USS ''Corporal'' (SS-346), a

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

, was a ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

named for the corporal, an alternate name for the

fallfish The fallfish (''Semotilus corporalis'') is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Leuciscidae. The fallfish is the largest minnow species native to Eastern North America. Description Average specimens generally measure about in ...

, found in streams of the eastern United States.

Construction and commissioning

''Corporal'' was launched 10 June 1945 by

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

Co.,

Groton, Connecticut Groton ( ) is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, located on the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United St ...

, sponsored by Mrs. H. C. Wick; commissioned 9 November 1945, Commander Edward E. Shelby in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

Service history

''Corporal'' cleared New London 8 January 1946 for her base at

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

, arriving 25 February. She took part in antisubmarine warfare projects and fleet exercises off

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

until returning to Groton 26 February 1947. After extensive modernization, she returned to Key West 2 March 1948. She continued to conduct training and join in exercises off Florida and in the Caribbean until her first tour of duty in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

with the 6th Fleet from 16 July 1952 to 15 October. Returning to local operations off Key West, she also participated in large-scale fleet exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She cruised to the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

from 11 March to 16 May 1957, and upon her return to Key West, continued training and services to the Fleet Sonar School. Through 1958 and 1959, she operated frequently in ordnance tests, and from August 1959, when

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, became her home port, cruised widely along the east coast. In December 1960 ''Corporal'' sailed to visit

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and then join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. USS ''Corporal'' was converted to a Guppy III configuration and continued to operate throughout the 1960s and early 1970s in various capacities during the Cold War. She made regular "Northern" runs across the Arctic Circle above the North Sea, regular "Mediterranean Cruises", frequently operated in the Caribbean and trained submarine sailors in conjunction with the Submarine School in New London, Connecticut. In 1967 USS ''Corporal'' collided in Rhode Island's Block Island Sound with the 30-foot sloop ''Medea IV'', whose owner afterward claimed "they never offered us assistance or asked us if we were damaged."

Helicopter landing

During naval exercises off Key West in April 1956, a US Navy

Sikorsky H-34 The Sikorsky H-34 (company designation S-58) is an American Reciprocating engine, piston-engined military utility helicopter originally designed by Sikorsky Aircraft, Sikorsky as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft for the United States ...

helicopter,

serial number A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letters ...

51, made an emergency landing on the ''Corporal''s deck because it experienced serious mechanical problems during an

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

exercise in which the Corporal had been serving as the

opposing force An opposing force (alternatively enemy force, abbreviated OPFOR or OpFor) is a military unit tasked with representing an enemy, usually for training purposes in war game scenarios. The related concept of aggressor squadron is used by some ai ...

. After close cooperation by radio and hasty preparations by the submariners, the distressed helicopter managed to touch down safely aft of the submarine's

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

. The incident marked "the first time a helicopter made an emergency landing on a submarine." At the time of that emergency landing, the submarine was under the command of Lieutenant Commander E. O. Proctor, and those aboard the helicopter were Commander W. F. Culley and Lieutenant J. K. Johnson. Helicopter on USS Corporal

TCG ''Ikinci İnönü'' (S333)

She was decommissioned, struck from the US

Naval Register A Navy Directory, Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a co ...

, and transferred (sold) to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, under terms of the Security Assistance Program, 28 November 1973. On 12 February 1974 she was commissioned TCG ''Ikinci İnönü'' (S333) ("Second İnönü"), the second of three submarines named in honor of the

Second Battle of İnönü The Second Battle of İnönü () was fought between March 23 and April 1, 1921 near İnönü, Eskişehir, İnönü in present-day Eskişehir Province, Turkey during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22), also known as the western front of the larg ...

in the

Turkish Independence War , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

.Gardiner, Robert, '' Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982, Pt I: The Western Powers'' (1982) Naval Institute Press, Annapolis p121 She was dropped from the Turkish Naval rolls on 2 September 1996, and scrapped. Today, a section of hull containing the stern torpedo tubes is preserved at the Naval Museum at

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

References

External links

official web site USS Corporal SS346
* *https://web.archive.org/web/20041024221458/http://www.turkishnavy.net/submarine/liste.htm *http://www.denizaltici.com/submarine-service.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Corporal (SS-346) Balao-class submarines Ships built in Groton, Connecticut 1945 ships Cold War submarines of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Turkish Navy Balao-class submarines of the Turkish Navy