Allied Warships
Argonaut (i) (SS-166)
Submarine of the Argonaut class
USS Argonaut as seen before the war
| Navy | The US Navy |
| Type | Submarine |
| Class | Argonaut |
| Pennant | 166 |
| Built by | Portsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 1 May 1925 |
| Launched | 10 Nov 1927 |
| Commissioned | 2 Apr 1928 |
| Lost | 10 Jan 1943 |
| Loss position | 05.40S, 152.02E (See a map) |
| History | On 10 January 1943 a Japanese plane belonging to the 582nd Naval Air Group, flying ASW patrols in the vicinity of a 5-ship convoy to the south-east of New Britain, position 05º40'S, 152º02'E, spotted a submerged sub approaching the convoy at 1820 hrs (Tokyo time). |
Commands listed for USS Argonaut (i) (166)
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| Commander | From | To | ||
| 1 | Lt.Cdr. Stephen George Barchet, USN | 1 Nov 1941 | 22 Jan 1942 | |
| 2 | John Reeves Pierce, USN | 22 Jun 1942 | 11 Jan 1943 | |
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Noteable events involving Argonaut (i) include:
28 Nov 1941
USS Argonaut (Lt.Cdr. Stephen G. Barchet) left Pearl Harbor and was on patrol duty near Midway Island with USS Trout when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. After sunset on 7 December, Argonaut surfaced and heard naval gunfire around Midway. Argonaut then submerged to make a sonar approach to investigate. Argonaut spotted two Japanese destroyers, Akebono and Ushio (both offsite links ) whose mission was shore bombardment on Midway. The ships may have detected Argonaut, and one passed close by the submarine. They completed the bombardment then retired before Argonaut could make a second approach.
A week later, soud reported destroyer propellers in the vicinity but Lt.Cdr. Barchet refused to check it out. On 22 January 1942, USS Argonaut returned to Pearl Harbor, where Barchet was relieved of command and, after a brief stop there, proceeded to the Mare Island Navy Yard for conversion into a troop transport submarine.
8 Aug 1942
With her conversion completed USS Argonaut left Pearl Harbor on 8 August 1942 together with USS Nautilus. They were to transport and land marine commandos on Makin in the Gilbert Islands. The convoy arrived off Makin on 16 August; and at 0330hours the next day, the marines began landing. Their rubber rafts were swamped by the sea and most of the outboard motors drowned. The Japanese either forewarned or extraordinarily alert because of the activity on Guadalcanal-gave the Americans a warm reception. Snipers were hidden in the trees and the landing beaches were in front of the Japanese forces instead of behind them as planned. By midnight of 10 August, all but 30 of the troops had been recovered. Both submarines arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 26 August 1942.
2 Jan 1943
While on her third war patrol USS Argonaut (Lt.Cdr. John Reeves Pierce) sank the Japanese guardboat Ebon Maru (198 GRT) in the Bismark Sea off the north-west coast of New Britain in position 04º30'S, 151º30'E. (see map)
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