USS Blower (SS-325)

USS Blower (SS-325), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the blower, a fish of the Atlantic coast of the United States and the West Indies.

Blower (SS-325) was launched 23 April 1944 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. Richard F. J. Johnson, wife of Commander Johnson, and commissioned 10 August 1944, Lieutenant Commander J. H. Campbell in command.

Blower arrived at Pearl Harbor 16 December 1944 and, after undergoing voyage repairs and training exercises got underway for her first war patrol 17 January 1945. She completed three war patrols before the termination of hostilities, all in the Java and South China Seas. All three patrols proved unprofitable for Blower and she arrived at Fremantle, Australia, from her last patrol 28 July 1945. Blower departed the Southwest Pacific in September 1945 and, after engaging in training exercises around the Marianas and Caroline Islands for several months, proceeded to the United States via Pearl Harbor, arriving at San Diego 29 January 1946.

From 1946 through 1949 Blower was attached to the Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet. She operated mainly along the west coast on scheduled torpedo exercises submerged sound school operations, and training programs. During the latter part of 1946 she made a cruise to Japan, via Pearl Harbor and the Marianas. Early in 1947 she participated in fleet operations near Pearl Harbor.

During August–September 1948 Blower operated in Alaskan waters with USS Carp (SS-338) patrolling along the contour of the Arctic ice pack in the Chukchi Sea, carrying out radar tracking and sonar exercises. Returning to San Diego, the ship continued scheduled operations until early 1950 when she departed for the east coast to join Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet. She arrived at Philadelphia 3 March and underwent repairs at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard until September. On 27 September she arrived at New London, Conn., where she trained Turkish naval personnel.

TCG Dumlupınar
Blower was decommissioned at the Naval Submarine Base New London, 16 November 1950 and transferred to Turkey under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program, where she was recommissioned as the second TCG Dumlupınar. She was lost on 4 April 1953, when, returning from the NATO maneuver Blue-Sea, TCG Dumlupınar collided in the Dardanelles off the Nara Point with the Swedish freighter Naboland and sunk. 81 submariners died in this accident.