USS Herring (SS-233)

Herring was a Gato class submarine completed by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine in May of 1942.

Herring departed Pearl Harbor on 16 May 1944 for her eighth patrol. She topped off fuel at Midway Island and headed to her assigned area around the Kuriles. She rendezvoused with USS Barb (SS-220) on 31 May. After that Herring began the run of luck that accounted for most of her Pacific sinkings. She soon sank a frigate and another small ship. The next day she sank two small-to-medium freighters that were at anchor. Sadly, that was the end of her good luck. That same day, she was spotted by a shore battery that opened fire and soon made two hits on the conning tower. The Herring sank, ending her most productive patrol.

For her first patrol, Herring was one of the few boats assigned temporarily to the Atlantic. She supported Operation Torch, our landings in North Africa in November of 1942. Soon after arriving, Herring sank the medium sized freighter, Ville de Havre, which was being operated by the pro-German Vichy Government.

During her second patrol, targets were hard to find and Herring scored no successes. On her third patrol, she was able to sink the U-163 on 21 March 1943 in a night surface attack. However, her fourth and fifth patrols did not yield any sinkings. Her fifth patrol ended on 26 July 1943 back in New London, CT. (We did send a few boats to support the British, but they weren’t particularly effective and they would eventually be reassigned to the Pacific Theater.)

Herring sailed from Pearl Harbor on 15 November 1943 for her sixth patrol. In December, she sank a medium transport and damaged a large tanker. She claimed to have sunk a destroyer escort, but that was not confirmed. On New Years Day, she sank a large transport/aircraft ferry. She also claimed another large freighter but that was not confirmed.

Herring’s seventh patrol was not productive. LCDR Zabriskie was warned about his lack of sinkings. However, he remained in command for her successful but ill-fated eighth patrol.

Herring was lost on her eighth war patrol. JANAC credited her with six sinkings for 19,959 tons total. However, JANAC only considered action in the Pacific. The summary “U. S. Losses, World War II”, compiled by the office of the Commander Submarine Force U. S. Pacific Fleet in 1946 credits Herring with nine ships for 45,200 tons. This includes the Vichy transport and the U-boat. It appears that COMSUBPAC also included a third sinking during the sixth patrol that JANAC didn’t credit.