Allied Warships

Sea Cat (SS-399)

Submarine of the Balao class


USS Sea Cat as modified postwar.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassBalao 
Pennant399 
Built byPortsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.) 
Ordered8 Jun 1942 
Laid down30 Oct 1943 
Launched21 Feb 1944 
Commissioned16 May 1944 
End service2 Dec 1968 
History

Decommissioned and stricken 2 December 1968.
Sold 18 May 1973 to be broken up for scrap.

 

Commands listed for USS Sea Cat (399)

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. Rob Roy McGregor, USN16 May 19448 Jan 1945
2T/Lt.Cdr. Richard Harwood Bowers, USN8 Jan 1945Nov 1945

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Notable events involving Sea Cat include:


28 Aug 1944
With her trails and initial training completed USS Sea Cat (Cmdr Robert Roy McGregor) departed from New London bound for Pearl Harbor.

5 Sep 1944
The submarines USS Dragonet (T/Cdr. J.H. Lewis, USN), departed New London for the Panama Canal Zone via Key West. She had a layover at New York during the night of 5/6 September before continuing her passage together with USS Sea Cat (T/Cdr. R.R. McGregor, USN). The destroyer USS Bainbridge (Lt.Cdr. W.S. Hitchins, USNR) joined as escort.

9 Sep 1944
The submarines USS Dragonet (T/Cdr. J.H. Lewis, USN), USS Sea Cat (T/Cdr. R.R. McGregor, USN) and their escort, the destroyer USS Bainbridge (Lt.Cdr. W.S. Hitchins, USNR), arrived at Key West from New London via New York.

28 Oct 1944
USS Sea Cat (Cmdr Robert Roy McGregor) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol, and was ordered to patrol in the South China Sea. She terminates her patrol at Guam.

1 Nov 1944
Around 1500Y/1, USS Searaven (T/Lt.Cdr. R. Berthrong, USN), departed Midway for her 13th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the northern part of the South China Sea as a member of a coordinated attack group which was furthermore made up of USS Pampanito (T/Capt. F.W. Fenno, Jr., USN), USS Pipefish (T/Cdr. W.N. Deragon, USN) and USS Sea Cat (T/Cdr. R.R. McGregor, USN).

Around 2100Y/1, she joined USS Pampanito and USS Pipefish which had departed Midway later in the afternoon.

They were to proceed to Saipan first before proceeding to their patrol area.

Around 2000L/5, USS Pipefish parted company to proceed at best speed to Saipan with a case of appendicitis on board.

Around 0700L/7, USS Pampanito and USS Searaven were joined by USS Archerfish (T/Cdr. J.F. Enright, USN).

At 2030L/7, USS Searaven suffered a fire in the maneuvering room which was quickly brought under control. She briefly had to stop but was able to rejoin the other two submarines shortly afterwards. (1)

11 Nov 1944
Around 1330I/11, USS Pampanito (T/Capt. F.W. Fenno, Jr., USN), USS Pipefish (T/Cdr. W.N. Deragon, USN) and USS Sea Cat (T/Cdr. R.R. McGregor, USN) and USS Searaven (T/Lt.Cdr. R. Berthrong, USN), which were to operate as a coordinated attack group, departed Saipan to proceed to their patrol area in the northern part of the South China Sea.

With them were also USS Archerfish (T/Cdr. J.F. Enright, USN) and USS Scabbardfish (T/Cdr. F.A. Gunn, USN). These two submarines parted company with the others around 1900I/12.

On leaving Saipan these six submarines were escorted by USS Candid (Lt. C.B. Hinton, USNR). (1)

3 Dec 1944
USS Sea Cat (Cmdr Robert Roy McGregor) possibly torpedoed and damaged the Japanese tanker Harima Maru (10045 GRT) in South China Sea off coast of French Indo-China.

1 Feb 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) departed from Guam for her 2nd war patrol, and was ordered to patrol in the East China Sea.

24 Mar 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) ended her 2nd war patrol at Midway.

27 Apr 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) departed from Midway for her 3rd war patrol, and was ordered to patrol in the Yellow Sea.

7 Jun 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) sank a Japanese sailing vessel with gunfire in the Yellow Sea in position 37°03'N, 124°01'E.

26 Jun 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) ended her 3rd war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

6 Aug 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 4th war patrol, and was ordered to patrol of the Kurile Islands.

2 Sep 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered.

7 Sep 1945
USS Sea Cat (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bowers) ended her 4th war patrol at Guam.

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. Patrol report of USS Searaven for her 13th war patrol

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