Sargo
| Country | United States |
| Ship Class | Sargo-class Submarine |
| Hull Number | SS-188 |
| Builder | Electric Boat Company |
| Laid Down | 12 May 1937 |
| Launched | 6 Jun 1938 |
| Commissioned | 7 Feb 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 22 Jun 1946 |
| Displacement | 1,450 tons standard; 2,350 tons submerged |
| Length | 310 feet |
| Beam | 27 feet |
| Draft | 14 feet |
| Machinery | Four Hoover, Owens, Rentschler Co. diesel engines, four General Electric Co. electric motors |
| Bunkerage | 90,000 gallons, 252 battery cells |
| Power Output | 5,500 shaft horsepower |
| Speed | 20 knots |
| Crew | 55 |
| Armament | 8x21in torpedo tubes, 24 torpedos, 1x3 |
ww2dbaseNamed after a game fish, USS Sargo was commissioned in 1939. She had her shakedown cruise in the Atlantic off South America, and joined the Pacific Fleet in July 1939. She was at Manila when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec 1941. The next day she departed Manila to patrol the waters off French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. During these patrols, she was plagued by a series of faulty torpedoes, making her raids utterly ineffective. On 20 Jan 1942, she assisted in the rescue of the crew of S-36 in the Makassar Strait; five days later she ported at Soerabaja in Java, where she picked up a stockpile of ammunition and left for Mindanao of the Philippines. Her return trip to Soerabaja included 24 airmen who escaped from Clark Field.
ww2dbaseOn 25 Feb Sargo was mistaken for a Japanese ship and attacked by Allied plane, inflicting minor damage. She successfully completed that mission, delivering 31 passengers to Fremantle, Australia.
ww2dbaseFor the remainder of the war, Sargo was on patrols all over the Pacific. By the end of 1944, she was operating off the coast of Japan. She spent the remainder of the war as a training submarine.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
Last Major Revision: Feb 2006
Submarine Sargo (SS-188) Interactive Map
Photographs
 |  |  |  |
Sargo Operational Timeline
| 7 Feb 1939 | Sargo was commissioned into service. |
| 14 Dec 1941 | Six days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, two separate US submarine attacks were crippled by two different flaws in the Mark XIV torpedo. The USS Seawolf on the north shore of Luzon in the Philippines fired torpedoes that ran too deep and USS Sargo off the coast of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina (Vietnam) experienced one torpedo that exploded prematurely. |
| 14 Feb 1942 | US submarine Sargo delivered 1 million rounds of .30 caliber ammunition to Mindanao, Philippine Islands. Upon departure, the submarine evacuated 24 US Army personnel (ground crews for the 14th Bombardment Squadron). |
| 22 Jun 1946 | Sargo was decommissioned from service. |
Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Thank you. Share this article with your friends: Stay updated with WW2DB: |
» Sargo Submarine Operations Research Group Attack Data
- » 1,150 biographies
- » 337 events
- » 43,917 timeline entries
- » 1,241 ships
- » 350 aircraft models
- » 207 vehicle models
- » 375 weapon models
- » 123 historical documents
- » 260 facilities
- » 470 book reviews
- » 28,548 photos
- » 432 maps
Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Foreign Minister, Aug 1939
Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Even $1 a month will go a long way. Thank you!
Or, please support us by purchasing some WW2DB merchandise at TeeSpring, Thank you!