Manitowoc 28

USS Menhaden (SS 377)

Keel Laid – June 21, 1944

Launched – December 20, 1944

Commissioned – June 22, 1945

The war was over by the time USS Menhaden reached Panama, but she became the flag ship of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz at the Change of Command Ceremony on November 24, 1945. She was decommissioned on May 31, 1946 and was recommissioned August 7, 1951. She operated out of San Diego, CA until she was decommissioned again on August 13, 1952 to be streamlined and fitted with a snorkel system. Recommissioned March 6, 1953, she operated once again out of San Diego before heading out on a Far East cruise that earned her the China Service Medal for services to the Chinese Nationalist Navy Vessels in Formosa. In all, Menhaden served five Far Eastern cruises before being decommissioned in 1971 and placed in reserve.