Stories From the US Submarine Force
The submarine force of the United States Navy often made headlines with daring sinkings and spectacular patrols. Yet the war was also fought by boats like USS Gar, steady workers of the Pacific campaign, which endured mishaps, setbacks, and still managed to strike blows against the enemy. On August 20, 1943, Gar proved her worth in one of those tense encounters that demonstrated grit more than glamour.
The Pacific War was not won by a single battle or a single weapon, but by the grinding, relentless pressure applied across thousands of miles of ocean. In that vast chessboard of sea lanes and islands, submarines played an outsized role. Among them was USS Bluefish (SS-222), a Gato-class submarine commissioned in May of 1943. She was not one of the glamour boats that made headlines back home, but she was steady, aggressive, and efficient, a hunter that earned the respect of the men who served in her.
When USS Rasher (SS-269) limped back into Fremantle on June 23, 1944, she looked like a boat that had given the war everything she had to offer. Her paint was worn, her machinery tired, and her crew bone-weary after the fourth war patrol. Fremantle was one of those places where submariners knew they would find a few weeks of peace. There were cold beers, hot meals, and the company of people who appreciated that these young men were daily gambling their lives under the sea. But more importantly, Fremantle was where submarines were put back together again.
Podcast: Rashers Legendary Night: August 18, 1944
Patrol Reports 