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USS ''Tilefish'' (SS-307), a ''Balao''-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tilefish, a large, yellow-spotted deepwater food fish. Her keel was laid down on 10 March 1943 at Vallejo, California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 25 October 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Wilson D. Leggett, and commissioned on 28 December 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Roger Myers Keithly in command. ==First and second war patrols== During February and March 1944, ''Tilefish'' underwent trials and shakedown off the California coast before getting underway for Hawaii. On 3 April, the submarine departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol, setting course for the Japanese home islands. While patrolling in the "Hit Parade" area east of Honshū, ''Tilefish'' sighted many enemy aircraft but found few targets for her torpedoes. Early in the patrol, she was hampered by the failure of her fathometer; and, throughout the mission, she was plagued by periscope fogging and overcast weather which ruled out celestial navigation. Finally, on the morning of 11 May, the novice submarine and her crew encountered their first opportunity for action. ''Tilefish'' sighted a small convoy and launched a determined attack. Choosing a passenger liner as her target, the submarine unleashed a spread of torpedoes, scoring a hit under the ship's bridge. As ''Tilefish'' dove amid the sounds of explosions, she experienced problems which caused her inadvertently to take on a large amount of water. Before the situation was brought under control, ''Tilefish'' had made a hair-raising dive to , well below test depth. Too deep to be reached by the depth charges of her pursuers, she evaded their attack and continued her patrol. Finding contact with the enemy to be very light, ''Tilefish'' requested another patrol area and was assigned to the northern Mariana Islands where she searched for targets on 19 May and 20 May. She completed this patrol at Majuro on 29 May 1944. After a refitting by submarine tender , ''Tilefish'' departed Majuro on 22 June 1944 and headed with an attack group for the Luzon Strait area. In company with submarines and , ''Tilefish'' set course, via Batan Island and Bashi Channel, for her assigned position. On the morning of 18 July, ''Tilefish'' launched a torpedo attack on a large convoy and had the satisfaction of seeing a freighter sustain two hits. Meanwhile, ''Rock'' had joined in the attack and was being held down by a destroyer of the convoy's screen. At 10:50, ''Tilefish'' made a torpedo attack on the destroyer. Seeing their wakes, the enemy ship attempted to evade the torpedoes, but the first hit under its forward mount and wrapped her bow around the bridge. A second hit added to the destroyer's damage. Before ''Tilefish'' was forced down by enemy aircraft, she caught one last glimpse of the destroyer, listing and dead in the water. Nine minutes later, the submarine made a periscope sweep and found no sign of the enemy ship. The enemy ship, frigate CD-17, survived her damage, however. In the days that followed, the submarine patrolled the waters east of Formosa attempting to intercept the convoy which she had damaged on 18 July. On 26 July, ''Tilefish'' surfaced just at the moment when ''Sawfish'' launched a three-torpedo attack on a Japanese ''I-52''-class submarine. ''I-29'' exploded, leaving behind only smoke and flames. On 31 July, after ''Sawfish'' had reported a convoy contact off Luzon, ''Tilefish'' set course to intercept the enemy ships but never found the quarry. ''Tilefish'' fueled at Midway Island before completing her second patrol at Pearl Harbor on 15 August. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Tilefish (SS-307)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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