USS ''Pike'' (SS–173), a ''Porpoise''-class submarine in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, was laid down on 20 December 1933 by

Portsmouth Navy Yard The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Founded in 1800, PNS is U.S. Navy's oldest continuou ...

, in

Kittery, Maine Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in t ...

. She was launched on 12 September 1935, sponsored by Jane Logan Snyder, and commissioned on 2 December 1935. ''Pike'' was the first all-welded submarine. The welded hull allowed Pike to submerge to much greater depths than her predecessors and at the same time provided greater protection against depth-charge attacks.

Service history

After a shakedown in the Atlantic, ''Pike'' departed Newport, Rhode Island on 10 February 1937, and proceeded via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

Naval Station San Diego Naval Base San Diego, also known as 32nd Street Naval Station, is the second largest surface ship base of the United States Navy and is located in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, cons ...

. In 1937-1938, she participated in maneuvers near

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Entering

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

on 1 December 1939, she served with

Submarine Squadron 5 A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

(SubRon 5) out of

Cavite, Philippines Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region in Luzon. Lo ...

, Departing on 20 June 1940, she cruised along the coast of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

from

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Tsingtao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, returning to Cavite on 24 August.

War patrol #1

In response to the Japanese attack upon

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, she put to sea on 8 December, to guard sea lanes between

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

War patrol #2

''Pike'' sailed from Manila on 31 December 1941. On 1 January 1942 she sighted the hospital ship SS Mactan. On 10 January she sighted . On 12 January she sighted the HIJMS ''Shirataka''. ''Shirataka'' was heard "pinging" in the supersonic range. On 18 January she possibly sighted the , although there was no positive identification. During this patrol she reported numerous aircraft sightings. She moored at Port Darwin,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 24 January 1942.

War patrol #3

On her third war patrol from 5 February-28 March, she detected enemy craft off the Alor Islands on 20 and 24 February, and off

Lombok Strait The Lombok Strait ( id, Selat Lombok), is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, and is located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side. Its narrowest point is at its southern o ...

on the 28 February 1942.

War patrol #4

On her fourth war patrol, she sailed from

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, on 19 April, and patrolled north of the

Palau Islands Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

and off

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

, before reaching

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

on 25 May 1942.

War patrol #5

From 30 May – 9 June 1942, she patrolled north of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

War patrol #6

Overhauled at

Mare Island Naval Shipyard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates th ...

, California, she guided bombers to Wake Island in December, and escaped a severe depth-charging on 14 January 1943 during an attempted attack off

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

War patrol #7

Departing Pearl Harbor on 31 March 1943, she fired torpedoes at targets off Truk from 12–14 April, and shelled Satawan Island on the 25th.

War patrol #8

Getting under way from Pearl Harbor on 22 July 1943 for her eighth war patrol, ''Pike'' sank 2,022-ton Japanese cargo ship ''Shoju Maru'' near

Marcus Island , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line ...

5 August. On 6 August, ''Pike'' attacked and damaged a 22,500 ton ''Kasuga''-class aircraft carrier under escort by a ''Fubuki''-class destroyer. On 22 August, ''Pike'' sighted a Japanese convoy consisting of six cargo vessels with a ''Chidori''-class torpedo boat escort. ''Pike'' attacked the convoy at night, damaging two ships, one of which was determined to be a 2,500 ton ''Gosei''-class freighter, the other was an unidentified 4,000 ton freighter. Sailing from Pearl Harbor on 28 September, she arrived at

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

, 3 November 1943. During the remainder of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, she trained submarine crews at the

Naval Submarine Base New London Naval Submarine Base New London is the primary United States Navy East Coast submarine base, also known as the "Home of the Submarine Force." It is located in Groton, Connecticut directly across the Thames River from its namesake city of New Lon ...

Decommissioned

''Pike'' was decommissioned on 15 November 1945 at Boston, Massachusetts, she became a Naval Reserve training ship at

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in September 1946. Upon completion of this duty, she was stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 17 February 1956, and sold for scrapping on 14 January 1957.

War patrol totals

Total number of ships damaged and sunk by ''Pike'' during her time in service:

Awards

* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four

battle stars A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

for

service

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pike (Ss-173) United States Porpoise-class submarines World War II submarines of the United States Ships built in Kittery, Maine 1935 ships