USS Whale SS 239
The USS Whale SS 239 was a Gato-class submarine that was launched on March 14th, 1942 from the Mare Island Naval Shipyard out of Vallejo, California and was sponsored by a Mrs. A. D. Denny who was the wife of Captain A. D. Denny, the commanding officer of the shipyard at the time. The newly constructed submarine was commissioned on June 1st, 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Commander John B. Azer. Following her initial shakedown trials and operational training off the west coast she finally concluded her evaluations first at San Diego and then resting at port at San Francisco on September 9th.
She was declared as being officially battle ready and departed the mainland of the United States under orders to set sail for Hawaii where she arrived to her new home port at Pearl Harbor on September 27th joining the Pacific Fleet. The Whale began her first war patrol on October 9th, 1942 and traveled to her designated area to the Japanese waters off Kii Suido arriving on October 25th. Her original mission plan was to begin laying a naval minefield there but after sighting a massive amount of enemy traffic within the regional vicinity her orders changed and she was charged with the plan to lay her minefield as close to the shoreline as possible instead of the twenty nautical miles out that was initially intended. She laid her mines “within spitting distance” of the Japanese beach and her mines were later credited with sinking five enemy ships.
Her second war patrol took her to the Marshall and Caroline Islands where she operated mainly out of Midway during this time. Embarking on her third war patrol on March 10th, 1943 and heading straight for the shipping routes between Marianas Islands and Japan, she made numerous enemy contacts from the waters off Kobe as well as Tokyo and was able to gather invaluable intelligence for the Allied forces. From July of 1943 until the Japanese formally surrendered on August 15th, 1945 the USS Whale successfully conducted a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh war patrol all of which took her in around the Pacific theatre of war from the South and East China Seas to the Philippines and Formosa.
The USS Whale SS 239 was finally decommissioned in September of 1957. She was awarded eleven battle stars for service during World War II. The USS Whale SS 239 has seen many threats and her crewmembers served her well without being aware that they were facing danger from an unknown and hazardous substance. The Whale was built during a time when asbestos was commonly used as an internal insulator of duct systems and piping. What we know now is that the crewmen who worked in contact with asbestos are at risk for a variety of respiratory problems including mesothelioma, a type of cancer. If you think you may have been exposed to asbestos aboard any submarine built prior to 1980 you must consult with your doctor and consider mesothelioma cancer diagnostic testing.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
