Allied Warships

Triton (SS-201)

Submarine of the Tambor class

USS Triton mid 1942

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Tambor
Pennant	201
Built by	Portsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.)
Ordered	1 Sep 1938
Laid down	5 Jul 1939
Launched	25 Mar 1940
Commissioned	15 Aug 1940
Lost	10 Apr 1943
History	USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. George Kenneth Mackenzie, Jr., USN) went missing in the South Pacific in March 1943. She is often listed as being sunk by three Japanese destroyers on 15 March. She was reported overdue on 10 April 1943 when she failed to return Brisbane, Australia. More info on USS Triton and her loss can be found in the article Who sank the Triton? (offsite link).

Commands listed for USS Triton (201)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Willis Ashford Lent, USN	15 Aug 1940	Mar 1942
2	Lt. Charles Cochran Kirkpatrick, USN	Mar 1942	14 Feb 1943
3	T/Lt.Cdr. George Kenneth Mackenzie, Jr., USN	14 Feb 1943	10 Apr 1943 (+)

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving Triton include:

7 Dec 1941
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) was at sea off Wake when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. She had left base on 19 November to conduct a practice war patrol. This practice war patrol now became her first war patrol.

11 Dec 1941
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) unsuccessfully attacked Japanese ships south of Wake Island.

31 Dec 1941
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) ended her first war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

25 Jan 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the East China Sea.

17 Feb 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) torpedoed and sank the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Shinyo Maru No.5 (1498 GRT) off Nagasaki, Japan in position 32°14'N, 127°14'E.

21 Feb 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant Shokyu Maru (4886 GRT) in the East China Sea about 60 nautical miles south of Quelpart Island in position 32°10'N, 126°28'E.

17 Mar 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Lent) ended her 2nd war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

13 Apr 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 3th war patrol. Once again she was ordered to patrol in the East China Sea.

1 May 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport ship Calcutta Maru (5338 GRT) about 180 nautical miles north-north-west of Formosa in position 28°06'N, 123°47'E.

6 May 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant Taiei Maru (2208 GRT) north-north-east of Keelung, Formosa in position 28°42'N, 123°50'E and the Japanese transport ship Taigen Maru (5665 GRT) in position 28°19'N, 123°28'E.

15 May 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) sank two Japanese sampans with gunfire off Formosa in position 28°22'N, 133°02'E.

17 May 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese submarine I-64 (offsite link) south-east of Kyushu, Japan in position 29°25'N, 134°06'E.

4 Jun 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) ended her 3th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

25 Jun 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in Alaskan waters.

4 Jul 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese destroyer Nenohi (offsite link) off Cape Sabak, off the southeast tip of Agattu, Aleutians in position 52°15'N, 173°51'E.

7 Sep 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) ended her 4th war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She now underwent an overhaul.

16 Dec 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) left Pearl Harbor for her 5h war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Wake. Later she patrolled the Truk-Rabaul-New Guinea shipping lanes, north and northwest of New Ireland.

24 Dec 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese water tanker Amakusa Maru No.1 (1913 GRT) south of Wake Island in position 19°16'N, 166°36'E.

28 Dec 1942
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant Omi Maru (3394 GRT) in position 06°24'N, 160°18'E.

13 Jan 1943
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) torpedoed and damaged the tanker Akebono Maru (10182 GRT) north of the St. Matthias Island group in position 00°26'S, 148°40'E.

26 Jan 1943
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. C.C. Kirkpatrick) ended her 5th war patrol at Brisbane, Australia.

16 Feb 1943
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. G.K. Mackenzie, Jr) departed from Brisbane for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol the approaches to Rabaul.

6 Mar 1943
USS Triton (Lt.Cdr. G.K. Mackenzie, Jr) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport ship Kiriha Maru (3057 GRT) and torpedoed and damaged the Japanese merchant Mito Maru (7061 GRT) about 145 nautical miles northwest of the Admiralty Islands in position 00°37'N, 145°30'E. USS Triton reports this "kill" on 11 March but she is never heard from again.