STATUS:
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Laid down: September 4, 1943 (as USS Icefish)
Launched: February 20, 1944 (USS Icefish)
Commissioned: June 10, 1944 (USS Icefish)
Decommissioned:
September 30, 1946 (USS Icefish)
Recommissioned: May 5, 1952 (USS Icefish)
Decommissioned: July 29, 1952 (USS Icefish)
converted to a
GUPPY-type submarine
Recommissioned: December 10, 1952 (USS Icefish)
Decommissioned: February 21, 1953 (USS Icefish)
transferred
(loaned) under terms of the Military Defense Assistance Program to RNLN
renamed HNLMS
Walrus (S 802)
in service with
RNLN: 1953-71
returned to USN
custody and struck from the Naval Register: July 15, 1971
Fate:
sold for scrap in 1971 / scrapped in The Netherlands
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USS Icefish
(SS-367), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named
for the icefish, any member of the family Salangidae, small smeltlike fishes
of China and Japan. Also known as whitebait.
Icefish (SS-367) was launched 20 February 1944 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co.,
Manitowoc, Wisc.; sponsored by Mrs. Stanley P. Mosely, wife of Captain
Mosely; and commissioned 10 June 1944, Commander Richard W. Peterson in
command.
First patrol, September – November 1944
After trials and diving tests in Lake Michigan, voyages down the Mississippi,
and shakedown out of New Orleans, Icefish joined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl
Harbor 22 August. Assigned to Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood's Task Force
17 (Supporting Submarines Pacific Fleet), she joined "Banister's
Beagle's" (consisting of Comdr. Alan B. Banister in Sawfish (SS-276) and
Drum (SS-228)) and departed 9 September on her first war patrol which took
her into Luzon Straits and the South China Sea.
October 1944 was a peak month in the war of U.S. submarines on Japanese
shipping: 322,265 tons were sunk, and almost one-third of that total
consisted of tankers. In October Icefish and Drum together sank 26,901 tons
of enemy shipping in "Convoy College", code name for the area
extending across the East China Sea from Luzon Strait to Formosa and the
coast of China. Icefish sank a 4,000-ton cargo vessel on 23 October and on 26
October she was credited with sinking a transport of 10,000 tons. She
terminated her first war patrol at Majuro, Marshall Islands, 13 November.
Second and third patrols, December 1944 – April 1945
Icefish departed Majuro 8 December on her second war patrol in company with
Spot (SS-413) and Balao (SS-285). This patrol lasted 43 days with no results
and she was forced to return to Pearl Harbor 20 January 1945 due to materiel
difficulties.
The third war patrol began 20 February when she departed Pearl Harbor with
Sawfish and Kingfish (SS-234). This patrol was also conducted in the East
China Sea, northeast and east of Formosa. As the war was coming to an end and
Japanese shipping had dwindled away largely due to the "Silent
Service", Icefish's third war patrol terminated after 60 days at Apra
Harbor, Guam.
Fourth and fifth patrols, May – August 1945
Her fourth war patrol was conducted in the Hainan, Hong Kong, Formosa, Siam
Gulf, and Java Sea areas. This patrol lasted 46 days with no contacts.
Japan's sea arteries had withered away under the relentless attack of the
U.S. Navy, and with it her dreams of empire and victory.
Instead Icefish carried out another very useful function of our submarines.
On 7 June with a PBY Catalina for air cover, she rescued six Army aviators
off the coast of Formosa. Icefish arrived Fremantle 4 July for refit by
Clytie and sailed 29 July for her fifth war patrol. En route to station 7
August a small diesel lugger of 15 tons was intercepted. The crew consisted
of two Japanese, two Eurasians, and five Chinese. One Japanese jumped
overboard rather than be captured; the rest were taken on board Icefish. The
lugger was sunk by gunfire.
Icefish arrived Tanapag Harbor, Saipan, 22 August 1945, thus ending her fifth
and last war patrol. She departed Saipan 1 September arriving San Francisco
18 September. Icefish decommissioned at Mare Island 21 June 1946 and jointed
the Reserve Fleet.
Icefish received four battle stars for World War II service.
HNLMS Walrus (S802)
Recommissioned at Mare Island 5 June 1952, Icefish transited the Canal Zone
and arrived Groton, Conn., 14 July. She decommissioned there 29 July 1952 and
received a GUPPY IB conversion. Recommissioned 10 December 1952 at Groton,
she remained in that area conducting various tests until 21 February 1953
when she was decommissioned and transferred to the Netherlands. She was commissioned
in the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS Walrus (S802), the first of that name.
Formally returned to US Navy custody, she was struck from the US Naval
Register, 15 July 1971, and sold for scrapping, 15 August 1971.
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