USS ''Tilefish'' (SS-307), a ''Balao''-class

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

, was the only ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

to be named for the

tilefish file:Malacanthus latovittatus.jpg, 250px, Blue blanquillo, ''Malacanthus latovittatus'' Tilefishes are mostly small perciform marine fish comprising the family (biology), family Malacanthidae. They are usually found in sandy areas, especially n ...

, a large, yellow-spotted deepwater food fish. Her keel was laid down on 10 March 1943 at

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...

, by the

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY or MINS) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean and was in service 142 years from 1854 to 1996. It is located on Mare Island, northeast of San Francisco, in Vallejo, Califor ...

. She was launched on 25 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Wilson D. Leggett, and commissioned on 28 December 1943.

First and second war patrols

During February and March 1944, ''Tilefish'' underwent trials and shakedown off the California coast before getting underway for

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. On 3 April, the submarine departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol, setting course for the Japanese home islands. While patrolling in the "Hit Parade" area east of

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

, ''Tilefish'' sighted many enemy aircraft but found few targets for her torpedoes. Early in the patrol, she was hampered by the failure of her fathometer; and, throughout the mission, she was plagued by periscope fogging and overcast weather which ruled out celestial navigation. Finally, on the morning of 11 May, the novice submarine and her crew encountered their first opportunity for action. ''Tilefish'' sighted a small convoy and launched a determined attack. Choosing a passenger liner as her target, the submarine unleashed a spread of

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es, scoring a hit under the ship's bridge. As ''Tilefish'' dove amid the sounds of explosions, she experienced problems which caused her inadvertently to take on a large amount of water. Before the situation was brought under control, ''Tilefish'' had made a hair-raising dive to , well below test depth. Too deep to be reached by the

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

s of her pursuers, she evaded their attack and continued her patrol. The son of a Tilefish crew member recalls from his childhood hearing a detailed account of this initial engagement: "My father, Motor Machinists Mate 2nd Class George Oberhofer, found himself in the thick of things during Tilefish’s first attack. At the time the target was sighted, repairs to the submarine’s ballast system were underway in her compressor compartment, with one disassembled pipe leaving the compartment in open communication with the sea. As a result, the compartment began to flood during the attack dive. Had the water level reached the electrical compressor motors, they would have shorted out, leaving her able to surface once but unable to dive again, a sitting duck for enemy destroyers. "MM2C Oberhofer dove into the flooding compartment to the offending pipe and managed to close it off and get the compartment pumped out before the compressor motors were damaged. For these actions he was awarded a silver star, rare in the submarine service where unit commendations for collective performance were the more typical way to recognize valor in combat. "My father kept a curious memento from the TIlefish, a tank watch in which the hands had become detached and floated freely around under the crystal. I asked what had happened to his watch and he replied, ‘Depth charges.’ This may shed light on events after the initial attack run. We may reasonably speculate that Tilefish was under heavy depth charging by Japanese destroyers after sinking her target, and was diving to extreme depths in search of a thermocline—a layer of water of a sharply different temperature than the water above it. Thermoclines reflect sonar pings, rendering a submarine that dives below one invisible. It seems likely that Tilefish successfully found one at 580 feet and slipped away because of it." Finding further contact with the enemy to be very light, ''Tilefish'' requested another patrol area and was assigned to the northern

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands ( ; ), also simply the Marianas, are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, between the 12th and 21st pa ...

where she searched for targets on 19 and 20 May. She completed this patrol at

Majuro Majuro (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ' ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Marshall Islands. It is also a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean. It forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain, Ratak ( ...

on 29 May 1944. After a refitting by submarine tender , ''Tilefish'' departed

on 22 June 1944 and headed with an attack group for the

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Luzon and Taiwan. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an important strait for shipp ...

area. In company with submarines and , ''Tilefish'' set course, via Batan Island and Bashi Channel, for her assigned position. On the morning of 18 July, ''Tilefish'' launched a torpedo attack on a large convoy Hi-69 and had the satisfaction of seeing a freighter sustain two hits. Meanwhile, ''Rock'' had joined in the attack and was being held down by a

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

of the convoy's screen. At 10:50, ''Tilefish'' made a

attack on the

. Seeing their wakes, the enemy ship attempted to evade the torpedoes, but the first hit under its forward mount and wrapped her bow around the bridge. A second hit added to the destroyer's damage. Before ''Tilefish'' was forced down by enemy aircraft, she caught one last glimpse of the destroyer, listing and dead in the water. Nine minutes later, the submarine made a periscope sweep and found no sign of the enemy ship. The enemy ship, frigate CD-17, survived her damage, however. In the days that followed, the submarine patrolled the waters east of

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

attempting to intercept the convoy which she had damaged on 18 July. On 26 July, ''Tilefish'' surfaced just at the moment when ''Sawfish'' launched a three-torpedo attack on Japanese submarine ''I-29'' (one of only six

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

submarines to attempt trans-oceanic Yanagi missions), which exploded, leaving behind only smoke and flames. On 31 July, after ''Sawfish'' had reported a convoy contact off

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, ''Tilefish'' set course to intercept the enemy ships but never found the quarry. ''Tilefish'' fueled at Midway Island before completing her second patrol at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

on 15 August.

Third and fourth war patrols

''Tilefish'' departed

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

on 10 September 1944. This patrol, conducted in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

and off the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

, was made difficult by rough seas which produced swells reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m). Despite the problems imposed by high seas, ''Tilefish'' sank a small trawler with her four-inch (102 mm) gun on 23 September. On 3 October, she destroyed two small cargo vessels as they were leaving Hitokappu Bay of

Iturup Iturup (; ), also historically known by #Names, other names, is an island in the Kuril Archipelago separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly mi ...

. On 6 October, ''Tilefish'' claimed two more kills—a cargo ship and a wooden-hulled antisubmarine vessel.During the mid-watch on 13 October, an adventurous owl came on board. The feathered seafarer was promptly dubbed Boris Hootski and made official ship's mascot. On 16 October she sank the Japanese guard boat Kyowa Maru No.2 (108 GRT) On 17 October, to prevent its being salvaged, she blew out the stern of a vessel grounded west of Japan's Shimushiru Island (today the

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n island

Simushir Simushir (, , ), meaning ''Large Island'' in Ainu, is an uninhabited volcanic island near the center of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It was formerly known as Marikan. History Simushir was inha ...

). ''Tilefish'' ended her third patrol at Midway Island on 24 October 1944. On 15 November, ''Tilefish'' got underway for the

. During the first half of this patrol, she operated in northern waters but was hampered by bitterly cold weather, poor visibility, and hurricane-force winds. The mountainous waves forced the submarine to submerge to ride out the storm. On 25 November, ''Tilefish'' entered the

to patrol the coast of Shimushiru Island. Snow frosted the periscope and prevented accurate identification of possible targets. By 16 December, ''Tilefish'' had moved south to take up a lifeguard station off Najima Saki. On the morning of 22 December, she sank ''Chidori'', a torpedo boat 58 tons and evaded a Japanese counterattack of

s and aerial bombs without damage. She departed the patrol area on 24 December and arrived at

on 2 January 1945.

Fifth and sixth war patrols

After refitting by submarine tender , ''Tilefish'' set course for the

in company with submarines and on 31 January 1945, under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Walter F. Schlech, Jr. En route, she participated in exercises and searched for the survivors of a downed American plane. Underway from

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

on 13 February, ''Tilefish'' proceeded independently to her patrol area in the Nansei Shoto where she prowled the traffic lanes in search of targets. She reported sinking a 90-ton cargo ship (Sampan) n a morning gun attack on 28 February before taking up a lifeguard station in support of planned strikes on Amami Shima. On 1 March, she rescued a flier from aircraft carrier whose plane had splashed and sank only 500 yards off the starboard bow of the submarine. On 4 March She sent a fishing trawler "Shiko Maru" to the bottom off Setsuko Saki, 28°15'N, 129°08'E.US Navy war Chronology 1945
/ref> On the following day, in the course of a day-long attack on the 2812 ton freighter "Hangzhou Maru" (evaded attacks), she sank a Japanese minesweeper (W 15 500 tons))
/ref> which was escorting the cargo ship 15 was run aground but was a total lossref name="US Navy war Chronology 1945"/>.. From 10 March to 19 March, she performed lifeguard duties in support of strikes on

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

and other Japanese targets. After patrolling the approaches to

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

on 22 March, ''Tilefish'' set course, via Midway Island and

, for

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

where she was overhauled. ''Tilefish'' returned to

on 11 July and was soon underway for Midway Island and

. When the war in the Pacific ended, ''Tilefish'' was on lifeguard station off the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

. She continued lifeguard duties and patrols in the western Pacific until 7 September when she returned to

. Early in 1946, ''Tilefish'' returned to

, and operated off the West Coast throughout most of the year. In May, she participated in " wolfpack" exercises and in September took part in live load training, using the hulk of the former SS ''Schuyler Colfax'' as a target. In October, she made a brief trip to the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...

and then returned to the West Coast. From January 1947 to September 1950, ''Tilefish'' continued to operate out of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

ports with occasional voyages to

. During this period, she conducted underway training and took part in fleet exercises off the West Coast.

Post World War II service

On 5 September 1950, ''Tilefish'' departed

for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. From 28 September 1950 through 24 March 1951, the submarine operated out of Japanese ports conducting patrols in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

n waters in support of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

campaign in Korea. She made reconnaissance patrols of La Perouse Strait to keep the Commander, Naval Forces Far East, informed of Soviet seaborne activity in that area. After this tour, the submarine resumed her routine of operations out of Hawaiian and West Coast ports until 1957. Highlights of this period were convoy attack exercises in Hawaiian waters and a goodwill visit to

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, early in June 1956. Following a period of reduced status and overhaul, ''Tilefish'' again got underway in April 1957 for Far Eastern waters. During this deployment, she visited ports in

and the

before completing the cruise at

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, on 27 September 1957. On 16 September 1958, the veteran submarine made way via

for Midway Island and the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

. With four civilian geophysicists on board from the Hydrographic Office, the submarine completed a submerged survey of

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; , , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with its 296 people (as of 2021) forms a legi ...

, Wake, and Midway Island, operating at sea for nearly three months. She returned to

, on 5 December 1958 for inactivation. ''Tilefish'' was decommissioned on 12 October 1959, underwent overhaul at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, and was recommissioned on 30 January 1960. Her final decommissioning was in May 1960. She was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 1 December 1960, and sold to the

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n government.

ARV ''Carite'' (S-11)

The ex-''Tilefish'', now commissioned as ARV ''Carite'' (S-11), served in the ''Armada Venezolana'' (the

Venezuelan Navy The Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela (), commonly known as the Venezuelan Navy, is the navy, naval branch of the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela. The Venezuelan Navy serves the purpose of defending the naval sovereignty of Venezuela, i ...

) for 16 years. In 1969 and 1970, she played the part of a German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

hiding in the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

during the filming of the movie '' Murphy's War''. For the role, she was modified by the addition of a "cigarette deck" aft of her sail and was painted in a "dazzle" camouflage pattern. ''Carite'' was decommissioned by the Venezuelan Navy on 28 January 1977 and cannibalized for spare parts.

Awards

''Tilefish'' received five

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or service period. T ...

s for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

service. She received one battle star for

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

service.

References

External links

Photo gallery
at navsource.org
Liberty Ship tanker SS ''Schuyler Colfax'' sunk by torpedoes from USS ''Tilefish'' in September 1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilefish (Ss-307) Balao-class submarines Ships built in Vallejo, California 1943 ships World War II submarines of the United States Cold War submarines of the United States Korean War submarines of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela Balao-class submarines of the Bolivarian Navy of Venezuela