Allied Warships

Raton (SS-270)

Submarine of the Gato class

USS Raton in the floating drydock to be transported from Manitowoc to New Orleans.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Gato
Pennant	270
Built by	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.A.)
Ordered	9 Sep 1940
Laid down	29 May 1942
Launched	24 Jan 1943
Commissioned	13 Jul 1943
End service	28 Jun 1969
History	Decommissioned 11 March 1949. Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned as a Radar Picket Submarine 21 September 1953. Decommissioned and stricken 28 June 1969. Sold 10 December 1973 to be broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Raton (270)

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	T/Cdr. James White Davis, USN	13 Jul 1943	7 Jul 1944
2	T/Lt.Cdr. Maurice William Shea, USN	7 Jul 1944	8 Jun 1945
3	Lt.Cdr. Guy Frank Gugliotta, USN	8 Jun 1945	23 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Raton include:

9 Aug 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis, USN) departed New Orleans, Louisiana for the Panama Canal Zone.

14 Aug 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis, USN) arrived at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone from New Orleans, Louisiana to begin a training period.

19 Sep 1943
With her trails and initial training completed USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) departed from the Panama Canal zone bound for Brisbane, Australia.

16 Oct 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) arrived at Brisbane.

20 Nov 1943
After moving to Tulagi, Solomon Islands, USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) departed from that base for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Bismarck Archipelago / New Guinea area.

26 Nov 1943
While operating north of the Bismarck Archipelago USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and sank the Japanese ammunition ship Onoe Maru (6667 GRT) in position 00°40'N, 148°20'E and torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Kamoi Maru (2811 GRT) in position 00°46'N, 148°20'E.

28 Nov 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ships Hokko Maru (6787 GRT) and Yuri Maru (5346 GRT) north of New Guinea in position 01°40'N, 141°25'E.

6 Dec 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) ended her 1st war patrol at Milne Bay, New Guinea.

11 Dec 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) departed from Milne Bay for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Mindanao / Celebes / Halmahera area.

24 Dec 1943
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Heiwa Maru (5578 GRT) in Kaoe Bay, Halmahera in position 02°57'N, 127°32'E.

2 Jan 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese fleet tanker Akebono Maru (10182 GRT) east of Mindanao, Philippines in position 08°18'N, 129°59'E.

25 Jan 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) ended her 2nd war patrol at Fremantle, Australia.

18 Feb 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) departed from Fremantle for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Java and the South China Seas.

14 Apr 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) ended her 3th war patrol at Fremantle.

4 May 1944
Around 0815H/4, HMAS Adelaide (A/Capt. J.C.D. Esdaile, OBE, RAN) departed Fremantle for exercises with the submarines USS Narwhal (T/Cdr. J.C. Titus, USN), USS Bluefish (T/Cdr. C.M. Henderson, USN) and USS Raton (T/Cdr. J.W. Davis, USN).

On completion of the exercises HMAS Adelaide set course to make rendezvous with the submarine tender USS Griffin (T/Capt. W.B. Throp, USN).

Rendezvous was affected around 1330H/6 and they arrived at Fremantle around 2130H/7. (1)

19 May 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) departed from Fremantle for her 4th war patrol. Once again she was ordered to patrol in the Java and South China Seas.

23 May 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) sank the small merchant vessel Koshin Maru (168 GRT) with gunfire west of Borneo in position 00°25'S, 107°34'E.

24 May 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and sank the Japanese frigate Iki (870 tons, offsite link) and torpedoed and damaged the Japanese frigate Matsuwa (870 tons, offsite link) about 220 nautical miles east of Singapore in position 01°17'N, 107°53'E.

6 Jun 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) torpedoed and sank the Japanese corvette Kaibokan 15 (745 tons, offsite link) about 160 nautical miles off Cape St. Jacques, French Indo-China in position 08°57'N, 109°17'E.

13 Jun 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) sank a Japanese sampan with gunfire in the Java Sea in position 04°00'S, 109°46'E.

23 Jun 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. J.W. Davis) ended her 4th war patrol at Fremantle.

18 Jul 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) departed from Fremantle for her 5th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

10 Sep 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) ended her 5th war patrol at Fremantle.

6 Oct 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) departed from Fremantle for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea.

18 Oct 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ships Taikai Maru (3812 GRT) and Shiranesan Maru (4739 GRT) in the South China Sea, south-west of Luzon, Philippines in position 12°37'N, 118°46'E.

27 Oct 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) departed from Mios Woendi, Schouten Islands, after she took onboard additional torpedoes and fuel, to resume her 6th war patrol.

6 Nov 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese heavy cruiser Kumano (offsite link) west of Lingayen, Philippines in position 16°11'N, 119°44'E.

14 Nov 1944
While operating north-north-west of Cape Bolinao, Luzon, Philippines USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese supply ship Kurasaki (2371 GRT, offsite link) in position 17°41'N, 118°00'E and torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant tanker Unkai Maru No.5 (2841 GRT) in position 17°48'N, 117°58'E.

The Kurasaki sank the following day north-northwest of Cape Bolinao in position 17°27'N, 117°43'E as a result of the damage inflicted by USS Raton.

1 Dec 1944
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Shea) ended her 6th war patrol at San Francisco. She is now sent to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a major overhaul.

13 Mar 1945
With her overhaul completed USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) departed from the US west coast bound for Pearl Harbor.

20 Apr 1945
USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 7th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Yellow Sea.

2 May 1945
USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Toryu Maru (1992 GRT) in the Yellow Sea southeast of the Shantung Peninsula in position 37°24'N, 123°50'E.

12 May 1945
USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Rekizan Maru (1311 GRT) in the Yellow Sea off the Shantung Peninsula in position 37°25'N, 123°42'E.

16 May 1945
USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Eiju Maru (2456 GRT) in the Yellow Sea off the west coast of Korea in position 37°34'N, 124°13'E.

25 May 1945
USS Raton (Cdr. M.W. Shea) ended her 7th war patrol at Guam.

22 Jun 1945
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. G.F. Gugliotta) departed from Guam for her 8th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Hong Kong.

23 Jul 1945
USS Raton (Lt.Cdr. G.F. Gugliotta) ended her 8th war patrol at Subic Bay, Philippines.