Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "USS Balao - Guide 169" video.

  1. Yes, she and another ex-USN boat, SS-791 Hai Shih , ex-USS Cutlass . The Taiwanese (Republic of China) Navy had announced in 2017 yet another service life extension program for the Hai Shih that was expected to be completed by the end of 2020 that will extend her service life to at least 2026. at which point she will be 80 years old, by far the oldest submarine in commission, and possibly the oldest combat vessel still in commission. Plans for the same kind of SLEP for the Hai Pao haven't been announced, but Taiwan generally doesn't announce such things until the program is underway. There's no reason to think that won't happen since each veteran represents one quarter of the ROC's submarine strength. President Trump authorized the licenses needed for US companies to sell the technology needed for the ROC to begin construction on a new submarine fleet, and indications are that construction is underway as of 2019. The sfirest of the six boats probably won't be commissioned until 2026 so the two veteran boats will probably be refitted with modern electronics and combat systems while using US Mk 48 torpedoes.
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  2.  @trooperdgb9722  Did you notice the part where I said "the oldest submarine in commission, and possibly the oldest COMBAT vessel still in commission"? I'm well aware of Constitution and Victory but neither one are combat vessels.
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  3.  @patricklenigan4309  Considering that Hai Shih is getting some of the most modern electronics installed along with much improved radars and sonars, I'm pretty sure she will at least be able to hold her own against other PLAN diesel subs. According to foreign observers, ROC submarine crews have always been trained to high standards, and their maintenance and upkeep of even their obsolete equipment has always been first rate. I wouldn't be too quick to write off the old girl when she comes out of the shipyard.
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  4.  @TheSportCompact  Reading comprehension seems to a fading thing nowadays. I wrote "oldest COMBAT vessel still in commision". I wrote it again in the reply right before you decided you decided you needed to tell me about Constitution , and after another poster just before you did the same thing. Do you think she's still a vessel ready for COMBAT ? Geez....
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  5.  @patricklenigan4309  She's certainly not be able to fight one of the PLAN's AIP subs, but she's at least equal to the Ming class and only about four knots slower than a Kilo boat, so a lot depends on what sub she meets and the training of the crews. The ROC Navy knows they are grossly deficient in submarines, but it's only in the last couple of years that she has been able to buy the technology, plus have developed the domestic capacity, needed to start building her own subs. The plans are for a fully modern AIP submarine, so I guess the ROC Navy can only hope that, if war comes, it waits about ten years. :-)
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  6. The Balao (SS-285) through the Crevalle (SS-291) were that last seven US subs with the 4"/50 gun as standard equipment. Later boats had the newer Mk 17 Wet mount 5"/25 guns at commissioning. The first seven boats were supposed to be armed with the 5"/25 but they weren't ready when those boats went into service. Most of them received a 5"/25 during upkeep periods from tenders at forward baes. Most, that is, except for Balao . Her skipper, Captain Marion Frederic Ramirez de Arellano, and gun crews felt the 4"/50 was a better gun for sinking the sampans and sea trucks that Japan still had left by 1944. The shell were lighter, and the smaller size of each shell allowed more rounds to be carried and allow a higher rate of fire on the often pitching deck of a sub. The range of the 4"/50 was almost the same as the 5"/25, and armor penetration was no longer an issue. The Balao somehow evaded the addition of a 5"/25 until sometime in early 1945, when word came down that all the Balao class would be uniformly armed with the 5"/25 gun, like it or not. Captain Ramirez de Arellano still continued to be something of maverick when it came to deck armament. Balao was the first to be armed with two 40mm guns on the sail as Ramirez de Arellano thought the twin 20mm gun was useless for attacking surface shipping. The 40mm guns were used to lay down covering fire as the 4"/50 came into action. As the Balao moved in closer to finish off her prey, she used her four .30 caliber machine guns on non-standard stanchion mounts attached just aft of the sail plus two more .30's on the bridge to respond with a hail of lead to last ditch resistance, particularly from sea trucks. She may have also had yet another 40mm gun mounted on the former strong point for the 4"/50 aft of the sail as the new 5"/25 gun was mounted forward of the sail. That appears to have lasted less than three months. I assume a desk skipper somewhere up the line started questioning the excessive amounts of 40mm ammo being taken aboard Balao . Captain Ramirez de Arellano was born in Puerto Rico and was the first Hispanic submarine captain in the USN. How much this may have deflected problems with the brass is unknown to me, but he was detached from Balao in February, 1945 for some well deserved shore duty after spending all of the war up until then in combat aboard submarines. He had been awarded an impressive number of decorations until that point, so he may have had a bit more leeway than some other captains in designing his own weapons fit. Whatever the case, it was apparent that the good times for Balao being the most heavily armed submersible gunboat in the Navy were over, as an April, 1945 photo shows her restored to the then standard armament of a single 20mm, a single 40mm, and a single 5"/25. Those non-standard .30 caliber mounts were still just barely visible in the photo but, alas, no longer carrying machine guns.
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