United States Navy Following shakedown and training,
Plaice got underway for the
Panama Canal Zone on 15 April, and arrived
Pearl Harbor on 13 May. She departed on her first war patrol in the
Bonin Islands area on 3 June.
Plaice torpedoed and sank
Hyakufuku Maru on 30 June;
Kogi Maru on 5 July; and
Submarine Chaser No. 50 on 18 July, before returning to
Midway Island. The submarine was off on her second war patrol on 17 August, this time in the
Nansei Shoto area. In the early afternoon on 7 September,
Plaice scored one torpedo hit on a
Kongō Maru-class liner converted to an auxiliary
cruiser. On 24 September,
Plaice launched four torpedoes at a , briefly stopping its screws. Three days later she sank
Coast Defense Vessel No. 10., and put three torpedoes into the side of a transport, which blossomed a bright orange flame. The patrol ended as
Plaice drew into Midway on 7 October and got underway the following day for Pearl Harbor with .
Plaice departed Pearl Harbor on 9 November for her third patrol in the Southwestern
Japanese Empire off the coast of
Shikoku and
Kyūshū. On 9 December, she damaged . She patrolled the traffic lanes east of
Van Diemen Strait and pulled into
Guam 20 December without having sunk any ships on the patrol. The undersea raider departed Guam on her fourth patrol in the
Luzon Straits-
Formosa areas.
Plaice was part of a
coordinated attack group which included , , , , and . This long patrol in the face of enemy antisubmarine measures resulted in but one contact worthy of
torpedo fire, a
convoy of a small freighter, a medium freighter and three escorts. Three attacks resulted in but one hit. On 23 March 1945,
Plaice moored at Midway. The fifth patrol originated from Midway on 26 April and took
Plaice to the
Kuril Islands-
Okhotsk Sea area. The first enemy contact was made on 13 May, when the submarine trailed four sea trucks and four small
luggers until she opened a surface engagement with her and 40 mm guns, sinking all four sea trucks and two luggers. When all her larger ammunition had been expended, she drove the remaining two luggers toward the beach and damaged them by 20 mm and small arms fire. On 18 May, seven fishing boats came into view. The staccato of 20 mm and .50 caliber guns tore into two of the boats and damaged them visibly.
Plaice ended her patrol at Pearl Harbor 13 June. The sixth patrol - commencing on 18 July - took
Plaice to the
East China Sea area, but she made no enemy contacts. She picked up five survivors from an
Army B-25 Mitchell, and transferred them to a Navy patrol bomber the following day. On 15 August,
Japan accepted the
Potsdam Declaration and nine days later
Plaice pulled into Midway. After the war was over,
Plaice operated in the Pacific until, by directive dated November 1947, she was placed out of commission, in reserve, at
Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
Plaice was reactivated 18 May 1963 in preparation for a five-year loan to
Brazil on 7 September 1963 under the Military Assistance Program.
Brazilian Navy Capitão-de-Fragata (
Commander) Abílio Simões Machado of the
Brazilian Navy took command of the submarine at
Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, on 7 September 1963. Commissioned in the Brazilian Navy as '''
Bahia (S-12)'
, she was the first Balao
-class submarine to undergo alterations at the Brazilian Navy Arsenal in Rio de Janeiro; her hydrodynamic shape was modified with the installation of a new conning tower and periscope guide. After the completion of the modifications, Bahia''s underwater speed increased by one
knot and she was quieter when submerged.
Bahia took part in
UNITAS naval exercises and assisted in surveillance in the
South Atlantic Ocean during the
Cold War. She logged 140,503 nautical miles (260,212 kilometers), spending 2,863 hours submerged and 836 days at sea. Her loan to Brazil was extended beyond its original five-year term at regular intervals.
Bahia was decommissioned on 19 January 1973. She was sold to the Technology Museum of
São Paulo, which intended to tow her to
Santos, Brazil, and convert her into a
museum ship. However, these plans were not realized, and instead
Bahia was scrapped following a ceremony on 27 March 1973. ==Awards==