USS Darter (SS-576)

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Career
Awarded:	30 June 1954
Laid down:	10 November 1954
Launched:	28 May 1956
Commissioned:	20 October 1956
Fate:	Disposed of as a target
Stricken:	17 January 1990
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1871 tons surfaced, 2372 tons submerged
Length:	86.2 meters (283 feet) overall, 86.2 meters (283 feet) waterline
Beam:	8.2 meters (27 feet) extreme, 7.6 meters (25 feet) waterline
Draft:	5.7 meters (19 feet)
Complement:	10 officers, 75 men
Speed:	15.5 knots surfaced, 16 knots submerged
Depth:	700 feet
Armament:	six 21-inch torpedo tubes forward, two aft

USS Darter (SS-576), a unique submarine based on the Tang class but incorporating many improvements, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the darter, a small American fresh-water fish closely related to the perch. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 30 June 1954 and her keel was laid down on 10 November 1954. She was launched on 28 May 1956 sponsored by Mrs. G.L. Russell, and commissioned on 20 October 1956, with Lieutenant Commander Ralph R. Blaine in command.

Darter was used to experiment with numerous innovations including a three-man helmsman-planesman station using aircraft-style stick controls.

Darter operated on various training exercises in the Atlantic, both locally from her home ports of Newport, Rhode Island, and Charleston, South Carolina, and to Canada and Northern Europe on NATO maneuvers.

Darter was decommissioned on 1 December 1989 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 January 1990. On 7 January 1992, ex-Darter was sunk by Tautog (SSN-639) off Pearl Harbor.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.