c1940 WWII RPPC USS PLUNGER SS-179 SUBMARINE A474

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c1940 WWII RPPC USS PLUNGER SS-179 SUBMARINE - The Plunger (SS-179) passes undr a bridge, probably when she steamed to San Diego to join SubDiv 14, SubRon 6 between November 1937 & November 1941. Please see SHIP Biography below POSTMARKED - NONE REAL PHOTO POSTCARD EKC 1940 - 1950 CONDITION Very Good / Excellent with slight edge wear - Original Antique Postcard...not a reproduction! Please view our site for more of ANTIQUE POSTCARDS to combine for NO additional shipping charge! Perch Class Submarine: Laid down, 17 July 1935, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 8 July 1936; Commissioned, USS Plunger (SS-179), 19 November 1936; Decommissioned, 15 November 1945, at Boston Navy Yard, Boston, MA.; Placed in service as a Naval Reserve Training Vessel at Brooklyn, NY in May 1946; Declared unessential, 5 July 1956; Struck from the Naval Register, 6 July 1956; Final Disposition, sold for scraping, 22 April 1957, to Bethlehem Steel Co., Bethlehem, PA. Plunger received 14 battle stars for World War II service. Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,330 t., Submerged: 1,997 t.; Length 300' 7" ; Beam 21' 5"; Draft 13' 10"; Speed, Surfaced 21 kts, Submerged 9 kts; Maximum Operating Depth, 250'; Complement 5 Officers, 45 Enlisted; Armament, six 21" torpedo tubes, 18 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, four .30 cal. machine guns; Propulsion, diesel-electric, Winton diesel engines, HP 4300, Fuel Capacity, 92,801 gals.; GE motors, HP 2368, 240 battery cells, twin screws. USS Plunger (SS-179), a Porpoise-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named plunger: a diver, a daring gambler. The second Plunger was laid down 17 July 1935 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine; launched 8 July 1936 (sponsored by Miss Edith E. Greenlee); commissioned 19 November 1936, Lt. George L. Russell (later commander of Submarine Squadron 10) in command. Plunger departed Gravesend Bay, N.Y. 15 April 1937 for a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, the Canal Zone, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. In November, following post-shakedown alterations at Portsmouth, she steamed to San Diego to join SubDiv 14, SubRon 6 (Submarine Division 14, Submarine Squadron 6). Continuing operations in the San Diego area for the next several years, Plunger joined Holland (AS�3) and five Porpoise-class boats 15 March 1938 for a cruise to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Training cruises to waters off Panama and Hawaii occupied the next several years. On 30 November 1941 she reported to Pearl Harbor and was off Diamond Head when Japanese planes attacked 7 December. Plunger, commanded by David C. White (Class of 1927) set out on her first patrol less than a week after the Pearl Harbor attack, but had to turn back due to a pressure hull leak[11]. Repaired, she set out again on 14 December. Along with Gudgeon (SS-211) and Pollack (SS-180), Plunger was part of the first US Navy offensive operation of World War II. Her orders sent her to Kii Suido, a principal entrance into the Inland Sea and an important funnel to industrial bases in the area. The three boats took two important technological devices into enemy waters: the Mark VI magnetic exploder for their Mark 14 torpedoes, and the primitive SD radar set. Shortly after White arrived on station, Plunger was seen by a Japanese destroyer which came on using powerful echo-ranging sonar�or "pinging." Hearing the pinging was a jolt. The submarine force had not known for certain, until now, that the Japanese had such gear. The Japanese not only had it, they knew how to use it. The destroyer found Plunger and unleashed twenty-four close depth charges. It was a vicious, determined attack, the first for both the hunter and the hunted in Empire waters. It jarred the boat and crew severely. White was thankful that he had put back into Pearl Harbor to repair the weakness in the hull. Had he not, Plunger might not have survived.[12] She sank Japanese cargo ship Eizon Maru 18 January 1942. Plunger's second war patrol, 5 June to 15 July, took ... read more

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