USS Permit (SS-178)

	USS Permit (SS-178)
History
United States
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down	6 June 1935
Launched	5 October 1936
Commissioned	17 March 1937
Decommissioned	15 November 1945
Stricken	26 July 1956
Fate	Sold for scrap on 28 June 1958
General characteristics
Class and type	Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) standard, surfaced, 1,997 long tons (2,029 t) submerged
Length	298 ft (91 m) (waterline), 300 ft 6 in (91.59 m) (overall)
Beam	25 ft 7⁄8 in (7.6 m)
Draft	15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion	As Built: 4 × Winton Model 16-201A 16-cylinder two-cycle diesel engines, 1,300 hp (0.97 MW) each, driving electrical generators through reduction gears, 2 × 120-cell Gould AMTX33HB batteries, 8 × General Electric electric motors, 538 hp (401 kW) each, 2 General Motors six-cylinder four-cycle 6-241 auxiliary diesels; Re-engined: 4 × Winton Model 12-278A;
Speed	19.25 kn (35.65 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h), (bunkerage 92,801 US gal (351,290 L)
Endurance	10 hours @ 5 kn (9.3 km/h), 36 hours @ minimum speed submerged
Test depth	250 ft (76 m)
Complement	As built: 5 officers, 45 enlisted; 1945: 8 officers, 65 enlisted;
Armament	6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft; 16 torpedoes) (two external bow tubes added 1942), 1 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal deck gun, 4 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns (2x2)

Last updated February 14, 2024

USS Permit (SS-178), a Porpoise-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the permit. She was laid down as Pinna.

Construction and commissioning

Permit's keel was laid on 6 June 1935 by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 5 October 1936, sponsored by Mrs. Edith B. Bowen, wife of Harold G. Bowen, Chief of the Bureau of Engineering, and was commissioned on 17 March 1937, Lieutenant Charles O. Humphreys in command.

Service history

Pre-World War II

Following shakedown, Permit operated from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, until 29 November 1937, when she got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 10 December, she continued up the West Coast, and arrived at San Diego, California on 18 December to join Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6). For the next 22 months, she cruised the Eastern Pacific, ranging from southern California to the Aleutian Islands and Hawaiian Islands. In October 1939, she got underway for the Philippines to join the Asiatic Fleet.

World War II

Permit's first cruises were conducted in Philippine waters during 1940–1941. The two-year period of peace time activity gave the submarine's crew valuable training for later war activity. The ship - commanded by Lieutenant Commander Adrian M. Hurst - conducted her first war patrol off the west coast of Luzon from 11 to 20 December 1941. From 22 to 27 December, she made a second patrol in the area. Permit embarked members of Admiral Thomas C. Hart's staff at Mariveles Bay on 28 December and evacuated them to the Netherlands' Submarine Base, Surabaya, Java, arriving on 6 February 1942. En route, she completed a third war patrol, scouting in waters of the southern Philippines.

The submarine departed Surabaya for her fourth war patrol on 22 February, as the Japanese began to close on Java. On 19 February, Swordfish got through to Corregidor, which was still holding out against the Japanese. On 13 March, Permit sank the scuttled PT-32 of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three. It was now Permit's turn to penetrate the blockade to the "Rock." She rendezvoused off Corregidor on the night of 15–16 March, took on board 40 officers and enlisted men (including 36 precious cryptanalysts from the intelligence station, CAST),^[11] and landed her ammunition. She headed for repairs at her new base, Fremantle, Western Australia, after minor damage suffered eluding three enemy destroyers on 18 March.

Permit departed Fremantle on 5 May, and until 11 June was engaged in her fifth war patrol off Makassar, Celebes Island and in the enemy shipping route stretching towards Balikpapan, Borneo. She made her sixth war patrol en route to Pearl Harbor - from 12 July-30 August - and shortly departed for the United States, entering Mare Island Navy Yard on 9 September for overhaul.

She conducted her seventh war patrol off Honshū, Japan from 5 February-16 March 1943. Towards sunset on 8 March, she attacked a nine-ship convoy with two escorts. Two hits sent Hisashima Maru to the bottom. Permit departed Midway Island on 6 April for her eighth war patrol in the shipping lanes from the Mariana Islands to Truk Atoll, Caroline Islands, and after several encounters, returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 May. On 7 July, Permit launched two torpedoes which sank Banshu Maru Number 33. Just after midnight, she spotted a two-ship convoy headed for the Korean coast, and with a salvo of two torpedoes sank Showa Maru in five minutes.

At approximately 18:30 on 9 July 1943, Permit mistakenly attacked the Soviet oceanographic research ship Seiner No. 20 with gunfire 27 nautical miles (50 km; 31 mi) off Kaiba To and 14 to 15 nautical miles (26 to 28 km; 16 to 17 mi) west of Todosima Island, setting the ship ablaze and killing two people. Upon discovering that she was a Soviet ship, Permit closed with her and rescued Seiner No. 20's 12 survivors, seven men and five women.^[12]^[13]Seiner No. 20 sank at 19:00.^[12] Under escort by the high-speed transport USS Kane (APD-18), Permit proceeded to the entrance to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, where she transferred the survivors to Kane on 17 July.^[12]

On 20 July 1943, Permit joined the submarines USS Lapon (SS-260) and USS Plunger (SS-179) at Midway for the first wartime penetration into the Sea of Japan, to attack shipping carrying raw materials to Japan from Manchuria and Korea.

After this highly successful patrol, Permit made her way via Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 27 July. On 23 August, she departed for photographic reconnaissance of several atolls in the Marshall Islands. Off Kwajalein, she evaded aerial bombs on 3 September and depth charges on 9 September. She made attacks on enemy vessels, damaging several, before returning to Pearl Harbor on 24 September. Her next war patrol was in the Caroline Islands, held from early-January - mid-March 1944.

Her 12th war patrol was in the same region, on lifeguard duty in support of the air strikes on Truk. She remained on station from 7 May to 1 June 1944. On 28 May 1944 a PV-1 Ventura patrol bomber of U.S. Navy Bombing Squadron 148 (VB-148) mistakenly attacked her in the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of 06°45′N151°52′E / 6.750°N 151.867°E / 6.750; 151.867 , damaging her with a depth charge . Permit suffered no casualties.^[14]

Permit commenced her 13th patrol with her departure from Majuro Atoll on 30 June, and ended it with her arrival at Brisbane, Australia on 13 August. On 21 September, she departed to relieve Tarpon on lifeguard duty off Truk, and on 11 November ended her 14th and last war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

After refit, she sailed for the United States on 29 January 1945, and entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 February. In mid-May, she sailed to the Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut, to serve as a schoolship until 30 October, when she entered Boston Naval Shipyard for inactivation.

Permit decommissioned on 15 November 1945. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 July 1956; her hulk was sold for scrap to A.G. Schoonmaker, Inc., New York City on 28 June 1958.

Awards

Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 10 battle stars for World War II service

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References

Citations

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
1 2 Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
↑ Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.45.
1 2 3 Lenton, p.45.
↑ Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.210.
1 2 3 Alden, p.210.
↑ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp.261–263
1 2 Alden, p.211.
1 2 3 Alden, p.62.
↑ Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (New York: Bantam 1976; reprints Lippincott 1975 edition), p.193.
1 2 3 Hinman & Campbell, Appendix B, unpaginated.
↑ Axis History Forum
↑ Hinman & Campbell, pp. 132–133.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

Hinman, Charles R., and Douglas E. Campbell. The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II. Syneca Research Group, Inc., 2019. ISBN 978-0-359-76906-3.

8°23′N165°12′E / 8.383°N 165.200°E / 8.383; 165.200

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[FriedmanSubs1-dates-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.

[Register-2] 1 2 Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.

[FriedmanSubs1-specs-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311

[4] Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.45.

[Lenton,_p.45-5] 1 2 3 Lenton, p.45.

[6] Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.210.

[Alden,_p.210-7] 1 2 3 Alden, p.210.

[FriedmanSubs1-engines-8] U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp.261–263

[Alden,_p.211-9] 1 2 Alden, p.211.

[Alden,_p.62-10] 1 2 3 Alden, p.62.

[11] Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (New York: Bantam 1976; reprints Lippincott 1975 edition), p.193.

[hinmanappB-12] 1 2 3 Hinman & Campbell, Appendix B, unpaginated.

[13] Axis History Forum

[14] Hinman & Campbell, pp. 132–133.

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v t e Porpoise-class submarines
P-1 type	Porpoise Pike
P-3 type	Shark Tarpon
P-5 type	Perch Pickerel Permit Plunger Pollack Pompano
Preceded by: Cachalot class Followed by: Salmon class
List of submarines of the United States Navy List of submarine classes of the United States Navy

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in July 1943
Shipwrecks	2 Jul: Hoihow 3 Jul: U-126 , U-628 , LST-429 4 Jul: City of Venice 5 Jul: USS Strong, U-535 6 Jul: USS Helena, Erg , Nagatsuki , Niizuki 7 Jul: U-951 8 Jul: U-232 , U-514 9 Jul: Samuel Heintzelman, U-435 , U-590 10 Jul: USS Maddox, USS Sentinel , Alice F. Palmer 11 Jul: Flutto 12 Jul: HMS California, Duchess of York, U-409 , U-506 , U-561 13 Jul: Acciaio , USS Gwin, Jintsū , Timothy Pickering, U-487 , U-607 14 Jul: I-179 , U-160 15 Jul: U-135 , U-509 , U-759 16 Jul: U-67 17 Jul: Hatsuyuki 19 Jul: U-513 20 Jul: Kiyonami , U-558 , Yūgure 21 Jul: Empire Florizel, U-662 22 Jul: Nisshin 23 Jul: U-527 , U-598 , U-613 24 Jul: U-459 , U-622 25 Jul: Vaterland, Weissesee , Max Gundelach 26 Jul: El Argentino, U-359 27 Jul: Hamburg , I-168 28 Jul: Ariake , Mikazuki , U-159 , U-404 29 Jul: Pietro Micca, U-614 30 Jul: U-43 , U-375 , U-461 , U-462 , U-504 , U-591 31 Jul: U-199 Unknown date: HMS Parthian, Ro-103, Ro-107, U-647 , Sidney
Other incidents	9 Jul: USS Permit 11 Jul: HMS California, Duchess of York 16 Jul: HMS Cleopatra 23 Jul: HMS Newfoundland 25 Jul: Asturias 29 Jul: USS Tuna 30 Jul: USS Grouper Unknown date: Ro-100
1942 1943 1944 June 1943 August 1943

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1944
Shipwrecks	1 May: U-277 2 May: U-674 , U-959 3 May: USS Donnell, U-852 4 May: U-371 , U-846 5 May: USS Fechteler 6 May: U-66 , U-473 , U-765 7 May: HMCS Valleyfield 9 May: USS PC-558 10 May: Karukaya , Totila 11 May: USS YF-415 13 May: Ro-501 14 May: America Maru , Inazuma , U-1234 15 May: U-731 16 May: I-176 17 May: U-616 19 May: I-16 , U-960 , U-1015 21 May: USS LST-353, USS LST-480, U-453 22 May: Asanagi , Hashidate , Ro-106 23 May: Ro-104 24 May: Ro-116, U-675 25 May: U-476 , U-990 26 May: Ro-108 27 May: U-292 28 May: UJ 2210 29 May: USS Block Island, U-549 31 May: Ishigaki , Kotaka , Ro-105, U-289 Unknown date: U-240
Other incidents	2 May: USS Parrott 4 May: HMS Elgin 5 May: Hayasui, I-155 12 May: USS Bream, U-1102 15 May: La Sultane 16 May: U-616 21 May: West Loch disaster 24 May: U-476 27 May: USS Lapon, USS Raton 28 May: USS Permit Unknown date: USS Medusa
1943 1944 1945 April 1944 June 1944

History
USS Permit (SS-178)
United States
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut ^[1]
Laid down	6 June 1935^[1]
Launched	5 October 1936^[1]
Commissioned	17 March 1937^[1]
Decommissioned	15 November 1945^[1]
Stricken	26 July 1956^[1]
Fate	Sold for scrap on 28 June 1958^[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine ^[2]
Displacement	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) standard, surfaced,^[3] 1,997 long tons (2,029 t) submerged^[3]
Length	298 ft (91 m) (waterline),^[4] 300 ft 6 in (91.59 m) (overall)^[5]
Beam	25 ft 7⁄8 in (7.6 m)^[3]
Draft	15 ft (4.6 m)^[3]
Propulsion	As Built: 4 × Winton Model 16-201A 16-cylinder two-cycle ^[6] diesel engines, 1,300 hp (0.97 MW) each,^[7] driving electrical generators through reduction gears,^[2]^[8] 2 × 120-cell Gould AMTX33HB batteries,^[9] 8 × General Electric electric motors, 538 hp (401 kW) each,^[9] 2 General Motors six-cylinder four-cycle 6-241 auxiliary diesels^[7] Re-engined: 4 × Winton Model 12-278A^[7]
Speed	19.25 kn (35.65 km/h) surfaced,^[3] 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged^[3]
Range	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h),^[3] (bunkerage 92,801 US gal (351,290 L)^[10]
Endurance	10 hours @ 5 kn (9.3 km/h), 36 hours @ minimum speed submerged^[3]
Test depth	250 ft (76 m)^[3]
Complement	As built: 5 officers, 45 enlisted^[3] 1945: 8 officers, 65 enlisted^[10]
Armament	6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft; 16 torpedoes)^[3] (two external bow tubes added 1942),^[10] 1 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 cal deck gun,^[5] 4 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns (2x2)^[5]