Американская подводная лодка «Спирфиш» в годы Второй мировой войны

Submarine of the United States

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2 × 126 cell Sargo batteries She was the last American submarine to visit that beleaguered fortress before it surrendered. Navy nurse and Legion of Merit recipient Ann A. Bernatitus was among the 27 rescued by Spearfish. From 26 June to 17 August, she scouted the South China Sea for enemy shipping, and from 8 September to 11 November, searched the west coast of Luzon, where she damaged two freighters. Spearfish sailed from Brisbane on 2 December 1942 and patrolled in the New Britain New Ireland area for over a month before entering Pearl Harbor on 25 January 1943. From Oahu, she was directed to Mare Island for a major overhaul, which lasted from 3 February to 19 May.

Spearfish returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May, and began her seventh war patrol from there on 5 June. She cruised the Truk Island area, made a photographic reconnaissance of Eniwetok Atoll, and then patrolled in the vicinity of Marcus Island. After refitting at Midway Island from 1 August to 25 August, Spearfish searched Japanese home waters south of Bungo Suido for shipping. On the night of 10 and 11 September, she made a submerged torpedo attack on a convoy of seven freighters escorted by one destroyer and two torpedo boats. The submarine fired torpedoes at four ships, and damaged two. Spearfish was attacked with depth charges throughout the day, but finally eluded the escorts. On the night of 17 and 18 September, she attacked another convoy of seven ships with their escorts, sinking two and damaging one. Upon concluding this patrol, the ship sailed to Pearl Harbor for refitting. From 7 November to 19 December, Spearfish performed photographic reconnaissance of Jaluit, Wotje, and Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, to aid the coming invasion of those islands. On 5 and 6 December, she acted as lifeguard submarine for air strikes on Kwajalein and Wotje.

Spearfish’s 10th war patrol was made south of Formosa from 17 January to 29 February 1944. On 30 January, she made two torpedo attacks on a convoy of three merchantmen and two escorts. She sank an escort and the passenger cargo ship, Tomashima Maru. On 10 February, her attack on a convoy of four ships and their escorts damaged a freighter and sank a transport. The next day, she damaged another freighter in an 11 ship convoy. On 12 February, she crippled another freighter. Spearfish sailed on her 11th war patrol from Pearl Harbor, 31 March, for the East China Sea and the area north of Nansei Shoto. On 5 May, she sank a freighter, and the following day, she sank the cargo ship, Toyoura Maru. When the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 27 May, she was routed to the West Coast for a major overhaul. After spending from 6 June to 3 October at the Mare Island Navy Yard, the ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 October and held training exercises for a month. Spearfish’s last war patrol took place from 12 November 1944 to 24 January 1945. On the first part of the patrol, she made photographic reconnaissance surveys of Iwo Jima and of Minami Jima. The submarine spent the second part in the Nanpō Islands area on lifeguard duties and offensive patrolling. She was on the surface east southeast of Iwo Jima at at 17:15 on 28 November 1944 when a United States Army Air Forces B 24 Liberator bomber attacked her with rockets and strafed her. Her officer of the deck observed a large explosion plume from Spearfish just before she submerged.

When she returned to Pearl Harbor on 24 January, Spearfish was used as a training ship until 18 August. On 19 August, she got underway for the West Coast and arrived at Mare Island on 27 August. On 7 September, a Board of Inspection and Survey recommended that she be decommissioned immediately and possibly scrapped. She was retained in an inactive status for experimental explosive tests. The tests were cancelled, and Spearfish was decommissioned at Mare Island on 22 June 1946. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946, sold to the Lerner Company of Oakland, California, and scrapped in October 1947.

Spearfish is the subject of an episode of the syndicated television anthology series, The Silent Service, which aired in syndication in the United States during the 1957 1958 season.