USS S - 44 ( SS - 155 ) USS " S - 44 " ( SS - 155 ) was a third - group ( " S - 42 " ) " S " - class submarine of the United States Navy . Her keel was laid down on 19 February 1921 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy , Massachusetts . She was launched on 27 October 1923 sponsored by Mrs . H . E . Grieshaber , and was commissioned on 16 February 1925 with Lieutenant A . H . Bateman in command . Service history . 1924 - 1941 . " S - 44 " operated off the New England coast into the summer of 1925 . In late August , she departed New London , Connecticut , for Panama and on 5 September arrived at Coco Solo to join Submarine Division ( SubDiv ) 19 . With the division , she conducted training exercises , participated in fleet exercises and joint Army - Navy maneuvers , and made good will visits to various Caribbean and Pacific , Latin American ports until the spring of 1927 . From that time to December 1930 , she operated out of San Diego with her division , interrupting exercises off southern California twice for fleet problems in Hawaiian waters . In December 1930 , the S - boat was transferred to Hawaii where her division , now SubDiv 11 , was home ported for four years . The boats then returned to San Diego , California and in 1937 were shifted back to Coco Solo . World War II . In the spring of 1941 , as American involvement in World War II increased , the Panama S - boats were ordered back to the east coast for overhaul . With sister ships and , " S - 44 " proceeded to New London , Connecticut , and in November went to Philadelphia , where the work was completed . Trials took " S - 44 " into the new year , 1942 and on 7 January , she got underway to return to Panama . Arriving on 16 January , she departed Balboa on 24 January with , , and , to conduct a security patrol in the western approaches to the canal . Within a few hours , however , she was engaged in rescue operations for " S - 26 " , which had been rammed and sunk by submarine chaser " PC - 460 " . First patrol , March 1942 . From Panama , the division ( now SubDiv 53 ) was ordered to the southwest Pacific . Starting across the Pacific in early March , the boats reached Brisbane in mid - April , and within ten days , " S - 44 " was on her first war patrol . She cleared Moreton Bay on 24 April . Three days later , her port engine went out of commission , but 36 hours of hard work and ingenuity put it back in operation . On 29 April , she began running submerged during the day and surfacing at night to recharge batteries and allow fresh air into the non - air - conditioned boat . By 2 May , she was in her patrol area , New Britain - New Ireland waters . Six days later , she sighted a ship through a haze of rain and launched two torpedoes which missed . She attempted to close the range . However the surface ship easily outdistanced her . The next afternoon , she attempted to close on a Japanese destroyer , east of Adler Bay , but again was easily outrun . On 10 May , off Cape St . George , she closed on another target but was sighted and attacked . In late afternoon of 12 May , from the cape , she encountered a merchantman and a trawler escort . For the first time , the weather , her position , and the target ' s course were all in her favor . She launched four torpedoes while surfaced and hit with two . She then submerged . The " Shoei Maru " , a salvage vessel of over 5000 tons was sunk . The Japanese escort attacked " S - 44 " and dropped sixteen or more depth charge s , none of which was close . On 14 May , " S - 44 " headed home , arriving at Brisbane on 23 May . 2nd patrol , June 1942 . Another overhaul followed , and on 7 June she left of Moreton Bay on a course for the Solomon Islands . Within the week , she was on patrol off Guadalcanal , operating from there to Savo and Florida Island . A few days later , she shifted south of Guadalcanal and on 21 June sank the converted gunboat " Keijo Maru " . At 14 : 15 , " S - 44 " fired her torpedoes . Just 3 minutes later the enemy aircraft dropped a bomb which exploded close to the submarine , bending the holding latch to the conning tower and allowing in 30 gallons of sea water . This damaged the depth gauges , the gyrocompass , and the ice machine , besides causing leaks . The number - one periscope was thought to be damaged ; but when the submarine surfaced a Japanese seaman ' s coat was found wrapped around its head . Three days later , " S - 44 " was in Lunga Roads . On 26 June , poor weather set in and blanketed the area until she turned for home . She departed her patrol area on 29 June and arrived at Moreton Bay on 5 July . 3rd patrol , July 1942 . " S - 44 " departed Brisbane on 24 July . Cloudy weather with squalls set in . On 31 July , she commenced patrolling the Rabaul - Tulagi shipping lanes . The next day , she sighted a convoy off Cape St . George , but heavy swells hindered depth control and speed , and prevented her from attacking . From Cape St . George , " S - 44 " moved up the east coast of New Ireland to North Cape and Kavieng , where she waited . On 7 August , the American offensive opened with landing of the 1st Marine Division on the beaches of the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi . On 9 August , off Savo Island , Cruiser Division 6 of the Imperial Japanese Navy had inflicted one of the worst defeats of the war on American and Australian surface ships . The next morning , the victorious enemy cruiser s neared Kavieng , bound for home . At 07 : 50 , " S - 44 " sighted the formation of four heavy cruisers at less than . At 08 : 06 , she fired four Mark 10 torpedo es at the rear ship , only away . By 08 : 08 , three torpedoes had exploded and the heavy cruiser " Kako " was sinking . " S - 44 " had claimed the largest Japanese man - of - war in the Pacific War to date . Three days later , " S - 44 " was again fighting heavy swells . Her damaged bow planes required three hours to rig out , where they were left . On 23 August , she moored at Brisbane . With one ship sunk on each patrol so far , she set a record no S - boat would match . 4th patrol , September 1942 . On 17 September , now in the hands of Reuben Whitaker , " S - 44 " began her fourth war patrol . The following day , a hydrogen fire blazed in her forward battery compartment , but was extinguished in three minutes . On 22 September , she began surfacing only at night , and , two days later , took patrol station off New Georgia to interdict Japan ' s Faisi - Guadalcanal supply line . During the patrol , her hunting was hindered by Japanese aerial and surface antisubmarine patrols and her own operational capabilities , which were further limited by material defects and damage inflicted during depth chargings . On the morning of 4 October , she damaged a destroyer , then survived an intensive depth charge attack with seemingly minor damage . When she submerged the next day , however , the submarine began taking water . She surfaced , made repairs on the high induction valves , then submerged to . Leaks were found in her motor room and torpedo room flappers . The latter were jacked shut , but the former continued spraying water onto both motors . Within an hour , four Japanese destroyers had moved into the area . " S - 44 " went to . The leak worsened . The motors were covered in canvas and sheet rubber and the crew waited for the destroyers to pass over her position . As they disappeared , " S - 44 " moved up to and repairs were made on the flapper . That night , further repairs were made while the ship was surfaced off Santa Isabel Island ; and , by midnight , the S - boat was en route back to her patrol area . On 7 October , bad weather set in ; and , on 8 October , she departed the area , arriving in Moreton Bay on 14 October . Overhaul . A month later , " S - 44 " departed Brisbane and headed back to the United States . In early January 1943 , she transited the Panama Canal , then moved across the Caribbean Sea and up the Atlantic seaboard to Philadelphia . There , from April to June , she underwent overhaul ; and , in July , she retransited the Canal en route to San Diego and the Aleutian Islands . 5th patrol , September 1943 . She arrived at Dutch Harbor on 16 September . On 26 September , she departed Attu on her last war patrol . One day out , while en route to her operating area in the northern Kuril Islands , she was spotted and attacked by a Japanese patrol plane . Suffering no damage , she continued west . On the night of 7 October , she made radar contact with what she thought was a " small merchantman " and closed in for a surface attack . Several hundred yards from the target , her deck gun fired and was answered by a salvo . The " small merchantman " in fact was the " Shimushu " - class escort . An emergency dive was ordered , but the submarine failed to submerge . She then took several hits in the control room , the forward battery room , and elsewhere . Reluctantly , " S - 44 " was ordered abandoned . A pillow case was raised from the forward battery room hatch as a flag of surrender , but the Japanese shelling continued . The following sailors were lost on the USS S - 44 on 7 October 1943 : Only two men escaped the sinking ship . The sole survivors were Chief Torpedoman ' s Mate Ernest A . Duva and Radioman Third Class William F . Whitemore , who were picked up by the enemy destroyer . They were taken first to Paramushiro , then to the Naval Interrogation Camp at Ōfuna . The men spent the last year of World War II working in the Ashio copper mines and survived to be repatriated by the Allies at the end of the war .