USS Finback (SS-230)

The first Finback (SS-230) was named for the fin whale ( Balaenoptera physalus ), also known as a finback whale, a species found in all oceans of the world. Possessing a slender, elongated body that ranges from 60 to 80 feet long and weighing up to 70 tons, they are the second largest animal on Earth after the blue whales and among the fastest whales.

The first Finback (SS-230) was laid down on 5 February 1941 at Portsmouth, N.H., by the Portsmouth Navy Yard; launched on 25 August 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Adolphus E. Watson, wife of Rear Adm. Adolphus E. Watson, Commandant Fourth Naval District; and commissioned on 31 January 1942, Lt. Cmdr. Jesse L. Hull in command.

After shakedown training, Finback departed New London, Conn., for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 2 May 1942, transited the Panama Canal on 13 May, and reached Pearl on 29 May. Two days later, with the Japanese Fleet on the move, she was ordered out on a defensive patrol during what history would record as the Battle of Midway, to guard the Hawaiian Sea Frontier. She returned to Pearl on 9 June to prepare for her first full war patrol, on which she sailed for the Aleutians on 25 June. Finback first contacted the enemy on 5 July, when she attacked two destroyers, and received her baptism of fire in a heavy depth charge attack. Two special missions highlighted this first war patrol, a reconnaissance of Vega Bay, Kiska, on 11 July, and a surveying operation at Tanaga Bay one month later, on 11 August. The submarine ended her patrol at Dutch Harbor on 12 August, and returned to Pearl Harbor on 23 August to refit.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Finback I (SS-230)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.