USS Razorback (SS-394)

USS ''Razorback'' (SS-394), a , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named after the razorback, a species of whale (''Balaenoptera physalus'') found in the far southern reaches of the Pacific Ocean. She is arguably the longest-serving combat front-line submarine still existing in the world, having been commissioned by two different countries for 56 years of active duty. She was in Tokyo Bay during the surrender of Japan. In 2004, the state of Arkansas adopted the submarine (although she was not named after the University of Arkansas Razorbacks mascot) and she is now a museum ship at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum.

Construction and commissioning

''Razorback''′s keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine on 9 September 1943. She was launched, sponsored by Hazel DuMont (Grant) Davis, wife of Captain H.F.D. Davis, manager of the Portland Navy Yard from June 1940 to June 1944, on 27 January 1944 along with and . was launched a few hours later, making 27 January 1944 the only time the U.S. Navy has launched four submarines at one shipyard in a single day. ''Razorback'' was commissioned on 3 April 1944, Lt. Comdr. A.M. Bontier, commanding.

Service history

U.S. Navy

World War II

During shakedown exercises off New London, Connecticut in late April 1944, ''Razorback'' ran aground on Race Point Ledge between Fisher Island's Race Point and Race Rock in Block Island Sound. A board of inquiry removed the captain and replaced him with Commander Roy S. Benson. The executive officer, Lt. Commander Haynes was also replaced, by Lt Commander C. Donald Brown.

After shakedown off New England, ''Razorback'' proceeded to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Her first war patrol, commencing 25 August, was conducted east of Luzon as a member of an offensive group in support of the mid-September Palau landings. After sighting only enemy antisubmarine planes, she headed northeastward, arriving at Midway Island on 19 October.

On 15 November ''Razorback'' sailed from Midway Island on her second war patrol in company with and . Operating with these submarines in the Luzon Straits, ''Razorback'' damaged 6933 ton freighter ''Kenjo Maru'' on 6 December and sank the old 820 ton destroyer Kuretake and damaged another freighter on 30 December. She arrived at Guam for refit on 5 January 1945.

On 1 February ''Razorback'' set out for the East China Sea for her third war patrol, this time accompanied by ''Segundo'' and . After sinking four wooden ships in three separate surface gun actions, she deposited three Japanese prisoners at Guam before terminating her patrol at Pearl Harbor on 26 March 1945.

On 7 May ''Razorback'' headed west again. Assigned to lifeguard duty in the Nanpō Islands and Tokyo Bay areas, she rescued Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Taylor, a P-51 fighter pilot from the 21st Fighter Group on 25 May. On 5 June she rescued four B-29 Superfortress crewmen shot down during an air raid over Kobe, Japan. ''Razorback'' retired to Midway Island to end that patrol and refit on 27 June.

On 22 July ''Razorback'' departed Midway Island for patrol in the Okhotsk Sea, where she sank six wooden cargo sea trucks (i.e., small Imperial Japanese Navy ship types used for frontline logistics) and damaged two in a surface gun action. The remainder of the patrol was spent performing lifeguard services off Paramushiro for Alaska-based planes. On 31 August ''Razorback'' entered Tokyo Bay with 11 other submarines to take part in the formal Japanese surrender. She departed 3 September, arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 11 September and San Diego, California on 20 September.

1945–1954

After the war she remained active with the Pacific Fleet serving off Japan and China in early 1948 and again in late 1949. She won the Navy "E" for overall excellence in 1949. In August 1952 she decommissioned incident to conversion to a GUPPY IIA-type submarine. She recommissioned in January 1954 and reported to Submarine Squadron 10 at New London, Connecticut, for shakedown and training.

1954–1970

Following shakedown ''Razorback'' was transferred to the United States West Coast and on 24 May 1954 became a unit of Submarine Squadron 3, based at Naval Station San Diego in San Diego, California. The remainder of 1954 and 1955 were spent providing antisubmarine training services for local surface and air units. In 1956 her range of operations was extended north to Canada and on 24 June 1957 she got underway for an extended Far East patrol that included extensive surveillance of the Russian port of Petropavlovsk. She won a second Battle "E" in 1959.

On 11 May 1962, ''Razorback'' participated in the "SWORDFISH" nuclear weapons test, a test of the ASROC (Anti-Submarine Rocket). An ASROC with a 10-kiloton, W44 nuclear depth charge warhead was fired by the destroyer at a target raft from a range of . ''Razorback'' was submerged at periscope depth approximately from the target raft. The explosion produced an underwater shock wave that shook ''Razorback''. A video of this test is available from the Department of Energy.

Regularly deployed to the Seventh Fleet into the sixties ''Razorback'' sailed into the South China Sea on her 1965 deployment where she earned her first Vietnam Service Medal. She returned to San Diego on 1 February 1966, but was in the western Pacific from 29 December 1966 to 3 July 1967 and from 6 August 1968 to February 1969. During 1969 she continued to operate on the west coast out of San Diego, winning her third Battle "E" on 2 July 1969. ''Razorback''s last deployment, again to the western Pacific, was from 30 January to 7 August 1970. During a stopover in Guam, scenes for the film '' Noon Sunday'' were shot aboard the boat. Not long after her return to the West Coast, she was decommissioned at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. Concurrent with her decommissioning on 30 November, ''Razorback'' was transferred to the Turkish Navy.

Honors and awards

In her 26 years of service in the U.S. Navy ''Razorback'' earned five battle stars for World War II service, four campaign stars for Vietnam War service and two awards of the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.

TCG ''Muratreis'' (S-336)

The submarine was recommissioned TCG ''Muratreis'' (S-336) on 17 December 1971, named after the great Ottoman admiral Murat Reis and served Turkey for 31 years, decommissioning on 8 August 2001.

After decommissioning

The city of North Little Rock, Arkansas purchased ex-''Muratreis'' from Turkey on 25 March 2004 for US$37,500. Private donations provided the funds for the purchase and all towing costs.

The submarine departed Turkey under tow on 5 May 2004, crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Gibraltar, and then was towed across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving at Key West, Florida, on the evening of 13 June 2004. On 14 June 2004, she again was taken under tow, and she arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 19 June 2004. From there she was towed up the Mississippi River and the Arkansas River to her permanent berth in North Little Rock.

After a stopover for the dedication of the Montgomery Point Lock and Dam on 16 July, her transit was delayed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers over safety concerns. At the time of transit, she was drafting at her bow and at nearly at her stern, while some portions of the Arkansas River were less than deep. A pair of barges were used as pontoons to lift the submarine a few feet to clear the river bottom while remaining low enough to pass under the bridges along her route, just as the submarine had 32 years earlier.

On 29 August 2004, ''Razorback'' reached her berth in North Little Rock, at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum. She officially opened to the public on 15 May 2005.

''Razorback'' was also the meeting place the Quapaw Area Council Sea Scout ship number 394. Sea Scout Ship 394, as part of the Venturing program, had a particular emphasis on water-based activities. The Sea Scout Ship dissolved after only a few years of being chartered.

''Razorback'' is the subject of a full-length documentary film, "Greyhound of the Sea: USS Razorback," slated for release in 2016. The film is a joint effort between the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Mass Communication.
''Razorback'' shares her shoreline with memorials to the submarines and .

Visitors to the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum can tour the submarine most Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

In Pop Culture

The ''USS Razorback'' is featured in the fictional book ''SSN Seadragon The Crucible of Leviathan'' by J.P. Ronald.

''Razorback'' already converted to GUPPY IIA reconnoiters the beaches off Inchon, and lands a covert CIA/Underwater Demolition Team operative to collect vital intelligence in the weeks leading up to the famous Inchon landings of 1950.

Awards

Gallery

USS Tilefish, USS Razorback and USS Charr moored in Vancouver, BC.jpg, USS ''Razorback'' and two other US Navy ships moored in Vancouver
RazorbackInRiver 01.jpg, USS ''Razorback'' in the Arkansas River
US Navy 040707-N-0000P-001 USS Razorback (SS 394) returns to the United States after 34 years of service in the Turkish Navy.jpg, USS ''Razorback'' returns to the US after 34 years of service in the Turkish Navy

Notes

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References

External links

Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum
(AIMM)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Razorback (Ss-394)
1944 ships
Balao-class submarines of the Turkish Navy
Cold War submarines of the United States
Military and war museums in Arkansas
Museum ships in Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Pulaski County, Arkansas
Naval museums in the United States
Ships built in Kittery, Maine
Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Turkish Navy
Tourist attractions in North Little Rock, Arkansas
World War II submarines of the United States