S-28′s keel was laid down on 16 April 1919 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts.

[1] In April 1924 she returned to New London, Connecticut, with her division and commenced local exercises which occupied the remainder of 1924.

[1] S-28 operated primarily off Southern California until 1931, calling at Mare Island Navy Yard in California for regularly scheduled overhaul periods and also deploying for a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal area in 1926, for summer maneuvers near Hawaii in 1927, for a Fleet Problem in the Panama Canal area in 1929, and for summer maneuvers near Hawaii in 1930.

[1] She continued that duty into the spring of 1942, then was ordered north to the Aleutian Islands to augment U.S. defenses in the Territory of Alaska.

[1] On 29 May 1942, however, as the United States made preparations to minimize a two-pronged Japanese thrust against Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the Aleutians, the S-boats received orders to proceed to their patrol areas, bypassing Dutch Harbor.

[1] During a quickly extinguished fire in her port main motor on the morning of 1 June 1942, S-28 suffered minor damage.

[1] On 11 June 1942, a U.S. Navy floatplane mistook her for a Japanese submarine and attacked her in the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutians at 53°57′25″N 164°30′00″W / 53.95694°N 164.50000°W / 53.95694; -164.50000, dropping a bomb or depth charge as she crash-dived that inflicted only slight damage and no casualties.

[2] On 12 June 1942, S-28 arrived at Dutch Harbor, refueled, took on provisions, and headed west to resume her war patrol.

[1] On 18 August 1942, having been unable to close any of the targets sighted during the latter part of her patrol, she returned to Dutch Harbor.

[1] Moving down the coast of Paramushiro, she patrolled in Onekotan Strait, then headed north again, and on 20 January 1943 passed Shumushu, from which she set a course for the Aleutians and returned to Dutch Harbor.

[1] On her return to Dutch Harbor, S-28 was ordered south, and on 4 March 1943 she got underway for Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada, where from 15 March to 15 April 1943 she conducted sound tests and antisubmarine warfare exercises with Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force units.

[1] She then continued on to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, for overhaul and superstructure modification work.

[1] On 13 July 1943, S-28 departed Dutch Harbor to return to the northern Kuril Islands for her sixth war patrol.

[1] The late arrival of needed spares from Dutch Harbor delayed her readiness for sea, but on 8 September 1943, S-28 departed Attu to return to the northern Kuril Islands for her seventh and final war patrol.

[1] On 15 September 1943, severe smoking and sparking from her port main motor necessitated 14 hours of repair work.

[1] At 19:46, the 1,368-long-ton (1,390 t) converted gunboat Katsura Maru Number Two sank, bow first, her stern vertical in the air.

[1] On 3 July 1944, S-28 began anti-submarine warfare training operations off Oahu with the United States Coast Guard cutter USCGC Reliance (WSC-150).

[1] Two days later, a slick of diesel fuel appeared in the area where she had been operating, but the extreme depth of the waters there exceeded the range of available rescue and salvage equipment.