World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

ww2dbaseGato-class submarine Silversides was laid down at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California on 4 Nov 1940 and launched 26 Aug 1941 with Mrs. Elizabeth Hogan as sponsor, wife of prominent Vallejo physician Dr. James Hogan. Eight days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II, USS Silversides was commissioned at Mare Island with Lieutenant Commander Creed C. Burlingame in command. Burlingame was a 1927 Naval Academy graduate and had been in the submarine service since 1930, commanding two other submarines before Silversides.

ww2dbaseAfter fitting out and a shakedown cruise to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Silversides departed on her first war patrol on 30 Apr 1942. While still transiting to her assigned patrol area, Silversides experienced in her first combat when she encountered a Japanese picket boat 600 miles from Japan. Silversides engaged the craft with her 3-inch deck gun as the patrol boat returned fire with machine guns and rifles. The Japanese boat was set afire and withdrew but not before one member of Silversides' gun crew was shot and killed by a machine gun bullet. Torpedomans Mate 3rd-class Mike Harbin was not only Silversides' first fatality of the war during the boat's first combat of the war, he would remain the boat's only fatality of the war.

ww2dbaseSilversides arrived in her patrol area off Japan guarding the approaches to Kobe and Osaka. She sank one merchant vessel and damaged two others before ending her patrol at Pearl Harbor. On 1 Aug 1942 during her second patrol in the same waters, Silversides observed a large passenger liner off Honshu. The ship's silhouette and markings identified her as the non-combatant Tatsuta Maru engaged in repatriating diplomatic personnel to their home countries. Through international agreement, the ship had been granted safe passage and Silversides was content to only shoot pictures.

ww2dbaseTwo weeks later, Silversides torpedoed and damaged a heavily laden tanker but did not observe the final results due to diving deep to evade a depth charge attack that lasted over an hour. She fired torpedoes at other ships too but was plagued by six consecutive torpedoes that failed to explode. Silversides ended her second patrol at Pearl Harbor. Lieutenant Commander Burlingame was awarded the Navy Cross twice, once for each of Silversides' first two patrols and he was promoted to full Commander at the end of the second patrol. Silversides' third patrol began in the shipping lanes near Truk in the Caroline Islands before shifting to New Ireland and the approaches to Rabaul, New Britain. She damaged two ships in the Bismarck Islands before ending her patrol at Brisbane, Australia.

ww2dbaseFive days into her fourth war patrol, a Silversides sailor came down with acute appendicitis. Faced with few options and no surgeon on board, the Pharmacist's Mate performed a successful appendectomy while submerged, one of three such procedures performed abord U.S. submarines in World War II. On 23 Dec 1942 while at periscope depth, a Japanese airplane dropped three closely spaced depth bombs nearly on top of the submarine resulting in moderate damage to Silversides' forward areas. Silversides began an emergency dive only to find the damage caused the diving planes to lock in the full-dive position. The diving officer, Lieutenant Robert Worthington, and the executive officer, Lieutenant Roy Davenport, each worked smartly to regain control just before the submarine reached her crush depth. After another attack where five out of six torpedoes were heard to explode, Silversides discovered the sixth torpedo never fully left its tube but was hanging half way out. In a dangerous maneuver, Silversides backed full while firing that tube again and successfully expelled the stubborn torpedo. This, along with other bad luck aboard, caused Captain Burlingame to end his patrol early and withdraw. On this patrol from Rabaul to Truk, Silversides claimed one ship sunk and three damaged, but later analysis credited her with four ships sunk. Once back at Pearl Harbor, Captain Burlingame was awarded a third Navy Cross. On Burlingame's recommendation, executive officer Lieutenant Roy Davenport was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and given command of his own submarine, USS Haddock. Lieutenant Commander Davenport went on to be awarded five Navy Crosses, more than any Naval officer in history before or since. Five Navy Crosses is equaled only by Marine legend Chesty Puller.

ww2dbaseSilversides' fifth war patrol was delayed because of some mechanical issues but on 17 May 1943, she departed Pearl Harbor with a primary mission to mine the approaches to Kavieng, New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago. Once completed, Silversides began to prowl the lanes between Rabaul and Truk. On 11 Jun 1943, Silversides torpedoed the 5,000-ton tanker Hide Maru which was loaded with gasoline. The ship exploded with a brilliant flash and then continued to burn for several hours. Silversides ended her patrol in Brisbane once again.

ww2dbaseAt Brisbane, Commander Burlingame was relieved of command in a routine rotation and Lieutenant Commander John S. "Jack" Coye assumed command. Burlingame departed Silversides after five successful patrols that earned him three Navy Crosses and two Silver Stars and earned Silversides a Presidential Unit Citation. Coye was a 1933 graduate of the Naval Academy who had been in the submarine service since 1937.

ww2dbaseSilversides departed Brisbane on 21 Jul 1943 on the boat's sixth war patrol. This time she was the lead boat in a submarine wolfpack along with USS Growler and USS Tuna, a patrol that was plagued with prematurely exploding torpedoes. On 21 Aug 1943, Silversides tracked and photographed the properly marked Japanese hospital ship Buenos Aires Maru bound from Rabaul to Manila. A week later, Silversides missed a medium Japanese transport with six torpedoes. She then withdrew for Brisbane.

ww2dbaseUSS Silversides' seventh patrol was in company with submarines USS Growler and USS Balao. Working together, Silversides and Balao attacked Japanese convoy SO-406 bound from Palau to Rabaul. In this engagement, the convoy's evasive maneuvers to avoid Balao turned them directly toward Silversides and briefly put Silversides in the center of the formation. A spread of torpedoes from Silversides resulted in only two hits against one ship, which sank. Five days later, Silversides and Balao attacked Convoy O-006 on the reverse course. Balao badly damaged three ships while Silversides damaged one and sank two, including another 5,000-ton tanker. Three days later, Silversides caught up with that same convoy and attacked with six torpedoes. Definite hits were heard but the final results were not observed. Silversides ended this patrol at Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseOn 3 Dec 1943, Silversides departed Pearl Harbor on her eighth war patrol to the area east of Palau on the routes to Truk. On 29 Dec 1943, Silversides attacked a convoy and sank three ships while damaging a fourth. A week later, Silversides detected two large tankers but with no torpedoes left, she could only track the ships and broadcast position reports to other submarines. Silversides tracked the ships for six days without any other attackers able to intercept and had to break off when the tankers arrived at Truk. Silversides ended her patrol at Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseDuring her normal refit period, Silversides' aft torpedo room was modified to accommodate the improved version of the Mark XVIII electric torpedo. These would be the first electric torpedoes carried by Silversides. She departed on her ninth war patrol on 15 Feb 1944 bound for the Palau Islands. After successfully attacking a convoy southeast of Palau, Silversides shifted to northern New Guinea. Guarding the harbor at Manokwari, New Guinea, Silversides sank one Japanese landing ship before ending her patrol at Brisbane.

ww2dbaseFor her tenth war patrol, USS Silversides was assigned the waters around Guam in the Mariana Islands. Within minutes of her arrival, Silversides detected a convoy of six or seven ships leaving Guam's Apra Harbor. She fired her first electric torpedoes of the war and scored one hit, but could not observe the results due to the ensuing depth charge attack. The following day, another convoy was seen departing Apra and Silversides pursued it southward. At dawn the next day, Captain Coye had maneuvered Silversides into a perfect firing position where as many as five ships overlapped one another in his periscope. A spread of six torpedoes were fired (five of them electric) and three ships were sunk. Silversides endured a withering depth charge attack while the rest of the convoy reversed course and returned to Guam. Ten days later, Silversides sank the small coastal freighter Shosei Maru off Apra Harbor. Later, according to Silversides' action report, two transports suffered torpedo hits in a nighttime attack that were "followed by tremendous explosions and flames which lit up the whole scene almost as bright as day." She fired her last four torpedoes at a convoy she had tracked for over 350 miles but all four missed. Silversides ended her tenth patrol at Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseUSS Silversides then sailed to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for her first major overhaul in three years. Three months later, Silversides was ready for her eleventh war patrol. After shifting from California to Hawaii to Saipan, USS Silversides, USS Trigger, and USS Salmon formed a wolfpack prowling between Taiwan and Kyushu. On 20 Oct 1944, Salmon and Trigger torpedoed a large tanker 170 miles south of Kyushu but the subsequent depth charge attack crippled Salmon so that she could not submerge. As the Japanese escorts closed on Salmon, Silversides surfaced and charged the ships to draw them away. Salmon slipped away while Silversides dived again to spare Salmon another depth charge pounding. When the Japanese escorts departed the area, the three submarines rejoined and, along with submarine USS Sterlet, they escorted the stricken Salmon back to Saipan. Out of necessity, the withdrawal was made on the surface and before acquiring friendly air cover, the group withstood two torpedo attacks from an unseen submarine (no hits) and two attacks from the air. Suffering no additional damage, the four submarines arrived at Saipan on 3 Nov 1944.

ww2dbaseUSS Silversides departed a week later to continue her eleventh patrol. This time she teamed with submarines Trigger, Sterlet, USS Saury, USS Tambor, USS Ronquil in a designated task unit assigned to sweep the area north of the Bonin Islands of all Japanese patrol boats they could find. The unit was commanded by the former USS Guardfish skipper, Commander Thomas "Burt" Klakring aboard Silversides, and thus the pack tasked with sweeping was known as "Burt's Brooms." Beginning on 15 Nov 1944, the task group began a four-day pursuit of several patrol boats that saw two sunk outright, two damaged so badly they took no further part in the war, and two others damaged to somewhat lesser degrees.

ww2dbaseSilversides then withdrew from her patrol area and concluded her patrol at Midway. This had been Lieutenant Commander Coye's sixth war patrol and he was rotated to another assignment; but not before he was awarded the Legion of Merit for his performance during the two-part eleventh patrol. For his command of the wolfpack, Commander Klakring was awarded the Silver Star. Commander John C. Nichols, a 1934 academy graduate, took command of Silversides.

ww2dbaseOn 22 Dec 1944, USS Silversides departed Midway on her twelfth war patrol in company with submarine USS Tautog. Their station was off southern Japan covering the approaches to Sasebo and Nagasaki. On 25 Jan 1945, Silversides made a torpedo attack on Japanese army cargo ship Malay Maru. She fired four torpedoes but only two launched while the other two ran hot in the tubes. The two that launched, hit and sank the Malay Maru and Silversides had to go deep because of a prompt counterattack by the Japanese escorts. One of Silversides' hesitant torpedoes was expelled fairly quickly but the other was hung up for over seven hours, throughout the entire depth charge attack. Once Silversides had evaded the escort ships, she was able to back at high speed and fire the tube again and the torpedo was finally ejected. This was almost two years to the day after Silversides was saved from a similar mishap with a similar maneuver.

ww2dbaseSilversides completed her twelfth patrol at Midway, went through a tender refit, and departed on her thirteenth patrol to Japan's Bungo Channel on 9 Mar 1945. Ten days after arriving on station, submarines Silversides, USS Threadfin, and USS Hackleback were ordered to form a wolfpack. The wolfpack commander was designated as Silversides' commanding officer, Commander Nichols, and so the group took the name "Nicks Nippers." The group was tasked with closely guarding the Bungo Channel in anticipation of a Japanese naval response to the Allies' invasion of Okinawa. A week after being formed, Hackleback and Threadfin detected a Japanese force of large warships making their way down the Bungo Channel from the Inland Sea. It was later learned that this was the battleship Yamato and her cruiser escorts. Just as Hackleback and Threadfin began broadcasting their contact reports, Silversides experienced radio and radar problems. The only reliable radio channel available was broadcasting from Guam relaying third-hand position reports that were between one and four hours old. The result was that while Hackleback and Threadfin were able to successfully track the Yamato force, Silversides was woefully out of position throughout the entire engagement. Some days later, Silversides sank two patrol boats before ending her patrol at Pearl Harbor.

ww2dbaseAfter a month-long refit, USS Silversides departed Pearl Harbor. Silversides' fourteenth war patrol was predominantly on lifeguard duty south of Japan supporting the numerous air raids during that period. On 22 Jul 1945, Silversides picked up her first airman when the pilot of a damaged P-51 Mustang on a fighter sweep over Japan bailed out within sight of the submarine. Two days later, Silversides picked up a downed Navy F6F Hellcat pilot flying from USS Independence. On this patrol, Silversides also identified and destroyed thirteen Japanese floating mines.

ww2dbaseUSS Silversides ended her fourteenth war patrol on 30 Jul 1945 at Guam. When her routine refit was nearly complete, the war ended. On 18 Aug 1945, Silversides sailed for Pearl Harbor. After touching Pearl Harbor briefly, Silversides transited the Panama Canal for the only time in her career on 15 Sep 1945. The next week, she arrived at Staten Island, New York where she was a part of the October Navy Day celebration.

ww2dbaseUSS Silversides was decommissioned on 17 Apr 1946 and entered the reserve fleet. As part of her decommissioning overhaul, both of Silversides' brass propellers were removed.

ww2dbaseIn 1947, Silversides was towed up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Chicago, Illinois. On 15 Oct 1947, USS Silversides was recommissioned as a stationary reserve training ship at the Chicago Naval Armory. After fifteen years, Silversides was decommissioned for the last time. Operating as an underfunded museum ship, the submarine remained moored at the Naval Armory for several years before being acquired by the Great Lakes Naval and Memorial Museum in 1979 and moved to the Chicago Navy Pier. On 7 Aug 1987, Silversides was towed across Lake Michigan to Muskegon, Michigan. On 24 May 1993, the USS Silversides Submarine Museum opened to the public at Muskegon where she remains today.

ww2dbaseWartime estimates of ships sunk by submarines were, of necessity, somewhat speculative. In 1947, the Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) published a report summarizing their painstaking comparisons of US wartime reports against Japanese shipping records, making their best attempt to set the record straight as to what ships were sunk and by which boats. Almost all submarine scoreboards were revised downward by JANAC but it was felt the revised numbers were more accurate. By JANAC's figuring, Silversides' 23 Japanese ships sunk made her the third-most successful United States Navy submarine of World War II, behind the USS Tang (33) and USS Tautog (26) [by tonnage sunk, Silversides was fifth]. In 1989, author John Alden asserted that Silversides' true total was 31 Japanese ships sunk. Over the course of Silversides' fourteen war patrols, her commanding officers amassed five Navy Crosses, three Silver Stars, and one Legion of Merit. Silversides was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and earned twelve battle stars in World War II. Presently, Silversides is the most successful United States submarine from World War II still in existence.

ww2dbaseSubmarine USS Silversides War Patrols

ww2dbase* Successful Patrol (battle star authorized)

Submarine Silversides (SS-236) Interactive Map

Photographs

Silversides Operational Timeline

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