USS Quillback (SS-424)
History of the USS Quillback Submarine
The USS Quillback (SS-424) was originally planned as the USS Trembler. She was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire on June 27, 1944. She was launched on October 1, 1944 and commissioned on December 29, 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander R.P. Nicholson.
The USS Quillback worked on an experimental ordnance project in Key West, Florida before steaming to Pearl Harbor to join the fighting. She departed Pearl Harbor for her first and only war patrol off Kyusyu on May 30, 1945. While on patrol, she sank a Japanese suicide motor boat. The submarine also rescued a downed naval aviator half a mile from shore. Her patrol ended on July 24 at Guam, and she was still refitting when hostilities ended in August.
After World War II, the USS Quillback returned home to New London, Connecticut as a member of Submarine Squadron 2. She spent the next six years on training duty with the Submarine School and in an experimental capacity with the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory. The submarine then made a six month deployment to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet beginning in April 1951.
The USS Quillback was decommissioned from April 1952 until February 27, 1953 as she underwent conversion as a GUPPY II submarine. Her homeport shifted to Key West, Florida, where she joined Submarine Squadron 4. She participated in local operations, fleet exercises, NATO exercises, and helped train destroyers in antisubmarine warfare.
The USS Quillback was transferred to Submarine Squadron 12 in 1959. The following year, she went in for extensive overhaul to upgrade her attack capabilities. The submarine conducted another Sixth Fleet deployment from October 1961 until February 1962. She was operating locally out of Key West until October, and she was at Guantanamo Bay when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred.
After several more years involved in research and development, Mediterranean cruises, and operations out of Key West and in the Caribbean, the USS Quillback was decommissioned for the last time and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on March 23, 1973. She was sold for scrap on March 21, 1974.The submarine received one battle star 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
