USS Seawolf ( SS - 197 ) USS " Seawolf " ( SS - 197 ) , a " Sargo " - class submarine , was the second submarine of the United States Navy named for the seawolf . Her keel was laid down on 27 September 1938 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine . She was launched on 15 August 1939 sponsored by Mrs . Edward C . Kalbfus and commissioned on 1 December 1939 , Lieutenant Frederick B . Warder ( Class of 1925 ) in command . Service history . Inter - War Period . After fitting out , " Seawolf " departed Portsmouth , New Hampshire on 12 April 1940 for her shakedown cruise , which lasted until 21 June and took her as far south as the Panama Canal Zone . " Seawolf " was next assigned to the Pacific Fleet , home ported at San Diego . In the autumn of 1940 , she proceeded to Manila Bay and operated from the Cavite Navy Yard . World War II . When war with Japan began , the submarine readied for sea and was on her first war patrol from 8 – 26 December 1941 . " Seawolf " hunted Japanese shipping off San Bernardino Strait . On 14 December , she fired a spread of torpedoes at " Sanyo Maru " in Port San Vicente . One torpedo hit , but did not explode . She promptly underwent her first depth charge attack but suffered no damage . " Seawolf " departed Manila on 31 December 1941 for Australia and arrived at Darwin on 9 January 1942 . She loaded 30 – 40 tons of . 50 - caliber ( 12 . 7 mm ) antiaircraft ammunition for use by American forces on Corregidor and sailed for Manila Bay on 16 January . The submarine sighted seven Japanese freighters accompanied by four destroyer s and a cruiser on 21 January , but had no opportunity to fire any of the eight torpedoes that she had aboard . The ammunition was unloaded on 28 – 29 January at Corregidor . " Seawolf " then loaded torpedoes and passengers , and headed for Surabaya , Java . " Seawolf " sailed out of Surabaya on 15 February and began patrolling in the Java Sea - Lombok Strait area . On 19 February , she fired four torpedoes at two Japanese freighter - transports in the Badung Strait . Damage to one was not ascertained , but the other was reported last seen down by the stern and listing to starboard . ( However , " Sagami Maru " had been damaged by USAAF air attack , not by " Seawolf " s torpedo . ) A week later , she fired her stern tubes at a freighter and watched one hit forward of the bridge before going deep to evade depth charges from an escorting destroyer at which she had also fired . In March , " Seawolf " was hunting between Java and Christmas Island . On 1 April , she stealthily approached the anchorage at Christmas Island where the Japanese invasion force lay at anchor . " Seawolf " fired a spread at . Though " Seawolf " was credited with a sinking at the time , only one torpedo hit , causing significant damage to the ship , although not harming any of the crew . " Naka " was forced to return to Japan for repairs and was out of the war for almost a year . Unaware she had hit her target , " Seawolf " then underwent 7½ hours of depth charge attacks . On 1 April , she attacked two cruiser s . A violent explosion was heard , but no flames were seen . " Seawolf " ended her patrol on 7 April at Fremantle and received the Navy Unit Commendation . On her fifth patrol , from 12 May until 2 July ( a total of 51 days at sea ) , " Seawolf " patrolled the Philippine Islands area . She attacked freighters on 20 May 23 May , 12 June 13 June 15 June , and 28 June . On 13 June , she fired at two ships and her crew heard four explosions , but no sinkings were confirmed . " Seawolf " returned to Fremantle for three weeks before beginning her sixth war patrol . " Seawolf " prowled the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea from 25 July – 15 September . She attacked a tanker on 3 August , sank " Hachigen Maru " on 14 August and " Showa Maru " 11 days later . She returned to Fremantle to refit and then hunted in the Davao Gulf area from 7 October – 1 December . " Seawolf " sank " Gifu Maru " on 2 November , " Sagami Maru " the next day , and " Keiko Maru " on 8 November . She ended her patrol at Pearl Harbor en route to the West Coast . " Seawolf " arrived at Mare Island on 10 December 1942 and underwent an overhaul that lasted until 24 February 1943 . She returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 March , and on 3 April stood out for another patrol . She ended this patrol early , on 3 May , because she had expended all torpedoes on enemy shipping near the Bonin Islands . On 15 April , she torpedoed " Kaihei Maru " , sank an old destroyer now known as " Patrol Boat Number 39 " on 23 April ; and sank two 75 - ton sampans with her 3 - in ( 76mm ) gun . " Seawolf " returned to Midway Island for refitting and departed that island on 17 May and headed for the East China Sea . She ran into several large convoys as she prowled from Formosa to Nagasaki . The submarine tracked a convoy of 11 ships and fired a spread of torpedoes at a large freighter on 6 June . One torpedo hit the target but proved to be a dud , and another passed under the freighter and hit an escort . Two weeks later , she fired a spread at four ships . One was hit in the stern and sank in approximately nine minutes . This was " Shojin Maru " loaded with troops . " Seawolf " returned to Midway Island on 8 July and , four days later , steamed into Pearl Harbor . Her next patrol was from 14 August – 15 September . This patrol , in the East China Sea , was also ended prematurely due to firing all torpedoes . She sank 12 , 996 tons of enemy shipping , excluding two 75 - ton sampans sunk by shellfire . " Seawolf " made contact with a six - ship convoy on her third day in the patrol area . She attacked day and night for three days before finally surfacing to sink " Fusei Maru " with her deck gun . On " Seawolf " s 11th patrol , in the South China Sea from 5 October – 27 November , she sank " Wuhu Maru " , " Kaifuku Maru " , and damaged a 10 , 000 - ton cargo ship . The submarine refitted at Pearl Harbor , and on 22 December 1943 , headed for the East China Sea on what was to be her most lucrative patrol . She attacked a seven - ship convoy on the night of 10 – 11 January 1944 and sank three ships totaling 19 , 710 tons . On 14 January , " Seawolf " fired her last four torpedoes at two merchant ships in a convoy , damaging one and sinking " Yamatsuru Maru " . She continued tracking the convoy while radioing its position to . " Whale " arrived on 16 January and promptly attacked , damaging one ship and sinking " Denmark Maru " . The next morning , " Whale " damaged another before action was broken off . " Seawolf " ( Commander Albert Marion Bontier ) returned to Pearl Harbor on 27 January and sailed for San Francisco two days later . After undergoing a major overhaul at Hunters Point , the submarine headed west on 16 May . When she reached Pearl Harbor , she was assigned the task of photographing Peleliu Island in the Palau Islands , in preparation for the forthcoming attack on that stronghold . She carried out this mission despite constant enemy air patrols from 4 June – 7 July . The submarine headed to Majuro for voyage repairs and was rerouted to Darwin . There , she received orders sending her on a special mission to Tawitawi , in the Sulu Archipelago . The submarine approached to within of the beach , picked up a Captain Young and took him to Brisbane . " Seawolf " stood out of Brisbane on 21 September to begin her 15th war patrol under the command of Lieutenant Commander A . M . Bontier . She reached Manus Island on 29 September , refueled , and sailed the same day carrying stores and Army personnel to the east coast of Samar . " Seawolf " and exchanged radar recognition signals at 0756 on 3 October in the Morotai area . Shortly thereafter , a 7th Fleet task group was attacked by . was torpedoed and sunk , and began to search for the enemy . Since there were four friendly submarines in the vicinity of this attack , they were directed to give their positions and the other three did , but " Seawolf " was not heard from . On 4 October , " Seawolf " again was directed to report her position , and again she failed to do so . One of two planes from sighted a submarine submerging and dropped two bombs on it even though it was in a safety zone for American submarines . The site was marked by dye . " Rowell " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s commanding officer knew he was in a safety lane , but , having failed to get word " Seawolf " was behind schedule , believed there was no U . S . submarine nearby and chose to attack . " Rowell " established sonar contact on the submarine , which then sent a series of dashes and dots which " Rowell " stated bore no resemblance to the existing recognition signals . Believing this an attempt to jam her sonar , " Rowell " attacked with Hedgehog . The second attack was followed by underwater explosion s , and debris rose to the surface . Post - war examination of Japanese records shows no attack listed that could account for the loss of " Seawolf " . While it is possible " Seawolf " was lost to an operational casualty or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack , it is more likely she was sunk by friendly fire . 62 officers and men as well as 17 Army passengers were lost . She was the thirty - fourth U . S . submarine lost in the Pacific War , the second ( after in the Caribbean ) to friendly fire . On 28 December 1944 , " Seawolf " was declared overdue from patrol and presumed lost . She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 20 January 1945 . Honors and awards . " Seawolf " received 13 battle star s for World War II service . She ranked fourteenth in confirmed tonnage sunk ( 71 , 609 tons ) and tied for seventh in confirmed ships sunk ( with and ) , according to the JANAC accounting postwar . The contributions and sacrifices of " Seawolf " and her crew are officially commemorated in Seawolf Park , located on Pelican Island , just north of Galveston , Texas .