Allied Warships

Pickerel (i) (SS-177)

Submarine of the Perch class

USS Pickerel as seen early in the war

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Perch
Pennant	177
Built by	Electric Boat Co. (Groton, Connecticut, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	25 Mar 1935
Launched	7 Jul 1936
Commissioned	26 Jan 1937
Lost	12 May 1943
Loss position	41° 03'N, 141° 58'E

History	USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. Augustus Howard Alston, Jr., USN) left Pearl Harbour for her seventh war patrol off the eastern coast of northern Honshu on 18 March 1943. Refuels at Midway on 22 March and was not heard from again. She was reported overdue on 12 May when she failed to return to Midway. It is possible that she was lost on 3 April, 1943, off the Shiranuka Lighthouse, on the northern tip of Honshu by an attack by the Japanese minelayer Shirakami and the auxiliary subchaser Bunzan Maru. Pickerel is also credited with sinking the Japanese submarine chaser Ch-13 (offsite link) south-east of Shiriysaki, Honshu in position 41º03'N, 141º58'E on 3 April 1943.

Commands listed for USS Pickerel (i) (177)

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	Leon Joseph Huffman, USN	26 Jan 1937	Apr 1939
2	Lt. Barton Elijah Bacon, Jr., USN	Apr 1939	3 Oct 1942
3	T/Lt.Cdr. Augustus Howard Alston, Jr., USN	3 Oct 1942	12 May 1943 (+)

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Notable events involving Pickerel (i) include:

8 Dec 1941
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. Barton Elijah Bacon, Jr) was ordered to patrol the coast of Indo-China off Cam Ranh Bay and Tourane Harbor.

29 Dec 1941
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) ended her first war patrol at Manila.

31 Dec 1941
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) left Manila for her second war patrol.

10 Jan 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) torpedoed and sank the Japanese auxiliary gunboat Kanko Maru (2929 GRT) at the mouth of Davao Gulf, off Cape San Augustin, Philippines in position 06°19'N, 125°54'E.

29 Jan 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) ended her second war patrol at Surabaya, Netherlands East Indies.

7 Feb 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) left Surabaya for her third war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Malaya.

19 Mar 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) ended her third war patrol at Fremantle, Australia.

15 Apr 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) left Fremantle for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Philippines.

6 Jun 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) ended her 4th war patrol at Brisbane, Australia.

10 Jul 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) left Brisbane for her 5th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Mariana Islands area.

26 Aug 1942
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. B.E. Bacon, Jr) ended her 5th war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She was ordered to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a refit.

22 Jan 1943
With her refit completed USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. Augustus Howard Alston, Jr.) left Pearl Harbor for her 6th war patrol, and was ordered to patrol in Japanese home waters.

10 Feb 1943
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. A.H. Alston, Jr) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo Amari Maru (2184 GRT) off Sanriku in position 40°10'N, 142°04'E.

15 Feb 1943
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. A.H. Alston, Jr) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport ship Tateyama Maru (1990 GRT) off the east coast of Honshu in position 39°18'N, 142°08'E.

3 Mar 1943
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. A.H. Alston, Jr) ended her 6th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

18 Mar 1943
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. A.H. Alston, Jr) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 7th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol of the eastern coast of Northern Honshu, Japan.

22 Mar 1943
USS Pickerel (Lt.Cdr. Augustus Howard Alston, Jr.) refuels at Midway, then departed from and was never heard from again.