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Photo # NH 99777:  USS Pollack, photographed circa 1937

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

USS Pollack (SS-180), 1937-1947

USS Pollack, a 1330-ton Perch class submarine, was built by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. She was commissioned in mid-January 1937, shook down in the Caribbean, and went to the Pacific late in the year. After operating along the Pacific Coast she was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in October 1939 and was based there for most of her remaining operational career. A week after the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941, Pollack began her initial combat cruise, which resulted in the sinking of two Japanese freighters in early January 1942. She got another in March, during her second war patrol. On the submarine's next outing, she sank a small patrol boat and intercepted the enemy aircraft carrier Zuikaku, which was returning to Japan after the Battle of the Coral Sea. However, Pollack's salvo of four torpedoes missed this valuable target, which reached port safely.

Following an overhaul, Pollack made five war patrols between October 1942 and September 1943. These cost the Japanese four more ships. She returned to combat in March 1944, after another refit, and sank two freighters and a submarine chaser on this cruise, her ninth of the war. Pollack sank the destroyer Asanagi in May, while on her tenth patrol. Her next cruise took her to Brisbane, Australia, by way of the west-central Pacific, where she shelled a phosphate plant in late August. After receiving shipyard work at Brisbane Pollack returned to Pearl Harbor in November. Thereafter assigned to training duty, initially in Hawaiian waters, in February 1945 she went to New London, Connecticut, to continue this work. Decommissioned in September, about a month after the fighting ended, USS Pollack was stricken from the Navy list in October 1946 and sold for scrapping in February 1947.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Pollack (SS-180).


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 #: NH 99777

USS Pollack
(SS-180)

Photographed circa 1937.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68480

USS Holland (AS-3)


In Alaskan waters with submarines Pollack (SS-180) and USS Porpoise (SS-172) alongside, circa the later 1930s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 123KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
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-77373

Wotje Atoll, Marshall Islands


Periscope photograph of a Japanese ship entering Wotje harbor.
Taken by USS Pollack (SS-180), which reconnoitered Wotje early in her Seventh War Patrol, in mid-May 1943.

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

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 535 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-79973

Toroa Island, Maloeap Atoll, Marshall Islands


Periscope photograph taken by USS Pollack (SS-180) during her Seventh War Patrol, May-June 1943.
A contemporary report stated that the photograph shows Toroa airfield, bearing approximately 270 degrees (T), range two miles, with periscope on high power. Break in the trees probably indicates the end of one runway. An airplane is faintly visible, just about to land (over and to left of the first periscope mark above the horizon). Long, low, indistinct objects in the background may be airfield buildings.

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

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 545 pixels

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

 


USS Pollack (SS-180) is seen very distantly in the following photographs of Pearl Harbor:

Photo #: NH 83998

Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii


Vertical aerial view of the drydock area, 28 July 1942.
Floating drydock YFD-2 is at left, with USS Alywin (DD-355) inside. Small drydock in center holds USS Growler (SS-215) and USS Nautilus (SS-168). USS Litchfield (DD-336) and an ARD floating drydock are in Drydock # 2, in right center. Drydock # 1, at right, contains USS West Virginia (BB-48). Submarines partially visible alongside 1010 Dock, in the extreme upper right, are Trout (SS-202) and Pollack (SS-180).
Note anti-torpedo nets and booms protecting this area.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of The Honorable James V. Forrestal.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 145KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 84002

Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii


View looking northward, with the Navy Yard industrial area in the foreground and the Marine Barracks in the lower right, 28 July 1942. Ford Island is at left, with USS Oklahoma and USS Arizona under salvage nearby. USS San Diego is in the upper center.
USS West Virginia is in Drydock Number One, in the lower left, and USS California is alongside the wharf at the extreme right. Cruisers alongside the pier in right center are Northampton (left) and Pensacola. Submarines alongside 1010 Dock, just beyond Drydock # 1, are Trout, Pollack, Dolphin and Cachalot.
Note camouflage on many of the Navy Yard's buildings.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of The Honorable James V. Forrestal.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 146KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other view of USS Pollack (SS-180). The following list features this image:

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



  • Photo #: 80-G-1006997
    USS Pollack (SS-180) alongside a wharf at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 27 July 1937.
    Port bow surface view.


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

    The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it 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."


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    Page made 27 November 2004