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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patch on left contributed by Harold F.(Carl) Carlson & submitted by Gary Carlson, on right by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN (ret.)

Hawkbill (SS-366)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - India - Alpha

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 7 August 1943, at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, WI.; Launched, 9 January 1944; Commissioned USS Hawkbill (SS-366), 15 March 1944; Decommissioned, 21 June 1946, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.; Laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Mare Island Group; Recommissioned, 5 May 1952; Decommissioned, 29 July 1952; Converted to a Guppy submarine at Mare Island Naval Shipyard; Recommissioned, 10 December 1952; Decommissioned, 21 April 1953; Transferred (loaned) under terms of the Military Defense Assistance Program, to The Netherlands, renamed, Zeeleeuw (S-803); Sold to The Netherlands, 20 February 1970; Final Disposition, Sold 24 Nov. 1970 to A.J. Van Den Kooy N.V., Rijnacker Netherlands for $103,105.00. Hawkbill was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation and six battle stars for World War II service.
Partial data submitted by Ron Reeves, HTC, USNR (ret.)

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,424 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 54 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, one 40mm, one 20mm, 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, 116,000 gals., four General Electric main motors with 2,740 hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
15k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the Hawkbill's (SS-366) keel laying, 7 August 1943.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
61k	Hawkbill (SS-366), being side launched at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, WI., 9 January 1944.	*Editors Note: There are over 200 images submitted on these pages covering the following submarines that were constructed at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co, Manitowoc, WI,: SS-265 through SS-274, and SS-361 through SS-380. None of them would have seen the light of day if it were not for the efforts of Curator, Asst. Director, Bill Thiesen of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Larry Bohn,* who sent them to NavSource for publication. A special debt of gratitude is owed to these two men and the *Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of the Cobia* (SS-245) for allowing these photographs to be seen by the lovers of naval history worldwide.
218k	Hawkbill (SS-366), splashes into the waters of the Manitowoc River at Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, WI., 9 January 1944.	USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
55k	Watercolor print by the artist Tom Denton of the side launching of a Manitowoc built boat.	Courtesy of submarineart.com
92k	Hawkbill (SS-366), underway during her sea trials shortly after being launched in the Manitowoc Harbor, 9 January 1944.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
11k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the commissioning of the Hawkbill (SS-366),15 March 1944 .	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
37k	Battle insignia of the Hawkbill (SS-366).	Submitted by Larry Bohn, courtesy of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of the Cobia (SS-245) .
44k	Commissioning emblem of the Hawkbill (SS-366).	Submitted by Larry Bohn, courtesy of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of the Cobia (SS-245) .
88k	Hawkbill (SS-366), armed with two 5" guns, (127mm), one 40mm anti-aircraft gun on the forward bridge sponson and one 20mm on the after sponson. She wears the light gray finish adopted in 1943. She is possibly sailing down the Mississippi River on her way to the war in the Pacific, circa Spring 1944.	Courtesy of Erminio Bagnasco book, "Submarines of WW II", submitted by Aryeh Wetherhorn.
440k	Text accompanying this photo reads "Enlisted men repair and check instruments aboard a submarine just returned to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. May 1945." Note: Many of the captions of Bristol's photography are lacking in details and some have the wrong dates, places and locations. The *"23"* boat in question in this photo is definitely NOT the S-23 (SS-128). It is beyond a doubt a *Salmon* or *Gato/Balao class* fleet boat, and I would lean toward a *Balao. The date of the photo is probably early to mid 1944. The boat in question has the characteristicly fat, twin periscope shears and long, wide flat "cigarette" deck of a Balao. Directly above the head of the sailor who is working at the base of the aft scope is a radar mast. The sailor behind him is standing at and looking through the aft Target Bearing Transmitter (TBT). Barely visible on the far left of the photo is what I believe to be part of a 20 mm gun mount. None of these features were ever present on any of the S-boats, even the later 40 series* that were heavily modified (i.e. S-45 (SS-156) ) towards the end of the war. The whole conning tower fairwater on the boat in question is simply too large for a *S-boat. As for the "23"* on the fairwater, I have seen wartime photos of fleet boats displaying mysterious one and two digit numbers that do not correspond to their hull number (see the Guardfish (SS-217) and Peto (SS-265) pages for examples). Despite a lot of research, I have not turned up an official explanation for these strange numbers. One source said that they were squadron or flotilla identifiers, but I can't back this up officially. It is possible that they were temporary numbers assigned while the boats were in home waters, maybe to cut down on friendly fire incidents. Strangely enough, these numbers also seemed to have been used briefly during WWI, as I have seen them on D, E, F, G, and *H-class* boats. It is also entirely possible that these numbers are part of an official disinformation program designed to obscure the identities of the boats while allowing a wide distribution of photos to an information hungry wartime public. That would also account for the information inaccuracies attributed to otherwise highly thought of photographers. Riveted construction on the conning tower fairwaters of the fleet boats was far more common than I previously thought. It seems that the fairwater plating was riveted to the supporting structure underneath during construction on virtually all of the fleet boats, no matter who built it. This was possible due to the fact that the fairwater was non-watertight and merely provided for a smooth flow of water around the conning tower and lower periscope shears. Riveting was a long practiced and well known construction method, while welding was still relatively new and there was a fairly low number of skilled and experienced welders, and they had to be parceled out carefully depending on priority. All of the pressure resisting elements such as the conning tower and the main pressure hull were welded. The last fleet boat to have a riveted pressure hull was the Pompano (SS-181) in 1937. These original riveted fairwaters were retained until the end of the war, unless the boat had major rework of the fairwater performed (like most of the *Gato's), or if the boat suffered battle damage. The rework jobs seemed to have been mostly welded. I would lay money on it being a Manitowoc built Balao class* and I will stick with the early to mid 1944 date.	National Archives Record Administration (NARA) photo # 080-G-468179 & HD-SN-99-02504 by Lt. Comdr. Horace Bristol, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil. Partial text courtesy of Jason McDonald, President & Executive Producer MFA Productions LLC. mfaproductions.com worldwar2database.com ninesisters.com dayofthekamikaze.com Majority of text and photo i.d. courtesy of Dave Johnston (USNR). Photo added 05/11/07.
75k	Hawkbill (SS-366), on the Willamette River, Portland, Oregon October, 1945 after the end of the Pacific War.	Courtesy of usshawkbill.com.
137k	Reserve fleet at Mare Island, circa Jan 1946. There are 52 submarines and 4 Sub Tenders in this photo. This photo is a Berthing list identifying the ships in the picture.	Photo commerating 50 years, U. S. Submarine Veterans of WW II 1996 calendar, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
453k	Photo of the Reserve fleet at Mare Island, circa Jan 1946. There are 52 submarines and 4 Sub Tenders in this photo. Whether coincidental or on purpose, the number of boats in the photo is the same as that which were lost in WW II. From back to front and left to right, first group of 12 boats: Sandlance (SS-381) Tunny (SS-282) Aspro (SS-309) Lionfish (SS-298) Guvania (SS-362) Sunfish (SS-281) Macabi (SS-375) Gurnard (SS-254) Pampanito (SS-383) Mingo (SS-261) Guitarro (SS-363) Bashaw (SS-241) From back to front and left to right, second group of 12 boats: Sealion (SS-315) Hammerhead (SS-364) Bream (SS-243) Seahorse (SS-304) Tinosa (SS-283) Pintado (SS-387) Mapiro (SS-376) Pipefish (SS-388) Moray (SS-300) Batfish (SS-310) Hackleback (SS-295) Bluegill (SS-242) From back to front and left to right, third group of 12 boats: Hawkbill (SS-366) Menhaden (SS-377) Perch (SS-313) Loggerhead (SS-374) Barbero (SS-317) Baya (SS-318) Hardhead (SS-365) Spadefish (SS-411) Springer (SS-414) Devilfish (SS-292) Kraken (SS-370) Dragonet (SS-293) From back to front and left to right, fourth group of 12 boats: Lamprey (SS-372) Piranha (SS-389) Manta (SS-299) Pargo (SS-264) Rancador (SS-301) Archerfish (SS-311) Mero (SS-378) Sawfish (SS-276) Spot (SS-413) Lizardfish (SS-373) Jallao (SS-368) Icefish (SS-367) From back to front and left to right, last group of 4 boats: Steelhead (SS-280) Puffer (SS-268) Stickleback (SS-415) Trepang (SS-412) From back to front, Submarine Tenders group of 4 ships: Pelias (AS-14) Aegir (AS-23) Euryale (AS-22) Griffin (AS-13)	Photo commerating 50 years, U. S. Submarine Veterans of WW II 1996 calendar, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
94k	ex-Hawkbill (SS-366), as the Dutch Zeeleeuw (S-803) arriving in (probably) Plymouth, England. Note the geruispeiler (sonar) on the portside forward of the sail. Circa early 1950s.	Courtesy of Ben Uenk / dutchsubmarines.com.
53k	ex-Hawkbill (SS-366), as the Dutch Zeeleeuw (S-803) circa 1953.	Courtesy of Nick Kuyper / dutchsubmarines.com.
53k	Inboard is ex-Icefish (SS-367), as the Dutch Walrus (S-802) and outboard ex-Hawkbill (SS-366), as the Dutch Zeeleeuw(S-803), at the Submarine Service quays in Den Helder, 1966.	Photo by Ruud Groenendal, courtesy of dutchsubmarines.com.
42k	Starboard side view of the ex-Hawkbill (SS-366), as the Dutch Zeeleeuw (S-803) circa 1966.	Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.