She was built by Fore River Shipbuilding
Her keel was laid 11 April, 1919
She was launched 18 October, 1922
Her Sponsor was Mrs. Frank Baldwin
She was commissioned 22 January, 1924
Her first Skipper was LT Theodore Waldschmidt

History:

In November 1941 USS S-27 proceeded to Mare Island Navy Yard for overhaul, after which she provided training service to the West Coast Sound School. 20 May, 1942 USS S-27 sailed for Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians for combat duty.

In June of 1942, the enemy had landed on Kiska Island in the Aleutians and the U.S. Fleet wanted to know about Amchitka Island some 50 miles north of Kiska. USS S-27, on her first war patrol with Jukes in command, was sent to make a reconnaissance of Constantine Harbor at Amchitka and then to go around the island and patrol off Kiska. By 19 June 1942, the recon was completed and USS S-27 started for her area.

In the Aleutians at that time of year there is about 18 hours of daylight each day, and when USS S-27 surfaced at 2200 hours on the night of 19 June, after the necessary prolonged submergence during daylight hours, her batteries were badly in need of charging. Navigating only by dead reckoning (DR) since she had no radar and no fathometer, USS S-27 gained a position well off the land, and hove to in order to charge batteries. While she was lying to, currents took her about five miles from her DR position, although fog prevented knowledge of it at the time. At about 2240 on 19 June, USS S-27 was able to go ahead on one engine while charging on the other. Almost immediately, she struck a reef about 400 yards from Amchitka Island and rolled over into a rocky basin.

All efforts to get off the rocks were in vain, and of six dispatches telling of her situation, only one - which did not give her position - was picked up. The torpedo room was flooding, the after battery was getting wet and generating chlorine gas, and the boat had an 8 to 12 degree down angle. The boat was abandoned and all hands were taken ashore in a rubber boat. They spent the night huddled around fires, and the next morning they set out for the village at Constantine Harbor across the island. There they found a small church and two buildings. The Japanese having bombed the rest, but no inhabitants. Food, guns and ammunition had been salvaged from the boat and the men were organized by the C.O. into a regular military camp.

H. L. JUKES

On the sixth day a PBY flew over, sighted the men and landed. He took 12 men and an officer back to Dutch Harbor and the next morning three other PBY's flew out for the rest of the men. The crew survived this disaster without a single injury or illness.

USS S-27 was later destroyed by U.S. forces to prevent her from falling into Japanese hands. This was the 6th American submarine lost on World War II; the third S-Boat lost in the war.

WAR PATROLS OF USS S-27

WAR PATROLS OF USS S-28 (SS 132)
WP#	DATE	From AREA	To AREA	DURATION
1	12/06/42	DH Kiska	---	7 days