Nautilus (SS-168) and her sister Narwhal (SS-167) were the largest submarines made in the United States. Designed for long-range ocean cruising and troop transporting, these boats were as long as a Fletcher class destroyer, and displaced more. The fuel load alone was 732 tons, and the main gun armament consisted of two 6"/53-caliber weapons in single mounts fore and aft of the conning tower. Both boats are easily identifiable by the raised midship gundeck surrounding the conning tower. Four single torpedo tubes were fitted beneath this deck in 1942.

The keel of Nautilus was laid on August 2, 1927 just two days before the Geneva Convention ended. The Geneva Convention subjects included a discussion about some limitations of Naval armaments.

In an article written by Sergent Mark J Denger of the California Center for Military History and published in "American Submariner Magazine" he wrote, "By the time Nautilus was commissioned, the London Naval Conerence had limited future submarines to a much smaller size."

Here are some specifics:

• Displacement (surface) 3,128 tons
• Displacement (Submerged) 4,023 tons
• Length 371 feet
• Beam 33 feet 3 inches
• Four 21" torpedo tubes forward
• Four 21" torpedo tubes aft
• Crew of 8 officers and 80 enlisted men
• Class: Narwhal
• Originally designated as the V6, the keel was laid by the Mare Island shipyard, California on 2 August, 1927.
• Launched: 15 March, 1930 as Mare Island's first submarine. Up until the building of Nautilus, Mare Island had been only a repair facility
• Sponsored by Miss Jean Keesling;
• Commissioned: 1 July, 1930 with LCdr Thomas J. Doyle, Jr. in command;
• Decommissioned: 30 June, 1945;
• Struck from Navy List 25 July, 1945;
• Sold for scrap 16 November, 1945.

WWII Experience

• In March of 1931 she was ordered to Pearl Harbor to become the Flagship of Submarine Division 12.
• In 1935 she was reassigned to SubDiv13 at San Diego. She stayed in San Diego until 1938 and then was transfered to her old port of Pearl Harbor
• In the summer of 1941, prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for modernization , installing radio equipment, re-engining, and air conditioning and remained until the following spring.
• Nautilus departed San Francisco 21 April, 1942 reaching Pearl Harbor on the 28th.

First war patrol

• On 24 May, 1942 Nautilus got underway for her first war patrol to Midway Island to help repel the expected attack by the Japanese Fleet.
• At 0755, 4 June, while approaching the northern boundary of her patrol area near Midway she sighted masts on the horizon. Japanese planes sighted Nautilus at the same time and began strafing her deck. After diving to 100 feet, she surfaced and continued patrolling.
• At 0800, a formation of four enemy ships was sighted: 1 battleship and 3 cruisers. Within minutes Nautilus was again sighted and bombs began to fall. Two of the cruisers attempted to close for a kill and nine depth charges were dropped at a distance of about three quarters of a mile.
• When the attack finally ceased, Nautilus rose to periscope depth to find herself surrounded by enemy war ships. Sighting on a battleship, she fired tubes #1, which misfired, and #2. One of the cruisers immediately turned and headed for the boat, which dove to 150 feet to wait out the depth charge attack (08:30).
• At 08:46, Nautilus rose to periscope depth. The battleship and two of the cruisers were now out of range; but, echo ranging by the third appeared to be too accurate for comfort. At 0900, the periscope was raised again and an aircraft carrier was sighted. Nautilus changed course to close for an attack. The enemy cruiser followed suit and at 0918 attacked with 6 depth charges.
• By 09:55 echo ranging ceased and Nautilus raised her periscope. The carrier, her escorts and the attacking cruiser had disappeared. At 12:53, a damaged carrier with two escorts was sighted. An hour later Nautilus had once again moved into attack position.
• Between 13:59 and 14:05 she fired 3 torpedoes at the carrier, a little less than 2 miles away. The carrier burst into flames and the crew abandoned ship. Nautilus dove to 300 feet as an extended depth charge attack commenced. At 1610, the submarine rose to the surface. The carrier was on fire her entire length, had been abandoned by its crew.
• At 1941, Nautilus resumed her patrol, having expended five torpedoes and surviving 42 depth charges.
• Between 7 and 9 June, Nautilus replenished at Midway and then resumed her patrol to the west.
• By the 20th she was operating off Honshu at the northern end of the Tokyo-Marshalls supply route.
• On the 22nd she damaged a destroyer guarding the entrance to the Sagami Sea off Oshima. Three days later she sank a destroyer and damaged an oil tanker.
• On the 27th she sent a sail powered sampan to the bottom.
• On the 28th, after damaging a merchantman, Nautilus underwent her severest depth charging, delivered by a cruiser which forced her back to Pearl Harbor for repairs from 11 July to 7 August, 1942.

Second war patrol

• Nautilus departed Hawaiian waters for her second war patrol, a special troop transport mission of three weeks duration, 8 August 1942. Sailing with USS ARGONAUT (SS-166) and carrying marines of the 2nd Raider Battalion, she arrived off Makin 16 August, to stage an attack to divert Japanese attention from the Solomons. Early the following morning, she sent the Raiders ashore on Little Makin in rubber boats rigged with outboard motors. At 0703 she provided gunfire support against enemy positions on Ikiangong Point and then shelled enemy ships in the lagoon, sinking two. A troop barge and a patrol boat. At 10:39 an enemy plane appeared and Nautilus dove. Two aerial attacks followed at 1130 and 12:55. The latter flight was made up of 12 planes, 2 of which landed in the lagoon to discharge troops. About 35 of the reinforcements made it to shore to fire on the Americans.The marines began to withdraw at 1700. At 1900 they launched their boats. Many were unable to clear the breakers without the aid of their damaged outboards. Only seven boats and less than 100 men made it to the submarine that night. The remainder, less 9 who were later captured and executed, discovering there were no Japanese left to fight, crossed to the lagoon side, whence they headed for the submarine after nightfall on the 18th. Thinking all surviving marines were on board, Nautilus and Argonaut set courses for Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 25th.

Third war patrol

• 15 September - 5 November, Nautilus returned to Japanese waters to join the submarine blockade chain stretched from the Kuriles to the Nansei Shoto. Despite heavy seas, which prevented periscope depth operations and torpedo firing during much of the patrol. And mechanical breakdowns, which impeded approaches to targets, she torpedoed and sank 3 transports and, in surface action, destroyed 3 sampans to add over 12,000 tons to her scorecard.
• On 12 October, the patrol became one of her more perilous missions. On that day she took a heavy depth charging. On the 14th, the crew noticed a slight oil slick in her wake. The hindering seas now protected by breaking up the trace. By the 19th, the oil leak had enlarged considerably and on the 20th, the first relatively calm day since the depth charging, air leaks were discovered. Nautilus was leaving a trail for Japanese defense patrols. Moving to a quieter area, with less aerial activity, she continued her patrol until the 24th when she sank her third maru of the patrol, then headed for home. Luck followed. No enemy planes were sighted. She reached Midway 31 October, performed temporary repairs, and continued on to Pearl Harbor.

Fouth war patrol

• Conducted in the Solomons between 13 December 1942 and 4 February 1943, Nautilus rescued 26 adults and 3 children from Toep Harbor (31 December - 1 January), then added a cargo ship to her kills and damaged a tanker, a freighter and a destroyer. On 4 February she arrived at Brisbane, disembarked her passengers, and sailed to Pearl Harbor. Arriving 15 April, she departed 5 days later, heading north. On the 27th she put into Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and commenced instructing 7th Army Scouts in amphibious landings. She then embarked 109 Scouts and on 1 May, headed for Attu. There, on the 11th, she landed her passengers" five hours before the main assult.

Sixth war parol

• An overhaul at Mare Island occupied most of the summer and on 16 September Nautilus slipped out of Pearl Harbor to spend her sixth war patrol conducting photo-reconnaissance of the Gilberts. Concentrating on Tarawa, Kuma, Butaritari, Abemam and Makin; all of which had been reinforced, particularly Tarawa, since the sub's 1942 excursion into those waters. The information, including continuous panoramic pictures of the coastlines and chart corrections, which she brought back to Pearl Harbor on 17 October proved to be among the most useful intelligence gathered of the area.
• She returned to Tarawa 18 November to obtain last minute information on weather and surf conditions, landing hazards and the results of recent bombardments. At 2159, 19 November, mistaking her as an enemy, destroyer USS Ringgold fired at Nautilus, sending a five-inch shell through the Conning Tower damaging the main induction drain. Diving as soon as the topography permitted, the boat was rigged for depth charges and the damage control party went to work. Within two hours repairs were sufficient to allow Nautilus to continue with her primary mission of landing a 78 man scouting party, composed of 5th Amphibious Reconnaissance Co. marines and an Australian scout, on Abemama.
• At midnight, 20-21 November, Nautilus lay-to 3000 yards off Kenna to discharge her passengers. By 1500 all were safely ashore. On the afternoon of the 22nd Nautilus was called on for, and provided, gunfire support against the minute, 25-man, but game enemy garrison. Rather than sacrifice marines in bringing the Japanese out of their bunkers, naval gunfire had been requested. The gunfire proved accurate, killing 14; the remainder committed suicide. Thus, by the time the main assault force arrived on the 26th, Abemama had been secured and preparations to turn it into an air base for the Marshalls' campaign had begun.
• Nautilus returned to Pearl Harbor 4 December to prepare for her eighth war patrol.

Eighth war patrol

• Conducted north of Palau and west of the Marianas, 27 January - 21 March 1944, the patrol netted 1 cargo ship, with damage inflicted on 3 others. On 26 April Nautilus sailed for Brisbane, whence she departed 29 May to begin a series of speciall missions in support of guerilla and reconnissance activities in the Philippines.

Ninth war patrol

• On her ninth patrol (29 May - 11 June) she carried ammunition, oil and dry stores to Mindano.
• Between 12 June and 27 June she transported a similar cargo to Negros and embarked evacuees, including 1 German POW for Darwin.

Eleventh war patrol

• (30 June - 27 July) she landed a reconnaissance party and 12 tons of stores on North Pandan Island and then delivered supplies to Leyte and Mindanao.

Twelth through fourteenth war patrol

• During her 12th, 13th and 14th patrols, she returned to the central Philippines, landed personnel and supplies at various points on Mindanao and Luzon, and carried evacuees to Australia. On 25 September, during the first of these three patrols, she grounded on Iuisan Shoal. Forced to lighten her load, her evacuees, mail, captured documents, and cargo were sent ahore. All secret materials were burned. Her reserve fuel tanks were blown dry, variable ballast was blown overboard and 6" ammunition jettisoned. With the blowing of her main ballast tanks she was finally able to get off the reef within 3 1/2 hours, despite the receding tide, and clear the area by dawn.
• Nautilus completed her 14th, and last, patrol at Darwin, 30 January 1945.

From Australia, she was routed on to Philadelphia, where she arrived 25 May for inactivation. Decommissioned with a bottle of champagne over the forward 6" gun on 30 June, she was struck from the Navy List on 25 July and sold on 16 November to the NorthAmerican Smelting Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for scrapping.

Nautilus earned the Presidential Unit Citation for her aggressive war patrols in enemy controlled waters as well as 14 battle stars for her service during WWII.

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