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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

Guardfish (SS-217)

Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Juliet - Hotel

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons


Presidential Unit Citation
Gato Class Submarine: Laid down, 1 April 1941, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 20 January 1942; Commissioned USS Guardfish (SS-217), 8 May 1942; Decommissioned, 25 May 1946; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; Placed in service as a Naval Reserve Training Vessel, 18 June 1948, at New London CT.; 1 June 1960; Placed out of service and struck from the Naval Register, 1 October 1960; Final Disposition, expended as a target, sunk by torpedo, 10 October 1961 off the coast of New England. Guardfish received the Presidential Unit Citation & eleven battle stars for World War II service.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,424 t.; Length 311' 9"; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 kts, Submerged 8.75 kts; Complement 6 Officers 54 Enlisted; Operating Depth, 300 ft; Submerged Endurance, 48 hrs at 2 kts; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10 kts; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Propulsion, diesel electric reduction gear with four General Motors main generator engines, HP 5400, Fuel Capacity, 97,140 gals., four General Electric main motors, HP 2740, two 126-cell main storage batteries, twin propellers.
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Grunion62kU.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Groton, Connecticut:
Members of the 4th Command Class at the Submarine Base, February 1942.
Those present are, bottom row left to right:
Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele; first command would be the Grunion (SS-216). He would be K.I.A. while commmanding the Grunion, 30 July 1942.
Lieutenant Commander Thomas B. Klakring; first command would be the Guardfish (SS-217),
Commander Karl G. Hensel, Officer in Charge;
Lieutenant Commander George W. Patterson, Jr., Senior Assistant; and
Lieutenant Commander Jesse L. Hull; first command would be the Finback (SS-230).
Top row, left to right:
Lieutenant Commander Howard W. Gilmore; first command would be the Growler (SS-215). He was postumously awarded the Medal of Honor after he was K.I.A. on the bridge of the Growler, 7 February 1943.
Lieutenant Commander Philip H. Ross; first command would be the Halibut (SS-232),
Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. Taylor; first command would be the Haddock (SS-231),
Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Burrows; first command would be the Swordfish (SS-193) and
Lieutenant Commander Leonard S. Mewhinney; first command would be the Saury (SS-189).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph # 80-G-88577, now in the collections of the National Archives. Courtesy of the USNHC.
Guardfish 26k Commemorative postal cover marking the commissioning of the Guardfish (SS-217), at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT., 8 May 1942 . Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Guardfish 27k Commemorative postal cover marking the commissioning of the Guardfish (SS-217), at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT., 8 May 1942 . Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
Guardfish 63k Bow view at rest of the Guardfish (SS-217), at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT., 19 April 1942, three weeks before commissioning. USN photo courtesy of Electric Boat.
Guardfish 494k Income tax day, 15 April 1942 finds the Guardfish (SS-217) at rest while the crew pays their dues at Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. Courtesy of John Hummel.
Guardfish 58k Guardfish (SS-217) moored, probably at San Francisco / Mare Island area after she arrived for modifications, 27 Feb. 1944, after her seventh war patrol. She now has the modified bridge structure with the cut down bridge and open cigarette decks with AA guns.
On her next war patrol, her eighth, she then joined submarines Thresher (SS-200), Piranha (SS-389) and Apogon (SS-308) to form the famous coordinated attack group known as the "Mickey Finns," commanded by Captain W. V. O'Regan in Guardfish.
For her outstanding performance on this patrol she was awarded a second Presidential Unit Citation. 		USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org. Text courtesy of DANFS & John Hummel.
Guardfish 149k Guardfish (SS-217) gets a "going over". Underwater explosion forms huge bubble and sends out percussion waves. Blast close aboard could crush pressure hull. Here the sub sustains a near miss. On same patrol, Guardfish watched a Honshu horse-race, sank 4 ships in a day, scored one of the war's longest torpedo shots. Drawing by Lt. Cmdr. Fred Freemen, courtesy of Theodore Roscoe, from his book "U.S. Submarine Operations of WW II", published by USNI.
Guardfish 53k Admiral Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet, presents the Navy Cross to LCdr Thomas B. Klakring, Commading Officer of Guardfish (SS-217). USN photo.
Guardfish 356k Lt. Cmdr. Thomas B. Klakring. Born in Annapolis, Maryland on 19 December 1904, as the only child of Colonel and Mrs. Leslie Klakring, he entered the Naval Academy from the State of Connecticut, and graduated with the Class of 1927.
A submarine hero of the Pacific War in World War II, Admiral Klakring was credited with sinking eight Japanese ships within sight of Japanese ports, after taking his submarine, Guardfish (SS-217), into Japanese water previously un-patrolled by American submarines. Without the benefit of sophisticated SONAR, Guardfish sighted, or torpedoed, 77 enemy vessels in about 35 days, during one of her war patrols.
LCDR Klakring commanded Guardfish from 1941 to 1943. While under LCDR Klakring's command, Guardfish chalked up an impressive record. She left on her first war patrol on 6 August 1942 for the eastern shore of Honshu, and sent eight enemy ships, totaling 51,055 tons, to the bottom, and damaged a 7,000 ton freighter. In October, during her second war patrol, Guardfish sank another freighter and a tanker, and damaged another freighter in the East China Sea. On Guardfish's third war patrol, in the Rabaul-Kavieng area, additional Japanese shipping was sunk, including two naval vessels.
For his heroism while commanding Guardfish, Klakring was awarded the Navy Cross with two Gold Stars (in lieu of second and third awards). In addition, Guardfish was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation while under Klakring's command.
Admiral Klakring's other decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star (both for heroism during World War II), China Service Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Area Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. 		USN photo from the book: These Men Shall Never Die by Lowell Thomas (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1943), p. 90.)Text and photo submitted by Bill Gonyo. Photo added 05/08/08.
Who Am I?64kA close up of a early construction government built Gato class submarine with only part of it's hull number painted on the sail, and a symbol possibly reminiscent of the Guardfish (SS-217). The number painted on the conning tower probably indicates its squadron, # 5 (?), which if it was during WW II would make it in the Atlantic. It may have been taken off Pensacola in the summer of 1944, or somewhere in the Pacific during 1945 or early 1946.
USN photo courtesy of Ivan van Meter, submitted by Jack LaPeer courtesy of Fabio Peņa. Photo i.d. courtesy of David Johnston & John Hummel.
Who Am I?89kHigh altitude photo of a Gato/Balao class submarine. It may have been taken off Pensacola in the summer of 1944, or somewhere in the Pacific during 1945 or early 1946.
USN photo courtesy of Ivan van Meter, submitted by Jack LaPeer courtesy of Fabio Peņa. Photo i.d. courtesy of David Johnston & John Hummel.
SS-267, 253, 239 & 260140k Five Atlantic Reserve Fleet subs in mothballs at New London CT., late 1940's:
Pompon (SS-267),
Gunnel (SS-253),
Whale (SS-239),
Lapon (SS-260) and unidentified sub, probably the Guardfish (SS-217) or Dace (SS-247).
Text courtesy of Dave Johnston. Photo courtesy of John Hummel.
View the Guardfish (SS-217)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
USS Guardfish
Full Fathom Five, U.S. Submarine War Against Japan
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