Lost Subs - USS Shark (SS-174)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Compiled July 2, 2008, by David Barth.
USS Shark (SS-174) was a Porpoise-class submarine, the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the shark.
Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on 24 October 1933. She was launched on 21
May 1935 sponsored by Miss Ruth Ellen Lonergan, 12-year-old daughter of United States Senator Augustine Lonergan of
Connecticut, and commissioned on 25 January 1936, Lieutenant C.J. Carter in command. Shark (SS-174) received one battle
star for World War II service.
Operational history - Asiatic Fleet
Following shakedown in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, Shark transited the Panama Canal and arrived at
San Diego, California, on 4 March 1937. She spent the next year and one-half in training exercises and Army-Navy war
problems as a unit of Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6). Following a regular overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo,
California, Shark got underway from San Diego, California, on 16 December 1938 bound for Pearl Harbor and reassignment
to SubRon 4.
Following two years of operations in the Hawaii area, Shark set sail from Pearl Harbor on 3 December 1940 to join the
Asiatic Fleet based at Manila, Philippine Islands, where she engaged in fleet tactics and exercises until the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor. Departing Manila on 9 December 1941, under Louis Shane, Jr. (Class of 1926), she was at sea
during the Japanese bombing raids on Manila the next day. For the next week, Shark patrolled Tayabas Bay until ordered
back to Manila on 19 December to embark Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet, for transportation to
Soerabaja, Java.
Operational history - WWII
On 6 January 1942, Shark was almost hit with a torpedo from a Imperial Japanese Navy submarine. A few days later,
she was ordered to Ambon Island, where an enemy invasion was expected. On 27 January, she was directed to join the
submarines patrolling in Strait of Malacca, then to cover the passage east of Lifamatola and Bangka Strait. On
2 February, Shark reported to her base at Soerabaja that she had been depth-charged ten miles off Tifore Island
and had failed to sink a Japanese ship during a torpedo attack. Five days later, she reported chasing an empty
cargo ship headed northwest. No further messages were received from Shark. On 8 February, she was told to proceed
to Makassar Strait and later was told to report information. Nothing was heard and, on 7 March, Shark was reported
as presumed lost, the victim of unknown causes. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on
24 June.
Post-war Japanese records showed numerous attacks on unidentified submarines in Shark's area at plausible times. At
0137 on 11 February, the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze opened fire with her five-inch guns and sank a surfaced submarine.
Voices were heard in the water, but no attempt was made to rescue possible survivors.
Shark (SS-174) received one battle star for World War II service.