View source for USS Gar

{{short description|Submarine of the United States}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[Image:Ss206Gar.jpg|300px|SS-206 Gar, c. 1943 off Mare Island]]
|Ship caption=USS ''Gar'' (SS-206) off [[Mare Island]], [[California]], on 22&nbsp;November&nbsp;1943
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name=
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[General Dynamics Electric Boat|Electric Boat Company]], [[Groton, Connecticut]]<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates">{{cite book
 | last = Friedman
 | first = Norman
 | title = U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History
 | publisher = [[United States Naval Institute]]
 | year = 1995
 | location = [[Annapolis, Maryland]]
 | pages = 285–304
 | isbn = 1-55750-263-3 }}</ref>
|Ship laid down=27 December 1939<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship launched=27 November 1940<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=14 April 1941<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship decommissioned=11 December 1945<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=1 August 1959<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 11 December 1959<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-dates"/>
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[Tambor-class submarine|''Tambor''-class]] [[diesel-electric]] [[submarine]]<ref name="Register">{{cite book
 | last = Bauer
 | first = K. Jack
 |author2=Roberts, Stephen S.
 | title = Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants
 | publisher = Greenwood Press
 | year = 1991
 | location = [[Westport, Connecticut]]
 | pages = 270
 | isbn = 0-313-26202-0 }}</ref>
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1475|long ton|t|lk=on}} standard, surfaced<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs">''U.S. Submarines Through 1945'' pp. 305-311</ref>
*{{convert|2370|long ton|t}} submerged<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship length={{convert|307|ft|2|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship beam={{convert|27|ft|3|in|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship draft={{convert|14|ft|7+1/2|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship propulsion={{Fleet-boat-propulsion-early-GM-4-GE}}
|Ship speed=*{{convert|20.4|kn|km/h|0}} surfaced<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
*{{convert|8.75|kn|km/h|0}} submerged<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship range={{convert|11000|nmi|km}} at {{convert|10|kn|km/h}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship endurance=48 hours at {{convert|2|kn|km/h}} submerged<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship test depth={{convert|250|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship complement=6 officers, 54 enlisted<ref name="FriedmanSubs1-specs"/>
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament={{Fleet-boat-armament-3-inch}}
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Gar'' (SS-206)''' was the first of the ''Gar'' subclass of the [[Tambor-class submarine|''Tambor''-class]] [[submarine]]s to be commissioned for the United States Navy just prior to the country's 7 December 1941 entry into [[World War II]]. These submarines were a slightly improved version of preceding submarines of the ''Tambor'' class. While ''Gar'' survived the war, all of her [[sister ship]]s — {{USS|Grampus|SS-207}}, '{{USS|Grayback|SS-208}}, {{USS|Grayling|SS-209}}, {{USS|Grenadier|SS-210}}, and {{USS|Gudgeon|SS-211}} — were lost. She is the only ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for the [[gar]], a fish of the family [[Lepisosteidae]].

==Construction and commissioning==
''Gar''′s [[keel]] was [[Keel-laying|laid down]] by the [[Electric Boat]] Company in [[Groton, Connecticut|Groton]], [[Connecticut]]. She was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 7 November 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Leila P. Pettengill, wife of [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[George T. Pettengill]], and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] at [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], Connecticut, on 14 April 1941.

==Depth charge tests and other operations, April 1941–January 1942==
''Gar'' conducted [[Shakedown (testing)|shakedown]] training along the [[New England]] seaboard from [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]], [[New Hampshire]], and [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], [[Connecticut]].

During 1941, ''Gar'', along with the submarines {{USS|Tambor|SS-198}} and {{USS|Trout|SS-202}}, was used as a [[Target ship|target]] in the study of the effectiveness of [[depth charge]]s. She submerged to [[periscope depth]] and was subjected to explosions of {{convert|300|lb|0}} of [[TNT]] set at various distances from her. The data these tests generated influenced the design of [[shock proofing]] in later submarines.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/WDR/WDR58/WDR58-18.html | title=HyperWar: War Damage Report 58: Submarine Report &#91;Section 18&#93; }}</ref>

''Gar'' departed New London on 24 November and transited the [[Panama Canal]] on 3 December 1941 en route to [[San Diego]], [[California]], where she arrived on 10 December 1941, three days after the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] that brought the [[United States]] into [[World War II]]. She prepared for combat in the [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]] at [[Mare Island]], California, then departed [[San Francisco]], California, on 15 January 1942 bound for [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Hawaii]].

==First war patrol==
''Gar'''s maiden patrol, from 2 February to 28 March 1942, was conducted around [[Nagoya]] and the [[Kii Channel]] entrance to the [[Seto Inland Sea|Inland Sea]] of Japan. She torpedoed and sank the Japanese 1,520-[[gross register ton]] [[cargo ship]] ''Chichibu Maru'' on 13 March 1942.

==Second, third, and fourth war patrols==
During her second war patrol, from 19 April to 8 June, she fired on a freighter off Kwajalein atoll, which her commanding officer believed was hit, but the ship did not sink.<ref>Blair, Clay, Jr. ''Silent Victory'' (Bantam, 1976), p. 230. The [[Mark 14 torpedo|torpedoes]] and [[Mark 6 exploder|Mark VI]] [[exploder]]s were so bad, it is quite likely they prematurely detonated.</ref> West of [[Truk Lagoon]], she fired on a supposed [[Q-ship]], which was not one in fact.<ref>Blair, p. 534, points out the first [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] Q-ship, ''[[Delhi Maru]]'', did not even make her maiden voyage until January 1944, when she was sunk by [[USS Swordfish (SS-193)|''Swordfish'']].</ref> ''Gar'' terminated her patrol at [[Fremantle, Western Australia|Fremantle]], Australia. No sinkings were confirmed by [[JANAC]] postwar.<ref>Blair, p. 908. In addition, McGregor's exec, John Fitzgerald, criticized him for lacking aggressiveness. Blair, p. 230.</ref>

Her third war patrol, from 3 July to 21 August, took her to the [[South China Sea]] and the [[Gulf of Siam]], where her only contact was a hospital ship. Her fourth war patrol, from 17 September to 7 November, took her to the northernmost waters in the Gulf of Siam, where on 19 October she laid 32 mines in the entrances to [[Bangkok]]. This was one of the strategic plants covering important Japanese shipping lanes previously patrolled by American submarines. Both patrols produced few contacts, thanks to timid patrolling, and no sinkings.<ref>Blair, pp.350, 911, & 921.</ref> ''Gar''{{'}} executive officer and third officer both requested transfers on her return, while her commanding officer received a "blistering" endorsement from his squadron commander and was relieved.<ref>Blair, p.350.</ref>

==Fifth, sixth, and seventh war patrols==
[[File:StateLibQld 1 144955 Indus Maru (ship).jpg|thumb|''Gar'' sank ''Indus Maru'' on 15 May 1943]]
''Gar''{{'}}s fifth, sixth and seventh war patrols were conducted largely in approaches to [[Manila]], [[Philippine Islands]], via [[Borneo]]. During her fifth, from 28 November to 19 January 1943, she drove freighter ''Heinan Maru'' onto the beach with six torpedo hits{{citation needed|date=March 2011}} and scored hits on a seaplane tender. (''Gar'' was credited with one ship of 600 tons by JANAC postwar.)<ref>Blair, p. 922. Nor does Blair mention any ''Heinan Maru'', sunk or otherwise.</ref> Her sixth, from 9 February to 2 April, brought numerous contacts with targets which could not be closed to firing range because of vigilant enemy aircraft and antisubmarine patrol ships. During her seventh war patrol, from 23 April to 27 May 1943 off Manila,<ref name="Blair, p.925">Blair, p. 925.</ref> she sank five small craft with gunfire; torpedoed and sank the 703-ton Japanese freighter/converted [[gunboat]] {{ship|Japanese gunboat|Aso Maru|1932|2}} south of the [[Negros Island]]s on 9 May, then six days later attacked a convoy west of [[Mindoro]], sinking the 3197-ton passenger-cargo ship ''Meikai Maru'' and the 4361-ton ''Indus Maru''.<ref>Blair, p. 925, records only three ships for 8000 tons by JANAC credit; it may have omitted ships of under 500 tons.</ref>

Captain Philip D. Quirk served on numerous ships and submarines in World War II and was also the commanding officer on {{USS|Fort Mandan|LSD-21}} following the outbreak of the [[Korean War]]. Quirk was awarded six [[Bronze Star Medal]]s. As commanding officer of {{USS|Gridley|DD-380}}, his first award was for assisting in the rescue of RM1/c [[George R. Tweed]] from the Japanese-held island of Guam. Tweed had been marooned there since the Japanese invasion, and later wrote a book about his adventures titled ''Robinson Crusoe, USN''. Quirk then commanded {{USS|Walker|DD-517}}, before transferring to the Submarine Service and assuming command of USS ''Gar''. He was awarded his fifth Bronze Star Medal in 1946 for ''Gar''{{'}}s fifth patrol. Quirk was awarded the [[Silver Star]] for the seventh patrol, which sank three Japanese ships totaling 8000 tons.

Quirk complained loudly about the Navy's faulty torpedoes, and was assigned to shore duty in July 1943. This scandal was soon proven all too true and corrected. Quirk was restored to grace, but transferred back to destroyer commands.

==Eighth and ninth war patrols==
Her eighth war patrol, from 18 June to 23 July, was spent patrolling the [[Flores Sea]], where she torpedoed a 500-ton motorship which ran itself aground, the crew escaping into the jungle. (''Gar'' was not given credit for it by JANAC.)<ref name="Blair, p.925"/> En route from Fremantle to Pearl Harbor on her ninth war patrol, from 8 August to 13 September, ''Gar'' scouted off [[Timor]] and scored hits on a freighter in [[Makassar Strait]]. She then went in for overhaul and modernization in the [[Mare Island Navy Yard]].

''Gar'' returned to Pearl Harbor 30 November 1943, now in the hands of George W. Lautrup, Jr. (class of 1934),<ref name="Blair, p.936">Blair, p. 936.</ref> to resume combat duty in the Pacific, based out of Fremantle.<ref name="Blair, p.936"/> Her ninth patrol saw her credited with one ship of 4,000 tons (reduced to 1,000 tons in the postwar accounting).<ref name="Blair, p.936"/>

==Tenth through thirteenth war patrols==
Her tenth war patrol, out of Fremantle from 16 December 1943 to 9 February 1944, was conducted off [[Palau]], where on 20 January she sank the 5325-ton cargo ship ''Koyu Maru''; damaged two ships of another convoy on 22 January; then attacked a third convoy the following day and sank the 3670-ton ''Taian Maru''. She then returned to Pearl Harbor.<ref>Blair, p. 937.</ref>

Her 11th war patrol, from 3 March to 21 April, found her performing lifeguard duty for aviators making the first carrier-based air strikes on Palau. She saved eight aviators, one less than two miles (3&nbsp;km) off the beach and within range of enemy gun emplacements.

Her 12th patrol, from 20 May to 5 July, was spent in the [[Bonin Islands]] area, where she made gunfire attacks on a convoy of Japanese sea trucks, leaving a small freighter raging in flames and dead in the water.

Her 13th patrol (now commanded by Maurice Ferrara, the first officer of the [[United States Naval Academy]] Class of 1937 to be given a submarine command),<ref>Blair, p. 724.</ref> lasted from 14 August to 9 October and was largely taken up with lifeguard duty off [[Yap]], supporting the combined fleet-shore operations that captured the [[Palau Islands]]. She also performed reconnaissance duty off [[Surigao Strait]]. She bombarded installations on Yap from 6 to 8 September and ended her patrol at [[Brisbane]], Australia.

==Fourteenth and fifteenth war patrols==
On her 14th war patrol, from 3 to 30 November, ''Gar'' landed 16 men and 25&nbsp;tons of supplies at [[San Esteban, Ilocos Sur]], [[Luzon]], [[Philippine Islands]],<ref name=Volckmann>Volckmann, R.W., 1954, We Remained, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., {{ISBN|9780393350227}}</ref>{{rp|168}} on 23 November and picked up intelligence documents. On 27 November 1944, an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] mistook her for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the [[Celebes Sea]] {{convert|20|nmi}} southeast of the [[Sibutu Passage]] at {{coord|04|33|N|119|50|E}}.<ref name=hinmanp70>Hinman & Campbell, p. 70.</ref> ''Gar'' [[Crash dive|crash-dived]] to a depth of {{convert|150|ft|0}} and heard three [[Aerial bomb|bombs]] explode, none of them close.<ref name=hinmanp70/> She terminated her patrol in the [[lagoon]] at [[Mios Woendi]] in the [[Schouten Islands]].

On her 15th and final war patrol, from 4 to 27 December, she landed 35&nbsp;tons of supplies on the west coast of Luzon, near [[Luna, La Union|Darigayos Inlet]]<ref name=Volckmann/>{{rp|171–173}} on 11 December, returning to Pearl Harbor with urgent intelligence documents including maps locating enemy gun emplacements, beach defenses, troop concentrations, and fuel and ammunition dumps on Luzon. Some of those supplies and personnel made their way to [[Donald Blackburn]]'s guerrilla force.<ref name=Harkins>Harkins, P., 1956, Blackburn's Headhunters, London: Cassell & Co. LTD</ref>{{rp|255}}

==End of World War II and fate==
After overhaul in the [[Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard]], ''Gar'' put to sea 2 April 1945 to serve the remainder of the war as a target trainer for antisubmarine ships at [[Saipan]] and [[Guam]], [[Marianas Islands]]. She departed [[Apra Harbor, Guam]], on 7 August 1945, proceeding via [[Hawaii]], [[San Francisco, California]], and the [[Panama Canal]] to the [[Portsmouth Naval Shipyard]] in [[Kittery, Maine]], where she arrived 20 October.

She decommissioned there 11 December 1945 and remained in reserve until September 1948, when she began an overhaul in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard which lasted until through October. She was then transferred as a [[United States Naval Reserve]] training submarine for the [[4th Naval District]] at [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], [[Ohio]], arriving there via the [[Mississippi River]] and the [[Chicago Canal]] on 28 November 1948. She continued her reserve training until her name was stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 29 May 1959. She was sold for scrapping 18 November 1959 to [[Acme Scrap Iron and Metal]] Company.

==Honors and awards==
''Gar'' received 11 [[battle star]]s for service in World War II.

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/g/gar.html}}
{{refend}}

===Bibliography===
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=hkupDwAAQBAJ&dq=LApon+raton&pg=PA181 Hinman, Charles R., and Douglas E. Campbell. ''The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II''. Syneca Research Group, Inc., 2019.] {{ISBN|978-0-359-76906-3}}.

{{Tambor_class_submarine}}
{{November 1944 shipwrecks}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gar (SS-206)}}
[[Category:Tambor-class submarines]]
[[Category:World War II submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Groton, Connecticut]]
[[Category:1940 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in November 1944]]
[[Category:Friendly fire incidents of World War II]]