World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseSubmarine S-28 entered service with the United States Navy in 1923 under the command of Lieutenant Kemp C. Christian. Upon completion of her shakedown cruise off the New England area of the United States, she joined Submarine Division 11 in Mar 1924. In Apr, she returned to New London, Connecticut, United States with the rest of her division. Between late 1925 and early 1926, she visited the Panama Canal, participated in Fleet Problem V off Guadalupe Island about 250 kilometers west of the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico, and then departed for the Hawaiian Islands. In Jun 1926, she arrived in San Diego, California, United States and joined the Asiatic Fleet. She participated in several fleet problems in the Panama Canal area between 1926 and 1929 and near Hawaii in 1927 and 1930. In mid-Feb 1931, she departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving on 23 Feb. Pearl Harbor remained her base until mid-1939 when she was moved back to San Diego.

ww2dbaseOn 7 Dec 1941, S-28, a member of Submarine Division 41, was undergoing overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard in California. The work completed on 22 Jan 1942, and she returned to San Diego to begin training operations with the Underwater Sound Training School. On 20 May 1942, she departed San Diego for the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific. En route, on 29 May, she was diverted in response to a potential Japanese attack, starting her first war patrol. On 1 Jun, she suffered a fire in her port main motor, but it was extinguished with minor damage. On 18 Jun, she fired on her first enemy target; the attack was a failure, and she suffered, but survived, the first depth charge attack against her. On 28 Jun, she arrived at Dutch Harbor to end her first war patrol. On 15 Jul, she departed on her second war patrol, which was to be somewhat uneventful. Her third patrol, which started on 16 Sep 1942, would proved to be uneventful as well save her preparation to attack an unidentified vessel (presumed to be Japanese) which prematurely ended due to a mis-firing. She arrived at Dutch harbor in the same afternoon, then headed for San Diego where she would provide training for the West Coast Sound School and for the Amphibious Forces Training Group between 26 Oct and 13 Nov. In Nov, she underwent an ovehaul, during which she received a fathometer, a Kleinschmidt distilling unit, and SJ radar. She returned to Dutch Harbor on 21 Dec.

ww2dbaseOn 27 Dec 1942, S-28 departed on her fourth war patrol, arriving in her assigned patrol area in the northern Kurile Islands by 3 Jan 1943. Encountering no targets, she set a course to return to the Aleutian Islands on 20 Jan. She departed for her fifth war patrol on 6 Feb, which was to be yet another unexciting one, largely due to poor visibility due to weather. Between 15 Mar and 15 Apr, she exercised with Canadian warships and aircraft. In Apr and May, she underwent an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, United States. She returned to Dutch Harbor departed for her sixth war patrol on 13 Jul. In the Kurile Islands, off Paramushiro, bad weather, obsolete design, and mechanical failures again prevented her from successfully hunting Japanese shipping. She began to sail for the Aleutian Islands on 14 Aug, arriving at Massacre Bay, Attu, Alaska, United States on 16 Aug.

ww2dbaseOn 8 Sep 1943, S-28 departed on her seventh war patrol, arriving in her patrol area in the northern Kurile Islands by 13 Sep. In the afternoon of 19 Sep, she fired a torpedo at what she believed was an unescorted Japanese freighter off the island of Araito, but it missed; the freighter had turned out to be a warship, which depth charged her but failed to damage her; the warship departed after one hour of unsuccessful detection. At 1916 hours later on the same day, she detected coverted gunboat Katsura Maru Number Two, and at 1943 she fired a spread of four torpedoes. This time, two of them hit; coverted gunboat Katsura Maru Number Two sank by the bow at 1946 hours. S-28 dove in anticipationg of a depth charge attack which did not take place. On 10 Oct 1943, one of the crewman aboard USS S-28 developed severe appendicitis, causing the submarine to turn toward the Aleutian Islands one day ahead of schedule. She arrived at Attu in the Aleutian Islands on 13 Oct, then headed for Dutch Harbor and Pearl Harbor, where she received an overhaul and conducted training duties.

ww2dbaseOn 3 Jul 1944, S-28 began anti-submarine warfare training off Oahu, Hawaii with the United States Coast Guard cutter Reliance. At 1730 hours on 4 Jul, as the evening's concluding exercises began, contact between the submarine and the cutter began sporadic. At 1820, the final exchange was made between the two vessels, and S-28 was never heard from again. On 6 Jul, a diesel fuel slick was found on the surface where she was last seen, but the depth of the sea floor in that area exceeded the range of detection equipment available.

Submarine S-28 (SS-133) Interactive Map

Photographs

S-28 Operational Timeline