Allied Warships

Catfish (SS-339)

Submarine of the Balao class


USS Catfish as modified after the war.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassBalao 
Pennant339 
Built byElectric Boat Co. (Groton, Connecticut, U.S.A.) 
Ordered6 Jun 1942 
Laid down1 Jan 1944 
Launched19 Nov 1944 
Commissioned19 Mar 1945 
End service1 Jul 1971 
History

Decommissioned 10 December 1948.
Recommissioned 24 October 1950.
Decommissioned, stricken and transferred to Argentina 1 July 1971 being renamed Santa Fe.
During the Falklands War in 1982 Santa-Fe was hit by British forces. Deemed too costly to economically repair as a war prize she was sunk in Grytvyken Sound, South Georgia.

 

Commands listed for USS Catfish (339)

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.

CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. William Arthur Overton, USNR19 Mar 194520 Jul 1948

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Notable events involving Catfish include:


The history of USS Catfish as compiled on this page is extracted from her patrol reports.

This page was last updated in March 2017.

1 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Bronstein (Lt. J.H. Longley, USNR).

2 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Bronstein (Lt. J.H. Longley, USNR).

3 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Bronstein (Lt. J.H. Longley, USNR).

4 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Bronstein (Lt. J.H. Longley, USNR).

8 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Newport, Rhode Island from New London, Connecticut for torpedo trials.

11 Apr 1945
Having completed her torpedo trials, USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR), returned to New London, Connecticut

23 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Breckinridge (Lt.Cdr. W.J. van Meter, USN) and USS Barney (Lt.Cdr. E.R. Mecleary, USNR).

24 Apr 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Long Island Sound together with USS Breckinridge (Lt.Cdr. W.J. van Meter, USN) and USS Barney (Lt.Cdr. E.R. Mecleary, USNR).

4 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed from New London bound Port Everglades. She was escorted by USS Hollis (Lt.Cdr. C. Fox, USN).

8 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Port Everglades, Florida for special trials for the Bureau of Ordnance.

10 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Port Everglades for Key West, Florida.

11 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Key West.

20 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

22 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

23 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

24 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

25 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

26 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

28 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Key West.

30 May 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Key West for the Panama Canal Zone.

3 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone.

5 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Panama Bay together with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR) and USS Entemedor (Lt.Cdr. W.R. Smith, Jr., USN).

6 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Panama Bay together with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR) and USS Entemedor (Lt.Cdr. W.R. Smith, Jr., USN).

7 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Panama Bay together with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR) and USS Bulmer (Lt. T.C. Farrell, USNR).

8 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Panama Bay together with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR) and USS Bulmer (Lt. T.C. Farrell, USNR).

9 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises in Panama Bay together with USS MacLeish (Lt. D.S. Cramer, USNR) and USS Bulmer (Lt. T.C. Farrell, USNR).

13 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Balboa, Panama Canal Zone for Pearl Harbour.

29 Jun 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Pearl Harbor.

7 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR), USS Jallao (T/Cdr. J.B. Icenhower, USN) and USS Searaven (T/Lt.Cdr. R.C. Smallwood, Jr., USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Coolbaugh (Lt.Cdr. S.E. Zimmerman, USNR). (1)

8 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Coolbaugh (Lt.Cdr. S.E. Zimmerman, USNR), USS Pruitt (Lt. D.B. Harby, USNR), USS Howard (Lt.Cdr. F.W. Diehl, USNR), USS Stickleback (Cdr. H.K. Nauman, USN), USS Plaice (Cdr. R.S. Andrews, USN), USS Torsk (Cdr. B.E. Lewellen, USN) and USS Sargo (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Hingson, USN).

9 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Howard (Lt.Cdr. F.W. Diehl, USNR), USS Chew (Lt.Cdr. J.J. Mannion, USNR), USS Florikan (Lt. D. Hima, USN) and USS Stickleback (Cdr. H.K. Nauman, USN).

10 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Howard (Lt.Cdr. F.W. Diehl, USNR), USS Chew (Lt.Cdr. J.J. Mannion, USNR), USS Florikan (Lt. D. Hima, USN) and USS Stickleback (Cdr. H.K. Nauman, USN).

13 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR) and USS Coolbaugh (Lt.Cdr. S.E. Zimmerman, USNR).

14 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR), USS Florikan (Lt. D. Hima, USN) and USS Sargo (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Hingson, USN).

15 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Harmon (Lt. R.W. Steel, USNR), USS Seagull and USS Stickleback (Cdr. H.K. Nauman, USN).

16 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Darby (Lt.Cdr. M.W. Martin, USNR).

23 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Kyushu, Japan. Later she was ordered to patrol in the Yellow Sea. She was also ordered to conduct a special operation.

She was escorted out of Pearl Harbour by USS PC-1078 (Lt. J.H. Shuler, USNR).

For daily positions (though incomplete) of USS Catfish during this patrol see the map below.

5 Aug 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Guam. She was escorted in by USS SC 677.

8 Aug 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Guam for her patrol area. She was escorted out by USS Spangler (Lt.Cdr. H.M. Edwards, USNR).

15 Aug 1945
In the early morning hours, USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR), conducted a special operation (for the moment we have no details).

Also a message was received that the war was over but for the moment Catfish was ordered to remain in her patrol area.

5 Sep 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) ended her 1st war patrol at Guam. She was escorted in by USS LCI(L)-603 (Lt.(jg). H.E. McMath, Jr., USNR).

7 Sep 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Guam for Pearl Harbour.

17 Sep 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Pearl Harbour from Guam.

21 Sep 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) departed Pearl Harbour for Seattle, Washington, USA.

29 Sep 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) arrived at Seattle, Washington, USA from Pearl Harbour.

Media links


U. S. Submarines in World War II
Kimmett, Larry and Regis, Margaret


U.S. Submarines Through 1945
Friedman, Norman


amazon.co.uk
(£ 56.95)

Sources

  1. War diary USS Coolbaugh for July 1945

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