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USS Dolphin (SS-169)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Dolphin (SS-169)

USS Dolphin (SS-169) bore the name V-7 and the classification SF-10 and SSC-3 prior to her commissioning. She was launched 6 March 1932 by Portsmouth Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. E. D. Toland; and commissioned 1 June 1932, Lieutenant J. B. Griggs in command.

USS Dolphin (SS-169) sailed from Portsmouth 24 October 1932 for San Diego arriving 3 December to report to Submarine Division 12. USS Dolphin (SS-169) returned to San Diego 25 August 1933 to rejoin Submarine Division 12. She cruised on the west coast with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor, Alaska, and the Canal Zone for exercises and fleet problems. At Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, USS Dolphin (SS-169) took the attacking enemy planes under fire, then got underway for a patrol in search of Japanese submarines in the Hawaiians.

USS Dolphin (SS-169) departed Pearl Harbor 24 December 1941 on her first war patrol, during which she reconnoitered in the Marshall Islands in preparation for later air strikes. She returned to Pearl Harbor 3 February 1942 to refit and make repairs, and got underway once more 14 May.

USS Dolphin (SS-169)'s third war patrol, from 12 October 1942 to 5 December, was in the storm-tossed waters of the Kurile Islands, where she performed reconnaissance essential to the operations which were to keep Japanese bases there largely ineffective throughout the war. With younger submarines now available for offensive war patrols, USS Dolphin (SS-169) was assigned less dramatic but still vital service on training duty at Pearl Harbor until 29 January 1944, when she sailed for exercises in the Canal Zone, and duty as a schoolship at New London, where she arrived 6 March. She served in this essential task until the end of the war, then was decommissioned 12 October 1945 at Portsmouth Navy Yard. USS Dolphin (SS-169) was sold 26 August 1946.

For a complete history of USS Dolphin (SS-169) please see its DANFS page.