USS Ulua

Ulua (left) and Trumpetfish (right) under construction at the Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, on 2 July 1945.
History
United States
Name	Ulua
Namesake	The ulua, a tropical Pacific food fish
Builder	Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Laid down	13 November 1943
Launched	23 April 1946
Completed	Never
Commissioned	Never
Stricken	12 June 1958
Fate	Construction contract cancelled 12 August 1945
Notes	Served as testing hulk 1951–1958
General characteristics
Class and type	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine[1]
Displacement	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced,[1] 2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged[1]
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[1]
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[1]
Draft	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[1]
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators[2][3] 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries[4] 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears[2] two propellers [2] 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[2] 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged[2]
Speed	20.25 kn (37.50 km/h) surfaced,[5] 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged[5]
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)[5]
Endurance	48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[5] 75 days on patrol
Test depth	400 ft (120 m)[5]
Complement	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[5]
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Ulua (SS-428), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the ulua, an important food fish of the tropical Pacific Ocean. She was never completed.

Ulua's keel was laid down on 13 November 1943 at Philadelphia by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company, but the curtailment of U.S. Navy construction programs in the closing days of World War II resulted in the suspension of further construction on 12 August 1945.

The partly completed submarine was launched on 23 April 1946 and towed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for maintenance prior to beginning her career as a test hull. Towed to Norfolk, Virginia, in 1951, she participated in tests to gather research data on new weapon and submarine design. Ulua was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register list on 12 June 1958. Her hulk was sold for scrap on 30 September 1958 to the Portsmouth Salvage Company, Inc.

References

1. Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 275–282. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
2. Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 270–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9. OCLC 24010356.
3. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
4. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
5. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery at navsource.org