USS Sea Owl (SS-405)
History of the USS Sea Owl Submarine
The USS Sea Owl (SS-405) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire on February 7, 1944. She was launched on May 7, 1944 and commissioned on July 17, 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Carter L. Bennett.
The USS Sea Owl arrived at Pearl Harbor on October 23, 1944. She began her first war patrol on November 19 in the East China Sea as part of a small wolf pack. On December 11, she sank the Japanese auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 76. Her patrol ended at Guam on January 15, 1945.
Her next war patrol in Luzon Strait and the South China Sea was conducted as part of another wolf pack. On April 18, the USS Sea Owl attacked the Japanese submarine I-372 while it was moored at Wake Island, but she only hit the pier where it was unloading its cargo. She ended her patrol at Midway three days later.
On May 20, USS Sea Owl got underway for her third war patrol in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. Her torpedoes sank the Japanese Kaibokan No 41 on June 9. She sank a sailing vessel with her gunfire later that day. On July 2, the submarine rescued six downed aviators who became crew members for the remaining of her patrol.
The USS Sea Owl was refitting at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese surrendered on August 15. With the end of the war, the submarine was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet as a member of Submarine Squadron 6 out of Balboa. She spent the next few years participating in fleet exercises, antisubmarine warfare training, and overhaul before she was transferred to Submarine Squadron 8 in New London, Connecticut in October 1949.
After she underwent Fleet Snorkel conversion in 1951, the USS Sea Owl continued to operate out of New London. She alternated Sixth Fleet deployments to the Mediterranean with NATO exercises like Fishplay and Strikeback.
During the 1960s, the USS Sea Owl continued her involvement in fleet exercises and training duties, as well as Mediterranean cruises with the Sixth Fleet. In 1966, she served the Submarine School and the Operational Test and Evaluation Force. The following year, one of her crewmen was discovered to have an active case of tuberculosis, and the submarine became a control group for research done by the Tuberculosis Service of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
The USS Sea Owl continued her training services until the end of the decade. She was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-405, on June 30, 1969. After one final Mediterranean deployment, she was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on November 15, 1969. She was sold for scrap on June 3, 1971. The submarine 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
