USS Gar (SS-206)

USS Gar (SS-206), a Tambor-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the gar, a fish of the Lepisosteidae family.

Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 7 November 1940 sponsored by Mrs. George T. Pettengill, wife of Rear Admiral Pettengill, and commissioned at New London on 14 April 1941 with Lieutenant D. McGregor in command.

First War Patrol
After shakedown training along the New England seaboard from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and New London, Connecticut, Gar departed New London 24 November and transited the Panama Canal on 3 December 1941 en route to San Diego, California, where she arrived three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She prepared for combat in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, then departed San Francisco, California, on 15 January 1942 for Pearl Harbor. Her maiden patrol, from 2 February to 28 March, was conducted around Nagoya and the Kii Channel entrance to the Inland Sea of Japan. She torpedoed and sank the 1520-ton cargo ship Chichiubu Maru on 13 March.

Second, third, and fourth war patrols
During her second war patrol, from 19 April to 8 June, she fired on a freighter off Kwajalein atoll, which her commanding officer believed hit, but the ship did not sink. West of Truk Lagoon, she fired on a supposed Q-ship, which was not one in fact. Gar terminated her patrol at Fremantle, Australia. No sinkings were confirmed by JANAC postwar.

Her third war patrol, from 3 July to 21 August, took her to the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam, where her only contact was a hospital ship. Her fourth war patrol, from 17 September to 7 November, took her to the northernmost waters in the Gulf of Siam, where on 19 October she laid 32 mines in the entrances to Bangkok. This was one of the strategic plants covering important Japanese shipping lanes previously patrolled by American submarines. Both patrols produced few contacts, thanks to timid patrolling, and no sinkings. Gar' executive officer and third officer both requested transfers on her return, while her commanding officer received a "blistering" endorsement from his squadron commander and was relieved.

Fifth, sixth, and seventh war patrols
Now in the hands of Philip D. Quirk (Class of 1932), Gar's fifth, sixth and seventh war patrols were conducted largely in approaches to Manila, Philippine Islands, via Borneo. During her fifth, from 28 November to 19 January 1943, she drove freighter Heinan Maru onto the beach with six torpedo hits and scored hits on a seaplane tender. (Gar was credited with one ship of 600 tons by JANAC postwar.) Her sixth, from 9 February to 2 April, brought numerous contacts with targets which could not be closed to firing range because of vigilant enemy aircraft and antisubmarine patrol ships. During her seventh war patrol, from 23 April to 27 May 1943 off Manila, she sank five small craft with gunfire; torpedoed and sank 703-ton Japanese freighter Aso Maru south of the Negros Islands on 9 May, then six days later attacked a convoy west of Mindoro, sinking 3197-ton passenger-cargo ship Moikai Maru and 4361-ton Indus Maru.

Captain (USN RET) Philip D. Quirk served on numerous ships and submarines in WW2 and was also the commanding officer on USS Fort Mandan (LSD-21) following the outbreak of the Korean War. Quirk was awarded an astonishing six Bronze Star Medals (BSM) throughout his Navy career. For the first three medals, Quirk was Commanding Officer of USS Gridley (DD-380).

The most fascinating award was Quirk's BSM #1 for assisting in the rescue of RM1/c George R. Tweed from the Japanese-held island of Guam. Tweed had been marooned there since the Japanese invasion, and later wrote a book about his adventures titled "Robinson Crusoe, USN". BSM #2 was won for screening the Leyte landings in October 1944. BSM #3 was won for sinking the Japanese submarine I-46 off Leyte in Oct. 1944.

Quirk then became Commanding Officer of USS Walker (DD-517) and was awarded BSM #4 was for service during the Okinawa kamikaze attacks.

Following this, Qurik transferred to Submarine Service assuming command of USS Gar (SS-206). BSM #5 was awarded in 1946 for Gar's patrol #5, and BSM #6 was awarded late in 1947 for USS Grampus (SS-207) patrol #1. Quirk complained loudly about the Navy's faulty torpedoes, and was beached in July 1943. This scandal was soon proven all too true and corrected. Quirk was restored to grace but transferred back to destroyer commands.

Quirk was awarded his Silver Star medal for Gar's 7th war patrol, which sank 3 Japanese ships totaling 8000 tons.

Eighth and ninth war patrols
Her eighth war patrol, from 18 June to 23 July, was spent patrolling the Flores Sea, where she torpedoed a 500-ton motorship which ran itself aground, the crew escaping into the jungle. (Gar was not given credit for it by JANAC.) En route from Fremantle to Pearl Harbor on her ninth war patrol, from 8 August to 13 September, Gar scouted off Timor and scored hits on a freighter in Makassar Strait. She then went in for overhaul in the Mare Island Navy Yard.

Gar returned to Pearl Harbor 30 November 1943, now in the hands of George W. Lautrup, Jr. (Class of 1934), to resume combat duty in the Pacific, based out of Freemantle. Her ninth patrol saw her credited with one ship of 4,000 tons (reduced to 1,000 tons in the postwar accounting).

Tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth war patrols
Her tenth war patrol, out of Freemantle from 16 December 1943 to 9 February 1944, was conducted off Palau, where on 20 January she sank the 5325-ton cargo ship Koyu Maru; damaged two ships of another convoy on 22 January; then attacked a third convoy the following day to sink the 3670-ton Taian Maru. She returned to Pearl Harbor.

Her 11th war patrol, from 3 March to 21 April, found her performing lifeguard duty for aviators making the first carrier-based air strikes on Palau. She saved eight aviators, one less than two miles (3 km) off the beach and within range of enemy gun emplacements.

Her 12th patrol, from 20 May to 5 July, was spent in the Bonin Islands area, where she made gunfire attacks on a convoy of Japanese sea trucks, leaving a small freighter raging in flames and dead in the water.

Her 13th patrol (now commanded by Maurice Ferrara, the first officer of the Class of 1937 to be given a submarine command), lasted from 14 August to 9 October and was largely taken up with lifeguard duty off Yap supporting the combined fleet-shore operations that captured the Palau Islands. She also performed valuable reconnaissance work off Surigao Strait. She bombarded installations on Yap 6 September through 8 September and ended her patrol at Brisbane, Australia.

Fourteenth and Fifteenth War Patrols
On her 14th war patrol, from 3 November to 30 November, Gar landed 16 men and 25 tons of supplies at Santiago Cove, Luzon, Philippine Islands, on 23 November; picked up intelligence documents, and terminated her patrol in Mios Woendi lagoon. On her 15th and final war patrol, from 4 December to 27 December, she landed 35 tons of supplies on the west coast of Luzon, near Duriagaos Inlet on 11 December, returning to Pearl Harbor with urgent intelligence documents including maps locating enemy gun emplacements, beach defenses, troop concentrations, and fuel and ammunition dumps on Luzon.

End of World War II and fate
After overhaul in the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Gar put to sea 2 April 1945 to serve the remainder of the war as a target trainer for antisubmarine ships at Saipan and Guam, Marianas Islands. She departed Apra Harbor, Guam, on 7 August 1945, proceeding via Hawaii, San Francisco, California, and the Panama Canal to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she arrived 20 October. She decommissioned there 11 December 1945 and remained in reserve until September 1948, when she began an overhaul in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard which lasted until through October. She was then transferred as a reserve training submarine for the 4th Naval District at Cleveland, Ohio, arriving, via the Mississippi River and the Chicago Canal, on 28 November 1948. She continued her reserve training until her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register 29 May 1959. The submarine was sold for scrapping 18 November 1959 to Acme Scrap Iron and Metal Company.

Gar received 11 battle stars for service in World War II.