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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive


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Apogon (SS-308)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - November - Xray

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 9 December 1942, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 10 March 1943; Commissioned USS Apogon (SS-308), 16 July 1943; Decommissioned, 29 April 1946; Struck from the Naval Register, 25 February 1947; Final Disposition, sunk at Bikini atoll during atomic testing, 25 July 1946. Apogon received six battle stars for her World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,424 t.; Length 311' 10"; 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 5"/25 deck gun, one 40mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesels-electric reduction gear with four Fairbanks-Morse main generator engines., 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity, 94,400 gal., four Elliot Motor Co., main motors with 2,740 hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.
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Apogon 87k Apogon (SS-308) slides down the launching ways at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 10 March 1943. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org
Apogon 39k Apogon's (SS-308) officers and crew alongside the conning tower as she heads towards dock at Submarine Base 5. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org
Apogon 33k Apogon's (SS-308) officers and crew alongside the conning tower as she heads towards dock at Submarine Base 5. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org
Apogon 130k Apogon's (SS-308) officers and crew alongside the conning tower as she heads towards dock at Submarine Base 5. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org
Apogon 54k Apogon (SS-308), aside of the Rescue and Salvage Ship Deliver (ARS-23), circa 1944. Submitted by Bill Bach to National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors, courtesy of Gary Priolo.
Apogon 189k Starboard view of the Apogon (SS-308) pulling into port somewhere alongside a boat from LST 521.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of John Hummel.
Apogon 127k Installing a bearing ring on a 5" gun aboard a submarine, possibly the Apogon (SS-308), at an advanced base, circa 1945. Official U.S. Navy Photograph # 080-G-468222, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), by Lt. Comdr. Horace Bristol, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
Apogon 208k Stern view of Apogon (SS-308) departing Mare Island on 15 April 1945. U.S. Navy Photo # 2718-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Apogon 256k Broadside view of Apogon (SS-308) off Mare Island on 15 April 1945. She was in overhaul at Mare Island from 15 Jan to 3 May 1945. U.S. Navy Photo # 2720-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Apogon 229k Bow on view of Apogon (SS-308) departing Mare Island on 15 April 1945. U.S. Navy Photo # 2722-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
Apogon 41k Broadside view of Apogon (SS-308) off Mare Island on 15 April 1945. U.S. Navy Photo # 2721-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker. The photo is off a negative from the Vallejo Naval Historic Museum. Photo added 03/31/07.
Apogon 95k Apogon (SS-308), undergoes comprehensive remote control tests prior to her role in "Operation Crossroads", June 1946. Widgeon (ARS-1) stands by in the background. US National Archives photo # 80-G-702799, from DANFS, now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy of Joe Radigan, MACM, USN Ret.
Apogon 127k Apogon (SS-308), in lower left rim of the Atomic blast, meets her fate in "Operation Crossroads", June 1946. A 21 kiloton underwater nuclear weapons effects test, (Event Baker) conducted at Bikini Atoll (1946). Official U.S. Navy Photograph courtesy of dtra.mil. Photo added 03/31/07.
Apogon 11k Apogon (SS-308) on the bottom of Bikini Atoll. Photo by H. P. Schmid, courtesy of tcwfb.ch. & bikiniatoll.com. Photo added 03/31/07.
Apogon 10k Apogon (SS-308) on the bottom of Bikini Atoll. Photo by Eric Hanauer, courtesy of tcwfb.ch. & bikiniatoll.com. Photo added 03/31/07.

View the Apogon (SS-308)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Full Fathom Five, U.S. Submarine War Against Japan
Bikini Atoll underwater images of Apogon (SS-308)

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