USS Dolphin (SS-169)

USS "Dolphin" (SF-10/SSC-3/SS-169), a submarine and one of the "V-boats," was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for that aquatic mammal. She also bore the name "V-7" and the classifications SF-10 and SSC-3 prior to her commissioning. She was launched on 6 March 1932 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs. E.D. Toland, and commissioned on 1 June 1932 with Lieutenant John B. Griggs, Jr. [Who replaced Gin Styer as chief of staff to ComSubPac Robert H. English. Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory" (New York: Bantam, 1976), pp.249 & 368.] in command.

The "Dolphin" steamed from Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 24 October 1932 for San Diego, California, arriving on 3 December to report to Submarine Division 12. She served on the West Coast, taking part in tactical exercises and test torpedo firings until 4 March 1933, when she got underway for the East Coast. She arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard on 23 March for final trials and acceptance, remaining there until 1 August. "Dolphin" returned to San Diego 25 August 1933 to rejoin Submarine Division 12.

She cruised on the west coast with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor, Alaska, and the Panama Canal Zone for exercises and fleet problems. On 1 December 1937, the "Dolphin" departed San Diego for her new homeport, Pearl Harbor, arriving one week later. She continued to operate in fleet problems and training exercises, visiting the West Coast on a cruise from 29 September to 25 October 1940. Located at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the "Dolphin" took the attacking enemy planes under fire, and then left for a patrol in search of Japanese submarines in the Hawaiian Islands.

"Dolphin" departed from Pearl Harbor on 24 December 1941 on her first war patrol, during which she reconnoitered in the Marshall Islands in preparation for later air strikes. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 February 1942 to refit and resupply, and then got underway once more 14 May. Searching a wide area west of Midway Island, she patrolled off the island itself during the pivotal Battle of Midway from 3 June to 6 June. She took harbor at the atoll for repairs from 8 June to 11 June, and then she returned to her patrol, attacking a destroyer and a tanker with undetermined results before returning to Pearl Harbor 24 July. Her third war patrol, from 12 October 1942 to 5 December, was in the storm-tossed waters of the Kurile Islands, where she performed reconnaissance essential to the operations that were to keep Japanese bases there largely ineffective throughout the war. With newer submarines now available for offensive war patrols, the "Dolphin" was assigned less dramatic but still vital service on training duty at Pearl Harbor until 29 January 1944, when she sailed for exercises in the Canal Zone, and duty as a school boat at New London, Connecticut, where she arrived on 6 March. She served in this essential task until the end of the war, then was decommissioned 12 October 1945 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard.

The "Dolphin" was sold on 26 August 1946. The second of "Dolphin"'s three war patrols was designated as "successful," and she received two battle stars for her World War II service.

References

*Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory". New York: Bantam, 1976 (reprints Lippincott 1975 edition).
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d5/dolphin-vi.htm