USS Trepang (SS-412)

The first USS Trepang (SS/AGSS-412) was a Balao-class submarine in the United States Navy. She was named after the trepang (or trīpang), an Indonesian name for a marine animal called a "sea slug" or a "sea cucumber," having a long, tough, muscular body and found in the coral reefs of the East Indies.

Construction and commissioning

When the contract to build Trepang was awarded to Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, SS-412 was to be named Senorita, which would have made her the only U.S. Navy ship to be named for the señorita, a brilliantly colored fish found along the California coast. She was renamed Trepang on 24 September 1942, and her keel was laid down on 25 June 1943. She was launched on 23 March 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Jane Andre Davenport (née Gorham), the wife of Trepang′s prospective commanding officer, Commander Roy Milton Davenport, and commissioned on 22 May 1944 with Commander Davenport — already a three-time Navy Cross winner — in command.

Service history

World War II

May–September 1944

Following shakedown at San Diego, California, Trepang departed San Diego on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat.

First war patrol: September – October 1944

Setting out from Pearl Harbor on 13 September 1944 for her first war patrol, Trepang prowled the waters south of Honshū, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air.