After commissioning and
fitting out,
S-39 joined Submarine Force, Battle Fleet; and from October–December 1923, conducted maneuvers off southern California. With the next year, 1924, she moved south to the
Panama Canal, thence proceeded into the
Caribbean Sea for final trials, further exercises, and training dives. By April, she was back at
Mare Island for her first overhaul.
Asiatic fleet On 17 September,
S-39 departed San Francisco for the
Philippines. Steaming
via Pearl Harbor and
Guam, she reached
Manila on 5 November; joined the
Asiatic Fleet as a member of Submarine Division 17 (SubDiv 17); and commenced local operations and drills in the
Luzon area. In mid-May 1925, she sailed for the Asiatic mainland with her division; and, after brief stops at
Amoy and
Hong Kong, arrived at
Tsingtao, whence she operated until early September. She then returned to Manila and for the next 16 years maintained, with few interruptions, a similar schedule: summers at Tsingtao, with patrols along the
China coast; winters in the Philippines, for overhauls, engineering trials, joint Army-Navy maneuvers, type training exercises, and short patrols.
World War II 1st war patrol Just prior to the entry of the
United States into
World War II,
S-39 (under the command of
James W. Coe, Class of 1930) patrolled off southern
Luzon. After 8 December, she moved into
San Bernardino Strait to impede Japanese
mining activities. The escorts screening the minelayers, however, kept the submarine at bay with persistent depth charging. On 11 December,
S-39 endured a day-long pounding. She then turned to cutting into the Japanese supply line. On 13 December, she sighted and attacked an enemy freighter, but escorts interfered and her crew was prevented from verifying a sinking. She continued her patrol, unsuccessfully chasing other targets, until 21 December, when she returned to Manila.
2nd war patrol Increased enemy air activity rendered naval installations in the area untenable, and
S-39 was ordered to
Java to join what in mid-January 1942 would become the
ABDA command. Conducting her second war patrol en route, she arrived at
Soerabaja on 24 January. She soon departed on her third patrol. Coe was transferred to command USS
Skipjack in March 1942.
3rd and 4th war patrol As Japanese landings at
Timor were expected,
S-39 was ordered to the
Karimata Strait. The main Japanese force transited the strait and landed at Java without
S-39 sighting it. Operating in the
South China Sea and
Java Sea, she reconnoitered
Chebia Island in search of a British
admiral and an
air marshal who had supposedly escaped
Singapore.
S-39 landed a search party, but failed to locate any refugees. She then sailed for
Australia via the
Sunda Strait, where on 4 March she found the tanker (credited as during the war)
Erimo.
S-39 fired four
Mark 10 torpedoes, scoring three contact hits. delayed twice by mechanical failures and once by the necessity of hospitalizing her executive officer, began on 10 August. Assigned station off
New Ireland, she made her way across the
Coral Sea to the Louisiades. On the night of 13/14 August, she
grounded on submerged rocks off
Rossel Island and took on a 35° ==Awards==