Allied Warships

Tilefish (SS-307)

Submarine of the Balao class


USS Tilefish after the war.

NavyThe US Navy
TypeSubmarine
ClassBalao 
Pennant307 
Built byMare Island Navy Yard (Vallejo, California, U.S.A.) 
Ordered15 Dec 1941 
Laid down10 Mar 1943 
Launched25 Oct 1943 
Commissioned28 Dec 1943 
End serviceMay 1960 
History

Decommissioned 12 October 1959.
Recommissioned 30 January 1960.
Decommissioned in May 1960.
Stricken 1 December 1960 and sold to Venezuela being renamed Carite (S-11).
Carite was decommissioned by the Venezuelan Navy on 28 January 1977.
Carite was cannibalized for spare parts.

 

Commands listed for USS Tilefish (307)

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/Lt.Cdr. Roger Myers Keithly, USN28 Dec 194315 Jan 1945
2T/Cdr. Walter Frederick Schlech, Jr., USN15 Jan 19457 Sep 1945

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Notable events involving Tilefish include:


3 Apr 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. Roger Myers Keithly) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 1st war patrol. Initially she was ordered to patrol south off Honshu in Japanese home waters. Later she shifted to the northern Mariana's.

29 May 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) ended her 1st war patrol at Majuro.

22 Jun 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) departed from Majuro for her 2nd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Luzon Strait.

18 Jul 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese corvette Kaibokan 17 (745 tons, offsite link) south of Formosa in position 21°50'N, 119°55'E.

15 Aug 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) ended her 2nd war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

10 Sep 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 3rd war patrol. She was ordered to patrol in the Sea of Okhotsk and off the Kuril Islands.

23 Sep 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) sank a Japanese sampan with gunfire in the Sea of Okhotsk in position 51°26'N, 153°57'E.

16 Oct 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) torpedoed and sank the Japanese guard boat Kyowa Maru No.2 (108 GRT) 5 nautical miles north-west of Matsuwa Jima in position 48°07'N, 153°04'E.

24 Oct 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) ended her 3rd war patrol at Midway.

15 Nov 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) departed from Midway for her 4th war patrol. Initially she was ordered to patrol off the Kuril Islands. Later she was ordered to patrol off the south coast of Honshu in Japanese home waters

22 Dec 1944
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) torpedoed and sank the Japanese torpedo boat Chidori (758 tons, offsite link) south-west of Omaezaki, Japan in position 34°30'N, 138°02'E.

2 Jan 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. R.M. Keithly) ended her 4th war patrol at Pearl Harbor.

31 Jan 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. Walter Frederick Schlech, Jr.) departed from Pearl Harbor for her 5th war patrol, and was ordered to patrol off the Ryukyu Islands.

13 Feb 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. Walter Frederick Schlech, Jr.) arrived at Saipan

28 Feb 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. W.F. Schlech, Jr.) sank a small Japanese vessel with gunfire off the Ryukyu Islands in position 29°04'N, 129°39'E.

5 Mar 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. W.F. Schlech, Jr.) torpedoed and damaged the Japanese minesweeper W 15 (500 tons, offsite link) off Akuke Jima, Japan in position 29°36'N, 129°45'E.

W 15 is run aground but is later declared a total loss.

27 Mar 1945
USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. W.F. Schlech, Jr.) ended her 5th war patrol at Pearl Harbor. She is now sent to the US west coast for a major overhaul.

11 Jul 1945
With her overhaul completed USS Tilefish (Lt.Cdr. W.F. Schlech, Jr.) arrived back at Pearl Harbor. She was sent to Midway and later Saipan where she left for her 6th and final war patrol in late July or early August 1945.

24 Jul 1945
USS Blackfin (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Kitch, USN) conducted exercises off Midway together with USS Loeser (Lt.Cdr. J. Proctor, USNR), USS Sicard (Lt. A.G. Fenley, USNR), USS PC-778 (Lt. F.J. Whittlessey, USNR), USS ATR-26 (Lt. R. MacLetchie, USNR), USS ATR-63 (Lt. R.W. Coffey, USN), USS Muskalunge (Cdr. W.H. Lawrence, USN) and USS Tilefish (Cdr. W.F. Schlech, Jr., USN).

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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