USS Tarpon (SS-175)
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut |
| Laid down: | 22 December 1933 |
| Launched: | 4 September 1935 |
| Commissioned: | 12 March 1936 |
| Decommissioned: | 15 November 1945 |
| Struck: | 5 September 1956 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking up, 8 June 1957; foundered off Cape Hatteras, 26 August 1957 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 287 ft 0 in (87.48 m) (waterline), 298 ft 0 in (90.83 m) (overall) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 3⁄4 in (7.639 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 9 in (4.19 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Endurance: | 10 hours at 5 knots (9.3 km/h), 36 hours at minimum speed submerged |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement: | 5 officers, 49 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Tarpon (SS-175), second ship of this name, was laid down on 22 December 1933 at Groton, Connecticut, by the Electric Boat Corporation; launched on 4 September 1935; sponsored by Miss Eleanore Katherine Roosevelt, daughter of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Henry L. Roosevelt; and commissioned on 12 March 1936, Lt. Leo L. Pace (Class of 1921) in command.
Tarpon operated out of San Diego and Pearl Harbor with Submarine Division 13 (SubDiv 13) for several years and was then assigned to SubDiv 14. In October 1939, SubDiv 14 was transferred to the Philippines, augmenting the six old S-boats at Manila. All submarines there were then reorganized into Submarine Squadron 5. In October 1941, SubDivs 15 and 16 were transferred from Pearl Harbor to Manila, increasing the Asiatic Fleet strength to 29 submarines. They were divided into five divisions; Tarpon was assigned to SubDiv 203.
Two days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 18 submarines departed the Philippines on their first war patrols. Tarpon, under Lt. Comdr. Lewis Wallace, was assigned an area off southeastern Luzon. Since all the ships that she definitely identified as Japanese presented unfavorable firing angles, the submarine ended her patrol on 11 January 1942 at Darwin, Australia, without having fired a torpedo.
Tarpon got underway on 25 January for her second patrol which took her to the Moluccas. On the 30th, she sighted a convoy; but, since the enemy ships were well escorted, the submarine abandoned the chase. On 1 February, Tarpon fired a spread of four torpedoes at a freighter. One hit. She then fired two more; both hit. Her victim was apparently sinking when the submarine left the scene of the attack, but postwar analysis of Japanese records did not confirm the kill. On 11 February, while investigating a surface contact. Tarpon was illuminated by the enemy's searchlight. She dived and went deep but was severely jolted by four depth charges that knocked out her bow planes, rudder angle indicator, and port annunciator. On the night of 23 February – 24 February, Tarpon ran aground while attempting to navigate Boling Strait, west of Flores Island. Jettisoning ammunition, fresh water, fuel, and torpedoes failed to lighten the ship enough to float her off. A native boat then took an officer ashore on the island of Adunara, later returning with the only white man on the island, a Dutch missionary, Pastor H. von Den Rulst. He informed Wallace the next high tide would occur between 16:00 and 18:00. His warning that Japanese planes had been over the island during each of the past four days caused the crew a bit of uneasiness until flood tide. Then, with three engines backing, she slid off the bottom, returning to Fremantle on 5 March.
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