Revision 9/02/2009 6:26 PM
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Bass (USS Bass)
 RI
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Max Depth: Over 150ft/46m
Entry Type: Boat
Bottom Composition: Sand
Aquatic Life: Plenty To See
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The submarine, U.S.S. Bass, was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire. She was commissioned on December 27, 1924, as the V-2. The V-2 was 341.5 feet long,27.6 feet wide and displaced 2,000 tons. she was armed with a three inch gun, two machine guns, four forward torpedo tubes and two aft tubes. It was not until March 9, 1931, that the V-2 was renamed Bass during a general change of identification. On August 17, 1942, while attached to the Atlantic Fleet, Submarine Division 31, Squadron 3 and on patrol, a fire broke out in the aft battery room. The fire spread quickly to her aft torpedo room and starboard main motor room, all the time releasing toxic fumes in its path. This disaster resulted in death by asphyxiation of 25 enlisted men out of the Bass’s total crew of 80. The Bass was repaired at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was then used to conduct secret experiments until December of 1942.
On March 3, 1945, at the submarine base in New London, the U.S.S. Bass was decommissioned and stripped. On March 12, 1945, the Bass sailed under her own power to the south side of Block Island. The Bass anchored in normal diving trim. All nine watertight compartments were sealed. Her final mission was to be the target for a "Top Secret" test of the Mark 24 torpex filled mines. On the morning of the 11th, a PBY (flying boat) from Quonset Point Naval Station took off with two mines. The first mine landed a few hundred feet away from the anchored Bass, causing no apparent damage. The second mine landed within 100 feet and caused her internal hull to rupture. The Bass quickly slipped nose first into the waves and was gone.
The Bass now lies in155 feet of water, 14.3 miles from Montauk Point and eight miles from Block Island. Divers can reach her main deck at 140 feet. She is broken in two with her bow section approximately 50 feet from her main wreckage. The Bass sits upright on a clean sand bottom, and divers report a huge net draped over parts of her remains. This is definitely one of the most interesting wrecks in the area to dive, but due to her depth, she is only for the experienced.
http://www.aquaexplorers.com/shipwreckbass.htm http://njscuba.net/sites/site_submarines_1.html