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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

Sea Leopard (SS-483)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Echo - Golf

Tench Class Submarine: Laid down, 7 November 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, on Seavey Island in Kittery, Maine. Launched, 2 March 1945; Commissioned USS Sea Leopard (SS-483), 11 June 1945; Modernized with a Guppy II conversion at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia, PA. in 1948-49; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 27 March 1973; Sold under the Military Assistance Program to Brazil in 1973, renamed Bahia (S-12); Final Disposition, placed out of service by the Brazilian navy and scrapped in 1998.

As built to the specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,570 t., Submerged: 2,414 t.; Length 311' 8"; Beam 27' 4"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 kts, Submerged 8.75 kts; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10kts; Submerged Endurance, 48 hours at 2kts; Operating Depth, 400 ft; Complement 7 Officers 69 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, two 20mm guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four Fairbanks Morse main generator engines, 5,400HP, Fuel Capacity, 113,510 gal., two Elliot Motor Co. main motors with 2,740HP, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description	Source
	75k	Hydrurga leptonyx Leopard Seal	Photo courtesy of Ben Cranke, via dailymail.co.uk.
	488k	The Hon. Margaret Chase Smith, United States Congresswoman from Maine, sponsor at launching of Sea Leopard (SS-483) with RADM Thomas Withers USN, & Mrs. J.R. Bertrand, matron of honor at Navy Yard Portsmouth N.H., 2 March 1945.	USN photo # 80-G-1213 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
	663k	Presentation of Navy Yard employees gift to the sponsor, the Honorable Margaret Chase Smith, by Mr. Harry M. Ellis, Shop 70, at launching of the Sea Leopard (SS-483), at Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H.	National Archives Identifier: 12563124 Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
	237k	The top of the poppet & packing of Sea Leopard's (SS-483) construction is just visible under her flag draped bow as she slides into the water at the end of the launching ways at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 2 March 1945.	USN photo courtesy of Dan Hecker & sealeopard.com.
	246k	Port side view of the launching of the Sea Leopard (SS-483) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 2 March 1945.	USN photo courtesy of Dan Hecker & sealeopard.com.
	144k	Commemorative launch tag on the occasion of Sea Leopard's (SS-483) launching at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 2 March 1945.	Photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
	64k	Lookouts in the Sea Leopard's (SS-483) periscope shears scan the horizon while the boat is underway, probably off the Florida coast, 1946. She was based out of Key West, Fla., and she remained in Florida waters through 1946 providing services to the Antisubmarine Development Force.	USN photo courtesy of geocities.com. Text courtesy of DANFS.
	91k	Sea Leopard's (SS-483) main 5"/25 deck gun as it appeared when she was based out of Key West, Fla. 1946.	USN photo courtesy of Ed Schuele & sealeopard.com.
	525k	President Harry S. Truman at a ceremony aboard *U-2513* on 5 December 1947. The submarines Sea Leopard (SS-483) and what looks to be the Requin (SS-481) are moored alongside as well as their unidentified tender.	Source: USN Photos # 59-1330-3 & 59-1330-1 (insert) courtesy of trumanlibrary.org.
	148k	Admiral Robert L. J. Long commanded the Sea Leopard (SS-483), a diesel-powered submarine, the Patrick Henry (SSBN-599) and the Casimir Pulaski (SSBN-633), nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.	Photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
	477k	Sea Leopard (SS-483) at Key West, Florida in 1948.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	1.60k	Aerial view of Sea Leopard (SS-483) "off the bow", PNS 9/3/48.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	113k	Sea Leopard (SS-483) underway on 30 May 1950. During February and March 1950, the *Sea Leopard* participated in maneuvers in the Caribbean. From August through November, she joined the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, visiting ports of Italy, France, and Sicily, before returning home.	Text courtesy of DANFS. USN photo # USN 415945, courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
	387k	Med cruise summer in 1950 Naples Harbor: Sea Leopard (SS-483), Torsk (SS-423), and Sea Robin (SS-407).	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	2.20k	The destroyer tender Yellowstone (AD-27) at Augusta Bay, Sicily, May - October 1950. Ships alongside to starboard; Sea Robin (SS-407), Torsk (SS-423), Sea Leopard (SS-483), Burrfish (SS-312). To port; John R Pierce (DD-753), Barton (DD-722), Shea (DM-30) , and in the background Bauer (DM-26).	US National Archives photo # 80-G-428712, from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
	246k	Cold War view of the Sea Leopard (SS-483).	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, (USN) retired.
	336k	1953 vintage Sea Leopard (SS-483).	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, (USN) retired.
	254k	British subs visits Norfolk circa middle 1950's plus. Submarines lined up on the pier from outboard to inboard are: Cutlass (SS-478) and Sea Leopard (SS-483) with step sails. Followed by the Sealion (SS-315) & several SSR's which might be the Tigrone (SSR-419) and Burrfish (SSR-312). Both boats are in the Migraine I SSR version. If the last SSR is indeed the *Burrfish, then this picture would have been taken sometime in the late spring of 1956. The USN sailors are in dress whites (indicating the springtime changeover to whites), and the Burrfish* departed Norfolk for the last time on 5 June 1956, headed for New London and decommissioning. The tender is Sierra (AD-18), which was always located at the next pier down from the sub pier.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). Photo i.d. & text courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired)
	774k	Sea Leopard (SS-483) in Genoa Italy, June 1956.	Photo courtesy of Carlo Martinelli.
	1.56k	Eight page Welcome Aboard PDF of the Sea Leopard (SS-483).	Photos courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
	188k	Sea Leopard (SS-483) inboard & the Entemedor (SS-340) in Monaco, April 1957.	Courtesy of Chuck Jensen.
0848324	454k	An oblique view of the hurricane flooding of piers at Portsmouth VA Navy Yard on 7 March 1962. In view are the Agile (MSO-421), the Sea Leopard (SS-483), and the Bache (DD-470).	Photo courtesy of Dave Schroeder and John Chiquoine.
	447k	SEa LEopard (SS-483) with one capital E.	Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
	2.33k	Mid-1960s when the Sea Leopard (SS-483) was docked near Miami, FL and they were allowing civilian tours about her.	Photo from the private collection of Rick Clark.
	605k	Sea Leopard (SS-483) starboard view underway, 8 June 1970 leaving Philadelphia Naval Shipyard after entering on 17 January 1970 for a six-month overhaul.	Text courtesy of DANFS. Photo courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired).
Bahia (S-12)
	651k	Decommissioning of Sea Leopard (SS-483), and transfer to the Brazilian Navy.	From the Key West Citizen, 29 March 1973. Courtesy of Mike Keating.
	42k	A Brazilian Navy UH-12 Esquilo N-7051 helicopter flies over the exSea Leopard (SS-483), now the Brazilian Bahia (S-12) sometime circa 1973-93.	Brazilian Navy photo by SDM, courtesy of naviosdeguerrabrasileiros.hpg.ig.com.br, & submitted by Valdo Novaes.
	57k	The exSea Leopard (SS-483), now the Brazilian Bahia (S-12) in drydock DFlt Afonso Pena - G 25 in 1986.	Brazilian Navy photo by Mario R. V. Carneiro/Seguran�a & Defes, courtesy of naviosdeguerrabrasileiros.hpg.ig.com.br, & submitted by Valdo Novaes.
	20k	The sail of the exSea Leopard (SS-483), now the Brazilian Bahia (S-12) on display at the Museu Nacional do Mar em, (National Maritime Museum) at S�o Francisco do Sul, circa 1993 plus.	Brazilian Navy photo by Luis Carlos de Oliveira, courtesy of naviosdeguerrabrasileiros.hpg.ig.com.br. & submitted by Valdo Novaes.

View the Sea Leopard (SS-483)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

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

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
USS Sea Leopard (SS-483)
USS Sea Leopard
Tench Class Submarines
Ep-21 (1) - Victory At Sea ~ Full Fathom Five - HQ

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