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USS Sailfish (SS-192), off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943
Career (Squalus)
Name:	USS Squalus
Namesake:	squalus
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	18 October 1937
Launched:	14 September 1938
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Thomas C. Hart
Commissioned:	1 March 1939
Decommissioned:	15 November 1939
Fate:	Sunk and salvaged
Raised:	13 September 1939
Career (Sailfish)
Renamed:	USS Sailfish, 9 February 1940
Namesake:	sailfish
Commissioned:	15 May 1940
Decommissioned:	27 October 1945
Struck:	30 April 1948
Honors and awards:	nine battle stars for World War II Presidential Unit Citation, tenth patrol
Fate:	Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Displacement:	1,450 tons surfaced, 2,350 tons submerged
Length:	310 feet 6 in (94.6 m) overall
Beam:	27 feet (8.2 m)[1]
Draft:	13 feet 9 inches (4.2 m)
Propulsion:	4 × 1,600 hp (1.2 MW) Winton[2] diesel engines 4 × 685 hp (560 kW) General Electric motors 252-cell Exide battery two shafts
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	9,500 nautical miles (17,590 km) surfaced at 10 knots (18,000 km at 19 km/h)
Test depth:	250ft (76 m)[3]
Capacity:	428 tons oil fuel
Complement:	70 officers and men[3]
Armament:	As completed: 8 × 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo tubes (four forward, four aft, twenty-four torpedoes) 1 × 4" (102 mm)/50 caliber deck gun 2 × .50" (12.7 mm) machine guns 2 × .30" (7.62 mm) machine guns Later: 2 × 20 mm guns[3]

USS Sailfish (SS-192), a Sargo-class submarine, was originally named Squalus.

Her keel was laid on 18 October 1937 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, as Squalus, the only ship of the United States Navy named for the squalus. She was launched on 14 September 1938 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas C. Hart (wife of the Admiral), and commissioned on 1 March 1939, with Lieutenant Oliver F. Naquin in command. Squalus sank during a test dive on 23 May, but was raised, renamed, and recommissioned a year later on 15 May 1940 as Sailfish.

On 12 May, following a yard overhaul, Squalus began a series of test dives off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After successfully completing 18 dives she went down again off the Isle of Shoals on the morning of 23 May. Failure of the main induction valve^{[4] [5]}caused the flooding of the aft torpedo room, both engine rooms, and the crew's quarters, drowning 26 men immediately. Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding. Squalus bottomed in 243 ft (74 m) of water.^[6]

Squalus was initially located by her sister ship, Sculpin (SS-191). The two submarines were able to communicate using a telephone marker buoy until the cable parted. Divers from submarine rescue ship Falcon, under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Lieutenant Commander Charles B. "Swede" Momsen, employing the new McCann rescue chamber, were able to rescue all 33 surviving crew members from the disabled submarine. Four enlisted divers earned the Medal of Honor for their work during the rescue and subsequent salvage.^[7]

The submarine was refloated using cables passed underneath her hull and attached to pontoons on each side. After overcoming tremendous technical difficulties in one of the most grueling salvage operations in Naval history, Squalus was raised, towed into Portsmouth Navy Yard on 13 September, and formally decommissioned on 15 November.

Renamed Sailfish on 9 February 1940, she became the first ship of the United States Navy named for the sailfish. After reconditioning, repair, and overhaul, she was recommissioned on 15 May 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Morton C. Mumma, Jr. (Class of 1930)^[8] in command.

With refit completed in mid-September, Sailfish departed Portsmouth on 16 January 1941 and headed for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal, she arrived at Pearl Harbor in early March, after refueling at San Diego, California. The submarine then sailed west to Manila where she joined the Asiatic Fleet until the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During the Pacific War, the captain of the renamed ship gave standing orders if any man on the boat said the word "Squalus" he was to be marooned at the next port of call. This led to crew members referring to their vessel as "Squailfish". This went over almost as well; court martial was threatened for anyone heard using it.^[9]

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sailfish departed Manila on her first war patrol, destined for the west coast of Luzon. Early on 10 December, she sighted a landing force, supported by cruisers and destroyers, but could not gain firing position.^[10] On the night of 13 December, she made contact with two Japanese destroyers, and bravely began a submerged attack; the destroyers detected her, dropping a couple of depth charges, while Sailfish fired two torpedoes. Despite a massive explosion nearby, no damage was done, and the destroyers counterattacked with eighteen or twenty depth charges.^[11] She returned to Manila on 17 December.

Her second patrol (now in the hands of Richard G. Voge, Class of 1925),^[12] begun on 21 December, took the submarine to waters off Taiwan. On the morning of 27 January 1942, off Halmahera, near Davao, she sighted a Myōkō-class cruiser, making a daylight submerged attack with four torpedoes, and reporting the target was damaged, for which she got credit.^[13] However, the damage could not be assessed since the cruiser's two escorts forced Sailfish to dive deep and run silent. Running at 260 feet (80 m), the submarine eluded the destroyers and proceeded south toward Java. She arrived at Tjilatjap on 14 February for refueling and rearming.

Departing 19 February for her third patrol, she headed through Lombok Strait to the Java Sea. After sighting the cruiser USS Houston, with two escorts, heading for Sunda Strait following the Allied defeat in the Battle of the Java Sea, Sailfish intercepted an enemy destroyer on 2 March. Following an unsuccessful attack on the Japanese warship, she was forced to dive deep to escape the ensuing depth charge attack from the destroyer and patrol aircraft. That night, near the mouth of Lombok Strait, she spotted what appeared to be Kaga,^[13] escorted by four destroyers. Sailfish fired four torpedoes, scoring two hits. Leaving the target aflame and dead in the water, Sailfish dove, the escorts delivering forty depth charges in the next ninety minutes.^[13] She eluded destroyers and aircraft and arrived at Fremantle, Australia, on 19 March, to great fanfare, believed to be the first U.S. sub to have sunk an enemy carrier; postwar, it was revealed that Kaga had been nowhere in the area, and the target had in fact been 6,440 ton aircraft ferry Kamogawa Maru, almost as valuable.^[13]

The Java Sea and Celebes Sea were the areas of Sailfish's fourth patrol, from 22 March to 21 May. After delivering 1,856 rounds of antiaircraft ammunition to "MacArthur's guerrillas",^[13] she made only one contact and was unable to attack the target before returning to Fremantle.

The submarine's fifth patrol, from 13 June to 1 August, was off the coast of Indochina in the South China Sea. On 4 July, she intercepted and tracked a large cargo-type vessel but discovered the intended target was a hospital ship and held her fire. On 9 July, she intercepted and torpedoed a Japanese freighter. One of a pair of torpedoes struck home and the ship took a fifteen degree list. As Sailfish went deep, a series of explosions was heard, and no further screw noises were detected. When the submarine surfaced in the area an hour and one-half later, no ship was in sight. Credited during the war with a 7,000 ton ship,^[14] postwar examination of Japanese records confirmed no sinking in the area on that date. Sailfish observed only one other enemy vessel before the end of the patrol.

Shifting her base of operations to Brisbane, Sailfish (now under the command of John R. "Dinty" Moore, Class of 1929)^[15] got underway for her sixth patrol on 13 September and headed for the western Solomon Islands. On the night of 17–18 September, she encountered eight Japanese destroyers escorting a cruiser, but she was unable to attack. On 19 September, she attacked a minelayer. The spread of three torpedoes missed, and Sailfish was forced to dive deep to escape the depth charge counterattack. Eleven well-placed charges went off near the submarine, causing much minor damage. Sailfish returned to Brisbane on 1 November.

Underway for her seventh patrol on 24 November Sailfish proceeded to the area south of New Britain. Following an unsuccessful attack on a destroyer on 2 December, the submarine made no other contacts until 25 December, when she scored a hit on a Japanese submarine. Postwar analysis of Japanese records could not confirm a sinking in the area. During the remainder of the patrol, she made unsuccessful attacks on a cargo ship and a destroyer before ending the patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1943.

After an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard from 27 January to 22 April, Sailfish returned to Pearl Harbor on 30 April. Departing Hawaii on 17 May for her eighth patrol, she stopped off to fuel at Midway Island and proceeded to her station off the east coast of Honshū. Several contacts were made but were not attacked due to bad weather. On 15 June, she encountered two freighters off Todo Saki, escorted by three subchasers.^[16] Firing a spread of three stern torpedoes, she observed one hit which stopped the maru dead in the water. Sailfish was driven down by the escort, but listened on her sound gear as Shinju Maru broke up and sank. Ten days later, she found a second convoy, three ships with a subchaser and, unusually, an aircraft, for escort. Sailfish once more fired three stern tubes, sinking Iburi Maru; in response, the subchaser, aircraft, and "three more escorts that appeared from nowhere",^[16] pinned her down in a grueling depth charge attack lasting ten hours and ninety-eight charges,^[16] but inflicted only slight damage. After shaking off her tormentors, she set course for Midway Island on 26 June, arriving there on 3 July.^[17]

Her ninth patrol (commanded by William R. Lefavour, Class of 1931),^[18] from 25 July to 16 September, in the Formosa Strait and off Okinawa, produced only two contacts (a 2,500 ton steamer at Naha, Okinawa, Okinawa, and a junk),^[16] but no worthwhile targets, and Sailfish returned to Pearl Harbor.^[19]

After refit at Pearl Harbor, she departed (under the command of Robert E. McC. Ward, Class of 1935),^[20] with newly rejuvenated spirits, on 17 November for her tenth patrol, which took her south of Honshū. Along the way, she suffered a "hot run" in tube eight (aft), and (after the skipper himself went over the side to inspect the damage) ejected the torpedo; the tube remained out of commission for the duration of the patrol.^[21]

Prior to arriving on station, after refueling at Midway Island, she was alerted by ULTRA^[21] of a fast convoy of Japanese ships, About 240 miles (440km) southeast of Yokosuka, on the night of 3 December, she made radar contact at 9,000 yards (8,200 m). The group consisted of the Japanese aircraft carrier Chuyo, a cruiser, and two destroyers. Despite high seas whipped up by typhoon winds, Sailfish maneuvered into firing position shortly after midnight on 3-4 December, dived to radar depth^[21] (just his radar aerial exposed), and fired a four bow torpedoes^[21] at the carrier, at a range of 2,100 yards (1,900 m),^[21] scoring two hits. She went deep to escape the escorting destroyers, which dropped twenty-one depth charges (only two close),^[21] reloaded, and at 02:00,^[21] surfaced resume the pursuit. She found a mass of radar contacts, and a slow-moving target, impossible to identify in the miserable visibility.^[21] As dawn neared, she fired another spread of three bow "fish" from 3,100 yards (2,800 m), scoring two more hits on the stricken carrier. Diving to eluding the Japanese counter-attack, which was hampered by the raging seas, Sailfish came to periscope depth, and at 07:58,^[21] finally saw the carrier, lying dead in the water, listing to port and down by the stern. Preparations to abandon ship were in progress. Later in the morning, Sailfish fired another spread of three torpedoes, from only 1,700 yards (1,600 m),^[22] scoring two final hits. Loud internal explosions and breaking-up noises were heard, while the submarine dived to escape a depth charge attack. Abruptly, a cruiser appeared and, fearing a broach, Sailfish went to 90 feet (27 m), losing a chance at this new target.^[23] Shortly afterwards, the carrier, Chuyo (20,000 tons),^[23] went to the bottom, the first aircraft carrier sunk by an American submarine in the war,^[23] and the only major Japanese man-of-war in 1943.^[24] In an ironic twist, Chuyo was carrying American prisoners of war from Sculpin, the same ship that had helped locate and rescue Sailfish — then Squalus — over four years before. 20 of the 21 US crew members from the Sculpin were killed.^[25]

After escaping a strafing attack by a Japanese fighter on 7 December, she made contact and commenced tracking two cargo ships with two^[23] escorts on the morning of 13 December, south of Kyūshū. That night she fired a spread of four torpedoes at the two freighters. Two solid explosions were heard, including an internal secondary explosion. Sailfish heard Totai Maru (3,000 tons)^[23] break up and sink as the destroyers made a vigorous but inaccurate depth charge attack. When Sailfish caught up with the other freighter, she was dead in the water, but covered by a screen of five destroyers. Rather than face suicidal odds, the submarine quietly left the area. On the night of 20 December, she intercepted an enemy hospital ship, which she left unmolested.

On 21 December, in the approach to Bungo Suido, Sailfish intercepted six large freighters escorted by three^[23] destroyers. With five torpedoes left, she fired a spread of three stern tubes,^[23] scoring two hits on the largest target. Diving to escape the approaching destroyers, the submarine detected breaking-up noises as Uyo Maru^[23] (6,400 tons)^[23] went to the bottom; destroyers counterattacked with thirty-one depth charges, "some very close".^[23] Sailfish terminated her tenth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1944. It was a remarkable performance: three ships for 35,729 tons, plus damage to one for 7,000, the best patrol by tonnage to date; postwar, it was reduced to 29,571 tons.^[26]

After an extensive overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 15 January to 17 June 1944, she returned to Hawaii and sailed on 9 July as part of a wolf pack ("Moseley's Maulers", commanded by Stan Moseley)^[27], with Greenling (SS-213) and Billfish (SS-286), to prey on shipping in the Luzon-Formosa area. On the afternoon of 7 August, Sailfish and Greenling made contact with an enemy convoy. Sailfish maneuvered into firing position and launched a spread of three torpedoes at a mediun tanker. One hit caused the tanker to disintegrate into a column of water, smoke and debris. It was not recorded in the postwar account.^[27]

The next target was a battleship escorted by three^[27] destroyers, which she made radar contact on^[27] shortly after midnight on 18 August. At 01.35 19 August, after getting as close as she was able, 3,500 yards (3,200 m), Sailfish fired all four bow tubes. One of the escorts ran into the path of two lethal fish; the other two missed.^[28] While the destroyer must have been severely damaged or sunk, there was nothing in the JANAC record.^[28]

On 24 August south of Formosa, Sailfish made radar contact with an enemy convoy consisting of four cargo ships escorted by two small patrol craft. Moving into firing position, Sailfish launched a salvo of four torpedoes, scoring two hits. The cargo ship, Toan Maru (2,100 tons)^[28] was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. Shortly afterwards, the ship broke in two and sank. Surfacing after escaping a depth charge attack, Sailfish closed on a second cargo ship of the convoy, scoring two hits out of four torpedoes fired. The submarine's crew felt the cargo ship either had been sunk or badly damaged, but the sinking was not confirmed by postwar examination of Japanese records.^[29] Sailfish terminated her eleventh patrol at Midway Island on 6 September 1944; her wartime credit was four ships for 13,200 tons, reduced to one of 2,100 tons postwar.^[30]

Her twelfth patrol, from 26 September to 11 December, was conducted between Luzon and Formosa, in company with Pomfret (SS-391) and Parche (SS-384).

After passing through the edge of a typhoon, Sailfish arrived on station to perform lifeguard duty. On 12 October, staying surfaced in full view of enemy attackers,^[30] she rescued twelve^[30] Navy fliers who had ditched their stricken aircraft after strikes against Japanese bases on Formosa. She sank a sampan and a patrol^[30] with her deck gun as the enemy craft tried to capture the downed aviators. The following day, she rescued another flier. The submarines pulled into Saipan, arriving 24 October, to drop off their temporary passengers, refuel, and make minor repairs.

After returning to the patrol area with the wolf pack, she made an unsuccessful attack on a transport on 3 November. The following day, Sailfish damaged two destroyers but was slightly damaged herself by a bomb from a patrol aircraft. With battle damage under control, Sailfish eluded her pursuers and cleared the area. After riding out a typhoon on 9 November and 10 November, she intercepted a convoy on the evening of 24 November heading for Itbayat in the Philippines. After alerting Pomfret of the convoy's location and course, Sailfish was moving into an attack position when one of the escorting destroyers headed straight for her. Sailfish fired a three-torpedo spread "down the throat" and headed toward the main convoy. At least one hit was scored on the destroyer and her pip faded from the radar screen. Suddenly Sailfish received an unwelcome surprise when she came under fire from the destroyer that she had believed to be sunk. Sailfish ran deep after ascertaining there was no hull damage resulting from a near miss from the escort's guns. For the next 4½ hours, Sailfish was forced to run silent and deep as the Japanese kept up an uncomfortably accurate depth charge attack. Finally the submarine was able to elude the destroyers and slip away. Shortly, Sailfish headed for Hawaii, via Midway, and completed her twelfth and final war patrol upon arriving at Pearl Harbor on 11 December.

Following refit, Sailfish departed Hawaii on 26 December 1944 and arrived at New London, Conn., via the Panama Canal, on 22 January 1945. For the next four and a half months, she aided training out of New London. Next, she operated as a training ship at Guantanamo Bay from 9 June to 9 August. After a six week stay at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 2 October for deactivation.

Decommissioned on 27 October 1945, she was initially scheduled to be a target ship in the atomic bomb tests or sunk by conventional ordnance. However, she was placed on sale in March 1948 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1948. The hulk was sold for scrapping to Luria Brothers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 18 June 1948. Her conning tower stands as a memorial to the lost crew of the USS Squalus at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery.

Sailfish was awarded nine battle stars for service in the Pacific and the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance on her tenth patrol.

See USS Sailfish for other ships of the same name.

• Naval Historical Center, Online Library of Selected Images: USS Squalus/Sailfish (SS-192)
• Photo gallery of Sailfish at NavSource Naval History.
• hazegray.org: USS Sailfish
• fleetsubmarine.com: USS Sailfish
• Sinkings by boat: USS Sailfish
• On Eternal Patrol: USS Squalus

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