US Submarines highest kills

US Submarines highest kills aboard USS Clamagore (SS-343) at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, SC on May-21st-2019.

These boats Service and Fate's are listed below. Note I listed them from the Top to the Bottom, So Some names may Appear twice.

 

USS Tautog (SS-199), the second Tambor-class submarine, was one of the most successful submarines of World War II. Tautog was credited with sinking 26 Japanese ships, for a total of 72,606 tons, scoring second by number of ships and eleventh by tonnage, earning her the nickname "The Terrible T." Of the twelve Tambor-class submarines, she was one of five to survive the war.

 

Following a short training period in Long Island Sound, Tautog departed for the Caribbean Sea on her shakedown cruise which lasted from 6 September 1940 to 11 November 1940. She returned to New London, Connecticut and operated from that base until early February 1941 when she was ordered to the Virgin Islands.

 

Late in April, she returned to New London, Connecticut, loaded supplies, and sailed with two other submarines for Hawaii on 1 May. After calls at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, and San Diego, California, they arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 June 1941. Tautog operated in the Hawaiian area until mid-October. On 21 October, she and USS Thresher stood out to sea, under sealed orders, to begin a 45-day, full-time, simulated war patrol in the area around Midway Island. For 38 consecutive days, the two submarines operated submerged for 16 to 18 hours each day. Tautog returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 December 1941.

 

Two days later, on Sunday, 7 December, Tautog was at the submarine base when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the attack began on Ford Island, Tautog's gun crews, with the help of Narwhal and a destroyer, shot down a Japanese torpedo bomber as it came over Merry Point.

 

Tautog's first patrol, into the Marshall Islands in late 1941 and early 1942, produced reconnaissance information but no enemy vessels sunk. However, on her second visit to that area, in the spring of 1942, she torpedoed the Japanese submarines Ro-30 and I-28, plus a freighter. Operating out of Australia between July 1942 and May 1943, Tautog went into the waters of the East Indies and Indochina on five patrols during which Tautog sank the Japanese destroyer Isonami and seven merchant ships. She also laid mines off Haiphong and endured a depth charge attack in November 1942.

 

Following an overhaul at San Francisco, California, Tautog resumed operations from Pearl Harbor in October 1943, sinking the Japanese submarine chaser No. 30 and damaging a tanker and three freighters during this cruise, her eighth of the war. Her next four patrols, from December 1943 to August 1944, took her to the Japanese home islands, including the frigid northern Pacific. This period was a very productive one, with the destroyer Shirakumo and eleven Japanese merchant ships falling victim to Tautog. A stateside overhaul followed, with the submarine's thirteenth war patrol, into the East China Sea, beginning in December 1944. The next month she sank a landing ship and a motor torpedo boat tender to conclude the submarine's combat career.

 

Assigned to training duty in February 1945, Tautog spent the rest of World War II in that role and supporting developmental work off Hawaii and the West Coast. She transferred to the Atlantic in November 1945, a few months after Japan's surrender, and was decommissioned in December. In 1947 Tautog went to the Great Lakes, where she was employed as a stationary Naval Reserve training submarine at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for nearly twelve years. Tautog was removed from service in September 1959. Sold some months later, she was scrapped at Manistee, Michigan, during the early 1960s.

 

First Patrol

Tautog's first war patrol began on 26 December 1941 and took her to the Marshall Islands for reconnaissance work. After 26 days in the area gathering information, particularly of Kwajalein, she reported no enemy activity at Rongelop, Bat, Wotho, or Bikini. On 13 January 1942, she launched three torpedoes at a small minelayer, receiving a depth charging in return. Plagued by a fogging periscope, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 4 February and was routed to Mare Island for upkeep.

 

Second patrol

On 9 April 1942, Tautog headed westward toward Hawaii and started her next war patrol upon leaving Pearl Harbor 15 days later. Her assigned area was again in the Marshall Islands. Around 10:00 on 26 April near Johnston Island, while en route to her station, Tautog sighted the periscope of an enemy submarine, apparently maneuvering to reach a favorable firing position. Tautog made a sharp turn and fired one stern torpedo, evidently exploding above the target,[9] which sank Ro-30 (1,000 tons).

 

Shortly after her arrival in the Marshalls, Tautog was ordered to Truk to intercept ships returning from the Battle of the Coral Sea, especially the Japanese aircraft carriers Zuikauku and Shōkaku (the latter codenamed "Wounded Bear");[because Pearl Harbor underestimated Shōkaku's speed, Tautog and two compatriots arrived too late and did not see Shōkaku depart, on 11 or 12 May. South of the harbor, Tautog launched two torpedoes at Goyo Maru, scoring one hit and suffering a circular run (typical of the erratic Mark XIV torpedo), forcing Tautog deep. (Goyo Maru beached herself.) Two days later, Tautog was alerted by ULTRA of four Japanese submarines in the vicinity, also returning from battle. She was caught by surprise by the first, and failed to attack. She detected and fired two torpeodes at the second. Although the Japanese boat was not in sight when Tautog surfaced, she was not officially credited with a sinking. Later in the morning, Tautog sighted another submarine with the designation "I-28" clearly discernible on its conning tower. Just as I-28 fired at Tautog, the American boat launched two torpedoes, then went to 150 feet (46 m) to avoid. One torpedo missed, the second sent the Japanese boat to the bottom, making her the third sunk by Pacific Fleet submarines.

 

Tautog sighted two ships departing Truk on 22 May and made a submerged sound attack on the larger. The American submarine's crew thought they had sunk the target, but the 5,461-ton cargo ship Sanko Maru had been only damaged. Three days later, Tautog made an attack from periscope depth against a cargo ship. Her spread of torpedoes sent Shoka Maru to the bottom. The patrol ended at Fremantle on 11 June. She was credited with six ships sunk for 19,500 tons; postwar, this was reduced to three for 7,500 tons.

 

Third patrol

Her third war patrol, conducted from 17 July to 10 September 1942, took Tautog to the coast of Indochina, where (in part due to torpedo shortages) she laid mines. The hunting was poor, and she sank only one ship, Ohio Maru (5,900 tons), on 6 August.

 

Fourth patrol

Tautog was refitted by Holland (AS-3) at Albany, south of Fremantle. Again loaded with mines, the submarine put to sea 8 October 1942. On 20 October, her lookouts spotted the dim outline of a ship through a rain squall. Quickly submerging, the submarine determined that the ship was a 75-ton fishing schooner. Tautog prepared for battle, surfaced, closed the range, and fired a shot from her deck gun across the schooner's bow; the target hove to. The stranger broke the Japanese colors and hoisted a signal flag. Investigation revealed a Japanese crew and four Filipinos on board. The Filipinos swam over to the submarine and later enlisted in the United States Navy. The Japanese were ordered to take to their boats but refused to do so. Three shells fired in the schooner's stern disabled her rudder and propeller. The Japanese then launched a boat, were given water, and directed to the nearest land. When Tautog opened fire to sink the ship, several more Japanese emerged and scrambled into the boat. Ten more rounds left the schooner a burning hulk.

 

On 27 October, Tautog tracked a passenger-cargo ship until dark and launched two torpedoes into her. A fire started in the target aft, her bow rose into the air, and the unidentified ship sank within a few minutes (tentatively identified as the Hokuango Maru formerly Chinese vessel Pei An )[18] The next day, a spread of torpedoes fired at another merchantman turned out to be duds; their impacts on the target which could be heard in the sub.[19] However, escort ships had seen their tracks, and the submarine received a thorough depth charging which caused no serious damage. During the night of 2 November, Tautog laid mines off Haiphong, Indochina, with several exploding as they were emplaced. On 11 November, she launched a torpedo at another passenger/cargo ship. It missed and alerted an escort which gave Tautog a severe depth charge attack. Five explosions close aboard caused extensive minor damage. The submarine returned to Fremantle ten days later for repair and refit. She was credited with one ship of 5,100 tons; postwar, it was reduced to 4,000 tons.[20]

 

Fifth patrol

Her fifth war patrol, from 15 December 1942 to 30 January 1943, took Tautog (now in the hands of William B. "Barney" Sieglaff, on his first war patrol)[21] to the Java Sea, near Ambon Island, Timor Island, and Celebes Island. She contacted a freighter in Ombai Strait on 24 December and tracked her until 03:06 the next morning when she fired three stern tubes. Two hits sent Banshu Alaru Number 2 to the bottom. Tautog went deep and began retiring westward; enemy patrol boats kept her down for ten hours before they withdrew.

 

That night, Tautog was headed for Alors Strait when she sighted a ship (thought to be a freighter) coming west, accompanied by an escort. The targets suddenly turned toward Tautog and were recognized as an antisubmarine warfare team. The submarine went deep but still received a severe pounding. On 5 January 1943, Tautog sighted a sail off her port bow and promptly closed the ship. It turned out to be a native craft with a dozen Muslim sailors, four women, several babies, some chickens, and a goat on board. After he had examined the ship's papers, Tautog's commanding officer allowed the vessel to resume its voyage. On 9 January at 08:38, Tautog (relying on ULTRA) sighted Natori, a Nagara-class cruiser off Ambon Island, at a range of about 3,000 yards (2,700 m). Three minutes later, the submarine fired her first torpedo. At 09:43, her crew heard a loud explosion, and sonar reported the cruiser's screws had stopped. In the next few minutes, as the cruiser got underway at reduced speed, Tautog scored two more hits, while the cruiser opened fire on her periscope with 5 in (127 mm) guns, preventing her from tracking the target for another attack; the cruiser limped into Ambon.

 

Later in the patrol, in the Salajar Strait, Tautog spotted a second cruiser (again thanks to ULTRA), and launched four torpedoes in heavy seas; all missed. She sighted a freighter on 22 January in the Banda Sea, and three of the submarine's torpedoes sent her to the bottom. The victim was later identified as Hasshu Maru, a former Dutch passenger-cargo ship which had been taken over by the Japanese. Tautog then headed for Fremantle, where she was greeted warmly for her "extreme aggressiveness; She was credited with two ships sunk for 6,900 tons; postwar, this was limited to two of 2,900.

 

Sixth patrol

Isonami, sunk by Tautog 9 April 1943.

Tautog's next patrol was conducted in Makassar Strait and around Balikpapan (where she again laid mines)from 24 February 1943 to 19 April. On 17 March, she sighted a grounded tanker with topside damage from an air attack. One torpedo, well placed near the stern, produced a secondary explosion, and the ship settled by the stern. Tautog expended three additional torpedoes on a freighter, but missed.On 9 April in the Celebes Sea off Boston Island, Tautog contacted a convoy of five ships. She sank the 5,214-ton freighter Penang Maru with three torpedoes, then the destroyer Isonami (1,750 tons) as it rescued crew from the Penang Maru with three more and missed with three.During this patrol, in four battle surfaces to test her new gun (only the third 5"/25 cal pirated from an old V-boat,Tautog also sank a schooner, a sailboat, and a motor sampan. Despite five torpedo and four gun attacks, however, she only sank two confirmed ships for 7,000 tons (wartime, 6,800).

 

Seventh Patrol

Tautog stood out of Fremantle on 11 May 1943 and headed for a patrol area that included the Flores Sea, the Gulf of Boni, the Molucca Sea, the Celebes Sea, and the Moru Gulf. On 20 May, she sank a sampan with her deck guns. On 6 June, the submarine fired a spread of three torpedoes at a cargo ship off the entrance to Basalin Strait. The first torpedo scored a hit 20 seconds after being fired and a yellowish-green flash went up amidships of Shinei Maru as she went down. Tautog sank the 4,474-ton cargo ship Meiten Maru on 20 June, prior to ending her 53-day patrol at Pearl Harbor. This patrol was no more successful; despite six torpedo and three gun attacks, she only sank two confirmed ships for 14,300 tons (reduced to 5,300 tons postwar). The submarine was then routed back to the United States for an overhaul at Hunter's Point Navy Yard. She held refresher training when the yard work was completed and got underway for Hawaii.

 

Eighth patrol

On 7 October 1943, Tautog departed Pearl Harbor to patrol in waters near the Palau Islands. On 22 October, she surfaced near Fais Island to shell a phosphate plant. She sank Submarine Chaser Number 30 on 4 November.and subsequently damaged a tanker and three cargo ships. With all torpedoes expended, Tautog tracked a convoy for two days while radioing its position back to Pearl Harbor before she returned to Midway Island on 18 November.

 

Ninth patrol

Tautog's ninth war patrol began on 12 December 1943 and took her to Japanese home waters, southeast of Shikoku Island and along the southern coast of Honshū. On 27 December, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a freighter and made a similar attack on a passenger ship. However, she never learned the results of these attacks since enemy escorts forced her to go deep and kept her down for four hours while they rained 99 depth charges on her. On 3 January 1944, Tautog tracked a cargo ship off the mouth of the Kumano Kawa River, approximately one-half mile from the seawall. She fired a spread of three torpedoes, turned, and headed for deep water. The submarine ran up her periscope, but an explosion filled the air with debris and obscured Saishu Maru from view as the freighter sank. The sound of approaching high-speed propellers and a closing patrol plane convinced the submarine that it was time to depart.

 

The next day, Tautog made radar contact with a ship and tracked the target while working toward a good firing position. A profligate spread of six torpedoes produced four hits which broke Usa Maru in half. When last seen, the cargoman's bow and stern were both in the air. On 11 January, Tautog intercepted two freighters and launched three torpedoes at the first and larger, and one at the second. Escorts forced the submarine deep, but timed explosions indicated a hit on each ship. Tautog was later credited with inflicting medium damage to Kogyo Maru. She returned to Pearl Harbor for a refit by Bushnell (AS-15) on 30 January, credited with two ships for 9,700 tons (postwar, 6,000).

 

Tenth patrol

Tautog's assignment for her tenth war patrol took her to the cold waters of the northern Pacific near the Kuril Islands, from Paramushiro south to the main islands of Japan and the northeast coast of Hokkaidō. The submarine topped off with fuel at Midway and entered her patrol area on 5 March 1944. Her only casualty of the war occurred that day. While several members of her crew were doing emergency work on deck, a giant wave knocked them all off their feet and swept one man, newly assigned Motor Machinist's Mate R. A. Laramee, overboard; a search for him proved fruitless.

 

On 13 March, Tautog tracked a freighter until she reached a good position for an attack and then launched three torpedoes from 1,500 yards (1,400 m), of which two hit and stopped Ryua Maru. The target refused to sink, even after Tautog fired four more torpedoes into "the rubber ship". To avoid wasting more precious torpedoes, the submarine surfaced and finished the job with her 5" gun. While she was attempting this, another ship came over the horizon to rescue survivors.Leaving the bait sitting, Tautog dived and began a submerged approach, firing a spread of three torpedoes; cargo ship Shojen Maru sank, more quickly than her inexplicably durable sister.As the sub headed homeward on the night of 16 March, Tautog made radar contact on a convoy of seven ships off Hokkaidō. She maneuvered into position off the enemy's starboard flank so that two ships were almost overlapping and launched four torpedoes. After watching the first one explode against the nearer ship, Tautog was forced deep by an escort, but heard two timed explosions and breaking-up noises accompanied by more explosions. The American submarine pursued the remaining ships and attacked again from their starboard flank, firing three torpedoes at a medium-sized freighter and four at another ship. A Japanese destroyer closed the submarine, forced her deep, and subjected her to a depth charge attack for one and one-half hours. Tautog was officially credited with sinking Shirakumo (1,750 tons)and the passenger/cargo ship Nichiren Maru, bringing her total for the patrol to five ships for 17,700 tons (reduced postwar to four for 11,300),one of the most aggressive, and successful, of the war. She returned to Midway on 23 March.

 

Eleventh patrol

During her next patrol, from 17 April to 21 May 1944, Tautog (handed over to Thomas S. Baskett, formerly of USS S-37 (SS-142)) returned to the Kuril Islands. On 2 May, she sighted a cargo ship in a small harbor between Banjo To and Matsuwa To. The submarine launched four torpedoes from a range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m). One hit obscured the target. An hour later, Tautog fired two more and scored another hit. The 5,973-ton Army cargo ship Ryoyo Maru[33] settled in 24 feet (7.3 m) of water, decks awash. The next morning, Tautog made radar contact in a heavy fog, closing the enemy ship and firing four torpedoes; two hit the target. The submarine circled for a follow-up shot, but this was difficult as the water was covered with gasoline drums, debris, and life rafts. When Tautog last saw Fushimi Maru (5,000 tons)[33] through the fog, her bow was in the air. On 8 May, amid "swarms of ships" the submarine contacted a convoy bound for Esan Saki. She fired torpedoes at the largest ship. One hit slowed the target, and two more torpedoes left Miyazaki Maru (4,000 tons)[33] sinking by the stern. Escorts forced Tautog deep and depth charged her for seven hours without doing any damage. At dawn on 9 May, she fired on another freighter, missing.[33] Three days later, the submarine fired her last three torpedoes[33] at Banei Maru Number 2 (1,100 tons) and watched her disappear in a cloud of smoke. When Tautog returned to Pearl Harbor, she was credited with four ships sunk for 20,500 tons (postwar reduced to 16,100).

 

Twelfth patrol

On 23 June 1944, Tautog departed Pearl Harbor for Japanese waters to patrol the east coasts of Honshū and Hokkaidō. On 8 July, she stopped a small freighter dead in the water with one spread of torpedoes and followed with another spread that sank the ship. A lone survivor, taken on board the submarine, identified the ship as Matsu Maru which was transporting a load of lumber from Tokyo to Muroran. The next day, Tautog was patrolling on the surface near Simusu Shima, when she sighted a ship coming over the horizon. She submerged, closed the range, identified the ship as a coastal steamer. Surfacing, the sub fired 21 5" shells into the target, starting a fire and causing an explosion that blew off the target's stern. She then rescued six survivors from a swamped lifeboat who identified their ship as the Hokoriu Maru, en route from the Bonin Islands to Tokyo laden with coconut oil.

 

On 2 August, Tautog sighted several ships off Miki Saki. She launched three torpedoes at a freighter from a range of 800 yards (730 m). The first hit caused a secondary explosion which obscured the target, and the second raised a column of black smoke. When the air cleared, the cargo ship Konei Maru had sunk. The submarine was briefly attacked by escorts but evaded them and set her course for Midway. Tautog arrived there on 10 August, credited with a disappointing two ships for 4,300 tons (postwar reduced to 2,800); she was routed to the United States for overhaul.

 

Thirteenth patrol

Tautog was back in Pearl Harbor in early December and, on 17 December 1944, began her 13th and last war patrol. She called at Midway and Saipan before taking her patrol station (in company with Silversides)[38] in the East China Sea. On 17 January 1945, Tautog sighted a ship heading toward her. She attained a position and fired a spread of three torpedoes. One hit blew off the enemy's bow. She fired another torpedo from a range of 700 yards (640 m); and the loaded troopship, Transport Number 15, disintegrated. The bright moonlight of 20 January disclosed an enemy ship at a range of 10,000 yards (9,100 m). Tautog maneuvered to silhouette the target against the moon and attacked with two torpedoes and then watched the ship sink. The submarine approached the wreckage and rescued one survivor who identified the ship as the motor torpedo boat tender Shuri Maru (1,800 tons), en route from Tsingtao to Sasebo. The next day, Tautog damaged a tanker but could not evaluate the damage as she had to evade enemy escorts that were approaching. On her way back to Midway Island, the submarine sank a wooden trawler with her deck guns. Her score for the patrol was three ships for 8,500 tons (postwar, two for 3,300).[40]

 

Tautog completed her patrol at Midway on 1 February 1945 and was assigned to training duty. By 1945 with the Large Number of Modern Balao and Tench Class Submarines in Service, along with the Dwindling number of Japanese Merchant Ships and Navy targets, the Prewar Classes were ordered to Return to the States, Tautog among them.

 

On 2 March, the submarine shifted her operations to Pearl Harbor to assist aircraft in anti-submarine warfare for one month before heading for the United States. She reached San Diego on 9 April and operated in conjunction with the University of California's Department of War Research in experimenting with new equipment which it had developed to improve submarine safety. On 7 September, she headed for San Francisco to join the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Her orders were subsequently modified, and she got underway on 31 October for the East Coast. Tautog arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 18 November and was decommissioned on 8 December 1945.

 

Plans to use Tautog as a target during atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946 were cancelled, and she was assigned to the Ninth Naval District on 9 May 1947 as a reserve training ship. The submarine was towed to Wisconsin and arrived at Milwaukee on 26 December 1947. She provided immobile service at the Great Lakes Naval Reserve Training Center for the next decade.

 

Tautog was placed out of service and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 September 1959. On 15 November 1959, she was sold to the Bultema Dock and Dredge Company of Manistee, Michigan, for scrap. Tautog Received 14 Battle Stars Via the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Metal ,the Navy Unit Commendation (1 award for a combined 7 patrols)and the World War Two Victory Memorial for her World War Two Service.

Her Deck gun 40MM is on Display at Manistee,MI in front of the VFW.

 

USS Flasher (SS-249) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific during World War II. She received the Presidential Unit Citation and six battle stars, and sank 21 ships for a total of 100,231 tons of Japanese shipping, making her one of the most successful American submarines of the War.

 

She was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flasher. Her keel was laid down 30 September 1942 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 20 June 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Saunders, wife of LCDR Willard Saunders, Commanding Officer of USS Muskallunge) and commissioned 25 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander Reuben T. Whitaker (Class of 1934) in command. From 31 Oct 1944 to Mar 1946 she was commanded by Lt.Cdr. George William Grider.

 

Flasher arrived at Pearl Harbor from New London 15 December 1943 to prepare for her first war patrol, for which she sailed 6 January 1944. Bound for her patrol area off Mindoro, she sank her first target 18 January, sending a 2,900-ton former gunboat Yoshida Maru to the bottom. Adding to what would be the greatest total of enemy tonnage credited to an American submarine in World War II, she sank the freighter Taishin Maru(1,723 tons) off Manila 5 February, and sank two cargo ships of the same convoy on 14 February. Flasher arrived at Fremantle, Australia 29 February to refit. The 2 vessels sunk 14 February 1944 were the Minryo Maru(1,679 tons) and the Hokuan Maru(3,712 tons). See . (The Hokuan Maru probably rammed and sunk the Grayling SS 209 on 9 September 1943.)

 

Action-bound once more, the submarine departed Fremantle 4 April 1944 for the coast of French Indochina on her second war patrol. On 29 April she contacted the French aviso Tahure guarding a freighter (Song Giang Maru, 1065 grt) off the Hon Doi Islands, and sank both. After sinking a large cargo ship (Teisen Maru) in the Sulu Sea 9 May, Flasher set course for Fremantle, arriving 28 May for refit until 19 June.

 

Heading the same attack group, Flasher now commanded by Lieutenant Commander G. W. Grider, sailed on her fifth war patrol 15 November 1944, bound for Cam Ranh Bay. On 4 December one of her companions reported a tanker convoy, and Flasher set a converging course. As she made her approach in a heavy downpour, a destroyer suddenly loomed up before her, and Flasher launched her first spread of torpedoes at this escort. The destroyer (Kishinami) was stopped by two hits, and began listing and smoking heavily. Flasher got a spread of torpedoes away at a tanker before she was forced deep by a second destroyer, which dropped 16 depth charges. Rising to periscope depth, Flasher located the tanker burning and covered by yet a third destroyer. Speedily reloading, she prepared to sink the destroyer and finish off the tanker, and though almost blinded by rainsqualls, she did so with a salvo of four torpedoes, two of which hit the destroyer (Iwanami), and two of which passed beneath her, as planned, to hit the tanker (Hakko Maru 10,022 tons). Once more, counter-attack forced Flasher down, and when she surfaced she found no trace of the two damaged destroyers. The tanker, blazing away, was still guarded by three escorts until abandoned at sunset, when Flasher sank her with one torpedo. The two destroyers, both found after the war to have been sunk, were Kishinami and Iwanami.

 

Flasher contacted another well-guarded tanker convoy on the morning of 21 December 1944, and she began a long chase, getting into position to attack from the unguarded shoreward side. In rapid succession, Flasher attacked and sank three of the tankers (Omurosan Maru 9,204 tons, Otowasan Maru 9,204 tons, and Arita Maru 10,238 tons), receiving no counter-attack since the enemy apparently believed he had stumbled into a minefield. One of these tankers was the largest Flasher sank during the war. The other two tankers had displacements similar to each other, were tied for third largest.

 

Refitting at Fremantle once more between 2 January and 29 January 1945, Flasher made her sixth war patrol on the coast of Indochina. Contacts were few, but on 21 February she sank a sea truck by surface gunfire,[clarification needed] and 4 days later sank a cargo ship (Koho Maru 850 tons) with torpedoes. She completed her patrol upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor 3 April 1945, and sailed a few days later for a West Coast overhaul.

 

Bound for Guam on a seventh war patrol at the close of the war, Flasher was ordered back to New London, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 16 March 1946, attached to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On 1 June 1959 the Flasher was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrap on 1 June 1963. Her conning tower was removed and placed on display as a memorial at the entrance to Nautilus Park, a Navy housing area in Groton, Connecticut. It was then moved to the intersection of Thames St. and Bridge St. where it is the centerpiece of the World War II memorial that honors the 52 U.S. submarines and their crews lost during the war. Its upkeep was originally the responsibility of the Submarine Veterans of World War II organization and was then transferred into the willing (and usually younger) hands of the U. S. Submarine Veterans, Inc.

 

Flasher received the Presidential Unit Citation for her brilliantly successful third, fourth, and fifth war patrols. For her six war patrols, each designated "Successful", she received six battle stars via the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Metal and World War Two Victory Memorial.

 

USS Tang (SS-306) was a Balao-class submarine of World War II, the first ship of the United States Navy to bear the name Tang. She was built and launched in 1943, serving until being sunk by her own torpedo off China in the Taiwan Strait on 24 October 1944.

 

In her short career in the Pacific War, Tang sank 33 ships totalling 116,454 tons.Commander Richard O'Kane received the Medal of Honor for her last two engagements (23 and 24 October 1944).

 

Tang was sunk during the last engagement by a circular run of her final torpedo, going down in 180 ft (55 m) of water.78 men were lost, and the nine survivors were picked up by a Japanese frigate and taken prisoner of war. This was the only time that a Momsen lung was used to escape a sunken submarine.

 

The contract to build USS Tang was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 December 1941, and her keel was laid down on 15 January 1943. She was launched on 17 August sponsored by Mrs. Alix M. Pitre, wife of Captain Antonio S. Pitre, Director of Research at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and commissioned on 15 October 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Richard O'Kane, former executive officer of Wahoo, in command, and delivered to the Navy on 30 November 1943.

 

Tang completed fitting out at Mare Island and moved south to San Diego for 18 days of training before sailing for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 January 1944 and conducted two more weeks of exercises in preparation for combat.

 

Tang departed Pearl Harbor on 22 January 1944 to begin her first war patrol, destined for the Caroline Islands-Mariana Islands area. On the morning of 17 February, she sighted a convoy of two freighters, five smaller ships, and their escort. The submarine tracked the convoy, plotted its course, and then prepared to attack. An escort suddenly appeared at a range of 7,000 yd (6,400 m) and closing. Tang went deep and received five depth charges before the escort departed. Unscathed, she returned to periscope depth and resumed the attack. The range on the nearest freighter closed to 1,500 yd (1,400 m), and Tang fired a spread of four torpedoes. Three hit, and Gyoten Maru (6,800 tons)sank by the stern. The submarine cleared the area by running deep and then attempted to get ahead of the convoy for a dawn attack, but the remaining freighter passed out of range, protected by aircraft.

 

During the night of 22 February, Tang made a surface attack on a convoy of three cargo ships and two escorts.She tracked the Japanese ships, through rain squalls which made radar almost useless,for 30 minutes before attaining a firing position, on the surface,1,500 yd (1,400 m) off the port bow of a freighter. A spread of four torpedoes hit Fukuyama Maru (3,600 tons) from bow to stern, and the enemy ship disintegrated. Early the next morning, Tang made another approach on the convoy. The escort of the lead ship, the 6,800 ton Yamashimo Maru, moved from its covering position on the port bow, and the submarine slipped into it and fired four more torpedoes. The first hit the stern of the merchantman, the second just aft of the stack; and the third just forward of the bridge, producing a terrific secondary explosion. The ship was "twisted, lifted from the water",and began spouting flames as she sank.

 

On the morning of 24 February, Tang sighted a tanker, a freighter, and a destroyer. Rain squalls hampered her as she attempted to attain a good firing position, so she tracked the ships until after nightfall, then made a surface attack. She launched four torpedoes and scored three hits which sank the Tatutaki Maru-class freighter.The two remaining ships commenced firing in all directions, and Tang submerged to begin evasive action. She shadowed the enemy until morning and then closed the tanker for a submerged attack from extremely close range, just 500 yd (460 m), barely enough to allow her torpedoes to arm.Additional lookouts had been posted on the target's deck and, when the spread of torpedoes from Tang struck her, they were hurled into the air with other debris from the ship. Echizen Maru sank in four minutes as Tang went deep and rigged for the depth charge attack that followed.] During this evasion, a water leak developed in the forward torpedo room, and Tang exceeded her depth gauge maximum reading of 612 feet.Fortunately, the crew was able to get the submarine back under control and eventually return to the surface. (Postwar, JANAC denied credit for the tanker seen to explode.)

 

Tang contacted a convoy consisting of a freighter, transport, and four escorts on the evening of 26 February. She maneuvered into position to attack the wildly zigzagging transport and fired her last four torpedoes and believed she missed; JANAC credited her with sinking Choko Maru, a 1794-ton cargo ship.Having expended all 24 of her torpedoes and scored 16 hits, the submarine arrived at Midway for refit.

 

Second war patrol

 

Tang's second patrol began on 16 March and took her to waters around the Palau Islands, to Davao Gulf, and to the approaches to Truk. She made five surface contacts, but she had no chance to make any attacks. She was then assigned to lifeguard duty near Truk. Tang rescued 22 downed airmen, including some rescued by John Burns' Vought OS2U Kingfisher, and took them to Hawaii at the end of the patrol.

 

Third war patrol

Tang departed Pearl Harbor on 8 June and stalked enemy shipping in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea areas. On 24 June, southwest of Kagoshima, the submarine contacted a convoy of six large ships guarded by 16 escorts. Tang closed for a surface attack and fired a spread of three torpedoes at one of the ships and then fired a similar spread at a second target. Explosions followed, and Tang reported two ships sunk. However, postwar examination of Japanese records revealed by the Japanese government show that two passenger-cargo ships and two freighters were sunk. The ships must have overlapped, and the torpedo spread must have hit and sunk two victims in addition to their intended targets. Those sunk – Tamahoko Maru, Tainan Maru, Nasusan Maru, and Kennichi Maru – added up to 16,292 tons of enemy shipping.

 

On 30 June, while she patrolled the lane from Kyūshū to Dairen, Tang sighted another cargo ship steaming without escort. After making an end around run on the surface which produced two torpedo misses, Tang went deep to avoid depth charges, then surfaced and chased the target until she closed the range to 750 yd (690 m). A single torpedo blew Nikkin Maru in half, and the transport ship sank, taking with her some 3,200 Japanese soldiers.

 

The next morning, Tang sighted a tanker and a freighter. While she sank the freighter Taiun Maru Number Two, the tanker Takatori Maru Number One fled. The submarine trailed the latter until dark, then she launched two torpedoes which sank the tanker. Tang celebrated 4 July at dawn by an end-around, submerged attack on an enemy freighter which was near shore. However, with rapidly shoaling water and her keel about to touch bottom, Tang drew back, fired a spread of three with two hits, and then surfaced as survivors of the 6,886 tons cargo ship Asukazan Maru were being rescued by fishing boats. That afternoon, Tang sighted Yamaoka Maru, another cargo ship of approximately the same size, and sank her with two torpedoes. The submarine surfaced and, with the aid of grapnel hooks and Thompson submachine guns, rescued a survivor who had been clinging to an overturned lifeboat. While prowling the waters off Dairen late the next night, the submarine sighted a cargo ship and, during a submerged attack with her last two torpedoes, sank Dori Maru. Credited with eight ships for 56,000 tons at the time, the score confirmed postwar by JANAC for her third patrol was 10 ships for a total of 39,160 tons.

 

Fourth war patrol

Her fourth war patrol was conducted from 31 July – 3 September in Japanese home waters off the coast of Honshū. On 10 August, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a tanker near the beach of Omaezaki but scored no hits. The next day, after locating two freighters and two escorts, she launched three torpedoes at the larger freighter and two at the other. The larger freighter (Roko Maru) disintegrated due, apparently, to a torpedo which exploded in her boilers. As the submarine went deep, her crew heard the fourth and fifth torpedoes hit the second ship. After a jarring depth charge attack which lasted 38 minutes, Tang returned to periscope depth. Only the two escorts were in sight, and one of them was picking up survivors.

 

On 14 August, Tang attacked a patrol yacht with her deck gun and reduced the Japanese ship's deck house to a shambles with eight hits. Eight days later, she sank a 225 ft (69 m) patrol boat (No. 2 Nansatsu Maru). On 23 August, the submarine closed in on a large ship; Japanese crewmen dressed in white uniforms could be seen lining its superstructure and the bridge. She fired three torpedoes, and two hits caused the 8,135 ton transport Tsukushi Maru to sink. Two days later, Tang attacked a tanker and an escort with her last three torpedoes, sinking the tanker, No. 8 Nanko Maru. Tang then returned to Pearl Harbor.

 

Fifth war patrol and loss

 

After a refit, Tang stood out to sea on 24 September for her fifth war patrol. After topping off her fuel at Midway Island, she sailed for the Formosa Strait on 27 September.In order to reach her area, Tang had to pass through narrow waters known to be heavily patrolled by the Japanese. A large area stretching northeast from Formosa was known to have been mined by the enemy, and O'Kane was given the choice of making the passage north of the island alone, or joining a coordinated attack group (Silversides, Trigger, and Salmon, under Commander John S. Coye, Jr. flag in Silversides) which was to patrol off northeast Formosa, and making the passage with them. Tang chose to make the passage alone and these vessels never heard from Tang, nor did any base, after she left Midway.

 

The story of Tang's fate comes from the report of her surviving commanding officer.

 

On the night of 10–11 October, Tang sank the cargo ships Joshu Go and Ōita Maru. The submarine continued on patrol until 23 October, when she contacted a large convoy consisting of three tankers, a transport, a freighter, and numerous escorts. Commander O'Kane planned a night surface attack. Tang broke into the middle of the formation, firing torpedoes as she closed on the tankers (later identified as freighters). Two torpedoes struck under the stack and engine room of the nearest, a single burst into the stern of the middle one, and two exploded under the stack and engine space of the farthest. The first torpedoes began exploding before the last was fired, and all hit their targets, which were soon either burning or sinking. As the submarine prepared to fire at the tanker which was crossing her stern, she sighted the transport bearing down on her in an attempt to ram. Tang had no room to dive, so she crossed the transport's bow and with full left rudder saved her stern and got inside the transport's turning circle. The transport was forced to continue her swing to avoid the tanker, which had also been coming in to ram. The tanker struck the transport's starboard quarter shortly after the submarine fired four stern torpedoes along their double length at a range of 400 yd (370 m). The tanker sank bow first and the transport had a 30° up-angle. With escorts approaching on the port bow and beam and a destroyer closing on the port quarter, Tang rang up full speed and headed for open water. When the submarine was 6,000 yd (5,500 m) from the transport, another explosion was observed, and its bow disappeared.

 

On the morning of 24 October, Tang began patrolling at periscope depth. She surfaced at dark and headed for Turnabout Island (25.431493°N 119.93989°E). On approaching the island, the submarine's surface search radar showed so many blips that it was almost useless. Tang soon[clarification needed] identified a large convoy which contained tankers with planes on their decks and transports with crated planes stacked on their bows and sterns. As the submarine tracked the Japanese ships along the coast, the convoy's escorts became suspicious, and the escort commander began signaling with a large searchlight. This illuminated the convoy, and Tang chose a large three-deck transport as her first target, a smaller transport as the second, and a large tanker as the third. Their ranges varied from 900–1,400 yd (820–1,280 m). After firing two torpedoes at each target, the submarine paralleled the convoy to choose its next victims. She fired stern torpedoes at another transport and tanker aft.

 

As Tang poured on full speed to escape the gunfire directed at her, a destroyer passed around the stern of the transport and headed for the submarine. The tanker exploded, and a hit was seen on the transport. A few seconds later, the destroyer exploded, either from intercepting Tang's third torpedo or from shell fire of two escorts closing on the beam. Only the transport remained afloat, dead in the water. The submarine cleared to 240 ft (73 m), rechecked the last two torpedoes which had been loaded in the bow tubes, and returned to finish off the transport. The 23rd torpedo was fired at 900 yd (820 m) and was observed running hot, straight, and normal.[DANFS 1] Tang's score for the night would later be confirmed as the freighters Kogen Maru (6600 tons) and Matsumoto Maru (7000 tons).[23]

 

At 02:30 on the morning of 25 October, the 24th and last torpedo (a Mark 18 electric torpedo) was fired. It broached and curved to the left in a circular run. Tang fishtailed under emergency power to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the aft torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired.The explosion was violent, and men as far forward as the control room received broken limbs. The ship went down by the stern with the aft three compartments flooded. Of the nine officers and men on the bridge, including O'Kane,[24] three were able to swim through the night until picked up eight hours later. One officer escaped from the flooded conning tower and was rescued with the others.[25][24]

 

The submarine bottomed at 180 ft (55 m) and the thirty survivors crowded into the forward torpedo room as the aft compartments flooded, intending to use the forward escape trunk. Publications were burned, and all assembled in the forward room to escape. The escape was delayed by a Japanese patrol which dropped depth charges, and started an electrical fire in the forward battery. Beginning at 6:00 AM on 25 October, using the Momsen lung, the only known case where it was used, thirteen men escaped from the forward torpedo room.By the time the last had exited, the heat from the battery fire was so intense, paint on the bulkhead was scorching, melting, and running down. Of the 13 men who escaped from the forward torpedo room, only five were rescued. One sailor who was near the group of five but injured during the ascent was not rescued. Three who were on the bridge were rescued after swimming for 8 hours. Another survivor escaped the conning tower and used his pants as a flotation device. A total of 78 men were lost. Those who escaped the submarine were greeted in the morning by the sight of the bow of the transport they sank the previous night sticking straight out of the water.

 

Nine survivors, including O'Kane, were picked up the next morning by Japanese frigate CD-34.Survivors of Tang's previous sinkings were on board, and they beat the men from Tang. O'Kane stated, "When we realized that our clubbing and kickings were being administered by the burned, mutilated survivors of our handiwork, we found we could take it with less prejudice." The nine captives were placed in a prison camp at Ōfuna until the end of the war, where they were interrogated by Japanese intelligence.

 

Tang was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 February 1945.

 

Tang received four battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations for World War II service. Her commanding officer, Richard O'Kane, received the Medal of Honor for Tang's final combat action.

 

During the war, Tang was credited with sinking 31 ships in her five patrols, totaling 227,800 tons, and damaging two for 4,100 tons. This was unequaled among American submarines. Postwar comparison with Japanese records by the Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) reduced this to 24 ships, totaling 93,824 tons, placing her second on the list for ships sunk after USS Tautog (with 26) and fourth behind USS Flasher, Rasher, and Barb for total confirmed tonnage.These figures have since been revised to 33 ships totalling 116,454 tons, placing her first in the list of the most successful American submarines in World War II for both number of ships and tonnage. Tang also retains the best patrol by number of ships sunk, her third, with ten for 39,100 tons

 

SS Rasher (SS/SSR/AGSS/IXSS-269), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the rasher, or vermilion rockfish, a fish found along the California coast.

 

Rasher (SS-269), a fleet-type submarine, was laid down 4 May 1942 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisc.; launched 20 December 1942; sponsored by Mrs. G. C. Weaver; and commissioned 8 June 1943, Comdr. E. S. Hutchinson in command. Admiral Charles A. Lockwood had earlier relieved Hutchinson of command of Grampus for lacking aggressiveness.

 

Following builder's trials in Lake Michigan, Rasher was decommissioned and towed down the Mississippi on a floating drydock. After recommissioning and fitting out in New Orleans, the new submarine trained in the Bay of Panama, departed Balboa 8 August 1943, and arrived at Brisbane, Australia, on 11 September.

On her first war patrol, 24 September through 24 November 1943, Rasher operated in the Makassar Strait–Celebes Sea area, and sank the passenger-cargo ship Kogane Maru in a submerged attack at dawn on 9 October. Four days later, off Ambon Harbor, she spotted a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by two destroyers and a "Pete" seaplane. She fired two salvoes of three torpedoes each, then crash dived to avoid the destroyers and bombs from the scout plane. Freighter Kenkoku Maru broke up and sank, while the escorts struck back in a vigorous but vain counterattack.

 

On the afternoon of 31 October, while patrolling the shipping lanes off the Borneo coast, Rasher commenced trailing tanker Koryo Maru, but because of a patrolling float plane, was unable to attack until night. Rasher then surfaced, attacked and sent the tanker to the bottom after a thunderous explosion of exploding torpedoes and gasoline.

 

The submarine's next victim was tanker Tango Maru which lost her stern to a spread of three torpedoes on the afternoon of 8 November. Rasher escaped the escorts by diving deep and silently slipping away. A midnight attack on a second convoy in the Makassar Strait off Mangkalihat Peninsula resulted in a hit on a tanker, but vigorous countermeasures by enemy destroyers prevented any assessment of damage. Rasher escaped the enemy surface craft and, her torpedoes expended, headed home and arrived at Fremantle on 24 November.

 

Hutchinson had cleared his record on Grampus with the sinkings and was promoted to command a submarine division.

 

Command of Rasher was given to Willard Ross Laughon, former commanding officer of R-1 in the Atlantic. Following refit, Rasher commenced her second war patrol on 19 December 1943 and hunted Japanese shipping in the South China Sea off Borneo. When she attacked a three-tanker convoy on the night of 4 January 1944, her first torpedo exploded prematurely. A melee ensued, with tankers scattering and escorts racing about, firing in all directions. Rasher was pursuing Hakko Maru when the tanker exploded from a torpedo from Bluefish. Rasher fired at a second target while submerged, and heard explosions, but was unable to confirm a sinking. She pursued the third tanker, firing a spread of four torpedoes early on the morning of 5 January 1944. A mushroom-shaped fire rose as the last two torpedoes struck, and Kiyo Maru sank, leaving an oil slick and scattered debris. During the patrol, Rasher planted mines off the approaches to Saigon harbor. Prematurely exploding torpedoes and vigilant escorts frustrated her attacks on convoys on 11 January and 17 January. A week later she returned to Fremantle.

 

Benjamin Ernest Adams Jr. replaced Munson for the sixth war patrol. Rasher departed San Francisco on 20 December 1944, arriving at Midway via Pearl Harbor in early January 1945. Her sixth patrol, as a unit of a wolfpack with Pilotfish and Finback, commenced on 29 January, and was conducted in the southern sector of the East China Sea. Rasher attacked a pair of ships on 15 February but missed, and approached a convoy the next day but was unable to get in position to attack. A later attack on another convoy also ended in misses. No other suitable targets were found, only small patrol craft, hospital ships, and ubiquitous patrol aircraft. The patrol ended on 16 March 1945 at Guam.

 

 

Charles Derick Nace replaced Adams for the seventh and eighth patrols. Rasher's seventh patrol, 17 April to 29 May 1945, was little more rewarding than the sixth. On lifeguard station off Honshū, she riddled two small craft with gunfire. No aircraft came down in her area, and she returned to Midway on 29 May.

 

Rasher departed Midway 23 June 1945 to take lifeguard station off southern Formosa. No Allied planes were downed in her area before orders arrived to proceed to the Gulf of Siam. While she was en route the war ended, and Rasher returned to the Philippines. She departed Subic Bay on 31 August arriving New York on 6 October, via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal. Following deactivation overhaul, she was decommissioned 22 June 1946 and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at New London, Connecticut.

 

Rasher was credited with sinking 99,901 tons of Japanese shipping, the third highest total for US submarines in World War II. However, a Japanese destroyer credited as sunk by sister ship USS Flasher (SS-249) is given a name that never existed and may have been a case of mistaken identity. If the tonnage credited for this ship is removed from the record of Flasher, then Rasher becomes the second highest-scoring US submarine for tonnage.

 

She was placed in commission in reserve at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 14 December 1951, Lt. V. D. Ely in command. After being reclassified as a radar picket submarine, SSR-269 she commenced conversion which continued after she decommissioned 28 May 1952. After extensive hull and interior alterations at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was recommissioned 22 July 1953, Lt. Comdr. R. W. Stecher in command. She departed New London on 12 November, arriving San Diego 17 December via Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal.

 

The following 2 years were spent off the west coast in operations from Washington state to Acapulco. On 4 January 1956, she deployed to the 7th Fleet, where she operated with U.S. and SEATO naval units. She returned to San Diego 3 July 1956. Prior to and following a second WestPac deployment from 4 March to 4 September 1958, SSR-269 served in Fleet exercises as an early warning ship, and in ASW training operations.

 

On 28 December 1959, Rasher departed the continental United States for the Far East. While attached to the 7th Fleet, she participated in exercise "Blue Star", a large-scale American-Nationalist Chinese amphibious exercise. In May 1960, she took part in the Black Ship Festival at Shimoda, Japan, commemorating Commodore Matthew C. Perry's landing. She returned to San Diego on 20 June 1960.

 

 

Rasher was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-269, on 1 July 1960, with conversion being accomplished at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Involved in maintaining fleet readiness until mid-August 1962 when she deployed to WestPac, Rasher continued to exhibit her usual high standards of performance. She returned to San Diego on 15 February 1963, and was overhauled that summer.

 

During the next year, AGSS-269 was engaged in strike exercises involving other American and Canadian ships. Her next deployment, beginning on 3 August 1964, involved support of 7th Fleet operations off Vietnam, as well as ASW exercises with SEATO allies.

 

After returning to San Diego on 5 February 1965, she had ASW and amphibious training. Her next WestPac deployment, from 3 January to 17 July 1966, included amphibious and ASW training support for Republic of Korea, Nationalist Chinese, and Thai units, as well as operations with the 7th Fleet off Vietnam.

 

Rasher spent the remainder of her commissioned career providing training services off the coast of California to UDT and ASW units. She was decommissioned 27 May 1967, and later was reclassified "unclassified miscellaneous submarine" IXSS-269, was towed to Portland, Oreg., where she served as a training submarine for Naval reservists until struck from the Navy List, 20 December 1971.SS269 was sold for Scrap to an Unknown Company Circa 1974.

 

Rasher was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance in combat during World War II patrols 1, 3, 4, and 5. She received seven battle stars in World War II service via the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Metal and the World War two Victory Metal , and two battle stars for service off Vietnam via

Vietnam service medal.

 

USS Silversides (SS/AGSS-236) is a Gato-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the silversides.These Fish are found in Tropical Waters Worldwide.

 

Silversides was one of the most successful submarines in the Pacific Theater of World War II, with 23 confirmed sinkings, totalling more than 90,000 long tons (91,444 t) of shipping. She received a Presidential Unit Citation for cumulative action over four patrols, and twelve battle stars. She presently serves as a museum ship in Muskegon, Michigan, and is a National Historic Landmark.

 

Her keel was laid down on 4 November 1940, by the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California. She was launched on 26 August 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth H. Hogan, and commissioned on 15 December 1941,[9] with Lieutenant Commander Creed C. Burlingame (Class of 1927) in command.

 

First patrol: April – June 1942

After shakedown off the California coast, Silversides set course for Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 4 April 1942. Departing Pearl Harbor on 30 April, Silversides headed for the Japanese home islands, in the area of Kii Suido, for the first of her many successful war patrols. On 10 May, just after 8:00 local time, the submarine used her 3-inch (76 mm) gun to heavily damage the Japanese guard boat Ebisu Maru No.5.During this 75-minute action, an enemy machine-gun bullet killed one of her deck gunners, TM3 Mike Harbin, the only man lost in action aboard Silversides during World War II. Harbin was buried at sea later that evening. On 13 May, Silversides fired torpedoes at an enemy submarine; although explosions were heard, a definite sinking could not be confirmed.

 

On 17 May, while maneuvering through an enemy fishing fleet and approaching her targets, Silversides' periscope became entangled in a fishnet marked by Japanese flags held aloft on bamboo poles. The sub continued her approach, fishnet and all, and fired three torpedoes at the first ship, a 4,000-ton cargo ship. Two hits tore the victim's stern open. While that ship was sinking, the second cargo ship was also hit, but its fate could not be determined. Patrol boats were closing in as the submarine, probably the only American submarine to make an attack while flying the Japanese flag, quickly left the vicinity. After damaging a freighter and tanker in the same area, Silversides terminated her first war patrol at Pearl Harbor on 21 June.

 

Silversides's second war patrol was also conducted in the area of Kii Suido, from 15 July to 8 September. On 28 July, she sank a 4,000-ton transport, followed by the sinking of the passenger/cargo ship Nikkei Maru on 8 August. She scored damaging hits on a large tanker on the night of 14 August and, on 31 August, sank two enemy trawlers before returning to Pearl Harbor.

 

Her third war patrol, conducted in the Caroline Islands, did not result in any sinkings. Severe damage was done to a large cargo ship, and there were two observed torpedo hits on a Japanese destroyer or light minelayer, which did an undetermined level of damage. She terminated her third patrol at Brisbane, Australia, on 25 November.

 

 

Fourth patrol: December 1942 – January 1943

Silversides departed Brisbane on 17 December 1942 and set course for New Ireland for her fourth war patrol. While far out at sea on the night of 22 December, the submarine's pharmacist's mate, PM1 Thomas Moore, performed a successful emergency appendectomy on FM2 George Platter, using ether as anesthesia and using rudimentary tools primarily fashioned from kitchen utensils. With the operation over at 3:00 on 23 December, the submarine surfaced only to be immediately forced down by a Japanese destroyer and compelled to endure a severe depth charge attack. Thinking herself safe, Silversides surfaced only to find the destroyer still there. Additionally, a Japanese airplane had arrived on the scene and proceeded to drop three bombs on the submarine, severely damaging her bow planes and causing them to lock on full dive. Silversides managed to level off just short of crush depth and eventually evaded the enemy ship before surfacing to recharge her batteries and effect emergency repairs.

 

While off Truk on 18 January 1943, Silversides torpedoed and sank her largest target of the war, the 10,022 ton oil tanker Toei Maru. Two days later, the submarine had one of her most productive days of the war. After paralleling a convoy throughout the daylight hours, she moved on ahead at sundown and lay in wait (an end around position). As the targets moved into range, Silversides fired torpedoes at overlapping targets and sank three enemy ships—the cargo ships Surabaya Maru, Somedono Maru, and Meiu Maru.The attack had scarcely abated when it was discovered that an armed torpedo was stuck in a forward torpedo tube. Since it was impossible to disarm the torpedo, the commanding officer decided to attempt to refire it, an extremely dangerous maneuver. The submarine moved in reverse at top speed and fired. The torpedo shot safely from the tube, disappearing as it moved toward the horizon.

 

When a serious oil leak was discovered later that night, the submarine left the patrol area two days ahead of schedule and returned to Pearl Harbor on 31 January for a major overhaul.

 

Silversides's fifth war patrol commenced on 17 May and was conducted in the Solomon Islands area. Enroute the patrol area on 28 May, one of the more unusual moments of the war occurred. Stated in the 5th war patrol report as follows:

 

Proceeded on surface toward assigned position. On the 28th a frigate bird made a high level bombing attack, scoring a direct hit on the bare head and beard of the OOD, Lt. Bienia. No indication by radar prior to attack.

 

Continuing on, the submarine's primary mission for this patrol was to lay a minefield in Steffan Strait, between New Hanover and New Ireland, but she did not neglect enemy shipping. On the night of 10 – 11 June, she sank the 5,256-ton cargo ship Hide Maru; for her efforts, Silversides was forced to endure a severe depth charging. She returned to Brisbane for refit on 16 July.

 

For her sixth war patrol, under newly assigned Lt. Commander John S. "Jack" Coye, Jr., from 21 July to 4 September, Silversides patrolled between the Solomons and the Carolines. Since she was plagued with malfunctioning torpedoes and a scarcity of targets, she returned to Brisbane empty-handed.

 

Seventh and eighth patrols: October 1943 – January 1944

Silversides set sail on 5 October for her seventh war patrol, in which she sank four enemy ships in waters ranging from the Solomon Islands to the coast of New Guinea. On 18 October, she torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Tairin Maru, and, on 24 October, made a series of daring attacks to send the cargo ships Tennan Maru and Kazan Maru and the passenger/cargo ship Johore Maru to the bottom. She returned to Pearl Harbor for refit on 8 November.

 

Silversides patrolled off the Palau Islands for her eighth war patrol, where, on 29 December 1943, she brought havoc to an enemy convoy of cargo ships, sinking Tenposan Maru, Shichisei Maru, and Ryuto Maru. She terminated her eighth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1944.

 

Ninth and tenth patrols: February – June 1944

For her ninth war patrol, Silversides departed Pearl Harbor on 15 February and set course for waters west of the Marianas Islands. On 16 March, she sank the cargo ship Kofuku Maru. The remainder of the patrol was devoid of worthwhile targets, so the submarine returned to Fremantle on 8 April.[clarification needed]

 

While on her tenth war patrol, again off the Marianas Islands, Silversides destroyed six enemy vessels for a total of over 14,000 tons. On 10 May, she torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Okinawa Maru, followed up with the passenger/cargo ship Mikage Maru; and then sent the converted gunboat Choan Maru Number Two beneath the waves. Ten days later, she added to her score when she sank another converted gunboat, the 998-ton Shosei Maru. On 29 May, the submarine torpedoed and sank the cargo ships Shoken Maru and Horaizan Maru; and then headed for Pearl Harbor, arriving on 11 June. Two days later, she got underway for Mare Island Navy Yard for overhaul, returning to Pearl Harbor on 12 September.

 

Silversides cleared Pearl Harbor on 24 September for her eleventh war patrol, conducted off Kyūshū, Japan. Although this patrol was unproductive, she aided in the rescue of a stricken sister submarine. Salmon (SS-182) had been badly damaged in a severe depth charging and was forced to surface and try to escape while fighting enemy escorts in a gun battle, a task for which a submarine is badly outmatched. The gunfire flashes brought Silversides to the scene. She deliberately drew the attention of some of the escorts, then quickly dove to escape the gunfire. Soon, submarines Trigger (SS-237) and Sterlet (SS-392) joined in helping Silversides to guard Salmon, and in escorting the stricken submarine back to Saipan, arriving on 3 November. Silversides terminated her eleventh patrol at Midway Island on 23 November.

 

Silversides' twelfth war patrol commenced on 22 December 1944, and was spent in the East China Sea. Despite aggressive searching, she found few worthwhile targets. However, when an opportunity did come her way, Silversides took full advantage. On 25 January 1945, she torpedoed the 4,556-ton cargo ship Malay Maru. She returned to Midway Island on 12 February.

 

Thirteenth and fourteenth patrols: March – July 1945

During her thirteenth war patrol, Silversides was a member of a coordinated attack group with submarines Hackleback (SS-295) and Threadfin (SS-410), patrolling off Kyūshū. Although she again found few worthwhile targets, the submarine did manage to damage a large freighter and to sink a trawler before returning to Pearl Harbor on 29 April.

 

Silversides's fourteenth and final war patrol began with a departure from Pearl Harbor on 30 May. This patrol was spent on lifeguard station in support of airstrikes on Honshū, Japan. On 22 July, she rescued a downed fighter pilot from the light aircraft carrier Independence (CVL-22), and two days later recovered a downed United States Army Air Forces airman. She ended this patrol at Apra Harbor, Guam, on 30 July. The submarine was undergoing refit there when the hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August.

 

Post-war service: 1945–1969

Silversides transited the Panama Canal on 15 September 1945, arriving at New York City on 21 September. After shifting to New London, Connecticut, she was decommissioned on 17 April 194

Done