{"id":82709,"date":"2026-03-04T19:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T19:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2026\/03\/04\/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:31:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:31:24","slug":"this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2026\/03\/04\/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"This WWII submarine was the last US boat to notch a torpedo kill \u2014 until this week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A United States Navy submarine sank an Iranian ship with a single torpedo this week as the frigate was transiting the Indian Ocean, marking the first such kill by a U.S. submarine since World War II, the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeptofWar\/status\/2029193757162139762?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeptofWar\/status\/2029193757162139762?s=20\">Pentagon<\/a> confirmed on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged the strike while discussing updates surrounding ongoing combat engagements in Iran, dubbed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2026\/02\/28\/us-confirms-first-combat-use-of-lucas-one-way-attack-drone-in-iran-strikes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2026\/02\/28\/us-confirms-first-combat-use-of-lucas-one-way-attack-drone-in-iran-strikes\/\">Operation Epic Fury<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYesterday, in the Indian Ocean &#8230; an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cInstead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Caine also confirmed the action on Wednesday, noting a fast attack submarine off the southern coast of Sri Lanka \u201csunk an enemy combatant ship using a single <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lockheedmartin.com\/en-us\/news\/features\/2025\/5-fast-facts-about-the-mk-48-heavyweight-torpedo.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.lockheedmartin.com\/en-us\/news\/features\/2025\/5-fast-facts-about-the-mk-48-heavyweight-torpedo.html\">Mk-48 torpedo<\/a> to achieve immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-smg-jwplayer-video\"><atype-video-jwplayer nostick=\"true\" playlisturl=\"https:\/\/cdn.jwplayer.com\/v2\/playlists\/fCzRqMW8?tags=defeaec2-9514-43f5-95ca-674c8761e867\" poster=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/video-poster-defeaec2-9514-43f5-95ca-674c8761e867.png\" aspectratio=\"16 \/ 9\" mute autostart=\"false\"><\/atype-video-jwplayer><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In a first since World War II, a U.S. Navy submarine used a torpedo to sink an enemy warship, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The last U.S. boat to notch a confirmed torpedo kill on an enemy vessel, meanwhile, was the Tench-class submarine USS Torsk, which sent two Japanese coastal defense frigates below the waves on Aug. 14, 1945, one day prior to the country\u2019s surrender in the Pacific. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioned on Dec. 16, 1944, Torsk began its first war patrol under the command of Comdr. Bafford E. Lewellen in March the following year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The submarine, however, did not find much action initially. By 1945, the U.S. had all but crippled Japanese shipping. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A postwar <a href=\"https:\/\/historynet.com\/american-subs-were-a-far-more-lethal-force-in-the-pacific-war-than-previously-known\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/historynet.com\/american-subs-were-a-far-more-lethal-force-in-the-pacific-war-than-previously-known\/\">Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee<\/a> found that by August 1945, \u201cAmerican forces had sunk 611 Japanese naval vessels, totaling 1,822,210 tons; and 2,117 merchant vessels, of 7,913,858 tons. Of that, submarines contributed a huge part, accounting for 201 naval vessels (540,192 tons) and 1,113 merchant vessels (4,779,902 tons) \u2014 or about 33% of naval vessels by number and 30% by tonnage, and 52.5% of merchant vessels by number and 60% by tonnage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By August, \u201cLewellen\u2019s Looters\u201d were just beginning their second \u2014 and what would be their final \u2014 war patrol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After spending the first two days of the month at Guam the submarine set course for the Sea of Japan, where the Torsk\u2019s entry into the WWII record books would be cemented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the morning of Aug. 14, the day after Torsk took out a small freighter, the submarine was operating off the coast when it spotted a 745-ton \u201cKaibokan\u201d-class patrol escort vessel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Torsk promptly found its target with a Mark 28 torpedo, bending \u201cthe stern of the frigate up to a 30-degree angle\u201d before it sank soon after, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.navy.mil\/research\/histories\/ship-histories\/danfs\/t\/torsk.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.history.navy.mil\/research\/histories\/ship-histories\/danfs\/t\/torsk.html\">Naval History and Heritage Command<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around noon that same day another enemy frigate appeared in Torsk\u2019s sights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cContinuing her aggressive action, Torsk<i> <\/i>fired a Mark 28 torpedo at the frigate which had already detected the submarine\u2019s presence,&#8221; NHHC notes. \u201cComdr. Lewellen then initiated deep submergence procedures and ordered the crew to rig for silent running. After a tense five minutes, she reached 400 feet and there she launched another torpedo, this time the new acoustic Mark 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlmost immediately, a loud explosion announced that the first torpedo had found its mark, and a minute later a second explosion sounded, followed by strong breaking up noises. The secret new torpedoes had proven their worth in battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For seven more hours the submarine and its crew remained submerged, held down by enemy planes and patrol vessels before at last resurfacing and heading for the Noto peninsula off the coast of Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The following day, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan\u2019s unconditional surrender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Torsk\u2019s sinking of the enemy vessel marked the last U.S. Navy submarine torpedo kill for eight decades \u2014 until U.S. actions against Iran on March 3, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The identity of the fast-attack boat which carried out the action this week was not revealed, as is custom for operational security surrounding submarine operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Torsk\u2019s sinking of the Japanese vessel marked the last U.S. submarine kill for over eight decades \u2014 that is until March 3, 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":112830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":87,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,87,12,26,19,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3383,3413],"class_list":["post-82709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"C43AO2ST7RAQJPLPEY4WUHAFDQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/military-history\/2026\/03\/04\/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>This WWII submarine was the last US boat to notch a torpedo kill \u2014 until this week - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Torsk\u2019s sinking of the Japanese vessel marked the last U.S. submarine kill for over eight decades \u2014 that is until March 3, 2026.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2026\/03\/04\/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This WWII submarine was the last US boat to notch a torpedo kill \u2014 until this week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Torsk\u2019s sinking of the Japanese vessel marked the last U.S. submarine kill for over eight decades \u2014 that is until March 3, 2026.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2026\/03\/04\/this-wwii-submarine-was-the-last-us-boat-to-notch-a-torpedo-kill-until-this-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Navy Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T19:02:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T17:31:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire Barrett, J.D. 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