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

The two patches on the left were contributed by Robert F. Marble TMCS(SS) USN (Ret). The two patches on the right were contributed by Mike Smolinski.

Piper (SS-409) (AGSS-409)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Alpha - Delta

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 14 March 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 26 June 1944; Commissioned USS Piper (SS-409), 23 August 1944; Converted to a Fleet Snorkel Submarine at Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1951; Reclassified Auxiliary Research Submarine (AGSS-409), 15 June 1967; Decommissioned, 16 June 1967; Placed in service as a Naval Reserve Training Vessel at Detroit, MI; Place out of service and struck from the Naval Register, 1 July 1970; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping in June 1971 to a firm in Ashtabula, Ohio. Piper earned four battle stars during WWII.
Partial data submitted by Ron Reeves, HTC, USNR (ret.)

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, 4 Fairbanks-Morse 38D-8-1/8, 10 cyl. 1600 HP diesel engines, total 6,400 HP, (Contributed by Robert F. Marble TMCS(SS) USN (Ret).
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
11k	The Oxyporhamphus micropteru, a halfbeak, of which a member of this family is called the Piper.	Courtesy of wikimedia.org.
43k	Commemorative postal cover marking the double launching of the Piper (SS-409) & Threadfin (SS-410) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME; 26 June 1944.	Courtesy of Obediah Hill via webpages.charter.net. Photo added 05/31/09.
53k	Commemorative launching tag of the Piper (SS-409) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., 26 June 1944.	Photo courtesy of Ron Toth, Jr.via Tom Kermen. Photo added 05/31/09.
93k	Early 1944 photo of the Razorback (SS-394), Redfish (SS-395), Ronquil (SS-396) under construction and soon to be launched, with prefabricated sections and other building parts for the soon to be constructed Piper (SS-409) & Threadfin (SS-410) in the foreground.	Photo courtesy of John D. Alden, author of The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy: A Design and Construction History
341k	\|The cover letter of a service test by the Piper (SS-409) firing live torpedoes exploding against Bald Porcupine Island at Bar Harbor, Maine, 14 October 1944.	National Archives photo from the collection of Acadia National Park, courtesy of Jonathan Eno.
731k	Service test by the Piper (SS-409) firing live torpedoes exploding against Bald Porcupine Island at Bar Harbor, Maine, 14 October 1944.	National Archives photo from the collection of Acadia National Park, courtesy of Jonathan Eno.
578k	\|The results of a service test by the Piper (SS-409) firing live torpedoes exploding against Bald Porcupine Island at Bar Harbor, Maine, 14 October 1944.	National Archives photo from the collection of Acadia National Park, courtesy of Jonathan Eno.
186k	Officers of the Piper (SS-409) - Pearl Harbor - July 1945, 3rd war patrol. Other than Captain Beach, I cannot identify the other officers. However here is the rank and names: Lieut. Comdr. E.L. Beach, U.S. Navy; Lieut. G.M. Reeves, U.S. Navy; Lieut. A.R. Christiansen, U.S.N.R.; Lieut. W.A. Bowman, U.S.N.R.; Lieut. O.A. Holt, U.S.N.R. (back row, far left); Lieut. G.F. Eberle, U.S.N.R.; Lieut (jg) J.K. Appeldoorn, U.S.N.R; Lieut (jg) W.R. Harrison, U.S.N.R.; Lieut (jg) L.R. Porter, U.S. Navy; Ensign B.E. Englund, U.S.N.R.	Photo courtesy of John Clarkin - USS Piper 1944-1945 via webpages.charter.net. Photo added 05/31/09.
143k	Piper (SS-409), 1949, running on the surface, place unknown. The guns are 5"25 on deck, 40mm on cigarette decks.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
28k	In June 1951 Piper (SS-409) went to the Charleston Naval Shipyard for conversion which gave her the streamlined "new look" and Snorkel gear. For the next few years the submarine operated out of New London along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. She appears here circa 1952.	Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst. Text courtesy of DANFS.
226k	Busy piers at lower base in Groton shows a few SSKs, 1957. From left to right, unidentifed sub, Toro (SS-422), Irex (SS-482), unidentifed sub, Trout (SS-566), Bergall (SS-320), Sea Owl (SS-405), Cavalla (SS-244), & Remora (SS-487), & Piper (SS-409). The rest of the subs are too far away for positive identification.	Text courtesy of Dave Johnston. Photo i.d. courtesy of Mike Brood. USN photo courtesy of Submarine Force Library, courtesy of Ken Hart.
19k	Commemorative postal cover marking the Piper's (SS-409) 10,000th dive, 16 March 1961.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
165k	Piper (SS-409), 1964, running on the surface, place unknown.	Courtesy of John Hummel, photo i.d. by Robert Hurst.

View the Piper (SS-409)
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
USS Piper (SS-409) Veterans Association
Victory at Sea: Full Fathom Five 2 of 3

Back To The Main Photo Index

Back To the Submarine Index

Problems and site related matters, E-mail Webmaster.