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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

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 74k Apogon aureus. Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org.
Apogon 73k Commemorative launching tag of the Apogon (SS-308) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 10 March 1943. Photo courtesy of Ron Toth, Jr.via Tom Kermen.
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) entering port in February/March, 1946 probably at Pearl Harbor with the #1 LCVP from the LST-52 providing escort. Both Apogon and LST-52 participated in the Bikini atomic bomb tests in June and this is probably a marshalling of the ships to be used as targets in the test.
U.S. Navy photo courtesy of John Hummel. Photo I.d. & text courtesy of David Johnston (USNR).
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 105k Apogon (SS-308) off Mare Island on 15 April 1945. Source: NARA San Francisco, Mare Island Naval Shipyard Ship Files.
U.S. Navy photo # 2719-45 courtesy of Tracy White. Photo added 08/10/09.
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 413k Broadside view of Apogon (SS-308) off Mare Island on 15 April 1945. U.S. Navy Photo # 2721-45, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
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.
Apogon 11k Apogon (SS-308) on the bottom of Bikini Atoll. Photo by H. P. Schmid, courtesy of tcwfb.ch. & bikiniatoll.com.
Apogon 10k Apogon (SS-308) on the bottom of Bikini Atoll. Photo by Eric Hanauer, courtesy of tcwfb.ch. & bikiniatoll.com.
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
Victory at Sea: Full Fathom Five 2 of 3
Bikini Atoll underwater images of Apogon (SS-308)
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