World War II Database

Contributor:

ww2dbaseUSS Cod was commissioned into service during WW2. She departed from Brisbane, Australia for her first war patrol in the South China Sea under the command of Lieutenant Commander James C. Dempsey. A month later, on 29 Nov 1943, she attacked Japanese merchant ships, but was not able to observe the results. Between 16 Dec 1943 and 11 Jan 1944, she underwent a refit at Fremantle, Australia. During her second war patrol, she patrolled the South China Sea, off Java, and off Halmahera. On 16 Feb 1944, she sunk a sampan by surface gunfire. On 23, 27, and 29 Feb, she attacked Japanese merchant ships, all by torpedo; the first two attacks resulted in sinkings. On 13 Mar, she arrived at Fremantle to end her second war patrol. During her third war patrol on 10 May, she sank the destroyer Karukaya and a cargo ship by torpedo and then survived a heavy barrage of depth charges. On 3 Jul, she departed Fremantle, Australia for her fourth war patrol, this time under a new commanding officer, Commander James Adkins. Her fourth war patrol yielded one merchant ship and one landing craft destroyed. She returned to Fremantle on 25 Aug. She departed Fremantle for her fifth war patrol on 18 Sep and encountered a cargo ship on 5 Oct, which she proceeded to sink. On 7 Oct, she damaged but did not sink a tanker. On 25 Oct, she came across a Japanese convoy and launched all her remaining torpedoes to attack, but none of them hit their targets; she shadowed the convoy for another day to report its movements to other submarines before returning to her home port. In Nov 1944, she served in lifeguard station duties off Luzon in the Philippine Islands. She arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States on 20 Nov and went on to the continental United States for an overhaul, returning to Pearl Harbor on 7 Mar 1945. She departed Pearl Harbor for her sixth war patrol on 24 Mar; her primary mission was to serve on lifeguard station in the East China Sea, but on 17 Apr she encountered a tug towing another craft, sank them both, and rescued 3 of their survivors. On 24 Apr, she attempted to attack a convoy unsuccessfully and was subjected to a heavy depth charge barrage. On 26 Apr, a fire broke out in the aft torpedo room, but it was extinguished before it caused serious damage. During the process, a torpedo had to be manually launched, during which two sailors were washed overboard; one of them, Seaman 1st Class A. G. Johnson, drowned while the second, Quartermaster 2nd Class L. E. Foley, was rescued from the sea later that night. She was refitted at Guam, Mariana Islands between 29 May and 26 Jun 1945. On her seventh war patrol under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edwin M. Westbrooke, Jr., during which she rescued the crew of a grounded Dutch submarine and sank several small Japanese ships that were attempting to supply the Japanese garrison at Singapore. After returning to Fremantle on 13 Aug, the crew of O-19 threw a party for their rescuers on the following day, during which the two crews learned the news of the Japanese surrender; the crew of USS Cod decided to add the symbol of a martini glass with the name O-19 on the submarine's battle flag to memorialize the party during which the Japanese surrendered. During her WW2 tenure, she sank more than 12 vessels totaling more than 37,000 tons.

ww2dbaseOn 31 Aug 1945, USS Cod departed Australia for the United States, arrived at New London, Connecticut, United States after a stop at Miami, Florida, United States. After preparation at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, she was placed in reserve on 22 Jun 1946. In 1951, she was recommissioned for the Cold War, during which she visited St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada; Cuba; and various ports in South America. During the 1952 LANTFLEX exercise, she was credited with a carrier kill during this mock battle. She was decommissioned for the second time in 1954. In 1959, she was towed through the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway to serve as a naval reserve training vessel based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. On 1 Dec 1962, she was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine and received the new hull number of AGSS-224. On 30 Jun 1971, she was reclassified once again, and now known as IXSS-224. She was struck from the United States Navy list on 15 Dec 1971. On 25 Jan 1976, she was turned over to the Cleveland Coordinating Committee to Save Cod, Inc. which had the mission of reserving the submarine as a museum ship. She was opened for public tours in May 1976. In 1986, the United States Department of the Interior declared the submarine a National Historic Landmark. She remains in Cleveland today as a museum ship.

Submarine Cod (SS-224) Interactive Map

Photographs

Cod Operational Timeline