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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patches on left & middle contributed by Harold F.(Carl) Carlson, on right by Mike Smolinski

Sea Cat (SS-399) (AGSS-399)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Oscar - Victor

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 30 October 1943, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 21 February 1944; Commissioned USS Sea Cat (SS-399), 16 May 1944; Redesignated Auxiliary Submarine

, 30 September 1949; Redesignated (SS-399), 9 January 1952; Snorkel conversion at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 15 January 1952 to 26 June 1952; Redesignated an Auxiliary Submarine in 1968; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 2 December 1968; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 18 May 1973. Sea Cat earned three battle stars for her World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced 1,526 t., Submerged 2,391 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 10 kts; Submerged Endurance, 48 hours at 2 kts; 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 single 40mm gun mount, one single 20mm gun mount, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear, four Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines, 5,400hp, Fuel Capacity, 116,000 gal., four Elliot Motor Co. electric main motors with 2,740hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
18k	Commemorative launch day badge from Sea Cat's (SS-399) launching, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 21 February 1944.	Courtesy of James A Munroe in remembrance of his father Raymond L Munroe Sr. who worked at the yard during WW II and the Korean wars as a chauffeur.
38k	Commemorative post card issued on the occasion of Sea Cat's (SS-399) launching, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 21 February 1944.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
55k	WW II battleflag of the Sea Cat (SS-399).	USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
95k	Proteus (AS-19) with submarines of Submarine Squadron 20 alongside in Tokyo Bay, on VJ-Day, 2 September 1945. Names of the submarines present, their commanding officers and the commanding officers of SubRon20 and Proteus (AS-19) are printed at the bottom of the image: Archerfish (SS-311), Cavalla (SS-244), Gato (SS-212), Haddo (SS-255), Muskallunge (SS-262), Pilotfish (SS-386), Razorback (SS-394), Runner (SS-476), Segundo (SS-398), Sea Cat (SS-399), and Tigrone (SS-419).	Courtesy of Captain Joseph F. Enright, USN(Retired), 1979. US Navy photo # NH 95019, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
181k	Subron 5 family photo fall/winter (1945)in Guam, from left to right, Segundo (SS-398), Sea Cat (SS-399), Blenny (SS-324), Blower (SS-325), Blueback (SS-326) & Charr (SS-328).	Photo by Lt. Herb Hanson, courtesy of John Hummel.
286k	Amidhsips looking forward plan view of Sea Cat (SS-399) at Mare Island on 23 July 46. She was in overhaul at the yard from 15 April to 27 July 1946.	US Navy Photo # 2626-46, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
36k	Heavy gun batteries were of somewhat limited value because they lacked fire controls. The next step then, was to add a surface-ship type fire control system: an Mk 6 stable element, and an Mk 6 computer driving gun-order repeaters at the guns. The most striking change was internal: a gun plot was installed in the forward crew quarters. Sea Cat (SS-399), shown here, was the prototype. She also had a pair of single 40 mm guns. The cylindrical object on her foreback is a dome covering her new WFA "integrated" sonar, which (in theory) would replace both the older WCA & JT In fact, JT was retained because its long line array gave more precise bearings than the small array inside the radome. Note too that the usual wartime SD air warning radar had been replaced by the big antenna of the late war SV, on the auxillary mast abaft the periscope shears and conning tower. Six other boats (SS-229, 340, 401, 406-8) were also converted to "gunboats". The *Sea Cat* is shown here off Balboa, Canal Zone, on March 9th, 1949.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
25k	The *Sea Cat* is shown here, probably off Balboa, Canal Zone, on March 9th, 1949.	US Navy photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
52k	Sea Cat (SS-399), running on the surface, circa mid 1950's, place unknown.	Courtesy of George M. Arnold.
183k	Port side view of the Sea Cat (SS-399), taken probably after her last overhaul after she left Philadelphia in June 1952; she operated from Key West for the remainder of her career, spending most of her time in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and in waters off the southern coast of the UnitedStates.	US Navy Photo. Text courtesy of DANFS.
64k	1960 watercolor by the artist Salvatore Indiviglia entitled "Loading Fish" aboard the Sea Cat (SS-399).	Painting #17/ 88-161-UI. Courtesy of the USNHC.
249k	Change of command at Subron 12 Key West Fla.in the 1960's aboard the Bushnell (AS-15). Barracuda (SST-3) upper right. Other boats there are Sea Cat (SS-399), Picuda (SS-382), Atule (SS-403), Sea Fox (SS-402), Threadfin (SS-410) & Chopper (SS-342).	Photo courtesy of John Hummel. Photo added 03/15/08.

View the Sea Cat (SS-399)
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
Guppy Submarines
Full Fathom Five, U.S. Submarine War Against Japan

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