USS Requin (SS-481) - Shakedown and First Conversion

Shakedown and First Conversion

Following shakedown off the New England coast, Requin departed Portsmouth, on 3 June 1945 en route to Hawaii. She joined the Pacific Fleet on 13 July at Balboa, Panama, and at the end of the month reached Pearl Harbor. However, two weeks after her arrival, three days before she was to begin her first war patrol, World War II ended and Requin was recalled and ordered back to the Atlantic.

Requin arrived at Staten Island, New York, on 18 September to begin what would be in the words of Commander Cutter, "a dull and boring assignment," essentially becoming a target for sonar school ships. On 6 January 1946 she sailed for Key West, Florida, where she joined Submarine Squadron 4 (SubRon 4). August through November of that year were spent at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, being converted to a radar picket submarine. Her four stern torpedo tubes were removed, along with both of her deck guns and her aft anti-aircraft cannon. Two of her forward torpedo tubes were inactivated, and she was reduced to only ten torpedoes. She also received a new skipper; in October 1946, Commander George L. Street III, who earned the Medal of Honor during the war, took command.