Submarine Sterlet (SS-392)

Sterlet

Country	United States
Ship Class	Balao-class Submarine
Hull Number	SS-392
Builder	Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, United States
Laid Down	14 Jul 1943
Launched	27 Oct 1943
Commissioned	4 Mar 1944
Decommissioned	30 Sep 1968
Sunk	31 Jan 1969
Displacement	1,550 tons standard; 2,429 tons submerged
Length	312 feet
Beam	27 feet
Draft	17 feet
Machinery	Four Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-? 10-cyl opposed piston diesel engines (5,400shp), four high-speed Elliott electric motors (2,740shp), two 126-cell Sargo batteries, two propellers
Bunkerage	116,000gal fuel oil
Speed	20 knots
Range	11,000nm at 10 knots surfaced, 48 hours at 2 knots submerged
Crew	66
Armament	6x533mm forward torpedo tubes, 4x533mm aft torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, 1x127mm 25cal deck gun, 1x40mm Bofors gun, 1x20mm Oerlikon cannon, 2x .50cal machine guns
Submerged Speed	8.75 knots

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Sterlet was commissioned into service in Mar 1944. After training exercises in waters off the US Territory of Hawaii, she embarked on her first war patrol on 4 Jul 1944, during which she would claim four sinkings and captured one prisoner of war. She would ultimately complete five war patrol during WW2, with her claiming sinkings in her first four patrols off Japan and in the Kurile Islands, while rescuing downed airmen off Japan in the final war patrol. After the war, she spent some time on the west coast of the United States before returning to the western Pacific, patrolling the Chinese coast against Communist threat and visiting Japanese ports of Sasebo and Yokosuka. After two years in decommissioned status at Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, United States, she was recommissioned in Aug 1950 to be modernized to a fleet snorkel submarine. She served the final years all across the Pacific Ocean, visiting Taiwan, Japan, Hawaii, among other locations. She was found to be unfit for service in 1968 and was decommissioned accordingly. She was sunk as a target by nuclear submarine USS Sargo in Jan 1969.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia

Last Major Revision: Mar 2015

Submarine Sterlet (SS-392) Interactive Map

Photographs

See all 12 photographs of Submarine Sterlet (SS-392)

Sterlet Operational Timeline

14 Jul 1943	The keel of Sterlet was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, United States.
27 Oct 1943	Sterlet was launched at Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, United States, sponsored by the wife of Charles A. Plumley.
4 Mar 1944	Sterlet was commissioned into service with Commander O. C. Robbins in command.
1 May 1944	USS Sterlet departed Key West, Florida, United States.
13 Jun 1944	USS Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
4 Jul 1944	USS Sterlet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her first war patrol.
23 Jul 1944	USS Sterlet sank a small Japanese transport with three torpedoes (all missed) and her deck guns in the Pacific Ocean.
4 Aug 1944	USS Sterlet fired four torpedoes at a Japanese convoy in the Pacific Ocean, sinking a transport with three hits.
7 Aug 1944	USS Sterlet fired seven torpedoes at a Japanese convoy in the Pacific Ocean, sinking a transport with two hits.
8 Aug 1944	USS Sterlet sank a Japanese transport in the Pacific Ocean, hitting her with four of four torpedoes.
26 Aug 1944	USS Sterlet arrived at Midway, ending her first war patrol.
18 Sep 1944	USS Sterlet departed Midway for her second war patrol.
9 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet sank a Japanese fishing boat off the eastern coast of Okinawa, Japan with her deck gun.
18 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet spotted a Japanese task force consisted of six destroyers and three cruisers; she failed to get into an attacking position.
21 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet attacked a Japanese cargo ship off the southwestern coast of Amami Oshima, Japan; all three torpedoes missed.
25 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet attacked a Japanese convoy with two salvos of torpedoes southwest of Kagoshima, Japan. All four torpedoes of the first salvo missed. Four of the six torpedoes of the second salvo made contact, three hitting (and sinking) oil tanker Jinei Maru and one hitting a freighter. She remained under water for several hours due to counterattacks by the convoy escorts. Surfacing later, she spotted a Japanese hospital ship and allowed it to continue her journey.
29 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet sank a small Japanese freighter in the Pacific Ocean with four torpedoes (all missed) and her deck guns.
31 Oct 1944	USS Sterlet attacked Japanese tanker Takane Maru after sundown 115 miles southeast of Kyushu, sinking her with six torpedoes. She shared the credit with USS Salmon and USS Trigger, which had damaged the tanker the day before.
3 Nov 1944	Submarines USS Silversides, USS Salmon, USS Trigger, and USS Sterlet arrived at Saipan.
10 Nov 1944	Submarines USS Silversides, USS Saury, USS Tambor, USS Trigger, USS Sterlet, USS Ronquil, and USS Burrfish departed Saipan as a designated task unit to sweep and destroy Japanese patrol boats between the Bonin Islands and Japan. The unit was commanded by Cdr Thomas "Burt" Klakring aboard Silversides.
10 Nov 1944	USS Sterlet departed Saipan, Mariana Islands.
15 Nov 1944	USS Sterlet attacked a Japanese patrol vessel in the Pacific Ocean with her deck gun.
15 Nov 1944	While conducting a sweep northward from the Bonin Islands, Wolfpack "Burt's Brooms" made up of submarines USS Silversides, USS Saury, USS Tambor, USS Trigger, USS Sterlet, USS Ronquil, and USS Burrfish open a four-day running gunfight with numerous Japanese patrol boats sinking two and damaging four, including two damaged so badly they see no further service during the war.
16 Nov 1944	USS Sterlet sank a small Japanese submarine chaser in the Pacific Ocean, hitting her with one of four torpedoes.
30 Nov 1944	USS Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii, ending her second war patrol.
25 Jan 1945	USS Sterlet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii for her third war patrol.
1 Mar 1945	USS Sterlet sank a Japanese transport in the Izu Islands, Japan, hitting her with three of six torpedoes.
5 Mar 1945	USS Sterlet sank a Japanese oiler south of Tokyo Bay, Japan, hitting her with five of six torpedoes.
4 Apr 1945	USS Sterlet arrived at Midway, ending her third war patrol.
29 Apr 1945	USS Sterlet departed Midway for her fourth war patrol.
29 May 1945	USS Sterlet attacked a Japanese convoy east of the southern tip of Karafuto, Japan (now Sakhalin, Russia), sinking a freighter and damaging another, hitting them with four of six torpedoes. As the escort vessels counterattacked, she fired three salvos of four, three, and then four torpedoes at them, all of which missed, but she was able to escape from the counterattack.
3 Jun 1945	USS Sterlet fired six torpedoes at a Japanese transport in the Sea of Okhotsk; all torpedoes missed. The transport then revealed herself to be an armed Q-ship, which gave chase to the American submarine. Sterlet was able to escape the counterattack.
10 Jun 1945	USS Sterlet arrived at Midway, ending her fourth war patrol.
5 Jul 1945	USS Sterlet departed Midway for her fifth war patrol.
23 Aug 1945	USS Sterlet arrived at Midway, ending her fifth war patrol.
6 Sep 1945	USS Sterlet departed Midway.
16 Sep 1945	USS Sterlet arrived at San Diego, California, United States.
13 Nov 1945	USS Sterlet departed San Diego, California, United States.
26 Feb 1946	USS Sterlet departed San Francisco, California, United States.
20 Apr 1946	USS Sterlet arrived at Qingdao, China.
1 Jun 1946	USS Sterlet arrived at Shanghai, China.
10 Jun 1946	USS Sterlet departed Shanghai, China.
22 Jun 1946	USS Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
12 Jan 1947	USS Sterlet arrived at Sasebo, Japan.
28 Jan 1947	USS Sterlet departed Japan.
30 Apr 1947	USS Sterlet arrived at San Francisco, California, United States.
1 May 1947	USS Sterlet reported to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Francisco, California, United States for inactivation.
15 Nov 1947	USS Sterlet departed Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii.
1 Dec 1947	USS Sterlet arrived at Brisbane, Australia.
6 Dec 1947	USS Sterlet departed Brisbane, Australia.
14 Dec 1947	USS Sterlet arrived at Guam.
2 Jan 1948	USS Sterlet departed Guam.
6 Jan 1948	USS Sterlet arrived at Okinawa, Japan.
10 Jan 1948	USS Sterlet departed Okinawa, Japan.
18 Sep 1948	USS Sterlet was decommissioned from service at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States.
26 Aug 1950	USS Sterlet was recommissioned into service at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States with Lieutenant Commander George W. Kittredge in command.
25 Sep 1950	USS Sterlet departed for San Diego, California, United States.
1 Dec 1953	USS Sterlet received a new commanding officer at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States.
23 Jun 1954	USS Sterlet completed a tour of duty in the west Pacific and returned to the west coast of the United States.
13 Sep 1954	USS Sterlet arrived at Pearl Harbor, US Territory of Hawaii and was assigned to Submarine Squadron 1.
30 Sep 1968	USS Sterlet was decommissioned from service.
1 Oct 1968	Sterlet was struck from the US Naval Register.
31 Jan 1969	Sterlet was sunk as a target by nuclear submarine USS Sargo.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
26 May 2020 08:05:03 AM

The Sterlet was the first submarine to make a complete voyage across the Pacific underwater. They made a special device that gave the sub air. I think this should be mentioned. I don't know the date but it was after the war.
My father served on the Sterlet during the war.

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