SUBMARINE TENDER USS GRIFFIN, US NAVY
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

Submarine Tender USS Griffin AS 13 was assigned to the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor and left Newport, R.I. on 14 February 1942 headed for Australia. USS Griffin arrived in Brisbane, in southern Queensland on 15 April 1942 to look after Submarine Squadron 5 (SubRon5) at the Brisbane Submarine Base. The Brisbane Submarine Base and rest camp at New Farm in Brisbane was established by U.S.S. Griffin.

USS Griffin left Brisbane on 11 November 1942 and headed for the Fiji Islands. On 1 December 1942 USS Griffin moved to Balboa where she accompanied Division 53 submarines to the Canal Zone and then sailed on to Oakland, California. After some repairs in San Diego, California, USS Griffin sailed for Pearl Harbor on 27 April 1943 arriving on 4 May 1943. She left there on 3 January 1944 and arrived in the Mare Islands area on 10 January 1944 where she stayed until 17 March 1944, before retuning again to Pearl Harbor.

USS Griffin left for Fremantle Submarine Base on 8 April 1944. She arrived at Brisbane Submarine Base on 22 April 1944 and left for Fremantle on 27 April 1944. She arrived in Fremantle on 7 May 1944.  While in Fremantle the crew of USS Griffin established a rubber fabrication shop.  USS Griffin left Fremantle on 20 November 1944 and arrived in Brisbane on 29 November 1944 and left Brisbane on 1 December 1944 to proceed to Mios Woendi, New Guinea to tend submarines and various surface craft.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Henry G. Spenceley Y2c, Crew Member of USS Griffin (1942/1945) for his assistance with this web page.

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 13 April 2004

This page last updated 19 January 2020