USS Sailfish (SS-192)

Squalus{{'}}s keel was laid on 18 October 1937 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, the only ship of the United States Navy named for the squalus, a type of shark. She was launched on 14 September 1938, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas C. Hart, wife of Admiral Thomas C. Hart,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776065/new_submarine_squalus_launched/ |title=New Submarine, Squalus, Launched |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Burlington Free Press |location=Burlington, Vermont |page=1 |date=15 September 1938 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} and commissioned on 1 March 1939 with Lieutenant Oliver F. Naquin in command.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776015/sub_squalus_is_commissioned/ |title=Sub Squalus Is Commissioned |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=6 |date=2 March 1939 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}}

File:SS-192salvage.jpg

On 12 May 1939, following a yard overhaul, Squalus began a series of test dives off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After successfully completing 18 dives, she went down again off the Isles of Shoals on the morning of 23 May at {{Coord|42|53|N|70|37|W|}}. Failure of the main induction valve (the means of letting in fresh air when on the surface){{harvp|Blair|1975|p=67}}. A repeat of incidents with {{USS|Sturgeon|SS-187|2}} and {{USS|Snapper|SS-185|2}}. After this accident, the more reliable Electric Boat design was adopted for new Navy-built subs. caused the flooding of the aft torpedo room, both engine rooms, and the crew's quarters, drowning 26 men immediately.{{cite book |title=Submarine Casualties Booklet |publisher=U.S. Naval Submarine School |year=1966 |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/100861572/US-Navy-Submarine-Casualties-Booklet-1966}} Quick action by the crew prevented the other compartments from flooding. Squalus bottomed in {{convert|243|ft|m|abbr=on}} of water.

Squalus was initially located by her sister boat, {{USS|Sculpin|SS-191|2}}. The two submarines communicated using a telephone marker buoy until the cable parted. Divers from the submarine rescue ship {{USS|Falcon|AM-28|2}} began rescue operations under the direction of the salvage and rescue expert Lieutenant Commander Charles B. "Swede" Momsen, using the new McCann Rescue Chamber. The senior medical officer for the operations was Dr. Charles Wesley Shilling.{{cite journal |title=Dr. Shilling steps down as UMS leader after 13 years |journal=Pressure, Newsletter of the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society |volume=15 |issue=2 |year=1992 |pages=1, 6–8 |issn=0889-0242}} Overseen by researcher Albert R. Behnke, the divers used recently developed heliox diving schedules and successfully avoided the cognitive impairment symptoms associated with such deep dives, thereby confirming Behnke's theory of nitrogen narcosis.{{cite journal |last=Acott |first=C. |title=A brief history of diving and decompression illness. |journal=South Pacific Underwater Medicine Society Journal |volume=29 |issue=2 |year=1999 |issn=0813-1988 |oclc=16986801 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627230124/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/6004 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=27 June 2008 |access-date=2009-03-17}} The divers rescued all 33 survivors (32 crew members and a civilianExpress, 23 May 2019, p. 53.{{full citation needed|date=November 2023}}) on board the sunken submarine. Four enlisted divers, Chief Machinist's Mate William Badders, Chief Boatswain's Mate Orson L. Crandall, Chief Metalsmith James H. McDonald, and Chief Torpedoman John Mihalowski, were awarded the Medal of Honor for their work during the rescue and subsequent salvage. The successful rescue of the Squalus survivors is in marked contrast to the loss of {{HMS|Thetis|N25|6}} in Liverpool Bay in England just a week later, with four survivors from 104 people aboard.{{cite book |last1=Booth |first1=Tony |title=Thetis Down – The Slow Death of a Submarine |year=2008 |publisher=Pen & Sword Maritime |isbn=978-1-84415-859-1}} On Thetis, 99 of 103 crew, other naval personnel, and civilian technical observers died from carbon dioxide poisoning. Thetis was also recovered and recommissioned.

The naval authorities felt raising Squalus was important, as she incorporated a succession of new design features. With a thorough investigation of why she sank, more confidence could be placed in the new construction, or alteration of existing designs could be undertaken when cheapest and most efficient to do so. Furthermore, given similar previous accidents in {{USS|Sturgeon|SS-187|2}} and {{USS|Snapper|SS-185|2}} (indeed, in {{USS|S-5|SS-110|2}}, as far back as 1920), determining a cause was necessary.

The Squalus salvage unit was commanded by Rear Admiral Cyrus W. Cole, commandant of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, who supervised salvage officer Lieutenant Floyd A. Tusler from the Construction Corps. Cole also requested experienced Commander Henry Hartley as his technical aide.{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-7.htm |title=USS Squalus (SS-192): Salvage of, 1939 |date=20 July 2000 |work=Naval History & Heritage Command |publisher=Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center |access-date=19 January 2011 |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205153644/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-7.htm |archive-date=5 December 2010}} Tusler's plan was to lift the submarine in three stages to prevent it from rising too quickly, out of control, with one end up, in which case the likelihood of it sinking again would be high.{{cite magazine |title=The Rescue and Salvage of the Submarine "Squalus" |date=12 June 1939 |magazine=Life |publisher=Time Inc. |page=29 |quote=Any slip might cause the Squalus to rise too fast, get out of control, up end and slip to the bottom again. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c0kEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA29}} For 50 days, divers worked to pass cables underneath the submarine and attach pontoons for buoyancy. On 13 July 1939, the stern was raised successfully, but when the men attempted to free the bow from the hard blue clay, the vessel began to rise far too quickly, slipping its cables. Ascending vertically, the submarine broke the surface, and {{convert|30|ft|-1}} of the bow reached into the air for not more than ten seconds before she sank once again all the way to the bottom.{{cite book |last=Faber |first=John |title=Great news photos and the stories behind them |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqwLVaPdDgoC&pg=PA82 |edition=2nd |year=1978 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=0-486-23667-6 |pages=82–83}} Momsen said of the mishap, "pontoons were smashed, hoses cut and I might add, hearts were broken."{{cite web |url=http://www.ibssg.org/mccann/momsen-account.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821130940/http://www.ibssg.org/mccann/momsen-account.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-date=21 August 2008 |title=Rescue and Salvage of U.S.S. Squalus |last=Momsen |first=Charles B. |author-link=Charles Momsen |date=6 October 1939 |access-date=2011-01-19}} After 20 more days of preparation, with a radically redesigned pontoon and cable arrangement, the next lift was successful, as were two further operations. Squalus was towed into Portsmouth on 13 September, and decommissioned on 15 November. A total of 628 dives had been made in rescue and salvage operations.

Renamed Sailfish on 9 February 1940, she became the first boat of the U.S. Navy named for the sailfish. After reconditioning, repair, and overhaul, she was recommissioned on 15 May 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Morton C. Mumma Jr. (Annapolis, class of 1930){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=902}} in command.

With refit completed in mid-September, Sailfish departed Portsmouth on 16 January 1941 and headed for the Pacific.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776153/sailfish_leaves_for_pacific_fleet/ |title=Sailfish Leaves For Pacific Fleet |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=1 |date=16 January 1941 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} Transiting the Panama Canal, she arrived at Pearl Harbor in early March, after refueling at San Diego. The submarine then sailed west to Manila where she joined the Asiatic Fleet until the attack on Pearl Harbor.

During the Pacific War, the captain of the renamed boat issued standing orders that if any man on the boat said the word "Squalus", he was to be marooned at the next port of call. This led to crew members referring to their boat as "Squailfish". That went over almost as well; a court martial was threatened for anyone heard using it.{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=143}}. No crewmembers are known to have been marooned, however.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Sailfish departed Manila on her first war patrol, destined for the west coast of Luzon. Early on 10 December, she sighted a landing force, supported by cruisers and destroyers, but could not gain firing position.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=143}} On the night of 13 December, she made contact with two Japanese destroyers and began a submerged attack; the destroyers detected her, dropping several depth charges, while Sailfish fired two torpedoes. Despite a large explosion nearby, no damage was done, and the destroyers counterattacked with 18–20 depth charges.{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=143}}. The depth-charge attack caused Mumma to suffer a breakdown, and he was relieved. {{harvtxt|Holwitt|2009|p=78, fn 74|ps=none}} mistakenly attributes it to "sonar-equipped destroyers". She returned to Manila on 17 December.

Her second patrol (now under the command of Richard G. Voge{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=144}}. Former skipper of {{USS|Sealion|SS-195|2}}, he went on to become Charles A. Lockwood's Chief of Staff, and a crucial liaison with HYPO. begun on 21 December, took the submarine to waters off Formosa. On the morning of 27 January 1942, off Halmahera, near Davao, she sighted a {{sclass|Myōkō|cruiser|2}}, making a daylight submerged attack with four torpedoes, and reporting the target was damaged, for which she got credit.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=165}} However, the damage could not be assessed since the cruiser's two escorts forced Sailfish to dive deep and run silent. Running at {{convert|260|ft|m|abbr=on}}, the submarine eluded the destroyers and proceeded south toward Java. She arrived at Tjilatjap on 14 February for refueling and rearming.

Departing on 19 February for her third patrol, she headed through Lombok Strait to the Java Sea. After sighting the heavy cruiser {{USS|Houston|CA-30|2}} and two escorts heading for Sunda Strait following the Allied defeat in the Battle of the Java Sea, Sailfish intercepted an enemy destroyer on 2 March. Following an unsuccessful attack, she was forced to dive deep to escape the ensuing depth-charge attack from the destroyer and patrol aircraft. That night, near the mouth of Lombok Strait, she spotted what appeared to be the {{convert|38200|LT|t|abbr=on|adj=on}} aircraft carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Kaga||2}},{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=165}} escorted by four destroyers. Sailfish fired four torpedoes, scoring two hits. Leaving the target aflame and dead in the water, Sailfish dove, the escorts delivering 40 depth charges in the next 90 minutes.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=165}} She eluded destroyers and aircraft and arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, on 19 March, to great fanfare, believed to be the first U.S. submarine to have sunk an enemy carrier. In reality, the Kaga was scuttled in June, 1942, after damage sustained during the Battle of Midway, in that vicinity. Postwar, Kaga was revealed to have been nowhere in the area of Lombok Strait, and the target had in fact been the {{convert|6440|LT|t|abbr=on|adj=on}} aircraft ferry Kamogawa Maru, still a valuable target.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=187}}

The Java Sea and Celebes Sea were the areas of Sailfish{{'}}s fourth patrol, from 22 March–21 May. After delivering 1,856 rounds of antiaircraft ammunition to "MacArthur's guerrillas",{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=165}} she made only one ship contact and was unable to attack the target before returning to Fremantle.

The submarine's fifth patrol—from 13 June through 1 August—was off the coast of Indochina in the South China Sea. On 4 July, she intercepted and tracked a large freighter, but discovered the intended target was a hospital ship and held her fire. On 9 July, she intercepted and torpedoed a Japanese freighter. One of a pair of torpedoes struck home and the ship took a 15° list. As Sailfish went deep, a series of explosions was heard, and no further screw noises were detected. When the submarine surfaced in the area 90 minutes later, no ship was in sight. She was credited during the war with a 7000-ton ship,{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=910}} and although postwar examination of Japanese records confirmed no sinking in the area on that date,{{cite web |url=http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/2928.html |title=Sailfish (SS-192) of the US Navy - American Submarine of the Sargo class - Allied Warships of WWII |website=uboat.net}} the Sailfish had damaged the Japanese transport ship Aobasan Maru (8811 GRT) off the coast of Indochina in position 11°31'N, 109°21'E.

Sailfish observed only one other enemy vessel before the end of the patrol.

Shifting her base of operations to Brisbane, Sailfish (now under the command of John R. "Dinty" Moore){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=913}} got underway for her sixth patrol on 13 September and headed for the western Solomon Islands. On the night of 17–18 September, she encountered eight Japanese destroyers escorting a cruiser, but she was unable to attack. On 19 September, she attacked a minelayer. The spread of three torpedoes missed, and Sailfish was forced to dive deep to escape the depth-charge counterattack. Eleven well-placed charges went off near the submarine, causing much minor damage. Sailfish returned to Brisbane on 1 November.

Underway for her seventh patrol on 24 November, Sailfish proceeded to the area south of New Britain. Following an unsuccessful attack on a destroyer on 2 December, the submarine made no other contacts until 25 December, when she believed she had scored a hit on a Japanese submarine. Postwar analysis of Japanese records could not confirm a sinking in the area. During the remainder of the patrol, she made unsuccessful attacks on a cargo ship and a destroyer before ending the patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1943.

After an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard from 27 January–22 April, Sailfish returned to Pearl Harbor on 30 April. Departing Hawaii on 17 May for her eighth patrol, she stopped off to fuel at Midway Island and proceeded to her station off the east coast of Honshū. Several contacts were made, but because of bad weather, were not attacked. On 15 June, she encountered two freighters off Todo Saki, escorted by three subchasers.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=463}} Firing a spread of three stern torpedoes, she observed one hit. which stopped the maru dead in the water. Sailfish was driven down by the escort, but listened on her sound gear as Shinju Maru broke up and sank. Ten days later, she found a second convoy, three ships with a subchaser, and unusually, an aircraft, for escort. Sailfish once more fired three stern tubes, sinking Iburi Maru; in response, the subchaser, the aircraft, and three additional escorts,{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=463}} pinned her down in a gruelling depth-charge attack lasting 10 hours and 98 charges, but causing only slight damage.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=463}} After shaking loose pursuit, she set course for Midway on 26 June, arriving there on 3 July.{{harvp|Blair|1975|pp=463 & 930}}. At the time, Moore was not given credit for the sinkings, and was transferred.

Her ninth patrol (commanded by William R. Lefavour){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=932}} lasted from 25 July–16 September and covered the Formosa Strait and waters off Okinawa. It produced only two contacts (a 2500-ton steamer at Naha, Okinawa, and a junk),{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=463}} but no worthwhile targets, and Sailfish thereafter returned to Pearl Harbor.{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=464}}. On return, Lefavour was transferred to small craft.

After refit at Pearl Harbor, she departed (under the command of Robert E. McC. Ward){{harvp|Blair|1975|pp=527 & 940}}. Not to be confused with Norvell G. "Bub" Ward. He had an almost entirely new wardroom after the unfortunate experience with Lefavour. with a rejuvenated crew, on 17 November for her 10th patrol, which took her south of Honshū. Along the way, she suffered a "hot run" in tube eight (aft), and (after the skipper himself went over the side to inspect the damage) ejected the torpedo; the tube remained out of commission for the duration of the patrol.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=528}}

After refueling at Midway, she was alerted by ULTRA of a fast convoy of Japanese ships before she arrived on station. Southeast of Yokosuka, on the night of 3 December, she made radar contact at {{convert|9000|yd|m|abbr=on}}. The group consisted of the Japanese aircraft carrier {{Ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Chūyō||2}}, a cruiser, and two destroyers. Despite high seas whipped up by typhoon winds, Sailfish maneuvered into firing position shortly after midnight on 3–4 December, dived to radar depth (just the radar aerial exposed), and fired four bow torpedoes at the carrier, at a range of {{convert|2100|yd|m|abbr=on}}, scoring two hits. She went deep to escape the escorting destroyers, which dropped 21 depth charges (only two close), reloaded, and at 02:00, surfaced to resume the pursuit. She found a mass of radar contacts, and a slow-moving target, impossible to identify in the miserable visibility. As dawn neared, she fired another spread of three bow "fish" from {{convert|3100|yd|m|abbr=on}}, scoring two more hits on the stricken carrier. Diving to elude the Japanese counterattack, which was hampered by the raging seas, Sailfish came to periscope depth, and at 07:58 saw the carrier lying dead in the water, listing to port and down by the stern. Preparations to abandon ship were in progress.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=528}}

Later in the morning, Sailfish fired another spread of three torpedoes, from only {{convert|1700|yd|m|abbr=on}},{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=528}}. In that weather, these were of questionable necessity. scoring two final hits. Loud internal explosions and breaking-up noises were heard while the submarine dived to escape a depth-charge attack. Abruptly, a cruiser appeared, and fearing that she would broach the surface, Sailfish went to {{convert|90|ft|m|abbr=on}}, losing a chance at this new target.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} Shortly afterward, the carrier Chūyō{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} ({{convert|20000|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}) went to the bottom, the first aircraft carrier sunk by an American submarine in the war,{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} and the only major Japanese warship sunk by enemy action in 1943.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=553}} In an ironic twist, Chūyō was carrying American prisoners of war from {{USS|Sculpin|SS-191|2}}, the same boat that had helped locate and rescue Sailfish—then Squalus—over four years before. Twenty of the 21 US crew members from Sculpin were killed. None, however, were of the original rescue crew;{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} 1,250 Japanese were also killed.

After escaping a strafing attack by a Japanese fighter on 7 December, she made contact and commenced tracking two cargo ships with two{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} escorts on the morning of 13 December, south of Kyūshū. That night, she fired a spread of four torpedoes at the two freighters. Two solid explosions were heard, including an internal secondary explosion. Sailfish heard Totai Maru ({{GRT|3000}}){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} break up and sink as the destroyers made a vigorous but inaccurate depth-charge attack. When Sailfish caught up with the other freighter, she was dead in the water, but covered by a screen of five destroyers. Rather than face suicidal odds, the submarine quietly left the area. On the night of 20 December, she intercepted an enemy hospital ship, which she left unmolested.

On 21 December, in the approach to Bungo Suido (Bungo Channel), Sailfish intercepted six large freighters escorted by three{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} destroyers. With five torpedoes left, she fired a spread of three stern tubes,{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} scoring two hits on the largest target. Diving to escape the approaching destroyers, the submarine detected breaking-up noises as Uyo Maru (6400 GRT){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} went to the bottom; destroyers counterattacked with 31 depth charges, "some very close".{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=529}} Sailfish terminated her tenth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 5 January 1944. She claimed three ships for 35,729 GRT, plus damage to one for 7000 tons, believed to be the most successful patrol by tonnage to date; postwar, it was reduced to two ships and (less Uyo Maru) 29,571 tons.{{harvp|Blair|1975|pp=529–530}}. It earned Ward a Navy Cross.

After an extensive overhaul at Mare Island—from 15–17 June—she returned to Hawaii and sailed on 9 July as part of a "wolfpack" ("Moseley's Maulers", commanded by Stan Moseley),{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=701}} with {{USS|Greenling|SS-213|2}} and {{USS|Billfish|SS-286|2}}, to prey on shipping in the Luzon–Formosa area. On the afternoon of 6 August,{{cite journal |last=Waterhouse |first=John W. |title=Private Journal of John. W. Waterhouse |date=July 9, 1944 – January 15, 1945 |journal=Primary Source |at=p. 5}} Sailfish and Greenling made contact with an enemy convoy. Sailfish maneuvered into firing position and fired a spread of three torpedoes at a mine layer. One hit caused the tanker to disintegrate into a column of water, smoke, and debris. It was not recorded in the postwar account.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=701}} In fact, the Sailfish had sunk the Japanese Kinshu Maru (238 GRT) in Luzon Strait in position 20°09'N, 121°19'E.

Her next target was a battleship escorted by three{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=701}} destroyers, on which she made radar contact{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=701}} shortly after midnight on 18–19 August. At 01:35, after getting as close as she was able, {{convert|3500|yd|m|abbr=on}}, Sailfish fired all four bow tubes. One of the escorts ran into the path of two fish; the other two missed.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=702}} While the destroyer must have been severely damaged or sunk, there was nothing in JANAC.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=702}}

On 24 August, south of Formosa, Sailfish made radar contact with an enemy convoy consisting of four cargo ships escorted by two small patrol craft. Moving into firing position, Sailfish fired a salvo of four torpedoes, scoring two hits. The cargo ship Toan Maru (2100 GRT){{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=702}} was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and shortly afterward broke in two and sank. Surfacing after escaping a depth-charge attack, Sailfish closed on a second cargo ship of the convoy, scoring two hits out of four torpedoes fired. The submarine's crew felt the cargo ship either had been sunk or badly damaged, but the sinking was not confirmed by JANAC postwar.{{harvp|Blair|1975|p=702}}. Her packmates, Greenling and Billfish, were similarly denied. Sailfish terminated her 11th patrol at Midway on 6 September; her wartime credit was four ships for 13,200 tons, a total reduced to just one of 2100 GRT (Toan Maru) postwar.{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=953}}

Her 12th patrol—from 26 September through 11 December—was conducted between Luzon and Formosa, in company with {{USS|Pomfret|SS-391|2}} and {{USS|Parche|SS-384|2}}.

After passing through the edge of a typhoon, Sailfish arrived on station to perform lifeguard duty. On 12 October, staying surfaced in full view of enemy attackers,{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=953}} she rescued 12{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=953}} Navy fliers who had ditched their stricken aircraft after strikes against Japanese bases on Formosa. She sank a sampan and a patrol craft{{sfnp|Blair|1975|p=953}} with her deck gun as the enemy craft tried to capture the downed aviators. The following day, she rescued another flier. The submarines pulled into Saipan, arriving on 24 October, to drop off their temporary passengers, refuel, and make minor repairs.

After returning to the patrol area with the wolf pack, she made an unsuccessful attack on a transport on 3 November. The following day, Sailfish damaged the Japanese destroyer Harukaze and Japanese landing ship T-111 (890 tons) in Luzon Strait in position 20°08'N, 121°43'E, but was slightly damaged herself by a bomb from a patrol aircraft. With battle damage under control, Sailfish eluded her pursuers and cleared the area. After riding out a typhoon on 9–10 November, she intercepted a convoy on the evening of 24 November heading for Itbayat in the Philippines. After alerting Pomfret of the convoy's location and course, Sailfish was moving into an attack position, when one of the escorting destroyers headed straight for her. Sailfish fired a three-torpedo spread "down the throat" and headed toward the main convoy. At least one hit was scored on the destroyer and her pip faded from the radar screen. Suddenly, Sailfish received an unwelcome surprise when she came under fire from the destroyer that she had believed to be sunk. Sailfish ran deep after ascertaining no hull damage had resulted from a near miss from the escort's guns. For the next 4{{frac|1|2}} hours, Sailfish was forced to run silent and deep as the Japanese kept up an uncomfortably accurate depth-charge attack. Finally, the submarine eluded the destroyers and slipped away. Shortly thereafter, Sailfish headed for Hawaii, via Midway, and completed her 12th and final war patrol upon arriving at Pearl Harbor on 11 December. Sailfish had damaged the IJN destroyer {{ship|Japanese destroyer|Harukaze|1922|2}}, which had previously sunk {{USS|Shark|SS-314|6}}, and also a landing ship.

Following refit, Sailfish departed Hawaii on 26 December and arrived at New London, via the Panama Canal, on 22 January 1945. For the next four and one-half months, she aided training out of New London. Next, she operated as a training ship at Guantanamo Bay from 9 June–9 August. After a six-week stay at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she arrived at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 2 October for deactivation.

File:Martin Dempsey at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard 2013.jpg, seen during a 2013 visit by General Martin Dempsey, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff]]

After being decommissioned on 27 October 1945,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776246/final_tribute_paid_to_gallant_uss/ |title=Final Tribute Paid to Gallant USS Sailfish |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=1 |date=29 October 1945 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} efforts by the city of Portsmouth and area residents to have the submarine kept intact as a memorial were not successful.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776333/sailfish_bridge_conning_tower_may_be/ |title=Sailfish Bridge, Conning Tower May Be Saved |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=1 |date=14 December 1945 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} Agreement was reached to have her conning tower saved, which was dedicated in November 1946 on Armistice Day, by John L. Sullivan, then Undersecretary of the Navy.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776556/conning_tower_of_uss_sailfish_made/ |title=Conning Tower of U.S.S. Sailfish made War Memorial |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |location=Oakland, California |page=2 |date=11 November 1946 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} The remainder of the submarine was initially scheduled to be a target in the atomic bomb tests{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/31776394/uss_sailfish_will_be_used_in_tests_of/ |title=USS Sailfish Will Be Used in Tests of Counter-Measures to Atom Bomb |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=1 |date=16 November 1945 |access-date=21 May 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} or sunk by conventional ordnance. However, she was placed on sale in March 1948 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1948. The hulk was sold for scrapping to Luria Brothers of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 18 June 1948. Her conning tower still stands at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery as a memorial to her lost crewmen ({{coord|43|04|55.4|N|70|44|18.7|W|region:US-NH_typelandmark|display=inline}}).{{cite web |url=https://www.navalhistory.org/2014/05/23/remembering-the-uss-squalus-75-years-later |title=Remembering the USS Squalus 75 years later |website=navalhistory.org |date=23 May 2014 |access-date=5 April 2018}}

• 106px Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance on her 10th war patrol
• 106px American Defense Service Medal
• 106px American Campaign Medal
• {{ribbon devices|number=9|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars for World War II service
• 106px World War II Victory Medal

The 2001 television movie docudrama Submerged, directed by James Keach and starring Sam Neill as Charles B. "Swede" Momsen and James B. Sikking as Admiral Cyrus Cole, depicted the events surrounding the loss of USS Squalus and the rescue of her 33 survivors. The plot was written to closely follow the events of the sinking.

Submerged used models and sets originally constructed for the 2000 film U-571. The floating set used to in Submerged to represent both USS Squalus and USS Sculpin is the non-diving replica built in Malta as the "modified" {{USS|S-33|SS-138}} for U-571, which also was shot in Malta. The replica is still{{when|date=February 2023}} afloat, moored in Marsa in the inner part of the Grand Harbour ({{coord|35|52|46.00|N|14|29|49.92|E|display=inline}}) at Malta.

In 2006, BBC TV presented a series of programs entitled Voyages of Discovery, the first of which, called "Hanging by a Thread", told the story of the USS Squalus rescue mission, as narrated by Paul Rose.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074t6g Voyages of Discovery]

• {{HMS|Thetis|N25}}, a British World War II submarine that sank in Liverpool Bay with the loss of 99 of 104 hands and was refloated and recommissioned under a new name.

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• Barrows, Nathaniel A. Blow All Ballast! The Story of the Squalus. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co, 1940.
• {{cite book |last=Blair |first=Clay Jr. |author-link=Clay Blair |title=Silent Victory |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Lippincott |year=1975 |isbn=978-0-397-01089-9 |oclc=821363}}
• {{cite book |last=Friedman |first=N. |title=U.S. Submarines Through 1945 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |year=1995 |isbn=1-55750-263-3}}
• Gray, Edwyn. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents and Disasters. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 2003.
• {{cite book |last=Holwitt |first=Joel Ira |title="Execute Against Japan" The U.S. Decision to Conduct Unrestricted Subnarine Warfare |date=2009 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |isbn=9781603440837}}
• {{cite video |people=Keach, James |date=2000 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286996 |title=Submerged |medium=Film |location=New York |publisher=NBC}} (Television movie. The film does not acknowledge any design flaw and claims the cause is unknown.)
• LaVO, Carl. Back from the Deep: The Strange Story of the Sister Subs Squalus and Sculpin. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 1994.
• Maas, Peter. The Rescuer. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
• {{cite book |last=Maas |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Maas |title=The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History |location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-06-019480-2 |oclc=41504915 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/terriblehours00pete_0}}
• USS Squalus, Ship Source Files, Ships History Branch, Naval Historical Center
• "Oliver Francis Naquin," Obituary, The New York Times, 15 November. 1989
• Department's Report on "Squalus" Disaster. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1939.
• Naval Historical Center (U.S.). USS Squalus (SS-192) The Sinking, Rescue of Survivors, and Subsequent Salvage, 1939. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1998. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-1.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106064527/http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-1.htm |date=6 January 2015}}
• Mariners' Museum (Newport News, Va.). Salvage of the Squalus: Clippings from Newspapers, 25 May 20 January 1939, 1941. Newport News, Va: Mariners' Museum, 1942.
• Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (U.S.). Technical Report of the Salvage of U.S.S. Squalus. Portsmouth, N.H.: U.S. Navy Yard, 1939.
• Falcon (Salvage ship), and Albert R. Behnke. Log of Diving During Rescue and Salvage Operations of the USS Squalus: Diving Log of USS Falcon, 24 May 1939 – 12 September 1939. Kensington, Maryland: Reprinted by Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, 2001
• Diving in the U.S. Navy a brief history. http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS88384

{{Refend}}

• {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/squalus-ss-192.html}}
• {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sailfish-i.html|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sailfish-ss-192-i.html}}

• {{cite news |url=https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20190519/squalus-sinking-tragedy-and-triumph |title=Squalus sinking: A tragedy and triumph |last=Kerr |first=D. Allan |publisher=seacoastonline.com |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |date=19 May 2019 |access-date=20 May 2019}}

{{Commons category|USS Sailfish (SS-192)}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20000819041641/http://history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-s/ss192.htm Naval Historical Center, Online Library of Selected Images: USS Squalus/Sailfish (SS-192)]
• {{navsource|08/08192|Sailfish}}
• [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss192.htm hazegray.org: USS Sailfish]
• [http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/ss-192.html fleetsubmarine.com: USS Sailfish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029000431/http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/ss-192.html |date=29 October 2015}}
• [http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-squalus-192.htm On Eternal Patrol: USS Squalus]
• [http://www.pigboats.com/ww2/sailfish.html Kill record: USS Sailfish] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202224524/http://www.pigboats.com/ww2/sailfish.html |date=2 December 2008}}

{{Sargo class submarine}}

{{May 1939 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sailfish (Ss-192)}}

Category:1938 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1939

Category:Sargo-class submarines

Category:Ships built in Kittery, Maine

Category:United States submarine accidents

Category:World War II submarines of the United States