USS S - 33 ( SS - 138 ) USS " S - 33 " ( SS - 138 ) was a first - group ( " S - 1 " or " Holland " ) " S " - class submarine of the United States Navy . Her keel was laid down on 14 June 1918 by the Union Iron Works in San Francisco , California . She was launched on 5 December 1918 sponsored by Mrs . Thomas M . Searles , and commissioned on 18 April 1922 with Lieutenant George P . Lamont in command . Early years . Commissioned as crankshaft modifications were ordered for her class , " S - 33 " proceeded from her homeport , San Pedro , California , to New London , Connecticut , where she was decommissioned on 15 June and turned over to the prime contractor , the Electric Boat Company , for the alterations . She was recommissioned on 21 December 1922 , and assigned , temporarily , to Submarine Division 11 for winter maneuvers . In January 1923 , she moved south to the Caribbean Sea . During February , she participated in Fleet Problem I , which tested the defenses of the Panama Canal . Then , in late March , she rejoined the boats of her own division , Division 16 , and headed back to San Pedro . The following January , 1924 , she returned to the Panama Canal Zone and the Caribbean Sea for further fleet problems and exercises and then operated primarily off southern California into 1926 . The previous year , 1925 , Division 16 had been transferred to the Asiatic Fleet , and , in November 1926 , " S - 33 " moved west to join her sister ships at Cavite . On 22 December , she arrived at that Luzon submarine base and , for the next five years , operated as a unit of the Asiatic Fleet . During the fall and winter months , local exercises and annual overhauls kept her in the Philippines . Each spring , she deployed to the China coast for division and fleet exercises out of her summer base at Tsingtao . In 1932 , Division 16 was transferred to Pearl Harbor ; and , in May , " S - 33 " retraced her route across the Pacific . She operated in Hawaiian waters for five years . Then , ordered inactivated , she departed Pearl Harbor for the United States East Coast on 14 June 1937 . Two months later , she arrived at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . On 1 December , she was decommissioned and , until 1940 , was berthed at League Island . Reactivation and defensive patrols . That summer , increased United States involvement in World War II brought activation orders , and , on 16 October 1940 , " S - 33 " was recommissioned . She conducted trials and exercises out of Philadelphia into the spring of 1941 . Then , in April , she moved north to New London , the homeport for her division , Submarine Division 52 . The submarine then conducted exercises and patrols off the southern New England coast and out of Bermuda . Toward the end of 1941 , however , her operational area was extended , and she moved up to the Newfoundland coast to test S - boat capabilities under high latitude conditions . She returned to New London after the entry of the United States into World War II and at the end of December 1941 , proceeded to Philadelphia for an overhaul . From Philadelphia , she moved south to the Panama Canal Zone and , before the end of May 1942 , had conducted two defensive patrols in the western approaches to the canal . In June 1942 , she proceeded on to San Diego , California , and , toward the end of the month , moved north to the Aleutian Islands . First , second , and third war patrols . " S - 33 " arrived at Dutch Harbor , Unalaska , in early July . On 7 July 1942 , she departed on her first offensive war patrol . For the first week , she patrolled in the Adak area , then shifted to the Near Islands . There , off Agattu , fog prevailed from 15 – 29 July . On the morning of 30 July 1942 , visibility increased to about four miles for a few hours but then diminished again . Six days later , the S - boat encountered her first clear day , but fog and mist soon returned . On 7 August 1942 , " S - 33 " was ordered back to Dutch Harbor . Fourth , fifth , and sixth war patrols . On her second Aleutian patrol , 24 August to 26 September 1942 , " S - 33 " served as a protective scout during the occupation of Adak . Then , on 2 September 1942 , she shifted west to hunt off Kiska . She sighted three enemy ships , but Japanese antisubmarine measures , surface and air , prevented her attacking the first two targets and fog saved the third . Poor visibility , rough seas , and slow speed hindered hunting during her fifth war patrol , conducted in the Kiska area from 15 October to 11 November . Her sixth , 23 November to 9 December in the Attu area , yielded no enemy contacts . Refit . On 11 December 1942 , " S - 33 " departed Dutch Harbor for San Diego where she provided services to the West Coast Sound School into February 1943 , then underwent overhaul in which she received a fathometer , new radio , radar , keel - mounted sound equipment , and a new distilling unit . Seventh and eighth war patrols . On 18 April 1943 , " S - 33 " returned to Dutch Harbor , whence she conducted three more war patrols . Her seventh and eighth patrols were conducted in the Kuril Islands , off Shimushu and Paramushiro from 25 April to 22 May and from 4 June to 2 July . Contacts on both patrols were few , and she was able to attack successfully only two , both large fishing sampans which she left burning on 18 June 1943 . She conducted her last war patrol , photographic reconnaissance of Buldir and Kiska Islands , from 14 July to 9 August , then got underway to return to California . Overhaul and retirement . " S - 33 " arrived at San Diego at the end of August 1943 , underwent overhaul , and , then , commenced operations with the West Coast Sound School which were continued until 13 August 1945 . Two days later , hostilities ended in the Pacific , and " S - 33 " was ordered to San Francisco for inactivation . She was decommissioned on 23 October 1945 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November . The following year , her hulk was sold for scrapping to the Salco Iron and Metal Company in San Francisco . " S - 33 " earned one battle star for her World War II service . In popular culture . A fictional version of the S - 33 is depicted as being part of the Atlantic fleet in 1942 in the 2000 film " U - 571 " , starring Matthew McConaughey , Bill Paxton and Jon Bon Jovi . In the story the S - 33 ( disgusied as a German U - Boat ) is sent to recover an Enigma machine from a damaged German U - Boat ( the title ' s eponymous and equally fictionalized version of the German submarine U - 571 ) . During the course of the story this S - 33 is sunk by another German submarine who arrives to help the U - 571 .