Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster.
Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

Sea Dog (SS-401) (AGSS-401)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Papa - Bravo

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 1 November 1943, at Portsmouth Navy Yard,New Hampshire; Launched, 28 March 1944; Commissioned USS Sea Dog (SS-401), 3 June 1944; Decommissioned, 27 June 1946, at New London, CT.; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, New London Group; Placed in service in February 1960 as a Naval Reserve Training Vessel in the 1st Naval District; Redesignated Auxiliary Research Submarine (AGSS-401) in 1962; Placed out of service and Struck from the Naval Register, 2 December 1968; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping 2-1-71 to Southern Scrap Mat'l. Co., New Orleans, LA $83.889.00. Sale cancelled, and sunk target 18 May 1973. Sea Dog earned two battle stars during WWII.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced 1,526 t., Submerged 2,391 t.; Length 311' 8"; 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, Fairbanks Morse diesel engines, 5,400 HP, Fuel Capacity, 116,000 gal., four Elliot Motor Co. electric main motors with 2,740 shp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
23k	Commemorative post mark from Sea Dog's (SS-401) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard,New Hampshire, 28 March 1944.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
25k	Commemorative launch day badge from Sea Dog's (SS-401) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard,New Hampshire, 28 March 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.
482k	Double Dog Launching: Sea Dog (SS-401) & Sea Fox (SS-402). From left to right: Mrs. O.C. Robbins, Matron of Honor, Mrs. Robert N. Robertson, Sponsor for Sea Fox (SS-402), Rear Admiral Thomas Witner, Mrs. Vernon L. Lowrance; Sponsor, & Mrs. James P. Lynch; Matron of honor for Sea Dog (SS-401) at double launching in submarine basin at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire on 28 March 1944.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
229k	Mrs. Vernon L. Lowrance makes a hit on the Sea Dog (SS-401) on her launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire on 28 March 1944.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
576k	Captain Clifford H. Roper USN reading citation to Lt. Francis Doerfler, USNR, at commissioning of Sea Dog (SS-401) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire on 24 May 1944.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
320k	Commissioning party photo of Sea Dog's (SS-401) crew, 3 June 1944.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
545k	Commissioning of Sea Dog (SS-401) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, 3 June 1944. Chaplin Lt. Cdr. Chester L. Hults USNR offering up prayers for the boat's officers & crew.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
324k	Sea Dog (SS-401) prowls the Pacific in search of enemy shipping. May 1945.	NARA Photo # 080-G-468123 by Lt. Comdr. Horace Bristol, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
132k	Sea Dog's (SS-401) flag.	Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace. Photo added 05/27/10.
50k	Sea Dog (SS-401) deck gun crew in action, circa WW II.	US Navy photo from Winter 1999 edition of the magazine "UNDERSEAWARFARE", courtesy of Darryl Baker.
278k	Amidships looking forward plan view of Sea Dog (SS-401) at Mare Island on 11 June 1946. She was in overhaul at the yard from 28 Feb to 12 June 1946.	US Navy Photo # 2049-46, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
305k	Amidships looking aft plan view of Sea Dog (SS-401) at Mare Island on 11 June 1946.	US Navy Photo # 2050-46, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
192k	Sea Dog (SS-401) stern view, underway off Mare Island, California, 11 June 1946.	US Navy photo from NARA, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
188k	Sea Dog (SS-401) starboard view, underway off Mare Island, California, 11 June 1946.	US Navy photo from NARA, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
176k	Sea Dog (SS-401) bow view, underway off Mare Island, California, 11 June 1946.	US Navy photo from NARA, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
262k	A very heavily armed boat lacking only a bone in her teeth as she works up spped in the Pacific in 1947.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/20/10.
302k	Through 1947, Sea Dog (SS-401) remained in the eastern Pacific, conducting training operations in the Hawaiian Islands and off the coasts of Washington, British Columbia, and California.	Text courtesy of DANFS. US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/20/10.
540k	Stern view in 1947.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/20/10.
263k	Lots of foam eminates around the hull from her 1,800 plus tons in this bow on photo from 1947.	US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/20/10.
261k	Sea Dog (SS-401) underway in the 1950's, still displaying the unmistakable profile of the *Balao-class* "Fleet Boats." Deck guns have been removed to improve her submerged performance, and a post-war air-search radar is mounted on its tall mast. A surface/search radar and two antennas are on the periscope shears, while two sonar antennas can be seen on the deck forward. A whip antennae extends horizontally from the radar mast.	US Navy photo from NARA, # 80-G-634366, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
54k	12 years before Sea Dog (SS-401) met her end, she appears here in a photo from a slide taken by WWII enthusiast and camera buff Bob Zalanskas in March, 1965, on Derby Wharf, Salem, Massachusetts.	Photo by Bob Zalanskas, courtesy submarinesailor.com.