Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # 80-G-K-3350:  USS Cuttlefish underway, circa mid-1943

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Cuttlefish (SS-171), 1934-1947

USS Cuttlefish, a 1130-ton Cachalot class submarine built at Groton, Connecticut, was commissioned in June 1934. Following initial service in the Atlantic area, she went to the Pacific in June 1935 and operated along the West Coast and in Hawaiian waters until late June 1937. Based at Groton, Connecticut, Cuttlefish spent more than a year on experimental and training duties at the Naval Submarine School. From October 1938 to March 1939 she performed similar functions at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. The submarine operated out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after June 1939, participating in combat readiness exercises and making cruises to Samoa and the U.S. Pacific coast.

When the Pacific war began in December 1941 Cuttlefish was completing an overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Following her return to Pearl Harbor, she began her first war patrol in January 1942. This took her into the north central Pacific, where she gathered information on Japanese-held islands. Her second war patrol, into the Marianas in May 1942, included three encounters with enemy forces that subjected her to depth charge and bombing attacks. While returning to Pearl Harbor in early June, Cuttlefish was assigned picket duty well to the west of Midway Atoll. In the early stages of what became the Battle of Midway, she detected and reported part of the Japanese fleet advancing to attack that U.S. forward base.

Cuttlefish's third war patrol, off Japan in July-September 1942, included several attacks on enemy shipping but apparantly generated no sinkings. Like most U.S. submarines of her generation, she suffered from chronic mechanical problems and, at the end of that cruise, was ordered to the Atlantic for training service. She spent the rest of World War II assigned to the Groton Submarine School, helping to prepare submarine officers and men for combat. USS Cuttlefish was decommissioned in October 1945 and sold for scrapping in February 1947.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Cuttlefish (SS-171).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 19-N-14770

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

Underway, circa 1934.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 42KB; 740 x 265 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 55542

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

Surfacing, during the 1930s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 265 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 77108

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

In port, during the mid-1930s.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1972.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-3350 (Color)

USS Cuttlefish (SS-171)

Underway, circa mid-1943, while serving on training duty out of New London, Connecticut.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-3348 (Color)

USS Cuttlefish (SS-171)

Submerging, while serving on training duty out of New London, Connecticut, circa mid-1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-3349 (Color)

USS Cuttlefish (SS-171)

Making a practice dive, while serving on training duty out of New London, Connecticut, circa mid-1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-54179

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 15 November 1943.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-54178

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 15 November 1943.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 540 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-54180

USS Cuttlefish
(SS-171)

Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 15 November 1943.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 49KB; 740 x 540 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 68481

USS Holland (AS-3)


Panoramic photograph of the ship moored at Bouy 19, San Diego harbor, California, in 1940, with eleven submarines alongside. Submarines are (from left to right): Salmon (SS-182); Seal (SS-183); Stingray (SS-186); Perch (SS-176); Pollack (SS-180); Cachalot (SS-170); Cuttlefish (SS-171); Skipjack (SS-184); Sturgeon (SS-187); Snapper (SS-185) and Sargo (SS-188). SS-182 through SS-187 were members of Submarine Division 15, commanded by R.W. Christie.
USS Richmond (CL-9), flagship of the Submarine Force, is in the right distance.

Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute. James C. Fahey Collection.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53KB; 900 x 310 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-13794 (Color)

USS Cuttlefish (SS-171)

Firing a torpedo while submerged, in company with a number of amberjacks, dolphins and other fish.
Painting by Harrison Miller, 1942.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 515 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Cuttlefish (SS-171). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-41799
    USS Cuttlefish (SS-171) underway, 8 June 1943.
    Port bow surface view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-41789
    As 80-G-41799, but high aerial view from over, and somewhat to port of, the submarine's bow.

  • Photo #: 80-G-68652
    USS Cuttlefish (SS-171) submerging, June 1943.
    Starboard broadside surface view, somewhat toward the bow, with only the submarine's fairwater and after deck above water.

  • Photo #: 80-G-68653
    As 80-G-68652, but with only the upper part of the periscope sheers and a small amount of the stern above water.

  • Photo #: 80-G-42147
    USS Cuttlefish (SS-171) underway, 7 July 1943.
    Port quarter surface view.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 27 October 2003