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builder:
Electric Boat
Company, Groton, Connecticut, USA
laid
down: March
21, 1942 (as USS Mingo / SS 261)
launched:
November 30,
1942
commissioned:
February 12,
1943
decommissioned:
January 1,
1947
laid
up in reserve
recommissioned:
May 20, 1955
decommissioned:
August 15,
1955
transferred
(on loan) to Japan: August 1955 - renamed JDS Kuroshio (SS-501)
decommissioned
from Japanese service: on March 31, 1966
returned
to US control
sold
to Japan on February 20, 1971
fate:
sunk as a
target in 1973
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SS-501 JDS Kuroshio - Yokosuka 1957
USS Mingo (SS 261)
history (USN service):
USS Mingo (SS 261) - in USN service
Mingo (SS‑261) was laid down 21 March 1942 by Electric Boat Co.,
Groton, Conn.; launched 30 November; sponsored by Mrs. Henry L. Pence; and
commissioned 12 February 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Ralph C. Lynch, Jr., in command.
After shakedown off Long Island, Mingo sailed for Newport, R.I., 1 April 1943
for 3 weeks of operations with the torpedo station. She cleared New London 16
May for the Pacific via the Canal Zone.
After further training at Pearl Harbor, Mingo departed on her maiden war
patrol 25 June. She made damaging attacks on three Japanese merchant ships
and bombarded Sorol Island off the Palaus before returning to Pearl Harbor
for refit.
Her second war patrol, from 29 September to 20 November, took her to the
Marshalls; Carolines; and Marianas. Her torpedoes damaged a Japanese carrier
of the Kasuga class. She departed the Hawaiian Islands for overhaul at Mare
Island Navy Yard, San Pablo Bay, Calif. The submarine left the west coast 3
February 1944 for operations in the Pacific.
For her third war patrol, Mingo joined the 7th Fleet in patrolling the South
China Sea. She then sailed for Brisbane, Australia, via the Bismark Sea and
Milne Bay, New Guinea, arriving 9 May. She continued on to Manus, Admiralty
Islands, 10 June for further training.
Mingo left Manus for the Philippines 18 June on her fourth war patrol. On 7
July she attacked a Japanese high‑speed convoy off Luzon and sank 2,100‑ton
destroyer Tamanawi. The submarine put in to Fremantle, Australia, 30 July.
Mingo began her fifth war patrol 27 August. Although her primary operation
was lifeguard duty in support of the 13th Air Force strikes on the
Philippines and Borneo, she sank four coastal freighters. Mingo did a noteworthy
job as lifeguard as she rescued 16 Liberator fliers shot down off Balikpapan,
Borneo, six from rubber boats in Makassar Strait and the other 10 from the
beach of Celebes Island. She moored in Fremantle 13 October.
Her sixth war patrol, mostly reconnaissance duty, took place west of Borneo.
On 25 December Mingo made a night torpedo attack on a Japanese convoy on a
run between Singapore and Brunei, Borneo. Beside damaging an escort gunboat,
she sank loaded 9,486‑ton tanker Manila Maru. The sinking of a maru of
that name was prophetic, for the Japanese were only 3 months away from losing
their hold completely on the ship’s namesake, the Philippine capital. After
assisting two other submarines in successful attacks, she returned to
Fremantle 29 December for repairs.
Mingo took station at the South China Sea again for her seventh and last war
patrol from 6 February to 10 April. On 14 February she sailed to Fremantle to
repair damage caused by a hurricane in which she had lost two men on the
10th. She departed 19 February for further patrol off the Gulf of Siam before
arriving in the Marianas 10 April.
While en route to Hawaii 14 August, Mingo received word of the end of
hostilities. After a short stay at Pearl Harbor, she sailed for the west
coast.
On January 1947 Mingo decommissioned at Mare Island and entered the Pacific
Fleet. Recommissioned 20 May 1955. Mingo was transferred on loan to Japan
under the Military Assistance Program and renamed Kuroshio (SS-501) 15
August. She continued to serve the Japanese Navy as Kuroshio until
decommissioned 31 March 1966.
Mingo received five battle stars for World War II service. Five of her seven
war patrols were designated “successful.”
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