USS Bonefish

We visited Pearl Harbor and saw the Arizona Memorial, the Missouri and the Submarine Memorial.  I was surprised to learn that so many subs were lost in the Pacific during WWII and that they were named after fish.  Hawaii is a beautiful place to visit , but our tour of Pearl Harbor was the highlight of our trip.

The following post and article was taken from http://www.subsowespac.org/  The article was written by Ed Howard.  Check out the site.

The USS Bonefish (SS-223) was a Gato Class World War II era submarine.


Bonefish's namesake is a fish of the Florida Keys and southern California. The bonefish has bright silvery sides with faint dark stripes and often reaches a weight of about fifteen pounds. It feeds on bottom matter in shallow waters.

Bonefish's radio call sign was: NAN-BAKER-KING-FOX.

On May 28, 1945, Bonefish, captained by Commander Lawrence L. Edge, departed the submarine base at Guam on her eighth and final war patrol in company with other members of Pierce's Polecats, USS Tunny (SS-282) and USS Skate (SS-305). The group was part of the American wolf pack Hydeman's Hellcats, which consisted of nine boats divided into groups of three. The other two groups were set up as follows:

1. Hydeman's Hepcats: USS Sea Dog (SS-401), USS Spadefish (SS-411), and USS Crevalle (SS-291).

2. Bob's Bobcats: USS Flying Fish (SS-229), USS Bowfin (SS-287), and USS Tinosa (SS-283). 1

The boats' common objective was to penetrate the Sea of Japan and destroy enemy shipping. To do this required making safe passage through enemy minefields blocking access to the "Emperor's private pond." The boats had been fitted with the new mine-detecting FM sonar. Bonefish made the passage successfully, and during a rendezvous with Tunny on June 16, 1945, reported sinking a 6,892-ton cargo ship. In a second rendezvous on June 18, 1945, she requested and received permission to conduct a daylight submerged patrol of Toyama Wan, a bay farther up the Honshu coast. 2

The group was scheduled to depart the Sea of Japan via La Perouse Strait on the night of June 24, 1945. Bonefish did not make the scheduled pre-transit rendezvous. Tunny waited in vain off Hokkaido until the 27th. On July 30, 1945, Bonefish was presumed lost. 3

Japanese records reviewed after the war revealed that the 5,488-ton cargo ship Konzan Maru was torpedoed and sunk in Toyama Wan on June 19, 1945, and that an ensuing severe counterattack by Japanese escorts brought debris and a major oil slick to the water's surface. Bonefish was sunk in this action. She went down fighting with all hands.