Japanese submarine Oyashio (SS-511)

Following the loan of the Gato class submarine USS Mingo as an underwater target in 1955, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force proposed the construction of three new classes of submarine, of 250, 500 and 1000 tons. In the end only the latter was built, and the final weight grew to 1140 tons. Having been world leaders in submarine construction during WWII, the Japanese had built no submarines for over ten years, so JDS "Oyashio" was based on the wartime I-201 with some US innovations.

"Oyashio" was named after the Oyashio Current, a cold current that comes down through the Bering Strait.

History

* 25th December 1957 - Laid down
* 25th May 1959 - Launched
* 30th June 1960 - Commissioned
* 1st August 1962 - Assigned to Subron1, Kure district
* June-August 1963 - Visited Pearl Harbor
* 1st February 1965 - Assigned to Subron2, SFlotilla1
* 31st March 1975 - Assigned to SFlotilla1
* 30th September 1976 - Decommissioned

ee also

Oyashio Current
IJN "Oyashio", a Kagero-class destroyer sunk in the Solomon Islands in 1943 JDS "Oyashio" (SS-590), an Oyashio class submarine commissioned in 1998.
* [http://www.ships-net.co.jp/detl/200310z/060-069e.htm Pictures] of SS-511
* [http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0714/ Enders P. Huey Papers (#714)] , Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. Specifications of SS-511.