USS Clamagore proved valuable during the ensuing Cold War decades, a conflict between the Soviet Union and the West. With the establishment of NATO, a combined military force for western nations, Clamagore saw renewed life and took part in exercises in the North Atlantic and conducted various tours along the American East Coast.
From late 1947 to mid-1948, USS Clamagore was slated for conversion to the new "GUPPY II" standard - the "Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program" was devised by the USN to increase undersea performance, including endurance and maneuverability, of its boat force. Much was learned from the capture of a pair of Nazi German Type XXI U-boats and this knowledge was pressed into existing American submarine designs. As a whole new class of submarine design was out of the question, it was decided to simply convert existing types like Clamagore. The modifications were begun with the GUPPY I program and ended with the GUPPY III program. Clamagore was part of both GUPPY II and GUPPY III conversion programs.
Following GUPPY II, Clamagore displaced 1,900 tons when surfaced and 2,480 tons when submerged. Her speeds when surfaced / submerged increased to 18 knots and 9 knots, respectively with operational ranges out to 15,000 nautical miles (surfaced). All of her deck gun armament were removed though she retained her ten torpedo tubes. A snorkel was also added during GUPPY II as was the Mk 106 torpedo Fire Control System (FCS). The work was completed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
The GUPPY III work was begun in 1962 and changes to the boat included a 15-foot extension of her hull and installation of passive ranging sonar (BQG-4 PUFFS). This added three fin-like protrusions along her dorsal spine. In her GUPPY III guise, Clamagore's displacement became 2,007 tons surfaced and 2,490 tons submerged. Surfaced speed became 17 knots with 14.5 knots achieved when submerged. Endurance dropped to 36 hours (submerged). Her sensor suite included the BQS-4 active search sonar, the BQR-2B passive search sonar and the BQG-4 passive attack sonar fits.
While twenty-four boats were used in the GUPPY II conversion program, just nine made up the GUPPY III program. The GUPPY III work on Clamagore was completed in February of 1963 and she joined Submarine Squadron 2 based out of Groton.
USS Clamagore finished out her tenure as a surveillance boat and was decommissioned on June 12th, 1973 after a respectable thirty year career. She was struck from the Naval Register on June 27th, 1975 and preserved as a museum ship, stationed at Patriot's Point in Charleston, South Carolina from May 1981 on. Once there, she joined the World War 2 aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10) and the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724). She stands as the only preserved GUPPY III submarine in the United States but her condition is rated as quite poor - facing the threat of becoming an underwater reef if repairs to her hull are not made.
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