USS PAMPANITO (submarine)

About this property

USS Pampanito (SS-383/AGSS-383) is a Balao-class submarine built for the United States Navy during World War II; it is the third U.S. Navy vessel named for the pompano fish. She completed six war patrols from 1944 to 1945 and served as a United States Naval Reserve training ship from 1960 to 1971. She is now a National Historic Landmark, preserved as a memorial and museum ship in the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association located at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California. Pampanito's keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, on 15 March 1943. She was launched on 12 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Violet Wolfenden, and commissioned on 6 November 1943. After shakedown off New London, Connecticut, Pampanito transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 14 February 1944. Pampanito's first war patrol, from 15 March to 2 May, was conducted in the southwest approaches to Saipan and Guam. She served on lifeguard duty south of Yap, then scored two torpedo hits on a destroyer before sailing for Midway Island and Pearl Harbor for refit and repairs to a hull badly damaged by depth charges. Pampanito's second war patrol, from 3 June to 23 July, took place off Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Honshū. On 23 June, a submerged Japanese submarine fired two torpedoes, just missing Pampanito. On 6 July, Pampanito damaged a Japanese gunboat, and 11 days later headed for Midway Island. Pampanito's third war patrol, from 17 August to 28 September, a wolfpack operation with submarines Growler and Sealion, was conducted in the South China Sea. On 12 September, she sank the 9,419-ton SS Rakuyō Maru, which was transporting 1,350 British and Australian prisoners of war (POWs), also the 5,135-ton tanker Zuihō Maru, and she damaged a third ship. The Japanese survivors were rescued by an escort vessel, leaving POWs in the water with rafts and some abandoned boats. A total of 1,159 POWs died, of whom some 350 in lifeboats were bombarded and killed by a Japanese naval vessel the next day when they were rowing towards land. On 15 September, Pampanito moved back to the area of the original attack and found men clinging to makeshift rafts. As the sub moved closer, the men were heard to be shouting in English. Pampanito was able to pick up 73 British and Australian survivors and called in three other subs, Sealion, Barb, and Queenfish, to assist with the rescue. She then set course for Saipan, disembarked the survivors, and continued on to Pearl Harbor. Pampanito's fourth war patrol, from 28 October to 30 December, took place off Formosa and the coast of southeastern China with Sea Cat, Pipefish, and Searaven. Sinking the 1,200-ton cargo ship Shinko Maru Number One, 19 November, she damaged a second ship before putting into Fremantle for refit.

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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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