USS Redfish (SS-395)

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Career
Laid down:	9 September 1943
Launched:	27 January 1944
Commissioned:	12 April 1944
Fate:	sunk as a target
Stricken:	30 June 1968
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1526 tons
Length:	311 feet 6 inches
Beam:	27 feet 3 inches
Draft:	15 feet 3 inches
Speed:	20 knots surfaced, 8 knots submerged
Complement:	66 officers and men
Armament:	one five-inch gun, one 20mm cannon, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes

USS Redfish (SS/AGSS-395), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the redfish, a variety of salmon also called blueback, sawqui, red salmon, and nerka. Her keel was laid down on 9 September 1943 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was launched on 27 January 1944 sponsored by Miss Ruth Roper, and commissioned on 12 April 1944 with Commander Louis D. McGregor in command.

Redfish arrived at Pearl Harbor 27 June 1944. Departing 23 July, she sank the 5953-ton Japanese cargo ship Batopaha Maru on 25 August, the 7311-ton tanker Ogura Maru Number Two on 16 September, and the 8506-ton transport Mizuho Maru on 21 September, all off Formosa, before arriving at Midway Island on 2 October. Departing Midway on 25 October and Saipan on 3 November, she sank the 2345-ton Japanese transport Hozan Maru during the night of 22 November-23 November. Departing Saipan on 1 December, she combined with Sea Devil (SS-400) the night of 8 December-9 December to damage heavily the Japanese aircraft carrier Hayataka, putting that enemy ship out of action for the remainder of the war.

Redfish sank the newly built 18,500-ton Japanese aircraft carrier Unryu, bound for Mindoro, on 19 December. After diving to 232 feet, she rose to the surface and raced to escape Japanese pursuit. Arriving at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for repairs 17 February 1945, she returned to Pearl Harbor 23 July, and remained there until the end of the war.

After duty at Guam from September 1945 to January 1946, she arrived at San Diego, California, on 30 January. Departing 3 March 1947, she voyaged to Guam and Japan before returning 21 June. After operations off the West Coast and Hawaii, she sailed toward Korea on 2 February 1951, and operated out of Yokosuka, Japan, until 24 June, in support of United Nations forces. Returning to San Diego on 3 July, she operated off the West Coast.

In the spring of 1954, fitted with a "dummy" rear fin, Redfish played the part of Nautilus in the Walt Disney production of Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In September 1957, with deck and armament modifications, she played the part of the submarine Nerka in the motion picture Run Silent Run Deep. She capped her film career by making several appearances in the popular black-and-white television series “Silent Service”.

Reclassified AGSS on 1 July 1960, she was underway from San Diego, California, on western Pacific deployment from 26 March to 26 September. From then into 1968, she made annual training cruises to the western Pacific. Decommissioned 27 June 1968 at San Diego, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 30 June, and sunk as a target.

Redfish received two battle stars for World War II service.

See USS Redfish for other ships of the same name.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.