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Keel Laid: December 8, 1916
Launched: November 11, 1917
Commissioned June 8, 1918
Commanding Officer: Lt. G. A. Trever
On 28 October 1923, as 0-5 entered Limon Bay, preparatory to transiting the Canal, she was rammed by United Fruit steamer ABANGAREZ and sank in less than a minute, with the loss of 3 men.
Struck from the Navy Register 28 April 1924, she was sold as a hulk to R. K. Morris, Balboa, C.Z. 12 December 1924.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” (1970) Vol. 5, p.120.
Keel laid: February 19, 1921
Launched: October 27, 1923
Commissioned: February 16, 1925,
Commanding officer: Lt. A. H. Bateman
S-44 was sunk by ISHIGAKI, a SHIMUSHU class escort. ISHIGAKI, in turn, was
sunk by submarine HERRING (SS-233) on May 31, 1944.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” (1976) Vol. 6, pp.206-207.
Keel Laid: 28 June 1941
Launched: 14 February 1942
Commissioned: 15 May 1942
Commanding Officer: Lt. Comdr. Marvin Granville
Kennedy
Japanese records reported that, on 11 October 1943, the date WAHOO was due to exit through La Perouse Strait, an antisubmarine aircraft found a surfaced submarine and attacked, dropping three depth charges. There was little doubt that this submarine was Wahoo.
WAHOO was announced overdue on 2 December 1943 and stricken from the Navy list on 6 December 1943.
Lt. Comdr. D. W. “Mush” Morton, who had relieved Lt. Commander Kennedy as C.O., went on to become one of the top skippers of WWII. Morton was posthumously awarded four Navy Crosses and his enemy ship sinkings included 19 ships for about 55,000 tons. This left Morton, in terms of individual ships sunk, one of the top three skippers of the war.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” (1981) Vol. 8, pp.29-33.
Launched: 23 May 1943 by Electric Boat Co.,
Groton, Conn.
Commissioned 28 August 1943
Commanding Officer: Lieutenant Commander E.
C. Schneider
Dorado sailed from New London 6 October 1943, for the Canal Zone but never arrived. Air searches were begun immediately after her scheduled date of arrival 14 October. Widely scattered oil slicks with occasional debris were found and later investigation revealed that a patrol plane from Guantanamo Bay delivered a surprise attack on an unidentified submarine on 12 October and was later fired upon by another unidentified submarine. A German submarine was known to be operating near the scene of these two contacts, but the actual fate of Dorado remains unknown.
From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships -Transcribed by Yves HUBERT
Launched: 18 April 1943
Commissioned 2 June 1944
Commanding Officer: W. J. Millican
Escolar put out for her first war patrol 18 September 1944. After topping off fuel at Midway, she joined Croaker (SS-246) and Perch (SS-313) for a coordinated war patrol in the Yellow Sea which she directed. On 30 September, she engaged a small craft in a surface gun action, and reported to her sisters that she was undamaged, without mentioning what her gunfire had done to the enemy ship. Her last communication was with Perth on 17 October; she was never heard from
again. It is assumed that she struck a mine and sank with all hands.
Excerpts from: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships - Transcribed by Yves HUBERT.\
Launched: 6 June 1943 by Electric Boat Co.,
Groton, Conn.
Commissioned: 7 September 1943
Commanding Officer: W. S. Stovall, Jr.
Just after midnight of 24 October, 1944, Darter grounded on Bombay Shoal.. All
confidential papers and equipment were destroyed, and the entire crew taken off to Dace. When the demolition charges planted in Darter failed to destroy her, Dace fired torpedoes which exploded on the reef due to the shallow water. As Dace submerged, Darter was bombed by an enemy plane. Dace reached Fremantle safely with Darter's men on 6 November.
In addition to the Navy Unit Commendation, Darter received four battle stars earned during her four war patrols, the last three of which were designated as "successful". She is credited with having sunk a total of 19,429 tons of Japanese shipping.
Excerpts from: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships - Transcribed by Yves HUBERT
Keel Laid: 28 January 1943
Launched: 17 October 1943
Commanding officer: Comdr. E. N. Blakely
SHARK was lost during her third war patrol, probably in the vicinity of Luzon Strait, while participating in a coordinated attack group with submarines SEADRAGON (SS-194) and BLACKFISH (SS-221). This was the last message received from the submarine, and all subsequent attempts to contact SHARK failed.
She was reported as presumed lost on 27 November, 1944.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” (1976) Vol. 6, pp.467-468.
Keel Laid: 15 January 1943
Launched 17 August 1943
Commissioned on 15 October 1943
During Tang’s fifth, and last, war patrol, one of her torpedos (which had been fired at a transport) 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 after torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired. TANG sank by the stern. Nine survivors, including the commanding officer, were picked up the next morning by a Japanese destroyer escort. They spent the remainder of the war in prison camps.
During her brief career, TANG was officially credited with sinking 24 Japanese ships which totaled 93,824 tons. TANG was struck from the Navy list on 8 February 1945. TANG received four battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations for World War II service.
Her commanding officer received the Congressional Medal of Honor for TANG's final action.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” (1981) Vol. 7, pp.37-39. -Transcribed by Michael Hansen
Keel Laid: 27 September 1938
Commissioned: 1 December 1939
Commanding Officer Lt. Frederick B. Warder
At the start of SEAWOLF’s 15th war patrol, 1944, SEAWOLF and submarine NARWHAL (SS-167) exchanged radar recognition signals at 0756 on 3 October in the Morotai area. Shortly thereafter, a 7th Fleet task group was attacked by a Japanese submarine. Destroyer escort SHELTON (DE-407) was torpedoed, and sister ship RICHARD M. ROWELL (DE-403) stood by to search for the enemy. Two planes were sent from the escort carrier MIDWAY (CVE-63) to assist in the search. One of the planes sighted a submarine submerging and dropped two bombs on it even though it was in a safety zone for American submarines. The site was marked by dye and RICHARD M. ROWELL steamed to the area, made sound contact and attacked with "hedgehogs." The second attack was followed by underwater explosions, and debris rose to the surface.
No further contact was made with SEAWOLF, and her position would have placed her in the area where the plane and RICHARD M. ROWELL made their attacks. On 28 December 1944, SEAWOLF was announced overdue from patrol and presumed lost.
She was struck from the Navy list on 20 January 1945. SEAWOLF received 13 battle stars for World War II service.
Excerpts from the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,”(1976) Vol. 6, pp.422-423. Transcribed by Michael Hansen