USS Harder (SS-257)

History
United States
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down	1 December 1941
Launched	19 August 1942
Sponsored by	Miss Helen M. Shaforth
Commissioned	2 December 1942
Fate	Sunk by enemy vessels off Dasol Bay, Luzon, 24 August 1944
General characteristics
Class & type	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced; 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged;
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft	17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum
Propulsion	4 × Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesel engines driving electrical generators; 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries; 4 × high-speed Allis-Chalmers electric motors with reduction gears; two propellers ; 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced; 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged;
Speed	21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced; 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged;
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance	48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol;
Test depth	300 ft (90 m)
Complement	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 forward, 4 aft; 24 torpedoes; 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun; Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon;

USS Harder (SS-257), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the harder, a fish of the mullet family found off South Africa. One of the most famous submarines of World War II, she received the Presidential Unit Citation. Her commanding officer throughout her service, the resolute and resourceful Commander Samuel D. Dealey (1906–1944), "a submariner's submariner", was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, as well as four Navy Crosses during his lifetime.