Guardfish

CountryUnited States
Ship ClassGato-class Submarine
Hull NumberSS-217

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Submarine Guardfish (SS-217) Interactive Map

Guardfish Operational Timeline

24 Aug 1942 USS Guardfish sank Japanese passenger-cargo ship Seikai Maru off Sendai, Japan.
2 Sep 1942 USS Guardfish sank Japanese freighter Teikyu Maru 13 miles off of Hokkaido, Japan at 0844 hours.
4 Sep 1942 USS Guardfish attacked a Japanese convoy off Kuji, Japan, sinking freighter Kaimei Maru and passenger-cargo ship Tenyu Maru. Guardfish continued to pursue the convoy, sinking freighter Chita Maru with a torpedo inside of Kuji harbor.
14 Jun 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, and USS Piranha departed Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi as part of a coordinated wolfpack known as the "Mickey Finns." Guardfish was on her eighth war patrol, Thresher was beginning her thirteenth patrol, and Piranha was on her first patrol.
18 Jun 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, and USS Piranha arrived at Midway to refuel and then departed again bound for their patrol area. An hour-and-a-half out, Thresher suffered a minor malfunction to her radar display that required her to return to Midway for a spare part. Once collected, Thresher set out to join Guardfish and Piranha again.
23 Jun 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, USS Piranha, and USS Apogon effected a rendezvous 400 miles north of Wake Island and Apogon joined the "Mickey Finns" wolfpack.
1 Jul 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, USS Piranha, and USS Apogon entered their assigned patrol area in the Luzon Strait.
11 Jul 1944 Northeast of Luzon, Philippines, submarine USS Thresher detected a seven-ship southbound convoy. Thresher along with USS Guardfish, and USS Apogon began a coordinated stalking of the ships.
12 Jul 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish, USS Thresher, USS Piranha, and USS Apogon attacked the convoy they had been tracking since the previous day. Apogon fired six torpedoes at an auxiliary ship with no hits, but Apogon's periscopes are damaged when she is rammed by a different ship. Piranha torpedoed one cargo ship. Thresher, on the opposite flank of the convoy, was detected by a Japanese escort ship. Thresher evaded but the chase took Thresher 20 miles away from the convoy. Apogon's damage was severe enough that she withdrew from the patrol area and set a course for Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi.
16 Jul 1944 West of Luzon in the Philippines, submarine USS Piranha made contact with the 26-ship Japanese Convoy TAMA-21C southbound from Takao in Taiwan to Manila in the Philippines. Piranha torpedoed and sank the 6,000-ton troop ship Seattle Maru and then withstood a depth charge attack of over 100 charges. Piranha’s “Mickey Finns” wolfpack partners, Guardfish and Thresher, closed in on the convoy and launched a continuous attack that lasted into the following day and covered 100 miles of ocean. Thresher sank 2,800-ton transport ship Shozen Maru and 4,916-ton merchant ship Sainei Maru. Thresher also claimed sinking destroyer IJN Kusagaki but she was unscathed. Guardfish sank the 6,000-ton transport ship Mantai Maru and the 5,200-ton transport ship Jinzan Maru and later the 3,000-ton merchant ship Hiyama Maru. A total of 42 torpedoes were fired by the three submarines with 28 hits claimed.
23 Aug 1944 Submarines USS Guardfish and USS Thresher departed Midway; Guardfish was on her ninth war patrol and Thresher was on her fourteenth war patrol.




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