USS Bream (SS-243)
Encyclopedia
USS Bream (SS/SSK/AGSS-243), a Gato-class
Gato class submarine
The United States Navy Gato class submarine formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II...

 submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

, was the first ship of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 to be named for the bream.

Bream was laid down on 5 February 1943 by the Electric Boat
Electric boat
While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power and gasoline engines also remaining popular, boats powered by electricity have been used for over 120 years. Electric boats were very popular from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the internal combustion...

 Co., Groton, Conn.
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....

. She was launched on 17 October 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Wreford G. Chapple, wife of the prospective commanding officer), and commissioned on 24 January 1944, with Commander (Cmdr.)
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 Wreford "Moon" Chapple (Class
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

 of 1930) in command.

Breams war operations extended from 1 June 1944 to 15 June 1945. During this period she completed six war patrols operating in the Java
Java Sea
The Java Sea is a large shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf. It was formed as sea levels rose at the end of the last ice age. The Java Sea lies between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south; Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east...

, Celebes
Celebes Sea
The Celebes Sea of the western Pacific Ocean is bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sulu Sea and Mindanao Island of the Philippines, on the east by the Sangihe Islands chain, on the south by Sulawesi, and on the west by Kalimantan in Indonesia...

, Sulu
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea is a body of water in the southwestern area of the Philippines, separated from the South China Sea in the northwest by Palawan and from the Celebes Sea in the southeast by the Sulu Archipelago. Borneo is found to the southwest and Visayas to the northeast.Sulu Sea contains a number of...

, and South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...

s and the Gulf of Siam. She sank two Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese vessels totaling 6,934 tons.

In addition, Bream shared with and the destruction of a 6,806 ton passenger/cargo vessel. On 23 October 1944, while patrolling off western Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

, Bream made a daring surface attack on a Japanese formation, damaging the heavy cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

 Aoba
Japanese cruiser Aoba
was the lead ship in the two-vessel Aoba-class of heavy cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. It is named after Mount Aoba, a volcano located behind Maizuru, Kyoto.-Background:...

.
Bream got underway from Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

 for Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 6 June 1945 en route to the United States for navy yard overhaul. She arrived at San Francisco 24 June 1945 and was undergoing overhaul when the war ended. She was placed out of commission in reserve 31 January 1946 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

Bream was recommissioned 5 June 1951 and reported to Submarine Squadron 3, Pacific Fleet. From June 1951 to August 1952 Bream engaged in type training and services to the Fleet Sonar School, San Diego. On 10 September 1952 she went out of commission in reserve at San Francisco. Bream was converted to an anti-submarine "hunter-killer" submarine and reclassified SSK-243, 18 February 1953.

Following recommissioning 20 June 1953, Bream participated in all phases of peacetime submarine operations in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. She conducted an Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

n training cruise in September 1954, returning to San Diego 5 November 1954 via Pearl Harbor. Bream carried out operations off California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 until she made another trip to Pearl Harbor during 7 – 24 May 1955. Her next departure from the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

 was on 6 March 1956 for a cruise in the Western Pacific, which terminated at San Francisco in early 1957.

Bream was reclassified Auxiliary Submarine AGSS-243, 1 February 1964.

Decommissioned on 28 June 1969, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 and sunk as a target 7 November 1969 by .

Bream was awarded four battle stars for her World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

service.



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