HomeMy WebLinkAboutUSS Tilefish (SS-307)
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".;t;,;~r,~ ,.' USS TILEFISH
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, -.;;':.' '. 'r' 1ilefish (SS-307) was laid down on 10 March 1943 at .V~llejo, California, by the Mare .
. Island Navy Yard; launched on 25 October 1943; and colDIWssloned on 28 December 1943,
"; Lieutenant commander Roger Myers Keithly in command. .
:.') "'. . 1ilefish departed on her first war patrol from Pearl Harbor on 3 April 1944, setting course
: for the Japanese home islands. On 11 May she sighted a small convoy and launched a determined
...". attack. Choosing a passenger liner as her target, the submarine fired a spread of torpedoes, scoring
"'~. a hit under the ship's bridge. As 1ilefish 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, 1ilefish h~d dove to 580 feet, well below test depth. Too deep to be
. .:1 reached by the depth charges of her pursuers, she evaded their attack and continued her patrol.
'. ;; She completed this patrol at Majuro on 29 May 1944. . .
....:.;,~T. .', After refit, 1ilefish departed Majuro on 22 June and headed with an attack group for the
.;' Luzon Strait area. In company with Sawfish (SS-276) and Rock (SS-274), 1ilefish set course via
"', Batao Island and Bashi Channel, for her assigned position. On the morning of 18 July, 1ileflSh
. :':. 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 1050, 1ilefish made a torpedo attack on the destroyer. The first hit under the
: destroyer's forward mount and wrapped her bow around the bridge. A second hit added to the
damage. Before 1ilefish 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. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 August.
." 1ilefish 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. Despite the problems imposed by big seas, 1ilefish sank a small
trawler with her four-inch gun on the 23rd. Early in October, she destroyed two small cargo
. vessels as they were leaving Hitokappu Wan, Yetorofu Jima. In the following days, she claimed
\ two more kills. a cargo ship and a wooden-hull antisubmarine vessel. On the 17th, to prevent its
being salvaged, she blew out the stem of a vessel grounded west of Shimushiru Island. 1ilefish
ended her third patrol at Midway on 24 October 1944. . .
On 15 November, 1ilefish got underway for the Kuril Islands. She entered the Sea of
Okhotsk to patrol the coast of Shimushiru on the 25th. By 16 December, she 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. She returned to Pearl Harbor 2 January 1945.
.. 1ilefish departed on 31 January 1945 and proceeded, via Saipan, to her patrol area in the
.. Nansei Shoto. On 28 February she sank a 90-ton cargo ship by gunfire,and on 1 March rescued
a flier from Hancock (CV-19). On 5 March, she sank Minesweeper No. 15, returning to San
Francisco, via Midway and Pearl Harbor, for overhaul. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 July
..:. . and was on lifeguard station off the Ryukyus.
1ilefish remained in the Pacific, operating out of California and Pearl Harbor. She
. conducted patrols during the Korean conflict and was finally decommissioned on 12 October 1959. .
- After overhaul she was sold the Venezuelan government to be known as ARV Carire. She was
decommissioned by the Venezuelan Navy on 28 January 1977 and cannibalized for spare parts.
1ilefish received five battle stars for World War II and one for Korean service.
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