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Photo # 19-N-48937:  USS Wahoo off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 14 July 1943

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

USS Wahoo (SS-238), 1942-1943

USS Wahoo, a 1525-ton Gato class submarine built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in May 1942. She operated off the west coast until August, then deployed to Pearl Harbor to begin combat operations. Wahoo's first war patrol, in the vicinity of Truk from late August into mid-October, sank no Japanese ships, though one freighter was apparently damaged. Her second patrol, in November and December 1942, took her from Pearl Harbor to the waters between Truk and the northern Solomon Islands. She sank a tanker and attacked an enemy submarine before heading for Brisbane, Australia.

On the last day of 1942, Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton took command of Wahoo. In her next war patrol, into the area north of New Guinea in January and February, Morton demonstrated great daring and talent, attacking several Japanese ships, sinking three and leaving others damaged. Wahoo's fourth patrol, out of Pearl Harbor between late February and early April 1943, took her to the East China and Yellow Seas. There her aggressive attacks cost the enemy nine ships. From late April to late May, the submarine operated in the cold waters off Hokkaido and the Kurile Islands. Many ships were attacked, but faulty torpedoes kept the score to only three sinkings. Following this patrol, her fifth, Wahoo went to California for an overhaul.

Torpedo problems contributed greatly to an unsuccessful outcome in Wahoo's sixth war patrol, into the nearly land-locked and essentially "unfished" Sea of Japan during August 1943. In four days inside that target-rich body of water, she attacked nine ships, fired a dozen torpedoes and had misses, broaches or failures to explode in every case. Wahoo returned to the Sea of Japan in September, entering through the narrow strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin for what was planned to be a stay of three weeks. From Japanese records, it is known that she sank four ships. However, the Japanese also reported a successful anti-submarine attack in the La Pérouse Strait on 11 October. Their target was undoubtedly Wahoo, lost with her entire crew while finishing the active portion of her seventh war patrol.

In an extraordinary combat career that was recognized by the award of a Presidential Unit Citation, USS Wahoo sank twenty enemy ships, at a time when the submarine force was hobbled by unreliable torpedoes. When the Pacific War concluded some twenty-two months later, after torpedo upgrades had helped U.S. submarines slaughter the Japanese logistics fleet, Wahoo was still seventh among them in terms of numbers of ships sunk.

This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have related to USS Wahoo.

For other images related to USS Wahoo, see:

  • USS Wahoo (SS-238) -- Third War Patrol, January-February 1943.


    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-33836

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 August 1942.

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

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-33837

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    View from astern, taken off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 August 1942.

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

    Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-33839

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 August 1942.
    Circles and associated text mark recent alterations to the submarine.
    The lighter YF-239 is alongside the submarines in the right background.
    Note the antenna for an SJ radar mounted on the light mast in front of Wahoo's periscope shears.

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

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 620 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-33840

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 August 1942.
    Circles and associated text mark recent alterations to the submarine.
    Note: Target bearing transmitter on the after bridge deck; antennas for SDa radar (mounted atop the after mast on the periscope shears) and SJ radar (in front of the shears).

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

    Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-48937

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 14 July 1943.

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

    Online Image: 53KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: NH 50192

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 14 July 1943.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-48940

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 14 July 1943.

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

    Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-48941

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 16 July 1943.
    Circles mark recent alterations to the submarine.
    The lighter YC-312 is alongside. YF-239 and YF-200 are in the left-center distance.

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

    Online Image: 111KB; 600 x 765 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 19-N-48942

    USS Wahoo (SS-238)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 16 July 1943.
    White outlines mark recent alterations to the submarine.
    The lighter YC-312 is alongside.

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

    Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-60948

    Nittsu Maru
    (Japanese cargo ship)

    Sinking in the Yellow Sea, off China, on 23 March 1943. Periscope photograph, taken from USS Wahoo (SS-238), which had torpedoed her.

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

    Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-K-15091 (Color)

    USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16)

    Ready for launching, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 16 September 1943.
    Note riveting and plating details on the ship's hull.
    Billboard in the foreground celebrates the combat exploits of another ship built by the Mare Island Navy Yard: USS Wahoo (SS-238). There are War Bond posters to its left.

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

    Online Image: 84KB; 490 x 765 pixels

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

     


    In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Wahoo (SS-238). The following list features some of these images:

    The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
    DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-395025
    USS Wahoo (SS-238) alongside a pier at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, 2 August 1942.
    Photo is taken from off the submarine's starboard quarter and shows her just off the pier, either casting off or just about to tie up. A bit of Wahoo's stern is beyond the edge of the view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-395026
    As in 80-G-395025, but with Wahoo further away from the pier. This is the only view in this series that shows the entire ship.

  • Photo #: 80-G-395027
    As in 80-G-395025, but with Wahoo much closer to the pier. Mooring lines are in place. More of the ship's stern is beyond the view's edge. This view is the most directly aft of the photos in this series.

  • Photo #: 80-G-395028
    As in 80-G-395025, but with Wahoo's bow near the pier and her after end some distance away. The stern, up to the deck gun (apparently a low-elevation type 3"/50, mounted aft), is beyond the edge of the image. This photo gives a better view of the gun, sail and forward part of the ship than do the others in the series.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".

  • For other images related to USS Wahoo, see:

  • USS Wahoo (SS-238) -- Third War Patrol, January-February 1943.


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


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 6 February 2002
    Minor textual corrections 19 January 2003