USS GUITARRO (SSN 665)

USS Guitarro (1944 - 1954) SS-363
 

Guitarro (SS-363) was launched 26 September 1943 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. of Manitowoc, Wis.; sponsored by Mrs. Ross T. McIntire, wife of the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; and commissioned at Manitowoc 26 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. E. D. Haskins in command.

Guitarro departed Manitowoc for Chicago 13 February, and there she was place in a floating drydock. Steamer Minnesota towed the drydock to New Orleans, arriving 22 February, and there Guitarro prepared for sea. Steaming from New Orleans 1 March, she operated out of Balboa, Canal Zone, for several weeks and departed for Pearl Harbor 2 April 1944.

Arriving at Pearl Harbor 17 April, Guitarro prepared for her first war patrol off Formosa. She got underway on this duty 7 May 1944. On the night of 30 May the submarine encountered heavily escorted cargo vessel Shisen Man, and scoring two hits sent her to the bottom. She evaded counter-attacks by the screen ships and headed south for rendezvous with a wolf pack of four submarines under the command of Comdr. F. W. Fenno. On the night of 2 June Guitarro made a moonlight periscope approach and fired two torpedoes at frigate Awaii, sinking her immediately. The submarine was then forced down to avoid depth charge, torpedo, and aircraft attacks. She returned to Darwin, Australia, 19 June, and 2 days later sailed for Fremantle, arriving 27 June 1944.

Departing on her second war patrol 21 July 1944, Guitarro set course for the South China Sea off the west coast of Luzon. She commenced her approach to the lead escorts of a large convoy 7 August and after missing the first target scored three hits on frigate Kusakaki, blowing off her bow and sinking her in a spectacular explosion. The remainder of the convoy escaped as Guitarro eluded the determined attacks of an escort destroyer. She surfaced the next day to sink a small coastal vessel with her deck gun, and then steamed toward Cape Bolinao, where she was to rendezvous with Raton the next day.

Guitarro detected a convoy along the coastline 10 August, maneuvered from beachside, and fired four torpedoes. Tanker Shinei Man exploded and burned furiously as Guitarro dived to avoid depth charges. The submarine suffered considerable outside damage but no serious injury, and she departed for the vicinity of Cape Calavite with Raton. While submerged the morning of 21 August Guitarro heard a distant depth charge attack, and soon sighted the smoke of a convoy. Hampered by an unfavorable current and a radically maneuvering convoy, she was unable to mount an attack on two tankers ; but a cargo ship turned into her and received four torpedoes. Passenger-cargo ship Vga Maru was sunk, and Guitarro escaped amid a violent depth charge attack. The versatile submarine, finding the water too shallow for a torpedo attack, surfaced 27 August to engage three coastal tankers with her deck gun and succeeded in sinking Nanshin Maru. To other tankers were damaged but managed to escape into shoal water. Guitarro returned to Fremantle to complete her patrol 8 September 1944.

In company with Bream, Guitarro departed Fremantle 8 October 1944 for her third war patrol in Philippine waters. As the epochal Battle for Leyte Gulf developed, Guitarro played an important role. She sighted the Japanese Central Force under Admiral Kurita on the night of 23 and 24 October and tracked the ships through Mindoro Strait, unable to close for an attack. Her contact reports on the force were vital to the success of the ensuing engagements, which by 26 October virtually eliminated the remaining Japanese naval forces in the Pacific. 

Guitarro, Bream, and Raton rendezvoused 30 October and the three boats attacked a convoy off Cape Bolinao that night. Unable to score any hits until the next day, Guitarro managed to work her way inside the screen and fire no less than nine torpedoes at 0847. She observed one cargo ship break in half and was rocked by a tremendous explosion from another direct hit on an ammunition ship. Guitarro was driven down 50 feet by the force of the explosion, prompting Comdr. Haskins to report : "The Commanding Officer never wishes to hit an ammunition ship any closer than that one." She teamed up with Bream and Ray 4 November to sink passenger-cargo ship Kagu Maru. After Bream's initial attack, Guitarro added four hits before diving to avoid escort vessels. 

Remaining off western Luzon, Guitarro and her wolf pack next encountered cruiser Kumano in convoy. Damaged in the Battle off Samar, the cruiser had repaired at Manila and was en route to Japan when the submarines struck. Guitarro fired nine torpedoes and gained three hits, but failed to sink the cruiser. Pounded by torpedoes from the other boats, Kumano was finally stopped, towed ashore by one of her sisters, and eventually finished off by carrier aircraft 25 November 1944. Guitarro, meanwhile, had returned to Fremantle 16 November. For her outstanding performance on her first three patrols, the submarine was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. 

Guitarro departed Fremantle 11 December 1944 on her fourth war patrol, transiting Lombok Strait 17 December to patrol the South China Sea. After putting in at Mios Woendi 17 January 1945 for repairs, she made an attack with undetermined results on a convoy off Cape Batagan. Finding targets scarce, she returned to Fremantle 15 March. 

The hard-working submarine again put out to sea 9 April on her fifth war patrol, and was unsuccessfully attacked by aircraft and a patrol boat in Lombok Strait. She then made her way to the northeast coast of Sumatra, where she engaged in a new mission, the laying of mines, oft Berhala Island. After an uneventful patrol astride the shipping lanes between Borneo and Singapore, Guitarro anchored off Saipan 27 May 1945. Next day she departed for Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 8 June.

Arriving at San Francisco 18 June 1945, Guitarro decommissioned at Mare Island 6 December and was placed in reserve. The veteran submarine recommissioned 6 February 1952, and after overhaul at San Diego engaged in a series of training exercises off the coast until 10 September 1953. She again decommissioned 22 September 1953 and underwent conversion to snorkel equipment at Mare Island Shipyard. Guitarro subsequently recommissioned 15 May 1954 and commenced the training of Turkish sailors prior to transfer to Turkey under the Military Defense Assistance Program. Guitarro decommissioned and was loaned to Turkey 7 August 1954 where she now serves as Prevese (S-22).

Guitarro was awarded four battle stars and a Navy Unit Commendation for her service in World War II. Her first, second, third, and fifth war patrols were designated successful.

USS Guitarro (1972 - 1992) SSN-665

On 15 May 1969, initial construction was still underway on Guitarro. At about 16:00, a civilian nuclear construction group began an instrument calibration assignment which required the filling of certain tanks, located aft of the ship's pivot point, with approximately five tons of water. Within half an hour, a different civilian construction group (nonnuclear) began an assignment to bring the ship within a half degree of trim. This entailed the adding of water to tanks forward of the ship's pivot point, to overcome a reported two degree up-bow attitude. Until shortly before 20:00 (8 PM), both groups continued to add water, unaware of each other's activities.

Twice during that time period, a security watch advised the nonnuclear group that Guitarro was riding so low forward that the foot-and-a-half high wakes of boats operating in the river were sloshing into an uncovered manhole in the most forward and lowest portion of the ship's deck. These warnings went unheeded. At 19:45, the nonnuclear group stopped adding water to the ballast tanks and began to halt work for their meal break, leaving at 20:00. At 19:50, the nuclear group completed their calibrations and began to empty the tanks aft.

A half-hour later, at 20:30, both the nuclear group, still aboard, and the non-nuclear group, returning from their break, noticed a sudden down angle being taken by the boat, which put the forward hatches underwater. Massive flooding was taking place through several large open hatches. From 20:30 to 20:45, efforts to close watertight doors and hatches were largely prevented by lines and cables running through them. At 2055, Guitarro sank.

Guitarro was refloated three days later, 18 May. Damages were estimated at between US$15.2 million and US$21.85 million. Guitarro was commissioned two and a half years late, on 9 September 1972, with Commander Gordon Lange in command.

In the mid to late 1970s, Guitarro was stationed at Point Loma in San Diego, California. She was commanded by Alvin Pauole, followed by Scott Van Hoften. She was active in the pre-operational testing of the new Tomahawk cruise missile during this time, launching several of the missiles on a test range off the coast of Southern California.

Guitarro was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 May 1992. Ex-Guitarro entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, and on 18 October 1994 ceased to exist.

Keel Layed:  9 December 1965
Christening Date:  27 July 1968
Commissioning Date:  9 September 1972
Decommissioned Date:  29 May 1992

USS GUITARRO PHOTOGRAPHS

USS GUITARRO (SS-363)

USS GUITARRO (SSN-665)

USS GUITARRO (SSN-665)

USS GUITARRO (SSN-665)