USS Trepang (SS-412)

A marine animal sometimes called a sea slug or a sea cucumber, having a long, tough, muscular body, found in the coral reefs of the East Indies.

SS-412 was originally projected as Senorita but was renamed Trepang on 24 September 1942. The submarine was laid down on 25 June 1943 at Vallejo, Calif., by the Mare Island Navy Yard; launched on 23 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. R. M. Davenport, the wife of the submarine's prospective commanding officer; and commissioned on 22 May 1944, Comdr. Roy Milton Davenport, already a three-time Navy Cross recipient in command.

Following shakedown out of San Diego, Trepang departed the west coast on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Hawaii where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat. Setting out from Pearl Harbor on 13 September for her first war patrol, the submarine prowled the waters south of Honshu, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of 30 September, Trepang spotted a fast convoy departing Tokyo Bay. The submarine gav'3 chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tankers, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Trepang I (SS-412)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.