USS PAMPANITO (SS-383) is a World War II fleet submarine built in 1943 at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, New Hampshire. PAMPANITO is a Balao class submarine and made six patrols during World War II. She sank six Japanese ships and damaged four others, with a total of over 27,000 tons of enemy shipping sunk.

During her first two patrols PAMPANITO narrowly escaped destruction. While attacking an enemy convoy on the first patrol, PAMPANITO was spotted, severely depth charged and damaged. On PAMPANITO's second patrol, while patrolling off the coast of Japan, alert lookouts spotted two torpedo wakes approaching allowing enough time to avoid them. Several days later another approaching torpedo was sighted. Evasive measures were taken and the torpedo crossed PAMPANITO's bow, missing by only a few yards.

During PAMPANITO's third, and most well known, patrol she operated as part of a wolf-pack consisting of USS GROWLER (SS-215) and USS SEALION 11 (SS-315). On the morning of September 12th, 1944 the pack attacked a convoy carrying war production materials of oil and raw rubber. Unknown to the submarine skippers, the convoy also carried over 2,000 British and Australian prisoners of war. Many of the ships in the convoy were sunk by the pack including the two ships carrying the POWs. SEALION sank the RAKUYO MARU, which carried over 1,300 POWs, and PAMPANITO sank the KACHIDOKI MARU which carried 900 POWs. The three subs then left the area to pursue the scattered ships in the convoy On September 15, PAMPANITO moved back to the area of the original attack and found men clinging to makeshift rafts. As the sub moved closer, the men were heard to be shouting in English. These men were the POW survivors of RAKUYO MARU sunk four days earlier by SEALION. PAMPANITO was able to pick up 73 men and called in three other subs in the area. SEALION picked up 54 men, QUEENFISH rescued 18 men and BARB rescued 14. Of the 1,300 men on RAKUYO MARU sunk by SEALION, 159 were rescued by the four subs. The Japanese rescued an additional 136 men for a total of 295 survivors. Of the 900 men on the KACHIDOKI MARU sunk by PAMPANITO, 656 men were rescued by the Japanese and taken to camps in Japan. Over 500 of these men were released by American troops at the end of the war.

PAMPANITO went on to make three more successful patrols during the war before being retired from active service. Following the war she served as a training ship for the Naval Reserve and was eventually transferred to The National Maritime Museum Association for public display. We are proud to offer the unique experience of a WW 11 submarine tour to the public as a lasting memorial to the Submarine Service of the US Navy.

Note: If you are interested in learning more about the USS Pampanito's illustrious history including detailed accounts of her six war-time patrols, her post war history, and her crew lists, visit the National Maritime Museum Association's 'Pampanito History' pages at: http://www.maritime.org/pamphist.shtml

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