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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # 19-N-19793:  USS Sargo running trials off Provincetown, Mass., 1 November 1938

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Sargo (SS-188), 1939-1947

USS Sargo, first of a class of ten 1450-ton submarines, was built at Groton, Connecticut. She was commissioned in February 1939, made a shakedown cruise to South America, then went to the Pacific. After operating off U.S. West Coast and in the waters around and westward from Hawaii, in the fall of 1941 Sargo crossed the ocean to the Philippines, and was there when the Pacific war began in December. During that month and in early 1942 she made her first war patrol, targeting Japanese shipping off Indochina. Several attacks were made, all unsuccessful. This was an early indication of serious problems with the Navy's most modern torpedos, a situation that would cripple the American war effort for the next year and a half. Near the end of this cruise Sargo went to the assistance of the stranded submarine S-36.

Sargo's next patrol was a transport mission, carrying ammunition to the Philippines, bringing two dozen Army passengers back to Java and then taking submarine force staff to Australia. While on the latter assignment she was damaged in an attack by a "friendly" aircraft. Her third and fourth combat cruises cost the enemy no ships, but Sargo scored on her fifth, from August into October 1942, though her three-inch gun was needed to finish off the victim, a freighter. Her sixth patrol, at year's end took her from Australia to Pearl Harbor and, from there, to the West Coast for a shipyard overhaul.

After returning to the combat zone in May 1943, Sargo sank one ship during her seventh war patrol, two each on her ninth and tenth and one more during her eleventh. In mid-1944 the now-veteran submarine went back to California for her second major wartime overhaul. She made a final patrol, her twelfth, between October and December, using her guns to destroy two trawlers. With enemy shipping in deep decline and plenty of newer submarines on hand, Sargo was retired from combat in December 1944. For the first seven months of 1945 the Pacific Fleet assigned her to training and target duties. Her active days ended just after Japan capitulated in August, though she was not formally decommissioned until June 1946. USS Sargo was sold for scrapping in May 1947.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Sargo (SS-188).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 19-N-19793

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Underway at 18.8 knots while running trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 1 November 1938.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 540 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-19830

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Off Provincetown, Massachusetts, during her trials, 1 November 1938.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-19831

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Off Provincetown, Massachusetts, during her trials, 1 November 1938.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 102756

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 21 April 1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 630 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102757

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Seen from astern while underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 21 April 1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102758

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 28 April 1943.
Covered lighter YF-387 is alongside.
White outlines mark recent alterations to Sargo.
Note barrage balloons in the distance.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 92KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102759

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 28 April 1943.
Covered lighter YF-387 and a diving tender are alongside.
White outlines mark recent alterations to Sargo.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 121KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102760

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102761

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1944.
Note lookouts in the upper superstructure.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 630 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102762

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Seen from astern while off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102763

USS Sargo
(SS-188)

Plan view amidships, looking aft, while she was at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1944.
Barge YC-312 is alongside, and YC-293 and YF-509 are in the right distance.
White outlines mark recent alterations to Sargo.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 136KB; 605 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68481

USS Holland (AS-3)


Panoramic photograph of the ship moored at Bouy 19, San Diego harbor, California, in 1940, with eleven submarines alongside. Submarines are (from left to right): Salmon (SS-182); Seal (SS-183); Stingray (SS-186); Perch (SS-176); Pollack (SS-180); Cachalot (SS-170); Cuttlefish (SS-171); Skipjack (SS-184); Sturgeon (SS-187); Snapper (SS-185) and Sargo (SS-188). SS-182 through SS-187 were members of Submarine Division 15, commanded by R.W. Christie.
USS Richmond (CL-9), flagship of the Submarine Force, is in the right distance.

Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute. James C. Fahey Collection.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53KB; 900 x 310 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-451131

Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii


Aerial view, looking west, with the supply depot in upper center, 13 October 1941. Part of the Submarine Base is at lower left; the Navy Yard is in the upper left; and Ford Island is in the top right.
See Photo # 80-G-451131 (complete caption) for identification of some of the ships present.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 615 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 13 March 2005
New image added 28 January 2006