USS Raton (SS-270)
History of the USS Raton Submarine
The USS Raton (SS-270) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Wisconsin on May 29, 1942. She was launched on January 24, 1943 and commissioned on July 13, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander J.W. Davis.
The USS Raton arrived at Brisbane on October 16, 1943. After shifting to Tulagi in the Solomon Islands, she began her first war patrol on November 20 in the waters of the Bismarck Archipelago and New Guinea. Six days later, she sank the Japanese ammunition ship Onoe Maru and the troop transport Kamoi Maru. Her torpedoes sank the army cargo ships Hokko Maru and Yuri Maru two days later. She put in at Milne Bay on December 6.
On December 11, the USS Raton departed for her second war patrol near Mindanao, Celebes, and Halmahera. She sank the Japanese troop transport Heiwa Maru on Christmas Eve. Her torpedoes damaged the fleet tanker Akebono Maru on January 2, 1944. This patrol ended on January 25 at Fremantle.
After refitting at Fremantle, the USS Raton headed for the Java Sea and South China Sea on February 18 for her third war patrol. She put in at Fremantle on April 14 without scoring a single enemy kill.
The USS Raton returned to the Java Sea and South China Sea on May 19 for her fourth war patrol. Four days later, she sank the Japanese merchant vessel Koshin Maru with her gunfire. She sank the frigate Iki and damaged the frigate Matsuwa the following day. On June 6, her torpedoes sank the corvette Kaibokan No. 15. Seven days later, her gunfire sank a sampan, and she took 11 prisoners onboard. She took another nine prisoners onboard four days later when she sank a small freighter. Her patrol ended on June 23 at Fremantle.
Her fifth war patrol began on July 18, and the USS Raton sailed for the South China Sea. On August 4, she beached a tanker off Dasol Bay in the Philippines. This otherwise uneventful patrol ended at Fremantle on September 10.
The USS Raton got underway for her sixth war patrol on October 6 in the South China Sea. Twelve days later, she sank the Japanese army cargo ships Taikai Maru and Shiranesan Maru. Her torpedoes damaged the heavy cruiser Kumano on November 6, and she damaged the supply ship Kurasaki eight days later. The supply ship sank the following day. When she put in at San Francisco, California on December 1, she was sent to Mare Island Navy Yard for overhaul.
Once her yard work was completed, the USS Raton headed back to Pearl Harbor. She commenced her seventh war patrol on April 20 in the Yellow Sea. On May 2, her torpedoes sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Toryu Maru. Ten days later, she sank another merchant cargo ship, the Rekizan Maru. Her torpedoes sank another merchant cargo ship, the Eiju Maru, four days later. The submarine ended her patrol on May 25 at Guam.
On June 22, the USS Raton sailed for her eighth and final war patrol off Hong Kong. Though she was conducting lifeguard duty, no Allied planes went down in her patrol area. Her patrol ended at Subic Bay on July 23, and she was still being refit when the war ended.
After World War II, the USS Raton headed home to Naval Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, arriving there on March 12, 1946. She spent the next few years conducting training exercises with the Second Fleet in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean.
The USS Raton was decommissioned on March 11, 1949 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was then towed to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania to undergo conversion as a radar picket submarine, redesignated as SSR-270 on July 18, 1952. The submarine was recommissioned on September 21, 1953 under the command of Commander J.K. Wills.
After training in Norfolk, the USS Raton had her homeport shifted to San Diego, California. She conducted local operations there and made three deployments to the Western Pacific with the Seventh Fleet. In 1960, she helped train Underwater Demolition Team personnel and evaluate new sonar concepts. She was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-270, on July 1, 1960.
Over the next several years, the USS Raton participated in training operations, antisubmarine warfare exercises, and several periods of overhaul. She made a number of Far East deployments with the Seventh Fleet and took part in SEATO exercises like Exercise Sea Imp.
The USS Raton was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on June 28, 1969. She was sold for scrap on December 10, 1973. The submarine earned six 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
