USS Seahorse (SS-304)

USS Seahorse (SS-304), a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seahorse, a small fish whose head and the fore part of its body suggest the head and neck of a horse.

Seahorse was laid down on 1 August 1942 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California. The vessel was launched on 9 January 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Chester C. Smith, and commissioned on 31 March 1943.

First war patrol, August – September 1943

Following shakedown along the California coast, Seahorse sailed to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii and, on 3 August 1943, got underway for her maiden war patrol, conducted off the Palau Islands. On the morning of 29 August, while the submarine was gaining attack position on a Japanese convoy, she was detected by escorting destroyers and suffered minor damage from a depth charge attack.

Seahorse scored three torpedo hits on a transport on 6 September, and then went deep to evade a depth charge attack that caused severe leaks and put her number four torpedo tube out of commission. A week later, she expended eight torpedoes in an unsuccessful attempt to sink a large tanker. The submarine terminated her first patrol at Midway on 27 September.

During this patrol, Seahorse's commanding officer ignored several potential targets, rather than face sonar-equipped escorts, which unrealistic prewar training indicated was virtual suicide.