USS Shark (SS-174)

USS|Shark|SS-174 was a "Porpoise"-class submarine, the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the shark. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on 24 October 1933. She was launched on 21 May 1935 (sponsored by Miss Ruth Ellen Lonergan, 12-year-old daughter of United States Senator Augustine Lonergan of Connecticut), and commissioned on 25 January 1936, Lieutenant C.J. Carter in command.

Operational history

Asiatic Fleet

Following shakedown in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, "Shark" transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Diego, California, on 4 March 1937. She spent the next year and one-half in training exercises and Army-Navy war problems as a unit of Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6). Following a regular overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, "Shark" got underway from San Diego, California, on 16 December 1938 bound for Pearl Harbor and reassignment to SubRon 4.

Following two years of operations in the Hawaii area, "Shark" set sail from Pearl Harbor on 3 December 1940 to join the Asiatic Fleet based at Manila, Philippine Islands, where she engaged in fleet tactics and exercises until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Departing Manila on 9 December 1941, under command of Louis Shane, Jr. (USNA Class of 1926), she was at sea during the Japanese bombing raids on Manila the next day. For the next week, "Shark" patrolled Tayabas Bay until ordered back to Manila on 19 December to embark Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, for transportation to Soerabaja, Java.

WWII

On 6 January 1942, "Shark" was almost hit with a torpedo from a Imperial Japanese Navy submarine. A few days later, she was ordered to Ambon Island, where an enemy invasion was expected. On 27 January, she was directed to join the submarines patrolling in Strait of Malacca, then to cover the passage east of Lifamatola and Bangka Strait. On 2 February, "Shark" reported to her base at Soerabaja that she had been depth-charged ten miles off Tifore Island and had failed to sink a Japanese ship during a torpedo attack. Five days later, she reported chasing an empty cargo ship headed northwest, for which Admiral Wilkes upbraided her commanding officer. [Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory" (New York: Bantam, 1976; reprints Lippincott 1975 edition), p.165.] No further messages were received from "Shark". On 8 February, she was told to proceed to Makassar Strait and later was told to report information. Nothing was heard and, on 7 March, "Shark" was reported as presumed lost, the victim of unknown causes, the first American submarine lost to enemy ASW. [Blair, p.165.] She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 24 June.

Post-war, Japanese records showed numerous attacks on unidentified submarines in "Shark's" area at plausible times. At 01:37 on 11 February, for example, the Japanese destroyer "Yamakaze" opened fire with her five-inch guns and sank a surfaced submarine. Voices were heard in the water, but no attempt was made to rescue possible survivors.

USS|Shark|SS-174 received one battle star for World War II service.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s11/shark-v.htm