USS Permit (SS-178)

USS "Permit" (SS-178), a "Porpoise"-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the permit.

Her keel was laid on 6 June 1935 by the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut; launched on 5 October 1936 sponsored by Mrs. Harold G. Bowen, and commissioned on 17 March 1937 with Lieutenant Charles O. Humphreys in command.

Following shakedown, "Permit" operated out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until 29 November 1937, when she got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 10 December, she continued up the West Coast, and arrived at San Diego, California, 18 December to join Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6). For the next 22 months, she cruised the Eastern Pacific, ranging from southern California to the Aleutian Islands and Hawaiian Islands. In October 1939, she got underway for the Philippines to join the Asiatic Fleet.

"Permit"’s first cruises were conducted in Philippine waters during 1940 and 1941. The two-year period of peace time activity gave the submarine's crew valuable training for later war activity. The ship, commanded by Lt. Cdr. Adrian M. Hurst (Class of 1924), conducted her first war patrol off the west coast of Luzon from 11 December to 20 December 1941. From 22 December to 27 December, she made a second patrol in the area. "Permit" embarked members of Admiral Thomas C. Hart's staff at Mariveles Harbor on 28 December and evacuated them to the Netherlands' Submarine Base, Surabaya, Java, arriving 6 February 1942. "En route", she completed a third war patrol, scouting in waters of the southern Philippines.

The submarine departed Surabaya for her fourth war patrol 22 February, as the Japanese began to close on Java. On 19 February, submarine USS|Swordfish|SS-193|3 got through to Corregidor, which was still holding out against the Japanese. It was now "Permit"’s turn to penetrate the blockade to the "Rock." She rendezvoused off Corregidor with aircraft carrier USS|Ranger|CV-4|3 the night of 15 March – 16 March, took on board 40 officers and enlisted men (including 36 precious cryptanalysts from the intelligence station, CAST), [Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory" (New York: Bantam 1976; reprints Lippincott 1975 edition), p.193.] and landed her ammunition. She headed for repairs at her new base, Fremantle, Australia, after minor damage suffered eluding three enemy destroyers on 18 March.

"Permit" departed Fremantle 5 May, and until 11 June was engaged in her fifth war patrol off Makassar, Celebes Island and in the enemy shipping route stretching towards Balikpapan, Borneo. She made her sixth war patrol "en route" to Pearl Harbor, from 12 July to 30 August, and shortly departed for the United States, entering Mare Island Navy Yard on 9 September for overhaul.

She conducted her seventh war patrol off Honshū, Japan, from 5 February 1943 to 16 March. Towards sunset on 8 March, she attacked a nine-ship convoy with two escorts. Two hits sent 2742-ton cargo ship "Hisashima Maru" to the bottom. "Permit" departed Midway Island on 6 April for her eighth war patrol in the shipping lanes from the Mariana Islands to Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, and after several encounters, returned to Pearl Harbor 25 May. On 20 July, she joined USS|Lapon|SS-260|3 and USS|Plunger|SS-179|3 at Midway for the first wartime penetration into the Sea of Japan, to attack shipping carrying raw materials from Manchuria and Korea. On 7 July, "Permit" fired two torpedoes which sank 787-ton cargo ship "Banshu Maru Number 33". Just after midnight, she spotted a two-ship convoy headed for the Korean coast, and with a salvo of two torpedoes sank 2212-ton cargo ship "Showa Maru" in five minutes.

After this highly successful patrol, "Permit" made her way "via" Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to Pearl Harbor, arriving 27 July. On 23 August, she departed for photographic reconnaissance of several atolls in the Marshall Islands. Off Kwajalein, she evaded aerial bombs on 3 September and depth charges on 9 September. She made attacks on enemy vessels, damaging several, before returning to Pearl Harbor on 24 September. Her next war patrol was in the Caroline Islands from early January 1944 until mid-March.

Her 12th war patrol was in the same region, on lifeguard duty in support of the air strikes on Truk. She remained on station from 7 May until 1 June. "Permit" commenced her 13th patrol with her departure from Majuro Atoll on 30 June, and ended it with her arrival at Brisbane, Australia, on 13 August. On 21 September, she departed to relieve submarine USS|Tarpon|SS-175|3 on lifeguard duty off Truk, and on 11 November ended her 14th and last war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

After refit, she sailed for the United States on 29 January 1945, and entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 February. In mid-May, she sailed to the Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, to serve as a schoolship until 30 October, when she entered Boston Naval Shipyard for inactivation.

"Permit" decommissioned 15 November 1945. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 26 July 1956; her hulk was sold for scrap to A.G. Schoonmaker, Inc., New York City, on 28 June 1958.

For her service during World War II, "Permit" received ten battle stars.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p5/permit-i.htm