SUBPAGE

USS TROUT (SS 566)
HOME PAGE and SHIP'S HISTORY
TANG CLASS SUBMARINE COMMISSIONED JUNE 27 1952
DECOMMISSIONING DECEMBER 19, 1978

HER PREDECESSOR USS TROUT SS 202 LOST FEBRUARY 29, 1944 ON HER 11th. WAR PATROL,
81 Brother Submarine Sailors Lost While Defending Our COUNTRY

Crew Members of SS 202 On Eternal Patrol, Sailors Rest Your Oars
Click for info on SS202 & lost crew list

JOIN UP FOR REUNION AND BRING ANOTHER CREW MEMBER WITH YOU
REUNION APRIL 1-4 2009
HOLIDAY INN JACKSONVILLE, FL.
REUNION WE BE SET UP TO FEATURE A TOUR OF KINGS BAY SUBMARINE BASE AND BOAT TOUR.
MORE INFO SOON!

click hat for Short Movie of Boat Tour

PHOTOS FROM REUNION 01

PHOTOS FROM REUNION 02

PHOTOS FROM REUNION 04

PHOTOS FROM REUNION 07

Trout has been removed from donation status and will be scraped.

USS TROUT HAS MOVED TO TEXAS FOR SCRAPING

Last Voyage of Trout. 11 January 2008
From Lew Bates 1958 Crew Member

I am saddened today as I think about the Trout leaving Philly and heading for Texas to be scrapped. It is raining and foggy and the temp is 40 degrees as she is towed away from the dock and down the Delaware River to the Delaware Bay and then out to open sea, back to sea for the last time.

Being under tow is nothing new for her; she had been towed more miles since her decommissioning than many boats had when in commission. Back when the transfer to Iran failed she was towed from Philly to New London for a while and then towed to Key West.

Her hatches are closed and I know it must be dark inside her and it is cold and quiet. Her Fairbanks engines that I worked on are silent and cold. Her green galley deck and tables are clean as if waiting for the crew to have a meal, but the galley stoves are cold and the reefers are empty. The helm is chained so the rudder is on zero degrees, the bow and stern planes are chained so they can’t be moved, and the diving manifold is locked too. The Christmas tree is not lit but it would be “green board” if it were and the depth gauge and all other gauges are dark.

It has been 49 years since I sailed on her but I remember her well. If I were on board her today in the dark and cold. I could move throughout her as I did so many times before. I think of the men who sailed on her and the things she took us through unscathed. I think of the many times she dove and surfaced and the miles she has traveled beneath many oceans around the world. Her ballast and fuel tanks are empty, but she is on an even keel as she slowly cuts through the water.

I am reminded of many things as I think about when I was one of her crew. Together we kept her running, played cards and watched movies, went on liberty, laughed and shared stories of home and our girls. I remember Esther Williams coming down the forward hatch with black slacks, red sweater, and her blonde hair in a ponytail and her graceful moves through the boat even with high heels to make a movie for TV. We all traded our battle stations for TV stations that week. I remember taking the officers who were going through sub school to sea every day for a week so we could "teach them" sub stuff when we were assigned to be the “school sub” for a week. There were 13 dives and surfaces every day so every officer got to give the commands and who could forget the one day when the officer surfaced her stern first. It worked but all of us not in the control room had a puzzled look as to why it was happening. I wonder if he ever got his own boat.

I think about going under the ice cap and setting a world’s distance record for a diesel sub traveling under the ice. It was just one of her many adventures and today she starts her last one. The captain of the tow ship said with good weather in nine days she will be in Texas to begin her scrapping. What a sad ending for such a great boat, I would have rather seen her sunk or let’s say submerged for one last dive. I know I am not the only shipmate thinking about her today. There are many who remember her and the good and bad times we had while we were on board her. Good-bye old boat, you will always be in our thoughts.....LEW BATES FN 1958

The keel was laid down by Electric Boat Division in Groton Connecticut on December 1, 1949. It was launched August 21, 1951. USS TROUT (SS 566) was commissioned at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut on 27 June 1952.

She was built by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut as a Fast Attack, USS TANG (SS 563) Class, Diesel Electric Submarine.
TROUT is the second submarine in the U.S. Navy to, bear the name Her predecessor, USS TROUT SS 202, distinguished herself in ten war patrols-during World War II in which she sank 25 enemy ships for a total of 75,000 tons. She was lost on her eleventh patrol in Feburary, 29, 1944, leaving a great tradition of excellence for her namesake.
TROUT was commanded by LCDR E. L. WILLEVER of Stewartsville, New Jersey in 1966. Her Executive Officer is LCDR E. J. SABOL, Jr., of Medina, Ohio. She has a complement of 10 officers and men. She is powered by three diesel engines when surfaced and two batteries when submerged. After her Commissioning, TROUT operated as a unit of Submarine squadron
TEN in New London, Connecticut until August 1960. The keel was laid down by Electric Boat Division in Groton Connecticut on December 1, 1949. It was launched August 21, 1951. She now operates as a unit of Submarine Squadron FOUR with Charleston, South Carolina as her homeport.
During TROUT'S years of service she has taken part in many exercises with our own and allied navies and has visited many-European, Caribbean and South American ports.

In March 1959, TROUT set a record for distance traveled under ice for a diesel-electric type submarine. In September of the same year, TROUT deployed to the Mediterranean to serve with the U.S. Sixth Fleet. En route to her homeport, she stopped in Bergen, Norway to represent the United States at the 5Oth Anniversary Celebration of the Norwegian Submarine Force.
TROUT was a test vehicle for the Bureau of Ships "Shock Tests" in February 1960. She was the first ship to complete these tests. TROUT was awarded the Battle Efficiency Award in 1961. She wore the coveted white "E" on her sail for one year as the symbol of standing first among the submarines of Squadron FOUR in annual competition.

Oct. 1962, the TROUT was sent out as point vessel to possibly sink a Soviet merchant ship that was transporting ICBM's into Cuba. It was real dicey. We will remember it as the Cuban Missile Crisis. William Crowe was skipper of the trout at that time. Later in his Naval Career he was promoted to the rank of Admiral and Admiral William Crowe was appointed Chairman Joint Chiefs of staff.

In early 1963 TROUT rendered service's to the Operational-Test and Evaluation Force for several project operations. She assisted the surface Anti-Submarine Forces by simulating an unfriendly unit penetrating U.S. waters. She also assumed the role of enemy while hindering major fleet amphibious exercises.
TROUT spent the remainder of 1963 undergoing an extensive overhaul at Charleston Naval Shipyard.
In 1964, after post-overhaul fire control checks in New London, Connecticut, TROUT made preparations for another Mediterranean deployment. She arrived in Lisbon, Portugal on April 17th and from there visited the ports of Palma, Barcelona, Cannes, Toulon, Naples, Athens and Malta, Operations during the deployment included exercises with various NATO commands. During the latter part of 1964, TROUT participated-in a joint Canadian-U.S. exercise along the East Coast of the United States and: assisted the U.S. Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory; in its evaluation of new developments in electronic equipment.
1965 was a busy year for TROUT. The months of March and April were spent in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, providing services to Anti-submarine Warfare forces. Visits to Port Antonio and Montego Bay and Kingston Jamaica highlighted this deployment. In May TROUT received a new battery installment and accomplished interim docking at Charleston Naval Shipyard. In July TROUT was once again honored with the award of the Battle Efficiency "E" for Excellence, having achieved top standing among the submarines of Submarine Division FORTY TWO in the annual competition.
During the later part of 1965 TROUT participated in a mine laying exercise with several other submarines that Were Opposed by "enemy" aircraft and surface ships. This was followed by an exercise that required TROUT to make an undetected submerged transit through waters controlled by "enemy" ships, planes and submarines.
In February and March l966 TROUT spent Six weeks in the Caribbean providing services for Anti-submarine Warfare, forces in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and for the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, both in St. Croix U.S. Virgin Islands, and Key West, Florida.
In July 1970, she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
Homeported at San Diego, California, TROUT conducted two WesPac deployments -- in 1972 and 1975 -- primarily providing submarine services during ASW exercises conducted by warships of the U.S., South Korea, or Nationalist Chinese navies. Between these deployments, the submarine participated in antisubmarine warfare exercises and conducted local operations off the southern California operating areas, punctuating this service with weapons tests in the Pacific Northwest, out of Puget Sound.
After returning from her second WesPac deployment to San Diego on 20 January 1976, TROUT operated off the west coast until receiving orders on 1 December changing her homeport to Philadelphia. She was decommissioned and struck from the Navy list on 19 December 1978 and sold to Iran. When the American hostages were seized at the American Embassy in Iran, TROUT was seized as an Iranian asset. She was sold to Naval Undersea Warfare Center for scrap value of $20,000 in 1992 now being used as a target remotely controlled (unmanned) target vessel for the US Naval Aircraft in Key West, FL

Click Here for 1951 Information Sheet For TROUT

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