USS Capelin (SS-289)

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Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	20 January 1943
Commissioned:	4 June 1943
Fate:	lost to an unknown cause
Stricken:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1526 tons
Length:	311 feet 9 inches
Beam:	27 feet 3 inches
Draft:	15 feet 3 inches
Speed:	20 knots
Complement:	66 officers and men
Armament:	one four-inch gun, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes

USS Capelin (SS-289), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the capelin, a small fish of the smelt family. Her keel was laid down by Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 20 January 1943 sponsored by Mrs. I.C. Bogart, and commissioned on 4 June 1943, Lieutenant Commander E.E. Marshall in command.

Capelin sailed from New London, Connecticut, on 3 September 1943, bound for Brisbane, Australia, and duty with Submarine Force, Southwest Pacific. Her first war patrol, conducted in the Molucca Sea, Flores Sea, and Banda Sea between 30 October and 15 November, found her sinking a 3127-ton Japanese cargo ship on 11 November off Ambon Island.

Capelin returned to Darwin, Australia, with a defective conning tower hatch mechanism, excessively noisy bow planes, and a defective radar tube. These flaws were corrected, and Capelin put out on her second war patrol 17 November 1943, in the Molukka Sea and Celebes Sea, and she was to pay particular attention to Kaoe Bay, Morotai Strait, Davao Gulf, and trade routes in the vicinity of Siaoe Island, Sangi Island, Talaud Island and Sarangani Island. She was to leave her area at dark 6 December.

Capelin was never heard from again. Bonefish (SS-223) reported having seen an American submarine on 2 December 1943 in the area assigned to Capelin at that time. The Navy broke radio silence on 9 December, but without success.

Japanese records studied after the war listed an attack on a supposed United States submarine on 23 November, off Kaoe Bay, Halmahera, but the evidence of an actual contact was slight, and the Japanese state that this attack was broken off. This is, however, the only reported attack in the appropriate area at that time. Enemy minefields are now known to have been placed in various positions along the north coast of Celebes in Capelin's area, and she may have been lost because of a mine explosion. Gone without a trace, with all her gallant crew, Capelin must remain in the list of ships lost without a known cause.

Capelin received one battle star for World War II service. Her single war patrol was "successful." She is credited with having sunk 3127 tons of shipping.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.