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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Cochino (SS-345)

Radio Call Sign: November - Juliet - Echo - Golf

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 13 April 1944, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 20 April 1945; Commissioned USS Cochino (SS-345), 25 August 1945; Lost by sinking, 26 August 1949, at 71°35' N., 23°35' E.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,242 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, 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, one 20mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four main generator engines., General Motors diesel engines, HP 5400, Fuel Capacity 118,000, four General Electric motors, HP 2,740, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
552k	Looks like the start of another work day as E.B. employees climb up the stairwell past the "No Swimming at this site" sign near the new North Yard. An officer on deck of the soon to be launched Blenny (SS-324) looks across the opposite ways at the construction of a prefabricated section of the Cochino (SS-345). The pace of construction progresses quickly as a worker tightens the bolts on part of her hull. The *Cochino's* keel would officially be laid 13 April. Construction of the boat will be moved over to the soon to be vacated way that the *Blenny* now occupies. By early 1944, most of the building yards were forced to adopt some measure of pre-fabrication in order to expedite the building process. Manitowoc was the acknowledged master of this art and it allowed them to complete boats quickly in a limited amount of building space (Manitowoc built their boats to EB plans). While EB did not go to the same extent as Manitowoc, even they pre-fabricated some sections and attached them to the keel once it was laid. The date of the photo is probably around the first week of April 1944. The *Blenny* would be launched on the 9th. Note the *Blenny's* open outer torpedo door shutters still need to be affixed.	NARA FILE #: 080-G-468517, photographed by Lt. Comdr. Charles Fenno Jacobs, USNR. Photo # HD-SN-99-02479, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil, Defense Visual Information Center. Photo i.d. courtesy of John Hummel, Ric Hedmen & David Johnston. Partial text courtesy of David Johnston (USNR). Photo added 05/08/06.
18k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of Cochino's (SS-345) keel laying, 13 April 1944, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
20k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of Cochino's (SS-345) keel laying, 13 April 1944, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
18k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the launching of the Cochino (SS-345), 20 April 1945.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle. Photo added 03/05/06.
20k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the commissioning of the Cochino (SS-345), 25 August 1945.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
60k	Cochino (SS-345), in port, circa 1946.	Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center, USNHC # 79771.
49k	Cochino (SS-345), circa 1949.	USN photo courtesy of oneternalpatrol.com.
62k	Cochino (SS-345), leaving Portsmouth, England, for the Barents Sea, circa July 1949.	Courtesy of George M. Arnold and U.S. Naval Historical Center, USNHC # 95925.
4k	Approximate area where the Cochino (SS-345) was lost, 71°35' N., 23°35' E.	Photo courtesy of Great Circle Mapper - © Karl L Swartz.
42k	Commemorative photo in memory of the crew of the Tusk (SS-426) & Cochino (SS-345).	Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen.
23k	Cochino (SS-345), underway, date and place unknown. In Memorium: In the Second Book of Shmuel (Samuel), 22nd chapter, 5th through the 20th verses, translated from the original in Hebrew and published by the Koren Publishers of Jerusalem, Israel, 1982, can perhaps aptly describe the fate of the crew and all other U.S. submariners who died defending their county: "When the waves of death compassed me / the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; / the bonds of She'ol encircled me; / the snares of death took me by surprise; / in my distress I called upon the Lord, / and cried to my G-D: / and he heard my voice out of his temple, / and my cry entered into his ears. / Then the earth shook and trembled; /the foundations of heaven moved / and shook because of his anger /...the heavy mass of waters, and thick clouds of the skies /... And the channels of the sea appeared, / the foundations of the world were laid bare, / at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast at the breath of his nostrils. / He sent from above, he took me; / he drew me out of many waters; / he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. / They surprised me in the day of my calamity: / but the Lord was my stay / He brought me forth also into a large place: / he delivered me because he delighted in me./"	Courtesy of MMCM (SS) Greg Peterman USN Retired, from his Goat Locker webpage.

View the Cochino (SS-345)
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
On Eternal Patrol
Guppy Submarines
Full Fathom Five, U.S. Submarine War Against Japan

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