USS Grayling (SS-209)
| | | Career |  | USN Jack |
|
|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 15 December 1939 |
| Launched: | 4 September 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 1 March 1941 |
| Fate: | Lost, September 1943 |
| Stricken: | |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 1475 tons |
| Length: | 307 feet 2 inches |
| Beam: | 27 feet 3 inches |
| Draft: | 13 feet 3 inches |
| Speed: | 20 knots |
| Complement: | 59 officers and men |
| Armament: | one three-inch gun, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes |
USS Grayling (SS-209), a
Tambor-class submarine, was the fourth ship of the
United States Navy to be named for the
grayling, a fresh-water game fish closely related to the
trout.
Her keel was laid down at the
Portsmouth Navy Yard in
New Hampshire on
15 December 1939. She was
launched on
4 September 1940 sponsored by Mrs. Herbert F. Leary, and
commissioned on
1 March 1941 with Lieutenant Commander Eliot Olson in command.
After conducting tests and sea trials, she was called upon
20 June 1941 to assist in the search for submarine
O-9 (SS-70), which had failed to surface after a practice dive off
Isle of Shoals.
O-9 was subsequently discovered on the bottom, but rescue efforts failed;
Grayling participated
22 June in the memorial services for those lost.
Joining the
Atlantic Fleet,
Grayling sailed on shakedown cruise on
4 August to
Morehead City, North Carolina, and
St. Thomas,
U.S. Virgin Islands, returning to
Portsmouth, New Hampshire on
29 August. After final acceptance, she departed
17 November, armed at
Newport, Rhode Island, and sailed for duty with the Pacific Fleet.
Grayling transited the
Panama Canal on
3 December and moored at
San Diego, California, on
10 December.
|
Admiral Chester Nimitz assumes command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 31, 1941 on board Grayling (SS-209) |
Grayling sailed for
Pearl Harbor on
17 December, arrived
24 December, and had the honor of being chosen for the Pacific Fleet change of command ceremony on
31 December 1941. On that day, Admiral
Chester Nimitz hoisted his flag aboard
Grayling as Commander,
Pacific Fleet and began the
United States Navy's long fighting road back in the Pacific.
After the ceremonies,
Grayling stood out of
Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol
5 January 1942. Cruising the Northern
Gilbert Islands,
Grayling failed to register a kill, but gained much in training and readiness, returning to
Pearl Harbor on
7 March.
Her second patrol, beginning
27 March, was more successful. Cruising off the coast of
Japan itself,
Grayling sank her first ship
13 April, sending the cargo freighter
Ryujin Maru to the bottom. She returned to
Hawaii on
16 May.
Grayling returned to action in June as all available ships were pressed into service to oppose the Japanese advance on
Midway Island. As part of Task Group 7.1,
Grayling and her sister submarines were arranged in a fan-like reconnaissance deployment west of Midway, helping to provide knowledge of Japanese movements.
As Naval planners established a submarine blockade of
Truk in connection with the offensive in the
Solomon Islands,
Grayling began her third war patrol
14 July 1942 around the Japanese stronghold. She damaged a Japanese submarine tender
13 August, but was forced to return to
Pearl Harbor 26 August by fuel leaks.
At
Pearl Harbor,
Grayling repaired and was fitted with surface
radar, after which she began her fourth patrol on
19 October. Although attacked by gunfire and six separate
depth charge runs by Japanese destroyers,
Grayling succeeded
10 November in sinking a 4000-ton cargo ship southwest of
Truk. She also destroyed an enemy
schooner on
4 December before putting into
Fremantle,
Australia,
13 December.
Changing her base of operations to
Australia,
Grayling stood out of
Fremantle on
7 January 1943 on her fifth patrol, this time in Philippine waters. She sank cargo ship
Ushio Maru west of
Luzon on
26 January and damaged another Japanese ship the next day. After sinking a
schooner on
24 February,
Grayling returned to Fremantle.
Grayling left
Australian waters on
18 March on her sixth war patrol and cruised in the
Tarakan area and the
Verde Island Passage. There, she attacked and sank cargo ship
Shanghai Maru on
9 April and damaged four other ships before returning to
Fremantle on
25 April.
Her seventh war patrol, commencing
18 May, took
Grayling into the waters off northwest
Borneo, where she damaged a freighter and two smaller ships before returning to her base
6 July.
Grayling began her eighth and last war patrol in July from
Fremantle. She made two visits to the coast of the
Philippines, delivering supplies and equipment to guerrillas at
Pucio Point,
Pandan Bay,
Panay,
31 July and
23 August 1943. Cruising in the Philippines area,
Grayling recorded her last kill, the passenger-cargo
Meizan Maru on
27 August in the
Tablas Strait, but was not heard from again after
9 September. She was scheduled to make a radio report on
12 September, which she did not, and all attempts to contact her failed.
Grayling was officially reported "lost with all hands"
30 September 1943.
On
27 August 1943, Japanese ships witnessed a torpedo attack, and the next day a surfaced
submarine was seen, both in the
Tablas Strait area, and then on
9 September a surfaced American
submarine was seen inside
Lingayen Gulf. All of these sightings correspond with
Graylings orders to patrol the approaches to Manila. On 9 September 1943, Japanese passenger-cargo vessel Hokuan Maru
reported a submarine in shallow water west of Luzon. The ship made a run over the area and "noted an impact with a submerged object." No additional data are available.
No recorded Japanese attacks could have sunk Grayling
. Her loss may have been operational or by an unrecorded attack. The only certainty, therefore, is that Grayling
was lost between 9 September and 12 September 1943 either in Lingayen Gulf or along the approaches to Manila. ComTaskFor71 requested a transmission from Grayling
on 12 September, but did not receive one.
Grayling
was credited with five major kills, totaling 20,575 tons. All but the first of Graylings eight war patrols were declared "successful". She received six
battle stars for
World War II service.
See
USS Grayling for other ships of the same name.
This article includes information collected from the
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
*
ComSubPac: USS Grayling*
On Eternal Patrol: USS Grayling
