Allied Warships

Tench (SS-417)

Submarine of the Tench class


USS Tench as modified postwar.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassTench 
Pennant417 
Built byPortsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.) 
Ordered22 Feb 1943 
Laid down1 Apr 1944 
Launched7 Jul 1944 
Commissioned6 Oct 1944 
End service8 May 1970 
History

Decommissioned in March 1946.
Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
Recommissioned 1 October 1950.
Decommissioned 8 May 1970.
Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
Stricken 16 August 1973.
Transferred to Peru 7 September 1976.

 

Commands listed for USS Tench (417)

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
1T/Cdr. William Bernard Sieglaff, USN6 Oct 194413 Apr 1945
2T/Cdr. Thomas Slack Baskett, USN30 Apr 194513 Jan 1946

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Notable events involving Tench include:


14 Nov 1944
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) arrived at Newport, Rhode Island from Portsmouth, New Hampshire for torpedo trials.

18 Nov 1944
With her torpedo trials completed, USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN), arrived at New London Connecticut from Newport, Rhode Island.

20 Dec 1944
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) departed from New London, Connecticut for Key West, Florida.

26 Dec 1944
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) arrived at Key West, Florida from New London, Connecticut.

27 Dec 1944
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) departed Key West, Florida for the Panama Canal Zone.

31 Dec 1944
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) arrived in the Panama Canal Zone from Key West, Florida.

8 Jan 1945
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN) departed the Panama Canal Zone for Pearl Harbour.

2 Feb 1945
USS Chub (Cdr. C.D. Rhymes, Jr., USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Ramsay (Lt. R.R. Pollard, Jr., USNR), USS Whitman (Lt. E.A. Sandor, USNR) and USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN).

3 Feb 1945
USS Chub (Cdr. C.D. Rhymes, Jr., USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbour together with USS Ramsay (Lt. R.R. Pollard, Jr., USNR), USS Whitman (Lt. E.A. Sandor, USNR) and USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff, USN).

7 Feb 1945
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the East China and Yellow Seas. She is to call at Saipan before heading to her patrol area.

27 Feb 1945
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff) departed from Saipan for her patrol area.

28 Mar 1945
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff) sank two small Japanese fishing trawlers with gunfire in the Yellow Sea in position 34°44'N, 122°46'E.

14 Apr 1945
USS Tench (Cdr. W.B. Sieglaff) ended her 1st war patrol at Guam.

27 May 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank the small Japanese merchant cargo ship Kinei Maru (100 GRT) with gunfire off Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan in position 42°54'N, 144°18'E.

30 May 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank a small Japanese vessel with gunfire off the north-east coast of Honshu, Japan in position 41°19'N, 141°35'E.

2 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Mikamasan Maru (861 GRT) south-east of Shiriyazaki, Honshu, Japan in position 41°22'N, 141°28'E.

4 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport ship Ryujin Maru (517 GRT) off Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan in position 40°54'N, 141°29'E.

7 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank the Japanese guard boat Hanshin Maru (92 GRT) with gunfire off the east coast of Hokkaido, Japan in position 42°41'N, 143°53'E.

9 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) torpedoed and sank the Japanese transport Kamishika Maru (2857 GRT) off southern Hokkaido in position 41°49'N, 141°11'E.

11 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant tanker Shoei Maru No.6 (834 GRT) off the north-east coast of Honshu, Japan in position 41°15'N, 141°31'E.

12 Jun 1945
While on her 2nd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank two Japanese trawlers with gunfire off the east coast of Honshu, Japan, one in position 39°17'N, 144°07'E and the other one in position 39°17'N, 143°30'E.

23 Jul 1945
Around 1000K/23, USS Billfish (Lt.Cdr. L.C. Farley, Jr., USNR), USS Lionfish (T/Lt.Cdr. B.M. Ganyard, USN), USS Sea Fox (T/Cdr. R.C. Klinker, USN) and USS Tench (T/Cdr. T.S. Baskett, USN) departed Saipan for their patrol areas. They were escorted out until around 1445K/23 by USS LCI(L)-322 (Lt. W.L. Brown, USCGR).

At 2000K/23, USS Sea Fox parted company with the other three submarines.

Around 1735K/26, the three submarines encountered a large Task Group of Task Force 58. The submarines were joined around 1840K/26, by the destroyers USS Caperton (T/Lt.Cdr. W.P. Starnes, USN, USS Cogswell (T/Lt.Cdr. R.N. Perley, Jr., USN, with COMDESDIV 100, T/Capt. E.B. Dexter, USN, on board) and USS Knapp (T/Cdr. W.B. Brown, USN) which escorted them clear and then parted company around 2030K/26.

Around 0200K/27, USS Billfish and USS Tench set course to proceed to the Yellow Sea, USS Lionfish proceeded on towards her lifeguard station.

30 Jul 1945
While on her 3rd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank a small Japanese vessel with gunfire in the Yellow Sea in position 34°57'N, 124°59'E.

6 Aug 1945
While on her 3rd war patrol USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) sank 4 Japanese sailing vessels with gunfire in the Yellow Sea in position 36°07'N, 125°59'E.

2 Sep 1945
USS Tench (Lt.Cdr. T.S. Baskett) ended her 3rd 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


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