SEALION LPSS 315

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Balao Class Submarine Keel Laid 25 February 1943 - Launched 31 October 1943 USS SEALION SS-315 Commissioned 8 March 1944 - Decommissioned 2 February 1946 Laid up in Pacific Reserve Fleet Converted to Submarine Transport (SSP), While in reserve USS SEALION SSP-315 Recommissioned 2 November 1948 USS SEALION ASSP-315 Redesignated Transport Submarine (ASSP) 31 January 1950 USS SEALION APSS-315 Redesignated Submarine Transport (APSS) 24 October 1956 Decommissioned 30 June 1960 Recommissioned 20 October 1961 USS SEALION LPSS-315 Reclassified Amphibious Transport Submarine (LPSS) January 1969 Decommissioned 20 February 1970 Laid up in Atlantic Reserve Fleet Struck from Naval Register 15 March 1977 Sunk as target 8 July 1978 off Newport, R.I.

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Sealion SS-315 Covers Page 1     (1943-1944)
2. USS Sealion SSP-315 Covers Page 1     (1951)
3. USS Sealion ASSP-315 Covers Page 1     (1953, 1963)
4. USS Sealion APSS-315 Covers Page 1     (1967)
5. USS Sealion LPSS-315 Covers Page 1     (1969-1970)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 3z "USS SEALION / KEEL LAID"

1943-02-25

Keel Laying

 

Other Information

USS SEALION earned the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ five battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal (2 awards) during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Any of several large, eared seals native to the Pacific.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Emory Land.

Two submarines of the US Navy have borne the name SEALION - USS Sealion SS-195 and USS Sealion SS-315.

 

---

 

If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

---

Copyright 2026 Naval Cover Museum