World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Sea Cat, short for "Sea Catfish", was commissioned into service in mid-1944 with Commander Rob Roy McGregor in command. She had her shakedown cruise off of the New England coast in northeastern United States, and had a period of training in waters near Hawaii, United States. Her first war patrol took her to the South China Sea, where she operated with other American submarines to attack Japanese shipping; she claimed one Japanese ship sunk and another with partial credit, but none were given to her after the war. Her second war patrol that began on 1 Feb 1945 took her to the East China Sea, again operating as a part of a wolf pack, and again failing to receive credit for her claim of a sinking of a 2,000-ton Japanese ship. She departed for her third war patrol on 27 Apr; in the Yellow Sea off China, she sank a 400-ton schooner with her deck gun. On 6 Aug, she departed for her fifth war patrol to the Kurile Islands. The war ended shortly after she reached her patrol area. She was present in Tokyo Bay in Japan during the formal surrender ceremony on 2 Sep. She arrived at Apra Harbor in Guam, Mariana Islands on 7 Sep, and then headed for San Diego, California, United States. She operated off San Diego in spring 1946, then entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard near San Francisco, California on 15 Apr 1946 for overhaul; the work was completed on 26 Jul. For the remainder of 1946, she conducted a simulated war patrol that took her to China via Hawaii. As a part of the Atlantic Fleet, she operated out of Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone until Jun 1949, when her home port was moved to Key West, Florida, United States. Between Nov 1949 and Mar 1950, she received upgrades at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania, United States. Between 1950 and early 1952, she operated out of Key West with the Atlantic Fleet. Between Jan and Jun 1952, she was converted into a Fleet Snorkel submarine at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She remained in active service with the Atlantic Fleet in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico until late 1968, interrupted by a four-month deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea between Jul and Oct 1966. She was decommissioned from service on 2 Dec 1968, and was sold for scrap in 1973.

Submarine Sea Cat (SS-399) Interactive Map

Photographs

Sea Cat Operational Timeline

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