Archerfish underwent shakedown training through the first part of November off the New England coast, and headed for Hawaii via the Panama Canal. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on November 29, 1943 and joined the Pacific Fleet.
First four patrols, December 1943 – September 1944
After receiving voyage repairs and undergoing training exercises, Archerfish got under way on December 23, for her first war patrol. She paused at Midway Atoll on December 27, to refuel before proceeding to her patrol area north of Taiwan. During this patrol, she attacked three ships, but scored no kills before returning to Midway on February 16, 1944 for repairs and training.
The submarine stood out of Midway on March 16, 1944 on her second war patrol but encountered no Japanese targets during her 42days at sea, mostly near the Palau Islands. She returned to the Submarine Base at Pearl Harbor via Johnston Island on April 27, to commence refitting.
A month and a day later, Archerfish left Pearl Harbor, bound for the Bonin Islands area and her third patrol. She was assigned lifeguard duty during the strikes against Iwo Jima on July 4, and rescued downed aviator Ensign John B. Anderson before returning to Midway on July 15.
After a refit alongside submarine tenderProteus and training exercises, Archerfish got under way again on August 7, to begin another patrol. She prowled the waters off Honshū for more than a month without bagging any enemy ships, and returned to Pearl Harbor on September 29, after 53days at sea.
Archerfish left Hawaii on October 30, under the command of CommanderJoseph F. Enright, visited Saipan on November 9, for quick voyage repairs, and departed two days later to carry out her next patrol, in which her primary mission was to provide lifeguard services for the first B-29 Superfortress strikes against Tokyo. On November 28, she received word that no air raids would be launched that day, giving her carte blanche to roam the waters near Tokyo Bay. That evening, lookouts spotted what looked like a tanker leaving the bay. It was later discovered that it was actually a large aircraft carrier screened by three destroyers (Hamakaze, Yukikaze, Isokaze)[7] and a submarine chaser (Cha-241).[8]
Shinano underway during sea trials in Tokyo Bay
Enright ordered the carrier tracked from ahead in preparation for an attack from below. After six hours, the enemy carrier turned back into Archerfish's path, and Archerfish got into an attack position. Archerfish submerged and fired six torpedoes, four of which found their mark. Enright deliberately set the torpedoes to run shallow (10ft or 3m) in hopes of capsizing the target by holing it higher up on its hull. He also wanted to increase the chances of a hit in case the torpedoes ran deeper than set. Before Archerfish descended to 400ft (120m) to avoid a depth charge attack, Enright saw that the carrier was listing to starboard. The crew began picking up loud breaking-up noises from the target shortly after firing the last torpedo. The noises continued for 47 minutes.
The patrol ended at Guam on December 15, after 48days on station. Initially, the Office of Naval Intelligence thought that Archerfish had sunk a cruiser, not believing that there were any carriers in that stretch of ocean. However, Enright had made sketches of the target, and Archerfish was given credit for sinking a 28,000-ton carrier.
It was only after the war that the Americans learned the identity of Archerfish's quarry: Shinano, the biggest aircraft carrier ever built at the time. It was originally the third of the Yamato-class battleships, but had been converted into a 72,000-ton supercarrier after the Battle of Midway. Four of Archerfish's six torpedoes had hit, striking the carrier between the anti-torpedo bulge and the waterline at approximately 03:20. The damage was magnified by the fact that Shinano had turned south just minutes before Enright loosed his torpedoes, thus exposing her entire side to Archerfish—a nearly ideal firing situation for a submarine. The ship initially continued under way, but it lost power around 06:00. The crew were unable to contain the flooding due to serious design flaws and inexperience, and the carrier capsized just before 11:00.[9]Archerfish received the Presidential Unit Citation and Enright received the Navy Cross for this action. Shinano is the largest warship to be sunk by a submarine.
Last two patrols, January–September 1945
While her officers and crew spent the holidays at a rest and recreation camp located on Guam, Archerfish underwent refit at the island. On January 10, 1945, the submarine got underway for her sixth patrol. Enright was in command of "Joe's Jugheads", a three-submarine "wolfpack" comprising Archerfish, Batfish, and Blackfish.[10] This mission took her to waters in the South China Sea off Hong Kong and the southern tip of Formosa. She damaged one unidentified target and claimed a submarine on February 14, 1945[11] during this patrol which ended on March 3, three days earlier than scheduled, due to bow-plane problems. (The submarine sinking was not confirmed until after the war.) Archerfish touched at Saipan and Pearl Harbor before arriving back in the United States at San Francisco, California on March 13. She then proceeded to the Hunters Point Navy Yard for overhaul and drydocking.
Archerfish undergoing a sea test on June 5, 1945 near San Francisco
Following completion of the yard work, Archerfish sailed on June 14, for Oahu. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 22, and commenced voyage repairs and training exercises. The submarine got underway on July 10, for her seventh and last war patrol, which she conducted in the area off the east coast of Honshū and the south coast of Hokkaidō, providing lifeguard services for Superfortresses striking the Japanese home islands. She was still off Hokkaidō on August 15, when word of the Japanese capitulation arrived. Archerfish was one of 12submarines that entered Tokyo Bay on August 31, and moored alongside Proteus, near the Yokosuka Navy Yard. After the formal Japanese surrender on September 2, Archerfish departed Tokyo Bay, bound for Pearl Harbor, and arrived there on September 12. She was then assigned to Submarine Squadron1 (SubRon1) for duty and training.
Post-war
The submarine left Pearl Harbor on January 2, 1946, bound for San Francisco. From January 8, to March 13, the ship's force carried out her preinactivation overhaul. On the latter day, she proceeded to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard where the final stages of inactivation were completed. Archerfish was decommissioned on June 12, 1946 and placed in the Pacific Reserve Group berthed at Mare Island.
1952–1955
During the Korean War, many inactive Navy vessels were recommissioned. Archerfish was chosen for recommissioning on January 7, 1952. She was recommissioned on 7 March and reported for duty to the Pacific Fleet on March 26. The next day she sailed for three weeks of shakedown training out of San Diego, California. However, a fire broke out in her maneuvering room on March 28, and the ship returned to Mare Island under her own power for a restricted availability to have the damage corrected.
Archerfish was reactivated at New London in July 1957, placed back in commission on August 1, and again joined SubRon12 at Key West. On January 13, 1958, she got underway for a cruise under the technical supervision of the Navy Hydrographic Office. On this deployment, she visited Recife, Brazil, and Trinidad. Upon completion of that mission she provided services for the fleet training commands at Key West and Guantánamo Bay. (In this time, she also portrayed the USSSea Tiger in the 1959 movie Operation Petticoat for the underwater and distance scenes and shots.)
Dr. George Bond and Chief Engineman Cyril Tuckfield following record buoyant ascent in 1959.
On October 2, 1959, approximately 15 miles southwest of Key West, over Vestal Shoal, Archerfish bottomed at 322 feet (98m). Commander George F. Bond and Chief Engineman Cyril Tuckfield safely completed a 52-second, 302-foot buoyant ascent from the forward escape trunk. Both men received the Legion of Merit in 1960 for establishing the feasibility of deep submarine escape by locking out.[12]
In early 1960, Archerfish was chosen to participate in Operation "Sea Scan", a scientific study of marine weather conditions, water composition, ocean depths, and temperature ranges. She entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in January to be specially equipped for this new mission. During this time, the vessel was redesignated an auxiliary submarine, with hull classification symbolAGSS-311. Embarking a team of civilian scientists, she commenced the first phase of "SeaScan" on May 18. On the cruise, the submarine visited Portsmouth, England; Hammerfest and Bergen, Norway; Faslane, Scotland; Thule, Godthaab, and Julianehab, Greenland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Halifax, Nova Scotia, before mooring at New London on December 3.
After six weeks of upkeep, Archerfish got underway on January 20, 1961 for the Pacific phase of "SeaScan", transited the Panama Canal on February 6, and proceeded via San Diego to Hawaii. She left Pearl Harbor on March 27. During her operations the submarine visited Yokosuka and Hakodate, Japan, Hong Kong; Subic Bay, Philippines; Bangkok, Thailand; Penang, Malaya; Colombo, Ceylon; and Fremantle, Australia, and closed out 1961 moored at Yokosuka.
Phase two of Operation "Sea Scan" continued during the early months of 1962 with operations in the western Pacific area and port calls at Sasebo, Japan, Guam, and Cebu City, Philippines. Early in March, the submarine completed phase two and proceeded via Pago Pago to Pearl Harbor. On April 27, she entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard for overhaul. After completion of overhaul, the submarine moved to San Diego for a two-week upkeep. She then commenced phase three of "SeaScan" in the eastern Pacific area, with stops in Pearl Harbor and Midway Atoll, and returned to San Diego for the Christmas holidays.
Archerfish departed San Diego on January 10, 1963, bound for Yokosuka, where she began a three-week upkeep period. Following two and one-half months of operations she returned to the United States for a brief visit to San Francisco, California, before reentering Pearl Harbor early in May. Late May and most of June were devoted to surveying off the northwest coast of the United States and Canada, with port calls in Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; and Vancouver, British Columbia. The submarine was back in Yokosuka for drydocking in July and August before beginning three months of continuous surveying in the mid-Pacific, broken only by brief fueling and upkeep stops at Midway and Pearl Harbor. She departed Yokosuka on November 25, for an extended cruise to the southern hemisphere, arrived in Australia in mid-December and took a three-week holiday in Newcastle and Sydney. From the latter port, Archerfish traveled to Guam for a two-week upkeep in late January 1964 and finally reached Pearl Harbor on March 5.
Departing Pearl Harbor on March 30, the ship continued "Sea Scan" operations in the eastern Pacific. She visited San Francisco in April and Vancouver, in May before returning to Pearl Harbor on May 25, ending the third phase of "SeaScan".
Archerfish began an extended fourth and final phase of Operation "Sea Scan" when she left Pearl Harbor on June 17, and headed for the eastern Pacific. She made port calls during July at Seattle and Olympia, Washington, and returned to Pearl Harbor on August 19, for a three-week upkeep and drydocking before undertaking a cruise to the South Pacific. The submarine sailed on September 9, for the Fiji Islands. After briefly touching Suva, she headed for Auckland, New Zealand, for an 11-day visit. Her next stop was Wellington, New Zealand, but she left New Zealand on October 19, and arrived in Yokosuka on November 6. She got underway again on November 27, to continue survey operations in the Caroline Islands area. After spending New Year's Eve in Guam, the ship sailed for Subic Bay, Philippines, where she closed the year in upkeep.
1965–1968
During the remaining three and a half years of her Navy career Archerfish carried out various research assignments in the eastern Pacific. In early 1968, Archerfish was declared unfit for further naval service and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on May 1, 1968. She was towed to a target position off San Diego and sunk by a torpedo fired from the submarine Snook(SSN-592) on October 19, 1968.[10]
USS Arnold J. Isbell (DD-869), a Gearing-class destroyer, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Arnold J. Isbell, an aircraft carrier captain during World War II. The ship was laid down on 14 March 1945 at Staten Island, New York, by Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, launched on 6 August 1945 and commissioned on 5 January 1946. Constructed too late to see action in World War II, the vessel initially served as a training ship with the United States Atlantic Fleet, before transferring to the Pacific and deploying to Korea during the Korean War and off the Vietnam coast during the Vietnam War. In 1972 Arnold J. Isbell was made part of the reserve training fleet and in 1974, sold to Greece where the ship was renamed Satchouris and served with the Hellenic Navy until being sold for scrap in 2002.
USS Blueback (SS-581) is a Barbel-class submarine that served in the United States Navy from 1959 to 1990, and subsequently was made into an exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. She was the second Navy submarine to bear the name.
USS Omaha (SSN-692), a Los Angeles-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Omaha, Nebraska. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 31 January 1971 and her keel was laid down on 27 January 1973. She was launched on 21 February 1976 sponsored by Mrs. Victoria Kuncl Hruska, wife of Senator Roman L. Hruska, and commissioned on 11 March 1978.
USS Redfish (SS/AGSS-395), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the redfish. In addition to her naval career, which included sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Unryū, she made several film appearances in the 1950s.
USS Volador (SS-490), a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the volador.
Shinano (信濃) was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, the largest such built up to that time. Laid down in May 1940 as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano's partially complete hull was ordered to be converted to an aircraft carrier following Japan's disastrous loss of four of its original six fleet carriers at the Battle of Midway in mid-1942. The advanced state of her construction prevented her conversion into a fleet carrier, so the IJN decided to convert her into a carrier that supported other carriers.
USS Scabbardfish (SS-397), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the scabbarddfish, a long, compressed, silver-colored fish found on European coasts and around New Zealand. In 1965 she was transferred to the Hellenic Navy and renamed Triaina.
USS Bream (SS/SSK/AGSS-243), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bream. She served during World War II, and her war operations extended from 1 June 1944 to 15 June 1945. During this period she completed six war patrols operating in the Java Sea, Celebes Sea, Sulu Sea, South China Sea, and Gulf of Siam. She sank two Japanese merchant ships totaling 6,934 gross register tons. In addition, Bream shared with the submarines USS Ray(SS-271) and USS Guitarro(SS-363) the destruction of a 6,806-gross register ton passenger-cargo ship. On 23 October 1944, while patrolling off western Luzon, Bream made a daring surface attack on a Japanese naval force, damaging the heavy cruiser Aoba.
USS Sterlet (SS-392), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sterlet, a small sturgeon found in the Caspian Sea and its rivers, whose meat is considered delicious and whose eggs are one of the world's great delicacies, caviar.
USS Besugo, a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1958. She was named for the besugo.
USS Blackfin (SS-322), a Balao-class submarine in commission from 1944 to 1948 and from 1951 to 1972, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the blackfin cisco, a food fish of the Great Lakes.
USS Bumper (SS-333), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the bumper, a small fish of the North and South Atlantic Ocean.
USS Segundo (SS-398) was a Balao-class submarine, of the United States Navy named for the segundo, a cavalla fish of Caribbean waters.
USS Tiru (SS-416), a Balao-class submarine, was a vessel of the United States Navy named for the tiru, a member of the lizardfish family.
USS Taylor (DD/DDE-468) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral William Rogers Taylor (1811–1889). She was laid down on 28 August 1941 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works Corp.; launched on 7 June 1942, sponsored by Mrs. H. A. Baldridge; and commissioned on 28 August 1942 at the Charlestown Navy Yard near Boston, Mass.
USS Carpenter (DD/DDK/DDE-825) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Lieutenant Commander Donald M. Carpenter (1894–1940).
USS Bausell (DD-845) was a Gearing-class destroyer in the United States Navy during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was named for Marine Corporal Lewis K. Bausell (1924–1944), who was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for "conspicuous gallantry" during the Battle of Peleliu.
USS Silverstein (DE-534) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1958. She was sold for scrapping in 1973.
USS Lewis (DE-535) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 and from 1952 to 1960. She was finally sunk as a target in 1966.
Joseph Francis Enright was a submarine captain in the United States Navy. He is best known as the man who sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano–the "most significant single submarine sinking of World War II."
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