Month: May 2025

Stickleback

She was born in the final stretch of World War II, commissioned in March 1945 at Mare Island. Like many boats of her generation, she came too late to fire a shot in anger, but the USS Stickleback (SS-415) still made her presence known. She served with quiet distinction in the Pacific, patrolling the waters between Japan and Korea, offering aid to shipwrecked Japanese survivors in the war’s waning days, and returning home in time to parade in Admiral Halsey’s victory fleet. Then she went to sleep in the reserve fleet, waiting, like many others, for a second act.

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A Near Not-Miss

On the morning of May 27, 1944, a rare and potentially deadly incident unfolded beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean, involving two U.S. submarines, the USS Lapon (SS-260) and the USS Raton (SS-270). Both submarines were known for their successful patrols, hunting enemy vessels that threatened the war effort. What happened that day, however, is an example of the unpredictable nature of submarine warfare—an accidental incident of friendly fire that could have ended in disaster but instead ended in a miracle.

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USS R-9 SS-86

She was not glamorous. She was not fast. She never launched a torpedo in anger. And yet, USS R-9 (SS-86) served her country with quiet persistence from the close of World War I through the climactic end of World War II. Her name is seldom heard outside the circles of Navy archives and submarine veterans, but her legacy endures in the simple, steadfast performance of her duty.

Laid down on March 6, 1918, and launched into the waters off Quincy, Massachusetts, on May 24, 1919, R-9 came into the world just a little too late for the war that had inspired her. She was part of the R-class submarines, a new breed of coastal defense boats designed to guard America’s shores in an age when undersea warfare was still finding its footing. These boats were no-frills workhorses. With four 21-inch torpedo tubes and a 3-inch deck gun, R-9 was not built to win glory. She was built to keep watch.

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