uboat.net

Allied Warships

Billfish (SS-286)

Submarine of the Balao class


USS Billfish during the war.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassBalao 
Pennant286 
Built byPortsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down23 Jul, 1942 
Launched12 Nov, 1942 
Commissioned20 Mar, 1943 
End service1 Apr, 1968 
Loss position
 
HistoryDecommissioned 20 July 1946.
Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
Served as a dockside training submarine for Naval Reservist at Boston, Massachusetts from 1 January 1960 untill 1 April 1968.
Stricken 1 April 1968.
Sold 17 March 1971 to be broken up for scrap. 

Noteable events involving Billfish include:

1 Aug, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) arrives at Brisbane, Australia.

12 Aug, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) departs Brisbane for her 1st war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

8 Sep, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr), while on patrol off the Vietnamese coast, claimed the torpedoing and damaging of a 5900-ton freighter. This is unconfirmed.

25 Sep, 1943
While on patrol north of the Spratly islands, South China Sea, USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) attacks a convoy on surfaced radar bearings, claiming one hit out of 5 torpedoes fired and damage to one vessel. This is unconfirmed.

10 Oct, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) ends her 1st war patrol at Fremantle, Australia.

1 Nov, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) departs Fremantle for her 2nd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

28 Nov, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) attacks a freighter in the South China Sea, southeast of Qui Nhon, Vietnam, firing 5 torpedoes and claiming one hit for damage. This is unconfirmed.

23 Dec, 1943
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. F.C. Lucas, Jr) ends her 2nd war patrol at Fremantle.

19 Jan, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) departs Fremantle for her 3rd war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

1 Feb, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) attacks 2 small freighters with her deck gun, off the northeast point of Borneo,claiming one sunk (estimated at 1000 GRT) and the other damaged (estimated at 900 GRT). There is no confirmation of the claim from Japanese sources.

24 Mar, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) ends her 3rd war patrol at Fremantle.

18 Apr, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) departs Fremantle for her 4th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Marianas.

21 May, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) attacks a convoy west-southwest of the Marianas, 13º42'N, 140º41'E, torpedoes and damages the Japanese naval cargo ship Bokuyo Maru (2726 GRT). The claimed sinking of a second vessel, estimated at 8500 tgr is unconfirmed, but note that Bokuyo maru was estimated at 8600 GRT! (see map)

13 Jun, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) ends her 4th war patrol at Pearl Harbour.

9 Jul, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) departs Pearl Harbour for her 5th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in Luzon Strait.

13 Sep, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) ends her 5th war patrol at Majuro.

6 Oct, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) departs Majuro for her 6th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol off the Ryukyu Islands.

7 Nov, 1944
While on patrol in the East China Sea, USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) attacks a convoy on radar, firing 7 torpedoes and claiming two hits for damage on a 4000-ton freighter, one more hit on a second 4000-tonner and another on a thrid 4000-ton ship. None of these is unconfirmed.

13 Nov, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) sinks a Japanese sampam with gunfire off the Ryukyu Islands in position 29º30'N, 130º02'E. (see map)

27 Nov, 1944
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. V.C. Turner) ends her 6th war patrol at Pearl Harbour. She is now sent to San Francisco for a major overhaul.

24 Apr, 1945
With her overhaul completed USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) departs Pearl Harbour for her 7th war patrol. She is ordered to proceed to Saipan to be topped off with full and then to patrol in the East China Sea.

26 May, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Kotobuki Maru No.7 (991 GRT) off Nagasaki, Japan in position 33.19N, 129.31E. (see map)

5 Jun, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese merchant cargo ship Taiu Maru (2220 GRT) off Chinnampo, Korea in position 38º32'N, 124º45'E.

Billfish also sinks three Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire off the west coast of Korea in position 38º30'N, 124º44'E. (see map)

17 Jun, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) ends her 7th war patrol at Midway.

12 Jul, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) departs Midway for her 8th war patrol. She is ordered to patrol in the Yellow Sea.

5 Aug, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) torpedoes and sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship Kori Maru (1091 GRT) in the Yellow Sea off the Kwantung Peninsula in position 38º51'N, 121º59'E. (see map)

27 Aug, 1945
USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley) ends her 8th war patrol at Pearl Harbour.


Return to the Allied Warships section