USS Bullhead (SS-332)

Bullhead was a Balao class submarine completed by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, CT in December of 1944.

Bullhead left Fremantle, Australia on 30 July 1945 for her third patrol. She was to operate in the Java Sea until 5 September and then proceed to Subic Bay in the Philippines. On 6 August, Bullhead reported that she had passed through Lombok Strait. On that day, just north of Bali, she was bombed by a Japanese aircraft. The pilot claimed that both bombs hit Bullhead.

Bullhead was the 52nd and last submarine that we lost during World War 2. Ironically, she appears to have been lost on the same day that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Bullhead left Pearl Harbor on 9 March 1945 for Guam. She left that base on 21 March for her first patrol. She was headed to the South China Sea and her primary assignment was lifeguard duty. However, on 8 April, she had to survive a near miss by a USAAF B-24 bomber. The three bombs dropped about 75 feet astern, which shook Bullhead quite a bit but did no major damage. In spite of this attack, Bullhead did rescue three aviators from a USAAF B-25 bomber on 16 April. She ended the patrol on 28 April 1945 at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Her second patrol began on 21 May 1945. Targets were few. Bullhead claimed five small ships in gun attacks, but none were large enough to be credited. This patrol ended on 2 July 1945 at Fremantle , Australia.

Bullhead was lost on her third war patrol. JANAC credited her with no sinkings.

Section 3, Submarines Lost After WW2