The formal legal steps leading to the acquisition of United States naval vessels are confusing to many people but are very important to an understanding of the United States Navy's submarine programs. Generally speaking, the Navy cannot acquire a ship until Congress has both authorized the size of the fleet and appropriated funds for the procurement of new vessels. This requires two separate acts of Congress, as a result of which ships have frequently been authorized several years before funds were actually appropriated for their construction, and some authorized ships have never been built at all. Authorization and procurement procedures are usually quite formal in peacetime but more expedient methods are usually followed during wars or national emergencies. In the past, Congress was often very specific in defining the characteristics of particular ships, their cost, and sometimes even their names and where they were to be built.

USS Quillback (SS-424), named for a fish of the sucker family which is widespread in the freshwaters of North America and Northern Asia, was authorized to be built by the United States Congressional Act of 9 July 1942...which stated in part:

"...The authorized composition of the United States Navy in under-age vessels, as established by the Act of March 27, 1934...as amended by the Acts of May 17, 1938...June 14, 1940...July 19, 1940... December 23, 1941...and May 13, 1942...is hereby further increased by one million nine hundred thousand tons of combatant ships, "...Provided, that the foregoing increases in tonnages for each of the three classes of aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers and destroyer escort vessels may be varied downward in the amount of 30 per centum of the total increased tonnage authorized herein, and if so varied downward, the tonnage so decreased may be used to increase the tonnage of any other class of vessel authorized above, or to increase the tonnage of submarines heretofore authorized, so long as the sum of the total increases in tonnages of these classes, including submarines as authorized herein, is not exceeded:...."

Originally assigned the name "Trembler," Submarine Hull Number 424 was renamed "Quillback" on 7 December 1943. The keel of the submarine was laid down on 27 June 1944 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. The submersible was christened by Mrs. John A. Tyree, Junior, and launched on 1 October 1944. Commissioning took place on 29 December 1944 with Lieutenant Commander Richard. P. Nicholson in command.

USS Quillback (SS-424) was a unit of the Tench Class...the follow-on class to the Gato and Balao Classes. The design development of the Balao and Tench Classes was accomplished at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, and USS Quillback was built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Therefore, USS Quillback was a "Portsmouth Boat."

One of the best-kept secrets of World War II was the increase in the operating depth of our submarines, from 300 feet in the Gato Class to 400 feet in the Balao Class. This was accomplished by shifting from mild steel to high-tensile steel and increasing the thickness of the pressure-hull plating, using the weight saved in previous classes by meticulous attention to design details in every area. Naturally, the Balao Class boats became known as the "thick skins"...while the Gato Class and earlier classes were dubbed "thin skins." In outward appearance and internal layout, the heavy-hull boats were practically identical to the earlier type, and many people--including the Japanese--were unaware that there had been any change. Most of the other new features in the Balao design had already been incorporated in the later Gato Class boats as alterations or contract changes, so the Bureau of Ships skipped the usual step of preparing a preliminary design and simply issued a so-called Circular of Requirements setting forth the changes and new test specifications.

Orders were placed for 256 units of the Balao Class, but only 119 were completed to the original design, the rest being either cancelled or reordered later in the war. World War II losses totaled nine, the low toll being due to the completion of many units too late in the war to encounter much opposition from the battered Japanese antisubmarine forces. Most of the Balao Class underwent conversion to new configurations after World War II, and made up the bulk of the Navy's active submarine force until nuclear-powered attack boats replaced most of them during the 1960s.

The Tench Class design was a refinement of the Balao-type hull in which the fuel and ballast tanks were completely rearranged. The objective was to eliminate the risers from the main ballast tanks in the single-hull sections, which passed through the forward and after torpedo rooms and were considered to be a point of potential vulnerability to flooding. The problem was solved by shifting Number 1 Main Ballast Tank to the location formally occupied by the Forward Trim Tank and changing Number 7 Main Ballast Tank to a variable fuel tank. An additional variable fuel tank had to be incorporated forward to provide compensation for weight changes as stores, weapons, and fuel were used up during a patrol. Other changes included the latest models of machinery and equipment, the most important of which was probably the new slow-speed, direct-drive main propulsion motors. The successful development of these large motors enabled the elimination of the noisy and easily damaged reduction gears, and, incidentally, permitted the hull designers to streamline the pressure hull, eliminating a bulge at the motor room which had previously been needed to accommodate the reduction gears and motors. Stowage space for four more spare torpedoes was created by careful rearrangement of the torpedo rooms. Externally, the Tench Class submarines were practically indistinguishable from the Balao Class submarines except for a sharper knuckle at the base of the stem.

Many of the Balao Class submarines ordered in the 1943-45 programs were cancelled and reordered to the Tench Class design, but only twenty-five were completed...most of them too late to see Second World War service. All except USS Corsair (SS-435) were built to Portsmouth plans and most were converted to GUPPY or snorkel types after the Second World War. Their performance was so nearly equal to that of the Balao Class that neither design can be said to have been superior to the other in basic characteristics.

When commissioned, USS Quillback was 311 feet 8 inches in length overall and had a maximum beam of 27 feet 3 inches. Her standard displacement on the surface was 1,570 tons, her normal displacement on the surface was between 1,980 and 2,000 tons, and her submerged displacement was 2,415 tons. USS Quillback (SS-424) was designed to dive to 400 feet...her operating depth. She has eight watertight compartments plus a conning tower. The pressure hull plating was 35 to 35.7 pound high tensile steel (approximately 7/8ths of an inch thick). The designed compliment was for ten officers and seventy-one men.

Armament consisted of 6 bow and 4 stern 21-inch torpedo tubes. The maximum torpedo load was twenty-eight Mark 14 Mod. 3A torpedoes. In place of torpedoes, a maximum of 40 mines could be carried. One 5-inch/25-caliber dual-purpose deck gun was fitted. Antiaircraft guns consisted of one 40-mm, one 20-mm, and two .50-caliber machine guns.

Fuel capacity was 113,510 gallons (rated) of diesel oil, which fueled 4 main Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston 1,600 horsepower diesel engines, and one auxiliary Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston diesel engine...which turned generators...which made electricity...which turned two General Electric propulsion motors of 2,740 shaft horsepower, which could drive the boat at 20.25 knots on the surface...and gave her a cruising range on the surface of 11,000 miles at ten knots (rated).

She was a "diesel-electric drive" Tench Class Fleet-Type submarine. The generators were also utilized to charge 2 Gould 126-cell main storage batteries...which could power the main propulsion motors ... which could drive the boat at 8.75 knots when submerged. Her submerged endurance, at 2 knots, was two days. Her patrol endurance was rated at 75 days. USS Quillback had a mean draft of 15 feet 3 inches when on the surface in diving trim.

After training at the United States Naval Submarine Base at New London/Groton, Connecticut; and working on an experimental ordnance project at the United States Naval Station at Key West, Florida; USS Quillback (SS-424) departed for the Hawaiian Islands and her maiden war patrol off the coast of Kyushu. During this first war patrol, which lasted from 30 May to 24 July of 1945, the submarine destroyed a Japanese suicide motorboat and rescued one aviator from the water only a half mile from the heavily armed shore.

Surrender of the Japanese to the Allies on 2 September 1945 aboard battleship USS Missouri...which was anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japan...ended the Second World War. USS Quillback was refitting for her second war patrol at Guam when this significant event occurred.

USS Quillback earned one battle star for her service during the Second World War.

Peacetime duties returned USS Quillback to New London/Groton for duty as a unit of Submarine Squadron 2. From 1945 to 1951, the submarine operated from the Connecticut Submarine Base in a training capacity as a "school boat" for the Submarine School...a tenant command at the Submarine Base. The submarine also operated as an experimental unit for the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory...which was housed at Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut.

During April of 1951, USS Quillback departed New London/Groton for a six month tour of duty with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

In April of 1952, USS Quillback reported to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, for decommissioning and commencement of conversion to a GUPPY IIA submarine.

USS Quillback was one of sixteen submarines in the Fiscal Year 1952 Program that provided for conversion of Fleet-Type submarines to GUPPY submarines. GUPPY means Greater Underwater Propulsion Power. The "Y" has no significance. This program was known as the Guppy IIA Program. The modifications included streamlining the superstructure deck and conning tower fairwater and installing a snorkel system.

One main propulsion engine and the auxiliary diesel engine (the "dinky") were removed. A sonar room was built into space created by the removal of the diesel engines. USS Quillback received Sargo II batteries with electrolyte agitation, battery cooling, and open tank ventilation. The electrical system was beefed up by doubling the capacity of the AC motor-generators to handle lighting as well as the previous load, and 120-volt direct current for other purposes was provided through rectifiers instead of rheostats. Two 400-cycle motor-generator sets were also added to meet the needs of new electronic equipment. The propellers were of the five-bladed fleet type.

On 27 February 1953, USS Quillback (SS-424) was recommissioned and joined the Submarine Force of the United States Atlantic Fleet as a streamlined GUPPY IIA submarine in Submarine Squadron 4 at Key West.

When recommissioned, the Guppy IIA submarine was 306 feet in length overall; had a maximum beam of 27 feet 4 inches; had a normal displacement of 1,840 tons when on the surface and 2,445 tons when submerged; had accommodations for 8 officers, 5 chief petty officers, and approximately 70 enlisted men; was armed only with 6 bow and 4 stern 21-inch torpedo tubes (all topside guns were gone); could make 18 knots on the surface and 15 knots submerged; and had only three 1,600 horsepower main diesel engines for propulsion...instead of the original four and the dinky.

From Key West, USS Quillback (SS-424) conducted local operations from the Naval Station; made occasional trips to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to provide services for the Fleet Training Group working up destroyer antisubmarine warfare (ASW) proficiencies following commissioning or shipyard overhaul; participated in major fleet and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises in the North Atlantic Ocean (in 1956, 1957, and 1958); deployed to the Mediterranean on several occasions; provided services to Operational Development Group Four; and conducted port visits to various United States and foreign ports (to "show the flag").

In 1959, USS Quillback was transferred from Submarine Squadron 4 to Submarine Squadron 12. Submarine Squadron 4 was supported by submarine tender USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16); Submarine Squadron 12 was supported by submarine tender USS Bushnell (AS-15). Both tenders and the attached submarines operated from the United States Naval Station at Key West, Florida.

During 1960, USS Quillback underwent extensive overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard at Charleston, South Carolina, to improve her offensive capabilities.

During October of 1961, the submarine pulled duty in the Mediterranean as a unit of the United States Sixth Fleet. She returned to Key West from that deployment in February of 1962.

Operating locally out of Key West from May to October of 1962, USS Quillback was deployed to Guantanamo Bay when the Cuban Quarantine was put into effect during the Cuban Missile Crisis...and remained there during the first ten days of that most crucial period.

During 1963, USS Quillback operated out of Key West and rendered services to the Fleet Training Group at Guantanamo Bay.

In July of 1964, USS Quillback deployed to the Mediterranean for six months of sevices to the United States Sixth Fleet.

Experimental torpedo research and development projects were assigned to USS Quillback in 1965...until she deployed to Guantanamo Bay in June to provide services to the Fleet Training Group.

The submarine continued to operate out of Key West until deploying to the Mediterranean, again, from August to November of 1967.

The submersible spent most of 1968 and 1969 in the Caribbean.

And so it went. Finally, on 23 March 1973, USS Quillback (SS-424) was decommissioned for the last time and struck from the Navy List.

On 21 March 1974, the submarine was sold for scrapping to the Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation of New York City, New York.