USS Tunny (SS/SSG/APSS/LPSS-282) was a which saw service in World War II and in the Vietnam War. Tunny received nine battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations for her World War II service and five battle stars for her operations during the Vietnam War. Tunny was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tunny, any of several oceanic fishes resembling the mackerel
Construction
Tunnys keel was laid down on 10 November 1941 at Vallejo, California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 30 June 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Frederick G. Crisp, wife of Rear Admiral Frederick G. Crisp, manager of the Mare Island Navy Yard, and commissioned on 1 September 1942.
World War II service
September 1942–January 1943
After commissioning, Tunny conducted shakedown training from California ports. On 29 November 1942, at a position in the Pacific Ocean off California which the armed tanker reported as but actually was in the vicinity of , Huguenot mistook Tunny for a Japanese submarine and opened gunfire on her. Tunny was under escort by the submarine chaser , which was about from Tunny on her starboard quarter at the time. Tunny pulled away from at high speed to a range of and avoided damage and casualties.
After completing shakedown, Tunny arrived in the Hawaiian Islands on 12 December 1942. She then engaged in an additional week of training, followed by two weeks repairs.
First war patrol (12 January – 20 February 1943) she got underway from Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, on 12 January 1943 for her first war patrol. For nearly a week, rough seas hampered the progress of the submarine. Then, as she approached the Ryukyu Islands, sea traffic increased. Sightings of sampans became frequent, and Tunny often dove to avoid detection by suspicious-looking trawlers.
At 05:30 on 26 January, Tunny sighted masts and a stack over the horizon indicating a possible target. During the day, she lessened the distance between herself and her quarry; and, near dusk, she closed a 400-ton trawler. Finding the prey not worth a torpedo, the submarine surfaced and opened fire with her deck gun. Soon, darkness forced her to discontinue the attack, and she continued on her way.
On 29 January, she began patrolling off Formosa. An hour and a half before midnight on 31 January, her periscope at last disclosed a worthwhile target, a freighter approaching Takao Ko. Tunny fired two "fish" from her bow tubes, but the freighter made a radical change of course which enabled her to evade the torpedoes. When her target counterattacked and dropped two depth charges, Tunny broke off the attack and submerged.
On 1 February, Tunny set her course for the China coast, running on the surface. As darkness fell on 2 February, she was only hours from Hong Kong, expecting to make landfall on Tamkan Island by daybreak. At 2130, she made radar contact; and, through the night, drew closer to her as yet unseen quarry.
A light rain was falling and visibility was poor when, half an hour before morning twilight, Tunny began a radar approach. Rapidly shoaling water less than 20 fathoms (37 m) deep and land masses on two sides of the submarine limited her maneuverability. At , the extreme phosphorescence of the water illuminated her wake and betrayed her presence to the enemy ship, which began signaling the unidentified intruder with a blinker light. Despite her detection, Tunny continued the approach until she was only from the target and then launched three torpedoes. The Japanese ship, now discernible as a loaded tanker, began to maneuver radically and opened fire on the submarine. Undeterred, Tunny submerged and continued the attack, firing a second volley from her stern tubes. One of these torpedoes hit the side of the tanker with a thud, but without explosion, and a small column of water erupted just forward of the tanker's bridge. Duds and prematures were a problem for American submarines early in 1943, and verification that this torpedo had indeed hit the tanker, but failed to detonate, was forthcoming when members of the tanker's crew dashed to the spot in question and began examining the impact area with flashlights. Despite continuous fire from the ship and the proximity of land, Tunny managed to stay within firing range of her target by traveling at full speed. After the tanker successfully evaded Tunnys third salvo, the submarine fired a last torpedo from as the intended victim reached the passage into Hong Kong. Following this disappointing conclusion to her attack, Tunny dove in anticipation of search planes which appeared within two hours and continued their surveillance throughout the day.