Photo of the launch of the USS Hawkbill (SS 366) launched on 9 January 1944 in the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. A Balao class boat, after “sea trials” on Lake Michigan it transited to New Orleans via the Illinois River, then by barge down the Mississippi. After additional training at sub base Balboa in the Canal Zone Hawkbill arrived in Pearl Harbor on 28 July. Hawkbill made 5 successful War Patrols before Japanese surrender, winning Navy Unit Citations for patrols 1, 3, and 4. On 22 September 1945 Hawkbill sailed for Mare Island Naval Shipyard and was decommissioned on 30 September 1946. Brought out of mothballed condition in 1952, Hawkbill was given a Guppy conversion and subsequently loaned to the Netherlands under the Military Assistance Program on 21 April 1953. After long and fruitful service Hawkbill was scraped on 24 November 1970.
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