When the boat was rigged for silent running, these arrays gave greatly improved convergence zone detection ranges against snorkeling submarines.

The SSKs themselves were limited in their anti-submarine warfare (ASW) abilities by their low speed and their need to snorkel periodically to recharge their batteries, but the advances they pioneered in sonar technology were invaluable to the development of nuclear-powered submarines.

The class was developed as mobilization prototypes should large numbers of Soviet submarines based on the Type XXI U-boat appear.

In January 1953 she underwent restricted availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for the installation of additional equipment.

[citation needed] USS Bass was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1965, and was sold for scrap on 17 November 1966.