View source for USS Trout (SS-566)

{{short description|Submarine of the United States}}
{{other ships|USS Trout}}

{{more footnotes needed|date=September 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= [[File:USS Trout (SS-566).jpg|300px|USS ''Trout'' (SS-566), ca. 1969.]]
|Ship caption= USS ''Trout'', ca. 1969.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1978}}
|Ship name= USS ''Trout''
|Ship namesake=[[Trout]], a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the subfamily [[Salmoninae]] of the [[family (biology)|family]] [[Salmonidae]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded= 14 May 1948
|Ship builder=[[Electric Boat]] Division, [[General Dynamics]] Corporation, [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Connecticut]]
|Ship laid down= 1 December 1949
|Ship launched= 21 August 1951
|Ship sponsor=Mrs. Albert H. Clark
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 27 June 1952
|Ship decommissioned= 2 January 1977<ref>{{citation|first=Paul H.|last=Silverstone|title=Naval Intelligence|journal=Warship International|publisher=International Naval Research Organization|volume=15|number=1|date=1978|pages=42–44|jstor=44890126}}</ref>
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 19 December 1978
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors=[[Battle Efficiency Award]] (Battle "E") 1961
|Ship fate=Transferred to [[Imperial Iranian Navy]] 19&nbsp;December&nbsp;1978
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country= 
|Ship flag={{navy|Iran|1964|name=Imperial Iranian Navy}}
|Ship name= IIS ''Kousseh'' (SS 101)
|Ship namesake=[[Shark]]
|Ship acquired=19 December 1978
|Ship commissioned= 
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck= 
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=*Abandoned in United States March 1979
*Returned to U.S. custody 1992
*Scrapping contract awarded May 2008
*Scrapping completed 27 February 2009
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=title
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Tang|submarine}} [[Attack submarine]]
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1615|LT|t|0}} light
*{{convert|2108|LT|t|0}} surfaced
*{{convert|2700|LT|t|0}} submerged
|Ship length={{convert|269|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|27|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=*{{convert|16.3|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}} surfaced
*{{convert|17.4|kn|mph km/h}} submerged
|Ship range= 
|Ship endurance= 
|Ship test depth= {{convert|700|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=8 officers and 75 men
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=8 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|21 inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s (6 forward, 2 aft)
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Trout'' (SS-566)''', a {{sclass|Tang|submarine}}, was the second ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for the [[trout]].

==Construction and commissioning==
The contract to build ''Trout'' was awarded to the [[Electric Boat]] Division of the [[General Dynamics]] Corporation of [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Connecticut]], on 14 May 1948  and her keel was laid down there on 1 December 1949.  She was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 21 August 1951, sponsored by Mrs. Albert H. Clark, the widow of [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] Albert H. Clark, the last commanding officer of the previous U.S. Navy ship of the name, {{USS|Trout|SS-202|3}}. ''Trout'' was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 27 June 1952.

==Service history==

===Atlantic Fleet service===
''Trout'' operated out of [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], Connecticut, as a unit of [[Submarine Squadron 10]] from 1952 to 1959. During this period, she conducted training and readiness operations with ships of the [[United States Atlantic Fleet]] and [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] nations, operating from the [[North Atlantic Ocean]] to the [[Caribbean Sea]]. She engaged in [[sonar]] evaluation tests, [[antisubmarine warfare]] exercises, and submerged simulated attack exercises. During submerged exercises in [[Arctic]] waters in company with her [[sister ship]] {{USS|Harder|SS-568|2}}, ''Trout'' transited {{convert|268|nmi}} beneath [[Drift ice|ice floe]]s off [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], [[Canada]], setting a submerged distance record for a conventionally powered submarine.

In August 1959, ''Trout'' shifted her [[home port]] to [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], where she was assigned to [[Submarine Squadron 4]]. She deployed to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in September 1959 for her first tour of duty with the [[United States Sixth Fleet]]. In December 1959, while returning home, she represented the [[United States]] at [[Bergen, Norway|Bergen]], [[Norway]], during the 50th anniversary celebrations commemorating the birth of the [[Royal Norwegian Navy]]'s submarine arm.

In February 1960, ''Trout'' performed as a test bed for U.S. Navy [[Bureau of Ships]] shock tests. She won her first [[Battle Efficiency Award]] (Battle "E") in 1961. In early 1963, she rendered services to the [[Operational Test and Evaluation Force]] before commencing a six-month [[wikt:overhauling|overhaul]] at Charleston in July 1963.

During the remaining years of the 1960s, ''Trout'' made three more Mediterranean deployments to serve as a unit of the Sixth Fleet. Between deployments, she participated in training and developmental exercises off the [[United States East Coast]] and in the Caribbean Sea.

===Pacific Fleet service===
In July 1970, ''Trout'' was assigned to the [[United States Pacific Fleet]]. From her new home port at [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[California]], ''Trout'' conducted two [[Western Pacific Ocean|Western Pacific]] deployments, one in 1972 and one in 1975, primarily providing submarine services during antisubmarine warfare exercises conducted by warships of the United States Navy, the [[Republic of Korea Navy]], or the [[Republic of China Navy]]. Between these deployments, she participated in antisubmarine warfare exercises and conducted local operations off the [[Southern California]] coast, punctuating this service with weapons tests in the [[Pacific Northwest]], operating out of [[Puget Sound]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]].

After returning from her second Western Pacific deployment to San Diego on 29 January 1976, ''Trout'' enjoyed a brief unusual duty &mdash; repeatedly diving and surfacing while being filmed to portray the fictitious U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS ''Neptune''  in the opening credits of the 1978 movie ''[[Gray Lady Down]]''.

==Decommissioning and transfer to Iran==
''Trout'' received orders on 1 December 1976 changing her home port to [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]. In 1977 and 1978, ''Trout'' underwent an extensive overhaul at the [[Philadelphia Naval Shipyard]] at Philadelphia in anticipation of a planned transfer to the [[Imperial Iranian Navy]]. Upon completion of the overhaul in 1978, ''Trout''{{'}}s home port was shifted to New London, Connecticut, where a training period for her the Iranian crew ensued. The training program was completed on 19 December 1978, and that day the U.S. Navy simultaneously [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] ''Trout'', struck her from the [[Naval Vessel Register]], and transferred her to [[Iran]].

The Imperial Iranian Navy renamed her Imperial Iranian Ship (IIS) ''Kousseh'' (SS 101), meaning "Shark". Her Iranian crew took control of her at New London in December 1978, but abandoned her there in March 1979 following the [[Iranian Revolution]]. ''Kousseh'' was returned to  Philadelphia, where she languished for many years while the United States resolved financial matters related to her abortive transfer to Iran.

==Return to U.S. custody and later use==
''Kousseh'' finally was returned officially to U.S. custody in 1992. She was sold at scrap value to the U.S. Navy{{'}}s [[Program Executive Office for Undersea Warfare]] in 1994. She was towed by the tugboat ''Puma'' from the Massachusetts Towing Company and moored at Pier 2 at the Naval Station in [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], [[Rhode Island]].  She was then acquired by the [[Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division]] Key West Detachment at [[Key West, Florida|Key West]], [[Florida]], for use by the [[Naval Air Systems Command]] Marine and Targets Detachment as a remotely controlled submersible sonar target ship, as an underwater acoustic target for antisubmarine warfare research and development, in operational testing, and for training.

==Disposal==
After completing that service, she was towed to the [[Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility]] at Philadelphia, where the U.S. Navy held her for donation to a museum, but all preservation efforts failed. In May 2008 [[Esco Marine]] of [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]], [[Texas]], was awarded a contract to scrap her, and her scrapping was completed on 27 February 2009.

==Awards==
*[[File:Battle Effectiveness Award ribbon, 1st award.svg|106px]] [[Battle Efficiency Award]]
*{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} [[National Defense Service Medal]] with star (2 awards)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/trout-ii.html}}
*{{Naval Vessel Register|hull=SS-566}}
*{{navsource|08/08566}}

{{Tang class submarine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trout (SS-566)}}
[[Category:United States Tang-class submarines]]
[[Category:Cold War submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Groton, Connecticut]]
[[Category:1951 ships]]
[[Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Imperial Iranian Navy]]