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USS Harder (SS 568)

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USS HARDER was the sixth and final TANG - class Diesel submarine and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. Both decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list on February 20, 1974, the HARDER was transferred to the Government of Italy the same day. The HARDER subsequently served in the Italian Navy as INS ROMEO ROMEI (S 516) until eventually decommissioned in 1988.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS HARDER. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS HARDER:

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History of USS HARDER:

USS HARDER was the sixth and final boat of the TANG-class, the first class of American submarines designed and constructed after World War II. HARDER was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, on June 30, 1950. She was launched on December 3, 1951, sponsored by Mrs. Kay Logan Cole. The submarine was commissioned on August 19, 1952, with Commander Richard B. Laning in command.

Following commissioning, HARDER conducted shakedown training from Newport, Rhode Island. One of the significant early demonstrations of the new submarine's capabilities was a submerged voyage of approximately 1,000 miles from New London, Connecticut, to Nassau in the Bahamas. HARDER remained submerged throughout the passage, using her snorkel when necessary to operate the diesel engines and recharge her batteries. The voyage demonstrated the increasingly important difference between the postwar generation of submarines and the traditional American fleet boat, which had been designed to spend much of its time on the surface and normally submerged primarily for combat or to avoid detection. HARDER subsequently operated from New London in a program of tests intended to evaluate the characteristics and operational potential of the new fast attack submarine design.

HARDER began regular fleet operations from New London in June 1953. Soon afterward she sailed for operations connected with the British Isles. During August 1953, while operating off the coast of Ireland, HARDER suffered a machinery casualty. Submarine rescue ship USS TRINGA (ASR 16) crossed the Atlantic to assist the disabled submarine. After rendering assistance, TRINGA returned to New London with HARDER. Following the necessary repairs, HARDER resumed operations with the Atlantic Fleet.

During the following years, HARDER operated from the North Atlantic to the Caribbean in exercises involving other units of the U.S. Navy and forces of North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. Her activities included sonar evaluation, submarine and antisubmarine warfare tactical development, fleet readiness exercises, and simulated submerged attacks against surface forces. These operations occurred during a period in which the Soviet submarine fleet was expanding rapidly and antisubmarine warfare had become an increasingly important element of Western naval planning. HARDER's relatively advanced submerged capabilities allowed surface ships and aircraft to train against a more demanding underwater opponent than older fleet submarines.

One of the most unusual operations of HARDER's career occurred in March 1959. On March 1, she was operating off Newfoundland during the submarine ice exercise known as Subicex together with conventionally powered USS TROUT (SS 566) and nuclear-powered USS SKATE (SSN 578). The exercise examined submarine operations in and beneath northern ice fields at a time when the Arctic was becoming increasingly important to submarine strategy. HARDER spent seven days operating in and around the icepack. During that period, she penetrated approximately 280 miles beneath the ice, farther than any conventionally powered submarine had previously operated under such conditions. TROUT accompanied her during a substantial part of the exercise. HARDER surfaced through openings in the ice, or polynyas, 23 times and remained continuously submerged for periods of as much as 14 hours. Approximately 75 miles of the voyage were made beneath solid ice estimated to be about eight feet thick. The operation demonstrated that a snorkel-equipped conventional submarine could conduct sustained under-ice operations, although HARDER lacked many of the specialized systems later incorporated into nuclear-powered submarines intended for extensive Arctic employment.

Following Subicex, HARDER continued Atlantic training. Later in 1959, she completed an approximately three-month advanced submarine exercise in the Atlantic. Her home port was subsequently changed from New London to Charleston, South Carolina. HARDER arrived at Charleston on November 17, 1959, and joined Submarine Squadron 4.

For more than a year, HARDER operated from Charleston in Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Her activities remained centered on tactical training, readiness exercises, and submarine and antisubmarine warfare development. Although nuclear-powered submarines were becoming increasingly important within the U.S. Navy, modern conventional submarines such as HARDER remained useful operational and training platforms and presented acoustic and tactical characteristics different from those of nuclear-powered boats.

On May 24, 1961, HARDER departed Charleston for an extended deployment to European and Mediterranean waters. She crossed the Atlantic and arrived at Bremerhaven, West Germany, on June 9. During the visit, she supported antisubmarine warfare exercises with ships of the Federal German Navy, allowing German naval units to train against a modern American submarine at a time when West Germany was expanding its contribution to the maritime forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. HARDER subsequently continued by way of Holy Loch, Scotland, and Rota, Spain, toward the Mediterranean. Holy Loch had become an important American submarine support location in the United Kingdom, while Rota served as a major U.S. and allied naval base near the western entrance to the Mediterranean. After entering the Mediterranean, HARDER operated in support of the Sixth Fleet. The Sixth Fleet maintained a permanent American naval presence in the region during a period of continuing Cold War competition, recurring crises in the Middle East, and tension along the southern flank of the North Atlantic alliance. HARDER completed the deployment and returned to Charleston on August 28, 1961.

Following her return, HARDER resumed exercises and technical evaluation work. Among the developments being evaluated during this period were new antisubmarine weapons, including the Asroc rocket-delivered antisubmarine weapon system. Submarines such as HARDER provided realistic operating conditions in which surface forces could evaluate sonar, weapons, fire-control procedures, and tactics.

In October 1962, HARDER entered Charleston Naval Shipyard for an overhaul. The work continued into 1963, and she was ready to return to operational service in April. During the following two and a half years, HARDER operated principally along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. Her activities concentrated on submarine tactics and repeated exercises with destroyers, aircraft, and other antisubmarine warfare forces. She served both as an attack submarine practicing covert approaches and as an underwater opponent against which surface and aviation units could develop detection, tracking, and attack procedures.

On October 22, 1965, HARDER entered Charleston Naval Shipyard for the most extensive modernization of her U.S. Navy career. The work went far beyond a routine overhaul. Her hull was lengthened by approximately 18 feet, her superstructure was redesigned, new diesel engines were installed, and her electrical and electronic equipment was extensively improved. One of the most distinctive additions was the BQG-4 passive fire-control sonar system, commonly known as Puffs. Its three widely separated elevated sonar arrays gave the modernized submarine a distinctive external appearance. The passive sonar system was intended to improve HARDER's ability to determine the bearing and range of underwater contacts without transmitting active sonar signals that could reveal her own position. Information from the separated arrays could be used to develop passive ranging information and fire-control solutions. The system reflected the increasing importance of passive acoustic detection in Cold War submarine operations.

The modernization was completed early in 1967, after which HARDER returned to fleet service. The changes had substantially altered both her external appearance and her operational capabilities compared with the configuration in which she had entered service in 1952.

During the following years, HARDER eventually shifted from Atlantic to Pacific service. By late 1969, she was operating with Pacific forces at a time when American naval activity in East Asia remained high because of the Vietnam War and renewed tensions on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea had seized intelligence-collection ship USS PUEBLO (AGER 2) in January 1968, and the destruction of an American EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft in April 1969 had produced another serious confrontation between the United States and North Korea.

Official Navy campaign records credit HARDER with Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal qualifying service connected with Korea from November 13 through December 18, 1969. The specific operational details of this assignment have not been publicly documented. HARDER remained in the western Pacific into 1970. Official records credit her with Vietnam Service Medal qualifying duty from January 24 through January 27, 1970. These dates establish service within the designated Vietnam operational area but do not identify the precise nature of her mission.

During February 1970, HARDER participated in submarine type training in Philippine waters together with USS SALMON (SS 573) and USS SAILFISH (SS 572). The presence of several conventionally powered submarines provided opportunities for coordinated submarine training at a time when such boats still formed an important part of the Pacific Submarine Force despite the continuing expansion of the nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

From April 14 through April 16, 1970, guided-missile frigate USS GRIDLEY (DLG 21) provided target-vessel services during training involving HARDER, USS VOLADOR (SS 490), USS REQUIN (SS 481), and USS POMFRET (SS 391). The exercise gave the submarines opportunities to conduct simulated approaches and attacks against a surface combatant while providing GRIDLEY with corresponding antisubmarine warfare training.

HARDER subsequently returned to the U.S. West Coast. On April 15, 1971, she was at Mare Island, California, where Lieutenant Commander John H. Howland relieved Commander William A. Coll as commanding officer. HARDER later returned to active Pacific operations and was again in western Pacific waters during the latter part of 1971. In December 1971, she participated in an amphibious convoy exercise. On December 1, destroyer USS BAUSELL (DD 845) began an exercise passage from Sasebo toward Subic Bay. While the formation was operating off Taiwan, BAUSELL conducted antisubmarine warfare operations against HARDER and was credited during the exercise with a simulated Asroc attack on the submarine.

The exercise took place as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 developed into a major international crisis. On December 14, the surface force with which BAUSELL was operating received orders to proceed through the Strait of Malacca toward the Indian Ocean as fighting intensified and the independence of Bangladesh approached.

HARDER remained operational in the western Pacific into 1972. Official Navy campaign records credit her with another period of Vietnam Service Medal qualifying duty from January 21 through January 25, 1972. The period came shortly before the major North Vietnamese Easter Offensive and during continuing American air and naval operations connected with the war.

After returning to the U.S. West Coast, HARDER resumed training and other fleet activities. On July 30, 1972, she was present at San Diego in company with several other submarines following the decommissioning of USS CAIMAN (SS 323). By this stage, increasing numbers of older American conventional submarines were being retired or prepared for transfer to allied navies, while HARDER remained active following the extensive modernization she had received in the 1960s.

HARDER returned to the western Pacific during the final phase of direct American involvement in the Vietnam War. Official records credit her with Vietnam Service Medal qualifying periods from March 6 through March 9, 1973, and again on March 28. These periods followed the Paris Peace Accords of January 27, 1973, which ended direct American combat participation and provided for the withdrawal of remaining U.S. forces, although substantial American naval forces continued to operate throughout Southeast Asian and western Pacific waters.

During March 1973, guided-missile escort USS BROOKE (DEG 1) conducted antisubmarine warfare exercises with HARDER in the Subic Bay operating area. BROOKE departed Hong Kong on March 22 and proceeded toward the Philippines. On March 23 and March 24, the two ships operated together in antisubmarine warfare training before BROOKE was directed to refuel and subsequently proceed toward the Gulf of Tonkin. The exercise is one of the relatively few precisely documented operational encounters involving HARDER during her final year in U.S. Navy service.

After returning from the western Pacific, HARDER continued Pacific Fleet operations from the U.S. West Coast. In September 1973, she operated in the southern California training areas with destroyer USS THEODORE E. CHANDLER (DD 717), which conducted submarine services involving HARDER. This training formed part of the continuing use of conventionally powered submarines to provide surface ships with realistic antisubmarine warfare experience. By this stage, the U.S. Navy's conventional attack-submarine force was steadily contracting. Nuclear propulsion offered the sustained underwater speed and endurance increasingly required for American attack-submarine missions, and several TANG-class submarines were being transferred to allied navies. HARDER was selected for transfer to Italy.

Her U.S. Navy service ended in early 1974. HARDER was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on February 20, 1974. Two days later, on February 22, she entered service with the Italian Navy as ROMEO ROMEI (S 516), named after Italian submarine commander Romeo Romei, who had been lost during World War II. Under the Italian flag, the former HARDER continued the operational life of a submarine whose keel had been laid almost twenty-four years earlier. ROMEO ROMEI served with the Italian Navy until May 31, 1988.

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