World War II Service
After shakedown and preliminary training off the Atlantic coast, she departed New London 5 April 1945, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 May 1945, after intensive training at Key West, Florida, and Balboa, Panama. Her first war patrol was off the east coast of Honshū, Japan, where her primary mission was to scout for the presence of defensive minefields guarding the Japanese home islands. On 10 July while on patrol in the Sea of Japan, she intercepted two worthwhile targets, a tanker and a minesweeper. The tanker and her two escorts escaped the spread of torpedoes fired at them, but Japanese minesweeper W-27 was splintered by three of Runner's torpedoes. Before departing station, Runner received 16 downed aviators from Gabilan (SS-252) and Aspro (SS-309) for transfer to Guam, where she arrived on 24 July.
Her second patrol began a week prior to the Japanese capitulation and by the time Runner arrived on station off the east coast of Honshū, peace had come. Runner, with ten other US submarines entered Tokyo Bay on 31 August and represented the US submarine service at the formal surrender ceremonies. Runner and her sister submarines departed Japan on 3 September, arriving Pearl Harbor on 12 September. She continued east until reaching New London, Connecticut, on 6 October. A few weeks later, in company with other vessels of Submarine Squadron 6, Runner proceeded south arriving for duty at Balboa, Panama, on 14 February 1946. For the next three years, Runner was based at Panama and participated in annual fleet exercises in the Caribbean Sea.
Read more about this topic: USS Runner (SS-476)
Famous quotes containing the words world, war and/or service:
“A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our play is done,
And we’ll strive to please you every day.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Our job is now clear. All Americans must be prepared to make, on a 24 hour schedule, every war weapon possible and the war factory line will use men and materials which will bring, the war effort to every man, woman, and child in America. All one hundred thirty million of us will be needed to answer the sunrise stealth of the Sabbath Day Assassins.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Television could perform a great service in mass education, but there’s no indication its sponsors have anything like this on their minds.”
—Tallulah Bankhead (1903–1968)