USS Tambor ( SS - 198 ) USS " Tambor " ( SS - 198 ) , the lead ship of her class of submarine , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tambor . Her keel was laid down on 16 January 1939 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 20 December 1939 sponsored by Miss Lucia Ellis , and commissioned on 3 June 1940 with Lieutenant Commander John M . Murphy , Jr . ( Class of 1925 ) , in command . After fitting out at New London , " Tambor " got underway on 6 August 1940 for her shakedown cruise which took her to New York City , Washington , D . C . , Morehead City , North Carolina , and Houston , Texas . Following further training off Colón , Panama , the submarine returned to New London , Connecticut , before holding her acceptance trials and undergoing a post - shakedown overhaul at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine . After conducting live - fire trials on the effectiveness of depth charge s , the first of their kind in the U . S . Navy , " Tambor " reported in May 1941 to the Submarine Force , Pacific Fleet , and the command of Rear Admiral Thomas W . Withers , Jr . ( ) . " Tambor " began a routine peacetime patrol in late November 1941 and was off Wake Island when hostilities with Japan broke out . However , she was forced to return to Pearl Harbor with one engine out of commission . Routed back to Mare Island , where the damage was repaired , the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor in March 1942 . First war patrol . " Tambor " began her first war patrol on 15 March when she stood out of Pearl Harbor to reconnoiter the areas around Wake Island , Truk , New Ireland , New Britain , and Rabaul . In all , she made nine attacks ; on 16 April , she fired two torpedoes at tanker " Kitami Maru " . One hit , and she was credited with a sinking ; this was not verified by postwar examination of Japanese records . " Tambor " returned to Pearl Harbor on 12 May , where her skipper criticized the torpedoes . Second patrol . After refitting , she was then assigned to Task Group 7 . 1 . The group of six submarines sailed for Midway Island on 21 May to begin patrolling a circle in anticipation of the invasion fleet intelligence had reported was " en route " there . At 07 : 15 on 4 June 90 minutes after first reported contact , , Admiral Robert H . English , informed his submarines , waiting until after 11 : 00 to order them to close . Running surfaced , " Tambor " was strafed by aircraft At 02 : 15 on 5 June , " Tambor " radioed sighting " four large ships " north of Midway , at a range of . This vague and unhelpful observation was mostly due to Lt . Cdr . John W . Murphy Jr . ' s unwillingness to approach close enough to even verify the ships were Japanese ( or even warships at all ) . Lt . Cdr . Murphy ' s half - hearted effort frustrated Admiral Spruance because without confirmation of the vessels ' size , nationality and heading , he could not safely discount the idea that Yamamoto still intended to shell Midway . Thus he was forced to move to block them , thereby denying the Japanese the chance to engage that night ( when Spruance ' s carriers would have been virtually defenseless ) . Three other ships soon appeared ; about forty minutes after " Tambor " signalled , she was sighted . Amazingly , the panic this induced in the cruiser force proved to be " Tambor " ' s best ( and among her only ) contribution to the battle . Frantically maneuvering to escape what they believed was an imminent torpedo attack , and collided in the fog , while the other two cruisers ( and ) fled northwest ; " Mikuma " and " Mogami " , with the destroyers , limped west at . " Tambor " herself was totally unaware of the chaos she had caused , since she had once again failed to maintain visual contact with the cruiser force and thus did not see the collision or realize she ' d been spotted . Not until 04 : 12 did " Tambor " finally creep close enough to tentatively identify the ships as Japanese cruisers . Despite having fired no torpedoes thus far in the battle , fearing exposure by daylight , " Tambor " made no attacks and dove to safety , ignoring even the slow and wounded " Mogami " , quite literally one of the best targets a submarine could hope for . She played no further role in the battle . Two days later , " Tambor " sighted a scout plane away ; she went to . Two depth bombs , which exploded close aboard , damaged both her periscopes and cracked all four battery blower motors , so " Tambor " returned to Pearl Harbor on 16 June for repairs ; Lt . Cdr . Murphy was promptly relieved of duty for timidity in the face of the enemy in light of " Tambor " < nowiki > ' s < / nowiki > failure to close with and attack the enemy , or at least identify and properly shadow the Japanese cruiser force so aircraft could be vectored to the location ( a regular task for both Japanese and American submarines and the primary purpose " Tambor " was there at all ) . Lt . Cdr . Murphy ' s lack of aggressiveness had hampered Spruance ' s intelligence of the battle and had played the lion ' s share of the role in allowing , and to escape almost certain destruction from air attack . Murphy was sent to a shore post , being replaced in command of " Tambor " by Lt . Cdr . Steven H . Armbruster . Third patrol . Her next patrol ( now in the hands of Stephen H . Ambruster ) began on 24 July at Pearl Harbor , ending on 19 September at Fremantle , Australia . " Tambor " searched for enemy shipping in the Marshall Islands . On 7 August near Wotje Atoll , she sank the converted net tender " Shofaka " with one torpedo which broke her in half . " Tambor " remained in the Marshalls until 19 August when she was ordered to patrol the southern passages to Truk . As there was time to spare before she was to take station there , she prowled through the Caroline Islands . On 21 August near Ponape , the submarine fired a spread of three torpedoes at a freighter and her escort . The first hit the target amidships and the other two aft , blowing off the stern . " Shinsei Maru No . Six " quickly sank . On 1 September , she fired four torpedoes at a tanker off Truk and damaged it with one hit . She was credited with two ships for 12 , 000 tons ; this was reduced to 5 , 800 tons postwar . Fourth patrol . " Tambor " sailed for Hainan Strait on 12 October and ( in part due to torpedo shortages ) laid mine s . On 3 November , she fired three torpedoes at a freighter , but all missed . The submarine eluded detection and , 30 minutes later , fired two more . One hit amidships , and " Chikugo Maru " went under by the stern . On 6 November , she fired two torpedoes at a cargo - passenger ship flying the French flag , but both missed . On 10 November , she closed on an unarmed sampan , took its crew on board and sank it by gunfire . Credited with one ship for 10 , 000 tons ( reduced to 2 , 500 tons postwar ) , " Tambor " returned to Fremantle on 21 November for refit , during which her deck gun was replaced by a five - inch ( 127 mm ) / 25cal gun . Fifth patrol . From 18 December 1942 to 28 January 1943 , " Tambor " patrolled Sunda Strait between Krakatau and Thartway Island . The only target sighted was an enemy destroyer which she attacked ( a rare act of aggressiveness for submarines ) on 1 January 1943 . The submarine ' s spread of four torpedoes missed , and she went deep to avoid the 18 depth charges that followed . On 29 December 1942 the " Fukken Maru " sank from a mine laid by the Tambor Sixth patrol . " Tambor " sailed from Fremantle on 18 February to carry out a special mission in the Philippine Islands , in support of " MacArthur ' s Guerrillas " . On 5 March , she landed a small party headed by Lt . Cdr . Charles Parsons with 50 , 000 rounds of . 30 ( 7 . 62 mm ) ammunition , 20 , 000 rounds of . 45 ( 11 . 4 mm ) pistol ammunition , and $ 10 , 000 in currency on southern Mindanao . On 22 March , she fired three torpedoes at a tanker southwest of Apo Island . { This was the Bugen Maru - damaged } Seven days later , she scored one hit on a freighter out of three torpedoes fired and believed it sank ; it was not confirmed . The submarine returned to Fremantle on 14 April for refit in which a 20 - millimeter gun was installed forward of the bridge . Seventh patrol . " Tambor " s seventh patrol ( now under Russell Kefauver ) took her north of the Malay Barrier from 7 May to 27 June 1943 . On 26 May , she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a tanker that all missed . Three days later , three more missed a cargo ship . She tried again several hours later , saw two of the three torpedoes fired score hits , and heard three explosions . As the target was sinking , she fired another spread of three at an accompanying freighter . Some of the crew of " Eiski Maru " escaped in two lifeboats . On 2 June and on 6 June , she fired spreads of three torpedoes at cargo ships . The first appeared to break in half , and the second seemed to sink ; but there is no record of the sinkings in Japanese official records . { The " Eika Maru " was sunk 2 June } On 16 June , " Tambor " fired her last three torpedoes at a tanker off Cam Ranh Bay but all missed . Her score for the patrol postwar was one ship of 2 , 500 tons . Eighth patrol . " Tambor " stood out of Fremantle for the last time on 20 July " en route " to Lombok Strait . On 27 July the " Teiken Maru " was sunk by a mine laid by the Tambor On 3 August , she sighted five cargomen and a destroyer in Palawan Passage . Three shots at a freighter produced two hits , and one fired at another target missed ; Japanese records do not indicate any sinking . On 21 August , she sighted an unescorted convoy of three tankers and five freighters . She fired five torpedoes at a pair of freighters , but scored no hits . Two more sped toward a tanker and produced one explosion but no apparent damage . The next day , she sighted another convoy heading in the opposite direction . Making a submerged attack , " Tambor " fired five torpedoes at a large freighter . Three made perfect hits amidships but all failed to explode , and she sank no ships . The submarine set sail for Midway , arriving 7 September . She transited through Pearl Harbor on her way to San Francisco , on 20 November for major overhaul . Ninth patrol . " Tambor " returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 December 1943 and held refresher training during the remainder of the month . She began her ninth war patrol on 5 January 1944 . Her assigned area was in the East China Sea . She sighted a " Natori " - class cruiser on 22 January , but lost contact in a rain squall . Six days later , she contacted a convoy of nine ships heading north and tracked it until 01 : 56 the next day . She then fired two torpedoes at a cargo ship in a surface attack . Both hit and sent " Shuntai Maru " down by the bow . An escort headed straight for the submarine and ramming seemed inevitable . " Tambor " opened fire with her aft 20 - millimeter gun and turned hard to port causing the escort to pass astern . After evading the escort , the submarine tried to regain contact with the convoy but failed . On 2 February , she began tracking two ships . The following morning , she fired two torpedoes at a cargo ship , and both hit amidships . She directed two more at a tanker , and one hit forward of the target ' s stack . Both " Ariake Maru " and " Goyo Maru " sank . " Tambor " went deep and remained on the bottom under depth charge attack from 04 : 18 to 13 : 15 . Ten days later , she encountered another three - ship convoy . In a night surface attack , the submarine fired a spread of three torpedoes at a cargo ship . As " Tambor " submerged , her crew heard one hit and sank the passenger - cargo ship " Ronsan Maru " . Her patrol was a rousing success , with four ships confirmed sunk , a total of 18 , 400 tons . Tenth patrol . After refit at Pearl Harbor , " Tambor " put to sea on 9 April " en route " to the Mariana Islands . On 18 April , she attacked a 250 - ton trawler loaded with food and fresh vegetables . A boarding party from the submarine killed seven members of the Japanese vessel ' s crew and captured the second officer . The Americans removed the ship ' s papers and left her afire and sinking . { This was the gunboat " Shinku Maru No . 3 " } On 10 May , she contacted an eight - ship convoy , escorted by five destroyers and two destroyer escorts . In a submerged attack , " Tambor " fired four torpedoes at a cargo ship and heard two explosions , then went deep , taking 50 depth charges from the escorts . " Tambor " surfaced later and attempted to close the convoy once more . However , a destroyer picked her up and subjected her to another depth charge attack . { The sunk ship was the " Keiyo Maru " } On 26 May she scored two hits which sank " Chigo Maru " ( 650 tons ) . " Tambor " s tenth patrol ended at Midway on 2 June . Eleventh patrol . The submarine ( now in the hands of William J . Germershausen ) conducted her next patrol in the waters off southern Hokkaidō and the Kuril Islands from 16 July to 23 August . She fired three torpedoes at a freighter on 28 July and heard three explosions . However , a dense fog prohibited her seeing the results . { possibly the escort reported to have been damaged by " unknown cause " } On 13 August , " Tambor " made a surface attack against a cargo ship and then photographed " Toei Maru " ( 2 , 300 tons ) as she lowered two lifeboats and sank in 20 minutes . After returning to Midway , " Tambor " continued to Pearl Harbor for refit . Twelfth patrol . " Tambor " returned to Midway on 6 October and sailed the next day for the Tokyo Bay area . On 15 October , she fired four torpedoes at three radar pips and heard one explosion . She was forced to go deep to evade 26 depth charges . She emerged with no damage . Four days later , she attacked an escort with four torpedoes and heard four explosions , but no sinking was verified . The submarine returned to Saipan from 8 to 10 November , then resumed her patrol , now one of six members of the wolfpack " Burt ' s Brooms " ( named for Thomas B . Klakring , commanding SubDiv 101 ) . Shortly before midnight on 15 November , " Tambor " fired three torpedoes at a patrol boat , but scored no hits . Forty - five minutes later , three more missed . At 06 : 10 , the submarine ' s commander decided to battle on the surface with his deck guns ; the escort fired back , and a " Tambor " crewmen was severely wounded . Thirty minutes later , as the target began to sink , " Tambor " ' s crew took two prisoners from the water . She transferred them and the wounded crewman to on 18 November . { The sunken vessel was the guardship " Takashiro Maru " } " Tambor " ended her last war patrol at Pearl Harbor on 30 November , to be retired from combat . Routed onward to the United States , " Tambor " arrived at San Francisco on 10 December 1944 . After an extended overhaul , the submarine sailed for Puget Sound on 9 March 1945 . Upon her arrival , " Tambor " began training operations with Navy patrol aircraft under Fleet Air Wing 6 . On 17 September , she departed the West Coast for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard . " Tambor " was decommissioned there on 10 December 1945 and placed in reserve . In April 1947 , the submarine was assigned to the Ninth Naval District to train naval reservists , and reported to the Naval Reserve Training Center , Detroit , Michigan , on 8 December . " Tambor " remained on this station until 1959 when a Board of Inspection and Survey found her unfit for further naval service . She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September and subsequently sold for scrap . " Tambor " received 11 battle star s for World War II service .