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Submarine 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
(post-1951)		 15 knots (17 mph) submerged
18 knots (21 mph) surfaced

Dive into history aboard the Museum's battle-tested submarine, BECUNA!

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

During World War II, “Becky” prowled the Pacific for Japanese ships, sinking three. Click here to read more about BECUNA's wartime patrols. Modernized in 1951, BECUNA’s Cold War missions often found her in the Atlantic, trailing Soviet submarines with eavesdropping equipment aboard.

BECUNA was decommissioned in 1969 and has been part of Independence Seaport Museum’s Historic Ship Zone since 1996. Click here to visit the BECUNA Veterans homepage.

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.

Click here to return to the Historic Ship Zone homepage.

Dive into history...
Click here to take a virtual tour of BECUNA! Provided by AsphaltJungle.com.

Up 'Scope!
Click here to take a look through BECUNA's periscope!

Explore Cruiser OLYMPIA
Click here to cross the gangway to Cruiser OLYMPIA.