| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1940 | Sep 11 | Keel laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME. |
| 1941 | May 12 | Launched. |
| | Nov 1 | Commissioned with CDR. Robert H. Rice in command.
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| 1942 | Mar 1 | Drum arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Apr 14 | Drum departed Pearl Harbor, HI. on 1st war patrol off the coast of Japan. She sank the seaplane tender Mizuho and 3 cargo ships. |
| | Jun 12 | Drum returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. for refit. |
| | Jul 10 | Drum departed for her 2nd war partol in the waters between Turk and Kavieng. Her efforts were frustrating due to poor torpedo performance, but she damaged 1 freighter before returning to Midway for refit. |
| | Sep 23 | Drum departed Midway for her 3rd war patrol, bound for the Eastern Coast of Kyushu. |
| | Oct 8 | Drum made contract with 4 freighters and defied air cover to sink one of the cargo ships before bombs forced her deep. |
| | Oct 9 | She sank another freighter and later underwent a severe depth charging from several escorts after she attacked a cargo ship. Later in the patrol, she sank 1 of 3 air-escorted cargo ships and damaged at least 2 more ships. |
| | Nov 8 | Drum returned to Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Nov 29 | Drum departed on her 3rd war patrol and carried out the demanding task of planting mines in heavily traveled Bungo Suido. |
| | Dec 12 | Drum made contact with the carrier Ryuho.She fired, and 2 torpedoes hit causing the carrier to list. A destroyer was bearing down so she dove but lost depth control on her port. She made repairs and managed to regain control. |
| 1943 | Mar 24 | Drum departed Pearl Harbor, HI. on her 5th war patrol after a thorough overhaul to search the waters south of Turk after she made a photographic reconnaissance of Nauru. |
| | Apr 5 | Drum sank 2 freighters then refitted at Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Jun 7 | Drum departed on her 6th war patrol and found her north of the Bismarck Archipelago. |
| | Jun 17 | Drum sank a cargo-passenger ship. |
| | Aug 16 | Drum departed Brisbane, Australia on her 7th war patrol to patrol off New Georgia during landing there. |
| | Aug 31 | Drum sent a cargo ship to the bottom. |
| | Sep 29 | Drum put in to Tulagi to repair her gyrocompass then sailed on to Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Nov 2 | On her 8th war patrol, Drum coordinated with the landings at Cape Torokina. |
| | Nov 17 | Drum sank a cargo ship. |
| 1944 | Apr 10 | Drum departed Pearl Harbor on her 9th war patrol patrolling the waters around Iwo Jima and other islands in the Bonins. A reconnaissance in Chichi Jima gained intelligence for bombardment of the island later by surface ships. |
| | Jun 24 | Drum began her 10th war patrol of lifeguard service for raids on Yap and Palau. |
| | Jul 29 | Drum sank a 125 ton sampan, capturing 2 prisoners which she took back to Pearl Harbor with her. |
| | Aug 14 | Drum arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Sep 9 | Drum sailed for Surigao Strait on her 11th war patrol. After 2 weeks she was ordered north to the South China Sea. She patrolled during the Leyte landing and the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf, sinking 3 cargo ships. |
| | Nov 8 | Drum replenished and made repairs at Majuro between 8 November and 7 December 1944. |
| | Dec 7 | Drum sailed for Nansei Shoto on her 12th war patrol. Only one contact was made during this partol. |
| 1945 | Jan 17 | Drum returned to Guam, Marianas Island. |
| | Feb 11 | On her 13th war patrol, Drum played a part in the assaults on both Iwo Jima and Okinawa providing lifeguard services for air strikes on the Nansei Shoto and Japanese home islands. |
| | Apr 2 | Drum sailed for Pearl Harbor, HI. and to the West Coast for an overhaul before training at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Aug 9 | Drum cleared Midway on what would have been her 14th war patrol, proceeding to Saipan at the end of hostilities and from there sailed for Pearl Harbor, HI., the Canal Zone and Portsmouth, NH. |
| 1946 | Feb 15 | Decommissioned. |
| 1947 | Mar 18 | Began service at Washington, DC, to members of the Naval Reserve in the Potomac River Naval Command which continued through 1962. |
| 1968 | Aug 30 | Struck from the Naval Register. |
| 1969 | Apr 14 | Drum became a Museum ship at Mobile. AL. |