USS DRUM (submarine)
About this property
USS Drum (SS-228) is a Gato-class submarine of the United States Navy, the first Navy ship named after the drum, a type of fish. Drum is a museum ship in Mobile, Alabama, at Battleship Memorial Park. Drum was the twelfth of the Gato class but was the first completed and the first to enter combat in World War II. She is the oldest of her class still in existence. Drum was laid down on 11 September 1940 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 12 May 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Beatrice M. Holcomb, wife of Major General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Drum was commissioned on 1 November 1941, with Commander Robert H. Rice in command. After shakedown training, Drum set out to join the war in the Pacific, which began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. An Allied aircraft mistook her for a German U-boat and attacked her as she made the transit from the United States East Coast to the Panama Canal, probably in March 1942. Drum arrived at Naval Station Pearl Harbor at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 1 April 1942. She departed Pearl Harbor on 14 April 1942 and proceeded to Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Drum departed Midway Atoll to begin her first war patrol. Cruising off the coast of Japan, she sank the Japanese seaplane tender Mizuho on 2 May and afterwards endured a 16-hour depth charge attack consisting of 31 depth charges. Later that month she sank three cargo ships (first unidentified, second: Shonan Maru (5000 BRT) third Kitakata Maru (2300 BRT) ) before returning to Pearl Harbor on 12 June to refit. For her efforts, the crew were awarded the Submarine Combat Patrol insignia. Drum's second war patrol, which she made in the waters between Truk and Kavieng from 10 July – 2 September, found her efforts frustrated by poor torpedo performance, but she damaged one freighter before returning to Midway to refit. The submarine sailed from Midway on 23 September on her third war patrol, bound for the eastern coast of Kyūshū. On 8 October, she contacted a convoy of four freighters, and defying the air cover guarding the ships, sank the 5652 ton cargo/passenger ship IJA Hague Maru laden with 4000 tons of wheat, machines, steel, oil, automobiles and captured paper money for the Formosa bank, before aerial bombs forced her deep. The next day, Drum underwent a severe depth charging from several escorts after she attacked and sank the 2461 ton cargo ship Hachimanzan Maru. On 20 October, she sank the 5106 ton Ryunan Maru, one of three air-escorted cargo ships, and damaged at least two more ships before completing her patrol at Pearl Harbor on 8 November.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was USS DRUM (submarine) listed on the National Register?
USS DRUM (submarine) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 14, 1986.
What type of historic resource is USS DRUM (submarine)?
USS DRUM (submarine) is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.
Is USS DRUM (submarine) a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. USS DRUM (submarine) has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.
What is the period of significance for USS DRUM (submarine)?
The period of significance for USS DRUM (submarine) is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near USS DRUM (submarine)?
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