USS Narwhal (SS-167)

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Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	10 May 1927
Launched:	17 December 1929
Commissioned:	15 May 1930
Fate:	sold for scrap
Stricken:	19 May 1945
General Characteristics
Displacement:	2730 tons surfaced, 3960 tons submerged
Length:	371 ft (113 m)
Beam:	33 ft 3 in (10.1 m)
Draft:	15 ft 9 in (4.8 m)
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h) surfaced, 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged
Complement:	88 officers and men
Armament:	2 x 6 in (152 mm) guns, 2 x .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machinegun, 10 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Narwhal (SS-167), the lead ship of her class of submarine and one of the "V-boats," was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the narwhal, a gray and white arctic whale which averages 20 feet in length. The male has a long, twisted ivory tusk of commercial value. She was named V-5 (SC-1) when her keel was laid down on 10 May 1927 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in New Hampshire. She was launched on 17 December 1929 sponsored by Mrs. Charles F. Adams, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, and commissioned on 15 May 1930, Lieutenant Commander John H. Brown, Jr. in command.

V-5 departed Annapolis, Maryland, on 11 August for a cruise to the West Indies, returning to Portsmouth on 11 September 1930. She trained in New England waters until 31 January 1931 when she sailed for the West Coast via the Panama Canal, arriving San Diego, California, on 4 April. On 19 February 1931 V-5 was renamed Narwhal and on 1 July 1931 reclassified with hull classification symbol SS-167. After overhaul, Narwhal departed Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 February 1932 for fleet exercises off Hawaii. She returned to San Diego 17 March. After patrol duty along the West Coast, the submarine got underway 12 July 1934 for a cruise with Submarine Division 12 until her arrival at San Diego, California, on 18 September. The next three years she operated as far north as Seattle, Washington, and as far west as Pearl Harbor, which became her home base for operations through 1941.

Consequently, Narwhal was one of five docked submarines caught by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the early morning of 7 December 1941. Within in minutes of the first enemy bomb explosions on Ford Island, Narwhal’s gunners were in action to assist in the destruction of two torpedo planes. The Japanese ignored the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base, an omission they would regret.

On her first war patrol, from 2 February to 28 March 1942, Narwhal, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. Wilkins, USNR, in command, departed Pearl Harbor to reconnoiter Wake Island on 15 February and 16 February, then continued on to the Ityukyu Islands. On 28 February she made her first torpedo attack of the war, heavily damaging 6515 ton Maju Maru. Six days later the submarine sank 1241 ton Taki Maru in the East China Sea.

She spent her second war patrol, from 28 May to 13 June, in defense of Midway Atoll. As TF 16, with Enterprise (CV-6), Hornet (CV-8), and Yorktown (CV-5) the mainstay prepared to meet the Japanese attack. Narwhal joined Plunger (SS-179) and Trigger (SS-237) in scouting east of Midway. The Battle of Midway, 3 June to 6 June, became the first American victory of World War II, checking the Japanese advance across the Central Pacific and eliminating the threat to Hawaii.

Narwhal’s third patrol, from 7 July to 26 August, took her close to Hokkaido to stalk Japanese shipping off the Kurile Islands. She claimed two small inter-island freighters on 24 July and 28 July. On 1 August Narwhal included 2921 ton Meiwa Maru in her kills despite aircraft bomb and depth charge retaliation. Seven days later she sank 2559-ton Bifitku Maru. The morning of 14 August the submarine raised her periscope to discover three enemy destroyers crossing her stern in column. She resubmerged to wait it out while the destroyers, according to one of her submariners, "were running all over the ocean" dropping depth charges at her. Only slightly damaged, Narwhal departed her patrol area the next day.

On 8 September Narwhal sailed from Pearl Harbor for the West Coast, arriving Mare Island Navy Yard on 15 September for overhaul. She continued on to San Diego, California, on 4 April 1943, arriving two days later to embark the 7th Infantry Scout Company for the invasion of Attu Attlit Island. On 18 April she set course for Alaska, arriving Dutch Harbor on 27 April.

The submarine began her fourth war patrol, from 30 April to 25 May, departing Dutch Harbor for the western Aleutian Islands. She rendezvoused with Nautilus (SS-168) on 11 May off the northern side of Attu, and the two ships debarked Army Scouts in rubber boats for the preliminary landings in the recapture of the island, a venture successfully completed 29 May. Narwhal returned to Pearl Harbor with a stopover at Dutch Harbor on 14 May to 18 May.

With Commander Frank D. Latta, USNR, in command, she again got underway for the Kurile Islands on her fifth war patrol, from 26 June to 7 August. Her mission, beginning 11 July, was to create diversion by bombarding an air base on Matsuwa. Lapon (SS-260), Permit (SS-178), and Plunger (SS-179) were about to attempt an exit from the previously impenetrable Sea of Japan which they had so daringly invaded. The night of 15 July Narwhal drew so much enemy attention to her presence she was forced to dive from the shells, but she accomplished her mission: the other submarines slipped through Etorofu Strait without detection.

Narwhal made her sixth war patrol, from 31 August to 2 October, off the Marshall Islands. The morning of 11 September she torpedoed and sank 4211-ton Hokusho Maru before a Japanese escort caught up with her. After a severe depth charging, she departed for the Kwajalein Atoll area. By the end of September the submarine was enroute to Brisbane, Australia, via the Solomon Islands.

Upon arrival, Narwhal prepared to assist in the campaign to reoccupy the Philippines begun in January 1943 when Gudgeon (SS-211) debarked six Filipinos and a ton of equipment on Negros Island. Veteran Narwhal eventually became the leading submarine in supporting the Philippine guerrilla movement with nine secret transport missions to her credit.

Narwhal was loaded down with 92 tons of ammunition and stores and a party of ten for her seventh war, from 23 October to 22 November. She was in the Stulu Sea, off Mindanao, the night of 10 November en route to Puluan Bay when two Japanese ships astern opened fire. The night of 13 November she entered Ptiluan Bay stealthily to debark her passengers and half of her cargo while lying off the starboard side of Japanese-registered Dona Jitana Maru. By midnight Narwhal was safely on her way to Nasipit, Mindanao, where she docked 15 November to unload the rest of her stores to the tune of "Anchors Aweigh" played by a grateful Filipino band. She then embarked 32 evacuees, including eight women, two children, and a baby, for Darwin, Australia, and the end of her patrol.

Picking up such odd assortments of passengers and secret cargo soon became routine for Narwhal. She departed on her eighth war patrol, from 25 November to 18 December, with the usual cargo and 11 Army operatives bound for Cabadaran, Mindanao, arriving Buttian Bay on 2 December for debarking. With seven evacuees on board, Narwhal sailed for Majacalar Bay, arriving off Negros Island on 3 December. Taking on nine more people, she stood out of Alajacalar Bay on 5 December. Around sunrise that same day the submarine sank 834-ton Hinteno Maru in a blaze of gunfire. On 11 December she debarked her passengers at Port Darwin, then continued on to Fremantle, Australia.

On her ninth war patrol, from 18 January to 15 February 1944, the submarine returned to Darwin to embark observer Commander F. Kent Loomis and more stores. Following a nighttime transit of Surigao Strait, Narwhal, slipped west and north, made a submerged patrol off Naso Point, Panay, then headed for Pandan Bay to transfer cargo to sailing craft. With six new passengers she came off Negros Island on 7 February to deposit 45 tons of supplies. Narwhal then received 28 more evacuees for the trip to Darwin.

On her tenth war patrol, from 16 February to 20 March, Narwhal delivered more ammunition to Butuan Bay on 2 March. With 28 new people on board, she departed 3 March for Tawi-Tawi. That evening she damaged 560 ton river gunboat Karatsu, the captured American gunboat USS Luzon, and was heavily bombarded with depth charges by enemy escorts for her trouble. On the night of 5 March two small boats, assisted by rubber boats from Narwhal, put off for shore with cargo. Three Japanese destroyer types closed in later; she eluded them and transferred her passengers, now a total of 38, to RAN tug Chinampa on 11 March before docking at Fremantle.

Narwhal, Commander Jack C. Titus in command, departed on her eleventh war patrol, from 7 May to 9 June, for Alusan Bay, Samar, where she landed 22 men and supplies, including electric lamps, radio parts, and flour for the priests, the night of 24 May. By 1 June the submarine was unloading 16 men and stores on the southwest coast of Mindanao. She ended this patrol at Port Darwin.

The twelfth war patrol, from 10 June to 7 July, gave Narwhal a chance for some action. On 13 June she submerged for reconnaissance of Bula, Ceram Island, a source of enemy oil. That night the submarine closed the shore and fired 56 rounds of six inch (152 mm) projectiles to destroy several gasoline storage tanks and set fires around a power house and pumping station area before she had to retreat from the salvos directed at her. Three minutes before sunset 20 June she rendezvoused with native boats to send her cargo ashore during a suspenseful nine and one-half hours. Within 30 minutes after she had completed unloading and taking on 14 evacuees, a submarine chaser was in her wake. Narwhal evaded him to do some shooting herself the next day at a Japanese sea truck and on 22 June at an unidentified tanker. After putting her evacuees ashore at Port Darwin on 29 June and 30 June, she continued on to Fremantle.

Her thirteenth war patrol, from 12 August to 10 September, started at Fremantle and ended at Port Darwin. The night of 30 August Narwhal surfaced in Dibut Bay on the east coast of Luzon for her usual debarking procedures, greatly speeded this time by the use of bamboo rafts built by the shore party under direction of Commander Charles Parsons, a liaison man in the Philippine supply and evacuation missions. Before midnight 2 September Narwhal sent a party and supplies ashore to a beach off the mouth of the Masanga River and received four evacuees in return to complete the patrol.

On her fourteenth war patrol, from 14 September to 5 October, Narwhal deposited men and stores on Cebu, 27 September; then took off for Sairi Bay, where on 29 September she received 31 liberated prisoners-of-war rescued from the sea after Paddle (SS-263) sank several Japanese transports off Sindagan Point 6 September. Narwhal found herself in danger the afternoon of 30 September, when she submerged to avoid a Japanese antisubmarine patrol plane, her stern planes locked in a 20 degree angle. Forced to blow her main ballast to stop the steep dive Narwhal reversed direction and popped out of the water stern first just two minutes after she went down. Luckily the patrol plane could not maneuver fast enough to return before she again dove.

Narwhal based at Mios Woendi, Dutch New Guinea, before starting on her fifteenth and last war patrol, from 11 October to 2 November, with Commander William G. Holman, USNR, in command. Friday the 13th brought a near attack by a PBY Catalina. Once the submarine was recognized, the aircraft signaled "GOOD LUCK NARWHAL." The evening of 17 October she was off a Tawi Tawi beach to deliver 11 tons of food stuffs. Two days later she unloaded the rest of her cargo and 37 men at Negros Island and took on her last passengers, 26 in all, for the trip to Brisbane.

Narwhal departed Brisbane 6 January 1945 for the east coast via the Panama Canal, entering the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 21 February, where she was decommissioned 23 April. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 19 May 1945 and sold for scrap. Narwhal’s two six-inch guns are permanently enshrined at the Naval Submarine Base New London, at Groton, Connecticut.

Narwhal received 15 battle stars for World War II service.

See USS Narwhal for other ships of the same name.

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

V-boats

Barracuda | Bass | Bonita

Argonaut

Narwhal | Nautilus

Dolphin

Cachalot | Cuttlefish

List of submarines of the United States Navy List of submarine classes of the United States Navy