USS Cero (SS-225)

The second Cero (SS-225) was launched 4 April 1943 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. D. E. Barbey; and commissioned 4 July 1943, Commander D. C. White in command.

Cero cleared New London 17 August 1943 for Pacific action waters, and on 26 September sailed from Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol, which was conducted in the East China and Yellow Seas. At dawn on 12 October, she made her first attack on a convoy of three freighters escorted by two destroyers. After heavily damaging one of the merchantmen, Cero plunged deep to endure the depth charging which followed. During the same patrol, she damaged two other freighters, and a small patrol boat which she engaged on the surface.

After refitting at Midway from 16 November to 13 December 1943, Cero made her second war patrol, an unproductive one, along the Truk-New Ireland route, then put in to Milne Bay, New Guinea, from 12 January to 4 February 1944. Returning to the Truk-New Ireland shipping lanes, she attacked a freighter (later sunk by one of her sister submarines) and inflicted damage on another merchantman. She put in to Brisbane, Australia, 2 March, and sailed on her fourth war patrol, to be conducted off the Palau Islands, 3 April. Her most successful day to date came on 23 May, when she attacked two freighters and a tanker, sinking one cargo ship, and damaging the tanker.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Cero II (SS-225)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.