USS Tilefish (SS-307)

USS "Tilefish" (SS-307), a "Balao"-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tilefish, a large, yellow-spotted deepwater food fish.

Her keel was laid down on 10 March 1943 at Vallejo, California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 25 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Wilson D. Leggett, and commissioned on 28 December 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Roger Myers Keithly in command.

During February and March 1944, "Tilefish" underwent trials and shakedown off the California coast before getting underway for Hawaii. On 3 April, the submarine departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol, setting course for the Japanese home islands. While patrolling in the "Hit Parade" area east of Honshū, "Tilefish" sighted many enemy aircraft but found few targets for her torpedoes. Early in the patrol, she was hampered by the failure of her fathometer; and, throughout the mission, she was plagued by periscope fogging and overcast weather which ruled out celestial navigation. Finally, on the morning of 11 May, the novice submarine and her crew encountered their first opportunity for action. "Tilefish" sighted a small convoy and launched a determined attack. Choosing a passenger liner as her target, the submarine unleashed a spread of torpedoes, scoring a hit under the ship's bridge. As "Tilefish" dove amid the sounds of explosions, she experienced problems which caused her inadvertently to take on a large amount of water. Before the situation was brought under control, "Tilefish" had made a hair-raising dive to convert|580|ft, well below test depth. Too deep to be reached by the depth charges of her pursuers, she evaded their attack and continued her patrol. Finding contact with the enemy to be very light, "Tilefish" requested another patrol area and was assigned to the northern Mariana Islands where she searched for targets on 19 May and 20 May. She completed this patrol at Majuro on 29 May 1944.

After a refitting by submarine tender USS|Bushnell|AS-15|3, "Tilefish" departed Majuro on 22 June 1944 and headed with an attack group for the Luzon Strait area. In company with submarines USS|Sawfish|SS-276|3 and USS|Rock|SS-274|3, "Tilefish" set course, via Batan Island and Bashi Channel, for her assigned position. On the morning of 18 July, "Tilefish" launched a torpedo attack on a large convoy and had the satisfaction of seeing a freighter sustain two hits. Meanwhile, "Rock" had joined in the attack and was being held down by a destroyer of the convoy's screen. At 10:50, "Tilefish" made a torpedo attack on the destroyer. Seeing their wakes, the enemy ship attempted to evade the torpedoes, but the first hit under its forward mount and wrapped her bow around the bridge. A second hit added to the destroyer's damage. Before "Tilefish" was forced down by enemy aircraft, she caught one last glimpse of the destroyer, listing and dead in the water. Nine minutes later, the submarine made a periscope sweep and found no sign of the enemy ship.

In the days that followed, the submarine patrolled the waters east of Formosa attempting to intercept the convoy which she had damaged on 18 July. On 26 July, "Tilefish" surfaced just at the moment when "Sawfish" launched a three-torpedo attack on a Japanese "I-52"-class submarine. "I-29" exploded, leaving behind only smoke and flames. On 31 July, after "Sawfish" had reported a convoy contact off Luzon, "Tilefish" set course to intercept the enemy ships but never found the quarry. "Tilefish" fueled at Midway Island before completing her second patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 August.

"Tilefish" departed Oahu on 10 September 1944. This patrol, conducted in the Sea of Okhotsk and off the Kuril Islands, was made difficult by rough seas which produced swells reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m). Despite the problems imposed by high seas, "Tilefish" sank a small trawler with her four inch (102 mm) gun on 23 September. Early in October, she destroyed two small cargo vessels as they were leaving Hitokappu Bay, Yetorofu Jima. During the mid-watch on 13 October, an adventurous owl came on board. The feathered seafarer was promptly dubbed Boris Hootski and made official ship's mascot. In the following days, "Tilefish" claimed two more kills—a cargo ship and a wooden-hulled antisubmarine vessel. On 17 October, to prevent its being salvaged, she blew out the stern of a vessel grounded west of Shimushiru Island. "Tilefish" ended her third patrol at Midway Island on 24 October 1944.

On 15 November, "Tilefish" got underway for the Kuril Islands. During the first half of this patrol, she operated in northern waters but was hampered by bitterly cold weather, poor visibility, and hurricane-force winds. The mountainous waves forced the submarine to submerge to ride out the storm. On 25 November, "Tilefish" entered the Sea of Okhotsk to patrol the coast of Shimushiru. Snow frosted the periscope and prevented accurate identification of possible targets. By 16 December, "Tilefish" had moved south to take up a lifeguard station off Najima Saki. On the morning of 22 December, she sank "Chidori", a torpedo boat, and evaded a Japanese counterattack of depth charges and aerial bombs without damage. She departed the patrol area on 24 December and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 2 January 1945.

After refitting by submarine tender USS|Orion|AS-18|3, "Tilefish" set course for the Mariana Islands in company with submarines USS|Thresher|SS-200|3 and USS|Peto|SS-265|3 on 31 January 1945, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Walter F. Schlech, Jr. En route, she participated in exercises and searched for the survivors of a downed American plane. Underway from Saipan on 13 February, "Tilefish" proceeded independently to her patrol area in the Nansei Shoto where she prowled the traffic lanes in search of targets. She reported sinking a 90-ton cargo ship in a morning gun attack on 28 February before taking up a lifeguard station in support of planned strikes on Amami Shima. On 1 March, she rescued a flier from aircraft carrier USS|Hancock|CV-19|3 whose plane had splashed and sank only 500 yards off the starboard bow of the submarine. She sent a fishing trawler to the bottom on 4 March. On the following day, in the course of a day-long attack on a freighter, she sank a Japanese minesweeper which was escorting the cargo ship. From 10 March to 19 March, she performed lifeguard duties in support of strikes on Nagoya and other Japanese targets. After patrolling the approaches to Tokyo Bay on 22 March, "Tilefish" set course, via Midway Island and Pearl Harbor, for San Francisco, California where she was overhauled.

"Tilefish" returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 July and was soon underway for Midway Island and Saipan. When the war in the Pacific ended, "Tilefish" was on lifeguard station off the Ryukyu Islands. She continued lifeguard duties and patrols in the western Pacific until 7 September when she returned to Pearl Harbor. Early in 1946, "Tilefish" returned to San Francisco, California, and operated off the West Coast throughout most of the year. In May, she participated in wolf pack exercises and in September took part in live load training, using the hulk of the former SS "Schuyler Colfax" as a target. In October, she made a brief trip to the Hawaiian Islands and then returned to the West Coast. From January 1947 to September 1950, "Tilefish" continued to operate out of California ports with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor. During this period, she conducted underway training and took part in fleet exercises off the West Coast.

On 5 September 1950, "Tilefish" departed Pearl Harbor for Japan. From 28 September 1950 through 24 March 1951, the submarine operated out of Japanese ports conducting patrols in Korean waters in support of the United Nations campaign in Korea. She made reconnaissance patrols of La Perouse Strait to keep the Commander, Naval Forces Far East, informed of Soviet seaborne activity in that area. After this tour, the submarine resumed her routine of operations out of Hawaiian and West Coast ports until 1957. Highlights of this period were convoy attack exercises in Hawaiian waters and a goodwill visit to Acapulco, Mexico, early in June 1956.

Following a period of reduced status and overhaul, "Tilefish" again got underway in April 1957 for Far Eastern waters. During this deployment, she visited ports in Japan and the Ryukyu Islands before completing the cruise at San Diego, California, on 27 September 1957.

On 16 September 1958, the veteran submarine made way via Pearl Harbor for Midway Island and the Marshall Islands. With four civilian geophysicists on board from the Hydrographic Office, the submarine completed a submerged survey of Eniwetok, Wake, and Midway Island, operating at sea for nearly three months. She returned to San Diego, California, on 5 December 1958 for inactivation.

"Tilefish" was decommissioned on 12 October 1959, underwent overhaul at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, and was recommissioned on 30 January 1960. Her final decommissioning was in May 1960. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1960, and sold to the Venezuelan government.

ARV "Carite" (S-11)

The ex-"Tilefish", now commissioned as ARV "Carite" (S-11), served in the "Armada Venezolana" (the Venezuelan Navy) for 16 years. In 1969 and 1970, she played the part of a German U-boat hiding in the Orinoco River during the filming of the movie "Murphy's War". For the role, she was modified by the addition of a "cigarette deck" aft of her sail and was painted in a "dazzle" camouflage pattern.

"Carite" was decommissioned by the Venezuelan Navy on 28 January 1977 and cannibalized for spare parts.

Awards

"Tilefish" received five battle stars for World War II service. She received one battle star for Korean War service.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/t5/tilefish.htm