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USS Unicorn (SS-429)
Career (United States) US flag 48 stars
Name: USS Unicorn
Namesake: The narwhal, sometimes called the "sea unicorn"
Builder: Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (proposed)
Laid down: Never
Fate: Construction contract cancelled 29 July 1944
General characteristics
Class & 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 electrical 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:

USS Unicorn (SS-429), a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine of the United States Navy to be given that name for the narwhal, an Arctic marine cetacean with a single tusk suggesting the horn of a unicorn and therefore sometimes called the "sea unicorn." She was never built.

The contract for Unicorn's construction was authorized on 9 July 1942 and her keel was scheduled to be laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but she was cancelled on 29 July 1944 before construction could begin.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Register
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 275–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9. 
  3. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311


All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at USS Unicorn (SS-429) and the edit history here.
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