January 20th - On This Date - USN Submarine Service

1915 - 

PCU L-1 (SS-40) launched at Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, MA; sponsored by Mrs. Freeland A. Daubin.

1919 - 

PCU S-9 (SS-114) keel laid as S-9 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.

1942 - 

USS S-36 (SS-141) lost after grounding on Taka Bakang Reef in Makassar Strait, west of Southern Celebes, Indonesia.

At 0404 on the morning of 20 January, she ran hard aground. For over 24 hours the crew battled to save the submarine but chlorine gas, generated by her flooded forward battery, and the hostile waves and currents of the sea combined against them. A plain language request for aid was sent out and on the morning of the 21st a Dutch launch, ATTLA, was dispatched from Makassar City. By noon, the launch had taken off most of the officers and men of S-36. At 1330, the fight and the submarine were abandoned. The last to leave left her rigged to flood.

She was the second U.S. submarine loss of World War II.

There were no casualties.

1942 - 

PCU GUARDFISH (SS-217) launched at the Electric Boat Company, Groton, CT; sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Marquart.

1942 -

PCU SAWFISH (SS-276) keel laid as SAWFISH at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.

1943 - 

USS SILVERSIDES (SS-236) experienced the infamous "dangling torpedo" problem in which one fish did not impulse or swim completely out and was jammed half way out of one forward tube. SILVERSIDES underwent a depth charge attack with a fish dangling.

1943 - 

PCU CAPELIN (SS-289) launched at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME; sponsored by Mrs. I. C. Bogart.

1945 - 

USS SEAWOLF (SS-197) struck from the Naval Vessel Register.

1948 - 

USS CUSK (SS-348) was redesignated a Missile Submarine (SSG-348) and was the first submarine to launch a guided missile from her own deck, a forerunner of the ballistic missile submarines of the future.

1969 - 

Ex-DENTUDA (SS-335) sold for scrapping to Zidell Explorations of Portland, OR for $55,459.00. Dentuda earned one battle star for World War II service.

1981 - 

PCU MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL (SSN-708) keel laid as MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL at the Electric Boat Division, General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, CT.

2005 -

The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS OKLAHOMA CITY (SSN-723) returned to Norfolk Naval Station, VA, after completing a six-month deployment that circumnavigated North America.

OKLAHOMA CITY deployed to the Pacific Ocean in July 2004 and within three weeks completed an inter-fleet transfer under the Arctic. In the Pacific, OKLAHOMA CITY conducted operations in support of national security interests and the Global War on Terrorism.

The submarine completed her circumnavigation of North America by transiting back to the Atlantic through the Panama Canal and returning to her homeport in Norfolk, VA.

COB