3 Gato class 
1 Narwhal class
USS Nautilus (SF-9/SS-168), a Narwhal-class
submarine
and one of the "V-boats
was the third ship of the United States Navy  to bear the name.[12]
She departed San Francisco, California
on 21 April 1942, reaching Pearl Harbor on 28 April. On 24 May, Nautilus (commanded by Lieutenant Commander William H. Brockman Jr.
got underway for her first war patrol, to Midway Island
to help repel the expected attack by the Japanese fleet.
At 07:55, 4 June, while approaching the northern boundary of her patrol area near Midway Island, she sighted masts on the horizon. Japanese planes sighted the submarine at the same time and began strafing
After diving to 100 feet (30 m), she continued observation. At 08:00, a formation of four enemy ships was sighted: the battleship  Kirishima
14]
the cruiser  Nagara
15]
and two  destroyers  (misidentified, as they often were early in the war, as cruisers)[16]
in company. Within minutes the submarine was again sighted from the air and was bombed. Two of the "cruisers" closed for a kill and nine depth charges
were dropped at a distance of about 1,000 yards (910 m).
When the attack ceased, Nautilus rose to periscope depth
Ships surrounded her. Sighting on Kirishima, she fired two bow tubes; one misfired, one missed. At 08:30, a destroyer immediately headed for the boat, which dived to 150 feet
46 m) to wait out the depth charge attack. At 08:46, periscope depth was again ordered. The cruiser and two of the destroyers were now out of range; echo ranging by the third appeared too accurate for comfort. At 09:00, the periscope was raised again and an aircraft carrier
was sighted. Nautilus changed course to close for an attack. The enemy destroyer followed suit and at 09:18 attacked with six depth charges.
Diorama  simulating periscope
view from Nautilus, attacking a  Japanese  aircraft carrier at the Battle of Midway .
By 09:55 echo ranging ceased and Nautilus raised her periscope. The carrier, her escorts, and the attacking destroyer had disappeared. (Unbeknownst to her skipper at the time, the counter-attacking Japanese destroyer Arashi
in her rush to rejoin the carrier, was tracked by Enterprise
s VB-6
led by Wade McClusky
back to the Japanese task force.) At 12:53, a damaged aircraft carrier with two escorts was sighted. The carrier was identified as Sōryū
but later research suggests it was probably Kaga
An hour later, Nautilus had moved into attack position. Between 13:59 and 14:05, after the battle was largely over, Nautilus launched four torpedoes at the carrier from less than 3,000 yards (2,700 m). One failed to run, two ran erratically, and the fourth was a dud (a familiar problem for the Mark XIV
impacting amidships and breaking in half.[17]
Nautilus reported flames appeared along the length of the ship as the first hit, and the skeleton crew which had been aboard (survivors of which reported no torpedo hit) began going over the side, with the air flask of the dud torpedo acting as a life preserver for Japanese sailors.
Nautilus went to 300 feet (91 m) as a prolonged depth charge attack commenced. At 16:10, the submarine rose to periscope depth. The carrier, burning along her entire length, had been abandoned. At 19:41, Nautilus resumed her patrol, having expended five torpedoes and survived 42 depth charges, but accomplished little of substance. (Not until much later was the importance of her attack on the battleship, and its connection to McClusky, recognized.)[18]
Her commanding officer was awarded a Navy Cross
for his actions.
Yamakaze
sinks after being torpedoed
Between 7 June and 9 June, Nautilus replenished at Midway Island and then resumed her patrol to the west. By 20 June, she was operating off Honshū
at the northern end of the Tokyo
Marshall Islands
supply route. On 22 June, she damaged a destroyer guarding the entrance to the Sagami Sea
off Ōshima
Three days later, she sank the destroyer Yamakaze
and damaged an oil tanker. On 27 June, she sent a sampan
to the bottom and on 28 June, after damaging a merchantman, underwent her severest depth charging, which forced her back to Pearl Harbor for repairs, 11 July to 7 August.
Nautilus departed Hawaiian  waters for her second war patrol, a special troop transport mission of three weeks duration, 8 August. Sailing with submarine Argonaut
and carrying the Second Raider Battalion  under Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson
the Marine Raiders
or "Carlson's Raiders") she arrived off Makin Atoll  on 16 August to stage a raid  to divert Japanese attention from the Solomon Islands
Early the following morning, she sent the Raiders ashore on Butaritari Island in rubber boats rigged with outboard motors. At 07:03, she provided gunfire support against enemy positions at Ukiangong Point  on  Butaritari  and shelled enemy ships in the lagoon, sinking two, a troop barge and a patrol boat. At 10:39, an enemy plane appeared and Nautilus dove. Two aerial attacks followed at 11:30 and at 12:55. The latter flight was made up of 12 planes, two of which landed in the lagoon to discharge troops. About 35 of the reinforcements made it to shore to fire on the Americans.
The Marines began to withdraw at 17:00. At 19:00, they launched their boats. Many were unable to clear the breakers without the aid of their damaged outboards. Only seven boats and less than 100 men returned that night. The remainder, less nine who were later captured and executed, discovered there were no Japanese left to fight and crossed to the lagoon side, whence they headed for the submarine after nightfall on 18 August. Thinking all surviving marines were on board, Nautilus and Argonaut set course for Pearl Harbor, arriving 25 August.
On her third war patrol, from 15 September to 5 November, Nautilus returned to Japanese waters to join the submarine blockade chain stretched from the Kurile Islands  to the Nansei Shoto
Despite heavy seas, which precluded periscope use and torpedo firing during much of the patrol, and mechanical breakdowns, which impeded approaches to targets, she torpedoed and sank three marus (Japanese merchant ships
and, in surface action, destroyed three sampans to add over 12,000 tons to her score. On 12 October, however, the patrol became one of her more perilous, as she took a heavy depth charging. Two days later, her crew noticed a slight oil slick in her wake. The hindering seas now protected by breaking up the trace. By 19 October, the leak had enlarged considerably and on 20 October, the first relatively calm day since the depth charging, air leaks were discovered. Nautilus was leaving a trail for Japanese defense patrols. Moving to a quieter area, with less aerial activity, she continued her patrol until 24 October when she sank Kenun Maru, then headed for home without sighting enemy planes. She reached Midway Island 31 October, performed temporary repairs, and continued on to Pearl Harbor.
During her fourth patrol, conducted in the Solomon Islands
from on 13 December 1942 to on 4 February 1943, Nautilus rescued 26 adults and three children from Teop Harbor
on 31 December and 1 January, then added the cargo ship Yosinogawa Maru to her kills and damaged a tanker , a  freighter , and a destroyer
On 4 February, she arrived at  Brisbane , debarked her passengers, and sailed for Pearl Harbor. Arriving 15 April, she departed five days later heading north. On 27 April, she put into Dutch Harbor, Alaska
and commenced instructing the 7th Infantry Division Provisional Scout Battalion in amphibious landings. She then embarked 109 Scouts (including Alaskan Native
scouts of the Alaska Territorial Guard )
19]  and on 1 May, headed for Attu . There, on 11 May, she landed her "passengers" five hours before the main assault.
with the same name, see USS Gato .
USS Gato (SS-212) was the lead ship
of her class  of  submarine  in the United States Navy
She was the first Navy ship named for the gato
a species of small catshark .