USS Muskallunge (SS-262)
History of the USS Muskallunge Submarine
The USS Muskallunge (SS-262) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Connecticut on April 7, 1942. She was launched on December 13, 1942 and commissioned on March 15, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Willard A. Saunders.
The USS Muskallunge arrived at Pearl Harbor on August 7, 1943. Her first war patrol began on September 7 in the Palau Islands, and she carried the first electric torpedoes to be fired by an American submarine in World War II. The submarine damaged a Japanese freighter and a cargo ship before she returned to Pearl Harbor on October 25.
On November 27, the USS Muskallunge headed for her second war patrol in the western Caroline Islands and the waters south of Guam. During this patrol, the submarine scored torpedo hits on a tanker and two freighters. She earned a kill when she sank one of the Noroto Maru class. Her patrol ended at Pearl Harbor on January 21, 1944.
From Pearl Harbor, the USS Muskallunge was ordered to Mare Island Navy Yard in California to repair her engines and undergo a much-needed overhaul. Her third war patrol began out of Pearl Harbor on April 30, sailing in the company of eight other submarines to intercept enemy forces headed for the Mariana Islands. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the submarines in her group destroyed Japanese carriers while American aviators downed enemy aircraft in what became known as the Marianas Turkey Shoot. Her patrol ended on July 4 at Fremantle.
The USS Muskallunge sailed for her fourth water patrol of the South China Sea on August 1. On August 21, she sank the Japanese cargo ship Durban Maru. She was damaged in the resulting depth charge attack, so she returned to Fremantle for refitting on September 22. Her fifth war patrol of the Palawan Passage was largely uneventful, lasting from October 19 to December 14. She headed from Pearl Harbor to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs and overhaul.
After her overhaul was complete, the USS Muskallunge departed Pearl Harbor on April 26, 1945 for her sixth war patrol, this time off the coast of Formosa. She provided lifeguarding services for the air strikes against China and Formosa before ending her patrol at Midway on June 15.
The USS Muskallunge began her seventh and final war patrol on July 30, heading for the Kuril Islands. On August 8, just one week before hostilities ended, she damaged two Japanese ships with her gunfire, but one of her gunmen was killed and two others were injured by return fire. The submarine was present in Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremony on September 2. She then sailed for home to New London, Connecticut via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal.
The USS Muskallunge operated with the Pacific Fleet until she was decommissioned on January 29, 1947. She was recommissioned briefly from August 31, 1956 to January 18, 1957 in preparation for her transfer to Brazil. The submarine joined the Brazilian Navy under the Military Assistance Program, serving as the Humanita (S-14). She was returned to the United States in March 1968, and sunk several months later as a target on July 9 off the coast of Long Island. The USS Muskallunge earned five battle stars for her service in World War II.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships – USS Muskallunge
