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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patches courtesy of Don McGrogan BMCS, USN (ret.)

Squalus / Sailfish (SS-192)
Re-commissioning and WW II Service

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Delta - Zulu

To Additional Pages

Construction - Launching
Loss & Rescue

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons

Presidential Unit Citation

Sargo Class Submarine: Laid down, 18 October 1937, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME.; Launched, 14 September 1938; Commissioned, USS Squalus (SS-192), 1 March 1939; Sunk by mechanical failure, 23 May 1939; Refloated, 13 September 1939; Decommission, 15 November 1939, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH; Recommissioned, USS Sailfish (SS-192), 15 May 1940; Decommissioned, 27 October 1945; Struck from the Naval Register, 30 April 1948; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 18 June 1948, to Luria Brothers, Philadelphia, PA. Sailfish was awarded nine battle stars for service in the Pacific and received the Presidential Unit Citation.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,400 t., Submerged: 2,350 t.; Length 310' 6" ; Beam 27' 1"; Draft 13' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 20 kts, Submerged 7.75 kts; Complement 5 Officers, 50 Enlisted; Maximum Depth Limit, 250'; Armament, eight 21" torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 cal machine guns, two .30 cal machine guns; Propulsion, diesel-electric engines, GE diesel engines, HP 5500, Fuel Capacity, 190,000 gals., GE motors, HP 2740, 252 battery cells. twin screws.

Size	Image Description	Source
12k	Istiophorus platypterus, a Sailfish.	Illustrated by Diane Rome Peebles. Photo courtesy of myfwc.com.
17k	One year commemorative postal cover dedicated to the memory of the crew of the Squalus (SS-192) who died at their posts when the boat sank by mechanical failure, 23 May 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
44k	Damage to conning tower by lifting pontoons. Sub is still being pumped out.	Photo from Milne Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, N.H. courtesy of Ric Hedman & pigboats.com. Photo added 03/06/10.
157k	Post salvage photo of the Squalus (SS-192). Note the position of the bow planes and the condition of the fairwater. The damage caused by the salvage chains and pontoons is evident but hard to make out clearly. You can see how the bridge was crushed.	Photo from The World Encyclopedia of Submarines by John Parker courtesy of Robert Hurst. Photo i.d. courtesy of John Hart, Ric Hedman & Dave Johnston. Photo added 03/06/10.
21k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the submarines Sargo (SS-188), Saury (SS-189), Spearfish (SS-190), Sculpin (SS-191), Squalus (SS-192) & Swordfish (SS-193) honoring Navy Day, 27 October 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
32k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the de-commissioning of the Squalus (SS-192), 15 November 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
24k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the de-commissioning of the Squalus (SS-192), 15 November 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
181k	The scene on the deck of the ill-fated U. S. Navy submarine Squalus (SS-192), 15 May 1940 as it was re commissioned under a new name---*Sailfish, 15 May at the Portsmouth, N. H. Navy Yard today, 15 May. Lieutenant Commander John B. Longstaf, Aide to the Commandant at the Yard, read the orders of the Navy Department placing the submarine in commission and naming her Commander Lieut. Comm. Morton C. Mumma. The Squalus* sank last 23 May off the Isles of Shoals, N. H., with a loss of 26 lives. Some of the survivors serve on the renamed sub.	Photo courtesy of the National Historical Center via Bill Gonyo.
70k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the re-commissioning of the Sailfish (SS-192), 15 May 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
181k	Sailfish (SS-192) in New York City harbor, with the Porto Rico (that's how it is spelled in the photo) terminal buildings behind her, sometime after her recommissioning after 15 May 1940 to 16 January 1941, when she parted Portsmouth and headed for the Pacific.	U.S. Navy photo contributed by Skip Riser. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
36k	Commemorative postal cover on the occasion of the Sailfish's (SS-192) first submergence, 29 June 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
68k	Commander Richard George Voge served a four-month tour of duty as commissioning executive officer of Rowan (DD-405)) from late September 1939 to late January 1940. In mid-February Comdr. Voge returned to the Asiatic Fleet and assumed command of Sealion (SS-195), based at Cavite in the Philippines, and commanded that submarine until the opening day of American participation in World War II. At the outbreak of hostilities on 8 December 1941 (West Longitude Time), Voge suffered the double ignominy of having his command caught in overhaul and, three days later, of losing her to enemy bombs while still at Cavite Navy Yard. Voge, however, quickly recovered from that blow, assumed command of Sailfish (SS-192) on 17 December 1941.	Photo courtesy of the Lucky Bag yearbook – Class of 1925 via Bill Gonyo. Photo added 11/24/09.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943.	US National Archives photo # 19-N-43269, from the Bureau of Ships Collection.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943.	US National Archives photo # 19-N-43270, from the Bureau of Ships Collection.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943, following an overhaul.	US Navy photo # NH 97307, from the collections of the US Naval Archives.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943, following an overhaul.	US Navy photo # NH 97308, from the collections of the US Naval Archives.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943, following an overhaul. Circles on the photograph identify recent alternations to the ship. Gilmore (DE-18) is in the left background.	US National Archives photo # 19-N-43274, from the Bureau of Ships Collection.
95k	Broadside view of the Sailfish (SS-192) off Mare Island on 13 April 1943.	USN photo # 2566-43, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., 13 April 1943, following an overhaul. Circles on the photograph identify recent alternations to the ship. Note men in rowboat inspecting her limber holes, by the stubs of her removed propeller guards. Barges *YF-200* and *YF-190* are in the center background.	US National Archives photo # 19-N-43273, from the Bureau of Ships Collection.
16k	Sailfish (SS-192), oil painting, unknown artist, circa 1943/45.	Author's collection.
90k	Sailfish (SS-192) crew members pose by the after end of the conning tower, while Sailfish was at Naval Submarine Base, New London, Groton, CT., in 1945. Her Presidential Unit Citation flag is flying behind the periscope sheers, in upper center. Original photo is dated September 1945.	US National Archives photo # 80-G-700762.
91k	Memorial plaque at Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia PA, July 2006 for the crews of United States submarines lost during peace time accidents: F-1 (SS-20), F-4 (SS-23), G-2 (SS-27), H-1 (SS-28), O-5 (SS-66), O-9 (SS-70), S-4 (SS-109), S-51 (SS-162), Squalus (SS-192), Scorpion (SSN-589) & Thresher (SSN-593).	Photo courtesy of Wendell Royce McLaughlin Jr.
52k	The sail of the Sailfish (SS-192) preserved as a memorial to its crew, at the US Navy's Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.	Photo & text courtesy of Bill Fessenden.