NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN (ret.)
Gunnel (SS-253)
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| Click On Image For Full Size | Size | Image Description | Source | |
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 | 115k | Commemorative post mark from Gunnel's (SS-253) keel laying ceremony on 21 July 1941, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. | Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). | |
 | 150k | Commemorative post mark from Gunnel's (SS-253) keel laying ceremony on 21 July 1941, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. | USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. | |
 0825313 |
986k | The Gunnel (SS-253) was sponsored by Mrs. Ben Morell, wife of the chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks and of the Civil Engineer Corps. | Photo courtesy of findagrave.com | |
 0825315 |
794k | Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, U.S.N. CEC. Known as "Father of the Seabees" and the only civil engineer to attain the rank of admiral. Photographed circa mid-1945. Note Civil Engineering Corps device on his sleeve. Best known to the American public as the father of the Navy's Seabees, Moreell's life spanned eight decades, two world wars, a great depression and the evolution of the United States as a superpower. He was a distinguished naval officer, an engineer, an industrial giant and a national spokesman. | USN photo 80-G-K-5879 courtesy of history.navy.mil | |
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NR | The launching of the Gunnel (SS-253), pictured going down the ways at New London, Conn. She's eleven months ahead of schedule and on her way to joining America's already-large submarine fleet. | Image and text provided by Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library. Photo from Detroit Evening Times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 19 May 1942, NIGHT EDITION, Image 26, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov. | |
 | 659k | Gunnel (SS-253) going for her first swim after her launching the previous day, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. 17 May 1942. | USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. | |
 | 18k | Commemorative post mark from Gunnel's (SS-253) commissioning, 20 August 1942. | Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory). | |
 | 78k | Two of the 6 subs of from Sub Squadron 50: Barb (SS-220), Blackfish (SS-221), Herring (SS-233), Shad (SS-235), Gunnel (SS-253), and Gurnard (SS-254) tied up at Rosneath, Scotland, circa 7 December 1942. The sub tender Beaver (AS-5) is in the background. | USN photo courtesy of jmlavelle.com. | |
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98k | A 1943 Watercolor by the artist Dwight Clark Shepler entitled "Jerry Hunters, Rosneath, Scotland." portrays the stern view of the sub tender Beaver (AS-5) and 3 of the 6 subs of Sub Squadron 50: Barb (SS-220), Blackfish (SS-221), Herring (SS-233), Shad (SS-235), Gunnel (SS-253), and Gurnard (SS-254). | Painting #87 /
88-199-CK. Courtesy of the USNHC. |
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 | 134k | Gunnel (SS-253) underway off Mare Island, CA., October 1943. | USN photo # 19-N-53972 courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. High Res USN photo # 80G-701334 courtesy of Sean Hert. |
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 | 73k | Bow view of the Gunnel (SS-253) at Mare Island, CA., October 1943. | USN photo # 7411-43, courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. | |
 | 56k | Stern view of the Gunnel (SS-253) at Mare Island, CA., October 1943. | USN photo # 7412-43, courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. | |
 | 141k | Forward plan view of the Gunnel (SS-253) at Mare Island on 31 October 1943. She was in overhaul at the shipyard from 2 August until 31 October 1943. | USN photo # 7417-43, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. | |
 | 87k | Cmdr. John Sidney "Jack" McCain, Jr. commanded the submarine Gunnel (SS-253) at Operation Torch. Like many U.S. subs in the Atlantic, Gunnel was attacked in error by friendly aircraft. The Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesels (known, of course, as "whores") which powered the Gunnel were troublesome; at one point enroute, drive gears of all four of the main engines were out of commission, and McCain had to rely on his tiny auxiliary for the last 1800km (1000nm). Gunnel went into the navy yard for an extensive refit, and was replaced on patrol station off North Africa by Pilly Lent's Haddo (SS-255). After the refit, the Gunnel was transferred to the Pacific. In June 1943, in the East China and Yellow Seas, he sank two ships (confirmed postwar by JANAC): Koyo Maru (6400 tons) and Tokiwa Maru (7000 tons). However, more trouble from the sub's diesels cut the patrol to only eleven days, after which he returned to Pearl Harbor. The Gunnel was the first Pearl Harbor H.O.R. boat to be re-engined and she returned to action off Iwo Jima in December 1943). Alerted by Hypo of carriers on the night of 2-3 December, McCain shot four torpedoes at IJNS Zuiho at a very long range of 5500m (6000yd, 3nm), only to miss as Zuiho zigged; Even though he missed, he was still one of only a handful of U.S. skippers to get such an opportunity. On his final patrol, on 18 March 1944, off Tawi Tawi, the main Japanese fleet anchorage in the Philippines, McCain got an another shot at a carrier, firing from extremely long range (8200m {9000yd}). He missed and was counterattacked, but only with sixteen depth charges. He tried to attack the same carrier over the next four days, but could get no closer than 10km (5.5nm). During the May 1944 U.S. air strike on Surabaya, the Gunnel lay off Tawi Tawi in company with Robert Olsen's Angler (SS-240), but McCain managed no attacks on Japanese ships. He shifted his operations to the coast of Indochina, where on 8 June 1944, he picked up a convoy, escorted by yet another aircraft carrier. He was unable to approach closer than 28km (15nm). Cmdr. John Sidney "Jack" McCain, Jr. was assigned to the submarine Dentuda (SS-335) in late 1944. He had one patrol with the Dentuda, in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Straits, damaging a large freighter and sinking two patrol craft. Targets became more difficult as the war progressed with the amount of tonnage being sent to the bottom of the sea. | USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Text courtesy of arlingtoncemetery.net. |
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 | 98k | Battleflag of the Gunnel (SS-253) at Mare Island on 31 October 1943. | USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. | |
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462k | During her seventh patrol (21 October-28 December 1944) in the South China and Sulu Seas, Gunnel (SS-253) sank the Otori-class torpedo boat IJN Hiyodori. A sister ship, the Kiji is pictured here. | Text via DANFS. Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org |
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 | 43k | Starboard side view of the Gunnel (SS-253) underway at Hunters Point, 4 May 1945. | USN photo courtesy of USNI. | |
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1.01k | Five page PDF history of the Gunnel (SS-253). | USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. | |
 | 140k | Five Atlantic Reserve Fleet subs in mothballs at New London CT., late 1940's: Pompon (SS-267), Gunnel (SS-253), Whale (SS-239), Lapon (SS-260) and unidentified sub. | Text courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired) Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). | |
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365k | This plaque was unveiled 20 March 1995 by His Excellency Major General P.M. Jeffery OA MC, Governor of Western Australia to commemorate the sacrifices made by Allied submarines that operated out of Fremantle, Western Australia during WW II. | Photo courtesy of Ron Reeves (of blessed memory). | |
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