USS Threadfin

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Threadfin's sailors line the deck, possibly at the naval base at Staten Island, N.Y., 22 September 1945.
Threadfin's sailors line the deck, possibly at the naval base at Staten Island, N.Y., 22 September 1945.
History
United States
NameUSS Threadfin (SS-410)
BuilderPortsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine[1]
Laid down18 March 1944[1]
Launched26 June 1944[1]
Commissioned30 August 1944[1]
Decommissioned10 December 1952[1]
Recommissioned7 August 1953[1]
Decommissioned18 August 1972[1]
Stricken1 August 1973[2]
FateTransferred to Turkey, 18 August 1972, sold to Turkey 1 August 1973[1]
Turkey
NameTCG 1. İnonu (S 346)
NamesakeFirst Battle of İnönü, And İsmet İnönü
Acquired18 August 1972
General characteristics (As completed)
Class & type
diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement
  • 1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced[2]
  • 2,401 tons (2,440 t) submerged[2]
Length311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)[2]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2]
Draft16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced[6]
  • 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[6]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged[6]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth400 ft (120 m)[6]
Complement10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6]
Armament
General characteristics (Guppy IIA)
Class & typenone
Displacement
  • 1,848 tons (1,878 t) surfaced[7]
  • 2,440 tons (2,479 t) submerged[7]
Length307 ft (94 m)[8]
Beam27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[8]
Draft17 ft (5.2 m)[8]
Propulsion
  • Snorkel added[7]
  • One diesel engine and generator removed [7]
  • Batteries upgraded to Sargo II [7]
Speed
  • Surfaced:
  • 17.0 knots (19.6 mph; 31.5 km/h) maximum
  • 13.5 knots (15.5 mph; 25.0 km/h) cruising
  • Submerged:
  • 14.1 knots (16.2 mph; 26.1 km/h) for ½ hour
  • 8.0 knots (9.2 mph; 14.8 km/h) snorkeling
  • 3.0 knots (3.5 mph; 5.6 km/h) cruising [7]
Armament

USS Threadfin (SS-410), a Balao-class submarine, was the only vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the threadfin.

Threadfin was laid down on 18 March 1944 at the

launched on 26 June 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Frank G. Fox, and commissioned
on 30 August 1944.

Training and trials out of Portsmouth followed her final completion late in September. After transiting the Panama Canal in mid-November, the submarine reached Pearl Harbor early in December and conducted intensive training in preparation for her first war patrol.

First war patrol

Threadfin stood out of Pearl Harbor on 25 December. Early in January 1945, she reached her assigned patrol area in the waters just south of

Kyūshū. There, she spent 30 of her 54 days at sea. She encountered numerous enemy aircraft, patrol craft, and fishing vessels, but only six targets worthy of a torpedo
.

On 30 January, Threadfin sighted a large enemy patrol craft, but prudently allowed her to pass unmolested in the hope of drawing a bead on any merchant vessels for which she might be running interference. Presently, a 2000-ton coastal freighter escorted by two patrol vessels and a plane crossed her path. Threadfin fired a spread of six torpedoes from a range of about 2,900 yards (2,700 m). At least one of them struck home, obscuring the target in smoke and steam. The cargoman probably sank; but Threadfin could not verify that result visually because the escorts drove her deep with a persistent, though ineffective, depth charge attack.

Two days later, the submarine encountered a Japanese

Ro-60-class
submarine. However, the enemy's course changes kept Threadfin from gaining an advantageous attack setup, and the Japanese "pig-boat" disappeared in the distance. Threadfin next happened upon two freighters escorted by three patrol craft. This time, the small convoy's position close inshore defied the American submarine's efforts to attack.

The following day, she mistook another patrol vessel for a cargo ship and discovered her mistake in just enough time to make a deep dive to safety. That escapade also robbed her of a chance at a small convoy consisting of two small cargomen and two escorts. She sighted the convoy later when she returned to

Midway Island
.

Second war patrol

Following a month there for refit and training, Threadfin embarked upon her second war patrol on 14 March. She initially joined a coordinated attack group composed of herself, and submarines

wolf pack, Threadfin made two attacks on enemy shipping. On the afternoon of 28 March, she came across two Japanese destroyer escort-type warships and apparently dispatched one with a single hit from a spread of six torpedoes. The stricken warship's screws stopped while her colleague's depth charge
attack deprived Threadfin of definite knowledge of the ultimate result. That evening, the submarine tangled with a convoy composed of two small trawlers and four luggers. During the ensuing surface gun engagement, the submarine inflicted serious damage on two of the luggers, moderate damage on the trawlers, and minor damage on the remaining pair of luggers. Though disconcerting, the Japanese return fire proved ineffectual.

On 31 March, that group was dissolved, and Threadfin received orders to join

enemy task force built around Japan's super battleship, Yamato. Passing up a tempting opportunity in order to carry out her prime directive, Threadfin flashed the warning to Fifth Fleet
headquarters afloat off Okinawa.

Completing that phase of her mission, the submarine tried desperately to regain attack position on the force, but its speed denied her a second chance. On the whole, however, her radio was probably more valuable than her torpedoes would have been. Her timely warning enabled the planes of Task Force 58 to ambush and sink Yamato and to destroy most of her consorts as well.

A second mission of the submarine consisted of lifeguard duty to rescue downed American airmen. Her first war patrol afforded her no opportunity to pursue such a humane mission; but, near the end of the second she rescued a half-drowned

P-51 Mustang
pilot. Though he had swallowed large quantities of water, artificial respiration soon brought him around. That proved to be the last noteworthy event of the patrol; and, after a refueling stop at Midway on 30 April, Threadfin concluded her second war patrol at Pearl Harbor on 4 May.

Third war patrol

At Pearl Harbor, she underwent refit followed by a brief four-day training period before departing on her third and final war patrol. She stopped briefly at Guam for voyage repairs; then continued on to her assigned area in the

Dairen laden with coal
. The next day, the submarine encountered a freighter sunk in shallow water and surrounded by small boats, apparently conducting some variety of salvage operations. She fired a single torpedo which caused the wreck to settle a further ten feet and which she hoped would suspend the suspected salvage operations. Closer inspection, however, indicated that the boats were fishing, not conducting salvage operations.

Soon thereafter, Threadfin sighted a four-masted cargo schooner and sank her in a gun attack. The following afternoon, her deck gun accounted for another cargo schooner. On the 19th, she stopped a group of five two-masted cargo junks for inspection but allowed them to continue their voyage after identifying them as friendly Chinese. The next night, she made a surface radar torpedo attack on an enemy ship shrouded by heavy fog. She loosed a spread of five torpedoes, of which two found their mark. The target sank within five minutes without ever being visually sighted from Threadfin.

The submarine concluded her offensive operations near the

Strait of Tsushima. After a day of submerged patrolling without sighting a worthwhile target, she received word that night that submarine Sea Robin
had come upon a patrol craft heading north and four small cargomen heading south. While Sea Robin took on the patrol craft, Threadfin hit the small convoy. During the ensuing night gun action, she sank two of the four tiny merchantmen and forced the other two into Sea Robin’s path. The two American submarines dispatched all four. On the return trip from her final war patrol, Threadfin rescued three survivors from a downed American flying boat and took them to Guam where she arrived on 27 July.

Post-war activities

From 27 July to 12 August, the submarine refitted at Guam in preparation for her fourth war patrol, but that patrol never occurred. While she conducted post-refit training, the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities. On 18 August, she got underway from Guam to return to the

Staten Island, New York
.

The balance of Threadfin’s 28-year career proved to be routine in nature. Initially, she operated out of New London, Connecticut, serving as a training platform for the officers and men learning the ropes at the Submarine School. That duty apparently lasted until December 1952, at which time the submarine was decommissioned to enter the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for an extended conversion overhaul.

Over the next eight months, Threadfin received extensive modifications in an effort to make her more effective in underwater operations—more truly a submarine than simply a submersible. When she emerged from the shipyard the following summer, her hull had been streamlined and her sail modified. In addition, she lost one of her four diesel engines to make room for auxiliary equipment displaced by an expanded sonar facility. Finally, her underwater performance was boosted by the installation of two "greater capacity"

batteries—they actually produced the same power as the old style batteries but in a smaller, lighter physical plant—and a snorkel
for extended submerged cruising.

At the completion of her

Key West, Florida
.

Over the remaining 19 years of her career, Threadfin operated off the East Coast. She participated in several exercises each year and frequently conducted summer training cruises for

Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea
. Actually, Threadfin made two 6th Fleet deployments of about 4 months each in 1970 and 1972. At the end of the 1972 deployment she was loaned to Turkey and did not return to the USA. The turnover occurred in Izmir.

Turkish Navy service

For other ships with the same name, see TCG Birinci İnönü.

After successive years of routine operations in the

Turkish Navy, on loan, as TCG Birinci İnönü (S346) ("First Inonu") until the following summer. She was the third submarine of that name and commemorated the Turkish victory at the First Battle of İnönü in January 1921. On 1 August 1973, her name was struck from the American Naval Vessel Register. Two weeks later, the loan expired, she was returned to the United States Navy, and sold to Turkey.[9]
In mid-1998 she was still in active service in the Turkish Navy. She has reportedly been decommissioned since then.

Honors and awards

Threadfin was awarded three

battle stars for World War II
service.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-263-3
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26202-0
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9
    .
  4. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
  5. ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  6. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  7. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-260-9
    .
  8. ^ a b c d U.S. Submarines Since 1945 pp. 242
  9. ISBN 978-0851772257
    p121
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