War Patrols Under Philip W. Garnett and Post-war Fate
On her ninth war patrol (now commanded by Philip W. Garnett, Class of 1933), 15 October to 9 December, Sargo operated off Formosa and in the Philippine Sea. On 9 November, she torpedoed the cargo ship, Tago Maru, southeast of Formosa, and finished off the stricken ship with gunfire. Steaming north, she torpedoed and sank the passenger ship, Kosei Maru two days later east of Okinawa. Afterwards, she picked up a Japanese soldier, clinging to floating debris, survivor of another sinking. Sargo returned to Pearl Harbor on 9 December 1943, credited with two ships for 15,900 tons; postwar, it was 6,400.
Sargo’s tenth patrol, 26 January to 12 March 1944, was conducted north of the Palau Islands. Despite alerting her, she failed to be in position to intercept Admiral Koga when he appeared. Still, she made four attacks and fired all her topedoes. She sank the transports Nichiro Maru (6,500 tons) on 17 February and Uchide Maru (5,300 tons) on 29 February; this time, the wartime credit, one ship of 7,000 tons, remarkably, increased.
After refit in Pearl Harbor, the veteran submarine departed on her eleventh war patrol on 7 April, along the southern coasts of Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Honshū. On 26 April, she torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Wazan Maru in Kii Suido, approaching Osaka Bay. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May and steamed east to the west coast of the United States for a major overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard.
Returning to Hawaii in September, Sargo got underway for her 12th patrol on 13 October and operated off the Bonin Islands and Ryukyu Islands. Two trawlers were damaged by Sargo’s three-inch (76 mm) deck gun and machine guns.
On arrival at Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, on 7 December 1944, she was assigned to training submarine crews until 13 January 1945, when she proceeded to Eniwetok Atoll. There she acted as a target for ASW training. As the war ended, she returned via Hawaii to the United States, arriving at Mare Island on 27 August. Decommissioned on 22 June 1946, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 19 July 1946. Her hulk was sold for scrap on 19 May 1947 to the Learner Company of California.
Sargo was awarded eight battle stars for her service in World War II and received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation.
Read more about this topic: USS Sargo (SS-188)
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