USS Seahorse (SS-304)

USS Seahorse (SS-304), a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seahorse, a small fish whose head and the fore part of its body suggest the head and neck of a horse.

Third war patrol, January – February 1944

Seahorse departed Pearl Harbor on 6 January 1944 for her third war patrol. On 16 January, while en route to the Palaus, she evaded four escorts and destroyed the 784-ton cargo ship, Nikko Maru, with three torpedo hits. She spent 21 January tracking two enemy cargo ships in company with three escorts. In the late evening, she pressed home four consecutive attacks to sink the 3,025-ton cargo ship, Yasukuni Maru, and the 3,156-ton passenger-cargo ship, Ikoma Maru.

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6 January - 1944 - 16 January - 21 January

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On the evening of 28 January, Seahorse began an 80-hour chase of an enemy convoy off the Palaus. After being continually harassed by escorts and aircraft throughout the next day, Seahorse fired three torpedoes at the cargo ship, Toko Maru. After the sinking, the submarine lost contact with the convoy for several hours, but again had it in sight at dawn on the 31st.

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28 January - 31st

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Early on the morning of 1 February, Seahorse fired four torpedoes for no hits followed by two more, again without result. With the crew exhausted from the extended chase, the submarine fired her final two torpedoes and headed for deeper water. After evading the escorts, she surfaced in time to see the results of her latest attack as the cargo ship, Toei Maru, slipped beneath the waves. Seahorse terminated her third patrol at Pearl Harbor on 16 February.

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1 February - 16 February

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