USS Argonaut (SM-1)

V-4 was the first of the second generation of V-boats commissioned in the late 1920s, which remain the largest non-nuclear submarines ever built by the United States. V-4 was the behemoth of its class. These submarines were exempt by special agreement from the armament and tonnage limitations of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. Her configuration, and that of the following V-5 and V-6, resulted from an evolving strategic concept that increasingly emphasized the possibility of a naval war with Japan in the far western Pacific. This factor, and the implications of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, suggested the need for long-range submarine "cruisers", or "strategic scouts", as well as long-range minelayers, for which long endurance, not high speed, was most important. The design was possibly influenced by the German "U-cruisers" of the Type U-139 and Type U-151 U-boat classes, although V-4, V-5, and V-6 were all larger than these. V-4 and her near-sisters V-5 () and V-6 () were initially designed with larger and more powerful MAN-designed diesel engines than the Busch-Sulzer engines that propelled earlier V-boats, which were failures. The specially built engines failed to produce their design power, and some developed dangerous crankcase explosions. V-4 was ultimately completed with smaller MAN diesels of , compared with for V-5 and V-6. The smaller diesels were required to allow sufficient space for mine storage. The engine specifications as built were two BuEng-manufactured, MAN-designed direct-drive 6-cylinder 4-cycle main diesel engines, each. Designed primarily as a minelayer, and built at a cost of US$6,150,000, Eight mines could be laid in 10 minutes. ==Interwar period==

Following commissioning, V-4 served with Submarine Division 12 based at Newport, Rhode Island. She proved perennially underpowered, but engine replacement was postponed by war, In January–February 1929, V-4 underwent a series of trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts. On a trial dive during this period, she submerged to a depth of . This mark was the greatest depth an American submarine had reached up to that time. On 26 February 1929, V-4 was assigned to Submarine Division 20 (SubDiv 20), and arrived at San Diego, California on 23 March. From there, she participated in battle exercises and made cruises along the West Coast. In 1931, the V-4 was heavily featured in Seas Beneath, an American action film directed by John Ford. The V-4 was repainted to appear as a World War I German submarine, the fictional 'U-172'. Argonaut also appeared as a German World War I U-boat in the post-Code 1931 film Suicide Fleet, about three US Navy sailors on a schooner submarine decoy Q-ship and their liberty adventures pursuing a beautiful Coney Island concessionaire. In this film she appeared as the 'U-200.' Suicide Fleet starred William Boyd, who later found fame as Hopalong Cassidy, and featured a very young Ginger Rogers as the love interest in one of her first featured roles. V-4 was renamed Argonaut on 19 February 1931, and redesignated SM-1 (submarine, minelayer) on 1 July. On 30 June 1932, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, where she was assigned to SubDiv 7. She carried out minelaying operations, patrol duty, and other routine work. In October 1934 and again in May 1939, Argonaut took part in joint Army-Navy exercises in the Hawaiian operating area. Argonaut became the flagship of Submarine Squadron 4 (SubRon 4). The submarine returned to the West Coast in April 1941 to participate in fleet tactical exercises. ==World War II==

On 28 November 1941 Argonaut, commanded by Stephen G. Barchet left Pearl Harbor to patrol around Midway Island with as Midway Defense Group 7.2. She was notified by radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when she surfaced a few minutes after sunset on 7 December. Argonaut set general quarters two hours later to investigate naval gunfire around Midway. While designed as a minelayer and not an attack submarine, Argonaut made the first wartime approach on enemy naval forces; but poor maneuverability prevented reaching a suitable position for surfaced torpedo launch against the two Japanese destroyers shelling Midway. One of the destroyers saw Argonaut as she dived to make a submerged second approach in the bright moonlight; but the destroyer was unable to locate the submerged submarine, and Argonaut was again unable to maneuver into position to launch torpedoes. After being held down all night, Argonaut surfaced at dawn to recharge batteries and was unsuccessfully bombed by a United States plane from Midway. Argonauts dehumidifiers were ineffective at preventing condensation, which caused electrical fires, making various pieces of electrical machinery inoperative. Three crewmen were sick with high fevers, but President Roosevelt's mention of Argonauts contribution to the war effort in a radio speech encouraged Barchet to resist the temptation to abort the patrol. By trimming the submarine 17 tons heavy, the crew was able to reduce diving time to 52 seconds by skillfully coordinated pumping between fore and aft ballast tanks; but that time was still considered too slow to avoid hostile aircraft. Argonaut successfully rendezvoused with at 06:00 20 January 1942, so the destroyer could escort her back to Pearl Harbor. On return to Pearl Harbor, the conversion to a troop transport submarine was "hastily" finished. On 10 January, Argonaut spotted a convoy of five freighters and their escorting destroyers, , and returning to Rabaul from Lae. By chance, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraftwhich was out of bombswas flying overhead and witnessed Argonaut attack. A crewman on board the plane saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, and the destroyers promptly counterattacking. Argonaut bow suddenly broke the water at an unusual angle. It was apparent that a depth charge had severely damaged the submarine. The destroyers continued circling Argonaut, pumping shells into her; she slipped below the waves and was never heard from again. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 February. at Pearl Harbor Japanese reports made available at the end of the war recorded a depth charge attack followed by gunfire, at which time they "destroyed the top of the sub". On the basis of the report given by the USAAF flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut sank, she was credited with damaging a Japanese destroyer on her last patrol. (Postwar, the JANAC accounting gave her none.) Since none of the histories of the three escorting destroyers reports damage on 10 January 1943, the destroyer "hit" may have been a premature explosion. Before her crew left for their third war patrol, they donated Argonaut bell. Nearly 20 months after her loss, the Submarine Memorial Chapel was built and dedicated on the Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor. The bell hanging in her steeple comes from Argonaut, and still rings today for services. ==Awards==