Allied Warships

Blackfish (SS-221)

Submarine of the Gato class

USS Blackfish being launched.
USN Photograph.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Gato
Pennant	221
Built by	Electric Boat Co. (Groton, Connecticut, U.S.A.)
Ordered	1 Jul 1940
Laid down	1 Jul 1941
Launched	18 Apr 1942
Commissioned	22 Jul 1942
End service	2 Feb 1954
History	Decommissioned 11 May 1946. Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Served as a Naval Reserve Training Vessel, at St. Petersburg, Florida from 5 May 1949 till 2 February 1954. Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Stricken 1 September 1958. Sold 4 May 1959 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Blackfish (221)

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. John Frederick Davidson, USN	19 Oct 1942	2 Jun 1943
2	Lt.Cdr. Eliot Olsen, USN	2 Jun 1943	26 Jul 1943

3	Lt.Cdr. John Frederick Davidson, USN	19 Oct 1943	22 Feb 1944
4	T/Cdr. Robert Frederick Sellars, USN	22 Feb 1944	10 May 1945

5	Lt.Cdr. Robert Charles Gillette, USN	14 Jun 1945	14 Aug 1945

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Notable events involving Blackfish include:

19 Oct 1942
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. John Frederick Davidson) departed from New London bound for the north-west coast of Africa. Blackfish was to take part in the landing in North Africa.

9 Nov 1942
Patrolling in the Dakar area of the central Atlantic, intercepted a French convoy with 3 freighters. USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) attacked, firing 2 torpedoes aimed at the sloop Commandant Bory in position 17°45'N, 14°50'W. The sloop reported a premature off the beam and no damage.

27 Nov 1942
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 1st war patrol at Rosneath, Scotland.

21 Dec 1942
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) departed from Rosneath, Scotland for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the North Atlantic.

18 Jan 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 2nd war patrol at Rosneath, Scotland.

1 Feb 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) departed from Rosneath, Scotland for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Bay of Biscay.

19 Feb 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) attacked a section of German Vorpostenboote (auxiliary patrol craft), torpedoed and sank V 408 / Haltenbank (432 GRT) north of Bilbao, Spain in position 43°30'N, 02°54'W, but is then counterattacked, depth charged and damaged by V 404.

22 Feb 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 3rd war patrol at Plymouth, England.

5 Apr 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) departed from base for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Norwegian Sea.

12 May 1943
HMS Usurper (Lt. D.R.O. Mott, DSC, RN), USS Barb (Lt.Cdr. N. Lucker, Jr., USN) and USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson, USN) departed Lerwick for Holy Loch. They were escorted by HMS La Capricieuse (Lt.Cdr. G.W. Dobson, RNR).

14 May 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 4th war patrol at Rosneath, Scotland.

4 Jul 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. Eliot Olsen) ended her 5th war patrol.

26 Jul 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. E. Olsen) arrived at New London.

14 Aug 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson, USN) departed New London, Connecticut for the Panama Canal Zone.

21 Aug 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson, USN) arrived in the Panama Canal Zone from New London, Connecticut.

19 Oct 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) departed from Brisbane, Australia for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol north of New Guinea.

23 Nov 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport ship Yamato Maru No.2 (439 GRT) between New Guinea and Palau in position 02°28'N, 140°06'E.

24 Nov 1943
Patrolling in the Palau area, at about 2300 hrs Blackfish attacked a target on radar without visual contacts, firing 6 torpedoes and claiming 2 hits and a sinking. The target, estimated by the radar officer to have been a 4500-ton vessel, has never been identified and no Japanese report found to confirm any damage or sinking at this time.

4 Dec 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 6th war patrol at Milne Bay.

24 Dec 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) departed from Milne Bay for her 7th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the Bismarck Archipelago.

29 Dec 1943
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. John F. Davidson) refuels at Tulagi, and departed from the next day.

8 Jan 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) makes a periscope attack against an oiler, estimated at 4500 tgr, firing 3 torpedoes and claiming 2 hits for damage. There is no confirmation of actual hits or target identification.

16 Jan 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Kaika Maru (2087 GRT) about 275 nautical miles south-west of Truk in position 03°50'N, 148°41'E.

In the same attack, Blackfish also claims damaging a "4500-ton tanker" with 1 hit out of 4 torpedoes. This is unconfirmed.

3 Feb 1944
On patrol north of New Ireland, position 01°36'S, 150°09'E, USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) fires 6 torpedoes at a "1800-ton destroyer", claiming 2 hits and damage to the target. This is unconfirmed.

13 Feb 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. J.F. Davidson) ended her 7th war patrol at Brisbane.

1 Mar 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. Robert Frederick Sellars) departed from Brisbane for her 8th war patrol, and was ordered to patrol off New Guinea.

27 Apr 1944
Off Tual island (Moluccas), position 05°35'S, 133°17'E, Blackfish fires 4 torpedoed on radar bearings at a target identified as a " 3700-ton light cruiser or destroyer", apparently an Akizuki-class large AA destroyer. The sub claims one possible hit and damage. The target and results of the attack are, again, unidentified and unconfirmed.

19 May 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) ended her 8th war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She is sent to San Francisco for a major overhaul.

27 May 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) arrived at San Francisco.

31 Aug 1944
With her overhaul completed USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) departed from San Francisco for Pearl Harbor.

17 Sep 1944
USS Blackfin (Cdr. G.H. Laird, Jr., USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Le Hardy (Lt.Cdr. E.L. Holtz, USNR), USS Allen (Lt. J.A. Rowe, USNR) and USS Blackfish (Cdr. R.F. Sellars, USN).

19 Sep 1944
USS Seadragon (Cdr. J.H. Ashley, Jr., USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Le Hardy (Lt.Cdr. E.L. Holtz, USNR), USS Tisdale (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Hatfield, USNR) and USS Blackfish (Cdr. R.F. Sellars, USN).

23 Sep 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) departed from Pearl Harbor for Saipan.

3 Oct 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) arrived at Saipan.

4 Oct 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) departed from Saipan for her 9th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Formosa.

17 Nov 1944
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) ended her 9th war patrol at Saipan.

1 Jan 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) departed from Midway for her 10th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

23 Jan 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) attacked a sailing vessel with her deck gun, claiming damage to the vessel.

30 Jan 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) sank a large Japanese sampan with gunfire in the South China Sea in position 21°37'N, 115°54'E. She also claims scoring hits on a second, larger, sampan but not a sinking.

1 Feb 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) sank three Japanese sampans with gunfire in the South China Sea in position 21°58'N, 115°39'E.

21 Feb 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) ended her 10th war patrol at Guam.

21 Mar 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) departed from Guam for her 11th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

10 May 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.F. Sellars) ended her 11th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

14 Jun 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. Robert Charles Gillette) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 12th war patrol, and was ordered to patrol in the East China and Yellow Seas.

14 Aug 1945
USS Blackfish (Lt.Cdr. R.C. Gillette) ended her 12th war patrol at Guam.