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USS Trutta (SS-421)
Encyclopedia
USS Trutta (SS-421), a Tench-class submarine
, was the only ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the trutta, a variety of trout
, distinguished from the typical trout by its small, black spots and its smaller and fewer scales. She was originally assigned the name Tomtate, often misspelled as Tomatate, and would have made her the only ship named for the tomtate, a food fish of warm American waters having a compressed body, a toothless palate, and conical jaw teeth, but was renamed Trutta on 24 September 1942. Her keel was laid down on 22 May 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched
on 18 August 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Edward C. Magdeburger, and commissioned
on 16 November 1944 with Commander Arthur C. Smith in command.
On 7 April, she changed course in an attempt to intercept a Japanese naval force which had sortied from Bungo Suido late the day before. It was feared that this task force, headed by Yamato
, the world's largest battleship, would interrupt the assault on Okinawa to the south. Despite her full-power running, Trutta did not intercept the Japanese ships because they changed their course. Nevertheless, the Japanese force did not reach Okinawa because on that day fliers from the carriers of Vice Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58 sank Yamato, light cruiser
Agano, and destroyer
Hamakaze
, and inflicted irremediable damage to three other destroyers which the Japanese scuttled. After receiving news of this successful battle, Trutta headed southward on 9 April. Proceeding via the Nansei Shoto, she avoided the hostile notice of enemy aircraft and weathered gale force winds and force-five seas before entering her patrol area in the East China Sea
on the afternoon of 11 April. There, she patrolled along the Shanghai
-Quelpart Island traffic routes. On 13 April, while pursuing an antisubmarine force of three Japanese destroyers, she passed through an uncharted minefield
before the ships changed course and outdistanced her.
While patrolling near the entrance to Daito Wan on the western coast of Korea
on 18 April, she sank one small freighter with gunfire and damaged another. Off the China coast on 22 April, Trutta narrowly escaped damage when an enemy float plane dropped two bombs which exploded over the diving submarine. Shortly after midnight three days later, as Trutta patrolled west of Quelpart Island, lookouts on the submarine's bridge were startled to see a torpedo pass astern. As Trutta put on speed and turned parallel to the torpedo's wake, another torpedo passed by her port side moving from stern to bow, a sinister reminder that she was not alone in the Yellow Sea
. Fortunately, Trutta observed no further sign of the Japanese submarine, and she continued her patrols until 26 April when she headed for Guam.
Late in the day, on 27 April, as she passed between Akuseki Shima and Takara Shima in the northern Ryukyus, she made contact with a Japanese plane.the harbinger of a prolonged coordinated holddown attempt. The next morning, finding her adversary of the night before replaced by two "Settles," the submarine, low on air and battery power, sent a message indicating that she would have to surface and fight it out if the situation did not improve before noon. A little more than an hour later, 10 American fighters from Okinawa appeared and routed the Japanese planes. Friendly air cover remained with the submarine until she recharged her batteries and filled her air flasks. She then proceeded independently to the Marianas, arriving at Guam on 4 May.
As air raids against the cities of the Japanese homeland intensified, Trutta manned a lifeguard station south of Kyushu, made patrols just off Bungo Suido, and conducted visual and photo reconnaissance of Tori Shima, approaching to within about one mile (1.6 km) of the island. On 21 June, she departed Bungo Suido to join sister "Street's Sweepers" patrolling the Yellow and East China Seas. She conducted patrols west of Tsushima Strait and then fired a few diversionary rounds of five-inch (127 mm) fire on Hirado Shima before moving west to take up patrol along the southwest coast of Korea. On 1 July, her persistence paid off when, after pursuing a sailing vessel, she discovered a fleet of schooners. Working quickly to take advantage of surprise and to prevent the ships from fleeing to nearby shallow water, Trutta sank seven of the three- and four-masted schooners in a four-hour action. Crew members boarded and searched two of the vessels and put the schooner crews in lifeboats before destroying the ships.
On 6 July, while patrolling the southern approaches to Daito Wan, she came upon a tug towing three schooners, quickly dispatched the tug and two of its tows with five-inch (127 mm) fire, and left the third in flames. She continued patrolling along the Korean coast until the afternoon of 12 July when she departed the area and set her course for the Marianas.
, and the veteran submarine was decommissioned on 1 July and turned over to the Navy of the Republic of Turkey
. She was renamed TCG Cerbe (S 340). Trutta was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
on that same day.
The Turkish Navy decommissioned Cerbe on 23 July 1999 at the Gölcük Navy Yard. Today, her sail is preserved as a memorial to Turkish submariners.
Trutta received two battle stars for World War II
service.
Tench class submarine
Tench-class submarines were a type of submarine built for the United States Navy between 1944 and 1951. They were an evolutionary improvement over the Gato and Balao classes, only about 35 to 40 tons larger, but more strongly built and with a slightly improved internal layout...
, was the only 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 trutta, a variety of trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
, distinguished from the typical trout by its small, black spots and its smaller and fewer scales. She was originally assigned the name Tomtate, often misspelled as Tomatate, and would have made her the only ship named for the tomtate, a food fish of warm American waters having a compressed body, a toothless palate, and conical jaw teeth, but was renamed Trutta on 24 September 1942. Her keel was laid down on 22 May 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 18 August 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Edward C. Magdeburger, and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 16 November 1944 with Commander Arthur C. Smith in command.
First War Patrol
Following outfitting and shakedown, Trutta underwent 30 days of intensive training in the Portsmouth-New London area and then set a course southward and steamed via the Canal Zone to arrive at Pearl Harbor on 25 February 1945. After a period of advanced training, Trutta got underway from Oahu with and , members of a coordinated attack group under Truttas direction.and arrived at Saipan on 30 March. The following day, as she was leaving Tanapag Harbor on her first war patrol, the submarine struck a cable connected to an oil drum adrift in the charted channel and was forced to return to Saipan to repair her damaged propeller blades. The submarine finally got underway on 3 April and proceeded as rapidly as possible toward her patrol area.On 7 April, she changed course in an attempt to intercept a Japanese naval force which had sortied from Bungo Suido late the day before. It was feared that this task force, headed by Yamato
Japanese battleship Yamato
, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing...
, the world's largest battleship, would interrupt the assault on Okinawa to the south. Despite her full-power running, Trutta did not intercept the Japanese ships because they changed their course. Nevertheless, the Japanese force did not reach Okinawa because on that day fliers from the carriers of Vice Admiral Mitscher's Task Force 58 sank Yamato, light 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...
Agano, and destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
Hamakaze
Japanese destroyer Hamakaze
was a of the Imperial Japanese Navy.On 7 April 1945, Hamakaze escorted the battleship from the Inland Sea on her Operation Ten-Go attack on the Allied forces on Okinawa. She was sunk by aircraft of Task Force 58 and sank 150 miles southwest of Nagasaki .-External links:**...
, and inflicted irremediable damage to three other destroyers which the Japanese scuttled. After receiving news of this successful battle, Trutta headed southward on 9 April. Proceeding via the Nansei Shoto, she avoided the hostile notice of enemy aircraft and weathered gale force winds and force-five seas before entering her patrol area in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
on the afternoon of 11 April. There, she patrolled along the Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
-Quelpart Island traffic routes. On 13 April, while pursuing an antisubmarine force of three Japanese destroyers, she passed through an uncharted minefield
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
before the ships changed course and outdistanced her.
While patrolling near the entrance to Daito Wan on the western coast of Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
on 18 April, she sank one small freighter with gunfire and damaged another. Off the China coast on 22 April, Trutta narrowly escaped damage when an enemy float plane dropped two bombs which exploded over the diving submarine. Shortly after midnight three days later, as Trutta patrolled west of Quelpart Island, lookouts on the submarine's bridge were startled to see a torpedo pass astern. As Trutta put on speed and turned parallel to the torpedo's wake, another torpedo passed by her port side moving from stern to bow, a sinister reminder that she was not alone in the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
. Fortunately, Trutta observed no further sign of the Japanese submarine, and she continued her patrols until 26 April when she headed for Guam.
Late in the day, on 27 April, as she passed between Akuseki Shima and Takara Shima in the northern Ryukyus, she made contact with a Japanese plane.the harbinger of a prolonged coordinated holddown attempt. The next morning, finding her adversary of the night before replaced by two "Settles," the submarine, low on air and battery power, sent a message indicating that she would have to surface and fight it out if the situation did not improve before noon. A little more than an hour later, 10 American fighters from Okinawa appeared and routed the Japanese planes. Friendly air cover remained with the submarine until she recharged her batteries and filled her air flasks. She then proceeded independently to the Marianas, arriving at Guam on 4 May.
Second War Patrol
Following refitting and exercises with battleship , Trutta got underway on 2 June in company with . She weathered a typhoon before arriving on lifeguard station on 7 May. That day, while standing lifeguard duty for air strikes on Kobe, the submarine rescued a downed Army aviator who had been adrift in a small rubber boat for nearly a week and, the day before, had also weathered the typhoon.As air raids against the cities of the Japanese homeland intensified, Trutta manned a lifeguard station south of Kyushu, made patrols just off Bungo Suido, and conducted visual and photo reconnaissance of Tori Shima, approaching to within about one mile (1.6 km) of the island. On 21 June, she departed Bungo Suido to join sister "Street's Sweepers" patrolling the Yellow and East China Seas. She conducted patrols west of Tsushima Strait and then fired a few diversionary rounds of five-inch (127 mm) fire on Hirado Shima before moving west to take up patrol along the southwest coast of Korea. On 1 July, her persistence paid off when, after pursuing a sailing vessel, she discovered a fleet of schooners. Working quickly to take advantage of surprise and to prevent the ships from fleeing to nearby shallow water, Trutta sank seven of the three- and four-masted schooners in a four-hour action. Crew members boarded and searched two of the vessels and put the schooner crews in lifeboats before destroying the ships.
On 6 July, while patrolling the southern approaches to Daito Wan, she came upon a tug towing three schooners, quickly dispatched the tug and two of its tows with five-inch (127 mm) fire, and left the third in flames. She continued patrolling along the Korean coast until the afternoon of 12 July when she departed the area and set her course for the Marianas.
End of hostilities
She arrived at Guam on 18 July, underwent refitting by , and then got underway on 12 August for her third patrol. Before Trutta arrived in her assigned area, she received official word that peace negotiations had obviated continuing her patrol; and the submarine set a northeast course. She arrived at Midway on 24 August; and, two days later, she headed home via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal. After calls at New Orleans and other gulf and east-coast ports, she arrived at New London early in January 1946 and reported to the Sixth Fleet for inactivation. By March 1946, she had been placed out of commission. She remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1951 when she was reactivated at New London. Recommissioned on March 1951, she operated out of that port until 4 May 1952 when she was again decommissioned, this time at Charleston. Following conversion to a "Guppy II A" submarine, she was recommissioned on 2 January 1953 and joined Submarine Squadron 4 at Key West.Post World War II U.S. service
For the next 19 years, she operated out of Key West, plying the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. During this period, she also made six deployments to the Mediterranean. She assisted in the evaluation of new weapon systems, including electronic counter-measure equipment; served as an antisubmarine warfare training target; trained naval reserves; and participated in fleet exercises. Shortly after her transfer to Squadron 12 on 1 August 1959, she rescued five Cuban refugees who had been adrift in a rubber boat for two days. Still homeported at Key West, she continued her duties through the 1960s, breaking routine with goodwill visits to American and Mediterranean ports, and earning a number of Battle Efficiency "E's." Moored at Key West in November 1969, she celebrated the 25th anniversary of her first commissioning.Transfer to Turkish Navy
Her long career with the United States Navy drew to its close in 1972. In June of that year, she trained a turnover crew of the Turkish NavyTurkish Navy
The Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
, and the veteran submarine was decommissioned on 1 July and turned over to the Navy of the Republic of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. She was renamed TCG Cerbe (S 340). Trutta was struck 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...
on that same day.
The Turkish Navy decommissioned Cerbe on 23 July 1999 at the Gölcük Navy Yard. Today, her sail is preserved as a memorial to Turkish submariners.
Trutta received two battle stars for 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.