


Dorado
Country | United States |
Ship Class | Gato-class Submarine |
Hull Number | SS-248 |
Builder | Electric Boat Company |
Laid Down | 27 Aug 1942 |
Launched | 23 May 1943 |
Commissioned | 28 Aug 1943 |
Sunk | 14 Oct 1943 |
Displacement | 1,549 tons standard; 2,463 tons submerged |
Length | 312 feet |
Beam | 27 feet |
Draft | 17 feet |
Machinery | Four General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines (5,400shp), four high-speed General Electric electric motors (2,740shp), two 126-cell Sargo batteries, two propellers |
Bunkerage | 97,140gal oil |
Speed | 20 knots |
Range | 11,000nm at 10 knots surfaced, 48 hours at 2 knots submerged |
Crew | 60 |
Armament | 6x533mm forward torpedo tubes, 4x533mm aft torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, 1x76mm gun, 2x.50cal machine guns, 2x.30cal machine guns |
Submerged Speed | 8.75 knots |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseCommissioned into service in the summer of 1943, USS Dorado conducted shakedown and training operations off the New England region of northeastern United States. On 6 Oct 1943, she departed for the Panama Canal Zone for the ultimate destination of Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii. On 12 Oct 1943, a US Navy PBM Mariner aircraft operating out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba detected an unidentified submarine and attacked her with three depth charges and one bomb; it was not clear whether the submarine was damaged; later in the patrol, the same aircraft encountered another submarine which fired on the aircraft. Later, an Allied convoy sailing through the region reported no contact with any friendly submarines. After Dorado had failed to arrive at the Panama Canal Zone on 14 Oct, air searches were launched, finding scattered oil slicks that later investigation found to be not of submarine fuel in nature. It was ultimately concluded that both of the submarine contacts that the US Navy PBM Mariner aircraft encountered on 12 Oct 1943 were indeed hostile (the second contact was later concluded to be German submarine U-214), and thus USS Dorado was most likely lost due to an accident or to a German naval mine.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia
Last Major Revision: Dec 2012
Submarine Dorado (SS-248) 互動地圖
Photographs
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Dorado Operational Timeline
27 Aug 1942 | The keel of submarine Dorado was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, United States. |
23 May 1943 | Submarine Dorado was launched at Groton, Connecticut, United States, sponsored by the wife of Ezra G. Allen. |
28 Aug 1943 | USS Dorado was commissioned into service, Lieutenant Commander Earle Caffrey Schneider in command. |
6 Oct 1943 | USS Dorado departed New London, Connecticut, United States. |
12 Oct 1943 | An Allied convoy sailing through the planned path of USS Dorado reported no submarine contacts. |
14 Oct 1943 | USS Dorado failed to arrive at the Panama Canal Zone, and aircraft were launched to search, without success, for the submarine. Early suggestions that she was sunk in error by a US Mariner aircraft was later concluded as incorrect, and it seemed likely that her loss was attributable to an unknown accident on board or to a German naval mine. |
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Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal
12 Nov 2011 12:20:55 PM
"USS DORADO (SS-248): On Eternal Patrol" is a 614-page book about the sub, the officers and crew, and the search for the sub by the author, Douglas Campbell, over a 20-year period. Released on Oct 12, 2011, 68th Anniversary of her loss. ISBN 978-1-257-95155-0