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 A few Gato configuration questions
Author: Robert Morgan (---.tx-dallas0.sa.earthlink.net)
Date:   11-05-06 13:04

Does anyone know when the first Brisbane based boats got the four inch deck gun? I ask because I’m trying to identify a particular boat in Jones and Nunan’s “US Subs Down Under: Brisbane, 1942-1945.” The photo is #51804 from Record Group 80-G. Its caption simply reads, “Submarines refitting alongside Fulton in the Brisbane River…” No information is given as to the boats’ identities.

There are four subs in the picture, two Portsmouth/Mare Island built and two Electric Boat/Manitowac built. The mystery sub is an Electric Boat/Manitowac built boat, with a high sail forward with the reduced number of deadlights common from Amberjack onward in the production run, cut down sail (cigarette deck aft), a three inch deck gun forward, SJ radar, and here’s the weird part – only partially cut down periscope shears. The upper shears are cut down but the lower ones are still solid. She has one small boat locker to port.

The other subs all have cut down sails forward and aft, plus four inch deck guns forward. The Portsmouth built boat has those odd cutouts in the sail that started coming about late in the production run, so she’s probably one of the last four Portsmouth/Mare Island built boats from either yard. I have my suspicions that she’s Scamp. You can see what I mean from this photo of Scamp: http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/0827908.jpg . There’s a row of D-shaped cutouts running horizontally and a row of two teardrop shaped cutouts running vertically, one of which appears to be under her running light. At least one of the boats in the photo has pressure proof lockers to serve the deck gun, so I really doubt that this is a 1942 to early 1943 photo.

Okay, now based upon when Portsmouth/Mare Island with those odd cutouts were in Brisbane, and when Electric Boat/Manitowac built boats with the reduced number of high sail deadlights were also in Brisbane, plus when Fulton was in Brisbane, I’ve got it narrowed down to a few possible candidates.
1. Amberjack: doubtful due to when she was lost (February, 1943), and none of the applicable Portsmouth/Mare Island boats were there yet. Also, the mystery Gato has only one small boat locker, and I think Amberjack had two. I think… I’d welcome any clarification on this.
2. Blackfish: the real dark horse because she didn’t arrive from her Atlantic service until fall, 1943, and I have a hard time seeing a boat that saw stateside yard time still shipping out with a high sail forward and entirely uncut shears that late in the war. Having said that, there were Portsmouth/Mare Island boats with the cutouts in Brisbane when she was there. Also, I have no evidence that Blackfish wasn’t built with one small boat locker. Photos of her are pretty much nonexistent.
3. Peto: this is the most likely candidate, since she was built with the high sail forward with reduced deadlights, and apparently made it to the Pacific in that guise, going directly from Panama to Brisbane. However, I must ask why she has the smallish three inch deck gun for a new construction boat? I suspect that she has only one small boat locker based upon a Navsource photo (grainy, but its decent enough) that appears to show no outward bulge in the decking where the locker bulged the run of the deck outward on the starboard side, but there is a bulge on the port side. Again, I'd welcome clarification on this.

Anyway, in the absence of a firm photo attribution, I need some information.
1. When did the first boats get the four inch deck gun, especially those in Brisbane?
2. At what point hull number-wise in the production run did Electric Boat and Manitowac switch from two small boat lockers to one?

Thank you for any and all help. The mystery Gato is just so archaic looking compared to the others that I'm really intrigued to figure out who she is!

Robert
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 A few Gato configuration questions  new
Robert Morgan 11-05-06 13:04 


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