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USS Tirante
USS Tirante (hull number SS-420), a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tirante, a silvery, elongated "cutlass fish" found in waters off Cuba. Her keel was laid down on 28 April 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 9 August 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Ruth Maynard Sieglaff, wife of Commander William B. Sieglaff (prospective commander of PCU Tench), and commissioned on 6 November 1944 with Lieutenant Commander George L. Street III in command.
Following shakedown training in Long Island Sound, and the waters off Panama and Oahu, Tirante departed Pearl Harbor for Japan on 3 March 1945. The submarine patrolled the approaches to Nagasaki. There she sank the 703-ton tanker Fuji Maru on 25 March and followed with the sinking of the 1218-ton freighter Nase Maru three days later. After the latter attack, Japanese escorts kept Tirante down for seven hours, before she slipped away unscathed.
On 31 March, Tirante shelled and sank a 70-ton lugger with five-inch (127 mm) and 40-millimeter gunfire and, on 1 April, missed an LST-type vessel with a spread of three torpedoes. The submarine soon shifted to waters off the south coast of Korea, near the Strait of Tsushima. At twilight on 6 April, she battle-surfaced and captured a small Japanese fishing vessel and took its three crewmen prisoner before sinking it.
The following day, Tirante torpedoed a 2800-ton cargo freighter loaded with a deck cargo of oil drums. The submarine surfaced and directed a nearby Korean fishing craft to pick up two survivors. Although observers on the submarine reported witnessing the Maru's sinking, post-war examination of Japanese records failed to confirm it.
US naval intelligence had broken the Japanese codes and was able to anticipate their movements. One intercepted message told of an important convoy steaming toward the Tirante's area. In response to this information, the submarine laid an ambush on 9 April. Picking out two targets, she launched three torpedoes at each. One spread missed, but the other struck the 5,058-ton troopship Nikkō Maru, carrying homeward-bound Japanese soldiers and sailors from Shanghai. As Nikko Maru sank, enemy escorts went on the offensive. To ward off the counterattack, Tirante fired a "cutie" (Mark 27 homing torpedo) at one of the escorts. Tirante heard an explosion, "breaking-up noises", and even screams. Again, post-war accounting failed to confirm the sinking.
Tirante resumed her patrol of the Yellow Sea between Quelpart Island (Cheju Do) and the mouth of the Yangtze River. She soon received an intelligence report informing her that an important Japanese transport was at Cheju, the main port on Quelpart Island. Under cover of darkness, Tirante approach her on the surface. In spite of possible enemy radar or patrolling planes or ships, she closed the coast and penetrated the mine- and shoal-obstructed waters within the ten-fathom curve line. Tirante then entered the harbor where she found three targets: two escort vessels and the 4000-ton Juzan Maru.
The submarine launched three torpedoes at the Maru. The explosion illuminated Tirante and alerted the Mikura-class escort vessel Nomi and Type C escort ship CD-31 which immediately got underway toward the submersible. As she headed back out to sea at flank speed, Tirante launched a spread of torpedoes that hit and destroyed both pursuers. En route to Midway Island, she captured two Japanese airmen (bringing her prisoner total to five) and concluded her first war patrol on 26 April.
Tirante's performance earned Commander Street the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Edward L. Beach, the executive officer—and later commander of Triton (SSRN-586) during the submarine's submerged circumnavigation of the globe—received the Navy Cross. The ship, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
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USS Tirante
USS Tirante (hull number SS-420), a Tench-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tirante, a silvery, elongated "cutlass fish" found in waters off Cuba. Her keel was laid down on 28 April 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 9 August 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Ruth Maynard Sieglaff, wife of Commander William B. Sieglaff (prospective commander of PCU Tench), and commissioned on 6 November 1944 with Lieutenant Commander George L. Street III in command.
Following shakedown training in Long Island Sound, and the waters off Panama and Oahu, Tirante departed Pearl Harbor for Japan on 3 March 1945. The submarine patrolled the approaches to Nagasaki. There she sank the 703-ton tanker Fuji Maru on 25 March and followed with the sinking of the 1218-ton freighter Nase Maru three days later. After the latter attack, Japanese escorts kept Tirante down for seven hours, before she slipped away unscathed.
On 31 March, Tirante shelled and sank a 70-ton lugger with five-inch (127 mm) and 40-millimeter gunfire and, on 1 April, missed an LST-type vessel with a spread of three torpedoes. The submarine soon shifted to waters off the south coast of Korea, near the Strait of Tsushima. At twilight on 6 April, she battle-surfaced and captured a small Japanese fishing vessel and took its three crewmen prisoner before sinking it.
The following day, Tirante torpedoed a 2800-ton cargo freighter loaded with a deck cargo of oil drums. The submarine surfaced and directed a nearby Korean fishing craft to pick up two survivors. Although observers on the submarine reported witnessing the Maru's sinking, post-war examination of Japanese records failed to confirm it.
US naval intelligence had broken the Japanese codes and was able to anticipate their movements. One intercepted message told of an important convoy steaming toward the Tirante's area. In response to this information, the submarine laid an ambush on 9 April. Picking out two targets, she launched three torpedoes at each. One spread missed, but the other struck the 5,058-ton troopship Nikkō Maru, carrying homeward-bound Japanese soldiers and sailors from Shanghai. As Nikko Maru sank, enemy escorts went on the offensive. To ward off the counterattack, Tirante fired a "cutie" (Mark 27 homing torpedo) at one of the escorts. Tirante heard an explosion, "breaking-up noises", and even screams. Again, post-war accounting failed to confirm the sinking.
Tirante resumed her patrol of the Yellow Sea between Quelpart Island (Cheju Do) and the mouth of the Yangtze River. She soon received an intelligence report informing her that an important Japanese transport was at Cheju, the main port on Quelpart Island. Under cover of darkness, Tirante approach her on the surface. In spite of possible enemy radar or patrolling planes or ships, she closed the coast and penetrated the mine- and shoal-obstructed waters within the ten-fathom curve line. Tirante then entered the harbor where she found three targets: two escort vessels and the 4000-ton Juzan Maru.
The submarine launched three torpedoes at the Maru. The explosion illuminated Tirante and alerted the Mikura-class escort vessel Nomi and Type C escort ship CD-31 which immediately got underway toward the submersible. As she headed back out to sea at flank speed, Tirante launched a spread of torpedoes that hit and destroyed both pursuers. En route to Midway Island, she captured two Japanese airmen (bringing her prisoner total to five) and concluded her first war patrol on 26 April.
Tirante's performance earned Commander Street the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Edward L. Beach, the executive officer—and later commander of Triton (SSRN-586) during the submarine's submerged circumnavigation of the globe—received the Navy Cross. The ship, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.