USS Swordfish (SS-193)

USS Swordfish (SS-193), commanded by CDR K.E. Montross, USN, was launched on 1 April 1939 and was lost at sea in January 1945. Less than two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Swordfish sank her first ship, beginning a career in which she sank many more Japanese vessels before the war’s end and demonstrated the usefulness of submarines in a variety of wartime operations. Besides routine offensive war patrols, she carried out close-range reconnaissance photography and evacuated military and civilian personnel from dangerous areas. On one such mission, she transported the Philippines President and his family, along with several other high ranking government and army officials, to safety. Swordfish earned the Navy unit commendation for three of her patrols as well as eight battle stars. Her thirteenth patrol proved unlucky. She departed Pearl Harbor on 22 December 1944 on a special mission to photograph the beaches and defense installations of the Japanese stronghold on Okinawa in preparation for the allied invasion of that island, but she never returned. The exact cause of her loss remains unknown. The submarine Kete reported hearing prolonged depth charging in Swordfish’s area on 12 January 1945, and Japanese records obtained after the war revealed that the waters off Okinawa were heavily mined. Eighty-nine men perished with Swordfish.

Pearl City, Hawaii · United States