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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

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Sea Poacher (SS-406) (AGSS-406)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Papa - Kilo

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 23 February 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 20 May 1944; Commissioned USS Sea Poacher (SS-406), 31 July 1944; Converted to a Guppy-IA submarine in 1951 at Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, SC; Reclassified Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS-406), 1 November 1969; Decommissioned, 15 November 1969; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia, PA.; Reclassified (SS-406), 30 June 1971; Struck from the Naval Register, 15 August 1973; Transferred (sold) under terms of the Security Assistance Program, to Peru,1 July 1974; Commissioned into the Peruvian Navy as Pabellion de Pica (S-49), name changed to La Pedrera; Final Disposition, taken out of service in 1995, and relegated to pierside training, fate unknown. Sea Poacher received four battle stars for 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, 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
18k	Commemorative launch day badge from Sea Poacher's (SS-406) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 20 May 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.
14k	Commemorative postal cover marking the Sea Poacher's (SS-406) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 20 May 1944.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
100k	Sea Poacher (SS-406) underway, probably during her sea trials off the New England coast, circa summer 1944.	USN / USNI photo.
45k	Oil on canvas painting by the artist John Meeks entitled "Just Fishin'...?", a US Fleet Submarine intercepts and investigates a suspected Japanese picket boat, 1944/45. Although her first two war patrols were unproductive, during the third, conducted in the Kuril Islands area, Sea Poacher (SS-406) torpedoed and sank a Japanese trawler and four days later, sent two fishing boats to the bottom in a surface attack.	Photo & partial text courtesy of subart.net.
29k	Port side view of the Sea Poacher (SS-406), underway, date and place unknown.	Courtesy of George M. Arnold.
158k	Bow on view of the Sea Poacher (SS-406), underway, date and place unknown.	Courtesy of John Hummel.

View the Sea Poacher (SS-406)
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
seapoacher.com
Guppy Submarines
Victory at Sea: Full Fathom Five 2 of 3

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