U.S. Navy USS Bugara (SS-331) Early History The Chinese crew was grateful to be rescued, having had two of their crewmen U.S. Navy submarine Bugara (SS-331), already killed by the pirates. The pirates were was named for a saltwater fish species hunted down and destroyed, along with the found off the coast of California. Its keel Japanese schooner. When the war ended was laid down on October 21, 1943, at during its third patrol, Bugara was ordered to the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Fremantle, Australia, where the crew got a Connecticut. The Balao -class submarine short period of leave. USS Bugara (SS-331) was launched on July 2, 1944, received three battle stars for its service in Courtesy: Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library sponsored by Mrs. Anna Perry, wife of World War II and Commander Arnold Schade Captain Lyman Perry, who served as was awarded the Bronze Star medal. USS Bugara (SS-331) being launched on July 2, 1944 at the Electric Boat Company in aide to the Secretary of the Navy.

Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on November 15, 1944, USS Bugara (SS-331) - World War II Commander Arnold Schade served as Nationality: American the first commanding officer of USS Class: Balao diesel-electric submarine Bugara. The submarine departed for the Owner: U.S. Navy Pacific Ocean on December 25. Hull Material: Steel In February 1945, Bugara commenced Propulsion: Four each General Motors war patrols in the Java, Flores and South Model 16-A,278 V16 die sel engines driving China seas, and the Gulf of Siam. While electrical generators in the Gulf of Siam, Bugara disrupted the Displacement Tons: 1,526 surface

Courtesy: Robert Schwemmer Maritime Library junk trade on the Bangkok - Displacement Tons: 2,424 submerged An envelope, also referred to as a cover, route. It went on to destroy 12 junks, a Length: 311-feet 9-inches commemorates the commissioning of USS Terengganu junk, 24 schooners, and 16 Beam: 27-feet 3-inches Bugara on November 15, 1944. coasters, one naval auxiliary and three Draft: 16-feet 10-inches sea trucks with its deck gun, totaling Speed: Knots 20.25 surface 8.75 submerged 5,284 tons. Its sailors boarded all the Cruising Range: 11,000 miles vessels, with th e exception of two, Armament: 10 21-inch tubes, six transporting the native crews to safety forward and four aft. A 5-inch 25 caliber gun, along with their personal belongings. with a second gun installed on after deck in Bugara later encountered Malay pirates 1945. Bofors 40mm and Oerlikon 20mm attacking a Japanese schooner, manned cannons by a Chinese crew that was en route to Complement: Approximately 10 officers and Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command Singapore. As the submarine was 71 enlisted USS Bugara was commissioned as a Balao- approaching the scene, the pirates fled. Test Depth: 400 feet class submarine and received three battle stars for its service in World War II. USS Bugara founders off Cape Flattery, Washington On June 1, 1971, the U.S. Navy tug Cree (ATF-45) had the ex-USS Bugara under tow en route from the Naval Ammunition Depot at Bremerton, Washington, to a disposal site approximately 100 miles off of Cape Flattery. The submarine was to participate in a live-warhead evaluation of the Mark 48 torpedo as a target vessel. Off Cape Flattery, near the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the submarine began to take on water in the stern and started to settle lower into the Pacific Ocean. With USS Cree at risk of being pulled under, the steel hawser cable was cut. Bugara foundered shortly after. According to the Oregonian: “Lt. H. L. Matson of the Thirteenth Naval District said Bugara was believed to be resting on the bottom and posed no danger to navigation. No one was Photo: Naval History and Heritage Command aboard the submarine when it went down. Three antisubmarine warfare destroyers, two

In 1951, USS Bugara received a Fleet Snorkel minesweepers and antisubmarine warfare aircraft participated at different times during the week- conversion. A new distinctive streamline sail was long search. ‘We know where it is – it’s just a matter of time until we pinpoint it.’” That same month installed and the decks guns were removed. the U.S. Navy located Bugara, stating there would be no attempt to raise it. olympiccoast.noaa.gov Post World War II Snorkel conversion, and recognized as a Ex-USS Bugara Rediscovery Following the war, USS Bugara spent time special class submarine. This was the first In 2001, during a remotely operated in Subic Bay in the Philippine Islands with such conversion for the Pearl Harbor Naval vehicle (ROV) fiber optic cable survey, the other units of its squadron. In January Shipyard. The conversion installed a ex-USS Bugara wreck site was confirmed. 1946, it departed for San Diego, California, distinctive streamline sail, and the deck A 45-minute non-archeological via Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Upon arrival, guns were removed. The submarine also reconnaissance inspection of the exterior some of the crew was discharged from the received air conditioning and electrical hull was conducted. The survey results will navy while others were ordered to other systems upgraded. be compared to the E/V Nautilus ROV duty in the Subm arine F orce. Returning to In 1953, Bugara was seriously damaged survey planned for 2017, comparing Pearl Harbor, on May 28, Bugara sank the during a training mission when struck by possible changes in the hull over a 16-year ex-Japanese subm arine I-14 with a Mark the destroyer USS Whitehurst (DE-634) span.

10-3 exploder torpedo warhead. near Pearl Harbor. The impact caused the E/V Nautilus ROV Survey 2017 submarine to roll severely and enter into an After a routine o verhaul at the Pearl Harbor NOAA’s Office of National Marine Naval Shipyard, Bugara conducted a uncontrolled descent. The crew managed Sanctuaries has teamed up with Ocean training mission in the Bering Sea and was to regain control of the downward plunge Exploration Trust to explore marine involved in rescuing three crew members and surfaced the submarine. The sail and ecosystems along the West Coast from of a BSP army barge that was adrift. After periscopes were damaged, and it took Canada to the Mexico. Working aboard the a visit to Seattle, Washington and Portland, several weeks to repair. Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus, Oregon, the submarine returned to Pearl For the next 10 years Bugara continued scientists are mapping and exploring Harbor. In 1947, during an exercise with training throughout the Pacific. In April targets, including those found in Olympic the USS Bergall (SS-320) and USS Brill 1964, Bugara departed for WestPac and Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The first (SS-330), they successfully made four duty with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. It archaeological survey of the USS Bugara mock attacks on the USS Iowa (BB-61). traveled to the Philippines, Hong Kong, will be conducted on August 25 and will Over the next few years, Bugara was and Japan rendering services in the include scientists, archaeologists, involved in training exercises off Hawaii, Western Pacific. Bugara was the first historians, educators, and subject matter Midway Atoll, Guam, Australia, Okinawa, American submarine to patrol the Gulf of experts from across the nation via satellite. China, Japan, Samoa, and California. Tonkin in Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin The survey dive will be livestreamed In 1950, Bugara departed for the Far East Resolution passed by the U.S. Congress. through nautiluslive.org. to support United Nations Forces in the The resolution resulted in significant Korean Campaign. The stay was cut short escalation of U.S. activities in the Vietnam Site Management and Protection st while in Yokosuka, Japan, when a frigate War. Commemorating Bugara’s 21 The U.S. Navy has retained title and rammed the sub marine, requiring Bugara birthday on November 15, 1965, the ownership of the ex-USS Bugara and th to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. submarine made its 6000 dive. In June provides protection under the Sunken Bugara eventually returned to the Far East 1969, Bugara was reclassified as (AGSS- Military Craft Act. USS Bugara is located in January 1951. 331), no longer a combat submarine, but inside Washington state waters and within three months later was reclassified back to the federally protected waters of NOAA’s Fleet Snorkel Refit (SS-331). That same year the submarine Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Bugara returned to Pearl Harbor in June of made its 7000th dive. On October 1, 1970, Washington state and the National Marine 1951 for its fourth overhaul since it was USS Bugara was decommissioned at Mare Sanctuaries Act extends protection for the launched in 1944 . Bugara received a Fleet Island, California. archaeological remains of the wreck site.

Photo: NOAA R/V Okeanos Explorer Photo: Robert V. Schwemmer/NOAA Photo Courtesy: NavSource and Richard Leonhardt Crew members aboar d USS Bugara in Subic Bay, A multibeam sonar survey of the USS Bugara The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Hercules Philippines, in 1 966. Photo taken from the was conducted by the NOAA ship Okeanos will be deployed from the E/V Nautilus to conduct destroyer USS Fred T. Berry (DD-858). Explorer in 2008 off Cape Flattery, Washington. the first archaeological survey of USS Bugara. sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime