USS Seal ( SS - 183 ) USS " Seal " ( SS - 183 ) , a " Salmon " - class submarine , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seal , a sea mammal valued for its skin and oil . Her keel was laid down on 25 May 1936 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton , Connecticut . She was launched on 25 April 1937 at the Naval Submarine Base , New London , sponsored by Mrs . John F . Greenslade , and commissioned on 30 April 1937 , Lieutenant Karl G . Hensel in command . Service history . Inter - War Period . Following an extended shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea and a post - shakedown yard period , " Seal " departed New England in late November and proceeded to the Panama Canal Zone to commence operations out of her home port , Coco Solo . Arriving on 3 December , she conducted local operations off Balboa , Panama , and off Coco Solo into January 1939 , then proceeded to Haiti where she participated in type exercises prior to Fleet Problem XX . That exercise , to test the fleet ' s ability to control the approaches to Central America and South America , was conducted during late February in the Lesser Antilles . In March , " Seal " returned to the Haiti – Cuba area for exercises with Destroyer Division 4 ( DesDiv 4 ) . In April , she proceeded to New London , Connecticut , for overhaul which included modification of her main engines . In June , the submarine again sailed south , transited the Panama Canal , and continued on to San Diego , California , and Pearl Harbor . In Hawaii from July to September , she took soundings for the Hydrographic Office and participated in various local exercises . At the end of the latter month , she returned to San Diego , her home port into 1941 . During the next two years , she conducted exercises and provided services to surface ships and to United States Navy and United States Army air units along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian area . In the fall of 1941 , Submarine Division 21 ( SubDiv 21 ) - of which she was now a part - was transferred to the Asiatic Fleet . Departing Pearl Harbor on 24 October , she reached Manila on 10 November , and 34 days later , cleared that bay to commence her first war patrol . She headed north to intercept Japanese forces moving into northern Luzon to reinforce those already landed at Vigan and Aparri , Cagayan . World War II . Initially off Cape Bojeador , she shifted south to the Vigan area on 20 December , and on 23 December , torpedo ed and sank " Hayataka Maru " , the last Japanese ship sunk by American torpedoes in December 1941 . 1942 . From the Vigan area , the submarine moved into the approaches to Lingayen Gulf , and in January 1942 , she again turned north to patrol the entrance to Lamon Bay . She rounded Cape Bojeador on 9 January and Cape Engaño on 10 January , and , on 11 January — as the Japanese invaded the Netherlands East Indies at Tarakan , Borneo , and Minahasa , Celebes — she headed south for the Molucca Passage . By 20 January , she was patrolling east of the Celebes to intercept enemy traffic into Kema . On 27 January , she was ordered to patrol off Kendari , which had been attacked on 24 January and then to proceed to the Royal Netherlands Naval Base at Soerabaja , then still under Allied control . " Seal " arrived at Soerabaja on 5 February . Daily air raids necessitated diving during the day and precluded repairs to her engines , which smoked excessively , and to the broken prism control mechanism in her high periscope . On 11 February , she departed for Tjilatjap on the south coast of Java , and on 14 February , she went alongside . That same day , the Japanese moved into southern Sumatra , and on 19 February , they invaded Bali . Allied forces counterattacked , and as air and surface forces hit the Japanese fleet , " Seal " departed Tjilatjap and transited Lombok Strait to patrol north of Java . On 24 February , she attacked two convoys , only damaging one freighter . The next day , she unsuccessfully attacked an enemy warship formation . On 1 March , as the Japanese moved against Soerabaja , she was similarly disappointed . On 14 March , she headed east to patrol the southern approaches to Makassar City , and for the next week , with her forward air conditioning unit broken down and her refrigerating plant inoperable , she patrolled between that city and De Bril Bank . On 21 March , she headed for Fremantle , Western Australia — the Netherlands East Indies had fallen . Arriving on 9 April , " Seal " departed again on 12 May and worked her way through the Malay Archipelago , the Celebes Sea , and the Sulu Sea to her patrol area off the Indochina coast . During the early morning hours of 28 May , she entered the South China Sea , and that night , she fired on and sank 1 , 946 - ton " Tatsufuku Maru " . On 7 June , while off Cam Ranh Bay , she attacked an eight - ship convoy and underwent a seven - hour depth charging by surface ships and aircraft . From 15 – 17 June , heavy seas and high winds hampered hunting , and on 18 June , " a healthy stream of air bubbles " was discovered " issuing from the starboard side . . . " On 19 June , she left the area and headed for Balabac Strait . On 23 June , she moved into Makassar Strait , and on 4 July , she reached Fremantle . On her fourth war patrol , from 10 August - 2 October , " Seal " returned to the Indochina coast and patrolled north from Cape Padaran . Despite 11 sightings , she was plagued by uncertain torpedo performance against shallow draft vessels , by premature explosions and by leaky exhaust valves and holes in the fuel compensating line which resulted in air and oil leaks to the surface . She was able to damage only one cargo ship , on 3 September . Twelve days later , " Seal " was en route back to Fremantle . She arrived on 2 October and departed again on 24 October to patrol in the shipping lanes in the Palau area . On 16 November , she intercepted a convoy of five cargomen in two columns with a destroyer escort and conducted a submerged attack on the leader of the near column as the formation zigzagged toward the submarine . Less than a minute after firing , " Seal " collided with , or was rammed by , another enemy ship . The periscope went black and vibrated severely . The submarine rose to ; hung there nearly a minute then started down . A few minutes later , depth charging began and " Seal " leveled off at . Breaking up noises were heard . Four hours later , the area was clear and " Seal " surfaced . The high periscope had been bent horizontally , and the housing on the low periscope had been sprung , preventing its operation . The radar antenna had been broken off the radio mast . Quantities of uncooked rice and beans , unlike those used on the submarine , were found between the wooden deck pieces of the cigarette deck , on the bridge , and caught in the bathythermograph . The periscope shears yielded " a good sample of Japanese bottom paint . " Captured Japanese documents later confirmed the sinking of 3 , 500 - ton " Boston Maru " by an American submarine on that date in that location . Whether that ship was " Seal " s target or the colliding ship is not known , but it is possible that the freighter ' s hull had been badly punctured by the submarine ' s periscope shears . On 17 November , " Seal " was ordered to start for Pearl Harbor . She arrived on 30 November , and after temporary repairs , continued on to the Mare Island Navy Yard for permanent repairs . 1943 . On 2 April 1943 , she returned to Hawaii , and 12 days later , she departed on her sixth war patrol . On 18 April , she topped off at Midway Island , and by 1 May , she was patrolling off the Palau Islands . On 2 May , she attacked a freighter , but missed and subsequently came under an aerial bombing attack . On 4 May , she sank " San Clemente Maru " , but for the remainder of the patrol , was unable to close any targets . " Seal " returned to Midway on 3 June . Refit took two weeks ; further training took a third . On 24 June , she was ready for sea . On 2 July , she entered her area off Todo Saki on the northeastern Honshū coast , and on 8 July , she underwent a severe , ten - hour , depth charging which resulted in persistent air and oil leaks and forced her to turn back for repairs . She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 24 July . Her repairs were quickly completed , and in mid - August , she sailed west again . On 27 July , she entered the southern Kuril Islands . On 31 July , while the submarine was diving , the conning tower hatch failed to latch , and subsequently flew open . The pumproom was flooded before the boat could be surfaced . Substantial damage to her electrical circuits resulted and " Seal " retired eastward to make temporary repairs . The work continued for a week , and on 8 August , as the air compressors were being jury - rigged to provide sufficient air pressure to launch torpedoes , she returned to the Kurils and crossed into the Sea of Okhotsk . On 17 August , she attacked two freighters with no success . On 25 August , she cleared the area , and on 4 October , she returned to Pearl Harbor . During her next war patrols , " Seal " provided lifeguard services and conducted reconnaissance missions — at Kwajalein on her ninth - from 7 November - 19 December - and at Ponape on her tenth - from 17 January - 6 March 1944 . 1944 . " Seal " proceeded to Mare Island , and after re - engining and overhaul , returned to the northern Hokkaidō – Kuril Islands area for her eleventh war patrol , from 8 August - 17 September . With 14 – 15 hours of daylight , she hunted in the coastal and inter - island shipping lanes to Muroran , Matsuwa , and Paramushiro . On 24 August , she attacked and sank " Tosei Maru " off Erimo Saki . On 5 September , after a six - hour chase , she fired four torpedoes at a maru with one escort . All of her torpedoes missed . On the night of 8 September , she encountered a two - column , six - ship convoy with an escort on each wing , and closed in to the leading ship . Shortly after 2045 , she fired four torpedoes at overlapping targets , then opened to the eastward as the torpedoes started hitting . Just before midnight , she again attacked the convoy , now comprising only four ships . One freighter took two hits . A second maru turned to chase " Seal " . " Seal " retired briefly , and just before 0300 on 9 September , hit the remainder of the convoy . Daylight brought antisubmarine aircraft to the scene , and " Seal " fishtailed at deep submergence until 1700 . At 2026 , having sunk " Shonan Maru " and damaged three or four other ships , she headed for Midway , arriving on 17 September . On her twelfth and final war patrol , from 10 October - 29 November , " Seal " again hunted in the Kurils . Her 30 days in the area yielded only two contacts worthy of torpedo fire . On 25 October , she caught and sank " Hakuyo Maru " as it ran down the convoy lanes away from Paramushiro . Three weeks later , she attacked and damaged another maru off Etorofu ( now Iturup ) . During the last days of the patrol , she ranged off the coast of Sakhalin , scoreless . On 17 October , she cleared the area . " Seal " arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 November , and after refit , assumed training duties in the Hawaiian area . In June 1945 , she returned to New London where she continued her training duties through the end of World War II . Post - War . After the war , she was ordered inactivated and disposed of . In early November , she proceeded to Boston , Massachusetts , where she was decommissioned on 15 November , and after a change in her orders , was retained in the Reserve Fleet . On 19 June 1947 , she was placed in service and assigned to Boston as a Naval Reserve training ship , and in March 1949 , she was transferred to Portsmouth , New Hampshire , where she continued to serve the Naval Reserve until placed out of service and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May 1956 . Six days later , she was removed from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for scrapping . Awards . " Seal " was awarded ten battle star s for her World War II service .