Allied Warships

Escolar (SS-294)

Submarine of the Balao class

USS Escolar as completed.

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Submarine
Class	Balao
Pennant	294
Built by	Cramp Shipbuilding Co. (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
Ordered	24 Dec 1941
Laid down	10 Jun 1942
Launched	18 Apr 1943
Commissioned	2 Jun 1944
Lost	Oct 1944
History	USS Escolar (T/Cdr. William John Millican, USN) was most likely depth charged and sunk on 19 October 1944 by the Japanese frigate Kaibokan 38 (offsite link) in position 33°32'N, 128°43'E. Another possibility is that she hit a mine in the Yellow Sea / Northern South Chine Sea on or after 17 October 1944 which was the day she was last heard off. She was officially reported overdue on 27 November 1944 having failed to arrive at Midway from patrol.

Commands listed for USS Escolar (294)

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. William John Millican, USN	2 Jun 1944	Oct 1944

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Notable events involving Escolar include:

The page dealing with the wartime history of USS Escolar was created in July 2023.

[No deck logs of this submarine are currently available to us so therefore some details, particularly regarding trials and exercises, might be missing on this page.]

11 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed Philadelphia for New London, Connecticut. She was escorted until New York by USS SC-1339 (Lt. W.G. Maxson, USNR).

12 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) arrived at New London, Connecticut from Philadelphia. At New London she commenced a work-up period.

21 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed New London for Newport, Rhode Island where she arrived later the same day to conduct her torpedo discharge trials.

24 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) returned to New London from Newport upon the completion of her torpedo discharge trials.

27 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted a deep submergence trial in Long Island Sound.

29 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) and USS Jenks (T/Cdr. J.F. Way, USN) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound.

30 Jun 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) and USS Jenks (T/Cdr. J.F. Way, USN) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound.

1 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) and USS Jenks (T/Cdr. J.F. Way, USN) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound.

8 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) is put on the marine railway at New London.

10 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) is put back in the water.

13 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed New London, Connecticut for Port Everglades, Florida.

20 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) arrived at Port Everglades, Florida from New London, Connecticut. At Port Everglade she is to participate in special tests.

24 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) proceeded from Port Everglades to Key West where she arrived later the same day.

25 Jul 1944
During 25/26 1944, USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Key West. USS Escolar remained at sea during the night.

During 25 July 1944, the exercises were carried out with the destroyer USS Dahlgren (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Lapides, USNR) and the patrol vessel USS PCS-1431 (Lt. G.J. Meyer, USNR).

During 26 July 1944, the exercises were carried out with the destroyer USS Dahlgren and the patrol vessel USS PCS-1380 (Lt.(jg) J.J. Connell, USNR).

27 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Key West.

28 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Key West with the destroyer USS Dahlgren (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Lapides, USNR) and the patrol vessel USS PCS-1423 (Lt. W.C. Hall, Jr., USNR).

31 Jul 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Key West with the destroyer USS Dahlgren (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Lapides, USNR) and the patrol vessels USS PCS-1378 (Lt.(jg) L.E. Burger, USNR) and USS PCS-1426 (Lt. J. Rabun, USNR).

1 Aug 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Key West.

2 Aug 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed Key West, Florida for the Panama Canal Zone. She was to proceed through the following poaitions;
A) 22°17'N, 85°20'W at 1254Q/3
B) 21°40'N, 85°20'W at 1559Q/3
C) 21°00'N, 83°30'W at 0104Q/4
D) 16°18'N, 80°45'W at 0146Q/5

She was escorted until Point C by USS PC-1145 (Lt. J.L Hoguet, USNR).

6 Aug 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) arrived at Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone from Key West, Florida. She was escorted in by USS PC-1183 (Lt.(jg) L. Rogow, USNR).

11 Aug 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed Balboa, Panama Canal Zone for Pearl Harbour.

27 Aug 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) arrived at Pearl Harbour from Balboa, Panama Canal Zone.

4 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour.

6 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour.

8 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour with USS Charles R. Greer (Cdr. A. Jackson, Jr., USNR), USS Lovering (Lt.Cdr. E.P. Bayley, USNR) and USS Hemminger (Lt.Cdr. J.R. Bodler, USNR).

9 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) and USS Sea Dog (T/Cdr. V.L. Lowrance, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour with USS Le Hardy (Lt.Cdr. E.L. Holtz, USNR), USS Charles R. Greer (Cdr. A. Jackson, Jr., USNR), USS Canfield (Lt.Cdr. P.E. Cherry, USNR) and USS Seagull (T/Lt. W.S. Hall, USN).

On completion of the exercises USS Sea Dog proceeded to Pearl Harbour escorted by USS Le Hardy.

USS Escolar remained out for night exercises with USS Charles R. Greer and USS Greiner (Lt.Cdr. L.H. Kiser, USN). They returned to Pearl Harbour early in the afternoon of the 10th.

12 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour with USS Le Hardy (Lt.Cdr. E.L. Holtz, USNR) and USS Seagull (T/Lt. W.S. Hall, USN).

13 Sep 1944
During 13/14 September 1944, USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour. These included night exercises.

18 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the East China and Yellow Seas. Before proceeding to her patrol area she was to top of with fuel at Midway.

22 Sep 1944
USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) arrived at Midway. She then went alongside USS Proteus (T/Capt. C.N. Day, USN) for voyage repairs.

23 Sep 1944
Around 1530Y/23, USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN), USS Perch (T/Cdr. B.C. Hills, USN) and USS Croaker (T/Cdr. J.E. Lee, USN) departed Midway as a coordinated attack group. T/Cdr. W.J. Millican was the group commander. They were to patrol in the East China and Yellow seas.

17 Oct 1944
In the evening, USS Escolar (T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, USN) has her last communication with USS Perch (T/Cdr. B.C. Hills, USN).

The group commander, T/Cdr. W.J. Millican, ordered USS Perch to patrol to the south of Nagasaki.

USS Escolar reported her own position as 33°44'N, 127°33'E and that it was her intention to proceed to position 33°44'N, 129°06'E.

This was the last that was ever heard of HMS Escolar.

19 Oct 1944
On 19 October 1944, the Japanese frigate Kaibokan 34 (offsite link), which was escorting convoy MI-23 obtained an A/S contact and her sister ship Kaibokan 38 (offsite link), then dropped depth charges resulting in an oil slick and debris coming to the surface. Position of the attack was 33°32'N, 128°43'E which is not far from the position USS Escolar reported she was going to patrol in her last communication. This attack is the most likely cause for the loss of USS Escolar.