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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patch on left contributed by CTRC Donald J. Wagner, USN (Ret.), other patches contributed by Mike Smolinski

Remora (SS-487)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Echo - Oscar

Tench Class Submarine: Laid down, 5 March 1945, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME; Launched, 12 July 1945; Commissioned USS Remora (SS-487), 3 January 1946.
Completed shakedown in Caribbean, the operated out of New London, CT as a training vessel until transiting the Panama Canal and reporting to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, CA on 14 February 1947 for a GUPPY II modification. Included in the upgrade was Snorkel equipment; an Electronic Support Measures (ESM) package and a "step" sail to improve underwater speed. On 8 June 1950, the San Diego, CA submarine joined the U. S. Seventh Fleet in the western Pacific and was on loan to Task Force 96 to assist in the training of destroyers in anti-submarine tactics when the Korean Conflict began.
In 1963, Remora was re-assigned to Pearl Harbor, HI and entered the Naval Shipyard there for a 7-month modernization overhaul, this time GUPPY III. Her hull was lengthened by 15 feet and an additional 5 feet added to her conning tower to accommodate ever increasing amounts of ESM equipment.
In August, 1969, her home port was shifted to Charleston, SC and it was there, in ceremonies conducted on 29 October 1973, she was decommissioned; struck from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) and transferred as a cash sale to the Hellenic Republic of Greece.
Re-named by the Hellenic Navy to honor Captain Lambos Katsonis who, among other feats, was remembered for the destruction of an Ottoman Empire Fleet by employing "fire ships". Commissioned the same day, HS Katsonis (S-115) and served the Republic for almost another 20 years before decommissioning on 30 March 1993 for the last time. Final fate; Scrapped at Izmir, Aliaga, Turkey.
Researched by CTRC Donald J. Wagner, USN (Ret.) for NavSource.

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 electric motors with 2,740hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
	23k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the Remora's (SS-487) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME, 12 July 1945.	Courtesy of petloveshack.com.
	112k	Stern view of Remora (SS-487) off Mare Island on 20 Oct 1947. She was departing for sea trials after her Guppy II conversion at Mare Island which ran from 14 Feb to 18 Nov 1947.	US Navy photo # 1918-47, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
	115k	Bow on view of Remora (SS-487) departing Mare Island on 20 Oct 1947. She was departing for initial sea trials after her Guppy II conversion at Mare Island which ran from 14 Feb to 18 Nov 1947.	US Navy photo # 1922-47, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
	496k	Broadside view of Remora (SS-487) off Mare Island on 20 October 1947.	US Navy photo # 1919-10-47, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
	137k	Remora (SS-487) moored to the Charr (SS-328), San Diego, CA, 1949, as part of Submarine Squadron 3.	Photo courtesy of Ric Hedmen, & dedicated to the memory of Master Chief Petty Officer Charles (Monty) M. Montgomery (deceased). Thanks to Chief Petty Officer Joe Phoenix.
	47k	Capt. Frederick L. Taeusch was the Commanding Officer of the Remora (SS-487) in 1950.	Official photograph of the U.S. Navy courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
	63k	Nereus (AS-17) with nine submarines; Tunny (SSG-282), Cusk (SS-348), Carbonero(SS-337), Tilefish (SS-307), Spinax (SSR-489), Rock (SSR-274), Remora (SS-487), Catfish (SS-339), Volador (SS-490) and the Submarine Rescue Vessel Florikan (ASR-9) moored alongside at San Diego for *Subron Five's* Change of Command, date unknown.	US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine, November 1955, courtesy of Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	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.
	109k	Remora (SS-487) leaving Pearl Harbor after a 7-month GUPPY III conversion which lengthened her hull by 15 feet and her conning tower by 5 feet, circa 1962.	Text courtesy of DANFS, photo courtesy of ussremora.com/
	52k	Remora (SS-487) dockside at Valletta, Malta, 1970.	Courtesy of ussremora.com
	18k	Remora (SS-487) surfaced and underway, date and place unknown.	Courtesy George M. Arnold
	174k	This photo of the shears of the Remora (SS-487) was taken 7 February 1946. This looks very much like a late wartime boat. A latest model of the "SJ" radar is installed along with a base for a whip antenna mounted on the "SV" mast housing. Mounted on the left of the life ring is a flare pot and to the right is a mounting for a machine gun. note the camoflauge paint applied to the face of the bridge and number one scope housing.	USN Archive photo # 19-N-92667. Photo and text courtesy of The Floating Drydock, Fleet Subs of WW II", by Thomas F. Walkowiak.
	163k	Bow on view of a West Coast Remora (SS-487) alongside a destroyer.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel. Photo added 08/10/09.
Katsonis (S-115)
	119k	Remora (SS-487) following her commissioning into the Greek Navy as Katsonis (S-115), circa 1974.	Official Hellenic Navy picture, courtesy of Tony Vrailas.
	164k	Katsonis (S-115) in pierside receiving some T.L.C.	Photo courtesy of militaryphotos.net. via photoship.co.uk & Cüneyt Demir.
	155k	Katsonis (S-115) at the ships disassembly zone, Izmir, Aliaga, Turkey. Aliaga contains a shipbreaking yard, so I assume *Katsonis* was sold to a third party which sent it there. I'm surprised that it was not sank in an exercise. Perhaps it was not HN's practice at that time.	Text & photo courtesy of militaryphotos.net. via Cüneyt Demir.