Built by: Electric Boat
Design: EB 212C
Keel laid: 28 June 1937
Launched: 20 August 1938
Sponsor: Mrs. J. P. Casbarian
Commissioned: 3 April 1939
First Skipper: Lt. George W. Patterson, Jr.

“From Commander Asiatic Fleet to Asiatic Fleet – URGENT Japan has commenced hostilities Govern yourselves accordingly”

This message flashed to all the American submarine commands in the Pacific, and USS SAURY was immediately dispatched to the approaches of Lingayen Gulf along with USS SEAWOLF.

“You will sink or destroy enemy shipping wherever encountered.”

was the command that went to these submarines; and off they went.

USS STINGRAY reported a section of the Gulf that was swarming with Japanese shipping, so USS SAURY was shifted to that area along with S-38, S-40 an USS SALMON. They had a golden opportunity to really hit the enemy hard, with this concentration of shipping. It was not to be.

The submarines arrived too late, and the Japanese had secured the Gulf areas where they were disembarking troops, and the Gulf was too shallow in that area for successful submarine work. The Japanese boats were small and drew little water – submarines would be in great peril in this area, strewn with reefs and shallows.

Even so, USS SAURY tried to even the odds, as she took on a Japanese destroyer in a night surface attack, still in the Gulf. They fired one torpedo at the DD, but it missed – so SAURY went deep to avoid the impending depth charge attack.

During the second set of tests (18 July) to prove that the Mark 14 torpedoes were not performing properly, it was USS SAURY that fired at the nets. The torpedoes were set for 10 feet and fired from a distance of 850 to 900 yards and while the first shot was wasted (the net had been carried away before the shot), the others all cut the net at 21 feet. The submarine force had proved that the Mark 14 torpedoes did indeed, run far deeper than set and caused many a missed target.

The battle surrounding the Solomon Islands got more and more fierce, and the older ‘Sugar’ boats were being replaced by more up to date submarines. USS SAURY was one of the submarines that patrolled out of Brisbane in the fall of 1942. There were about two dozen of these boats in that area and about half of them were considered ‘temporary loans’ out of Pearl Harbor. But they were desperately needed in this area.

Later, in May of 1943, USS SAURY was ordered to the northern end of the East China Sea to attack shipping along the coast of Kyushu. On 28 May, they spotted a 2,300 ton ship but the Skipper wanted a bigger target, so they refrained from taking this easy one. Soon they were rewarded with the sight of larger masts and some smoke on the horizon. SAURY headed off at 190º at high speed.

Here was a large tanker, sitting high in the water with empty tanks. SAURY dived and closed on the target’s track. The moment was right and at 1724 hours she fired four torpedoes at the unsuspecting tanker from 2,500 yards. One torpedo struck just aft the funnel but the other three missed, due to the target making 17 knots rather than the 15 estimated by the Skipper of SAURY. The tanker was hit and she was hurt, but she was not yet dead – and she launched a pair of depth charges with no effect on the submarine.

SAURY launched six more torpedoes, four of which hit, and the 10,216 ton tanker ATAKSUKI MARU became the first of three ships sunk by USS SAURY in this area.

USS SAURY was heading to her new patrol area on the night of 30 July 1943 and when about halfway between Iwo Jima and Okinawa, they got a radar contact. The night was moonless, but sprinkled with countless bright stars. Soon they spotted a cruiser and a large tanker escorted by a lone destroyer. The TDC was not working, so they submerged on the target’s base course and waited. When the targets were about 5,500 yards out, SAURY submerged to wait for them. They picked up screw noises at 4,000 yards – the sea wasn’t sending sounds too well that night.

The periscope was fogging up and had a leak in the gaskets, and when it was accidentally dunked twice, the viewing was pretty bad. The targets shifted and were running faster than anticipated, and were closing much faster than expected. Something was going to happen – and mighty fast.

Ouch! A Hard-Bottom Destroyer

Well, it happened all right – but not what the officers and crew expected. The Skipper ordered a crash dive, but the order came too late. The incident report stated that it sounded like an old truck immediately above them, stripping the gears in its transmission as it was rumbling over an old wooden bridge. USS SAURY listed about 5º to starboard for a moment, righted herself, then listed yet a second time. Yes, the range closed a lot faster than expected!

When they finally brought USS SAURY back to the surface later that night, they saw a real mess topsides. The periscope shears were torn to shreds, the No. 1 periscope was bent severely as was the entire conning tower structure. The Japanese destroyer did its job at shielding her convoy – they never came under fire from USS SAURY, and they had pretty well beat up her topside.

Returning from patrol the night of 12 February 1944, USS SAURY was about a day out of Midway, running normally on the surface. At about 2225 hours and without warning, a huge wave came from astern and hit the submarine on the starboard quarter, causing the boat to list some 40º and to yaw about 140º from her track. The wave was so large that it swept over the bridge of SAURY and sent green water into the conning tower hatch and the main induction.

The main control cubicle was grounded out with seawater, which caused a small electrical fire. Also grounded out were the auxiliary power panel, both high pressure compressors, the master gyro, and air conditioning units, the fathometer – and the forward battery was fully voltage grounded. There was a real mess aboard.

The Skipper decided to lie to and repair the damage before going onward. It took only about thirty minutes to repair auxiliary power, but the main control panel took the better part of a day and the gyro was out for more than a full day. SAURY could finally dive and run submerged after 21 hours of hard work.

Operation HOTFOOT called upon the American submarines to sweep a 180 mile wide path of Japanese shipping, so the American carriers to go through on the way to Japan, and USS SAURY was one of ‘Burt’s Brooms’ in this operation. Commander Burt Klakring was in command of the seven submarines to make this sweep, hence the name. Severe weather caused the gunnery from the submarines to be difficult at best, and perhaps the Japanese got alarmed by the number of submarines attacking their picket boats and they sent all available aircraft and patrol boats were sent in.

Commanding officers were:
J. L. Burnside (patrols 1, 2 and 3)
L. S. Mewhinney (patrols 4 and 5)
A. H. Dropp (patrols 6 through 10)
R. A. Waugh (patrol #11)

USS SAURY was awarded 7 Battle Stars for her time in WW II.

Damage Report Concerning 31 July 1943

In the Philippine Sea at 27º 03’N x 135º 27’E, run down by a Japanese destroyer while at periscope depth. Destroyer passed directly overhead from abaft the port beam. No depth charges were dropped. Nos. 1 and 2 periscopes, SD and SJ radar masts and supporting shear structures were bent about 30º to starboard. Holding down bolts on shears parted at “A” frame level and the foundations of shears were bent. No. 1 periscope window fractured and tube flooded. Slight leakage into conning tower occurred around hull flange of No. 2 periscope stuffing box at depths below 200 feet. Patrol was terminated.

War Patrols of USS SAURY
WP#	FROM	TO	DURATION	SINKINGS
1	CV N. Luzon	SJ	53 days	see note A
2	SJ Nei	FA	36 days	None
3	FA Celebes	FA	62 days	see note A
4	FA Phil.	FA	54 days	see note B
5	BA transit	PH	52 days	None
6	PH E. China Sea	MI	32 days	see note C
7	PH Empire	MI	26 days	None
8	PH Truk	PH	53 days	None
9	PH E. China Sea	MI	55 days	None
10	PH E. China Sea	MJ	55 days	None
11	MJ Empire	PH	70 days	None

A – was a split patrol
B – on 4th patrol, sank the 8,606 ton aircraft ferry KANTO MARU
C – on 6th patrol, sank the 2,346 ton transport KAGI MARU and the 10,216 ton tanker ATAKSUKI MARU and the 5,385 ton cargo ship SHOKO MARU and the 1,992 ton cargo ship TAKAMISAN MARU

Total of 28,532 tons of shipping.

At the end of 1944 and onwards, after the 11th war patrol, USS SAURY was used as a training boat. She was decommissioned 22 June 1946, stricken from the Navy List on 19 July 1946 and was sold for scrap to Learner in Oakland, California on 19 May 1947 for the sum of $21,793.