USS Wahoo (SS 238) - Seal Beach, CA - World War II Memorials / Monuments on Waymarking.com

The advancement of the submarine is a long and proud chapter in the history of the U.S. Navy. Through the efforts of the California Center for Military History and U.S. Submarine Veterans, a large memorial recognizes the name and crew of each submarine lost in World War II. The "World War II National Submarine Memorial - West" is located just outside the gate to the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. Bronze plaques identify the officers and men that gave their lives during the war. The plaques surround a central display consisting of a torpedo, flag, and time capsule and a grass field. Groundbreaking for the memorial took place on January 13, 1977.

(The following is from the Naval Historical Center's Web site.)

USS Wahoo, a 1525-ton Gato class submarine built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in May 1942. She operated off the west coast until August, then deployed to Pearl Harbor to begin combat operations. Wahoo's first war patrol, in the vicinity of Truk from late August into mid-October, sank no Japanese ships, though one freighter was apparently damaged. Her second patrol, in November and December 1942, took her from Pearl Harbor to the waters between Truk and the northern Solomon Islands. She sank a tanker and attacked an enemy submarine before heading for Brisbane, Australia.

On the last day of 1942, Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton took command of Wahoo. In her next war patrol, into the area north of New Guinea in January and February, Morton demonstrated great daring and talent, attacking several Japanese ships, sinking three and leaving others damaged. Wahoo's fourth patrol, out of Pearl Harbor between late February and early April 1943, took her to the East China and Yellow Seas. There her aggressive attacks cost the enemy nine ships. From late April to late May, the submarine operated in the cold waters off Hokkaido and the Kurile Islands. Many ships were attacked, but faulty torpedoes kept the score to only three sinkings. Following this patrol, her fifth, Wahoo went to California for an overhaul.

Torpedo problems contributed greatly to an unsuccessful outcome in Wahoo's sixth war patrol, into the nearly land-locked and essentially "unfished" Sea of Japan during August 1943. In four days inside that target-rich body of water, she attacked nine ships, fired a dozen torpedoes and had misses, broaches or failures to explode in every case. Wahoo returned to the Sea of Japan in September, entering through the narrow strait between Hokkaido and Sakhalin for what was planned to be a stay of three weeks. From Japanese records, it is known that she sank four ships. However, the Japanese also reported a successful anti-submarine attack in the La Pérouse Strait on 11 October. Their target was undoubtedly Wahoo, lost with her entire crew while finishing the active portion of her seventh war patrol.

In an extraordinary combat career that was recognized by the award of a Presidential Unit Citation, USS Wahoo sank twenty enemy ships, at a time when the submarine force was hobbled by unreliable torpedoes. When the Pacific War concluded some twenty-two months later, after torpedo upgrades had helped U.S. submarines slaughter the Japanese logistics fleet, Wahoo was still seventh among them in terms of numbers of ships sunk.

Property Permission: Public Access instructions: Park in the lot just off the main entrance to the Naval Weapons Station Access times: From: 12:00 AM To: 11:59 PM Website for Waymark: [Web Link] Location of waymark: 800 Seal Beach Boulevard Seal Beach, CA USA 90740 Commemoration: USS Wahoo Date of Dedication: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/18/2010 senoritafish visited it