Puffer was transported down the Mississippi to New Orleans on a special floating drydock, having periscope shears re-installed en route. After receiving torpedoes and ammunition, she exercised off Panama for a month, and then headed across the Pacific to Australia. Puffer arrived there in early September 1943.
First and second war patrols, September 1943 – January 1944
Puffer′s first war patrol, to intercept Japanese commerce in the Makassar Strait–Celebes Sea area, 7 September to 17 October, resulted in several damaged ships but no sinkings. On 9 October, after damaging a merchantman (Kumagawa Maru),[8] she endured a nearly 38-hour depth charging from 2 Japanese sub chasers and was slightly damaged. On 24 November Puffer departed on her second patrol, in the Sulu Sea and the approaches to Manila. On 13 December, she made a successful attack on freighter Teiko Maru (ex-Vichy French steamship D'Artagnan).[9] On 20 December she sank the old 820-ton escorting destroyer IJN Fuyō, and on 1 January 1944, 6,707-ton freighter Ryuyo Maru, before putting into Fremantle for refit 12 January.
Third and fourth war patrols, February – June 1944
Puffer departed for her third war patrol, in the South China Sea, 4 February. On 22 February, she sank the 15,105-ton transport Teikyo Maru. Returning to Fremantle 4 April, she departed again on her fourth war patrol on 30 April for Madoera Straits, Makassar Straits and the Sulu Sea. She acted as life guard for the first Allied carrier strike on Soerabaia, sank 3,181-ton freighter Shinryu Maru 18 May, then on 5 June, attacked three tankers, sinking 2,166-ton Ashizuri and 2,500-ton Takasaki. She ended this most successful patrol, for which she received the Navy Unit Commendation, at Fremantle 21 June.
Fifth war patrol, July 1944 – ~ 1944
On 14 July Puffer departed for her fifth war patrol, in Makassar Straits, the Celebes, Sulu, and South China Seas. She made contact with a submarine tender screened by five escorts on 21 July, spending three days following the group and using all but nine torpedoes to sink the tender.[10]
Twenty-three days later, on 12 August, she made contact with a ten large vessels and their escorts. Five of the remaining nine torpedoes sank the 5,113-ton tanker Teikon Maru and a large freighter, with enough damage to beach another tanker. She completed the patrol at Pearl Harbor, whence she continued on to Mare Island for overhaul.
Sixth and seventh war patrols, December 1944 – ~ 1945
Following refresher training at Hawaii, Puffer got underway on her sixth war patrol 16 December. Operating in the Nansei Shoto area, she sank Coast Defense Vessel No. 42 on 10 January 1945; and, prior to her arrival at Guam, 17 January, damaged a destroyer, three freighters, and a tanker.
By 11 February, Puffer was underway again for her seventh war patrol, and following patrols in Luzon Straits and the South China Sea, where she bombarded Pratas Island, she made an anti-shipping sweep of the Wake Island area.
Eighth and ninth war patrols, May 1945 – ~ 1945
Refitted at Midway she departed 20 May en route to the South China and Java Seas to conduct her eighth war patrol. In a surface sweep of the northern Bali coast, Puffer destroyed by gunfire two Japanese sea trucks and six landing craft on 5 July, and inflicted extensive damage to harbor installations at Chelukan Bawang and Buleleng, Bali. A brief respite at Fremantle followed, whence she headed north for her ninth and last war patrol, in the Java Sea.
Post-World War II service
Completing her ninth patrol with the cessation of hostilities in mid-August 1945, Puffer headed for Subic Bay, thence to the United States, reaching San Francisco 15 October. With the new year, 1946, Puffer returned to Hawaii where she trained officers and men in submarine warfare until returning to San Francisco, 19 March, for inactivation.
Decommissioning and disposal
Puffer decommissioned 28 June 1946, and was berthed at Mare Island as a unit of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. At the end of the year Puffer was ordered activated and assigned to the 13th Naval District for training Naval Reservists. Employed in that status, at Seattle, until relieved by USS Bowfin (SS-287) 10 June 1960, Puffer was placed out of service and sold for scrapping to the Zidell Corporation, Portland, Oregon, on 4 November 1960.
Honors and awards
Puffer earned 9 battle stars for World War II service in the Pacific Theater, with a total tonnage of 36,392 tons (eight ships).
^ abcdefBauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–273. ISBN0-313-26202-0.
^Hackett, Bob; Cundall, Peter; Casse, Gilbert (2012). "IJN Kumagawa Maru: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 14 February 2021. 9 October 1943: Makassar Strait. At about 1100, LtCdr Marvin J. Jensen's (USNA '31) USS PUFFER (SS-268) torpedoes and damages KUMAGAWA MARU off Balikpapan at 01-07N, 119-30E.
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