World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseAfter a brief training period in Long Island Sound off the namesake island in New York, United States, the submarine Tautog sailed for the Caribbean Sea on her shakedown cruise in Sep 1940. After service in the Atlantic, she sailed for Hawaii on 1 May 1941 and operated off Hawaii. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941, Tautog was at the submarine base; her crew manned the deck gun, and shared the credit of a downed Japanese torpedo bomber with gunners of the submarine Narwhal and a destroyer. Early in the Pacific War she performed reconnaissance missions in the central Pacific, where she sank Japanese submarine RO-30 on 26 Apr 1942, sank submarine I-28 on 15 May, damaged cargo ship Sanko Maru on 22 May, and sank cargo ship Shoka Maru on 25 May. This successful war patrol was indicative of her successful records during WW2, sinking an astonishing 26 Japanese ships for a total of 72,606 tons. She was planned to be used as a target during atomic bomb tests at Bikini Island in 1946, but the plan was cancelled. Instead, she became an immobile training ship at the Great Lakes Naval Reserve Training Center. She was sold to the Bultema Dock and Dredge Company of Manistee, Michigan, for scrap on 15 Nov 1959.

Submarine Tautog (SS-199) Interactive Map

Photographs

Tautog Operational Timeline

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9.  David Stubblebine says:
26 Nov 2016 08:48:09 PM

Patrick Murphy (above):
The 31 Dec 1941 Muster Roll for the USS Tautog list a Seaman 2nd Marion (n) Murphy, service number 356 51 70, as part of the crew since 27 Sep 1941 and with an enlistment date of 11 Feb 1941. The Muster Rolls are barely more than a list of names so there would not be any mention of his actions on 7 Dec 1941 or any other time. If you are interested in his Navy service, I strongly recommend requesting his service record. See: https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records

12.  David Stubblebine says:
28 Apr 2019 05:32:59 PM

Charles Watts (above):
No crewman named Wagner appears in the Tautog Muster Rolls. If he was an officer, his name would not appear in the Muster Rolls either, otherwise it appears he was not aboard.