United States Navy After
trials and training,
Paddle left New London on 8 June 1943 for the
Panama Canal and
Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, arriving on 5 July. She was based at Pearl Harbor during her first two war patrols, between which she trained
destroyers in
antisubmarine warfare and received
meteorological equipment.
Paddles first patrol, from 20 July to 12 September 1943, was conducted south of
Japan. She scored a hit on a large freighter in her first attack on 13 August, but alert escorts forced her down with a 13-hour
depth charge attack. Enemy search planes damaged her slightly on 19 August with 7 bombs dropped as she patrolled submerged off the coast of Japan, but she repaired damage quickly and struck back, sinking
Ataka Maru on 23 August. During her second war patrol, from 17 October–9 November,
Paddle took station off
Nauru to provide continuous weather reporting for the
carrier task force attacking the
Gilbert and
Marshall Islands to cover the
Tarawa landings. She also guided, by radio, Army bombers in to raid Tarawa and attacked
Nippon Maru off
Eniwetok, though escorting
destroyers forced her down before she could observe the damage inflicted on the tanker. After
United States West Coast overhaul,
Paddle sailed for her third war patrol from Pearl Harbor on 19 March 1944, bound for the
Dutch East Indies and the southern
Philippines. In a brilliant night attack on 16 April, she sank two of a three-ship convoy guarded by four escorts,
torpedoing
Mito Maru and
Hino Maru No. 1. Breaking off to reload her tubes,
Paddle returned to attack a tanker, which had joined the group, and engaged escorting destroyers and aircraft. She ended her patrol at
Fremantle, Australia on 12 May.
Paddles fourth war patrol, from 5 June–29 July, began with reconnaissance of the eastern approaches to
Davao Gulf guarding against a Japanese sortie during the U.S. landings on
Saipan. Damaged by bombs in the
Celebes Sea on 30 June,
Paddle repaired quickly and on 6 July attacked a small convoy, twice hitting a large freighter, and sinking before being forced down by other escorts. After refit at Fremantle,
Paddle made her fifth patrol, from 22 August–25 September, encountering few contacts in her assigned area in the
Sulu Sea. On 7 September,
attacked and destroyed the
Shinyo Maru and damaged another of her convoy.
Shinyo Maru, unmarked as a
prisoner of war carrier and unknown to
Paddle, was carrying over 750 Allied POWs from the Philippine Islands to
Manila when sunk by
Paddle. The Japanese crew and patrol boats killed all but 83 of
Shinyo Marus POWs before they could reach shore. One survivor died on shore, one elected to remain in the Philippines and 81 returned home. She returned to
Mios Woendi Lagoon on 25 September 1944 and then prepared for her next patrol, sailing on 3 October for her sixth patrol, engaged in search and rescue duty in the waters off
Balikpapan. During brief offensive periods, she sank two oil-laden sea trucks and a
schooner by gunfire, then returned to Fremantle on 1 November. Her seventh war patrol began at Fremantle 25 November and ended at Pearl Harbor on 18 January 1945. Operating mainly in the
South China Sea and west of
Luzon,
Paddle fought through heavy weather to join in sinking
Shoei Maru and damaging an enemy destroyer. After overhaul at
San Francisco,
Paddle trained at Pearl Harbor whence she sailed on her 8th and last war patrol on 15 May. Prowling the
Yellow and
East China Seas, she found few substantial targets; by this time submarine attacks had almost annihilated the Japanese
merchant marine. She turned her attention to sinking floating
mines with gunfire, and sank eight schooners and picket boats. Returning to
Guam 18 July,
Paddle sailed on 13 August for lifeguard duty off southern
Honshū. With the war's end, she sailed for
Midway Atoll on 17 August. The long voyage home ended at
Staten Island on 30 September.
Brazilian Navy Placed in reserve at New London,
Paddle decommissioned on 1 February 1946. She recommissioned on 31 August 1956 to prepare for transfer to
Brazil under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. Decommissioned and transferred on 18 January 1957, she was simultaneously commissioned in the
Brazilian Navy as '''
Riachuelo (S-15)'
. Riachuelo'' was stricken in March 1968 and sunk as a target around 30 June 1968. ==Awards==