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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


Patch contributed by Harold F. (Carl) Carlson & submitted by Gary Carlson.

Cabrilla (SS-288) (AGSS-288)

Radio Call Sign: November - Whiskey - Xray - Zulu

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 18 August 1942, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME; Launched, 24 December 1942; Commissioned USS Cabrilla (SS-288), 24 May 1943; Decommissioned, 7 August 1946, at the Naval Submarine Base, New London, CT.; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, New London Group; Recommissioned, (date unknown); Redesignated Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS-288), in 1962; Decommissioned, 30 June 1968 and simultaneously struck from the Naval Register. Trans to Subvets WWII Houston, TX 19 October 1968. Returned 21 October 1971. Sold 18 April 1972 to Southern Scrap Mat'l. Co., New Orleans, LA for $ 52,889.00. Cabrilla earned six battle stars for her World War II service.
Partial data submitted by Ron Reeves (of blessed memory)

As built to the specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,414 t.; Length 311' 9"; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 kts, Submerged 8.75 kts; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10kts; Submerged Endurance, 48 hours at 2kts; Operating Depth Limit, 400 ft; Complement 6 Officers 60 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun, one 40mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four General Motors main generator diesel engines, 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity 94,400 gal., four General Electric main motors with 2,740 hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.
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Cabrilla 28k Cabrilla Serranus cabrilla Photo courtesy of Borut Furlan / fishbase.org.
Cisco NR Two Subs Will Be Launched On Christmas Eve: Portsmouth Navy Yard's Christmas gift to the Nation will be the submarines Cisco (SS-290) and Cabrilla (SS-288) to be launched tomorrow weeks ahead of schedule. Rear Admiral Thomas Withers, commandant of the yard, announced today.Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 23 December 1942, Image 1, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Cisco
0828890
606k PORTSMOUTH, N. H. - SUBS BUILT IN RECORD TIME
Two submarines, built in record time, are sliding down the ways at a twin launching here. The Cisco (SS-290) (bottom) was on the ways 56 days and a few hours. The Cabrilla (SS-288) (top) also broke the record of 101 days set last summer on the Steelhead (SS-280). Its time was not announced.
A. P. Wirephoto.
Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 27 December 1942, Image 2, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Cabrilla & Cisco 252k Notice from Rear Admiral T. Withers to the Workers of the Portsmouth Navy Yard Relaying a Message from the Secretary of the Navy, 30 December 1942 for their successful completion of the Cabrilla (SS-288) & Cisco (SS-290). National Archives Identifier: 12562939
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
288
0828811
212k The Cabrilla (SS-288) was launched 24 December 1942 by Portsmouth Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. L. B. Combs, the wife of RADM Lewis Barton Combs.
Combs on the set of The Fighting Seabees, Camp Pendleton, Calif., with actor John Wayne, 1943.
Image and text provided by
seabeemuseum.wordpress.com
Picuda & Pampanito 990k Wishing you were here! (1)
Camera shy at the moment are Cabrilla (SS-288) & Cisco (SS-290). So here is a representation of the keel laying of the Picuda (SS-382) (left) and Pampanito (SS-383) (right) on 15 March 1943, Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH.
National Archives Identifier: 38330013
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
Cabrilla 70k Launching of the Cabrilla (SS-288) at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 24 December 1942. USNHC photo # NH 99125, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975.
Cabrilla255kCabrilla (SS-288) crew photo durring commissioning on 24 May 1943. Commander D. T. Hammond is in the middle. Photo courtesy of huntingpictures.net.
Cabrilla 76k Bow view of the Cabrilla (SS-288) taken on June 1943 on sea trials. U.S. Navy photo.
Cabrilla258kCabrilla (SS-288) probably taken on June 1943 on sea trials. Photo courtesy of Mikes-Cover-Sales
Cabrilla 112k Bows on view of the Cabrilla (SS-288), taken on June 1943 on sea trials. The hole in the bow is called the "bull-nose" and is used for mooring the ship for towing. Like other Portsmouth designed boats, the anchor is on the port side. The bulge in the left side of the bridge is for clearance of the access hatch for the bridge. USN Archives photo # 19-N-48984.
Photo and text courtesy of The Floating Drydock, "Fleet Subs of WW II" by Thomas F. Walkowiak.
Cabrilla1.06kAn undated image of the Imperial Japanese Army operated tanker Yamamizu Maru No.2
She breaks into three after being torpedoed by Cabrilla (SS-288), on 6 October 1944.
Photo & text i.d. from combinedfleet.com & United States Submarine Operations in World War II, by Theodore Roscoe, courtesy of Robert Hurst.
Cabrilla 142k A band welcomes the Cabrilla (SS-288) back from her patrol. U.S. Navy photo, courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.
Cabrilla 143k Cabrilla (SS-288) returning from patrol. U.S. Navy photo, courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.
Cabrilla 110k A front view of the front 40mm gun aboard an unknown sub, possibly the Cabrilla (SS-288). These guns proved to be very effective against small surface targets and aircraft. Some boats had these guns mounted either forward and / or aft on the bridge gun deck. Details of the shears show the arrangement of the lookout platforms and the range light and the PPI antenna. Both scopes are lowered. USN Archives photo # USN-434018. Photo and text courtesy of The Floating Drydock, "Fleet Subs of WW II" by Thomas F. Walkowiak.
Cabrilla 112k What could be the Cabrilla (SS-288) on her patrol off Christmas Island, January-March 1944, in a charcoal drawing by the artist Griffith Baily Coale entitled "Lookouts--U.S. Submarine".
"Rolling along the blue surface of the Indian Ocean, lookouts search the empty sky and the sea. They look for everyone, friend or foe. Besides these five men, just aft was the Junior Officer and his lookout, also watching. The man at the top of the periscope shears spotted a distant sub on the surface.
There was no record of one of our boats in this vicinity. In ten seconds every man is below, the hatch bangs shut, the deck tips forward and they disappear below the vast surface of the ocean. Later they rise to pericope height, the Captain makes a sweep. "Blow the tanks- equalize the pressure - crack the hatch - Lookouts up!" In ten seconds the lookouts are back on deck searching."
Lookouts--U.S. Submarine
Griffith Baily Coale #44 Charcoal drawing, 1944 88-188-AR
Cabrilla 146k Reproduction of the Cabrilla's (SS-288) World War II battle flag, made by the Carleton Company.
USNHC photo # NH 84115-KN, Donation of Hubert Scheffy, 1976.

View the Cabrilla (SS-288)
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
Ep-21 (1) - Victory At Sea ~ Full Fathom Five - HQ

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