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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

Harder (SS-568)

Radio Call Sign: November - Delta - Foxtrot - Golf

Tang Class Submarine: Laid down, 30 June 1950, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 3 December 1951; Commissioned, USS Harder (SS-568), 19 August 1952; Decommissioned, 10 July 1973; Struck from the Naval Register and transferred (sold) to Italy, under terms of the Security Assistance Program, 29 February 1974, renamed; INS Romeo Romei (S-516); Final Disposition, decommissioned and struck by the Italian Navy, 31 May 1988, fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 2,100 t., Submerged: 2,700 t.; Length 287'; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 19'; Speed, Surfaced 18 kts, Submerged 20 kts; Complement 8 Officers 75 Enlisted; Armament, six 21" torpedo tubes forward & 2-19" torpedo tubes aft for Mk 37 torpedoes, eight MK-49/57 mines; Propulsion, diesel-electric, Fairbanks-Morse Type 3 diesel engines, HP 4500, two electric motors, HP 5600, 2 shafts/propellers

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description	Source
	500k	Trials of the Harder (SS-568) at Groton CT., 11 July 1952,	USN # photo 444502, courtesy of Steve Franklin.
0856857	NR	The Harder (SS-568) was sponsored by Kay (Katherine Jane) Logan Cole, the widow of Lieutenant S. M. Logan, executive officer of the submarine Harder (SS-257)	Image and text provided by usnamemorialhall.org
0856852	NR	Juke Box Sale Hits New High For Sub Dives.... Music will come easier to the Harder (SS-568), New London, Conn. based submarine, but it will probably be harder on anyone who doesn’t like a juke box. The *Harder* has the "unique distinction" of having the first submersible juke box in the history of the Fleet......	Image and text provided by University of Florida. Photo from the The Key West Citizen.[volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 26 November 1952, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
	131k	Vice Admiral William Wohlsen Behrens, Jr. was assigned to the Harder (SS-568) as Commanding Officer from 1954 to 1955.	Photo courtesy of the Behrens family & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
	31k	In March 1959, Harder (SS-568) participated in SUBICEX during which she cruised 280 miles beneath the ice packs off Newfoundland, further than any conventionally powered submarine had previously gone.	Text courtesy of DANFS. USN photo courtesy of Arctic Submarine Laboratory.
	155k	Harder (SS-568) underway circa 1961. She continued operations in the Atlantic and Caribbean for more than a year, then departed Charleston 24 May 1961 for deployment off the western coast of Europe and in the Mediterranean. After reaching Bremerhaven, Germany, 9 June, she supported ASW operations with ships of the Federal German Navy. The following month she steamed via Holy Loch, Scotland, and Rota, Spain, to the Mediterranean where she supported peace-keeping operations of the mighty 6th Fleet. *Harder* returned to Charleston 28 August.	Text courtesy of DANFS. Photo courtesy of Stefan Terzibaschitsch via Robert Hurst.
	530k	At rest earlier in her career.	Photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
	118k	Harder (SS-568) & Trout (SS-566) taken in 1965 thru 8B periscope of Redfin (SS-272) by John Hummel, USN (Retired). at the sub piers in Charleston SC, home of Submarine Squadron 4.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	723k	Port side underway in the 60's.	Photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
	50k	Harder (SS-568) being moved from floating dry dock #5 at Charleston S.C. Naval Base. She was in the final stages of a major overhaul that lasted twenty five months, the most complicated performed, July, 1967.	USN photo courtesy of Robert Miller.
	491k	Harder (SS-568) with three shark-fin arrays, known as Puffs, passive fire-control system, BQG-4, circa 1968.	Text courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). USN photo courtesy of ssn583.com.
	855k	More three finned photo follow through.	Photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
0856815	709k	LCDR John H. Howland (left) relieves CDR William A. Coll aboard Harder (SS-568) at Mare Island on 15 April 1971.	Photo SS 568 041571-3 TH courtesy of Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum via Darryl L. Baker.
0856816	206k	Top side view of the change of command ceremony of Harder (SS-568) on 15 Apriil 1971 at Mare Island. Would it be safe to assume that the fold out platform that the lecturn is sitting on is actually for a gangway/brow? The early fleet boats through the Salmon/ Sargo class had a folding accomodation ladder that folded into the superstructure. I think this serves a similar purpose.	Photo SS 568 041571-1 TH courtesy of Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum via Darryl L. Baker. Text courtesy of Dave Johnston.
	3.03k	1972 copy of Tang's (SS-563) "Booklet of General Plans".	Photos courtesy of Tracy White @ Researcher @ Large.
	414k	After Caiman's (SS-323) decommissioning ceremony as seen from the shore on 30 July 1972: Harder (SS-568), Blackfin (SS-322), Trigger (SS-564) & Sperry (AS-12). *Blackfin's* time clock was ticking, 45 days the boat would be decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register on 15 September 1972.	Photo courtesy of Sait Kucuk, CPOS (Retired), Turkish Navy.
	492k	After Caiman's (SS-323) decommissioning ceremony, from left to right: Trigger (SS-564), Blackfin (SS-322), & Harder (SS-568).	Photo courtesy of Sait Kucuk, CPOS (Retired),Turkish Navy.
	414k	Harder (SS-568) decommissioning cachet, 20 February 1974.	Photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
0856322	330k	Two image PDF of Tang's (SS-563) inboard profile, main deck and platforms during her 76/77 overhaul at Mare Island.	USN photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
INS Romeo Romei (S-516)
	245k	INS Romeo Romei (S-516), ex-Harder (SS-568), during a overhaul before being transferred to the Italian Navy. She is on the Marine Railway Site # 2. The Yard workers with the stripe on their hardhats are foremen, the other workers might be sand blasters.	Photo from the Erminio Bagnasco collection via Maurizio Brescia. Partial data submitted by Ron Reeves (of blessed memory)
	227k	INS Romeo Romei (S-516), ex-Harder (SS-568), at Groton CT., in 1975 just before commissioning with the Italian Navy but already with the Italian hull number painted on.	Photo from the Erminio Bagnasco collection via Maurizio Brescia.
	626k	INS Romeo Romei (S-516) in La Spezia Italy, 16 March 1980.	Photo courtesy of Carlo Martinelli.
	198k	INS Romeo Romei (S-516) in La Spezia Italy, 18 February 1988.	Photo courtesy of Carlo Martinelli.
	202k	INS Romeo Romei (S-516) in La Spezia Italy, 18 February 1988. She would be decommissioned and scrapped later in the year.	Photo courtesy of Carlo Martinelli.

View the Harder (SS-568)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

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