USS Gar SS 206
USS Gar SS 206
USS Gar SS 206 Builders plaque
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 keel laying. December 27, 1939
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 in frame. April 1, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 in frame. April 1, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 in frame. June 27, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 in frame. September 26, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 in frame. September 28, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 launch Day November 7, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 launch Day November 7, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 launch Day November 7, 1940. Ballast tank flood port.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 Down the ways, November 7, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 launch Day November 7, 1940
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 January 3, 1941. USS Grampus in the background.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 January 3, 1941. USS Mackerel SS 204 on the right.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 March 30, 1941. USS Grampus in the background.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 March 30, 1941. USS Grampus in the background.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar SS 206 recovering pilots while on eleventh war patrol..
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
USS Gar mascot with the name "Garbo".
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force Museum
Garbo's pups being held by CMoM James Ellis.
Photo courtesy of The US Navy Submarine Force MuseumPage created by:
Garbo was the perfect submarine mascot. A mongrel puppy so small she could be concealed in a sailor's white hat, she came aboard the USS Gar (SS 206) in Hawaii about the time of the boat's tenth war patrol. She and the crew took an immediate liking to each other, and she remained on board for the rest of the Gar's fifteen war patrols. The puppy made her home in the forward torpedo room. Whenever the sub got under way, Garbo stationed herself all the way forward on the bullnose and barked.
Once each patrol she toured the Gar from stem to stern; as she arrived in each compartment, the crew there would come to attention. "She owned the boat and knew it," recalled Motor Machinist Mate Second Class Jim Bunn.
Garbo earned the combat submarine insignia that she wore on her collar, along with a star for each successful patrol she made on the Gar. Under the heaviest depth charge attacks, when the gauges were leaking, light bulbs breaking, and fires breaking out, Garbo remained as playful as ever. Bunn said, "She should have gotten a medal for keeping our spirits and morale up when we needed it most." Anyone was welcome to pet her, but only the skipper, Lt. Cmdr. George Lautrup, Jr., and the cook, Red Balthorp, could pick her up. The skipper would put her on his shoulder and carry her up the ladder to the bridge at night for fresh air.
One night while the Gar was running on the surface during a war patrol in the Palau Islands, Garbo stepped off the cigarette deck and vanished into the darkness. The C.O. Immediately began a dog overboard search. With the boat making frantic circles in enemy waters, a lookout finally spotted the mascot below the bridge, safe on the main deck.
Between patrols, Garbo stayed with the crew at their hotel in Pearl Harbor. She joined in the ship's parties, and like some of her two-legged shipmates, she didn't know her limit. After lapping up too much beer, she tended to blunder into furniture.
Garbo gave birth to two pups while the sub was en route to Ulithi; the father belonged to the USS Tambor (SS 198). The Gar's crew traded the pups to other submarines for cases of beer. At the end of the war, when the Gar returned to the States, Chief Motor Machinist Mate Jim Ellis took Garbo home with him.
Excerpted from Sea Dogs by WILLIAM GALVANI
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