Surrounded by the other much larger ships of Penn's Landing, the 'tiny' USS Becuna sits inauspiciously between the dock and the cruiser USS Olympia; however, looks can be very deceiving and the submarine Becuna was quite a mighty adversary.
Launched on January 30th, 1944, in the middle of World War II, from the famed shipyards of Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, the Becuna conducted five wartime patrols with the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Pacific. Becuna sank the 7500 ton freighter Nichiyoku Maru, two small coastal freighters, assisted USS Hawkbill with the sinking of the oiler Tokuwa Maru, and damaged another oiler. The submarine also served as a lifeguard for downed pilots and narrowly missed an attack on the battleship Yamato.
Following her World War II career, she was converted from her basic fleet boat configuration to a streamlined fast underwater submarine known as a GUPPY in 1951 that extended her service during the Korean War and Vietnam conflict in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The Becuna serves as an educational resource and tourist attraction with the cruiser Olympia and is a registered National Historic Landmark.
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