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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Tigrone (SS-419) (SSR-419) (AGSS-419)

Radio Call Sign: November - Kilo - Sierra - Hotel

Tench Class Submarine: Laid down, 8 May 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H.; Launched, 20 July 1944; Commissioned USS Tigrone (SS-419), 25 October 1944; Decommissioned, 30 March 1946, at New London, CT.; Designation changed to Radar Picket Submarine (SSR-419), 12 April 1948; Recommissioned, 1 November 1948; Decommissioned, 1 November 1957; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Philadelphia, PA.; Designation reverted to (SS-419), 3 February 1961; Recommissioned, 10 March 1962; Reclassified Auxiliary Research Submarine (AGSS-419), 1 December 1963; Decommissioned, 27 June 1975, at US Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT., and struck from the Naval Register, the same day; Final Disposition, sunk as a target 25 October 1976 at 36deg. 05.2' N x 71deg. 15.3' w. Tigrone received two battle stars for World War II service.
Partial data submitted by Ron Reeves (of blessed memory)

As built to the specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,570 t., Submerged: 2,416 t.; Length 311' 8"; Beam 27' 2"; 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 60 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, one 40mm gun, one 20mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four Fairbanks Morse main generator diesel engines, 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity, 113,510 gals, two General Electric main motors, 2,740 hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description	Source
	471k	Tigrone's (SS-419) crew looks to be leaning into a tug of war while she is launched on 20 July 1944.	USN photo # 80-G-1225 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
	25k	Commemorative launch day badge from Tigrone's (SS-419), at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 20 July 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.
	1.26k	29 officers & crew of two B-29s & three fighter arriving in harbor of Guam on 3 July 1945 after being rescued by the Tigrone (SS-419).	USN photo # 80-G-1155 by PHO M3/c Gaither, from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert. Link courtesy of /wikivisually.com
	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* 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).	USN photo # NH 95019, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Courtesy of Captain Joseph F. Enright, USN(Retired), 1979.
0841910	3.20k	Photo of the bridge of the radar picket Migraine II submarine Tigrone (SSR-419) via a helicopter overfly. The *Tigrone* had some unique modifications to her bridge and conning tower fairwater during her conversion to a SSR including the port and starboard “wings” seen here. These extensions to the bridge fairwater housed two Target Bearing Transmitters (TBT) used to transmit bearings of a target to the fire control tracking party below in the conning tower. Another giveaway is the fact that during the conversion *Tigrone* lost her forward gun deck (an extension of the conning tower fairwater) that in her original configuration would have mounted a 20 or 40 mm gun. The gun deck is completely absent in these photos with the 40 mm seen here moved down to the main deck. I would place the date of the photo between 1949 and 1951. After 1951 the 40 mm gun on main deck was removed.	Photo i.d. & text courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired) Photo courtesy of Dan Bailey Jr.
0841916	904k	Lieutenant (J.G.) Daniel L. Bailey (right) and another officer of the Tigrone's (SSR-419) deck, 5 July 1949 to 1 July 1952.	Photo courtesy of Dan Bailey Jr.
	66k	Tigrone (SSR-419), in Radar Picket Submarine guise, 1951.	USN photo.
	1.70k	Tigrone (SSR-419) in Radar Picket Submarine guise, circa 1950's.	Photo # USN 1106433 scanned by Ryan Crierie, via flickr, courtesy of Stephen Gower.
	139k	Redfin (SS-272) with the Grampus (SS-523) and other subs alongside Orion (AS-18) was taken between 1953-55. The "Nodding idiot" on *Redfin* was converted to the electronic version in 1956. The other 3 boats are from outboard in Migraine II Requin (SS-481) and Migraine I Burrfish (SS-312) and Tigrone (SS-419). The order of the last 2 might be reversed.	Text contributed by Larry Derouin. Photographed and contributed by John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	254k	British subs visits Norfolk circa middle 1950's plus. Submarines lined up on the pier from outboard to inboard are: Cutlass (SS-478) and Sea Leopard (SS-483) with step sails. Followed by the Sealion (SS-315) & several SSR's which might be the Tigrone (SSR-419) and Burrfish (SSR-312). Both boats are in the Migraine I SSR version. If the last SSR is indeed the *Burrfish, then this picture would have been taken sometime in the late spring of 1956. The USN sailors are in dress whites (indicating the springtime changeover to whites), and the Burrfish* departed Norfolk for the last time on 5 June 1956, headed for New London and decommissioning. The tender is Sierra (AD-18), which was always located at the next pier down from the sub pier.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). Photo i.d. & text courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired)
	95k	Lieutenant Commander Charles Morton Irwin was the commanding officer of the Auxiliary Research Submarine Tigrone (AGSS-419) from 1962 to 1963.	Photo from the 1970 USS Arcturus (AF-52) cruise book, courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
	574k	Tigrone (AGSS-419) circa 1963/64.	Photo courtesy of J. Vinny McCrum.
	623k	Tigrone (SSR-419) on the surface in September 1963.	Naval Photographic Center Photo # 1085450 from the files of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
	192k	The Tigrone (AGSS-419) underway in a channel.	Courtesy of Bob Machen.
	161k	Tigrone (AGSS-419), starboard view at the Philadelphia Navy Yard sometime circa 1964 after she was fitted out with an experimental sonar unit. Mothballed *Fletcher class* destroyers in background.	Courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
	120k	View of the Tigrone's (AGSS-419) sail at Subase New London 1965/66.	Courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	1.58k	Fishing on Tigrone (SS-419), January / February 1966 during the annual Springboard operation.	Photo courtesy of Gerry Young.
	1.64k	Bridge from cigarette deck of the Tigrone (SS-419), January / February 1966 during the annual Springboard operation.	Photo courtesy of Gerry Young.
	428k	Tigrone (SS-419) moored next to tender between Shark (SSN-591) and an ASR, January / February 1966 during the annual Springboard operation.	Photo courtesy of Gerry Young.
	1.27k	Tigrone (SS-419) moored at Government Cut in Miami.	Photo courtesy of Gerry Young.
	162k	Broadside & starboard quarter view of the Tigrone (AGSS-419), 1/192 scale, solid cast resin, with Brass III Bow (1966)?	Model & photo courtesy of Mel Douyette & coldwarsubmarines.com
	275k	Tigrone (AGSS-419), underway at Ponta Delgada, Azores on 15 March 1967. It shows her as a BRASS III conversion, which was her final configuration.	Photo & text courtesy of Bob Machen. Text i.d. courtesy of Carlos Manuel Estrela, Ponta Delgada, Azores, via Fabio Peña.
	162k	Tigrone (AGSS-419) underway with Ponta Delgada, Azores in the background on 15 March 1967.	Photo & text courtesy of Carlos Manuel Estrela, Ponta Delgada, Azores, via Fabio Peña.
	57k	Commemorative postal cover issued on the occasion of the Tigrone (AGSS-419), and the *HMS Grampus* during a joint US & UK sonar operation, 26 April 1972.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
	362k	September 1973: Last Run for the Cobbler (SS-344), Corporal (SS-346) & Tigrone (SS-419) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.	Photo courtresy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	19k	Commemorative postal cover for the Tigrone (AGSS-419).	Courtesy of Jack Treutle (of blessed memory).
0841917	351k	4 page PDF Welcome Aboard the Tigrone (AGSS-419). Also a photo of her CO LCDR. James W. Philbrick, 1973.	Photos courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
0841909	152k	On 5 May, she began pre-inactivation procedures and, on 27 June 1975, was decommissioned at the Naval Submarine Base, Groton, Conn. At the time of her decommissioning, Tigrone (AGSS-419) was the oldest submarine in commission in the United States Navy, as well as the last unit of the submarine force still in operation to have taken part in combat action in World War II. Her name was struck from the Navy list on that same day, and she was sunk as a target on 25 October 1976. Here is a 4 photo PDF of a submerging part of that history.	Text courtesy of DANFS. Photos courtesy of Dan Bailey Jr.

View the Tigrone (SS-419 / SSR-419 / AGSS-419)
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
Tench Class Submarines
Guppy Submarines
Ep-21 (1) - Victory At Sea ~ Full Fathom Five - HQ

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