United States Navy World War II 1943 Departing
New London, Connecticut on 7 September 1943,
Dace arrived at
Pearl Harbor on 3 October, and 17 days later sailed on her first war patrol, bound for the southeast coast of
Honshū and the approaches to
Nagoya. On 7 November, she made her first contact with the enemy, damaging a
freighter with
torpedoes. Alert action by patrol craft prevented
Dace from continuing her attack. She returned to
Midway Island to refit from 11 December – 7 January 1944.
1944 On her second war patrol,
Dace cruised the shipping lanes south of
Truk. On the night of 26 January, she contacted a large
tanker, guarded by two escorts. She fired a spread of torpedoes, heard five explosions, and broke off the contact to avoid the pursuit of the escort. The cause of the explosion is unknown as Japanese records show no ship damaged in that area on that date. After refueling at
Tulagi on 2–3 February,
Dace continued her patrol close to Truk during
carrier air raids there on 16–17 February. On 25 February, she arrived at
Milne Bay,
New Guinea, for refit.
Dace put to sea on her third war patrol on 18 March, and two days later embarked a group of commandos at
Langemak Bay. For the next week, she scouted the coast around
Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura),
New Guinea, landing the commando parties and taking them back on board at night. She refueled at
Manus Island on 27–28 March, and sailed on for her assigned patrol area. This patrol was interrupted from 10 to 16 April, when
Dace made
rendezvous at sea with and escorted her into Manus. On 13 May,
Dace put into
Brisbane,
Australia, for refit.
Daces fourth war patrol – from 13 June – 12 August – found her refueling at Manus on 20–21 June, and sailing on to patrol the
Mindanao coast in
Davao Gulf. Enemy contacts were made, but were too small to be worthwhile targets. On 9 July,
Dace scored at least three hits on a large
transport whose two escorts dropped a total of 43
depth charges, badly shaking the submarine but causing little physical damage. A reconnaissance mission took her into
Sarangani Bay on 16 July, and ten days later, she pursued a smoke contact visible on the horizon for a full day, eight times being forced down to avoid detection by patrolling aircraft. That night, she reestablished contact and just after midnight on 27 July,
Dace launched an attack, firing ten torpedoes into a convoy of three merchantmen, sinking the tanker
Kyoei Maru No. 2 (1,157 tons) before being forced to dive when one of the escorts tried to ram and began a depth charge attack. On 31 July,
Dace sank a small freighter and the next day received another depth charging after an attack on a well escorted freighter. With all torpedoes expended,
Dace put in at Manus on 6 August, and sailed on to Brisbane, arriving on 12 August.
Dace cleared Brisbane on 1 September on her fifth and most successful war patrol. She topped up her fuel tanks at
Darwin, Australia on 10 September, and sailed for the exacting task of sweeping mines in
Palawan Passage and
Balabac Strait. From 27 September – 3 October, she put in at
Mios Woendi to repair her
gyrocompass, returning to her patrol area on 10 October. Four days later, she attacked a convoy of seven ships, sinking two and heavily damaging a third. She now joined in
an action which brought both submarines the
Navy Unit Commendation. On 23 October, they contacted the
Japanese Center Force approaching the Palawan Passage for the
attack on the
Leyte landings. Since the location of this Japanese force had been unknown for several days, the contact report reported by
Dace and
Darter was significant. The two submarines closed the task force, and
Darter attacked first, sinking and damaging .
Dace followed with a torpedo attack that sank , then went deep to avoid counterattacking
destroyers. Continuing to track their target, hoping for a chance to finish off
Takao, the two submarines worked through the Palawan Passage.
Darter ran aground. With the area full of searching enemy ships,
Dace took
Darters men off, then fired torpedoes at her to destroy her. She dove to avoid a patrolling Japanese aircraft, which had bombed
Darter.
Dace sailed on for
Fremantle Harbour, Western Australia, arriving on 6 November.
Dace cleared Fremantle on 2 December on her sixth war patrol. She scouted along the
Singapore-
Hong Kong shipping lane, then sailed on to mine the channel between
Palau Gambir and the mainland. Finishing that task on 16 December,
Dace heard loud explosions from the mined area late in the afternoon. Three days later, while preparing to attack an eight-ship convoy,
Dace was violently shaken by four depth charges or bombs. She went deep, hitting bottom, and while waiting there for the escorts to break off their attack, she was bumped, turned, scraped, and clanked along the bottom by the strong current. Somehow the enemy did not detect her and the sub was able to surface later, repair minor damage, and sail on to patrol farther north. On 28 December, she sank
Nosaki and damaged a freighter in the same convoy. She put in at
Saipan for fuel on 17 January 1945, and reached Pearl Harbor on 28 January.
1945 After a
West Coast overhaul,
Dace sailed from Pearl Harbor on 25 May 1945 on her seventh war patrol. She fueled at Midway on 29 May, and entered her patrol area in the
Kurile Islands on 7 June. Battle Stations Surfaced on two Japanese ships both sunk through gun action. 1 Luger and 1 Sea truck on 8 June. Again, the next day two Japanese ships were taken out, a freighter and a destroyer. Here, she sank two sailing ships by gunfire, then headed into the
Sea of Okhotsk. On 10 June, she detected a large freighter and a small
tanker sailing through the
fog. Coming into attacking position,
Dace saw the convoy also included three escorts, but continued to close the freighter, firing her first spread at only . She swung to fire at the tanker as the freighter,
Hakuyo Maru (1,391 GRT), exploded and sank, then was confronted by an escort apparently planning to ram.
Dace launched a torpedo "down the throat" of the escort, and plunged deep. A severe depth charging followed, after which
Dace fired again at the escort. She returned to Midway on 25 July, and sailed on to Saipan on 13 August, preparing for her eighth war patrol. She was there when
the war ended.
Post-war With the end of hostilities,
Dace was ordered back to Pearl Harbor, and on 5 October 1945 arrived at New London. She was placed in commission in reserve at
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on 15 January 1946, and was towed to New London, where she was placed out of commission in reserve on 12 February 1947. Recommissioned on 8 August 1951,
Dace operated from New London along the
Eastern Seaboard and in the
Caribbean Sea until placed in commission in reserve at New London on 31 December 1953. She was placed out of commission in reserve at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on 15 January 1954 for extensive
modernization, then was recommissioned on 22 October 1954. After training men of the
Marina Militare, she was decommissioned at New London on 31 January 1955, and transferred the same day to
Italy under the
Military Assistance Program. ==
Leonardo da Vinci (S 510)==