USS Croaker (SS/SSK/AGSS/IXSS-246) (Buffalo, New York)

 museum, Second World War 1939-1945, submarine, United States Navy

USS Croaker is the 35th member of the Gato Class of Submarines built for the US Navy, laid down at the Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT on April 1st 1943 and commissioned into active service on April 21st, 1944. Joining the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in June 1944, the Croaker and her crew departed on their first War Patrol on July 19th, bound for the East China and Yellow Seas.

Less than a month into her first patrol the Croaker sighted and shadowed a Japanese Merchant Ship convoy off the Amakusa Islands in the East China Sea. On August 7th her Commander lined up a Stern shot from 1,300 yards on a large Japanese Cruiser escorting the convoy and sent four torpedoes into her path. Only the first of the four shots managed to reach its target, striking the Light Cruiser HIJMS Nagara in her Starboard Stern and severing it from the ship. Within an hour, the Nagara had gone down with 348 of her crew and the Croaker had her first war kill. Continuing to shadow the convoy, the Croaker claimed two of the Merchantmen before departing the area for lifeguard duty off the Bonin Islands.

Croaker's maiden war patrol earned her crew the Navy Unit Commendation, with three ships including a Cruiser sunk. Her second and third War Patrols brought similar successes while she operated as part of a US Wolfpack, sinking another three merchant ships and damaging a fourth before returning from her third War Patrol in November 1944 for a period of overhaul and upgrades. Serving off the Philippine Islands during her fourth patrol, the Croaker claimed no enemy vessels but provided lifeguard duty for three months as strikes were carried out on Luzon, after which she made for Australia and reprovisioned at Fremantle. Departing for the Indochinese coast in March 1945, the Croaker was twice forced to abort her patrols due to engine troubles, returning once to Fremantle and then to Subic Bay, which had been recently recaptured from Japanese forces. Standing out fot her fifth War Patrol in May 1945, the Croaker's crew celebrated the end of hostilities in Europe by attacking a Japanese convoy of three small tankers and an escort ship on May 30th, claiming one oiler and the escort vessel sunk and unconfirmed results on the other two vessels. Her final war patrol began in Fremantle on July 1st and lasted through the end of hostilities in August and saw the Croaker again assigned to lifeguard duties in the South China Sea and off Hong Kong as the final series of air attacks on Japan were carried out.

Returning stateside in early 1946, the Croakers' war ended with six War Patrols, 3 Battle Stars and 11 Japanese vessels including a Cruiser, Minesweeper, two Convoy Escorts, four tankers, two freighters, and an ammunition ship to her battle flag. She is officially credited with sinking 19,710 tons of Japanese shipping. After returning to Groton, CT in April 1946, the Croaker officially decommissioned into reserve on May 15th, 1946. After five years in the reserve fleet, the Croaker was reactivated and recommissioned as a training sub in 1951 and eventually selected for an extensive conversion to a Hunter-Killer Submarine, or SSK, in 1953.

Following an eight-month yard period, the Croaker recommissioned in December 1953 as SSK-246 and now sported a streamlined sail, snorkel, long range sonar, and machinery noise reduction features designed to enable her to track and destroy Soviet Submarines during the Cold War. Serving with the US Atlantic Fleet, the Croaker and her crews made routine cruises throughout the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean in support of US and NATO forces into the late 1960's. Withdrawn from frontline service in 1968 as her role was supplanted by Nuclear-powered ships, the Croaker returned to Groton and became a Naval Reserve training sub for new cadets, a role she served in first as a mobile platform and eventually a static training aid from 1968 through late 1971.

USS Croaker's long and notable service life came to an official end with her formal decommissioning on December 20th, 1971, 27 years after she entered service. Remaining in reserve for a further six years, she was donated in 1977 to the Submarine Memorial Association for use as a museum ship in Groton, Connecticut by the US Navy, and remained on limited display for the next ten years.

Concerns about the condition of the Croaker and the Submarine Memorial Association's abilities to properly care for it led the US Navy to repossess the Croaker in 1987, paving the way for the Buffalo-Erie County Naval Park to offer the Veteran Sub a new home. After securing the requisite funds for inspections and towing, the Croaker departed Groton in the Spring of 1988 and made her way around the Canadian Maritimes, down the St. Lawrence Seaway and into the Great Lakes, arriving at her new home shortly before the start of summer. She is presently part of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and is on public display as a museum ship.

www.navsource.org/archives/08/08246.htm
www.hnsa.org/ships/croaker.htm