Allied Warships

Quillback (SS-424)

Submarine of the Tench class

USS Quillback shortly after the war.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Tench
Pennant	424
Built by	Portsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.)
Ordered	22 Feb 1943
Laid down	27 Jun 1944
Launched	1 Oct 1944
Commissioned	29 Dec 1944
End service	23 Mar 1973
History	Decommissioned in April 1952. Recommissioned 27 February 1953. Decommissioned and stricken 23 March 1973. Sold 21 March 1974 to be broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Quillback (424)

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and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	T/Lt.Cdr. Richard Philip Nicholson, USN	29 Dec 1944

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Notable events involving Quillback include:

17 Feb 1945
Having completed her torpedo trials, USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN), arrived at New London, Connecticut.

8 Mar 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) departed New London, Connecticut for Key West, Florida.

14 Mar 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) arrived at Key West, Florida.

2 Apr 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) departed Key West, Florida for the Panama Canal Zone.

6 Apr 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) arrived in the Panama Canal Zone.

12 Apr 1945
USS Manta (T/Lt.Cdr. E.P. Madley, USN) and USS Quillback (T/Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) conducted exercises in the Gulf of Panama with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR).

15 Apr 1945
The amphibious attack transports USS Mathews (Cdr. C.A. Thorwall, USNR), USS Seminole (Cdr. J.H. Budd, USNR), and the submarines USS Manta (T/Lt.Cdr. E.P. Madley, USN) and USS Quillback (T/Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) departed Balboa, Panama Canal Zone. They were all to proceed to Pearl Harbor. The submarines remained in company and exercising with the attack transports until 1410U/25.

1 May 1945
USS Manta (T/Lt.Cdr. E.P. Madley, USN) and USS Quillback (T/Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson, USN) both arrived at Pearl Harbor from Balboa, Panama Canal Zone. At Pearl Harbor they were taken in hand for voyage repairs which was to be followed by a final training period.

30 May 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Kyusyu, Japan.

24 Jul 1945
USS Quillback (Lt.Cdr. R.P. Nicholson) ended her 1st war patrol at Guam.