Shipyard records indicate that Ray (SS-271) and Greenling (SS-213) were berthed immediately aft of *Tambor* and behind these two boats were Cero (SS-225) and Raton (SS-270).	US Navy Photo # 1398-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.