- USS Spikefish (SS-404)
USS "Spikefish" (SS/AGSS-404), a "Balao"-class
submarine , was a ship of theUnited States Navy . "Spikefish" was the first United States submarine to record 10,000 dives. "Spikefish " is a name given to themarlin s orspearfish in the family "Istiophridae ", usually applied to thestriped marlin in the Pacific off the west coast of the United States."Spikefish" was laid down on
29 January 1944 by thePortsmouth Navy Yard inKittery, Maine ; launched on26 April 1944 , sponsored by Mrs. Harvey W. Moore, and commissioned on30 June 1944 , Commander Nicholas J. Nicholas in command.She outfitted there until
31 July when she moved to the Portsmouth-New London area for training. The submarine departed Portsmouth on16 September and proceeded via thePanama Canal to theHawaiian Islands . Upon arriving atPearl Harbor on23 October , she began preparation for her first war patrol."Spikefish" got underway on
15 November 1944 for theKuril Islands and theSea of Okhotsk . She encountered no enemy shipping during the patrol which ended atMidway Island on1 January 1945 . On26 January , she sailed for the Ryukyus and began patrolling westward of that group.On
24 February , the submarine made a submerged attack on aconvoy of six cargo ships with four escorts. She fired six torpedoes at two of the freighters, three of which were heard to hit, but results were not observed as "Spikefish" was forced to go deep and weather out a four-hour attack of about 80depth charge s. She sighted another convoy on5 March and expended six torpedoes in a fruitless attack which led to another pounding by escorts. "Spikefish" was ordered to terminate her patrol on6 March , and she returned to Pearl Harbor on19 March .One month later, "Spikefish" and USS|Dragonet|SS-293|3 sailed for
Guam , topped off with fuel, and proceeded independently, on3 May , toward an area off the east coast of Formosa where she assumed lifeguard station duties. She made no rescues during this period and sighted only one enemy ship. That occurred on the night of14 May , and all four torpedoes that she fired missed the target. On29 May , "Spikefish" was ordered to take station offSakishima Gunto and act as lifeguard for carrier planes in the area. On5 June , she bombardedMiyara airstrip onIshigaki Jima with her 5-inch gun. Two days later, the submarine rescued a downed pilot whose plane had crashed after taking off from escort carrier, USS|Sargent Bay|CVE-83|3. She returned to Guam on13 June ."Spikefish" began her last war patrol on
8 July with an uneventful patrol in theYellow Sea and lifeguard duty offShanghai . On24 July , she bombardedSurveyor Island , off theChina coast, in an attempt to destroy an enemyradar station. Shortly after midnight on11 August , she located a smallJapan ese cargo ship near her lifeguard station but could not make positive identification at night. The ship was dead in the water, so "Spikefish" waited until morning, identified it as enemy and sank it with gunfire. Three survivors were brought on board. On the night of13 August about 190 miles southeast ofShanghai , she made radar contact with a surfaced submarine. After tracking it for about an hour, the submarine submerged and disappeared from "Spikefish"'s scope. At 00:07, contact was regained and the submarine was tracked until morning, when she was sighted on the surface. Her silhouette proved her to be Japanese. "Spikefish" fired six torpedoes. Two hit the target which sank in a cloud of smoke. The sole survivor who was taken prisoner identified the submarine as "I-373".On
15 August , an order was received to cease all attacks as Japan had agreed to surrender. The submarine delivered her prisoners toSaipan on21 August and proceeded to Pearl Harbor, On6 September , she and USS|Hoe|SS-258|3 sailed for the east coast of the United States. "Spikefish" transited the Panama Canal on23 September and arrived at New London, Conn. on29 September . She was indrydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard from1 November 1945 to15 February 1946 . Upon her return to New London, her home port, she was assigned toSubmarine Squadron 2 and trained personnel of the submarine school.Her training duty was interrupted by an overhaul from
7 April to22 September 1947 ; a cruise toBermuda from25 September to2 October 1947 ; and another overhaul atPhiladelphia Naval Shipyard from16 May to8 July 1948 . "Spikefish" operated from New London making training cruises along the east coast from Bermuda toNova Scotia until30 April 1955 . On that day, she and USS|Piper|SS-409|3 sailed for the Mediterranean and deployment with the 6th Fleet. "Spikefish" returned to New London on8 October 1955 and resumed her normal training duties until early 1963. On18 March 1960 , "Spikefish" became the first United States submarine to record 10,000 dives."Spikefish" was redesignated an Auxiliary Research Submarine AGSS-404 in 1962. She was decommissioned on
2 April 1963 and was struck from the Navy list on1 May 1963 . She was subsequently sunk as a target in August 1964 offLong Island , NY."Spikefish" received three
battle star s forWorld War II service.References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s16/spikefish.htm|http://hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss404.htm
External links
*navsource|08/08404|Spikefish
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