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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Mackerel (SS-204)

Radio Call Sign: November - Echo - Sierra - Lima
Mackerel Class Submarine: Laid down, 6 October 1939, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 28 September 1940; Commissioned, USS Mackerel (SS-204), 31 March 1941; Decommissioned, 9 November 1945, at Boston, MA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 28 November 1945; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 24 April 1947, to North American Smelting Co., Philadelphia, PA.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 825 t., Submerged: 1,179 t.; Length 238' 11" ; Beam 21' 8"; Draft 15' 2"; Speed, Surfaced 16 kts, Submerged 9 kts; Complement 4 Officers, 34 Enlisted; Armament, six 21" torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 3"/50 dual purpose deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Propulsion, diesel-electric, four Electric Boat Co. diesel engines, 3,360 hp, Fuel Capacity, 29,000 gals., four Electro Dynamic electric motors, 1,500 hp, Battery cells 120, twin propellers.
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Mackerel 22k Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the launching of the Mackerel (SS-204), 28 September 1940 at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.
 Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Mackerel 61k Mackerel (SS-204) making 16.0 knots while running trials, 22 March 1941.
US Navy photo # 19-N-23871 from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
Mackerel 103k Submarine Commanding Officer sights through a periscope in the submarine's control room, during training exercises at the Submarine Base, New London, Groton, Connecticut, in August 1943. In the background, another officer watches men at the control dials. Photographed by a member of Edward Steichen's unit.
Note: Captain Edward L. Beach commented (during the mid-1980s) that this submarine is not a "Fleet Boat", but is more likely either Mackerel (SS-204) or Marlin (SS-205). He also thought that the officer at the periscope might be John F. Walling, who was lost in April 1945 while commanding Snook (SS-279). 		US Navy photo # 19-N-23871 from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
Mackerel 22k Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Mackerel's (SS-204) first day in commission, 31 March 1941.
Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Mackerel 65k Mackerel (SS-204), port bow, 1941.
 U.S. National Archives # 43-1323a.
Navy Day20k Commemorative postal cover marking Navy Day, 27 October 1941 and the following submarines commissioned since the previous year:
Trout (SS-202),
Tuna (SS-203),
Mackerel (SS-204),
Marlin (SS-205),
Gar (SS-206),
Grampus (SS-207),
Grayback (SS-208),
Grayling (SS-209),
Grenadier (SS-210) &
Gudgeon(SS-211). 		Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Mackerel 78k Mackerel (SS-204) shows her war modifications in this 16 December 1942 photograph: an SJ radar forward of her two periscopes: an SD abaft them; and a 20-mm gun abaft her bridge fairwater. Note the paired radio antennas extending to her bridge.
USN photo. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
Mackerel 107k Mackerel (SS-204), port side view, circa 1940's, most likely underway in the Atlantic Ocean off New London, CT.
 USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org.
Mackerel 120k E.B.'s Mackerel (SS-204) is shown in December 1942. The bridge fairwater was never rebuilt. The periscope shears have been cut away, & a 20-mm gun mounted abaft the bridge. Aft was a 3-in/50 gun. Plans originally called for a 0.50-caliber gun in the bridge position, with another atop the bridge itself. Radars (SJ forward, SD aft) were added. Unlike a contempoary fleet boat, she had direct drive diesels (the auzillary generator was mounted just forward of the starboard engine), & she had no separate maneuvering room or control cubicle (these controls were in the main crew berthing area). The conning tower was a short cylinder, little more than a trunk between control room & bridge.
The objects inside the bridge fairwater, from forward to aft, were the main induction (and the boat's exhaust valve) the boats air supply valve, and the battery exhaust valve, the first two are big mushrooms.
This drawing does not show Mackerel's sonar, originally a JK (probably QB/JK by 1942) that could be lowered from a keel trunk just abaft the well for the antenna (SD) mast.
Although complement was listed as 4 officers & 38 enlisted men, the plans show only 32 enlisted & 4 petty officer berths: 10 enlisted berths in the forward torpedo room, 20 in the crew quarters abaft the control room & galley, & 2 adjacent to officer's berths. The plans do not show any berths in the after torpedo room. The petty officers were accommodated just forward of the officer's berth.
Drawing courtesy of Jim Christley. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
Mackerel 582k Mackerel's (SS-204) crew line the boat's deck during an inspection at New London submarine base, Conn. August 1943.
Regarding the crew, one thing noticeable is that none of them are wearing the Combat Pin. Although it does not appear to be a formal inspection, ie, crew is in ‘undress’ whites, the officers, although in dress khakis, might not have worn the Combat Pin, but with ribbons displayed. The ‘command pin’ on the leading officer is also not present.
One of the differences between the Mackerel & the Marlin (SS-205) is the Marker buoy directly aft of the hatch. On Marlin it is forward to port.
Regarding the lack of combat pins by the crew in this photo; the Mackerel was a training boat the entire war. 		NARA FILE #: 080-G-468153, photographed by Comdr. Edward J. Steichen. Photo # HD-SN-99-02606, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil, Defense Visual Information Center.
Photo I.d. & text courtesy of Jim Christley, David Decrevel, John Hart, John Hummel, David Johnston & Ron Reeves, HTC, USNR (ret.) Photo added 03/30/08.
View the Mackerel (SS-204)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Submarine Art
Through the Looking Glass, A Historic Look at Submarines

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