USS Pickerel (SS-177)
History of the USS Pickerel Submarine
The USS Pickerel (SS-177) was ordered for the U.S. Navy between World War I and World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Connecticut on March 25, 1935. She was launched on July 7, 1936 and commissioned on January 26, 1937 under the command of Lieutenant Leon J. Huffman.
The USS Pickerel joined the Pacific Fleet on November 9, 1937. Operating out of San Diego, California, she cruised the West Coast and the waters of Hawaii until her transfer to the Asiatic Fleet sent her to the Philippines. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the submarine began her first war patrol off the coast of Indochina the very next day. This patrol ended on December 29 at Manila.
Her second war patrol commenced on New Year’s Eve. The USS Pickerel sank the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Kanko Maru on January 10. She ended her patrol on January 29 at Surabaya. The submarine’s third patrol off the coast of Malaya lasted from February 7 until March 19, and she put in at Fremantle without making any enemy contacts.
On April 15, the USS Pickerel departed for her fourth war patrol in the Philippines. She arrived at Brisbane on June 6 without making a kill. Her fifth war patrol lasted from July 10 to August 26 in the Mariana Islands. When she put in at Pearl Harbor, she was sent on to Mare Island Navy Yard in California for overhaul.
Overhaul kept the USS Pickerel out of combat for the remainder of the year. She began her sixth war patrol of the Japanese home waters on January 22, 1943. On February 10, her torpedoes sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Amari Maru. Five days later, she sank the transport Tateyama Maru. Her patrol ended on March 3 at Pearl Harbor.
The USS Pickerel began her seventh and final war patrol off the northern coast of Honshu on March 18. She topped off with fuel at Midway four days later and was never heard from again. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on August 19, 1943, she was the first submarine to be lost in the Central Pacific.
There are conflicting reports about what may have happened to the USS Pickerel. Japanese records credit her with sinking Submarine Chaser No. 13 on April 3 and the Fukuei Maru four days later. There are also reports of an unidentified submarine breaking up after a 26 depth charge attack on April 3, though it may have just been a fuel oil bunker leak. It is believed that a similar depth charge attack claimed the submarine sometime after April 7. She earned three 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
