USS Queenfish (SS-393)

Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	27 July 1943
Launched:	30 November 1943
Commissioned:	11 March 1944
Decommissioned:	1 March 1963
Struck:	1 March 1963
Fate:	sunk as target, 14 August 1963
General Characteristics
Displacement, Surfaced: Submerged:	1,526 tons (1550 t), 2,424 tons (2460 t)
Length:	311.8 ft (95.0 m)
Beam:	27.3 ft (8.3 m)
Draft:	15.3 ft (4.6 m)
Depth limit:	400 ft (120 m)
Speed, Surfaced: Submerged:	20.25 knots (37 km/h) 8.75 knots (16 km/h)
Propulsion:	four 5400-hp diesel engines four 2740-hp (2.0 MW) electric motors, two propellers
Submerged Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots
Patrol Endurance:	75 days
Range:	11,000 nmi. (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots
Complement:	66 officers and enlisted
Armament:	ten 21" torpedo tubes, (six forward, four aft), 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, four machine guns
Motto:

USS Queenfish (SS/AGSS-393), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the queenfish, a small food fish found off the Pacific coast of North America.

The first Queenfish was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, 27 July 1943; launched 30 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Robert A. Theobald; and commissioned 11 March 1944, Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Loughlin in command.

First patrol: August – October 1944

After shakedown off the east coast and further training in Hawaiian waters, Queenfish set out on her first patrol 4 August 1944, in Luzon Strait. She joined "Ed's Eradicators", a wolf pack which also included Barb (SS-220) and Tunny (SS-282), under the command of Barb's skipper, E.R. Swinburne.

Tunny had to withdraw after being damaged by air attack, but on 31 August, Queenfish made her first kill, 4,700-ton tanker Chiyoda Maru. On 9 September she scored twice more, on 7,097-ton passenger-cargo ship Toyooka Maru and 3,054-ton transport Manshu Maru.

ComSubPac ordered the Eradicators to assist another wolf pack in rescuing Allied POWs who had been on transports in another convoy. The Japanese had picked up their own survivors from the wreckage, but they made no attempt to save any survivors from among the 2,100 British and Australian POWs embarked in the transports. The submarines managed to get 127 out of the water. An approaching typhoon terminated the hunt and the patrol. Queenfish put into Majuro for refit 3 October.

Second and third patrols: October 1944 – January 1945

Queenfish’s second war patrol was conducted in the northern part of the East China Sea. This time Cdr. Loughlin had pack command as well as ship command. "Loughlin's Loopers" included Barb and Picuda (SS-382). On 8 November Queenfish sank 1,051-ton Keijo Maru and the 1,948-ton Hakko Maru. On the 9th, she sent 2,131-ton Chojusan Maru, a former gunboat, to the bottom. Alerted by ComSubPac to the approach of a large convoy from Manchuria carrying reinforcements for the Philippines, the "Loopers" and another wolfpack, the "Urchins", combined to attack. Queenfish struck first on 15 November, sinking the 9,186-ton aircraft ferry Akitsu Maru. Over the next two days the subs destroyed eight ships of the convoy, including the 21,000-ton carrier and the largest of the troop transports. The attacks cost the Japanese army defending the Philippines the bulk of a division.

Having received the Presidential Unit Citation for her first two patrols, Queenfish spent her third war patrol, 29 December to 29 January 1945, in the Formosa Straits and waters adjacent to the China coast without sinking any ships.

Fourth patrol: February – April 1945

Queenfish returned to the same area for her fourth war patrol, 24 February to 14 April, as a member of another wolf pack. Cdr. William S. Post, Jr., the senior commanding officer in Spot (SS-413), also had Sea Fox (SS-402) in his wolf pack, "Post's Panzers", the second of that name. After Spot expended all her torpedoes, she left to reload; pack command devolved on Cmdr. Loughlin.

On 1 April Queenfish sank 11,600-ton passenger-cargo ship Awa Maru. Unfortunately her victim was a ship whose safe passage had been guaranteed by the United States government, since she was to carry Red Cross relief supplies to Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. The incident caused considerable contraversy. When the one survivor picked up by Queenfish told his story, Queenfish was ordered back to port; Cdr. Loughlin was relieved of command, tried by court-martial and convicted of one of three charges, negligence in obeying orders. After the war, it was confirmed that Awa Maru was loaded with munitions and contraband. Loughlin survived to continue an illustrious career that led to flag rank.

On the 12th Queenfish rescued the 13-man crew of a Navy flying boat.

Queenfish spent her fifth patrol under Cdr. Frank N. Shamer on lifeguard duty in the East China Sea-Yellow Sea area. She was at Midway preparing for another patrol when the war ended.

Post-World War II operations, 1945 – 1963

After overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Queenfish assumed duties as Flagship, Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet. Homeported at Pearl Harbor after the war, Queenfish returned to the Far East during March 1946 and in June–July 1949, but spent most of the period to 1950 in training operations in the eastern Pacific. In late 1947 she operated in the Bering Sea.

In February and March 1950 Queenfish took part in combined Operations with units of the U.S. Pacific and British Fleets. She made cruises to Korean waters in 1951 and 1953. In February 1954 she sailed to her new homeport of San Diego. The next four years were spent operating off the west coast of the United States, with the exception of two weeks in Hawaii in late 1956. On 16 January 1958 she departed for a 6-month deployment to WestPac, returning to San Diego 27 July to resume operations off the west coast of the United States.

Queenfish was reclassified AGSS-393 1 July 1960. She decommissioned and was struck from the Navy List 1 March 1963. Slated for scrapping, she was instead sunk as target, by Swordfish (SSN-579), 14 August 1963.

Queenfish was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, and received 6 battle stars for World War II service.

See USS Queenfish for other ships of the same name.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

USS Queenfish website