USS Trigger (SS-237)

History
United States
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	1 February 1941
Launched:	22 October 1941
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Walter N. Vernou
Commissioned:	31 January 1942
Struck:	11 July 1945
Fate:	Sunk by Japanese vessels in the East China Sea, 28 March 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 9-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (90 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Trigger (SS-237) was a Gato-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the triggerfish.

Trigger's keel was laid down on 1 February 1941 at Mare Island, California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 22 October 1941 (sponsored by Mrs. Walter N. Vernou), and commissioned on 30 January 1942, with Lieutenant Commander Jack H. Lewis (US Naval Academy Class of 1927) in command.

The submarine sailed for Hawaii on 22 May and reached Pearl Harbor the following week. She sortied for Midway Island with Task Group 7.2 (TG 7.2) on 29 May in anticipation of a Japanese attack on that island. Her station during the ensuing Battle of Midway was northeast of Midway, and she remained there without contacting any enemy shipping until she was ordered back to Pearl Harbor on 9 June.

On 26 June, Trigger got underway for the Aleutian Islands to patrol an area west of Cape Wrangell, Attu Island. She encountered six destroyers, three freighters and a patrol boat, attacking none, before calling at Dutch Harbor on 8 August en route back to Hawaii.

Trigger got a new skipper, Roy S. Benson (Class of 1929), before her second war patrol, conducted from 23 September to 8 November in "Empire Waters" (the seas immediately surrounding Japan). In the early morning hours of 5 October, the submarine sighted smoke on the horizon and headed for it. A vessel soon appeared, coming toward the submarine. As the target approached, the submarine identified it as a small ship. Trigger then surfaced and manned her machine guns. As the target neared, however, the submarine learned that the Japanese ship was larger than initially thought. Enemy shells soon began exploding close to Trigger, and the 4,000 ton ship turned and accelerated in an attempt to ram the submarine. Trigger barely avoided a collision as she submerged for an attack; she launched two torpedoes and heard one hit. She then surfaced and gave chase, only to have the target again open fire. The submarine missed with three more torpedoes and then discontinued the pursuit.

...
Wikipedia