USS Gar (SS-206) - Second, Third, and Fourth War Patrols

Second, Third, and Fourth War Patrols

During her second war patrol, from 19 April to 8 June, she fired on a freighter off Kwajalein atoll, which her commanding officer believed hit, but the ship did not sink. West of Truk Lagoon, she fired on a supposed Q-ship, which was not one in fact. Gar terminated her patrol at Fremantle, Australia. No sinkings were confirmed by JANAC postwar.

Her third war patrol, from 3 July to 21 August, took her to the South China Sea and the Gulf of Siam, where her only contact was a hospital ship. Her fourth war patrol, from 17 September to 7 November, took her to the northernmost waters in the Gulf of Siam, where on 19 October she laid 32 mines in the entrances to Bangkok. This was one of the strategic plants covering important Japanese shipping lanes previously patrolled by American submarines. Both patrols produced few contacts, thanks to timid patrolling, and no sinkings. Gar' executive officer and third officer both requested transfers on her return, while her commanding officer received a "blistering" endorsement from his squadron commander and was relieved.