Laid down 29 October 1942 Beam 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) Launched 24 December 1942 Test depth 122 m | Commissioned 10 May 1943 Construction started 29 October 1942 Length 95 m Builder Portsmouth Naval Shipyard | |
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Fate Sunk by Japanese aircraft west of Mindanao, 28 September 1943 Class and type Balao-class diesel-electric submarine Displacement 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced
2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged | ||
USS Cisco (SS-290), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the cisco, a whitefish of the Great Lakes. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 24 December 1942 sponsored by Mrs. A. C. Bennett, through her proxy, Mrs. N. Robertson, and commissioned on 10 May 1943 with Commander James W. Coe in command. She reported to the Pacific Fleet.
Cisco sailed from Panama 7 August 1943 for Brisbane, Australia, arriving 1 September to assume local patrol duties, until 18 September, when she docked at Darwin. She put out on her first war patrol 20 September, but never returned. Japanese records tell of sighting a submarine leaking oil on 28 September in an area where Cisco is known to have been the only submarine then operating. Japanese records state this submarine was sunk by bombs and depth charges. Cisco is thus presumed to have been lost in action 28 September 1943. The only survivor from the crew was Chief Radioman Howell B. Rice (USN ret.), who was taken sick in Darwin and sent ashore to the Navy hospital prior to Cisco's final voyage.
Japanese records state that the submarine was attacked by Type 97 "Kate" attack bombers of the 954 Naval Air Squadron and the riverboat Karatsu (originally the U.S. Navy gunboat USS Luzon (PR-7), captured by Japanese forces and put to work against her former owners).