The USS Pompon (SS/SSR-267) was a Gato-class submarine constructed by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Laid down on November 26, 1941, and launched on August 15, 1942, she was commissioned on March 17, 1943. The vessel measured approximately 311 feet in length with a beam of about 27 feet, designed for long-range patrols during World War II. During her wartime service, USS Pompon conducted nine war patrols across the Pacific Theater. Her first patrol began in July 1943 from Brisbane, Australia, where she narrowly escaped a Japanese submarine attack and successfully torpedoed the cargo ship Thames Maru. Her subsequent patrols included operations in the South China Sea, off French Indo-China, and near Halmahera Island, during which she sank enemy vessels, including a 742-ton cargo ship and an 8,000-ton tanker, notably damaging Japanese shipping lanes and supply lines. Pompon's most successful patrol, starting July 19, 1944, saw her sinking a small armed trawler, damaging a tanker, and sinking the transport Mikage Maru No. 20. She also engaged enemy convoy ships off Sakhalin, surviving a near-miss from her own torpedo and intense gunfire and depth charges. In her later war patrols, she experienced a critical flooding incident due to a conning tower hatch failure, but she managed to escape enemy detection and return for repairs. Her final war patrol was as a lifeguard vessel in the Truk area, with no significant enemy contacts. She was decommissioned in September 1945 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned in 1953 as SSR-267 following conversion to a radar picket submarine, Pompon served with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, participating in NATO exercises and operations in the Mediterranean and Caribbean until her final decommissioning in 1959. She was struck from the Navy List in 1960 and sold for scrap later that year. The vessel earned four battle stars for her WWII service, and one of her propellers is displayed in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.