USS Albacore ( SS - 218 ) " Albacore " was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the albacore . Her keel was laid on 21 April 1941 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 17 February 1942 ( sponsored by Mrs . Elwin F . Cutts , the wife of Captain Cutts ) , and commissioned on 1 June 1942 , Lieutenant Commander Richard C . Lake ( Class of 1929 ) in command . Service history . World War II . 1942 . Following shakedown , the submarine proceeded " via " the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor and , from that base on 28 August 1942 , began her first war patrol , to waters of the north and northeast pass through the coral reef which surrounds Truk . On 13 September , " Albacore " sighted two cargo vessels in column and prepared for her first combat action . She made a submerged approach and fired three torpedo es at the leading ship and two at the second . One or two torpedoes hit on the first ship ; none struck the second . " Albacore " claimed to have damaged the leading vessel . Her next enemy contact came on 1 October when she made a night surface attack on a Japanese tanker . She expended seven torpedoes and scored two hits . Although the tanker appeared to be low in the water , she was still able to leave the scene under her own power . On 9 October , " Albacore " spotted a " Shōkaku " - class aircraft carrier escorted by a heavy cruiser and a destroyer , but the submarine was depth charge d by the escorts and forced to break off her pursuit . The next day , she attacked a freighter . One torpedo hit the mark , and 12 minutes after firing , the sound of two heavy explosions caused the submarine ' s crew to presume they had downed the vessel . Beginning on the mid - morning of 11 October , " Albacore " was depth charged numerous times . At 1548 , the conning officer finally spotted the Japanese attackers , two submarine chasers and an airplane . A third ship equipped with sound gear joined the group and continued the hunt . The ships crisscrossed over " Albacore " , close enough for propeller noise to reverberate throughout her hull and compelled her to proceed at silent running , with her ventilator fans shut down . After a chase of nearly seven hours , the Japanese ships disappeared astern , and " Albacore " then surfaced to clear the immediate area . The next day , " Albacore " headed for Midway Island . Although she had had several opportunities to score during the patrol , " Albacore " was not credited with any damage to Japanese shipping . The submarine arrived at Midway Island on 20 October and commenced a refit . With her refurbishing completed and a new Oerlikon 20 mm cannon installed , " Albacore " sailed on 11 November for her second patrol . Her assigned areas were the St . George ' s Channel , New Britain , along the east coast of New Guinea to Vitiaz Strait , and the Dallman Pass off Madang harbor . On 24 November , the submarine spotted a convoy of two cargo vessels . " Albacore " maneuvered into position and fired two stern tubes , but neither torpedo found its target . Two days later , on 26 November , " Albacore " herself became the quarry . Two Japanese destroyers depth charged her and the explosions caused numerous small leaks around the cable packing glands in the pressure hull . After a two - hour chase , the Japanese retired , and " Albacore " shifted her patrol area to Vitiaz Strait . Another golden opportunity arose on 13 December , when " Albacore " found three Japanese destroyers . She released a three - torpedo spread but again was unsuccessful . On 18 December , " Albacore " was stationed off Madang . The submarine discovered what seemed to be a transport and a destroyer . " Albacore " torpedoed the " transport , " and it exploded in a mass of flames and sank . " Albacore " had in fact downed , and the second Japanese cruiser sunk by an American submarine in World War II . " Albacore " put into port at Brisbane , Australia , on 30 December . 1943 . After an overhaul of her engines , " Albacore " got underway on 20 January 1943 to begin her third patrol . Off the north coast of New Guinea , she spotted 11 targets in as many days . The first group , encountered on 20 February , consisted of a destroyer and a frigate escorting a minelayer . " Albacore " fired ten torpedoes and believed she had sunk the destroyer and damaged the frigate . In the following days , " Albacore " attacked one tanker , several freighters , and another destroyer . Of eight torpedoes expended during these actions , all missed their targets . When " Albacore " ended her patrol at Brisbane on 11 March , she was credited with sinking one destroyer and a frigate for a total of 2 , 250 tons . " Albacore " was briefly dry - docked for repairs and underwent refresher training before sailing for a fourth patrol on 6 April . This time , her area was around the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Islands and off the north coast of New Guinea . While she sighted several convoys , she recorded no hits . " Albacore " returned to Brisbane on 26 May . While " Albacore " was being refitted at that port , Lieutenant Commander Oscar E . Hagberg relieved Lieutenant Commander Lake in command of the submarine . On 16 June , " Albacore " was underway for her fifth patrol and waters surrounding the Bismarcks and the Solomons . During this patrol , she sighted three separate convoys and attacked two . " Albacore " claimed to have damaged a transport on 19 July but the submarine failed to sink any vessels . " Albacore " arrived back at Brisbane and began a refit alongside . On 23 August , " Albacore " left to patrol roughly the same area as on her previous assignment . She spotted a Japanese submarine on 31 August but was unable to press home an attack . On 4 September , she encountered a two - ship convoy protected by two escorts and sank one of the ships , " Heijo Maru " , with three torpedo hits made shortly after the initial contact . The submarine then pursued the other vessel for the next two days but was able to inflict only minor hull damage on her target . She terminated her patrol at Brisbane on 26 September . " Albacore " s seventh patrol began on 12 October 1943 . She fired six torpedoes at a large merchant ship on 25 October but recorded no hits . On 6 November , she received a report of a convoy which had been spotted by , and began to search for it . On 8 November , the submarine found the convoy and started to track it . However , a plane from the Fifth Army Air Force bombed her and caused her to lose contact with the Japanese ships . The submarine sustained no damage . " Albacore " was again bombed by American aircraft on 10 November . This time , the submarine suffered considerable damage . All auxiliary power was knocked out , and the submarine was plunged into total darkness . The main induction valve went under water before it was shut , and it began filling up with water . " Albacore " plunged to a depth of before her dive was checked . For the next two and one - half hours , she bounced between and while at various attitudes . She finally managed to return to the surface with her trim almost restored . The submarine re - submerged , and it was decided to continue the patrol while simultaneously making necessary repairs . Following this ordeal , " Albacore " received orders to locate and attack , which had been hit and damaged by . " Albacore " found " Agano " on 12 November and tried to attack , but Japanese destroyers held the submarine down with a four - hour depth charge barrage . On 25 November , " Albacore " sank Japanese army transport " Kenzan Maru " . On her return to Brisbane on 5 December , Lieutenant Commander James W . Blanchard replaced Hagberg in command . " Albacore " departed Australia on 26 December to patrol north of the Bismarck Islands . She spotted her first target on 12 January 1944 and sank " Choko Maru " with two separate torpedo attacks . Two days later , in company with and , she blew up ( flushed by " Guardfish " ) with four shots from " Albacore " s stern tubes . Another destroyer pinned " Albacore " down and delivered fifty - nine depth charges , leaving " Scamp " and " Guardfish " free to pursue the three tankers ; they succeeded in sinking one each . Following more than a fortnight of uneventful patrolling , the submarine headed home . She made brief fuel stops at Tulagi and Midway Island before reaching Pearl Harbor on 22 February . After three days of repairs to get her ready for the voyage , " Albacore " continued on to the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo , California for overhaul . 1944 . " Albacore " left Mare Island on 5 May 1944 and held training exercises with " en route " to Hawaii . " Albacore " reached Pearl Harbor on 13 May and spent the next two weeks on final repairs and training . " Albacore " began her ninth patrol on 29 May , and was assigned waters west of the Mariana Islands and around the Palau Islands . In the next few days , she made only one contact , a Japanese convoy which she encountered on 11 June . But before the submarine could maneuver into attack position , a Japanese aircraft forced her to dive and lose contact . The Sinking of " Taihō " . On the morning of 18 June , two days after American forces began landing on Saipan , " Albacore " shifted from her position west of the Mariana Islands to a new location further south . Admiral Charles Andrews Lockwood ( ComSubPac ) ordered this move in the hope of enabling the submarine to intercept a Japanese task force ( under command of Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa ) reportedly steaming from Tawi Tawi toward Saipan . At about 0800 the next morning , " Albacore " raised her periscope and found herself in the midst of Ozawa ' s main carrier group . Blanchard allowed one Japanese carrier to pass unharmed and selected a second one for his target . Once inside , the submarine ' s Torpedo Data Computer started giving false information . To maximize the odds of a hit , Blanchard fired all six bow tubes . The carrier was in the process of launching an air strike , and one of the pilots ( Sakio Komatsu ) intentionally dove his plane into a torpedo , setting it off early . Three Japanese destroyers immediately charged " Albacore " . While the submarine was diving to escape , her crew heard one solid torpedo explosion . About that same time , 25 depth charges began raining down on the submarine . Then Blanchard heard " a distant and persistent explosion of great force " followed by another . One of Blanchard ' s torpedoes had hit the carrier . It was Ozawa ' s flagship , , 31 , 000 tons , the newest and largest in the Japanese fleet . The explosion jammed the ship ' s forward aircraft elevator ; its pit filled with gasoline , water , and fuel . However , no fire erupted , and the flight deck was unharmed . The one torpedo hit on " Taihō " caused little concern on board . Ozawa still " radiated confidence and satisfaction " and by 11 : 30 had launched raids Three and Four . Meanwhile , a novice took over the damage - control work . He thought the best way to handle gasoline fumes was to open up the ship ' s ventilation system and let them disperse . When he did , the fumes spread all through the ship . Unknown to anybody on board , " Taihō " became a floating time bomb . About 3 : 30 that afternoon , " Taihō " was jolted by a severe explosion . A senior staff officer on the bridge saw the flight deck heave up . The sides blew out . " Taihō " dropped out of formation and began to settle in the water , clearly doomed . Though Admiral Ozawa wanted to go down with the ship , his staff prevailed on him to survive and to shift his quarters to . Taking the Emperor ' s portrait , Ozawa transferred to " Haguro " by destroyer . After he left , " Taihō " was torn by a second thunderous explosion and sank stern first , carrying down 1 , 650 officers and men . No one on " Albacore " thought " Taihō " had sunk , and her skipper was angry for " missing a golden opportunity . " After this action , " Albacore " was assigned lifeguard duty for planes striking Yap and Ulithi . On 2 July , " Albacore " shifted over to intercept traffic between Yap and the Palau Islands . The submarine spotted a wooden inter - island steamer loaded with Japanese civilians . " Albacore " decided to stage a surface gun attack . After ensuring the ship was afire , " Albacore " dived to avoid an airplane . The submarine surfaced soon thereafter and picked up five survivors . " Albacore " put in to Majuro on 15 July . She was praised for an aggressive patrol and received credit for damaging a " Shōkaku " - class carrier . American codebreakers lost track of " Taihō " after the Battle of the Philippine Sea and , while puzzled , did not realize she had gone down . Only months later did a prisoner of war reveal her sinking . After a refit alongside , the submarine began her tenth patrol on 8 August . Her assignment was the Bungo Suido - Kii Suido area , and , during this period , " Albacore " was credited with sinking two Japanese vessels , a cargo ship and a submarine chaser . The patrol ended at Pearl Harbor on 25 September . Loss . " Albacore " left Pearl Harbor on 24 October 1944 ( with Hugh Raynor Rimmer , Class of 1937 , in command ) , topped off her fuel tanks at Midway Island on 28 October , and was never heard from again . According to Japanese records captured after the war , a submarine ( presumed to be " Albacore " ) struck a naval mine very close to the shore off northeastern Hokkaidō on 7 November 1944 . A Japanese patrol boat witnessed the explosion of a submerged submarine and saw a great deal of heavy oil , cork , bedding , and food supplies rise to the surface . On 21 December , " Albacore " was presumed lost . Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 March 1945 . Awards . " Albacore " won nine battle star s for her service and the Presidential Unit Citation for her second , third , eighth , and ninth patrols during World War II . See also . List of U . S . Navy losses in World War II