Darter put out from
New London, Connecticut on 31 October 1943 for
Pearl Harbor, arriving on 26 November.
First patrol On 21 December 1943, she cleared harbor on her first war patrol, bound for the heavily traveled shipping lanes south and west of
Truk. This patrol was twice interrupted for repairs, at Pearl Harbor from 29 December 1943 – 3 January 1944, and at
Tulagi and
Milne Bay from 30 January–8 February. She performed a reconnaissance of
Eniwetok on 12 January, and the next day scored a torpedo hit on a large ship, only to receive a severe
depth-charging from her target's escorts. She stood by on patrol during the
carrier air strikes on Truk of 16–17 February, then fueled at Milne Bay on her way to refit at
Brisbane from 29 February–17 March. She suffered her only casualty of the war during this refit when Motor Machinist's Mate, Second Class Robert Richard Gould, Jr. was electrocuted.
Second patrol On her way to her second war patrol north of Western
New Guinea and south of
Davao,
Darter topped off fuel at Milne Bay on 21–22 March 1944. On 30 March, she sank a ship, then patrolled off New Guinea during Allied landings on its coast. She put into
Darwin to refuel on 29–30 April, then returned to her patrol area until 23 May, when she arrived at
Manus Island.
Third patrol Refitted, she put out for action waters once more on 21 June on her third war patrol off
Halmahera and
Mindanao. She sank the IJN minelayer off
Morotai on 29 June 1944, and again endured a heavy
depth charge barrage as a result of her attack.
Fourth patrol Returning to
Brisbane on 8 August 1944,
Darter cleared on her fourth and last war patrol. She searched the
Celebes Sea and
South China Sea, returned to
Darwin to fuel and make minor repairs on 10 September, and put back to the Celebes Sea. She pulled into
Mios Woendi on 27 September for additional fuel, and sailed on 1 October with to patrol the South China Sea in coordination with
the forthcoming invasion of
Leyte. She attacked a tanker convoy on 12 October, and on 21 October headed with
Dace for
Balabac Strait to watch for Japanese shipping moving to reinforce the
Philippines or attack the landing forces. In an outstanding performance of duty, which was to award both submarines the
Navy Unit Commendation and
Darters commanding officer, David Hayward McClintock, the
Navy Cross,
Darter and
Dace made contact with the
Japanese Center Force approaching
Palawan Passage on 23 October. Immediately,
Darter flashed the contact report, one of the most important of the war, since the location of this Japanese task force had been unknown for some days. The two submarines closed the task force, and with attacks on the
cruisers of Center Force, initiated the
attacks in the Palawan Passage, the first action of the decisive
Battle for Leyte Gulf.
Darter sank the
heavy cruiser and seriously damaged the cruiser . With
Dace, she tracked the damaged cruiser through the tortuous channels of Palawan Passage until just after midnight of 24–25 October when
Darter grounded on
Bombay Shoal . As efforts to get the submarine off the shoal began, the closed, unsuccessfully tried to tow her off the reef or to destroy her, but then sailed on. With the tide receding, all
Daces and
Darters efforts to get her off failed. All confidential papers and equipment were destroyed, and the entire crew taken off to
Dace. When the demolition charges planted in
Darter failed to destroy her,
Dace fired torpedoes which exploded on the reef due to the shallow water.
Dace did, however, score 21 hits with her 3"/50 caliber gun| gun. was called in and fired 10 torpedoes at
Darter with similar lack of success. Finally, arrived on 31 October and scored 55 hits with her guns. Her report states, "It is doubtful that any equipment in DARTER at 1130 this date would be of any value to Japan – except as scrap. Estimated draft of DARTER – 4 feet." With the scuttling occurring late in the war, the Japanese made no further efforts to recover the wreck, and her hull remained remarkably intact as late as 1962.
Dace reached
Fremantle safely with
Darters men on 6 November. In order to retain their high
esprit de corps, the entire
Darter crew was ordered to take over , then being built at
Manitowoc, Wisconsin. ==Postwar==