USS Argonaut (SS-166)

Career
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Laid down:	1 May 1925
Launched:	10 November 1927
Commissioned:	2 April 1928
Fate:	sunk by Japanese
Stricken:	26 February 1943
General characteristics
Displacement:	2170 tons surfaced, 4080 tons submerged
Length:	381 ft (116 m)
Beam:	33 ft 10 in (10.3 m)
Draft:	15 ft 4 in (4.7 m)
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h) surfaced, 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged
Depth:	300 ft (91 m)
Complement:	eight officers, 80 men
Armament:	2 x 6 in (152 mm) 53 caliber guns, 4 x bow torpedo tubes, two stern minelaying tubes, 60 mines

The first USS Argonaut (SM-1/SF-7/SS-166/APS-1) was laid down as V-4 on 1 May 1925 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 10 November 1927 sponsored by Mrs. Philip Mason Sears, the daughter of Rear Admiral William D. MacDougall, and commissioned on 2 April 1928, Lieutenant Commander W.M. Quigley in command.

V-4 was the first of the second generation of V-boats commissioned in the late 1920s. These submarines were exempt by special agreement from the armament and tonnage limitations of the Washington Treaties. V-4 and her sister ships V-5 (later designated SS-167) and V-6 (later designated SS-168) were designed with larger and more powerful diesel engines than those which had propelled the earlier series of V-boats, which had proven to be failures. The specially-built engines failed to produce their design power and some developed dangerous crankshaft explosions. V-4 and her sister ships were slow in diving and, when submerged, were unwieldy and slower than designed. They also presented an excellent target to surface ship sonar and had a large turning radius.

V-4 was designed primarily as a minelayer. She was the first and only such experimental ship ever built. She had four torpedo tubes forward and two minelaying tubes aft. At the time of the construction, V-4 was the largest submarine ever built in the United States. Following commissioning, V-4 served with Submarine Division 12 based at Newport, Rhode Island.

Contents

1 Trials and a new name in the 1930s

2 Patrols in the Pacific

3 Final Battle with Japanese Destroyers

1 References

Trials and a new name in the 1930s

In January and February 1929, V-4 underwent a series of trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts. On a trial dive during this period, she submerged to a depth of 318 feet. This mark was the greatest depth which an American submarine had reached up to that time. On 26 February 1929, V-4 was assigned to Division 20, Submarine Divisions, Battle Fleet, and arrived at San Diego, California, her new home port, on 23 March. From there, she participated in battle exercises and made cruises along the west coast.

V-4 was renamed Argonaut on 19 February 1931, and was redesignated SM-1 on 1 July of that year. On 30 June 1932, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, where she was assigned to Submarine Division 7. The vessel carried out minelaying operations, patrol duty, and other routine work. In October 1934 and again in May 1939, Argonaut took part in joint Army-Navy exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. Argonaut became the flagship of Submarine Squadron 4 in mid-1939. The submarine returned to the west coast in April 1941 to participate in fleet tactical exercises.

Patrols in the Pacific

On 28 November 1941, Argonaut left Pearl Harbor and was on patrol duty near Midway Island when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. After sunset on 7 December, Argonaut surfaced and heard naval gunfire around Midway. It was assumed that the Japanese were landing a large invasion force. Argonaut then submerged to make a sonar approach to the "invasion force." While designed to be a minelayer and not an attack submarine, Argonaut made the first wartime approach on enemy naval forces.

The "invasion force" turned out to be two Japanese destroyers whose mission was shore bombardment on Midway. The ships may have detected Argonaut, and one passed close by the submarine. They completed the bombardment then retired before Argonaut could make a second approach.

One week later, Argonaut made contact with three or four Japanese destroyers. Her captain, Stephen Barchet, wisely decided not to attack. On 22 January 1942, she returned to Pearl Harbor and, after a brief stop there, proceeded to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for conversion to a troop transport submarine.

Argonaut returned to action in the South Pacific in August. Admiral Chester Nimitz assigned Argonaut and Nautilus (SS-168) to transport and land marine commandos on Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands. This move was designed to relieve pressure on American forces that had just landed on Guadalcanal. On 8 August, the two submarines embarked troops of Companies A and B, 2d Raider Battalion, and got underway for Makin. Conditions during the transit were unpleasant, and most of the marines became seasick. The convoy arrived off Makin on 16 August; and, at 0330 the next day, the marines began landing. Their rubber rafts were swamped by the sea and most of the outboard motors drowned. The Japanese -- either forewarned or extraordinarily alert because of the activity on Guadalcanal -- gave the Americans a warm reception. Snipers were hidden in the trees, and the landing beaches were in front of the Japanese forces instead of behind them as planned. However, by midnight of 18 August, the Japanese garrison of about 85 men was wiped out; radio stations, fuel, and other supplies and installations were destroyed, and all but 30 of the troops had been recovered.

Final Battle with Japanese Destroyers

Argonaut arrived back in Pearl Harbor on 26 August. Her hull classification symbol was changed to APS-1 on 22 September. (Argonaut was never formally designated SS-166, but that hull number was skipped in her honor.) Her base of operations was transferred to Brisbane, Australia, later in the year. In December, the submarine departed Brisbane under the command of Lieutenant Commander J.R. Pierce to patrol in the hazardous area between New Britain and Bougainville, south of St. George's Channel. On 10 January 1943, Argonaut spotted a convoy of five freighters and their escorts, Japanese destroyers Maikaze, Isokaze, and Hamakaze, returning to Rabaul from Lae. An Army aircraft, which was out of bombs, was by chance flying overhead and witnessed Argonaut's attack. A crewman on board the plane saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, and the destroyers promptly counterattack. Argonaut's bow suddenly broke the water at an unusual angle. It was apparent that a depth charge had severely damaged the submarine. The destroyers continued circling Argonaut and pumping shells into her. She slipped below the waves and was never heard from again. One hundred and five officers and men went down with the submarine. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 February 1943.

Japanese reports made available since the end of the war record a depth charge attack followed by artillery fire, at which time the "destroyed top of the sub floated."

On the basis of the report given by the Army flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut perished, the ship was credited with having damaged one Japanese destroyer on her last patrol.

Argonaut won two battle stars for her World War II service.

See USS Argonaut for other ships of the same name. See also List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II.