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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

Cisco (SS-290)

Balao Class Submarine: Laid down, 29 October 1942, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, on Seavey Island in Kittery, Maine. Launched, 24 December 1942; Commissioned USS Cisco (SS-290), 10 May 1943; Sunk on 1st patrol in September 1943 by bombs and depth charges, all hands lost; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown).

As built to the specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,526 t., Submerged: 2,414 t.; Length 311' 9"; Beam 27' 3"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 kts, Submerged 8.75 kts; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10kts; Submerged Endurance, 48 hours at 2kts; Operating Depth Limit, 400 ft; Complement 6 Officers 60 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun, one 40mm gun, two .50 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four General Motors main generator diesel engines, 5,400 hp, Fuel Capacity 94,400 gal., four General Electric main motors with 2,740 hp, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers.
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Cisco NR Two Subs Will Be Launched On Christmas Eve: Portsmouth Navy Yard's Christmas gift to the Nation will be the submarines Cisco (SS-290) and Cabrilla (SS-288) to be launched tomorrow weeks ahead of schedule. Rear Admiral Thomas Withers, commandant of the yard, announced today.Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 23 December 1942, Image 1, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Cisco
0828890		 606k PORTSMOUTH, N. H. - SUBS BUILT IN RECORD TIME
Two submarines, built in record time, are sliding down the ways at a twin launching here. The Cisco (SS-290) (bottom) was on the ways 56 days and a few hours. The Cabrilla (SS-288) (top) also broke the record of 101 days set last summer on the Steelhead (SS-280). Its time was not announced.		 A. P. Wirephoto.
Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 27 December 1942, Image 2, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Cabrilla & Cisco 252k Notice from Rear Admiral T. Withers to the Workers of the Portsmouth Navy Yard Relaying a Message from the Secretary of the Navy, 30 December 1942 for their successful completion of the Cabrilla (SS-288) & Cisco (SS-290). National Archives Identifier: 12562939
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
Picuda & Pampanito 990k Wishing you were here! (1)
Camera shy at the moment are Cabrilla (SS-288) & Cisco (SS-290). So here is a representation of the keel laying of the Picuda (SS-382) (left) and Pampanito (SS-383) (right) on 15 March 1943, Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH. 		National Archives Identifier: 38330013
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
Growler 525k The Cisco (SS-290) was sponsored by Mrs. A. C. Bennett,(no photo) through her proxy, Mrs. N. Robertson.
Here, her husband, Rear Admiral Andrew C. Bennett, Commandant, Eighth Naval District, posthumously awards Medal of Honor to Commander Howard W. Gilmore, USN, who sacrificed his own life to save the men onboard his submarine, Growler (SS-215). Mrs. Gilmore and her children Howard Jr, and Vernon Jeanne take part in the ceremony. Shown: Rear Admiral Bennett bestows the medal upon Mrs. Howard Gilmore.		USN photo # 80-G-42661 courtesy of National Museum of the U.S. Navy via flickr.com.
Sea Dogs482kIf Mrs. A. C. Bennett was at the launching of the Cisco (SS-290), it would have looked like this:
Double Dog Launching: Sea Dog (SS-401) & Sea Fox (SS-402).
From left to right: Mrs. O.C. Robbins, Matron of Honor, Mrs. Robert N. Robertson, Sponsor for Sea Fox (SS-402), Rear Admiral Thomas Witner, Mrs. Vernon L. Lowrance; Sponsor, & Mrs. James P. Lynch; Matron of honor for Sea Dog (SS-401) at double launching in submarine basin at Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire on 28 March 1944. 		Photo courtesy of Lt. Francis Doerfler via Joe Pace.
Capelin 815k Stern view of the Capelin (SS-289) previous to launching, 20 January 1943. The unfinished Cisco (SS-290) lies alongside. USN photo # 80-G-26161 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 340k Cisco (SS-290) slides down the ways on 24 December 1942. USN photo # 80-G-40255 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 176k Cisco's (SS-290) officers on deck, probably during her commissioning on 10 May 1943. The XO, Lieutenant Commanders August Fredrick Weinel is the 3rd from the left, Lieutenant Commanders James Wiggins Coe is in the middle. 2nd on right, Lt. Howard Berry, Jr.; Lt. Walter Louney is last on right (to the best of my knowledge).Insert link courtesy of usnamemorialhall.org.
Photo courtesy of oneternalpatrol.com
Cisco 814k Stern view of the Cisco (SS-290) underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo # 68922, from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 595k Cisco (SS-290) underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo # 68923, from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 689k Stern view of the Cisco (SS-290) underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo # 68925, from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 75k Cisco (SS-290), underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org.
Cisco 38k Cisco (SS-290), underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. U.S. Navy photo.
Cisco 743k Cisco (SS-290) underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo # 80-G-68920, from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 863k Starboard broadside photo of Cisco (SS-290) underway during her sea trials off Portsmouth New Hampshire, 19 June 1943. USN photo # 80-G-68921, from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Cisco 38k The gunboat Karatsu [ex-U.S. river gunboat Luzon (PR-7)] which helped to sink the Cisco (SS-290). U.S. Naval Institute photo, Dudley Knox Library
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey Ca., Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit.
Cisco 26k Photo of the Gunboat IJN Hozu, similiar to the Karatsu [ex-U.S. river gunboat Luzon (PR-7)] which helped to sink the Cisco (SS-290). Photo by Takeshi Yuki scanned from "Color Paintings of Japanese Warships" courtesy of combinedfleet.com.
Cisco NR Navy Announces Loss Of Submarines Cisco (SS-290) And S-44 (SS-155) in Pacific .Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 08 February 1944, Image 1, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Cisco 128k Commemorative photo in honor of the memory of the crew of the Cisco (SS-290).Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen.
Dante's Prayer courtesy of Loreena McKennitt via loreenamckennitt.com
Cisco 272k Google Earth satellite photo where Cisco (SS-290) is assumed to have been lost.View courtesy of Google Earth.
Fremantle 365k This plaque was unveiled 20 March 1995 by His Excellency Major General P.M. Jeffery OA MC, Governor of Western Australia to commemorate the sacrifices made by Allied submarines that operated out of Fremantle, Western Australia during WW II. Photo courtesy of Ron Reeves (of blessed memory).
Cisco 14k James Wiggins Coe, Commander (Commanding Officer) of the Cisco (SS-290) at the time of her loss. USN photo courtesy of oneternalpatrol.com.
Tolling the Boats 117k Joyce DaSilva, the wife of Jesse DaSilva of the Tang (SS-306), one of the nine survivors of the boat, tosses a flower into a reflecting pool to honor the memory of one of the 52 submarines lost during World War II at the National Submarine Memorial-West on board Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Calif. On this Veterans Day, the Submarine Veterans of World War II transferred ownership of the memorial to the U.S. Navy.

The following text is from The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton., pg. 478.
"Major Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island was killed in the battle, and just before it he had wrote to his wife, Sarah, to tell her that he believed he was going to be killed and to express a tremulous faith that could see a gleam of light in the dark:
"But O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and float unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the gladdest days and in the gloomiest nights, always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your chest it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait, for we shall meet again!"		 Text i.d. courtesy of Marlynn Starring. Photo i.d. courtesy of Chuck Senior, Vice Commander, Los Angeles-Pasadena Base, USSVI.
USN photo # N-1159B-021 by Journalist 2nd Class Brian Brannon, courtesy of news.navy.mil.
Cisco 301k Port side view of the Cisco (SS-290), underway, during her sea trials off the New England coast, June 1943.

In Memorium:

In the Second Book of Shmuel (Samuel), 22nd chapter, 5th through the 20th verses, translated from the original in Hebrew and published by the Koren Publishers of Jerusalem, Israel, 1982, can perhaps aptly describe the fate of the crew and all other U.S. submariners who died defending their county:

"When the waves of death compassed me / the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; / the bonds of She'ol encircled me; / the snares of death took me by surprise; / in my distress I called upon the Lord, / and cried to my G-D: / and he heard my voice out of his temple, / and my cry entered into his ears. / Then the earth shook and trembled; /the foundations of heaven moved / and shook because of his anger /...the heavy mass of waters, and thick clouds of the skies /... And the channels of the sea appeared, / the foundations of the world were laid bare, / at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast at the breath of his nostrils. / He sent from above, he took me; / he drew me out of many waters; / he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. / They surprised me in the day of my calamity: / but the Lord was my stay / He brought me forth also into a large place: / he delivered me because he delighted in me./"		 Photo submitted by Charles R. Hinman, Director of Education & Outreach,
USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, &
On Eternal Patrol
View the Cisco (SS-290)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
On Eternal Patrol
ComSubForPac Report of loss of USS CISCO (SS 290) September 28, 1943 - 76 Men Lost
Ep-21 (1) - Victory At Sea ~ Full Fathom Five - HQ
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