As an attack submarine, the USS Porpoise fielded six torpedo launch tubes, four fitted at the front hull and the remaining two at the rear facing aft. In this way, the submarine did not have to turn completely around to engage targets behind her. Sixteen total torpedoes were stored onboard with six ready in the tubes. Additional armament (for surface contacts) included a 76mm deck gun and 2 x 0.30 caliber machine guns (anti-aircraft). In 1942, her torpedo armament was increased with the addition of two external bow-facing launch tubes.
The legacy of the USS Porpoise began during the period of relative quiet prior to World War 2 known as the interwar years. She berthed at San Diego after passing through the Panama Canal in September of 1936 to undergo gunnery and torpedo attack training for her crew. In April of 1937, she was sent for an overhaul to Mare Island Naval Yard in Vallejo, California. In January of the following year, she was positioned at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and participated in general fleet exercises prior to joining the US Asiatic Fleet at Manila in the Philippines.
On December 7th, 1941, the Empire of Japan utilized attack aircraft from her naval forces to assail Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in an attempt to knock US aircraft carrier power out of the upcoming war. Success would have yielded complete access to Pacific territories including Southeast Asia and Australia. Fortunately for the US, her carrier fleet resided elsewhere and losses were generally contained to battleships and attack surface craft and aircraft unlucky enough to be stationed in the harbor at the time of the attack. For the USS Porpoise, she was given a refit at Olongapo in the Philippines and escaped destruction and damage. The work to bring her back to sea was completed and the Porpoise set off. Her first war patrol (without any attack successes recorded) was undertaken in December and ran throughout January 1942. Her second war patrol took her to the Dutch East Indies from the period of February into March 1942 where she claimed an enemy cargo vessel. After a stop at Fremantle, Australia, Porpoise missed out on another cargo vessel but was able to rescue five downed airmen in a separate action during her third patrol.
Once again at Mare Island for an overhaul, her forth patrol took her near Honshu, Japan where she sank an enemy vessel. On her fifth patrol off of the Jaluit Atoll, she claimed another enemy ship before missing out on another target of opportunity in April. Back at Pearl for another refit, the USS Porpoise departed on her sixth war patrol from June into July and sank another enemy ship while damaging two others. After this action, she was sent to the east coast of the United States to New London, Connecticut by way of Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal to address leaking oil tanks.
From that point on, the USS Porpoise was relegated to training future submariners in the fine art of warfare under the sea. World War 2 ended in August of 1945 followed by the formal surrender of Japan in September, bringing a close to the Porpoise's wartime career. She lay in Boston Harbor into November 1945 and held in reserve until May of 1947. From 1947 into 1956, she was used by the United States Navy to train its reservists in the Gulf of Mexico off of the Houston, Texas coast. While still holding a decommissioned status, she was withdrawn from active service in the USN and struck from the Naval Register on August 13th, 1956 only to be sold for scrapping to a New Orleans-based concern on May 14th, 1957.
Thus came to a close the storied career of the USS Porpoise. Her class ultimately included the USS Pike (SS-173), the USS Shark (SS-174), the USS Tarpon (SS-175), the USS Perch (SS-176), the USS Pickerel (SS-177), the USS Permit (SS-178), the USS Plunger (SS-179), the USS Pollack (SS-180) and the USS Pompano (SS-181).
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