USS CARP HISTORY

The USS Carp (SS-338) is a Balao-class submarine built in 1944 by the Electric Boat Company. Commissioned in February 1945, Carp departed New London on 14 April, completed training at Balboa, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 May.

On her first and only war patrol (8 June–7 August 1945), Carp operated off the coast of Honshu, destroying small craft and patrolling in support of the 3rd Fleet’s carrier strikes on the Japanese mainland. She was undergoing refit at Midway when the war ended and returned to Seattle on 22 September.

Based in San Diego as the flagship for Submarine Division 71, Carp operated along the West Coast with periodic training cruises to Pearl Harbor. Between 13 February and 15 June 1947, she completed a simulated war patrol to the Far East, and in 1948 and 1949 she conducted two exploratory cruises to the far northern waters—gathering valuable information for Cold War submarine strategy.
In February 1952, Carp was converted into a GUPPY-type submarine under the Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program, which upgraded WWII-era submarines for improved underwater speed, endurance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Carp later supported United Nations forces during the Korean War on her deployment to the Far East from 22 September 1952 to April 1953.

Carp arrived at her new homeport of Pearl Harbor on 15 March 1954, remaining on active duty there until July 1959. During this period, she completed multiple Far East cruises, including a goodwill visit to Australia, participation in a Southeast Asia Treaty Organization exercise, and patrols in Alaskan waters.

On 1 August 1959, Carp departed Pearl Harbor for reassignment with the Atlantic Fleet. She arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, on 28 August and conducted training and fleet exercises along the East Coast and in the Caribbean through 1963.

Carp was decommissioned in March 1968, with her conning tower preserved by the Naval History and Heritage Command. In 2001, her sail was loaned to the Galveston Naval Museum, where it remains proudly on display today as a tribute to her long service and the submariners who sailed aboard her.