Hull Number: SS-290
Last Captain: LCDR James Coe
Date Lost: 28 September, 1943
Location: The Sulu Sea
Fatalities: 76
Cause: Air and ASW forces
Construction
Cisco was a Balao class submarine completed by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine in May of 1943.
Loss Narrative
Cisco reported to the Pacific Fleet. She sailed from Panama on 7 August 1943 for Darwin. She arrived on 1 September and assumed local patrol duties until 18 September. She sailed from Port Darwin, Australia for her first war patrol on 20 September 1943. However, she had to return due to problems with the main hydraulic system. After repairs, she departed on patrol the next day. Nothing was heard from Cisco after that.
On 28 September, a Japanese aircraft noticed a submarine trailing oil. The plane attacked, dropped a bomb and then called in surface vessels. They depth charged the target and more oil came to the surface and continued to leak for days. No other American submarines were in the area and this report is assumed to be about the loss of Cisco.
LCDR Coe had previously commanded USS S-39 (SS-144) before she was lost and then the USS Skipjack (SS-184) before assuming command of Cisco.
Cisco was lost on her first war patrol and JANAC credited her with no sinkings.
On 28 September, a Japanese aircraft noticed a submarine trailing oil. The plane attacked, dropped a bomb and then called in surface vessels. They depth charged the target and more oil came to the surface and continued to leak for days. No other American submarines were in the area and this report is assumed to be about the loss of Cisco.
LCDR Coe had previously commanded USS S-39 (SS-144) before she was lost and then the USS Skipjack (SS-184) before assuming command of Cisco.
Cisco was lost on her first war patrol and JANAC credited her with no sinkings.
Submarine Photo
Captain Photo
LCDR James Coe