USS Pintado (SS-387)
History of the USS Pintado Submarine
The USS Pintado (SS-387) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire on May 7, 1943. She was launched on September 15, 1943 and commissioned on January 1, 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Bernard A. Clarey.
After conducting torpedo trials and antisubmarine warfare tactics and experiments, the USS Pintado arrived at Pearl Harbor on April 23, 1944. Her first war patrol between Formosa and the Mariana Islands began on May 16 in the company of a small wolf pack. On June 1, her torpedoes sank the Japanese troop transport Toho Maru and damaged another troop transport, the Kinshu Maru. Five days later, she sank the army cargo ship Kashimasan Maru and the troop transport Havre Maru. She ended her patrol on July 1 at Majuro.
On July 22, the USS Pintado sailed for her second war patrol in the East China Sea. Her torpedoes sank the Japanese army cargo ship Shonan Maru and damaged at frigate Etorofu on August 6. Sixteen days later, her torpedoes sank the merchant tanker Tonan Maru No. 2. The submarine put in at Pearl Harbor on September 14.
The USS Pintado commenced her third war patrol on October 9 in the South China Sea. While attempting to torpedo the Japanese aircraft carrier Junyo on November 3, she instead sank the destroyer Akikaze. On December 13, she sank the troop transport T-12 and the landing ship T-14. Her patrol ended at Brisbane on January 1, 1945.
After refitting at Brisbane, the USS Pintado headed out for her fourth war patrol on January 27, this time in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. On February 20, she sustained damaged from Japanese aerial bombs, but she was able to remain on patrol until putting in at Fremantle on March 30. From there, she sailed to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
Once her repair work was complete, the USS Pintado began her fifth war patrol on June 1 off Honshu. On June 26, she rescued 12 crew members from the B-29 Bomber “City of Galveston.” The submarine delivered the survivors to Guam, where she ended her patrol on July 10.
The USS Pintado began her sixth and final war patrol off Honshu on August 7, just eight days before the Japanese capitulation. She returned to Pearl Harbor on August 25 and arrived at San Francisco on September 5. The submarine was decommissioned on March 6, 1946. She was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-387, on December 1, 1962, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 1, 1967, and sold for scrap on January 20, 1969. The USS Pintado received the Presidential Unit Citation 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
