The USS Rasher was a Gato-class submarine that sank several Japanese ships during World War II. It conducted eight war patrols from 1943 to 1945, sinking over a dozen vessels including cargo ships and tankers. After the war, it served in radar picket and auxiliary roles during the Cold War and Vietnam War, conducting operations in the Pacific and supporting allies until being decommissioned in 1967.

1. USS Rasher (SS-269) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from USS Rasher)
USS Rasher (SS/SSR/AGSS/IXSS-269), a Gato-class submarine,
was a ship of the United States Navy named for the rasher, a
vermilion-colored rockfish or scorpionfish found along the
California coast.
Rasher (SS-269), an attack submarine, was laid down 4 May 1942
by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisc.; launched 20
December 1942; sponsored by Mrs. G. C. Weaver; and
commissioned 8 June 1943, Comdr. E. S. Hutchinson in command.
Admiral Charles A. Lockwood had earlier relieved Hutchinson of
Career
command of Grampus for lacking aggressiveness.[6]
Builder: Manitowoc Shipbuilding
Following builder's trials in Lake Michigan, Rasher was Company, Manitowoc,
decommissioned and towed down the Mississippi on a floating Wisconsin[1]
drydock. After recommissioning and fitting out in New Orleans, Laid down: 4 May 1942[1]
the new submarine trained in the Bay of Panama, departed Balboa
8 August 1943, and arrived at Brisbane, Australia, on 11
Launched: 20 December 1942[1]
September. Recommissioned: 8 June 1943[1]
Decommissioned:
22 June 1946[1]
Recommissioned: 14 December 1951[1]
Decommissioned: 28 May 1952[1]
1 First war patrol, September – November 1943 Commissioned: 22 July 1953[1]
2 Second war patrol, December 1943 – January 1944
3 Third and fourth war patrols, February – June 1944 Decommissioned: 27 May 1967[1]
4 Fifth war patrol, 22 July – 3 September 1944 Struck: 20 December 1971[1]
5 Sixth, seventh, and eighth war patrols, January – August Fate: Sold for scrap, 7 August 1974[1]
1945
6 Service as radar picket submarine, 1953 – 1960 General characteristics
7 Vietnam War service Class and type: Gato-class diesel-electric
8 References submarine[2]
9 Additional reading Displacement: 1,525 tons (1,549 t) surfaced[2]
10 External links 2,424 tons (2,460 t)
submerged[2]
Length: 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2]
Beam: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2]
Draft: 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion:
On her first war patrol, 24 September through 24 November 1943, 4 × General Motors Model
Rasher operated in the Makassar Strait–Celebes Sea area, and 16-248 V16 diesel engines
sank the passenger-cargo ship Kogane Maru in a submerged attack driving electrical generators[2][3]
at dawn on 9 October. Four days later, off Ambon Harbor, she 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries [4]
spotted a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by two destroyers 4 × high-speed General Electric
1 of 5 9/15/2010 5:29 PM

2. USS Rasher (SS-269) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher
and a "Pete" seaplane, fired two salvoes of three torpedoes each,
and crash dived to avoid the destroyers, and bombs from the scout electric motors with reduction
plane. Freighter Kenkoku Maru broke up and sank, while the gears [2]
escorts struck back in a vigorous but vain counterattack. two propellers [2]
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[2]
On the afternoon of 31 October, while patrolling the shipping lanes
2,740 shp (2.0 MW)
off the Borneo coast, Rasher commenced trailing tanker Koryo
submerged[2][5]
Maru, but because of a patrolling float plane, was unable to attack
until night. Rasher then surfaced, attacked and sent the tanker to Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced[4]
the bottom after a thunderous explosion of exploding torpedoes 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged[4]
and gasoline. Range: 11,000 NM (20,000 km)
surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[4]
The submarine's next victim was tanker Tango Maru which lost Endurance: 48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h)
her stern to a spread of three torpedoes on the afternoon of 8 submerged[4]
November. Rasher escaped the escorts by diving deep and silently 75 days on patrol
slipping away. A midnight attack on a second convoy off Test depth: 300 ft (90 m)[4]
Mangkalihat resulted in a hit on a tanker, but vigorous
countermeasures by enemy destroyers prevented any assessment
Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted[4]
of damage. Rasher escaped the enemy surface craft and, her Armament: 10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo
torpedoes expended, headed home and arrived at Fremantle on 24 tubes
(six forward, four aft)
November.
24 torpedoes [4]
Hutchinson had cleared his record on Grampus by conducting a 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber
remarkably aggressive patrol and was promoted to command a deck gun [4]
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon
submarine division.[6] 20 mm cannon
3-inch gun replaced with 5-inch
in October 1944[5]
Command of Rasher was given to Willard Ross Laughon, former commanding officer of R-1 in the Atlantic.[6]
Following refit, Rasher commenced her second war patrol on 19 December 1943 and stalked Japanese shipping in the
South China Sea off Borneo. When she attacked a three-tanker convoy on the night of 4 January 1944, her first
torpedo exploded prematurely. A wild melee ensued, with tankers scattering and escorts racing about, firing in all
directions. Rasher was pursuing Hakko Maru when the tanker exploded from a torpedo from Bluefish. Rasher fired at
a second target while submerged, and heard the explosions rip into the tanker's hull, but was unable to confirm a
sinking. She pursued the third tanker, firing a spread of four fish early in the morning of 5 January. A mushroom of fire
arose as the last two torpedoes struck, and Kiyo Maru sank, leaving only an oil slick and scattered debris. During the
patrol, Rasher planted mines off the approaches to Saigon harbor. Prematurely exploding torpedoes and vigilant
escorts frustrated her attacks on convoys on 11 January and 17 January. A week later she returned to Fremantle.
Rasher's third war patrol from 19 February to 4 April 1944, was conducted in the Java–Celebes Sea area. On 25
February she attacked a Japanese convoy off Bali, sinking cargo ships Tango Maru and Ryusei Maru. Then, after
transiting Makassar Strait into the Celebes Sea, she destroyed cargo ship Nattai Maru on 3 March. En route home, she
met Nichinan Maru on 27 March, and sent the 2,750-ton freighter to Davy Jones' Locker.
Rasher returned to Makassar Strait-Celebes Sea area for her fourth patrol, from 30 April to 23 June. On 11 May, she
torpedoed and sank the freighter Choi Maru. Next to go down were the converted gunboat Anshu Maru on 29 May
and the tanker Shioya Maru in the Celebes Sea off Manado 8 June. Six days later, the cargo ship Koan Maru went to
2 of 5 9/15/2010 5:29 PM

3. USS Rasher (SS-269) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher
the bottom, after taking a spread of torpedoes aft and capsizing.
Commander Henry G. Munson relieved Commander Laughon as commanding officer of Rasher.[7] Rashers fifth
patrol was spent largely with Bluefish in the South China Sea west of Luzon.
Thirty miles south of Scarborough Shoal at 2255 5 August, Rasher launched a spread of six bow torpedoes[7] at the
largest ship in a three-ship convoy. Diving to avoid being rammed, Rashers crew counted five hits and heard the
sounds of a ship breaking up as the army cargo ship Shiroganesan Maru went down.[8]
Rasher observed nine successive aircraft contacts to the north on the afternoon of 18 August and deduced these were
air patrols for an important convoy.[7] That dark, rainy night Rasher's radar picked up a 13-knot (24 km/h) convoy of
thirteen ships protected by six escorts.[7] After a surfaced approach to 2,800 yards (2,600 m), two stern torpedoes
were launched at Teiyo Maru[9] at 2122.[7] Both torpedoes hit; and the tanker loaded with gasoline exploded into a
column of flame 1,000 feet (300 m) high, with parts of the ship being blown 500 yards (460 m) from the flaming
hulk.[7] The escorts fired wildly and laid depth charge patterns astern of Rasher.[7] In a second surfaced approach to
3,300 yards (3,000 m) Rasher launched a spread of six bow torpedoes. Three torpedoes hit and sank the 17,000 ton
transport Teia Maru[9] and a fourth torpedo was heard exploding at a timed range of 3900 yards.[7] Rasher swung
hard left to launch four stern torpedoes at 2214. Three torpedoes hit and sank the 20,000 ton carrier Taiyō,[9] and the
fourth torpedo was heard exploding on a more distant ship.[7]
Rasher pulled away to reload torpedo tubes and the convoy split into two groups.[7] Rasher followed the group
moving northwest while Bluefish intercepted the remaining ships continuing southwesterly and sank two tankers.[7]
Rasher launched four bow torpedoes at a range of 2,200 yards (2,000 m), and three hits on the cargo-transport Eishin
Maru[9] caused an ammunition detonation with the pressure wave sweeping over the submarine's bridge.[7] The fourth
torpedo was heard exploding on a more distant ship.[7] Rasher then swung hard right to launch two stern torpedoes.
Both torpedoes hit and Noshiro Maru[9] slowed to 5 knots (9.3 km/h) and reversed course.[7] Spadefish joined the
wolfpack and scored hits on two of the surviving transports.
Rasher counted sixteen detonations from the eighteen torpedoes fired on 18 August and five detonations for the six
fired on 5 August.[7] With all torpedoes expended, Rasher set course for Midway.[7] Munson was called into a secret
conference at Midway to compare his observations with decrypted Japanese message traffic.[7] Postwar accounting
verified Rasher had sunk the highest tonnage of any World War II U.S. submarine patrol to that date.[7] That record
would be exceeded only once, when Archerfish sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano three months later.[10]
Rasher proceeded to San Francisco via Hawaii for overhaul at Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 11 September. She
was given a new 5-inch deck gun, ST radar, and many other upgrades.[5]
Benjamin Ernest Adams Jr. replaced Munson for the sixth war patrol. Rasher departed San Francisco on 20 December
1944, arriving at Midway via Pearl Harbor in early January 1945. Her sixth patrol, as a unit of a wolfpack with
Pilotfish and Finback, commenced on 29 January, and was conducted in the southern sector of the East China Sea.
Rasher attacked a pair of ships on 15 February but missed, and approached a convoy the next day but was unable to
get in position to attack. A later attack on another convoy also ended in misses.[5] No other suitable targets were
found, only small patrol craft, hospital ships, and ubiquitous patrol aircraft. The patrol ended on 16 March 1945 at
Guam.
3 of 5 9/15/2010 5:29 PM

4. USS Rasher (SS-269) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher
Charles Derick Nace replaced Adams for the seventh and eighth
patrols. Rasher's seventh patrol, 17 April to 29 May 1945, was
little more rewarding than the sixth. On lifeguard station off
Honshū, she riddled two small craft with gunfire. No aircraft came
down in her area, and she returned to Midway on 29 May.
Rasher departed Midway 23 June 1945 to take lifeguard station
off southern Formosa. No Allied planes were downed in her area
before orders arrived to proceed to the Gulf of Siam. While she
was en route the war ended, and Rasher returned to the
Philippines. She departed Subic Bay on 31 August arriving New
York on 6 October, via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal.
Following deactivation overhaul, she was decommissioned 22
June 1946 and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at New
London, Connecticut. Battleflag of the Rasher (SS-269), 1945.
She was placed in commission in reserve at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 14 December 1951, Lt. V. D. Ely in
command. After being reclassified as a radar picket submarine, SSR-269 she commenced conversion which continued
after she decommissioned 28 May 1952. After extensive hull and interior alterations at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she
was recommissioned 22 July 1953, Lt. Comdr. R. W. Steeher in command. She departed New London on 12
November, arriving San Diego 17 December via Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal.
The following 2 years were spent off the west coast in operations from Washington to Acapulco. On 4 January 1956,
she deployed to the 7th Fleet, where she operated with U.S. and SEATO naval units. She returned to San Diego 3 July
1956. Prior to and following a second WestPac deployment from 4 March to 4 September 1958, SSR-269 served in
Fleet exercises as an early warning ship, and in ASW training operations.
On 28 December 1959, Rasher departed the continental United States for the Far East. While attached to the 7th
Fleet, she participated in exercise "Blue Star", a large-scale American-Nationalist Chinese amphibious exercise. In
May 1960, she took part in the Black Ship Festival at Shimoda, Japan, commemorating Commodore Matthew C.
Perry's landing. She returned to San Diego on 20 June 1960.
Rasher was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-269, on 1 July 1960, with conversion being accomplished at
Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Involved in maintaining fleet readiness until mid-August 1962 when she deployed to
WestPac, Rasher continued to exhibit her usual high standards of performance. She returned to San Diego on 15
February 1963, and was overhauled that summer.
During the next year, AGSS-269 was engaged in strike exercises involving other American and Canadian ships. Her
next deployment, beginning on 3 August 1964, involved support of 7th Fleet operations off Vietnam, as well as ASW
exercises with SEATO allies.
After returning to San Diego on 5 February 1965, she had ASW and amphibious training. Her next WestPac
deployment, from 3 January to 17 July 1966, included amphibious and ASW training support for Republic of Korea,
Nationalist Chinese, and Thai units, as well as operations with the 7th Fleet off Vietnam.
Rasher spent the remainder of her commissioned career providing training services off the coast of California to UDT
and ASW units. She was decommissioned 27 May 1967, and later was reclassified "unclassified miscellaneous
4 of 5 9/15/2010 5:29 PM

5. USS Rasher (SS-269) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher
submarine" IXSS-269, was towed to Portland, Oreg., where she served as a training submarine for Naval reservists
until struck from the Navy List, 20 December 1971.
Rasher was credited with sinking 99,901 tons of Japanese shipping, the second highest total for US submarines in
World War II. However, a Japanese destroyer credited as sunk by sister ship Flasher is given a name that never
existed and may have been a case of mistaken identity. If the tonnage credited for this ship is removed from the
record of Flasher, then "Rasher" becomes the highest scoring US submarine for tonnage. (Tambor has the highest
total in credited sunk hulls.) She was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for outstanding performance in combat
during World War II patrols 1, 3, 4, and 5. She received seven battle stars in World War II service, and two battle stars
for service off Vietnam.
1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis,
Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major
Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–273. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
3. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
5. ^ a b c d Peter T. Sasgen (1985). Red Scorpion. Naval Institute Press.
6. ^ a b c Blair, Clay Jr. (1975). Silent Victory Volume 1. Philadelphia and New York: J.B.Lippincott Company. p. 463.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Ruhe, W.J., CAPT USN (September 1983). The Rashers Fifth. United States Naval
Institute Proceedings. p. 78–81.
8. ^ Cressman, Robert J. (2000). The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval
Institute Press. p. 246. ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
9. ^ a b c d e Cressman, Robert J. (2000). The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland:
Naval Institute Press. p. 248. ISBN 1-55750-149-1.
10. ^ Blair, Clay Jr. (1975). Silent Victory Volume 1. Philadelphia and New York: J.B.Lippincott Company. p. 964.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be
found here (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r3/rasher.htm) .
Sasgen, Peter. 1995. Red Scorpion: The War Patrols of the USS Rasher. Pocket Star Books. ISBN
0-7434-8910-1 (The author's father served on all eight of the Rasher's patrols during World War II)
navsource.org: USS Rasher (http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08269.htm)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Rasher_(SS-269)"
Categories: Gato class submarines | World War II submarines of the United States | Cold War submarines of the United
States | Vietnam War submarines of the United States | Ships built in Wisconsin | 1942 ships
This page was last modified on 10 May 2010 at 18:28.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See
Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
5 of 5 9/15/2010 5:29 PM