USS Seadragon ( SS - 194 ) USS " Seadragon " ( SS - 194 ) , a " Sargo " - class submarine , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seadragon . Her keel was laid on 18 April 1938 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton , Connecticut . She was christened and launched on 21 April 1939 , sponsored by Mrs . J . O . Richardson ( wife of the former Commander in Chief , Pacific Fleet ) , and commissioned on 23 October 1939 with Lieutenant John G . Johns in command . Operational history . Following a shakedown cruise off the east coast and in the Caribbean Sea , " Seadragon " returned to New England and , on 23 May 1940 , departed New London , Connecticut , for the Philippine Islands . With Commander , Submarine Division 17 ( ComSubDiv 17 ) embarked , she arrived at Cavite on 30 November and commenced training operations as a unit of the Asiatic Fleet . A year later , she prepared for overhaul ; and , by 8 December 1941 ( 7 December east of the International Date Line ) , she had started her yard period at the Cavite Navy Yard . Two days later , on 10 December , she and sister ship , moored together , were caught in an enemy air raid against Cavite . " Sealion " took a direct hit which demolished her and damaged " Seadragon " . The force of the explosion ripped off part of the latter ' s bridge . Fragments and splinters punctured her ballast tank s and conning tower , killing one and wounding five . The heat of the explosion scorched her hull and blistered her black paint . Fires and explosions raged along the wharf . A nearby torpedo shop went up and flames reached toward a lighter , loaded with torpedoes , lying alongside " Seadragon " . Submarine Rescue Vessel , however , disregarded the danger and moved in to tow " Seadragon " into the channel ; she continued into Manila Bay under her own power . Temporary repairs were accomplished by tender and " Pigeon " ; and , on the night of 15 December , " Seadragon " embarked members of the Asiatic Fleet staff . At 00 : 00 , 16 December , she headed out of Manila Bay . Escorted by destroyer , " Seadragon " moved south , " via " Surigao and Makassar Straits to Soerabaja , where she disembarked her passengers ; received further repairs , exclusive of a paint job ; and prepared for her first war patrol . First patrol , December 1941 – February 1942 . On 30 December , the submarine departed the Dutch naval base and set a course for the South China Sea to intercept Japanese shipping off the coast of Indochina . On 8 January , she was in the sea lanes to Cam Ranh Bay . Two days later , she sighted a destroyer , launched two torpedoes which missed , then watched as the destroyer continued on its course without attempting to attack the submarine . " Seadragon " remained in the area . Shortly after noon , a convoy was heard . One - half - hour later , it was sighted , and the submarine began closing the last ship in the column . Shortly after 13 : 00 , she fired ; missed ; and again tried to close to firing position . Within an hour , however , the convoy was safely into Cam Ranh Bay . " Seadragon " retired eastward . After dark while on the surface , recharging , she sighted a destroyer and attempted to slip away undetected . The destroyer spotlighted her . " Seadragon " went deep and worked her way eastward through two depth charge attacks . She spent the morning of 12 January evading Japanese patrol planes . In the afternoon , she closed a six - ship convoy ; but , as she came to periscope depth for a final check , she was spotted from the air . Three salvos of bombs dropped close aboard , but " Seadragon " went deep and again made her way eastward — this time to investigate the cause of the plane sightings . She surfaced after 18 : 00 . No oil or air leaks were spotted , but her black paint was coming off the entire hull . Red lead undercoating showed from the waterline to the side plating , and , " in spots " , on the bow planes and propeller guards . In shallow tropical waters , her original black paint was easily spotted against a light colored background . With red showing , she stood out regardless of the color of the seabed . From then on , " Seadragon " ran at between periscope exposures except in areas known to be patrolled by air , when she went to . On 14 January , she patrolled in the Cape Varella area . On 15 January , she shifted southward , and , on 16 January , she stood off Hon Lon to wait for a convoy . At 11 : 15 , after a periscope observation , she was again spotted and bombed from the air . She returned to Cape Varella where the depth of the water permitted a closer patrol to the shore line . During the next six days , she sighted several targets but had no luck with her torpedoes . Early on 23 January , she sighted a four - ship convoy which she stalked until daylight , then attacked . At 08 : 06 , she fired at the lead ship and scored with a hit on the port quarter . She then fired two at the ship and missed . The third and fourth ships ran off to the southeast and west respectively . The second ship moved in toward the first ; then , listing to port and down by the stern accompanied it as it ran for the beach . " Seadragon " surfaced and went after the third ship , but the appearance of an enemy plane forced her to break off the attack . The submarine remained off the Indochina coast for another four days , then set a course back to Luzon . On 29 January , she began patrolling along the coast from Subic Bay to Lingayen Gulf . On 1 February , she took up station off San Fernando and , early on the morning of 2 February , conducted a night submerged attack on a five - ship convoy . " Tamagawa Maru " ( a 6 , 441 - ton transport ) , the fourth ship in line , went down , depriving the Japanese occupation force of a number of the reinforcement troops and the equipment she carried . After the sinking , " Seadragon " patrolled southward . On 4 February , she arrived off Luzon Point ; and , that night , she moved into Manila Bay . Mooring at 22 : 03 , she completed loading torpedoes , radio equipment , and submarine spare parts at 03 : 00 on 5 February . Shortly thereafter , she moved out ; rested on the bottom until after dark , then surfaced to take on twenty - five passengers at Corregidor . Among them were seventeen members of the crew at ( cryptanalyst s and traffic analyst s ) , including the commanding officer , Lieutenant Rudolph Fabian . At 19 : 46 , " Seadragon " got underway for the Netherlands East Indies . Second patrol , March – April 1942 . She arrived at Soerabaja on 13 February . On 21 February , she left for Tjilatjap , whence she was ordered on to Australia . She reached Fremantle on 4 March and two weeks later , again headed for the Indochina coast for her second war patrol . At the end of the month , she was diverted to Cebu to take on fuel and food for Corregidor . She unloaded ten torpedoes and 250 rounds of ammunition , and took on thirty tons of food . At 20 : 53 on 8 April , she moored alongside " Pigeon " , to which she transferred fuel ; offloaded seven tons of food ( of the thirty she had taken aboard just for the besieged defenders ) ; took on 23 passengers ( including the last seventeen members of the crew at , among them " Honest John " Leitweiler and Rufus Taylor , who as a Japanese language specialist was worth his weight in gold ) ; and , at 21 : 29 , got underway to resume her patrol . She remained in the waters off southwestern Luzon and recommenced her patrol off the entrance to Subic Bay . On 11 April , she sighted several targets but was able to attack only one , a patrolling destroyer . At 17 : 20 , she launched three torpedoes . Twenty - nine seconds later the first torpedo exploded halfway to the target . The second broached and circled abeam of the target . The destroyer avoided the third . " Seadragon " changed course and went to to avoid the circular and the expected depth charging . None of the depth charges was close , but a second destroyer soon joined the first , spotted the submarine as she came up for a periscope observation , and turned on her . " Seadragon " again went deep , then cleared the area . On 12 April , the submarine started south . On 20 April , she cleared Lombok Strait ; and , on 26 April , she returned to Fremantle . Third patrol , June – August 1942 . On her third patrol , 11 June to 2 August 1942 , " Seadragon " returned to the South China Sea . Arriving in her assigned area on 27 June , she patrolled along the Singapore - Hong Kong routes to the end of the month ; then shifted to the Cape Varella area . On the morning of 4 July , she launched a torpedo at the leader of a three ship formation . The torpedo missed ahead , all three ships changed course toward " Seadragon " with the leader proceeding down the torpedo track firing her bow gun . Depth charges were dropped indiscriminately . Ten minutes later , the three had turned toward shore . " Seadragon " then shifted southward to intercept enemy traffic off Hon Lon Light . A few hours later , she sighted two freighters and fired tubes 1 and 2 at the lead ship . Her No . 1 tube did not fire , and her No . 2 torpedo missed astern . Two more torpedoes were fired at the ships , but both missed . Enemy planes arrived on the scene soon afterward and for over two hours aerial depth charges in salvos of two and three were dropped . Despite water depth of , submarines were visible at any depth against the light colored bottom . " Seadragon " survived the close bombing and continued her patrol . During the next week , she attempted to close several ships , but was unable to attain attack positions . On the night of 11 July , her losing streak ended . Just prior to midnight , she sighted smoke and opened out to the westward to overtake the target . At 01 : 56 on 12 July , she began her approach ; and , 14 minutes later , she launched three torpedoes . Two hit , but the third missed astern . A merchantman , " Hiyama Maru " , began settling . By 02 : 19 , she had been abandoned . " Seadragon " submerged and resumed her patrol eight miles ( 14 . 8 km ) northeast of Cape Varella . On the morning of 13 July , " Seadragon " torpedoed and sank her second victim of the patrol . " Shinyo Maru " was hit approximately abaft the beam and settled immediately . " Seadragon " moved out of the area and hunted along the Haina Varella routes for a few days . On 16 July , she was back off Cape Varella ; and , soon after 10 : 30 , she fired on a four - ship convoy . Five minutes later , the torpedoes exploded on the beach . The four ships turned toward " Seadragon " and commenced firing their guns . " Seadragon " fired two more torpedoes and went deep . A few minutes later , she came to periscope depth . Only three ships remained on the surface . " Hakodate Maru " had been sunk . On 20 July , " Seadragon " departed the South China Sea and made her way south to Australia . On 4 August , she damaged the 6 , 816 ton at . Fourth patrol , August – October 1942 . On 26 August , she departed her Australian base for her fourth war patrol and again set a course for the coast of Indochina . On 10 September , she moved through Apo East Pass . On 11 September , her progress into the South China Sea was delayed by an emergency appendectomy performed successfully on Seaman Darrell Rector by Pharmacist ' s Mate Wheeler B . Lipes , the first such performed on a submarine . This incident was the subject of a Pulitzer Prize - winning account by " Chicago Daily News " reporter George Weller . In 2005 , retired Lt . Cmdr . Lipes was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for saving a fellow crewman ' s life . On 12 September , " Seadragon " arrived on station and commenced patrolling the steamer lanes west of Macclesfield Bank . At dusk on 16 September , she headed for Cape Varella . Not until 22 September , however , while off Cam Ranh Bay was she able to gain a firing position on a suitable target . On that morning , she launched four torpedoes at a cruiser escorted by two destroyers . No explosions were heard , but her torpedoes were seen , and the enemy ships turned on " Seadragon " and delivered a " well executed depth charge attack . " A week later , on the night of 29 September , the submarine tracked a five - ship convoy ; and , at 0122 on 30 September conducted a surface torpedo attack which damaged one ship . She then ran eastward to attain a position ahead of the convoy but was spotlighted by an escort which had shifted stations . " Seadragon " went deep ; the escort dropped six depth charges and then rejoined the convoy . The submarine surfaced and attempted to make up for lost time . Three hours later , she had overheated her main motor cables and was forced to give up the chase . On the evening of 3 October , " Seadragon " departed the South China Sea and , five days later , commenced patrolling the approaches to Balikpapan . On 10 October , she attained a position for a stern tube shot on " Shigure Maru " . The cargoman disappeared 47 seconds after the first explosion . On 11 October , the submarine patrolled off Cape William and Cape Mandar . On 12 October , she was off Makassar City . On 14 October , she transited Lombok Strait ; and , on 20 October , she returned to Fremantle . Fifth patrol , November 1942 – January 1943 . Refit was started by submarine tender at Fremantle and completed by tenders and at Brisbane . On 23 November , she departed the latter and headed for the Bismarck Archipelago for her fifth war patrol . On 29 November , she entered her area and commenced patrolling the Rabaul - Shortland routes . On 1 December , she closed the New Britain coast to intercept traffic to the Japanese beachhead at Buna , and , during the next ten days , conducted several unsuccessful approaches on enemy formations . On the morning of 11 December , she sighted a freighter with one escort rounding Cape St . George and launched two torpedoes at the merchantman . One hit under the main mast , damaging but not sinking the target . The escort delivered a depth charge attack then took the damaged vessel under tow for Rabaul . Enemy planes prohibited " Seadragon " from delivering the " coup de grace " . On 21 December , " Seadragon " sighted an enemy submarine near Cape St . George , made her approach , and launched three torpedoes at the target . The first missed ahead . The second exploded about 18 seconds after firing . The third torpedo hit the target . sank with her bow vertical and with all hands lost . The second torpedo explosion , however , had damaged " Seadragon " . The force of the explosion had knocked down the personnel in the forward torpedo room , and the torpedo in No . 1 tube , the outer door of which was open , was forced against the tail buffer . The countermining effect forced the torpedo forward shearing off the guide stud and tripping the starting lever . The outer door could not be closed . Depth control was lost . The torpedo was fired . Control was regained as the torpedo exploded on " Seadragon " ' s port quarter . On 25 December , " Seadragon " damaged another cargoman , and , on 26 December , departed the area for Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 7 January 1943 . From Pearl Harbor , " Seadragon " continued on to the West Coast , where skipper " Pete " Ferrall was detached to the Bureau of Ships . Between 16 January and 8 April , she underwent overhaul at Mare Island , receiving new batteries and radar and changing the position of her three - inch mount from aft to a forward position . In mid - April , she sailed west again ; and , on 9 May , she departed Pearl Harbor for her sixth war patrol . Sixth patrol , May – June 1943 . On 15 May , " Seadragon " ( now under Royal L . Rutter , Class of ' 30 ) crossed the 180th meridian and moved toward Micronesia . On 19 May , she commenced patrolling in the Caroline Islands . On 20 May , she surprised and was in turn surprised by sighting a surfaced submarine on a parallel course . The other submarine submerged immediately . On 22 May , she took up station off the Truk Islands and for the next 11 days patrolled the sea lanes to the major enemy anchorage enclosed by Dublon , Fefan , and Uman islands . On 4 June , she departed Truk and moved eastward to reconnoiter Ponape , thence proceeded into the Marshall Islands to patrol the sealanes converging on Kwajalein . There , the enemy ' s omnipresent surface and aerial escorts inhibited hunting , but , on 13 June , " Seadragon " was able to damage a freighter . Four days later , she cleared the area , and , on 21 June , she arrived at Midway Island , whence she returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs to her steering gear . Seventh – ninth patrols , July 1943 – February 1944 . From 18 July to 30 August , " Seadragon " conducted her seventh war patrol . Of the 44 days , 31 were spent on station near Wake and in the Marshall Islands where increased enemy air activity again hindered hunting and limited " Seadragon " ' s score to five freighters damaged . In mid - August , she reconnoitered Wotje ; and , at the end of the month , she returned to Pearl Harbor . On her eighth war patrol , 24 September to 5 November , " Seadragon " again returned to the Marshall Islands and spent 31 days hunting in the sea lanes to Kwajalein . Again Japanese antisubmarine measures hindered hunting ; and , of the five ship contacts made , only two could be developed and only one attack was made . On 13 October , she damaged an enemy transport . " Seadragon " ' s ninth war patrol , 14 December 1943 to 5 February 1944 , took her back to the Caroline Islands where she hunted enemy shipping on the Truk - Saipan route and damaged two , possibly three , cargomen . Tenth patrol , April – May 1944 . Refit brought the replacement of " Seadragon " ' s three - inch deck gun with a four - inch , and , on 1 April , she cleared Pearl Harbor for the Japanese home islands for her tenth war patrol , with James H . Ashley , Jr . ( Class of ' 34 ) , at the helm . On 5 April , she crossed the International Date Line . On 15 April , she entered Japanese waters . On 16 April , she moved past O Shima , and , that night , commenced patrolling off the Bungo Strait and Kii Channel entrances to the Inland Sea . On the morning of 23 April , she sighted four freighters , escorted by three patrol boats , moving toward Shiono Misaki . She closed the convoy ; fired on the third ship , the heaviest laden ; then went deep and rigged for depth charging . The patrol boats moved toward " Seadragon " as " Daiju Maru " sank and , during the next two hours , delivered a 40 depth charge attack . Later that day , the submarine conducted an unsuccessful attack on a naval auxiliary ; and , on 26 April , she moved out into the Tokyo - Manila shipping lanes where she damaged a freighter on 27 April . On 28 April , she commenced patrolling the Nagoya - Saipan route . In May , she took station off the entrance to Sugura Wan and , on 3 May , shifted to the Tokyo - Guam - Saipan - Truk sea lanes . Two days later , she hunted enemy traffic at the entrance to Sagami Wan . On 13 May , she headed for Midway Island . On 17 May , she caught an armed trawler in a surface attack ; set it afire with four - inch gun salvos , then closed the target to take off the uniformed enemy crew . The surviving crew members refused to surrender , and " Seadragon " continued eastward . On 21 May , she crossed the 180th meridian and stopped at Midway , then got underway for Pearl Harbor , arriving on 25 May . Eleventh patrol , September – November 1944 . Re - engined at Mare Island during the summer , " Seadragon " returned to Pearl Harbor on 7 September and departed on her 11th war patrol , a coordinated patrol ( " wolfpack " ) with submarines and , on 23 September . She arrived at Saipan to top off on 3 October . On 4 October , " Shark " and " Blackfish " continued on to the wolfpack ' s assigned area in the northern China Sea . " Seadragon " , delayed by the need for repairs , did not depart until 5 October . On 9 October , she arrived off Batan Island , established contact with " Shark " and " Blackfish " , and took position in a scouting line in the pack ' s assigned area . On the night of 21 October and the morning of 22 October , the group went after an enemy warship formation led by an aircraft carrier . At 06 : 15 on 24 October , " Shark " reported a contact , and " Seadragon " headed for the scene . At 07 : 30 , the contact was sighted through the high periscope , but it proved too distant . At 09 : 20 , " Seadragon " sighted three enemy merchantmen in a loose column with a torpedo boat destroyer and an airplane as escorts . At 10 : 55 , she launched four torpedoes at the lead freighter . The first torpedo broached and ran erratic , alerting the escort which started for " Seadragon " . " Seadragon " rigged for depth charging . Soon thereafter , two torpedo explosions were heard , and , at 11 : 01 , the first of eight depth charges was dropped . At 11 : 54 , " Seadragon " went to periscope depth . The escort was milling around picking up survivors four miles ( 6 km ) astern . The remaining merchant ships were ahead of the submarine and making only two or three knots . As " Seadragon " prepared to fire again , the destroyer rejoined the formation . At 11 : 14 , " Seadragon " fired four more torpedoes . Three hits were observed . The submarine ' s second target of the day sank in less than two minutes . " Seadragon " went deep . Fifteen depth charges followed . At 13 : 10 , the submarine returned to periscope depth . The deck of the sole remaining freighter was crowded . The freighter was smoking heavily and moving slowly . The escort circled the freighter . At 14 : 04 , " Seadragon " fired . The first torpedo tore off the freighter ' s bow . The rest of the ship went under quickly . At 14 : 05 , the first of 25 depth charges was dropped . Postwar examination of Japanese records identified the sunken ships as the cargo ship , " Eiko Maru " , and the passenger - cargomen " Taiten Maru " and " Kokuryu Maru " . At 18 : 58 , " Seadragon " tried unsuccessfully to raise " Shark " . She had been sunk after attacking the contact of her 06 : 15 transmission . On 26 October , " Seadragon " headed toward Luzon . On 27 and 28 October , she searched for downed aviators ; and , on 29 October , she was ordered to return to Midway . Twelfth patrol , December 1944 – January 1945 . Arriving at her destination on 8 November , she commenced refit ; and , on 3 December , she headed west for her 12th war patrol . The patrol took her back into Japanese waters where she hunted enemy shipping and searched for downed aviators into January 1945 . On 10 January , she moved into the Bonin Islands , where she continued those two roles . On 19 January , she set a southerly course ; and , on 22 January , she arrived at Guam to complete her last war patrol . The next day , " Seadragon " continued on to Pearl Harbor , and , after refit , returned to California to provide training services to naval air units . In May , she was transferred back to the Atlantic Fleet and for the final months of the war , provided training services at Guantanamo Bay and Key West , Florida . In September , she moved north to New London , Connecticut , thence to Boston , Massachusetts , where she was decommissioned on 15 November 1945 . Less than four months later , on 8 February 1946 , she was recommissioned to assist in the inactivation and preservation of submarines , including U - boat s , at Hingham , Massachusetts . On 29 October 1946 , she was again decommissioned and berthed as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet where she remained until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1948 . Awards . " Seadragon " earned 11 battle star s during World War II .