The true story of the U.S. Submarine Service during this period is fully detailed with factual
accounts of the valiant efforts of our submarines with photographs, charts, and illustrations in the book, "U. S. Submarine Operations in World War Two", written by Theodore Rosco from material prepared by Rear Admiral R. G. Voge, Captain W. J. Holmes, Commander W. H.  Hazard, Lieutenant Commander D. S. Graham, and Lieutenant H. J. Kuehn. This book was written for Bureau of Naval Personnel and published by the U. S. Naval Institute. Information stated herein has been extracted from this book.

In December 1941, the major portion of U.S. Navy's strength was gathered in the
Atlantic and consisted of 8 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 13 cruisers, 30 destroyers, and 60
submarines. The U. S. Navy's Pacific Force consisted of about 100 surface warships and 5 1
submarines. Of the 51 submarines, 29 were attached to the Asiatic Fleet stationed at Manila
and 22 were attached to the Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor.

On that fateful Sunday of December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the
22 Pacific Fleet submarines (16 modern Fleet-type and 6 older vintage S-boats) were widely
dispersed. ARGONAUT and TROUT were conducting defensive patrols near Midway
Island; TAMBOR and TRITON were patrolling off Wake Island; THRESHER was enroute
to Pearl Harbor after a 43-day training period near Midway Island; POLLACK, POMPANO
and PLUNGER were enroute to Pearl Harbor from San Francisco; TUNA and NAUTILUS
were being overhauled at Mare Island Navy Yard; GUDGEON was conducting exercises off
Maul near Pearl Harbor; 5 submarines (CACHELOT, CUTTLEFISH, DOLPHIN,
NARWHAL and TAUTOG) were in various states of overhaul at the Pearl Harbor
Submarine Base. The Submarine Tender, PELIAS, was also moored at the Submarine Base. It
should be noted that during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Submarine Base escaped
any bomb hits. All buildings and shops at the Submarine Base and the munitions dumps on
neighboring Kuahua were overlooked as the Japanese specifically targeted their bombs and
torpedoes for Battleship Row and carriers thought to be moored off Ford Island. The
assumption by the Japanese high command that the submarines and submarine repair
facilities were minor targets was one that would be subsequently regretted. Submarines of the
Pacific Fleet operating out of Pearl Harbor would presently launch an undersea offensive
which, combined with the submarines of the Asiatic Fleet out of Manila, would greatly
contribute to the eventual downfall of the Japanese empire.

The first wave of Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor struck the Kaneohe Naval Air
Station where aircraft were destroyed while still on the ground as well as hangars being
destroyed. Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes swept in to pound the Fleet at anchor
in the harbor. Seven battleships moored in Battleship Row and one battleship helpless in dry
dock composed the battleship force of the U. S. Pacific Fleet. Nine Cruisers, twenty-eight
Destroyers, Tenders, Mine Sweepers, supply ships and auxiliaries - a total of eighty-six Naval
vessels - crowded the harbor. Battleship Row was attacked from two directions and was hard
hit. Battleships OKLAHOMA, WEST VIRGINIA, TENNESSEE, CALIFORNIA,
MARYLAND, NEVADA, and UTAH all received devastating damage while the ARIZONA
exploded in one horrendous blast which took the lives of 1100 officers and men. Cruisers,
Destroyers, and other units of the Surface Fleet all experienced severe damage. The Surface
Fleet, which had been counted on to defend the Central Pacific, was now out of it and would
remain so for a long time. The small surface force in the Philippines could not hope to cope
with the mighty Japanese armada storming down from Japan. Only one Naval arm remained
unimpaired by the attack on Pearl Harbor. That arm was the United States Navy's Submarine
Service. To those 51 U. S. Submarines on duty or available for duty in the Pacific fell the
major portion of the improvised defense, issued in a Directive by the Chief of Naval
Operations the afternoon of December 7, 1941 which stated, "EXECUTE
UNRESTRICTED AIR AND SUBMARINE WARFARE AGAINST JAPAN." On
December 8 and 9, 1941, eighteen submarines, four S-boats and fourteen Fleet-boats from
the Asiatic Fleet, put to sea from Manila to commence war patrols. Thus began the dramatic
story of the United States submarines and submariners fighting and winning the greatest
submarine war in history. Let it suffice to say that of all the Japanese Merchant and Naval
shipping sunk in the Pacific during World War II, U. S. Submarines accounted for over five
million tons or better than fifty-five percent.

Fifty-two U. S. Submarines and over thirty-six hundred submariners were lost during this
period and it is to those valiant submariners of the United States who lost their lives in World
War II we dedicate this "WALL OF HONOR" today, September 2, 1995, on the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the signing of the Instrument of Peace aboard the Battleship USS
MISSOURI.