USS Becuna

Length: 307 feet, 7 inches
Beam: 27 feet
Displacement: 1800 tons surfaced, 2400 tons submerged
Crew: 8 commissioned officers, 5 chief petty officers, 67 enlisted men
Top Speed: 15 knots (17mph) submerged, 18 knots (21mph) surfaced

Dive into history aboard Independence Seaport Museum's battle-tested World War II submarine, the USS Becuna!

Launched in 1944, the Becuna (SS-319) completed five wartime patrols in the Pacific Ocean. Becuna is similar to many submarines built in Philadelphia for the U.S. Navy.

Becuna is a BALAO-class submarine built in New London, CT. During World War II, "Becky" prowled the Pacific Ocean for Japanese ships, and is credited with sinking 3.5 Japanese merchant ships. Click here to read more about Becuna's wartime patrols. Converted in 1951 to a Guppy 1A type with sophisticated radar and torpedo equipment including nuclear warheads, she is the only Guppy 1-A submarine on display.

Becuna's Cold War missions often found her in the Atlantic, trailing Soviet submarines with eavesdropping equipment aboard. She served in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and ended her long and distinguished career as a training submarine in Connecticut.

Becuna was decommissioned in 1969 and has been part of Independence Seaport Museum's Historic Ship Zone since 1996. Becuna is a National Historic Landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2001, Becuna received the American Welding Society's Historical Welded Structure Award.

Visit the web site of USS Becuna veterans.

Up Scope!

Click here to peek at the Becuna's
neighbor, the floating restaurant
Moshulu, through Becuna's
newly restored periscope!

Historic Ships

USS Becuna

Up Scope!