On the afternoon of 24 May, Tigrone answered a call for assistance from a severely damaged PBY Catalina seaplane which had nosed into a wave on takeoff from a rescue operation. Quickly arriving on the scene, the submarine took on board 16 survivors, the crew and twice-rescued passengers of the disabled seaplane. Soon the submarine was searching again, this time for survivors of other downed aircraft who had been reported by circling planes to be floating on rafts in Tigrone’s lifeguard area. Night fell before the submarine located the rafts, but, early on 30 May, she surfaced and, despite 30 ft (9 m) waves, resumed the search. Friendly aircraft aided her efforts, and Tigrone’s persistence was rewarded when she at last located seven Army aviators afloat on a raft. These tenacious survivors had been washed overboard several times during the night but had climbed back each time. The heavy seas made rescue difficult and time-consuming, but finally the exhausted aviators were brought safely on board the submarine. Tigrone jauntily sent out the message, and noted that she had set a new record for lifeguard proficiency. On 1 June, Tigrone put in at Iwo Jima to disembark her passengers and on the next day, despite continuing radar problems, again got underway, returning to her patrol area on 3 June. Plagued by fog and radar malfunctions, Tigrone at last was forced to request to be assigned to lifeguard duty when a persistent loud scraping noise in the vicinity of her starboard shaft rendered normal submarine patrol and attack functions hazardous, if not impossible. Operating south of Honshū, Tigrone joined the "Lifeguard League" and on 26 June recovered an aviator who had parachuted from his disabled fighter, rescuing him from the water only six minutes from the time his parachute blossomed. During the two days that followed, she took on rescued aviators from other submarines and set her course for Guam on 28 June. She ended her second war patrol on 3 July at Apra Harbor, having rescued a total of 30 aviators on this war patrol. Third patrol Following refitting by submarine tender , Tigrone departed Guam on 31 July and, after the usual stop at Saipan for torpedoes, arrived on lifeguard station. As the submarine approached within 100 miles (160 km) of Honshū, the news arrived that the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan. Patrolling nearer and nearer Honshū as