USS ''Cubera'' (SS-347), a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

, was a ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

named for the cubera, a large fish of the snapper family found in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. ''Cubera'' (SS-347) was launched 17 June 1945 by

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail pow ...

Co.,

Groton, Conn. Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

; sponsored by Mrs. J. Taber; commissioned 19 December 1945 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet. After shakedown training off

New London New London may refer to: Places United States *New London, Alabama *New London, Connecticut *New London, Indiana *New London, Iowa * New London, Maryland *New London, Minnesota *New London, Missouri *New London, New Hampshire, a New England town * ...

, ''Cubera'' arrived at

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, Fla., 19 March 1946. She tested

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

equipment, provided services to experimental antisubmarine warfare development projects in the

Florida Straits The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait ( es, Estrecho de Florida) is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between th ...

, and joined in fleet exercises until 4 July 1947 when she sailed to

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...

for an extensive

GUPPY II The Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program (GUPPY) was initiated by the United States Navy after World War II to improve the submerged speed, maneuverability, and endurance of its submarines. (The "Y" in the acronym was added for pronouncea ...

modernization. Returning to Key West 9 March 1948 ''Cubera'' continued to operate locally out of this port, as well as taking part in fleet exercises in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

until 3 July 1952 when she arrived at

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, her new home port. ''Cubera'' appeared in

Ray Harryhausen Raymond Frederick Harryhausen (June 29, 1920 – May 7, 2013) was an American-British animator and special effects creator who created a form of stop motion model animation known as "Dynamation". His works include the animation for '' Might ...

's ''

It Came from Beneath the Sea ''It Came from Beneath the Sea'' is a 1955 American science fiction monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman and Charles Schneer, directed by Robert Gordon, that stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, and Donald Curtis. The scr ...

'' (1955), playing an "atomic sub" used to dispatch the film's giant

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

. Through 1957 ''Cubera'' conducted local operations, and participated in fleet exercises in the Caribbean, as well as cruising to

Sydney, Nova Scotia Sydney is a former city and urban community on the east coast of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Sydney was founded in 1785 by the British, was incorporated as a city in 1904, and dissolv ...

, in June 1955. During 1959 and 1960, she was assigned to

Task Force Alfa Task may refer to: * Task (computing), in computing, a program execution context * Task (language instruction) refers to a certain type of activity used in language instruction * Task (project management), an activity that needs to be accomplis ...

, a force conducting constant experiments to improve antisubmarine warfare techniques. With this group she cruised the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Bermuda.

ARV ''Tiburon'' (S-12)

''Cubera'' was decommissioned and sold under the Security Assistance Program to Venezuela 5 January 1972. The

Venezuelan Navy ) , mascot = , battles = Venezuelan War of Independence and the Battle of Lake Maracaibo , anniversaries = July 24, Birthday of Simon Bolivar, Navy Day and Battle of Lake Maracaibo A ...

renamed her ARV ''Tiburon'' (S-12) ("Tiburon" means shark in Spanish). She was subsequently scrapped by Venezuela in 1989.

References

External links

*
USS ''Cubera'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubera (SS-347) Balao-class submarines Ships built in Groton, Connecticut 1945 ships Cold War submarines of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela Balao-class submarines of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela