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 # NH 98633:  USS Pomfret off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, 9 August 1962.

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

USS Pomfret (SS-391), 1944-1971

USS Pomfret, a 1526-ton Balao class submarine built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, was commissioned in February 1944. She joined the Pacific fleet several months later and made her first war patrol, in the waters off Japan, in June-August 1944. Though the submarine attacked three Japanese ships, including a battleship, none were hit. A second patrol, which took her into the Luzon Strait during September and October, produced the sinking of a Japanese transport. Returning to the Luzon Strait for her third combat cruise, Pomfret sank three more ships. Between late January and the end of the Pacific War in mid-August 1945, she made three patrols, during which she rescued several downed U.S. aviators (one in outer Tokyo Bay), shelled shore facilities and sank a number of floating mines.

As part of the post-war active fleet, Pomfret deployed three times to the Western Pacific during 1946-1949 and again in 1951, during the Korean War. In 1952 and early 1953 Pomfret underwent a "Guppy IIA" modernization, greatly enhancing her underwater performance. Her Pacific Fleet service continued for nearly two more decades, with regular deployments to the Far East. Decommissioned in mid-1971, Pomfret was loaned to the Turkish Navy and renamed Oruc Reis. She was sold to Turkey two years later and remained a unit of that nation's navy until the later 1980s.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Pomfret (SS-391).


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.


This photograph shows Pomfret in her original configuration, with a 5"/25 deck gun mounted aft:

Photo #: 80-G-1042402

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Underway in 1951, prior to her "Guppy IIA" modernization.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.

Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 


These photographs show Pomfret following her "Guppy IIA" modernization, with streamlined hull and a stepped "sail":

Photo #: NH 90865

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, in January 1953, following her "Guppy IIA" modernization.

Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1980.

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

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 90866

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, in January 1953, following her "Guppy IIA" modernization.

Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1980.

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

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 90867

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, on 27 January 1953, following her "Guppy IIA" modernization.

Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1980.

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

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


These photographs show Pomfret in her final configuration, with the enlarged "sail" fitted in the early 1960s:

Photo #: NH 98633

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, on 9 August 1962.

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

Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98634

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, on 9 August 1962.

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

Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 545 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78984

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Underway during the 1960s.

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1974.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98635

USS Pomfret (SS-391)


Underway in the Pacific, 18 October 1968.
Photographed by PHC R.G. Dawson, of squadron VC-3.

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

Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


Photo #: NH 72355-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Pomfret (SS-391)

Jacket patch featuring the emblem adopted circa 1958.

Courtesy of the Submarine Force Library and Museum, Groton, Connecticut, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 151KB; 620 x 715 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold several other views of USS Pomfret (SS-391). 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-664073
    USS Pomfret (SS-391) underway on 31 March 1955.
    Port bow aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-684744
    USS Pomfret (SS-391) drydocked for repairs at Yokosuka, Japan, 15 December 1955.
    Starboard bow view (rather tight on the bow), showing the submarine "high & dry" on the drydock's blocks. Planks bracing Pomfret's sides are necessary due to Yokosuka's location in an earthquake zone.


  • Photo #:USN 1062029
    USS Pomfret (SS-391) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 August 1962, after she had been fitted with a new "sail".
    Port bow surface view.

  • Photo #:USN 1062032
    As USN 1062029, but taken from directly off the submarine's stern.


    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 12 August 2003