Winner of 14 WWII Battle Stars, SS-199 Sank 72,000-tons of Japanese Shipping n a cold and blustery 1 March 1939, yard workers Oat the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecti- cut, lowered the first keel plate into position for what was to be the 199th submarine built for the United States Navy. It is doubtful that anyone at the time could have guessed that in a few short years USS Tautog, for that was what she would be named, BY ROBERT THEW would become one of the most successful submarines in history. Between December 1941 and February 1945, she would sink two destroyers, one submarine, one landing ship, one torpedo boat tender, one submarine chaser, and 22 Japanese merchant ships for a total of 72,000-tons of enemy shipping. On another cold day eleven- months later (27 January 1940) Mrs. Hallie Edwards (wife of Capt. Richard Edwards, Com- mander Submarine Squadron Two) broke the traditional bottle of champagne on her bow and the Tambor-class USS Tautog (SS-199) slid down the ways into the frigid waters of the Thames River. Moved quickly to a fitting-out pier, the task of completing her began. This was completed five-months later and Tautog officially was accepted by the US Navy when she commissioned on 3 July 1940, Lt. Joseph H. Willingham in command. Tautog was the second of six submarines of the Tambor-class to be launched. The other five were: Tambor (SS-198), Thresher (SS-200), Triton (SS-201), Trout (SS-202), and Tuna (SS-203). Two of these, Triton and Trout, were to be lost to enemy action during the course of World War Two. As built, Tautog had a displacement of 1475-tons surfaced and 2370-tons submerged; she measured 307- feet two-inches; her four General Motors Model 16-248 V-16 diesels drove her at a speed of 20-knots on the surface and her four General Electric motors (with two 126-cell Sargo 16 SEA CLASSICS/November 2019 seaclassicsnow.com 17