Allied Warships

Halibut (SS-232)

Submarine of the Gato class


USS Halibut as completed

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassGato 
Pennant232 
Built byPortsmouth Navy Yard (Kittery, Maine, U.S.A.) 
Ordered28 Jun 1940 
Laid down15 May 1941 
Launched3 Dec 1941 
Commissioned10 Apr 1942 
End service18 Jul 1945 
History

Heavily damaged by a depth charge attack in November 1944 and decommissioned on 18 July 1945.
Stricken in 1946.
Sold 10 January 1947 to be broken up for scrap.

 

Commands listed for USS Halibut (232)

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. Philip Harold Ross, USN10 Apr 194212 Aug 1943
2T/Lt.Cdr. Ignatius Joseph Galantin, USN12 Aug 19434 Dec 1944
3Lt.Cdr. Guy Frank Gugliotta, USN4 Dec 194415 Feb 1945
4T/Lt.Cdr. Rafael Celestino Benitez, USN15 Feb 194519 May 1945
5Lt. Joseph G Galligan, Jr., USNR19 May 194514 Jul 1945
6Lt. Frank W Meyer, USNR14 Jul 194518 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Halibut include:


23 Jun 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross, USN) departed New London, Connecticut for the Panama Canal Zone.

6 Jul 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross, USN) arrived at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone.

10 Jul 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross, USN) transited the Panama Canal.

27 Jul 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) arrived at Pearl Harbor.

9 Aug 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the Aleutians.

23 Sep 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) ended her 1st war patrol at Dutch Harbour.

2 Oct 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) departed from Dutch Harbour for her 2nd war patrol. Once again she was ordered to patrol off the Aleutians.

31 Oct 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) ended her 2nd war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

22 Nov 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the northeast coast of Japan.

10 Dec 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese troop transport Uyo Maru (6376 GRT) off Hachinoihe, Japan in position 40°40'N, 141°58'E.

12 Dec 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Gyokusan Maru (1970 GRT) off the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan in position 40°37'N, 142°40'E.

16 Dec 1942
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Shingo Maru (4740 GRT) off Shiraya Zaki, Honshu, Japan in position 41°18'N, 141°32'E. In the confusion that attends Halibut's attack upon Shingo Maru, the Japanese merchant cargo ship Genzan Maru (5708 GRT) is run aground, stranded, and abandoned in position 41°10'N, 141°32'E.

15 Jan 1943
Around 1200VW/15, USS Plunger (T/Cdr. D.C. White, USN), USS Sailfish (T/Cdr. J.R. Moore, USN), USS Halibut (T/Cdr. P.H. Ross, USN) ended their 4th, 7th and 3rd war patrols at Pearl Harbor. They were escorted in by USS Litchfield (T/Lt.Cdr. J.H. Campbell, USN) which had joined them around 0700VW/15. (1)

8 Feb 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 4th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Caroline Islands area.

20 Feb 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and sank the Japanese troop transport Shinkoku Maru (3991 GRT) about 450 nautical miles north of Ponape in position 15°09'N, 159°30'E.

3 Mar 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese naval auxiliary Nichiyu Maru (6818 GRT) about 170 nautical miles south of Guam in position 10°25'N, 145°25'E. The Nichiyu Maru reaches Apra harbour under tow and is declared a total loss.

30 Mar 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) ended her 4th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

10 Jun 1943
After an overhaul USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 5th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Truk.

10 Jul 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese troop transport (former armed merchant cruiser) Aikoku Maru (10437 GRT, built 1941, offsite link) off Truk in position 10°27'N, 150°50'E.

28 Jul 1943
USS Halibut (Cdr. P.H. Ross) ended her 5th war patrol at Midway.

20 Aug 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) departed from Midway for her 6th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off north-east Honshu in Japanese home waters.

30 Aug 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ship Taibun Maru (6581 GRT) off north-east Honshu, Japan in position 41°50'N, 141°13'E.

6 Sep 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese merchant cargo ship Shogen Maru off the south coast off Hokkaido in position 42°13'N, 142°00'E. Later this day she hit hits the Japanese heavy cruiser Nachi (offsite link) with one dud torpedo off the north-east coast of Honshu in position 40°07'N, 142°20'E.

16 Sep 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) ended her 6th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

10 Oct 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 7th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol south of Honshu, Japan.

2 Nov 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army cargo ship Ehime Maru (4653 GRT) south of Honshu, Japan in position 28°40'N, 135°35'E.

17 Nov 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) ended her 7th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

14 Dec 1943
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 8th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Mariana Islands area.

2 Feb 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) ended her 8th war patrol at Midway.

21 Mar 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) departed from Midway for her 9th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off the Nansei Shoto Islands chain.

12 Apr 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese army passenger/cargo ship Taichu Maru (3213 GRT) about 20 nautical miles south-west of the Nansei Shoto in position 28°08'N, 128°57'E.

27 Apr 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese minelayer Kamome (450 tons, offsite link) west of the Nansei Shoto chain, about 40 nautical miles north of Okinawa in position 27°28'N, 128°02'E and the Japanese merchant transport Genbu Maru (1872 GRT) in position 27°16'N, 128°21'E.

29 Apr 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) bombards Japanese installations on Kure Jima.

3 May 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) sank a large Japanese sampan with gunfire in position 27°00'N, 128°22'E.

15 May 1944
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. I.J. Galantin) ended her 9th war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She is now ordered to San Francisco for a major overhaul.

20 Sep 1944
With her overhaul completed USS Halibut (Cdr. I.J. Galantin) returns to Pearl Harbor.

8 Oct 1944
USS Halibut (Cdr. I.J. Galantin) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 10th war patrol. She was ordered to patrol off Luzon, Philippines as part of a coordinated attack group together with USS Haddock and USS Tuna.

25 Oct 1944
USS Halibut (Cdr. I.J. Galantin) torpedoed and sank the Japanese destroyer Akizuki (offsite link) east-northeast of Cape Engano, Philippines in position 20°29'N, 126°36'E.

14 Nov 1944
USS Halibut (Cdr. I.J. Galantin) is heavily damaged by depth charges and aerial bombs in Luzon Strait in position 20°56'N, 121°33'E. She is forced to return to base.

19 Nov 1944
USS Halibut (Cdr. I.J. Galantin) ended her 10th war patrol at Saipan. She later heads on to San Francisco where she arrived on 12 December 1944. On 16 February 1945 she left for Portsmouth on the US east coast where it was found that her damage was too expensive to justify repair.

27 Feb 1945
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. R.C. Benitez, USN) arrived in the Panama Canal Zone.

2 Mar 1945
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. R.C. Benitez, USN) departed the Panama Canal Zone for the Portsmouth Navy Yard.

11 Mar 1945
USS Halibut (Lt.Cdr. R.C. Benitez, USN) arrived at the Portsmouth Navy Yard for repairs and refit.

21 Jul 1945
USS Halibut was towed from the Portsmouth Navy Yard to New London, Connecticut. Damage to Halibut was not worth repairing and she was to be decommissioned.

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)


Take her deep!

Galantin, I.J.

Sources

  1. Patrol report of USS Plunger for her 4th war patrol + Patrol report of USS Sailfish for her 7th war patrol + Patrol report of USS Halibut for her 3rd war patrol

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