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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSScabbardfish |
| Namesake | Scabbarddfish |
| Nickname(s) | "Scabby"[1] |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,Kittery, Maine[2] |
| Laid down | 27 September 1943[2] |
| Launched | 27 January 1944[2] |
| Sponsored by | Ensign Nancy J. Schetky,USNR |
| Commissioned | 29 April 1944[2] |
| Decommissioned | 12 May 1948 |
| Recommissioned | 31 January 1951 |
| Decommissioned | 27 November 1953 |
| Recommissioned | 24 October 1964[2] |
| Decommissioned | 26 February 1965[2] |
| Identification | SS-397 |
| Fate | |
 Greece | |
| Name | Triaina |
| Acquired | 26 February 1965 |
| Decommissioned | 12 January 1979 |
| Stricken | 1980 |
| Identification | S86 |
| Status | Extant 1982 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Balao-classdiesel-electricsubmarine[3] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m)[3] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3] |
| Draft | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[3] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) (19 km/h)[8] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[8] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[8] |
| Armament |
|
USSScabbardfish (SS-397), aBalao-classsubmarine, was the only ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for thescabbarddfish, a long, compressed, silver-colored fish found on European coasts and aroundNew Zealand. In 1965 she was transferred to theHellenic Navy and renamedTriaina.
Scabbardfish′skeel waslaid down on 27 September 1943 by thePortsmouth Navy Yard inKittery,Maine. She waslaunched on 27 January 1944, sponsored byEnsign Nancy J. Schetky,USNR, andcommissioned on 29 April 1944.
After completing initial training atPortsmouth,New Hampshire, andtorpedotrials atNewport,Rhode Island,Scabbardfish reported to the Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic atNew London,Connecticut, for advanced training and final outfitting. Upon completion thereof, she proceeded toKey West,Florida, foranti-submarine warfare duties which began on 21 June 1944. On 1 July 1944, she departed forPanama. Four days later, she transited thePanama Canal en route to theUnited States West Coast andPearl Harbor,Hawaii.
Scabbardfish, as a unit of Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, arrived at Pearl Harbor on 24 July 1944. After completing voyage repairs and final training, she departed forMidway Atoll in theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands on 17 August 1944.
After refueling at Midway,Scabbardfish departed on her first war patrol, assigned a patrol area in the vicinity of theRyukyu Islands. On 31 August 1944, she sighted her first enemy ships, a Japanese inter-islandsteamer with two escorts.Scabbardfish fired two spreads of three torpedoes, but all missed. After suffering a lightdepth charge attack, she surfaced and continued west.
On 19 September 1944, west ofOkinawa, she damaged the 5,500-tonsubmarine tenderJingei with two torpedo hits. She also fired a spread of torpedoes "down the throat" of an approachingChidori-class escort, but missed. As a consequence, she underwent a depth charge attack for three hours but suffered no damage. The remainder of her patrol proved fruitless, and she returned to Midway Atoll on 12 October 1944 for refitting.
On 26 October 1944,Scabbardfish departed Midway Atoll forSaipan in theMariana Islands for further orders. She departed Saipan on 12 November 1944 to patrol in the seas southeast ofHonshū,Japan. She arrived in her patrol area on 16 November 1944 and sank a 2,100-gross register ton inter-island steamer that day. On 22 November 1944, she sank the 875-gross register tonmerchant shipKisaragi Maru, damaged a 4,000-gross register toncargo ship, and sank the 407=gross register ton Japanesestores shipHokkai Maru.[9][10] On 29 November 1944,[11] she sank the JapaneseType D submarineI-365, picking up one lone survivor named Sasaki.
Scabbardfish completed her patrol atGuam on 20 December 1944. She remained there until 16 January 1945 and then proceeded to Saipan. Upon arrival there, she underwent intensive training inwolfpack tactics. Her third war patrol began on 23 January 1945, when she began patrolling the sea lanes between thePhilippine Islands and Ryukyu Islands. In late February 1945, she engaged 12luggers and atrawler with her deck gun but was forced to submerge by a Japanese plane. She was bombed but suffered no damage. She returned to Saipan on 6 March 1945 and was ordered to return to Pearl Harbor for refitting.
Scabbardfish returned toGuam in late April and underwent voyage repairs by the submarine tenderUSS Holland (AS-3). On 29 April 1945, she departed for a patrol area in theEast China Sea. A change of orders assigned her to lifeguard duty, and, on 4 May 1945, she rescued five crewmen from a ditchedUnited States Army Air ForcesB-29 Superfortress. She transferred them to the submarineUSS Picuda (SS-382) on 6 May 1945, then moved to theYellow Sea area. On 17 May 1945, she fired a spread of torpedoes at a small Japanese cargo ship accompanied by two escorts. This proved to be ahunter-killer group, and when the torpedoes missed, they subjectedScabbardfish to a grueling four-hour depth charge attack.Scabbardfish sustained no serious damage and returned to Guam on 11 June 1945 to be refitted by the submarine tenderUSS Apollo (AS-25).
Scabbardfish began her fifth and last war patrol ofWorld War II on 1 July 1945 with another assignment to the lifeguard duty. Between 25 July and 10 August 1945 she rescued seven pilots. She returned to Saipan on 15 August 1945, the day hostilities with Japan ended.
Scabbardfish subsequently departed Saipan to proceed to Pearl Harbor. She got underway from Pearl Harbor on 6 September 1945 in company with the submarinesUSS Redfish (SS-395),USS Sea Dog (SS-401), andUSS Sea Fox (SS-402)[12] under orders which sent her toEniwetok Atoll in theMarshall Islands for antisubmarine training duties. After parting company with the other three submarines on 13 September 1945, she proceeded alone to Eniwetok, which she reached on 15 September 1945[12] and where she relieved the submarineUSS Thresher (SS-200) in trainingantisubmarine warfare forces.[12] She remained at Eniwetok for a month, moved to Guam for a month and, on 14 November 1945, stood out ofApra Harbor, Guam, en route toSan Francisco,California, via Midway Atoll. On 29 November 1945, she arrived atMare Island Navy Yard inVallejo, California, for her first overhaul, which was completed in mid-March 1946.
Scabbardfish operated along the U.S. West Coast until 17 March 1947, when she entered theSan Francisco Naval Shipyard for her second major overhaul. She departed directly fromdrydock on 8 August 1947 bound forSan Diego, California. One month later, she called at Pearl Harbor for a few days and then continued west on a simulated war patrol. After visiting thePalau Islands,Hong Kong,Shanghai,Tsingtao, andOkinawa, she returned to San Diego on 11 December 1947.
On 3 January 1948,Scabbardfish got underway for Mare Island Navy Yard and on 5 January 1948[2] reported to thePacific Reserve Fleet for inactivation. In February 1948 she was berthed atMare Island, and on 12 May 1948[13] she wasdecommissioned and placed inreserve.
TheKorean War broke out in June 1950, and on 31 January 1951[13]Scabbardfish was recommissioned, at a time when submarines increasingly were taking part in special operations, including amphibious raids and other clandestine missions.[14][15] Based at Pearl Harbor, she conducted one Korean War deployment, from 31 July to 2 December 1952,[16] during which she participated in reconnaissance missions and conducted two war patrols.[13] In December 1952, when weather conditions required suspension of theHokkaido-area patrols she took part in north of Japan, she was reassigned to special patrol duty off the coast ofChina.[14][15] She received theKorean Service Medal for her operations during the Korean War.[16]
The Korean War ended in July 1953, andScabbardfish was decommissioned at Mare Island on 27 November 1953.[17] She remained there until 24 October 1964, when she was again placed in commission, preparatory to transferring her to the government ofGreece.
Scabbardfish received fivebattle stars for World War II service.
Scabbardfish was officially transferred on loan to Greece on 26 February 1965 and commissioned in theRoyal Hellenic Navy asTriaina (S-86). She was stricken from the AmericanNaval Vessel Register on 31 January 1976, and Greece purchased her outright in April 1976. She was decommissioned on 12 January 1979 and stricken from the Greek Navy in 1980, but remained in use as a pier-side trainer as late as 1982.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
