USS Dorado Specs

Displacement

Surfaced: 1,526 tons

Submerged 2,424 tons

Length: 311'

Beam: 27'3"

Draft: 16'10"

Speed: 20 knots surfaced, 9 knots submerged 

Armament: 1 3"/50 or 1 4"/50 or 1 5"/50, 6 bow and 4 stern torpedo tubes, 24 21" torpedoes (loaded tubes plus

reloads: 10 forward, 4 aft) Complement: 80

Diesel engines, surfaced/electric motors, submerged Built at Electric Boat Co., and commissioned 28 August 1943

Dorado was one of only two U.S. Navy submarines lost in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. The other was the USS R-12 which sank during a training dive near Key West, Florida.  A total of 52 American Submarines were lost in WWII with a loss of over 3,500 men.

The USS DORADO (SS-248) was a Gato-class submarine and was the first submarine of the United States Navy to be named for the dorado, also known as the dolphinfish or mahi-mahi.  Her keel was laid down on 27 August 1942 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut, she was launched on 23 May 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Ezra G. Allen) and then was commissioned on 28 August 1943 with LCDR Earle Caffrey Schneider as the first Commanding Officer.

Following sea trials she sailed from New London, Connecticut, on 6 October 1943 for the Panama Canal Zone. She did not arrive.

The Voyage

ME

The Crew

In memoriam