USS Spearfish (SS-190) - Third Through Sixth War Patrols

Third Through Sixth War Patrols

Her third war patrol, from 27 March to 20 May, took her to the Sulu Sea and the Lingayen Gulf. On 17 April, she sank an enemy cargo ship of approximately 4,000 tons, and, on 25 April, she sank Toba Maru, a 6,995-ton freighter. On the night of 3 May, the submarine slipped into Manila Bay and picked up 27 passengers from Corregidor to be evacuated to Fremantle. She was the last American submarine to visit that beleaguered fortress before it surrendered. Navy nurse and Legion of Merit recipient Ann A. Bernatitus was among the 27 rescued by Spearfish.

From 26 June to 17 August, she scouted the South China Sea for enemy shipping and, from 8 September to 11 November, searched the west coast of Luzon where she damaged two freighters.

Spearfish sailed from Brisbane on 2 December 1942 and patrolled in the New Britain-New Ireland area for over a month before entering Pearl Harbor on 25 January 1943. From Oahu, she was directed to Mare Island for a major overhaul which lasted from 3 February to 19 May.