USS Bonefish (SS-223) - San Diego, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 32° 44.232 W 117° 12.701
11S E 480167 N 3622173
The Memorial notes that about 85 men were lost when the Japanese struck this submarine June 12, 1945
Waymark Code: WMT275
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/12/2016
Views: 2
This Memorial is one of dozens at San Diego's Liberty Station Park.
The memorial has a photo of the vessel..a submarine and provides a history which Wikipedia (visit link) echoes:
"USS Bonefish (SS-223) was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the bonefish, which is a name for the ladyfish, dogfish, and sturgeon.
It had a busy career in the Pacific against Japanese shipping after being launched and commissioned in May 1943. It was sunk in June 1945 after sinking a ship on its eighth cruise...
Eighth patrol, May – June 1945
Upon completion of refit on 28 May, Bonefish got underway in company with Tunny (SS-282) and Skate (SS-305), as part of "Pierce's Pole Cats", commanded by Tunny's skipper, Commander George E. Pierce. Equipped with a new mine-detecting device, the submarines were ordered to penetrate the Sea of Japan to sever the last of the Japanese overseas supply lines. Bonefish successfully threaded her way through the minefields by Tsushima Island as she transited the Korea Strait to enter the Sea of Japan for an offensive patrol off the west central coast of Honshu.
During a rendezvous with Tunny on 16 June, Bonefish reported sinking Oshikayama Maru, a 6,892 ton cargo ship. In a second rendezvous two days later, she requested and received permission to conduct a daylight submerged patrol of Toyama Bay, a bay farther up the Honshu coast. The attack group was to depart the Sea of Japan via La Perouse Strait on the night of 24 June. Bonefish did not make the scheduled pre-transit rendezvous. Still, Tunny waited in vain off Hokkaido for three days. On 30 July, Bonefish was presumed lost.
Japanese records reveal that the 5,488 ton cargo ship Konzan Maru was torpedoed and sunk in Toyama Wan on 19 June and that an ensuing severe counterattack by Japanese escorts, the Okinawa, CD-63, CD-75, CD-158 and CD-207, brought debris and a major oil slick to the water's surface. There can be little doubt that Bonefish was sunk in this action. She was the second to last United States Submarine lost in the war, with Bullhead (SS-332) being lost in August 1945."
Disaster Date: 06/12/1945
Memorial Sponsors: Navy Training Center
Disaster Type: Sociological
Relevant Website: [Web Link]
Date of dedication: Not listed
Parking Coordinates: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
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