USS Tiru (SS-416), a , was a vessel of the United States Navy named for the tiru, a member of the lizardfish family.
Tiru—laid down on 17 April 1944 at Vallejo, California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard—remained uncompleted for three years as a result of the curtailment of the submarine building program at the end of World War II. In the fall of 1947, the Navy decided to complete Tiru as a "GUPPY II" (Greater Underwater Propulsive Power) snorkel boat. Her altered design incorporated improvements resulting from the Navy's recent combat experience and German technical development.
Tiru was launched on 16 September 1947; sponsored by Mrs. John P. Cromwell, the widow of Captain John P. Cromwell, and commissioned on 1 September 1948. Tiru was once under the command of future FBI Director L. Patrick Gray of Watergate notoriety.
Service history
1948–1959
Tiru conducted training and trials off the West Coast before heading for Hawaii on 10 February 1949. Homeported at Pearl Harbor and attached to Submarine Squadron 12 (SubRon 12), the "GUPPY" submarine operated in Hawaiian waters for a year and one-half before conducting a 12-day snorkel voyage from Pearl Harbor to the West Coast which ended upon her arrival at San Diego on 27 June 1950.
On 9 June 1951, Tiru sailed for the Far East and her first Western Pacific (WestPac) deployment. While in Asiatic waters, she operated in support of United Nations forces engaged in the Korean War. Then, after departing Yokosuka, Japan, on 26 November, the warship arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 December. Her operations in the Hawaiian area continued until 24 February 1952, when Tiru got underway for her second WestPac deployment.
Between 1952 and 1959, Tiru conducted four more WestPac deployments, interspersed with local operations—providing services for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and conducting type-training. Operating with the 7th Fleet, her seventh WestPac tour lasted from 1 January to 17 April 1959.
1959–1965
Tiru returned to Pearl Harbor for a major overhaul, entering the shipyard on 4 May 1959 for a fleet rehabilitation and modernization (FRAM) conversion to a "Guppy III". In the course of the work, the ship took on a new and different external appearance. Her hull was lengthened by ; she acquired a new conning tower, longer than its predecessor; and a fiberglass sail was added. Internally, increased sonar and ordnance equipment greatly enhanced the ship's capabilities in those key areas. On the last day of the year 1959, Tiru emerged from the overhaul a virtually "new" ship.
From 1 January to 10 November 1960, Tiru conducted local operations out of Pearl Harbor to prove the worth of the FRAM/Guppy III conversion. After testing and honing her capabilities, the submarine departed Pearl Harbor on 10 November for another 7th Fleet deployment. She later returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 May 1961 upon completion of her eighth WestPac cruise.
Local operations out of her home port occupied the rest of 1961 and the first few months of 1962. She again was deployed to WestPac in March and April before returning to Hawaiian waters on 3 May. The next month, the ship operated with a carrier task force on ASW "hunter-killer" exercises. While the submarine was engaged in a firing exercise, a torpedo malfunction in her after torpedo room seriously damaged the compartment, and 18 men were overcome by toxic gases. Quick reaction averted a more serious tragedy and earned four crew members — one officer (Lieutenant Commander W. Earle Smith Jr.) and three enlisted men — the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
1966
The ship conducted three more WestPac deployments through 1965 before she returned to a schedule of local operations. Tiru entered another major overhaul on 6 December 1965—one which saw the installation of a masking system to cover the ship's own noise while snorkeling. Further internal alterations improved both her fighting capacity and her habitability. She conducted sea trials until 14 June 1966 when she departed Hawaii for the Naval Torpedo Station at Keyport, Washington, for an alignment and testing of her weapon system. The submarine departed the West Coast on 9 July, bound for Hawaiian waters, and made port at Pearl Harbor nine days later to commence pre-deployment operations.