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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

Cutlass (SS-478)

Cutlass served both the US Navy and Taiwanese Navy

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Delta - Tango

Tench Class Submarine: Laid down, 10 July 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 5 November 1944; Commissioned USS Cutlass (SS-478), 17 March 1945; Converted to a Guppy type submarine in 1948; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 15 December 1971; Transferred (sold) to Taiwan under terms of the Security Assistance Program, 4 December 1973, renamed Hai Shih (791); Final Disposition, As of October 2006 still in service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,570 t., Submerged: 2,414 t.; Length 311' 8"; Beam 27' 4"; 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 7 Officers 69 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, two 20mm guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four Fairbanks Morse main generator engines, 5,400HP, Fuel Capacity, 113,510 gal., two Elliot Motor Co. main motors with 2,740HP, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
28k	Port side view of the Cutlass (SS-478) underway during WW II, location unknown.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
125k	Several boats at berth at Cristobal, C.Z. Among the boats known to be based there in 1946-47, and what looks to be from left to right are the Conger (SS-477), Cutlass (SS-478), Runner (SS-476) & Amberjack (SS-522).	Photo courtesy of Jim Carroll and submitted by Mike Keating.
92k	Cutlass (SS-478) surface bow view at the Phila. Navy Yard, March 26, 1948.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
82k	Cutlass (SS-478) port side view, circa 50's with steep sail as a Guppy type.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
86k	Cutlass (SS-478) port side view, North Atlantic sail (1960's).	Courtesy of John Hummel.
84k	Cutlass (SS-478) underway, starboard side view, circa 1960's.	Courtesy of John Hummel.
36k	Cutlass (SS-478) underway, date and place unknown.	US Navy photo courtesy of George M. Arnold.
57k	Wardroom of the exCutlass (SS-478) in Taiwanese service as the Hai Shih (791), 2003.	Courtesy of San Francisco Maritime National Park Association
28k	Captain's room of the exCutlass (SS-478) in Taiwanese service as the Hai Shih (791), 2003.	Courtesy of San Francisco Maritime National Park Association
29k	exCutlass (SS-478) in Taiwanese service as the Hai Shih (791), 2004.	Authors collection.
32k	Running submerged and coming up for a look-see as exCutlass (SS-478) in Taiwanese service as the Hai Shih (791), 2004.	Authors collection.
70k	The Republic of China Navy (Taiwan) invited the press to see the 60-year-old submarine Hai Shih (791), the exCutlass (SS-478) on Nov. 7th. 2005.	Photo courtesy of Yu-Lun Miao, staff reporter for the Brocasting Cooperation of China (BCC).
37k	Accomadations haven't changed much aboard a sixty year old vessel as the Hai Shih's (791) crew berth with the torpedoes on Nov. 7th. 2005.	Photo courtesy of Yu-Lun Miao, staff reporter for the Brocasting Cooperation of China (BCC).
61k	Sixty years of service peering through this scope aboard the Hai Shih (791), the exCutlass (SS-478) on Nov. 7th. 2005.	Photo courtesy of Yu-Lun Miao, staff reporter for the Brocasting Cooperation of China (BCC).
66k	Port bow view of the Hai Shih (791), the exCutlass (SS-478) on October 2006.	Photo courtesy of Perry Huang. Photo added 10/03/06.
57k	Hai Shih (791), the exCutlass (SS-478) on October 2006.	Photo courtesy of Perry Huang. Photo added 10/03/06.