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Battle Submerged

SubmarineFighters

World War II

Battle SubmergedSubmarine Fighters

of World War H

Rear Admiral HARLEY COPE

and Captain WALTER KARIG

W W NORTON if COMPANY INC New Yorfc

6PYRIGHT) 1951, BY W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC.

FIRST EDITION

PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR

THE PUBLISHERS BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC.

GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO THE OFFICERS AND MENof the SILENT SERVICE

Contents-

Foreword xi

1. The Submarine 32. First Offensives 17

3. Seagoing Scarlet Pimpernels. Evacuation and Sup-

ply 294. Reconnaissance 435. Carlson's Raiders 63

6. Mine Laying 767. Submarine Versus Submarine 87

8. They Chose Death 959. Operation Appendectomy Submerged! 103

10. Wolf Packs 10811. Lifeguards 12112. Mission of Mercy 13413. Submarine Versus Destroyer 14414. Penetrating Enemy Harbors 16315. A Strange Target 18216. Periscope Spies 19217. Shore Bombardment 21518. The Submarine in World War III 237

Illustrations-

A merchant ship goes down

A flaming Jap ship

"Eyes of the Submarine"

The bridge watch and lookouts

Searching for targets

U.S.S. Parche

Rockets awayl

Submarine rescue buoy

Air crew rescue

Tang rescues Navy fliers

Torpedo room

Torpedo test shop

Stowing a "tin fish"

Submarine troop transport

U.S.S. Cubera

Periscope and schnorkel

C7.S.S. Clamagore

U.S.S. Requin

Central operating compartment

Air manifold

Torpedomen sleep with torpedoes

Foreword.

THE PRIMARY purpose of this book is to describe the ex-

traordinary versatility of what will probably be the most

important fighting craft in the next war the submarines. Themethod the authors have chosen is to relate each of the warmissions that the submarines of the United States Navy were

sent out to perform, in the narratives of as many ships. Anyone submarine can do, and in the last war did do, virtually

everything herein described.

The secondary purpose of the book is to demonstrate that

even in this age of gadgetry and electronics, the sea is still

the source of extraordinary adventure that it was in the daysof sail and galleys.

This is not a history, or even intended as a preface to the

history, of the United States submarine in World War II.

Consequently the authors must deeply regret the conspicuousomissions from this volume, but no apologies are offered be-

cause none are expected by men of the stripe of Joe Willing-

ham, Barney Sieglaff, Creed Burlingame, Slade Cutter, Reu-

ben Whitaker, George Grider, Johnny Coy, Burt Klakringwhich is to say, every sub skipper who creased enemy waters

with torpedoes. In the editorial judgment they exercised in

selecting the one episode out of a hundred like it to describe

Xll FOREWORD

a particular function of the submarine, the authors had only

one motive, to do the most comprehensive job possible for

the reader's benefit., and especially for the reader who never

saw a submarine and wouldn't ride in one for the traditional,

if devalued, million dollars.

Debts are inadequately acknowledged to Admiral Louis

Denfeld who, as Chief of Naval Operations, authorized use

of war diaries and related operational reports to insure the

accuracy of these tales of the Silent Service; and to Cap-tain Charles F, Erck, Captain William D. Irvin and CaptainLewis S. Parks, who gave indispensable help in expandingthe too meager accounts their too modest colleagues recorded

in war diaries and official reports.

HARLEY COPE WALTER KARIG

Battle Submerged

Submarine Fighters

of World War II

1

The Submarine

THE SUBMARINE is essentially an American innovation,

but in its development the United States has always laggedbehind her sister maritime nations. During the War for In-

dependence the infant United States had initiated submarine

warfare with David BushnelFs hand-propelled but impotentTurtle, Ironically, perhaps, the first warship in history to be

sunk in combat by a submarine was the USS Housatonic

destroyed by the primitive hand-operated Confederate sub-

marine Hunley on February 17, 1864.

Other nations France, Italy and Germany had equippedtheir navies with submarines well before the parent coun-

try commissioned the first of John P. Holland's underwater

torpedo boats on April 11, 1900. At the end of World WarII we were still trying to catch up with our late enemies

except in one thing: personnel. We may not have had the

best submarines in the world, but by the record we had the

world's best submariners.

A great difference existed between the types of boats that

4 BATTLE SUBMERGED

fought World War I and World War II, but it was the sort

of difference shared with the automobiles and airplanes

of that span of years. Refinements and improvements had

been added, but the fundamental principles remained un-

changed. Like the Model T of 1918 and the streamlined job

of 1941 the plodding L-boats of World War I and the history-

making Barb of 1945 were brothers under the skin. Theyboth dove by flooding ballast tanks and torpedo tubes,

still ejected 21-inch torpedoes. Diesel engines continued to

drive them on the surface while the same type of electric

motors, taking their energy from a nest of large storage bat-

teries, were used submerged; periscopes still observed the

targets.

The difference even between the first Holland submarine

and the best we had in operation against Japan was evolu-

tionary. Only now are we entering the stage of revolutionary

change, the true submarine that can cruise around the

world without having to surface to breathe or charge bat-

teries.

When its size is compared with the wallop it packs, the

submarine is unquestionably the most compact man-of-war

in existence, and consequently the most crowded, The boat

is no place for anybody who must have plenty of elbow room.

Its bulkheads are so covered with dials, tubes, coils and

gauges there is small room for pinups, but not a single pieceof equipment aboard is dispensable to its best operation.The submarine of World War II, already obsolescent, was

a little over 300 feet long, with a displacement of 1,500 tons,

a surface speed of twenty knots or a little better and a maxi-

mum submerged speed of ten knots. (Our newer subs will

not change much in the single factor of external dimension. )

Its maximum armament consisted of six torpedo tubes

forward, four aft, and twenty-four torpedoes to shoot fromthem. One full torpedo salvo banged out three tons of ex-

plosive, enough to sink the largest warship afloat.

THE SUBMARINE 5

The deck gun grew from 3-inch to 4-inch, and finally

graduated to a 5-incher. The original .50 caliber machine

gun was latterly augmented by 20-millimeter and 40-milli-

meter guns. In the new submarines the deck guns are disap-

pearing. What's the use for such guns on a submarine that

never exposes its decks in combat?

The compartmentation in the submarine with which this

book is concerned hadn't changed much between wars. In

the bow is the forward torpedo room, then next in line goingaft are the forward battery room, control room, after battery,

forward and after engine rooms, maneuvering room, and

after torpedo room. "Forward," of course, is navy languagefor "up front," and "after" means toward the stem or rear.

In the forward battery are the wardroom (on any ship

the combined living room-dining room) and the officers'

quarters. The control room and conning tower are the nerve

center of the boat. Here the diving, steering, navigation, fire

control, and every other control aboard are located. In the

after battery are the galley (kitchen) and crews' quarters.

Throughout the boat, tucked in this and that corner, under

control boards, in the overhead, are located units which

provide the submarine with its air conditioning, refrigerat-

ing, fresh water, high-pressure air bottles, radio and radar. In

fact, so many things are packed away in a sub that a catalog

of all it contains in such relatively small space would be read

with disbelief.

The hull resembles a huge Perfecto cigar in shape, in-

ternally divided lengthwise in approximate halves. The lower

half of the hull is subdivided into various tanks; fuel, water,

storage batteries, and the diving or ballast tanks. Two hun-

dred fifty-two large battery cells, each one weighing close

to a ton, are the source of electric power. The batteries are

kept charged by the Diesel generators when the boat is on

the surface.

The submarine uses two means of propulsion, electricity

6 BATTLE SUBMERGED

when submerged and, on the surface, four Diesel engineswhich can send it through the water at a speed of better than

twenty knots.

Inasmuch as Diesel engines require a lot of air for opera-

tion, the electric motors must be used during submergence;and since the motors take their power from the storage bat-

tery, a submarine's submerged radius is necessarily verylimited. The postwar adaption of the German snorkel is

altering that handicap. The snorkel in simplest terms is a

long tube that extends above the surface to draw air downinto the boat for the engines. The cruising depth is of course

limited to the length of the snorkel. Below that depth re-

course must again be had to the electric motors.

An ordinary surface craft remains afloat because it pos-sesses positive buoyancy. If enough water enters the ship,

that buoyancy is destroyed and the vessel sinks. The same

principle is employed to submerge a submarine, only the

admission of the sea water is controlled. That is the purposeof the ballast tanks to reduce the positive buoyancy to

zero. Of course, the weight of the submarine and its variable

contents has to be carefully calculated and controlled. To

compensate for the weights taken aboard, and converselyfor those consumed or removed, be they men, supplies, equip-ment, or food, small variable tanks are filled or emptied of

sea water.

When all has been properly adjusted, the submarine has

what is called her "trim." She still has enough positive buoy-ancy to float, but not so much that it can't be quickly re-

duced to zero when the main ballast tanks are flooded for a

dive.

Also to aid the boat when submerging and to keep her at

the required depth there are horizontal planes forward and

aft, called bow and stern planes, which have the same

stabilizing function as the flippers on a fish.

The usual dive is very aptly termed "quick" because it

THE SUBMARINE 7

takes less than a minute from the time the skipper sounds

the diving alarm until nothing is seen on the sea but swirls

and a corrugated slick. During those sixty seconds a well-

trained crew was at work with speedy, silent efficiency. Be-

fore the blast of the siren had reached its crescendo the

Diesels were stopped and power switched to the motors.

Simultaneously the ballast tanks and their vents were openedto the sea (the 1944 war boat had its ballast tanks always

open to the sea) , bow and stern planesmen gave their planes

down rudder, the main induction closed, and the skipper

pulled down the bridge hatch while the diving officer in-

tently watched the depth gauges.When a dive bomber starts to pull out he often uncon-

sciously wonders if the wings are going to remain with his

plane. The diving officer on a submarine, too, entertains a

subconscious thought: will the boat level off at periscope

depth or has some extra weight been taken aboard without

compensation to make the boat heavy?

Diving planes have been known to jam, too, and a one-

way ride thousands of feet to the bottom is not pleasantto contemplate. Well-trained, well-disciplined crews have

often saved submarines from destruction through diving

failures, given warning enough, so the diving officer remains

constantly alert to catch the first signs of any possible danger.Our submarines were built with the premise in mind to

carry a war to the coast of the farthest possible enemy. Should

that be Japan, as everyone more than suspected, we knewthat our boats would probably have to operate from bases

at least 5,000 miles from Empire waters. Since the Armyconsistently admitted its inability to <Jefen(i the Philippineswith the forces and funds available, we had to write themoff as a possible base which left Pearl Harbor.

This meant that some of the conditions our boats wouldbe required to meet would be a cruising radius of about 15,-

000 miles, facilities to provide food for an ample, varied, and

8 BATTLE SUBMERGED

highly nutritious diet for a sixty-day patrol, and means of

combating the depressing, enervating humid air of the tropics.

The latter necessity was the last to be provided, strangely

enough, although air conditioning was a comparatively

simple and inexpensive installation. Actually, the sub-

marines had to fight hard to get this important feature. Whomdid they have to battle? Mostly the people who never went

to sea, like the constructors in the comfort of their air-

conditioned offices who remarked slyly that the submariners

were trying to make luxury liners out of their boats. Somesurface-craft people shared their views. They allowed lack

of foresight to warp good judgment, for they failed to realize

this important fact: during a sixty-day patrol the men hadto be up to par at all times; if they weren't, there was a

better than even chance that they would not be able to

wriggle out of the pattern of the next depth-charge attack.

Fatigued men are not alert, either mentally or physically, and

our submariners have to be on tiptoe alert every momentof every patrol. A soppily humid submarine is as enervat-

ing as the steam room of a Turkish bath, but it took a lot of

persuasive oratory to convince the authorities that an un-

comfortable crew might cost the life of the submarine andall hands aboard.

Then, of course, there was the discussion even before

the dud war heads became an issue over the submarine's

main weapon, the torpedo.The old S-boats had four tubes forward and none aft, ex-

cept for a few of the S-48 and S-10 class, which also hadone stern tube. Although the Germans had freighter sub-

marines which supplied their boats at sea, American subs

operating thousands of miles from base could not replenishtheir supply of torpedoes. Their offensive power was limited

to the torpedoes they could carry. The final answer to that

problem of obtaining maximum fire power was a boat withsix tubes forward and four aft, each carrying a torpedo;

THE SUBMARINE 9

fourteen others were loaded in the racks, giving the subs

a total load of twenty-four torpedoes.The torpedo is one of the most complex pieces of

mechanism imaginable, and one of the most destructive.

Three types were used during the war, Mark 10 for the

S-boats, Mark 14 for the fleet-type boats and, later, the

Mark 18. Each type had its share of modifications and head-

aches.

The first two were steam torpedoes; the Mark 18, electric.

In its elementary form the Mark 10 was a long steel

projectile about twenty-one feet long, twenty-one inches

in diameter, and weighing almost a ton. The forward partof the torpedo, about four feet in length, carried the deadlywar head, containing 500 pounds of TNT (later the more

powerful torpex), which was exploded by simple contact

with the target. The next ten feet of the steel-jacketed missile

contained a flask of compressed air, alcohol for fuel, and

water to make steam. In a small midship section was located

the combustion flask and igniter; then came the after body,

containing the twin steam turbines, gyro, depth and steering

mechanism, and the tail assembly carried the two four-

bladed propellers and horizontal and vertical rudders.

To fire the torpedo, the submarine's tube containing it is

first flooded with sea water and then the outer door is

opened. The torpedo is ejected by a blast of air. A starter

lever on the torpedo is mechanically tripped as it starts to

leave the tube and from then on the torpedo is on its ownas the hundreds of finely machined parts begin to functiori.

The igniter in the midships section lights the fire under the

combustion flask or boiler into which air and water is

sprayed, Steam is raised and piped back to the turbines, and

the propellers begin to hum.

A high-speed gyro keeps the torpedo on a straight course,

a hydrostatic piston and depth engine maintains the "fish"

at a set depth. When the torpedo arrives at its expected des-

10 BATTLE SUBMERGED

tination the exploder mechanism is actuated by contact,

then, bam! a $10,000 missile rips into the innards of a ship

worth many times that price.

Of course, if one of the many little intricate pieces of

mechanism fails to function properly, the torpedo can do

almost anything, even to circling back to strike the ship that

sent it on its way. If the igniter at the start fails, no steam is

formed and the torpedo runs "cold" its only power beingthe air from the air flask. The result? It runs about one

thousand yards, stops, and sinks. When it functions accord-

ing to hopes, it is "hot and straight."

The Mark 14 was a little longer, heavier, and faster. It had

two speeds, forty-six and thirty-two knots. The explodermechanism was a bit more complicated and, according to

its constructors, the answer to all prayers for a good torpedo.It was supposed to explode whenever it ran through the

magnetic field set up by the steel in aship's hull. Well dis-

cuss the headaches it caused the Service in another chapter.The Mark 18 uses electricity as its propulsive power in-

stead of steam. Its great advantage is that it leaves no waketo reveal the submarine's location by a string of bubbles

breaking the surface to point an accusing finger. The basic

idea was lifted from a captured German torpedo. Duringthe last six months of the war, 65 per cent of the torpedoesused were of the electric variety.

The personnel in submarines are all volunteers and spe-

cially selected at that. A crew usually consists of eight officers

and seventy-five men. All of the officers lind most of the menare graduates of the Submarine School at New London.

Usually 80 per cent of the crew is made up of noncom-missioned officers. All men learn to double in some job other

than their own, and all officers and men have to learn their

boat in detail and to be able to operate any diving station in

the submarine. No one ever goes along for the ride in a sub-

marine.

THE SUBMARINE 11

The ratings consist of torpedomen, motor machinist's

mates, radiomen, electronic gear operators, electricians,

quartermasters, a gunner's mate, ship's cook, steward's

mates, a yeoman, and a pharmacist's mate.

A senior chief petty officer is appointed "chief of the boat"

and acts as the general factotum of the submarine. A goodchief of the boat is as invaluable to the skipper as his right

arm, and his right eye to boot.

The officers consist of the skipper, his executive officer

(who doubles as navigator), engineering officer, electrical

officer, commissary and supply, communications, first lieu-

tenant, gunnery and radar officer. These all take their turn

at being diving officer, although a particular one holds downthat important billet during battle stations when the other

officers assist in fire control and torpedo rooms and the

exec becomes the assistant approach officer.

The periscope is the eye of the submarine and during the

approach and submerged attack is manned by the skipper.

Through him the men in the submarine are told what is

going on outside. Skippers usually make it a point to keeptheir crews informed of the approach and attack as it

progresses, giving a blow by blow description of the battle.

On the surface, the radar operator first picks up the

enemy ships or planes; when submerged, this responsibility

falls on the sound operator or the periscope watch.

During the early part of the war submerged attacks were

made during daylight hours and very often at night, al-

though night submerged attacks are rather unsatisfactorysince the visibility through the periscope is uncertain exceptin the brightest moonlight. But in 1942 we did not carryradar efficient enough to permit a successful surface attack

except with the most advantageous visibility.

Later, with improved radar aboard, skippers always made

night attacks on the surface if at all possible. The four

engines gave them a good speed advantage over the enemy

12 BATTLE SUBMERGED

and permitted them to circle their slower-moving opponentlike a skillful boxer, Then at a propitious moment they could

lash out and step back out of danger. The engines cannot

be used submerged, so maneuverability and speed are

sacrificed for the advantages of invisibility, which is greatin daylight, but not so necessary at night because the dark-

ness provides it anyway. On the other hand, when the sub-

marine is submerged, darkness is a disadvantage because it

makes an accurate periscope sight almost impossible and the

inability to use radar under water leaves submarines grop-

ing blindly. So, as long as our radar was superior to the Japs'

the night surface attack oifered the best chance of success.

The submarine is equipped with an excellent sound device

for taking bearings on enemy ships, and each gunnery season

before the war included a number of torpedoes fired from

below periscope depth by means of sound bearings only.

In theory it offered a safe way of hitting targets except for

one thing a sudden change of course by the target which

necessitated a quick shift to a new firing course. Soundwould of course detect this change but every skipper felt

he would do better when he could see the target at whichhe was shooting. The result was that very few sound shots

were successfully tried during the war. Of course, manyshots were fired with only the radar acting as the eye of the

submarine, for the skippers had developed such great con-

fidence in the device during the latter part of the war that

they trusted it almost implicitly.

Before .describing what happens during the time a targetis sighted and fired upon, we must take time out to describe

one item that is essential to every submarine's success. It

is called the J-factor, the "Jesus factor," somewhat more thana synonym for luck. Every submarine skipper admits that,

no matter how skillful and experienced he is and even

though he undoubtedly has the best crew in the Navy, heneeds a good J-factor for a perfect operation. After a success-

THE SUBMABINE 13

ful patrol he is always careful to report that the J-factor was

good.When making an attack the period between the time

the target is contacted either visually or by radar and

the torpedoes are ejected is divided into two parts, the ap-

proach and the attack.

The approach is essentially the process of placing the sub-

marine in the most advantageous attack position, and at

the same time by various periscope observations if sub-

merged, by radar if on the surface getting the target speed,

course, and range in order to compute an accurate "periscope

angle." This means that when the periscope's crosswire is

on the point of aim the torpedoes will have enough offset to

intercept the target at the desired point, rather like whena hunter leads a duck. It means that the torpedo is aimed at

where the target will be, when the "fish" arrives.

When the target is first sighted, the skipper from his

initial observation makes an estimate of the "angle on the

bow" if the target is pointed directly toward him the

angle is zero. The angle increases as the target swings, until

a full broadside is presented 90 degrees or only the stern

can be seen 180 degrees. With the angle on the bow and

with the true bearing of the target, the fire control gangcan tell the skipper the target's course. An interception course

is now steered. Then, with ranges and successive plots, a veryclose estimate of the target speed may be obtained. TheT.D.C. (target data computer) does most of the actual com-

puting mechanically from data fed into the machine after

the initial setup.

All of this makes the approach look like duck soup and

it would be comparatively easy if the target jnaintained a

steady course. But targets are never that cooperative. Theyuse every trick gained through experience to make it diffi-

cult for the submarine. After the middle?

20s, all of our sub-

marines worked on the premise that in the next war the

14 BATTLE SUBMERGED

targets would steer zigzag courses and be protected byalert destroyer and air screens. Thus it behooved every

skipper to learn the rudiments of making successful attacks

despite evasive tactics by the targets. The approach conse-

quently really became a series of approaches, with the

skipper, especially in the final stages, trying to outguess the

next move of the target. His ability to do this is a combina-

tion of the plot that has been kept of the target's move-

ments, plus his personal skill and the aid of his J-factor. A

target, naturally, is endeavoring to reach some port and

she must, perforce, make a large amount of the distance good

along the base course in spite of the zigs and zags. Otherwise,

she will never arrive at her destination. Certainly, if the

skipper can outguess her, she won't get there anyway, so

perhaps it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. Whenthe destroyer escort picks up unmistakable signs of a sub-

marine's presence the information is transmitted to the

convoy, then the zigzagging and speed changes becomemore pronounced and the submarine skipper is often forced

into a very quick decision, for it is frustrating to have the

target lined up for a perfect shot and then see it execute a

wide zig just as the torpedoes leave the tubes.

The immediate vicinity of the skipper in the conningtower therefore becomes an area of concentrated activity

during the last stages of the approach, particularly when the

target does the unexpected and the fire control party receives

a peremptory demand for a new setup for the shoot.

These are but the preliminaries; setting the stage for the

final act the attack.

The climax is essentially the responsibility of the skipper.

Assuming that he has selected the foremast of the targetas the point of aim for his first torpedo, he sets his periscopecrosswire on the computed angle and, peering through the

periscope, he watches the bow of the target come into his

field of vision. Probably squatting on the deck, streams of

THE SUBMABINE 15

perspiration pouring off his face, eyes pressed into the peri-

scope, he gives the word to fire. At rapid intervals, he calcu-

lates other chosen points of aim, and at his order the fami-

liar "Fire two, fire three" the other torpedoes are sped to

the target. The interval is given between torpedoes to

prevent them from bumping into each other during their

run, and exploding prematurely.In cases where some doubt may exist about the exact

speed and course of the target, or to compensate for an in-

crease or decrease of the target speed or a change of course,

a "spread" of torpedoes will be fired, only half of them ex-

pected to hit.

When the first torpedo is about to be fired the skipperhas to keep a constant eye open for the convoy's protect-

ing screen, which is probably closer to him than the target,

and always on the alert to sight the periscope feather or

torpedo wake. In a quick periscope sweep just before firing

he may suddenly discover one of the destroyers chargingdown on him at full blast, or a plane in the act of releasingan aerial bomb. It becomes a crucial test of skill, coolness,

and courage of the skipper for a wrong sense of timing on

his part may result in having the destroyer over him before

he can get his torpedoes off and still shout to the diving

officer, "Take *er deep! And for Christ's sake, hurry!"The skill and daring displayed in attacks during World

War II is attested to by the many screens successfully

penetrated, not only to fire the bow tubes and scram, but

even to shoot off the stern tubes before going deep to evade

the depth-charge attacks that invariably followed.

Surface attacks varied little in actual technique and in-

struments employed from the submerged ones, It was still

incumbent on the submarine to remain hidden from the

prospective victim. Once discovered, the submarine's ad-

vantage of surprise is lost and the skipper has to dig deepinto his bag of tricks to get away.

16 BATTLE SUBMERGED

The odds are never better than even. That so many of

our submarines survived scores of battles, deeper in enemyterritory than even aircraft could penetrate before the last

few weeks of the war, is testimony to the skill and resource-

fulness of the young Americans who manned them from

bridge to galley, as the succeeding chapters will portray.

First Offensives

JANUARY OF 1942 was a bleaker month than even the pre-

ceding December. Manila fell and the remnants of our forces

in the Philippines were hemmed in on Bataan and Corregidor.

Germany, thrusting eastward, seemed to be on the road to

joining Japan's westward-driving hordes in India. The DutchEast Indies were gone, Malaya too, and Australia wasthreatened. The eastern seaboard of the United States glowedin the bloody reflection of torpedoed ships, and in the Pacific,

for all the public knew from the pall of Pearl Harbor censor-

ship and defeatist gossip, the United States Navy couldn't so

much as defend Catalina Island.

Then, on February 1, Admiral Halsey's carrier task force

wrote on the coral walls of Japan's mid-Pacific stronghold the

first forecast of America's eventual victory. Kwajalein, 120-

mile barrier athwart the United States-Australian life line,

was pounded by cruisers and destroyers, pulverized by Navybombers, and all the world took notice that American wrath

was thrusting across the oceans, American keels were partingwaters the Axis smugly claimed for its own.

17

18 BATTLE SUBMERGED

But Kwajalein was not first blood for the American forces.

Not Japanese colonial seas, but the sacred enclosure of Tokyo

Bay itself was where the grave of Nippon's empire was begun.United States submarines were in Japan three months be-

fore the U.S.S. Hornet ferried Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s within

striking distance of the Land of the Rising Sun.

But nobody knew it except the Japanese, who were not

advertising the fact. The Silent Service, its traditional taci-

turnity now wholly muted by life-saving censorship, blazed

the trail it would take the whole nation until September 2,

1945, to follow. Within a few hours after Japan's treachery

had exploded on Hawaii, long, low-freeboard ships with

deadly torpedoes tucked in their bows and sterns, were steam-

ing out of smoking Pearl Harbor Channel and the North

Channel of Manila Bay. Their destination? Empire waters!

Within ten days after hostilities began United States sub-

marines had grimly started covering the bottom of the Pacific

Ocean with the steel hulls of Japanese ships. And it was on

January 7, over three weeks before the Mandates felt the sting

of Admiral Halsey's hornets, that the Pollack, commanded byLieutenant Commander Stanley P. Moseley, sank two Japa-nese ships, the Unkai Maru No. 1 and Teian Maru in close

Empire waters.

How close? Well, if the Unkai Maru had been sunk muchcloser to the shore, people on Tokyo's Broadway, the Ginza,would have had to duck the cascade of sparks from the ex-

plosion. The Unkai Maru No. 1 was sunk in Tokyo Bay!When war broke in December, the Silent Service started

performing duties that eventually mounted to operations andmissions beyond anything that even the most optimistic sub-

mariner would have conjured in 1941, missions completed in

enemy-controlled waters that covered areas completely sur-

rounding the Empire, the Mandates, the cold, fog-boundKuriles and Aleutians, the Solomons, Carolines, Philippines,and Netherlands East Indies,

FIRST OFFENSIVES 19

Six hours after the first bomb fell on Pearl Harbor all sub-

marine skippers received a terse directive from the Chief of

Naval Operations :

EXECUTE UNRESTRICTED AIR AND SUBMARINE WARFAREAGAINST JAPAN.

The order was as surprising and unexpected as the sneak

attack. Unrestricted could only mean one thing if C.N.O.

ordered it, and so each skipper consigned to the wastebasket

a small red-bound volume whose gold stamped title read:

Instructions for the Navy of the United States GoverningMaritime and Aerial Warfare. It had contained all of the strict

and solemn rules prescribed by treaty restrictions for sub-

marine warfare and international laws piously framed in

peacetime. The book grimly warned that any submarines

violating them would be "hunted down and captured or sunk

as pirates/' But all rules were off now. The Japanese had first

thrown the book overboard when their carriers sailed for Pearl

Harbor.

History has written the same story so often. In peacetimenations agree to make the next one a gentlemanly war as if

there could be such a thing. Then some predatory nation

strikes below the belt, and bam! all regulations are promptlyabandoned.

When C.N.O/s directive was received the Silent Service

had to spread its boats around pretty thin. There were so few

in comparison with the number of places they were needed,

but Commander Submarines did bis best to use effectively the

ones he had for the greatest effect on the enemy offensive. In

fact, there were only fifty-one United States submarines in the

Pacific. Twenty-two were attached to Pearl Harbor, twenty-nine to the Asiatic Fleet. Twelve of these were old S-boats.

And, to oppose them, the entire Japanese fleet, at the momentthe most powerful navy in the world.

On December 7 six boats of the old S-boat class were on the

20 BATTLE SUBMERGED

West Coast for special exercises, The fleet-type boats, Tunaand Nautilus were undergoing overhaul at Mare Island NavyYard. Pollack, Pompano and Plunger were en route from San

Francisco to Pearl Harbor. Argonaut and Trout were main-

taining a patrol near Midway. Thresher was off Pearl Harbor.

Tambor and Triton were on similar duty near Wake Island,

and Gudgeon was doing a training exercise with aircraft at

Lahaina, Maui, The five remaining boats were in normal

routine overhaul at the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor.

No damage was sustained by any of the submarines in or

near Hawaii during the bombing (not so lucky were some of

their sister ships in Manila Bay), so within a short time all

were on their way to the Far East on their first war patrol.

Six of the twenty-nine boats attached to the Asiatic Fleet

were also S-boats old, but far from feeble as the enemy soon

learned.

On November 27, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, the Com-mander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet, had received a dispatch from

the Chief of Naval Operations warning that an aggressive

move by Japan was imminent which would probably include

an amphibious move against the Philippines.

Admiral Hart wisely distributed his surface craft in various

island ports down the line as far as Borneo to avoid destruc-

tion in case of a mass air attack. The submarines in port were

alerted and prepared to move within an hour. Except for the

Sealion and Seadragon undergoing necessary repairs at Cavite

Navy Yard, twenty-seven subs were ready to move out of

Manila Bay, or were already on patrol in the waters about

Luzon. When war broke, the patrol was strengthened to cover

all probable approaches to Luzon, while other boats went

further afield to seek their targets from Formosa across the

South China Sea to French Indo-China.

The last Japanese airplane had scarcely regained its carrier

to report the phenomenal success of the holocaust they had

visited upon Pearl Harbor when the Asiatic Fleet subs began

FIRST OFFENSIVES 21

to slip through the mine fields at the entrance of Manila Bayto strike the first blow against the Japanese.The honor went to the Swordfish, commanded by Lieuten-

ant Commander Chester C. Smith. Actually, this was the first

American submarine in history to sink an enemy ship.

The Swordfish, Salmon, Sturgeon, and Skipjack, accom-

panied by the tender Holland, had arrived at Manila from

Pearl Harbor in November. It was an old operating ground for

the skipper of the Swordfish. After graduation from the Sub-

marine School at New London in 1929 his first assignment had

been to the Asiatic Squadron in the S-40. As her executive

officer he had plied the waters fronj the upper reaches of the

East China Sea in the Gulf of Pichili, down through the South

China Sea and in and out among the islands of the Philippine

Archipelago. Even in those days people out there believed

that a war with Japan could break wide open at any time, and

the submariners had long determined that they would never

be caught napping. On their annual war patrol from China

they were always fully prepared to fight. They carried their

full complement of war heads on board attached to all tor-

pedoes except the four they expected to fire in practice off

Corregidor at the end of the run. In three years of operatingin Far Eastern waters, Smitty had become very well ac-

quainted with the areas in which he finally had to fight.

Shortly after noon on Monday, December 8 (it was still

December 7 at Pearl Harbor) Smitty piloted the Swordfish

through the mine field between Mariveles and Corregidor,After the field had been cleared the Swordfish submerged and

proceeded toward French Indo-China, In some way it was

hard to realize that this was really a war patrol in every sense

of the word even though all had been anticipating, and train-'

ing for this, for years.

When Smitty had left his pretty blond wife, Mary, and their

son, Donald, at Pearl Harbor the month before, no one tried

to disguise the presentiment that war was close at hand. Now

22 BATTLE SUBMERGED

the endless days of waiting and tension were over, The "Copsand Robbers" routine was over. This was the real thing. Nowthe slightest error in judgment would mean not a reprimandfrom the division commander but a telegram of regret to the

next of kin from the Navy Department. To be sure, all skippers

had fired the torpedo practices prescribed by the Orders for

Gunnery Exercises. These had been a good criterion of their

ability to judge angles on the bow, ranges, to size up situations

and make decisions on attack methods. They involved firing

torpedoes at fast zigzagging targets protected by alert de-

stroyers maintaining careful scrutiny for periscope wakes, But

that still added up to a game of "Cops and Robbers." The eyes

watching them practice weren't looking for a chance to drop

depth charges, set mines, or send air bombs hurtling downto rip and tear a submarine wide open.

Now, however, the opposing destroyers were looking for an

opportunity to bomb and ram them., not just report their wakes

to an umpire. To make the odds longer, we knew little about

the Japanese destroyers except that they, were fast, sturdy,efficient craft and well-manned. Until their capabilities were

learned, we would have to feel our way cautiously.But enemy ships and planes were not our submariners' sole

worries. Our own surface ships and planes were far too in-

clined to shoot first and ask questions later. The wartime sub-

marine is totally friendless; only skill and watchfulness can

save her from destruction, equally unwelcome if at the handsof a vengeful enemy or a regretful friend.

Well, small chance of the latter happening to the Swordfishin her own hunting grounds! Any ship she would bring into

view on the choppy waters of the China Sea, darkly shadowed

by an overcast sky, was bound to be enemy. Operations had

given assurance that no Allied ships were reported in thearea. The Japanese had already guaranteed that. So anythingthat came within their vision would be something to sink.

Shortly after midnight on December 9 the crew in the for-

FIRST OFFENSIVES 23

ward torpedo room was brought up standing by the ghostlyorder that erupted from the squawk box, "Stand by to firel"

The identical words had come out of that same box many times

before, but now they bore a meaning: now, there were warheads attached to the torpedoes. Now, the target would shoot

back if the torpedoes did not run "hot and straight." Now was

no time for an erratic torpedo, for its crazy wake would cer-

tainly write death for the submarine.

A few moments before the alerting order the northwest

horizon had suddenly been notched by a silhouette. A ship!

Probably no, almost certainly one of the many enemy ships

converging on Luzon with supplies for the invading force. Onthe bridge Smitty, his curly hair uncovered to the breeze, was

cautiously piloting the Swordfish to his first attack on an

enemy ship. The night thickened and the range had to be

made shorter until the dark outline of the target could be

traced. "Maybe an aircraft tender," thought Smitty, swingingthe Swordfish over to a converging course, "but anyway ifs

a big fellow." He glanced back over the sub's stem with satis-

faction. They were in a dark pocket, and not too much chance

the Japanese would be able to spot them. The Swordfish could

safely make a surface attack, the skipper decided as he passeddown to the assistant approach officer the information to feed

into the target data computer. The enemy's bearing, angle on

the bow, range and other pertinent data, the skipper was as-

sured, all added up to the "dope" that they had the targetdead to rights. Smitty sounded the warning that they had

almost reached the firing bearing. Everyone braced himself

for the lurch of the boat that would signify the surging de-

parture of the first torpedo.The skipper's report of what happened thereafter is wholly

tievoid of the drama that filled this first attack: the mounting

anxiety that the submarine might be sighted; the tension as

the seconds were mentally ticked off to cover the torpedo's

run to the target before the explosion if it hit!

24 BATTLE SUBMERGED

"At 0057 fired two torpedoes . . . range 1,500 yards . . .

submerged to avoid gun attack which did not materialize.

Lost depth control but had a fair glance at target. Apparentlyone hit one quarter length from stern. Explosion heard by

Maneuvering Room but noise of diving prevented others from

hearing it. Ship was settling evenly but back seemed to have

been broken leaving the stern a little high. About twentyminutes later was able to observe again by periscope. Nothingin sight. No propeller noises heard after firing although theywere distinct before that time. . . . Consider ship sunk . . .

0151 surfaced and proceeded on. . .

"

Just the bare facts. Such was the laconic obituary of the

first Japanese ship sunk the first enemy ship of any nation,

any war, sunk by a United States submarine.

Two nerve-stretching disappointments followed fast. Onthe afternoon of the same day Smitty crept up on a merchant-

man, all hands alert to bag Number Two, but instead of givingthe order to fire the skipper bit his

lips.The ship was un-

doubtedly a Britisher or a Dutchman. The probabilities were

that she was captive to the Japanese, but still there was a slim

chance she was still in friendly hands, and Smitty gave the

ship that chance. Shortly before daybreak on Tuesday, De-cember 11, the Swordfish attained a beautiful attack positionon a steamer at a range of 1,200 yards. Everything seemed

perfect. There was no doubt about this baby being Japanese,with that big meatball merchant flag flying, recognizable evenin the gray dawn. Two torpedoes lunged out straight as a die.

Smitty followed their wakes right to the ship. But there wasno explosion. The target proceeded without a change of pace.The Swordfish didn't know it then but she was seeing only thefirst of many defective war heads.

On the next Sunday, just before daybreak, the Swordfish

caught a steamer outside of Gaalong Bay, Hainan Island, andwatched it plunge downward with two gaping torpedowounds. There was nothing wrong with those war heads! In

FIRST OFFENSIVES 25

fact, the noise they made, figuratively speaking, summonedthe Japanese Navy to the spot.

An old ship flying a very large Japanese merchant marine

flag came loafing by the next day. Like the bottle Alice found

in Wonderland labeled, "Drink me," the tub was silently cry-

ing, "Sink me." However, the invitation was sagely declined.

The trap was a little too obvious a seaplane flying ahead of

the ship, a destroyer trailing astern, and three more destroyers

lurking in the distance with a bevy of trawlers, ready to swarmin if a sub should disclose her presence.

It wasn't until Tuesday, December 16, that the Japaneseadmitted their first loss to the Swordfish. From a group of six

steamers leaving Hainan in a rather loose column formation

Smitty selected what he considered the most likely target a

large freighter, well-loaded and three torpedoes went racingtoward the Atsutusan Maru, All three hit, but only one ex-

ploded. However, it was enough to stop the target and start a

large fire raging amidships. Their torpedo supply was too

meager to expend any more unless absolutely necessary, so

Smitty lingered in the neighborhood to see what would hap-

pen to her.

He killed a little time by taking another peek at the old hulk

still doing her siren act. Now two planes acted as an umbrella,

and sixteen trawlers had been added to her coterie of escorts.

Smitty grinned. He wasn't having any, thank you. But whena patrolling destroyer came unsuspectingly close to the

Swordfish, that was bait of another flavor. Two torpedoes were

quickly expended, and hope ran high for a few seconds that

the Swordfish would bag the warship, but one torpedo ex-

ploded prematurely and the warning enabled the nimble and

alerted destroyer to sidestep the other.

It was a good lesson to all hands when depth charges began

exploding all around the Swordfish. They hoted that a lot of

their equipment would have to be more firmly secured next

time. How was anybody to know what depth-charging could

26 BATTLE SUBMERGED

do to crockery until he had been through an attack? Next

time. . . .

The freighter, Atsutusan Maru, which had stubbornly re-

fused to go down for so long finally took the full count. More

targets were found but the torpedoes gave every kind of per-

formance except good, and Smitty decided it was high time to

apprise Commander Submarines of the situation.

When the Swordfish anchored at Mariveles within Manila

Bay on December 27, Smitty reported a continued rash of

defective torpedoes. He intimated rather broadly that it was

very demoralizing to a submarine skipper to watch his tor-

pedoes bounce harmlessly against the hulls, or slide under the

targets with no more results than to invite the target's escorts

to beat out a symphony of hate on the submarine's hull with

depth charges.

"Just give us good torpedoes/' Smitty begged, "and well

triple the number of sinkings."

Other skippers made the same disheartening revelation

after their initial patrols. Commander Submarines decided

with considerable heat that remedial steps would be instituted

immediately, but a long uphill battle with Washington faced

them before the irksome problem of war heads could be

settled, and would be settled only by peremptorily taking the

issue in their own hands. For two long years the Bureau of

Ordnance sent instructions how the trouble could be remediedand meanwhile continued to blame the submarine personnelfor the torpedo failures they were forbidden to try to correct

themselves.

Until shortly before the war all torpedoes were manufac-tured by the Newport Torpedo Station, under the cognizanceof the Bureau of Ordnance. It was the Bureau's responsibilityto provide torpedoes that would meet certain specifications

concerning speed, depth, steering, and war-head perform-ance. It made all tests, and the submarine personnel were

strictly forbidden to alter the mechanisms in any way. The

FIRST OFFENSIVES 27

torpedoes were guaranteed to be perfect when they weredelivered to the submarine service. If they didn't explode, the

ordnance experts were satisfied it was the submariner's fault.

Their logic was flawless, but not their torpedoes.

Theoretically, in prewar days, a submarine was selected

every year from each squadron to fire a torpedo carrying a

war head. Actually, it wasn't done. The High Command al-

ways demurred with:( "Just suppose the torpedo should be

erratic/' when the submarines wanted tangible proof that theycould send a torpedo crashing against the hull of a target with

some reasonable assurance that the war head would function

properly. The personnel were also extremely curious about the

magnetic exploder mechanism that the Bureau of Ordnance

experts told them in hushed tones was foolproof. Yet no op-

portunity was ever given the people who would fire the tor-

pedoes to test the truth of the experts' statements until theywere out on a war patrol and the experts were still back in

Washington! Not only were the submariners warned not to

monkey with the mechanism, the Bureau kept it such a deep,dark secret that there weren't enough trained personnel avail-

able to speed the remedy when the fault was finally located.

For all the very limited number of subs in Far Eastern

waters in the first year of the war there was such an abundance

of targets that, with satisfactory weapons, the few could have

accounted for triple the tonnage of Japanese shipping. The de-

fective torpedoes not only discouraged the submariners, whofound that a daring attack was rewarded only by a savagecounterattack of depth charges, but it enabled the enemy to

bring his full strength to bear on the defenders of Bataan and

Corregidor. The small number of ships sunk in those early

days was out of all proportion to the opportunities presentedand torpedoes fired. Thirteen defective torpedoes out of thir-

teen fired by the Sargo (Lieutenant Commander Tyrrell D.

Jacobs) was no isolated case.

At last Admiral Lockwood refused any longer to accept the

28 BATTLE SUBMERGED

impractical advice and instructions sent by Bureau of Ord-

nance experts and decreed that the Silent Service should solve

its own problems and the Bureau's!

Two torpedoes were fired against the low-hanging cliffs on

Kahoolawe, Hawaii. The one that didn't explode was taken

back to the Submarine Base for examination and the faulty

pin mechanism which should have been discovered over two

years before was uncovered. Without any more ado the sub-

marine tender personnel turned to on all exploder mecha-

nisms. When the next boat started out on patrol there was a

new light in the eyes of the personnel. The confidence that

had started to wane in December, 1941, had returned. But a

dismaying number of Japanese ships had safely delivered

thousands of men, thousands of tons of munitions, past the

impotent tubes of our submarines in those months.

Seagoing Scarlet Pimpernels.

Evacuation and Supply

SPIRITING away escaped prisoners and refugees from under

the noses of an enemy to the safety of English shores, is a story

that has been enacted in France many times, since before the

days of the French Revolution and through World War II.

In the last war the airplane introduced a swifter, more cer-

tain method of rescue behind the lines, and a more efficacious

way of delivering stores, equipment, and men to the bands of

patriots who elected to continue the fight inside enemy-held

territory. When D-Day finally came to Normandy Beach muchof the groundwork for the invasion had been laid by the

courageous French people whose faith we had kept alive dur-

ing the dark years.

But there were many more complications to the problemof aiding resistance groups in the Pacific. In Europe the

sympathies of most of the conquered people had remained

with the Allies, and, since they lived in highly developed29

30 BATTLE SUBMERGED

countries, they had the means as well as the spirit with whichto fight back on their own. In the Pacific, the more primitive

peoples not only had practically nothing with which to fight,

but most of them were uncertain that they should. We had to

do something concrete and demonstrative to convince the

doubtful that there was no truth in the propaganda that

Japanese had liberated them from servitude to the foreigners."Asia for the Asiatics" was a slogan that had lots of appeal to

people who had resented the exploiting white man for manyyears, although the Japanese soon themselves became our

best argument because of their barbaric conduct.

Important, too, we had to restore the "face/* so precious to

Asiatics, that we had lost when the enemy overran the Philip-

pines and the southwest Pacific with such apparent ease. Wefelt our responsibility to the Filipinos most keenly because wehad guaranteed their freedom and independence. It was hardfor them to believe that the all-powerful Americans could be

vanquished so quickly, but they had seen it happen before

their eyes. And the Japanese made a point of emphasizing our

inability to protect the Philippines by humiliating their white

captives in every outrageous way.Of course, we were confident that we would eventually de-

feat the Japanese and restore the Filipinos7

liberty. In fact,when General MacArthur uttered his famous promise, "I will

return," he was simply voicing the feeling of all the American

people, but it needed more than promises to keep the flame of

resistance alight in the jungle camps of the guerrillas. Andcertainly the people of the South Pacific needed somethingmore than mere words to convince them that the once power-ful Americans would never cease in their efforts to drive the

enemy out of their countries. There had to be some tangibleevidence of our sincerity and determination.

So it was decided to organize, arm, and maintain the defiantlittle resistance groups that had formed throughout the islandsfrom the scattered Philippine forces. These guerrilla bands

SEAGOING SCARLET PIMPERNELS 31

would have to be well-trained in jungle warfare, and equippedto strike at the Japs with such fury that they would give the

impression of a force many times their actual number. In

addition to the arms and training, food would have to be

provided not only for these groups but for the civilians denied

rations by the enemy. Furthermore, patriotswho had taken to

the hills because a price had been put on their heads wouldhave to be spirited away to safety.

After the first days, our Army Air Force in the Philippineshad been obliterated, and we knew that many months would

pass before carrier planes could reach the islands. So, unlike

Europe, where we could use aircraft based on England, someother means had to be found to help the people in the Philip-

pines and the other islands in the Pacific. But what, and

where?

Submarines were the only American ships on the offensive

in enemy waters. And although we didn't have many sub-

marines, even for the essential work of sinking Japanese ship-

ping, here was a mission of greater importance than firing

torpedoes. Many lives would depend upon the ability of the

submarines to deliver supplies to the guerrillas and rescue

fugitives from the wrath of the Japanese; literally thousands

of lives were at stake; not only the lives of those immediately

helped but also the lives of our own troops when they should

return to liberate the islands. For by keeping aflame the torch

of hope, we could depend upon the help of the inhabitants

when we "returned/*

As early as January and February, 1942, the subs began to

make ferry runs between Australia and Corregidor. The Sea-

wolf, Trout, Seadragon, and Permit carried in tons of badlyneeded anti-aircraft ammunition, medical supplies, and food.,

and carried out evacuated personnel. By way of variety, Mike

Fenno, in the Trout, took as part of his evacuation load the

gold and silver from the Philippine Treasury, and manyUnited States State Department documents. Then, to show

32 BATTLE SUBMERGED

that a submarine even with such a treasure aboard could still

carry on her war routine, he took her to Pearl Harbor through

Empire waters, where he torpedoed and sank two enemyships.

The Swordfish, distinguished for having sunk the first

enemy ship in the war, toward the end of December beganto sandwich "V.I.P." evacuations in between destruction of

enemy vessels as she steamed back and forth between Cor-

regidor and Australia. On December 31 she transported Cap-tain John Wilkes and his staff to Soerabaya, Java, where

Captain Wilkes set up an operational submarine command.That mission completed, the Swordfish began to work her wayback to Corregidor again, highlighting her patrol with a dar-

ing penetration of Lembeh Strait at Kema to sink an enemyship at anchor.

Before slipping past the Japanese ships that were making a

vigorous effort to isolate Corregidor from the outside world,Lieutenant Commander C. C. Smith heard that his next

evacuees would really be "top flight/' They were PhilippinePresident Manuel Quezon and his party of nine. After theywere safely aboard, the Swordfish eased her way past the

Japanese patrol once more and two days later landed her

important passengers at San Jose, Panay, in the southern

Philippines, where President Quezon and his party boardedan Army bomber to be flown to Australia.

Two days later the Stoordfish was back alongside the pierat Corregidor to carry out the second part of her missionanother batch of evacuees, the High Commissioner of the

Philippines, Mr. Francis B. Sayre, his wife, and ten others. Thistime their destination was Fremantle, Australia, a long road

fraught with many perils.

The subs continued to run the ever-tightening blockadeto land stores at Corregidor, and evacuate personnel until

resistance ended in May, 1942. Not a submarine failed to landher passengers safely at their destination.

SEAGOING SCARLET PIMPERNELS 33

Then, with the fall of the Philippines, came the even more

dangerous task of actively supplying the scattered bands of

guerrillas with the means to fight: ammunition, weapons,food, clothing, and other necessities of life, communication

equipment, and even gold for any of the enemy that could be

bought.Famous resistance leaders like Major I. A. Villamoor and

Colonel Abacede, who operated extensively on Negros, Colo-

nel Fertig on Mindanao, and Colonel Kanglean on Leyte, were

aided by United States Naval and Army officers, notably Lieu-

tenant Commander Charles Parsons, USNR, and Captain J.A.

Hammer, USA. They embodied the courageous spirit that

aroused the determination of the Filipino people to be of

every assistance when MacArthur carried out his promise to

return. These intrepid leaders organized and trained an esti-

mated 65,000 jungle fighters to carry on an unceasing battle

against the enemy. They also provided invaluable information

to those planning the recapture of the Philippines.But this ever-growing cankerous sore in the side of the

Japanese brought their dire vengeance upon the heads of

townspeople after the guerrilla raids. Frustrated, maddened,the enemy troops took revenge on the civil population, whom

they accused of collaboration. Very often, however, bands of

harassed civilians took to the brush, preferring to die of starva-

tion than at the cruel hands of the Japs. Whenever guerrilla

scouts discovered such a group of civilians in dire circum-

stances a communication was sent to Commander Submarines.

In March, 1944, a group of twenty United States citizens,

number later raised to fifty, was holed up on Panay and unless

they could be evacuated very little hope was held for their

lives. They were absolutely destitute. Even their food had

been reduced to what they could scrounge from the bushes

and trees. Admiral Lockwood's finger moved across his opera-tion chart until it hovered over an area near the north coast

of Panay. The Angler, under Commander Robert I. (Swede)

34 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Olsen, should be able to handle the situation, he decided.

That night a radio dispatch told the Angler about the groupand she was directed to take the refugees to Darwin.

All was quiet in the little inlet on the north coast of Panaywhere tall trees on the beach cast their shadows on dark

waters, when, a few miles off the fringe of palms, a darker

shadow moved below the sea. Then silently a black-bellied

craft slowly rose to the surface. In a few minutes a tall officer

peered cautiously through his binoculars at the beach ahead.

Panay was in enemy hands and even now dark slanted eyes

might be eagerly peering out to sea in the direction from

which a rescue ship could be expected instead of the hopefulones the sub was looking for. A radio message is not strictly

personal. Anyone can catch it and we were fighting a clever

enemy. A trap was always possible, True, none of our boats

had been destroyed in a venture like this but in a few instances

they had been forced to fight their way to safety.

Before daybreak the skipper had closed the bridge hatch

and once more the dark shadow slipped along beneath the

surface as the Angler quietly moved in toward the beach.

Cautious periscope observations showed nothing suspiciousin any of the actions of the people who could be seen movingabout back of the line of trees on the beach at 9:00 A.M. Alittle later they made the proper recognition signals by hang-

ing a studied conglomeration of wearing apparel from the

trees, a signal which must have reduced most of the refugeesto a state of complete nudity.

So far everything appeared to be free and above board. ButSwede Olsen was perfectly aware that the enemy, who hadbeen balked so many times, would go to any lengths to trapa submarine. He decided to wait until sunset to reveal the sub-

marine's presence. In the meantime, he kept a sharp lookout

through the periscope to detect any suspicious move,

Surfacing after dusk, the crew went to battle stations,

surface. Then, with the decks almost awash, the Angler moved

SEAGOING SCARLET PIMPERNELS 35

in slowly to within 1,000 yards of the shore and awaited the

first move of the people on the beach.

From the deep shadows of the shore a small banca stood

out. It contained one passenger courtly, gray-haired, and

emaciated Colonel Garcia. After expressing his deep gratitudefor the presence of the submarine, he asked anxiously, "Wenow have fifty-eight evacuees, Captain, instead of the fifty last

reported. Is it possible to take them all in your small ship? I

fear they will die if left here."

Without hesitation the skipper answered, "Yes, of course.

We will take all of them." Then he added with a wry smile,

"A submarine is anything but a luxury liner, but we'll do

everything we can to make them comfortable. You may be

sure of that/'

"May God bless you, Captain/' murmured the Colonel

gratefully. "To get our families out of this hell, any further

hardships could be endured and enjoyed. We have lived like

animals and been hunted like wild beasts. I will have them

here within the hour/' he promised before stepping into his

banca.

In less than an hour all passengers, which included twenty-six women and children, were aboard. The Angler came about

and stood out to sea for the twelve-day passage to Darwin,Australia.

The following extracts from the Skipper's patrol reports are

ample evidence that the trip was anything but physically

pleasant, for the passengers were advanced candidates for

a hospital, all suffering from exposure and malnutrition. "The

entire ship's company was berthed in the after battery com-

partment, except for torpedo watch standers . . . men and

boys lived in after torpedo room, women and children in

forward torpedo room, C.P.O. quarters were inhabited by one

woman with a two-month-old baby, one pregnant woman

(eight months), one seriously ill girl (worms, temperature104 degrees )

and two elderly women. Ship was immediately

36 BATTLE SUBMERGED

infested with cockroaches, body lice and hair lice. A large

percentage of the passengers had tropical ulcers plus an odor

that was unique in its intensity. All passengers showed signs

of prolonged undernourishment. All passengers were suffer-

ing from lacerated feet due to the long march to the em-

barkation point without footgear. One male passenger was

temporarily insane, requiring a twenty-four-hour watch. Twomeals a day with soup at 2400 [midnight] was put in effect

at once since it was apparent the ship did not have enoughfood aboard for a full three meals a day. Passengers ate raven-

ously from their arrival until they left the ship food was

rationed until the night before our arrival at Darwin. Habit-

ability forward of the control room resembled the 'Black Hole7

of Calcutta, a condition which resulted from children urinat-

ing and spitting on the decks, body odors and forty-seven

persons sleeping forward of the control room. In spite of a

constant watch at the head [toilet] it proved impossible to

teach our passengers the proper use of this article after two

years in the hills." Anyone who has not flushed the toilet in a

submerged submarine still lacks one great adventure in life.

One of the highlights listed in the Angler report was, "Onefor the book was the sight of a two-year-old, half-Filipino boysmoking (and inhaling) a cigar between gulps of his dinner

which he was receiving at his mother's breast."

The skipper especially commended Pharmacist's Mate First

Class Lee Marten Neidlinger, USNR, for his outstanding workwhich contributed materially to successfully landing all pas-

sengers at Darwin. "Doc" had a busy time of it for just about

twenty-four hours each day and became especially expertin the treatment of onslaughts by body vermin.

Early in March the Japanese army overflowed Timor, the

most eastern of the Netherlands East Indies chain. The Japa-nese tide was rising steadily during the early months of 1942and everyone thought that the easy conquest of New Guinea

might encourage an immediate strike toward Australia, at

SEAGOING SCABLET PIMPERNELS 37

that time in no position to offer an effective resistance. TheAustralians had made a brave attempt to stem the Jap horde

that landed on Timor but they were too few. Those whoweren't killed or captured took to the hills and bided their

time. With the aid of the natives they had enough food to keepfrom starving, while they hopefully schemed the capture of

a small sailing craft to take them across the Timor Sea to

Australia.

One party of thirty-three under the able leadership of

Flight Lieutenant Bryan Rofe had managed to evade the

enemy searching parties who were methodically combingeach village for several weeks. Thanks to advance warningsfrom the natives, Rofe and his party had always managed to

keep clear, although sometimes by scant yards. Then a mes-

sage, sent by the leader of the Japanese searchers, broughta wry smile to their gaunt faces.

"To the Australian and Dutch officers and men," the mes-

sage read. "The war is over. N.E.L [The Netherlands East

Indies] fell in our hand in succession. On March 9th. all Allied

Forces surrendered to us with out any conditions. On Timor

Island about 1,100 Australians and 100 Dutch soldiers under

Lt. Col. Legatt and Detiger did the same.

"They are enjoying life and awaiting for you being suppliedwith bread meat and fresh vegetables. Your movement and

present location are reported to us through RAJAHS. If youcontinue fighting against us, there's no way but to conquer

you. So come to us with this information and await for the

return of peace with your friends. Japanese Army, March 14

'42"

With their only consolation that they were still free men,

although their chances of staying free seemed slimmer each

day, the Australians clung stubbornly to their determination

to find a way to escape and get home, even though the news

from Australia on their small field radio was far from good.On April 15 they received their first ray of hope. That day

38 BATTLE SUBMERGED

the treasured radio ticked out a message from Darwin that

made them forget the horrors of being hunted like wild beasts

from village to village and spending days on end in the bush.

A United States submarine, they heard, would be close inshore

at a point four miles south of Point Kurus for five nights com-

mencing April 13. When sea conditions permitted, rescue

wouldbe attempted. Then the recognition signals were given.

The message concluded with, "Submarine boat will be used

to accomplish rescue if no native boats are available. You will

be landed at Fremantle, Australia. Acknowledge."

"My God," they ejaculated in unison. "The submarine is

already there and two precious days have been wasted!" The

stronger of the feeble, emaciated men immediately started

helping the weaker members to commence the arduous trek to

the rendezvous.

On the evening of April 11 the Searaven, cruising on the

west coast of Timor, had been directed to rescue, the Austral-

ian soldiers. The skipper, Lieutenant Commander Hiram Cas-

sedy, was warned that the Australians were using a code of

doubtful security and that every precaution should be taken

against possible surprise attack while attempting rescue.

Commander Cassedy describes his arrival off the coast and

preparations for the rescue: "Cruised down west coast of

Timor and identified landmarks during daylight, made a

survey of available material and equipment and discoveredthat practically all boat equipment had been turned in to thetender as part of the 'strip ship program/ Also learned that themotor boat engine had not been run since the outbreak of thewar. Manufactured one pair of oars from a two by four usedto shore the cargo and an ammunition crate. Also manu-factured four paddles from ammunition crates. Manufacturedan anchor by using a piece of two inch brass pipe as the shank,two pieces of half inch stock as arms and a burned up pistonlashed to the stock to give more weight."

After making periscope observations of beach during the

SEAGOING SCARLET PIMPERNELS 39

day on April 13 the Searaven surfaced at 7:00 P.M. "Stationed

machine gunners to guard against possible interference from

small boats. Noted lights on beach at rendezvous. Com-menced rigging boat and had trouble with engine. Signalledbeach and received a light of thirty seconds duration each

time the letters Sail Roger were sent. Took this to be the

stranded party. At 2300 we had given up hope of starting the

engine so the ship maneuvered at right angles to the beach

until a six fathom sounding was obtained and a boat was

lowered. We then sent 'SIT to the beach, received almost im-

mediately an answering signal and sent a message saying boat

was on the way in. We noted signals from electric lights play-

ing back and forth between spots on two high mountains in

the interior. . . . Recalled boat after failure on part of both

boat and ship to establish communications again after havingsent signal that boat was on the way in,"

What Hiram Cassedy didn't know was that the party was

still up in the hills completely unaware that the submarine

was anywhere in the vicinity. When questioned later about

the apparently correct recognition lights Lieutenant BryanRofe said, "The presence of correct signaling from the beach

is mystifying and I can only ascribe it to a periodic freak of

the large surf cutting out fishing fires on the beach. The posi-tion of lights as indicated by you are common fishing groundsat night."

His explanation for a group of four men mounted on horse-

back and another party of three men afoot they had seen ap-

proach the rendezvous and then disappear into the brush at

just about the rendezvous point on Tuesday was: "The horse-

men and men were probably natives bringing us food and

information concerning the Jap movements."

On Tuesday night, Ensign George C. Cook, USNR, and his

party from the submarine had again encountered apparitionsashore. This time even the Australian lieutenant could not

explain their presence. The skipper describes that event:

40 BATTLE SUBMERGED

"2050 noted reflection of a campfire on the beach a little south

of the rendezvous point. Signalled (SR) and within two

minutes received an answering signal from a point a little to

the northward of the campfire. Sent boat in to this point to

pick up party and signalled beach to this effect Received an-

swering flash from the beach after completion of this message.

Ensign Cook anchored the boat off the surf and attempted to

get in communication with someone ashore. Failing in this he

swam ashore and approached a campfire near the beach. Here

he noted about twelve men standing around. When within

twenty-five yards of the campfire he turned his flashlight uponhimself and shouted, at which all hands near the fire scattered.

He searched the surrounding area for about an hour and then

reported he had been unable to make contact. He was told

to return aboard and in the meantime an effort was made to

contact the beach again from the ship with no success."

During the early morning of Wednesday, April 15, the sig-

nals from the beach were resumed and the skipper was begin-

ning to wonder who was trying to fool whom! "The Com-

manding Officer became very suspicious of the whole

proceeding. After a careful study of orders for the rescue it

was decided that a report of the difficulties experienced was

in order, due to suspicious signals noted and the likelihood of

the Australian code being compromised."When the Australians finally did reach the rendezvous late

in the day of April 15, the submarine was nowhere to be seen.

The Searaven had gone to the south of Kurus to charge bat-

teries and explain the situation to Commander Submarines,

The skipper also wanted a little time to see if he could figureout the answers to some of the peculiar things that had oc-

curred. Commander Submarines directed them to return to

Timor and continue attempts Friday and Saturday nights. Be-

fore getting under way the skipper told Commander Sub-marines that they were receiving the proper signals from the

beach so it was feared that the Australians were entering a

SEAGOING SCARLET PIMPERNELS 41

trap. Then the Searaven set course for Point Kuras. Someonewas crazy and the skipper was anxious to prove it wasn't

Hiram Cassedy!Late the next afternoon, while the Searaven was submerged

a mile off the rendezvous, seven horsemen and three packhorses were seen approaching four men afoot who had alreadyreached the beach. The skipper could find nothing suspiciousabout their appearance. If they weren't the previous ghosts

they should be Australians he hoped. Everyone looking

through the periscope agreed unanimously that what theysaw was not a mirage. If it were, they'd better pack up and

go home.

At 7:00 P.M. the Searaven surfaced. "Observed a bombingraid on Kupang. The planes seemed to be doing an excellent

job. There were a few bursts of what appeared to be about

3-inch anti-aircraft shells. There seemed to be about twentyto twenty-five Bofors firing almost continuously. Observed

blinking light on Kurus. Made characters 'AIM' three times to

seaward." This time the light was so bright and definite that

after messages were exchanged the skipper asked the Austral-

ians to turn out the light until boat reached them. It was a

beacon that could have drawn every enemy for miles around.

It took two nights to evacuate the Australians completelyand then they succeeded only because of the courageousefforts of Ensign George Cook. (He was later awarded a NavyCross. ) The first night he swam out from the boat and saved

two of the Australians from drowning. They had been comingout through the surf on a line without life jackets.

Getting off the remainder of the men on the second nightwas a nightmare. After anchoring the boat Ensign Cook took

one of the unconscious men out through the surf and put him

into the boat, while L. B. Markesen, QM 2c, USN, and J.L.

McGrievy, SM Ic, USN, made several trips to the beach

through the surf rescuing drowning men and assisting others.

After delivering this group to the submarine the boat returned

42 BATTLE SUBMERGED

to its former anchorage. But this time the boat's anchor line

parted and the heavy boat was thrown ashore despite the

crew's efforts to prevent it. However, once more through the

heroic labors of Ensign Cook and the boat crew, the seemingly

impossible was achieved. They put two unconscious men and

two more who were too weak to sit up in the boat, then with

the assistance of two of the strongest members of the partystill ashore the crew launched it successfully through the surf

and returned to the submarine.

All hands drew a grateful breath when the Searaven finally

backed clear and headed down to Darwin.

4Reconnaissance*

NO MAJOR landing is ever attempted without trying to ascer-

tain everything possible about the place to be invaded. Anymisleading knowledge of the difficulties to be overcome is

worse than no knowledge at all, and the defenders, alert to the

fact, do their best to conceal the truth and make falsehood

convincing. To be of real value the information must contain

a typographical picture of the contour of the terrain, the state

of tide and sea that can be expected on D-day, and any pos-sible unobstructed routes to the beach for landing craft. Tothis must be added an analysis of the man-made defenses that

will be encountered, fortifications to be leveled, mined waters

to be swept or made safe by underwater demolition crews.

Gun emplacements on the beach have to be carefully noted

as targets for the prelanding bombardment. The depth of the

beach defense, the flexibility and size of the enemy reserves,

and what camouflage hides their positions have to be ac-

curately ascertained, and of course, the size of the enemy force

* United States submarines made sixty-two special reconnaissance missions,

fourteen of which were photo reconnaissance.

43

44 BATTLE SUBMERGED

that can be expected as a reception committee. Information on

the enemy's lines of communication with other sectors and

his ability to procure reinforcements of men and munitions is

also of importance.

Naturally the enemy does not issue a tourist-bureau bro-

chure containing this information, and very seldom do prewarsources produce anything more than a general picture of the

natural defenses of the island. So the information required

prior to wartime landings on unfriendly beaches had to be

painfully gathered by our own devices.

Unquestionably, a superior method of reconnaissance is

with aerial photography. A complete set of clear aerial pic-

tures makes it possible for a commander to visualize accu-

rately the obstacles his bombarding ships and harassing planes

will have to liquidate provided the enemy has not been clever

enough to camouflage important installations so well that theyare photographically undetectable.

There were very compelling reasons why the ideal air re-

connaissance was not attempted when we were planning our

move back across the Pacific, particularly in the early phasesat .Guadalcanal, and the island strongholds in the Marshall

and Gilbert and Caroline groups. Our fields were too far awayfor land-based planes to make the round trips and we didn't

have enough escort ships to protect our carriers, so the Navy's

planes were out. But even use of either aircraft would have

been a mistake. The concentration of a numerous reconnais-

sance in an area offering so wide a choice of feasible targetswould have disclosed to the enemy exactly where we intended

to strike. Surprise was one of the most important factors in our

plans. It was the only element of warfare of which we had all

we could use. Surprise not only gave us the initial advantagebut it prevented the enemy from doing anything to make the

landing more costly. If we saved the surprise until just before

landing day to be revealed only when the battleships andcruisers and destroyers poured in tons of high explosive shells

RECONNAISSANCE 45

and carrier planes unloaded hundreds of bombs, we made it

impossible for the foe to concentrate strength in the right placeat the right time. Much of the Navy's earlier success in carry-

ing General MacArthur to striking distance of the Philippines

was our ability to keep the Japs confused about our next

thrust, so that they were forced to scatter their strength every-where on the overextended perimeter of their conquests.The one way for the essential information to be obtained

without the knowledge of the enemy was through a sub-

marine periscope. Like so many other phases of the work the

subs were called upon to perform during the war this, too,

had to be developed from the bare germ of an idea. Little at-

tention had been given to submarine reconnaissance during

prewar days. In fact, very few people had even considered the

likelihood of such a mission and certainly not as a primary task

for the underwater craft.

The idea quickly branched into a trident to be thrust into

the Japs' secret places, a three-pronged probe. The submarines

were committed to make visual reconnaissance through peri-

scope, photographic through periscope, and to send menashore for reconnaissance by landing party. The hitch in that

scheme was that our submarines were not equipped with

cameras that could do periscope work. They didii't even have

cameras capable of taking militarily useful pictures to be of

any value to any landing operation, including their own.

That, however, was a remediable lack, and Lieutenant Com-mander Lewis S. Parks had a homemade cure which would

do till a better one could be devised. In command of the Pom-

pano, he was en route from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor

when the war broke. Parks needed no blacksnake whip for his

crew to "pour on the oil" so Pearl Harbor could be reached

with all possible speed as the first step to the war zone.

On December 18 the Pompano was ready. She steamed out

of the Channel on her first war patrol, en route to an area that

included Wake and the Marshall Islands: mission, sink Jap

46 BATTLE SUBMERGED

ships, of course; but while doing so Parks had instructions to

find out all possible information on Jap installations, air strips

and incidental intelligence. Our information on the islands

mandated to Japan was negligible.

When only a few days out, Lew Parks received a dispatch

informing him that his primary mission was changed to recon-

naissance. Let the Jap ships go. His number one job now was

reporting. Our carriers and cruisers were going to make a

retaliatory hit-and-run strike on the Marshalls and Gilberts

just to disillusion the enemy of any ideas they entertained that

the United States Navy had gone down for the count on

December 7.

Lew Parks grinned. This was right down his alley. Actually

he was already a big jump ahead of Commander Submarines

Pacific. A photo fiend, he had been experimenting right alongwith his own camera. Aided by the machine shops at the Sub-

marine Base, he had rigged a camera holder to use on a peri-

scope. Parks had believed for a long time that there was a

great future in periscope photography, but scarcity of moneyduring the prewar days kept the services on short rations for

essentials, let alone such dubious experiments as taking

pictures from a submerged submarine. Everyone insisted that

the main mission of submarines was to find better ways of

making their torpedoes hit enemy ships, which was true

enough at the time. Pearl Harbor had altered all that. Lewhad more than a chance to try out some of his theories. Now hewas compelled to give them the acid test, under real service

conditions, and no time for leisurely experiment.But while the Pompano was outward bound, still just a short

distance from Pearl Harbor, Lew Parks's theories came within

a camera's click of never being tested, at least by him.

They were steaming peacefully along, not expecting trouble

while they were still in Hawaiian waters, when a United States

Navy patrol bomber spotted the Pompano. With the events of

the fortnight before vividly in mind Japanese submarines

RECONNAISSANCE 47

got to Pearl Harbor before their bombers did the pilot un-

loaded his bombs on the Pompano and then hightailed over

the horizon to tell the eager pilots on the Enterprise the goodnews that a nice, fat target awaited them,

Lew Parks swallowed his rage at the pilot's disregard of

recognition signals when he saw three planes come hightail-

ing it over the horizon with no intention to apologize for their

comrade's error. It was very plain that they were suffering

from the same delusion, that the Pompano was one of Hiro-

hito's nasty fleet, and Parks was presently too busy saving his

ship to exchange repartee.The three carrier pilots who dove so enthusiastically on the

Pompano were among those that hadn't gotten the word that

American submarines were alone carrying on the war with

Japan until the rest of the country could catch up with them.

Happily, the bombers were more eager than accurate, al-

though one close miss caused a leak in a fuel tank, letting a

trail of oil ribbon out astern of the Pompano for other planesand vessels to spot. In the end, though, the worst that hap-

pened to the Pompano s men was to receive a good shaking-up;

barely to escape death at the hands of one of our own planeswas at least valuable training in what they could expect byway of occupational hazard. Once they were west of Midwaythey knew they could take it for granted that there would be

no more "friendly" planes. From here on it was open season

on anything that floated, flew, or rested on an island, and, bythe same token, they would be a fair mark for anybody whocould spot them and shoot first.

The Pompano spent the early days of January in the area

near Wake. Things had quieted down there since the tem-

pestuous days of December. The enemy was now feverishly

digging in, preparing for the day when we would try to take it

back. It never entered his mind that we wouldn't try, but to

the Jap's methodical mind it didn't occur that we wouldn't try

by nibbling at the perimeter but would split the stolen Empire

48 BATTLE SUBMERGED

up the back, leaving huge areas to die a lingering death on

the vine. Wake could wait under surveillance.

Right now our plans lay elsewhere. They concerned the

romantic Marshalls, the twin chain of beautiful tropic islands

to the south that the Japanese had claimed as loot from World

War I. Admiral Halsey's carriers and cruisers were planninga lightning raid on the rich but dangerous atolls toward the

last of January, and they wanted to leave their calling cards

where they would do the most good to the Allies, and the most

harm to the Japs.

The Marshalls and the farther Carolines were athwart the

line between the United States and the area north of

Australia from which our forces planned to begin the bold

march to Tokyo Bay right up the middle of the overextended

Empire. Short of everything, we couldn't afford to waste

time, money, or ships beating up an uninhabited island. So

Lew Parks was to make a careful reconnaisance of the Mar-

shalls, starting with Bikar at the north of the Radak Chain

(eastern group) down past Wotje, Maloelap, Majuro and

Mili, then up along the Ralik Chain (western group) from

Jaluit past Kwajalein. His mission was to locate, from the

sea, the more important Japanese installations and concentra-

tions to give the Navy the largest possible number of targetsto choose from in case weather or other obstacles made anytoo risky to reach.

But during all of this reconnaissance work Lew Parks

wasn't hampered by any prohibition against using a few of

his torpedoes if the opportunity arose. His only restriction

against joining in a shooting war was that it must not jeop-ize his primary mission.

While he was conducting a daylight submerged recon-naissance patrol off Wotje on January 11, adding more notesto his growing collection and taking pictures with the home-made camera, he spotted several ships at anchor inside the

big lagoon about one mile west of the island. Small ships

RECONNAISSANCE 49

had been seen on the visit before, but what made this view

exciting was a large auxiliary, the Yawata Mara, and a worth-

while target in any league.

The enemy had the anchored ships pretty well tucked in,

and since the sub could not sprout wings, they were safe so

long as they stayed in the harbor. The only recourse Parks's

Pompano had, then, was to continue reconnaissance patientlyand discreetly until the "Yawata Maru put out to sea.

While working around in the maze of reefs and atolls a

patrol boat of about 1,300 tons placed herself invitinglyabout 600 yards from the torpedoes of the Pompano.

"Shall we bop him, Captain?" eagerly asked Slade Cutter,

his executive officer.

"No, not just now/' decided Lew after a second's hesita-

tion. "If we sink this fellow now well tip?em off to our

presence and probably lose that big fellow in the harbor.

After we chop down the big one we'll work on the others/'

So back they went to the tedious job of mapping and snoop-

ing, dull business for a shooting ship.

But the very next morning excitement boiled through the

boat. The sound operator reported evidence of a large pro-

pellered ship under way. From her circling patrol off Schisch-

maren Strait, three miles from the reef, Pompano preparedto belay snapshots and to fire her first war-headed torpedo.It was like telling a group of starving men they could at

last sit down to the banquet they had been eying out of reach.

The target loomed up as big as a house as she steamed ma-

jestically down the lane to an invisible doom, with no idea

that the slightest danger awaited. In the next minute four

torpedoes removed her permanently from the merchant

marine roster, and Lew Parks had the satisfaction of bring-

ing the war to the Japs himself, as well as acting as a guide to

Halsey's fleet.

That one hard, thumping blow at the enemy made it moretolerable for the Pompano to turn to again, to collect more of

50 BATTLE SUBMERGED

the information that the Boss at Pearl Harbor was yelling

for, such information, for example, as the news that a great

building boom was going on in Taroa Island (south of

Majuro ). Hangars, barracks and warehouses galore were go-

ing up to provide Japan with means to sever the United

States-Australia life line. Now they were carefully ear-

marked for the pilots in the Enterprise and Yorktown.

The Pompano hadn't completely performed her mission

without detection. Several times she had been shaken up by

depth charges, and all hands wondered at the mysterious

ability of the Japs to detect the submarine. How did theydo it? Did the enemy have such superior sonar and radar

equipment? Then it was discovered that the bombings suf-

fered from the United States Navy planes had caused the

leaks that left the boat trailing a telltale spoor of oil wherever

she went. Only a combination of luck and Japanese overcon-

fidence enabled the Pompano to return intact to Pearl Harbor

with the information vital to Halsey's success.

The information she collected proved invaluable duringthe carrier raid. She had also demonstrated that a submarine

could do an excellent photographic job through her periscope.With precise equipment, much greater and more detailed

information than even Parks's priceless haul of equipmentcould be had.

Camera work was not the only unanticipated chore to

which the versatile submarines were assigned. One wasthe unlikely task of weather forecasting. Five United States

subs in the Atlantic (Shad, Barb, Gunnel, Herring, and Black-

fish) were used not only for reconnaissance in preparationfor the North African invasion in November, 1942, but -theyfurnished valuable weather reports and acted as beacon

ships off the Moroccan ports of Casablanca, Fedala, Safi, and

Mehdia, and off Dakar.

And in the Pacific the Thresher (Lieutenant Commander

RECONNAISSANCE 51

W. L. Anderson) checked up on the weather off the Empire

prior to the Doolittle raid on Tokyo in April, 1942, and the

Paddle (Commander Robert H. Rice) did the same in

November, 1943, off the Gilberts before Operation Galvanic.

The Thresher and Paddle were the only ones used just to

report the weather. Usually these reports were gatheredwhile carrying out a reconnaissance, either by periscope or

by landing party.

There were three main types of reconnaissance by landing

party: by personal observation of landing party, by ques-

tioning natives, and sometimes a combination of both.

In the last year of the war, when our planes were roamingall over the war zone, some of them reported strange doingson Woody Island, one of the Paracels in the South China

Sea. The French tricolor had been seen flying from one of

the buildings on the island. A French flag there didn't makesense. But it was so odd that the authorities decided the

matter should be investigated. Was it some deviously devised

enemy trap or a defiant outpost of French resistance?

The Fargo (Lieutenant Commander D. B. Bell) was as-

signed the job of carrying a reconnaissance party to solve

the problem. If there were really some French patriots

stranded there, she would attempt to evacuate them. If it

was a ruse well, the Pargo didn't need to have anyone to

draw a diagram of action for her!

The reconnaissance party consisted of the ace Australian

Commando, Major William I. Jinkins, AIF, and Warrant

Officer Alec Chew, AIF. These two busy Commandos were

not unfamiliar with submarines. Both had just finished an

intelligence job from which they were being returned aboard

the J7.S.S. Flounder, so a rendezvous was made at sea and a

transfer from one sub to another effected.

February 4, 1945, was spent making a submerged recon-

naissance of Woody Island. A number of buildings, old and

52 BATTLE SUBMERGED

new, were sighted, among them a radio tower and weather

station. A score of men were counted along the beach, but

the submarine could not go close enough to identify them

racially. One fact was definitely established. The aviators

had really seen the French tricolor. The flag now stood out

in bold relief from a flagpole in front of a large building.The surf was so heavy that night that a landing was out

of the question, so the next day was spent in further recon-

naissance which heightened the suspicion there was some-

thing definitely phony about the setup. By midnight the

seas had abated enough to permit a landing. Jinkins andChew shoved off for the beach in their rubber canoe. Com-munication was to be maintained by walkie-talkie.

At 0620, following the break of day, the shore recon-

naissance commenced. The first indication the Australian

team found that the island was enemy-occupied was the

discovery, Robinson Crusoe fashion, of footprints made byJap split-toed sandals on the beach. Dog prints were nowdiscovered, and just to prove it was no figment of their

imagination the dog itself whirled into view. Crisis! The new-

comer, a cross between an Alsatian and an Airedale, wasas welcome as a Bengal tiger. But fortunately he was neither

suspicious nor belligerent. He approached to within fifty

yards of the flustered Commandos, and stood there, one pawlifted, sniffing as he eyed them for a second a bloody longsecond, Jinkins reported it to have been. His mild curiosityovercome by more important business, the dog then scamp-ered down to the jetty to join a man who had appeared andwas preparing to tend fish lines. Binoculars were focused onhim at a distance of 150 yards. It didn't require a second

glance to guess his identity a Japanese marine!That unquestionably answered the query about the reason,

if not the propriety, of flying French colors, decided Jinkins!It was a trap, and not an artful one. As soon as the Com-mandos regained the Pargo the skipper called the gun crews.

RECONNAISSANCE 53

Then and there they made certain that no colors, imitation

French or otherwise, would fly from any of those buildings

again.

When the Hawkbill (Commander Frank W. Scanland, Jr.)

was given the assignment of bringing out natives from Tan-

helan, Anambas, and Natuna Island in the South China Sea

to question them about enemy installations, the redoubtable

Australian Jinkins again headed the landing detail. With

him were three more Aussies and one British officer.

Jinkins and his men cluttered the topside of the Hawkbill

with about thirty assorted natives collected at TerampahTown, the center of population of the Anambas. This motleycrowd was composed of dirty, ragged men, women, and

children, many suffering from advanced cases of yaws and

other ailments engendered by malnutrition. While the

pharmacist's mate rendered all aid and comfort possible, in-

terpreters tried to elicit information from them, which all

boiled down to the fact that the naval garrison of seventyofficers and men had hightailed to the hills that morningwhen the disturbing word had been received that near-by

Jenga had been shelled by an American warship (the Hawk-bill's own passing handiwork )

.

This simplified things considerably and the submarine

steamed into the harbor. Augmented by ten bluejackets, the

Jinkins party set to work ashore. After firing 300 drums of

gasoline and confiscating quantities of documents, equip-

ment, and the inevitable souvenirs, the party raised the

Stars and Stripes over the Jap compound at 3:00 P.M. OneIndian prisoner of war from the 215 Punjab Regiment,

captured at Singapore in 1942, was liberated and taken

aboard.

The native population of 3,000 persons had not been idle

during the absence of their former masters, either. Theyhad been doing more than a little "evacuating" on their own.

54 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Apparently the Japs had left in a hurry, judging from the

half-consumed breakfast setup in the mess halls.

At 4:00 P.M. Skipper Scanland decided that there was no

point in pushing luck too far. "Acting on intuition and a

lucky hunch we sounded the ship's whistle/' he related. "This

was the prearranged signal for the immediate return of the

landing party. Put an end to swimming call (we had been

swimming over the side in the crystal clear water all day)and by 1610 all hands were aboard and we started out of

the harbor."

Then, just thirty minutes later, he recorded. "Sightedthree Jakes over Terampah Harbor heading for us. Sub-

merged. What guardian angel looks after submarines?"

When they arrived once more in Brunei, Borneo (wherethe expedition had started), who should the Indian prisonerof war meet ashore but his long-lost brother whom he had

not seen since the fall of Singapore. He had been a prisoneruntil the liberation of Brunei.

Commander Submarines had proposed to explore further

the possibilities of periscope photography as soon as a sub-

marine was available for the experiment.His eyes soon settled on the Nautilus, that submarine "of

many parts" which had already embarked on a career of

special missions and was to complete eighteen of the extra-

ordinary tasks before the war's end. These ranged from carry-

ing Carlson's Raiders to Makin, to landing supplies for

guerrillas, and evacuating civilians from enemy-held territory.

Her large size lent itself admirably to the transportation of

men and supplies above and beyond the normal demands of

most submarines. The Nautilus and Narwhal dated back to

the late '20s when the Navy was experimenting with fleet-

type submarines and these two boats had almost twice the

tonnage of, say, the Barb class of 1944, which carried four

torpedoes forward and two aft, which made the later type a

RECONNAISSANCE 55

considerably better armed ship. It was logical, then, to use the

larger boat yet lesser armed, for the special missions.

The Nautilus' skipper was blond, curly-haired CommanderWilliam D. Irvin. That he was a hard-working, conscientious

and painstaking officer goes without saying; he balanced his

serious qualities with a well-exercised sense of humor, a trait

always useful and sometimes indispensable to the man solely

and personally responsible for a submarine on war patrol with

the enemy fleet between him and home. It might be set forth

right here as a truism that all outstandingly successful sub-

mariners possess the ability to keep their spirits high and in-

fect their corked-up comrades likewise. Tall, enthusiastic

Lieutenant Commander Richard B. (Ozzie) Lynch was an

excellent choice for executive officer of the Nautilus because

when Lynch's thoughts were not on submarines you could

be sure they were on photography.The Nautilus' sixth war patrol was to be devoted primarily

to obtaining a good set of pictures of the Gilbert Islands,

which lay about 2,000 miles to the southwest of Pearl Harbor

on almost a north and south line across the Equator. TheNautilus had carried part of Carlson's Raiders there a yearbefore to raise a little hell in what had been the Micronesian

paradise of Makin before the Japanese wrested the Gilberts

from Great Britain. This time she was responsible for obtain-

ing pictures of Makin, Tarawa, and Abemama.When the Nautilus left Pearl Harbor on September 16,

1943, she was rigged for periscope photography, thanks to the

ingenuity of Bill Irvin and Ozzie Lynch. Like Lew Parks,

the trail blazer in submarine photography, they had to makeshift for what Washington could not furnish. Not one of the

cameras provided for them to utilize was adequate. One wasa National Graflex, Series 11, recommended by the photog-

rapher for the Navy Yard, Mare Island, and the other wasan Eastman 35; good cameras both but inadequate to the

specialized job. The third was a Medalist, a camera without a

56 BATTLE SUBMERGED

view finder and consequently just as useful as if it had no

shutter because the photographer could not see what he was

trying to picture six fathoms overhead.

The submarine periscope is a tube forty feet long which

transmits an image of the surface world, and light to see it

through a system of prisms and lenses. The ideal camera had

to be able to take a picture from the eyepiece image in the

submerged hull that would be clear and sharp enough to be

blown up to many times its original size so all details could

be identified and studied. It didn't take many pictures to

prove the inadequacy of these first cameras.

Ozzie Lynch saved the mission with his own camera, a

Primarflex. It produced a sharp negative 234 by 2% inches on

number 120 roll film, and its single lens reflex view finder and

an action-stopping focal plane shutter made the job a simpler

one.

So Ozzie's personal camera was officially pressed into serv-

ice, and a hurry call sent out for more of the same type so that

other subs could be equipped with them. But this was one

request that had the boys really stymied. The Primarflex was

a German camera, and at the time all we were trading with

Germany were bombs and bullets. On the theory if not hopethat there might be other people in the United States with

Ozzie Lynches affection for Primarflex, advertisements were

run in camera trade papers, but only ten more of the costlyGerman cameras were enlisted by this means.

On September 25, in the tenth month of the war, the

Nautilus started work on the Tarawa group. The tactical prob-lems that had to be solved were scarcely less worrisome than

the photographic ones. Among them were the presence of

reefs around the atolls which prevented the submarine from

easing up to the shoreline to short ranges but did not minimizethe danger of detection by enemy lookouts, which in turn

prevented them from exposing more than six feet of periscope.

Just to make it all the more sporting, a mental hazard was

RECONNAISSANCE 57

introduced by the possibility that the enemy had laid de-

fensive mine fields along the islands' coast line since the Raid-

ers' visit. However, this hazard had to be accepted as a

calculated risk a phrase altogether too familiar to the sub-

mariner.

The beaches were photographed by taking a group of

pictures in one continuous sweep. One officer turned the peri-

scope between each exposure. Another took the pictures. The

average time used to take a roll of twelve pictures was a little

under two minutes.

Of course, this was no Sunday afternoon snapshooting

jaunt. Among the hazards were spray on the lens and vibra-

tion. An unexpected roll of the ship spoiled a number of shots.

The pictures were developed each day, and those that did

not approximate perfection had to be made over again.

No sinister-looking installations of note were seen on

Tarawa except Bititu (Betio on the Marine's battle roster).

There the Nautilus recorded visual evidence of many prepara-tions for the Americans' return. An incidental discovery was

that the charts were wrong, and that the compass rose had

to be rotated 11 degrees counterclockwise to make* it read

correctly.

After completing the first survey of Tarawa, the Nautilus

moved down to the small island of Abemama. What the

Nautilus couldn't know at the time was that here she was

really working for her own future: the information gatheredon that visit came in handily when she took part in OperationGalvanic the following November.

Abemama was not as interesting as Bititu in the Tarawa

atoll, where the defenses were the strongest and most com-

plete. So that no detail would be overlooked, Irvin took the

submarine up to Bititu for a second scrutiny.

While making an observation here one day he recorded:

"After observing beach swung periscope in high power to take

a look at the observation tower on the southwest corner of

58 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Bititu. Came face to face, it appeared to me, with two excited

Japs doing sentry duty in the tower. From their gestures I

gathered it was time to end the observations ( and get the hell

out). . . ."

The Nautilus then headed up to Makin, and there on the

beach where the Marines had landed in August, 1942, was an

imposing lookout tower, very like a monument to the Raiders.

Three radio towers had replaced the one the Marines had

destroyed, and heavy cross-island defenses had been erected.

The enemy had learned a costly lesson and had no intention

of being caught off guard again.

On October 9 the mission was completed, so, having noth-

ing to do until nightfall, the Nautilus eased over to the lagoon,

Irvin hoping to expend a few torpedoes profitably. He ex-

pended them on a small island tanker for lack of better shoot-

ing, but nearly had his teeth kicked back down his throat when

eight depth charges rained down from an escort destroyerthat had been lurking behind the target plus three bombsfrom a plane that came out of nowhere. It would have been

too bad, Ozzie remarked, had all those lovely pictures been

sent to the bottom with the Nautilus.

The work done by the Nautilus on this mission not onlysolved the problem of technique and procedure for photoreconnaissance but it also unquestionably established the

value of this type of reconnaissance. Her pictures were clear

and contained excellent detail and scope. Thereafter every

amphibious operation in the Pacific was preceded and based

on submarine photo reconnaissance.

There is an interesting postscript for the Nautilus after this

expedition which occurred during Operation Galvanic.

The Fifth Fleet, under command of Admiral Spruance, de-

scended with great force on the Gilberts in November, TheMarines wrested Tarawa from the enemy during a bloodybattle and the Army took Makin.

It was not mentioned in the dispatches released to the

RECONNAISSANCE 59

public then, but the Nautilus had her own little island to cap-ture with her Marines. Before leaving Pearl Harbor on Novem-ber 8 a detachment of seventy-eight Marines ( eight officers

and seventy men) under command of Captain J. L. Jones,

USMCR, came aboard, and Irvin was told that the sub had

another extra duty to perform.As soon as a few odd jobs had been polished off prior to the

big landing day, Nautilus was to take the Marines to captureAbemama and to cover the landing if necessary. Not much

opposition was expected, was the word passed before Bill left

Pearl Harbor. But a correction came through after a few daysat sea. Opposition could be expected. Pardon the error.

On November 18 the Nautilus was off Bititu, Tarawa, on

lifeguard duty. "From about dawn," recorded the skipper,"untilnow ( 1019 )

there has been an almost continuous paradeof aircraft from the southwest ( ours )

to Bititu and return. Japair appears to be nonexistent and we have been unnoticed

except for a curious photographer who evidently wants one

for his Brownie album. The radar operators are hoarse from

reporting plane contacts."

Once on November 19 the Nautilus let curiosity get the

better of judgment. The submarine was moved in on the

surface to watch the spectacular bombardment. All interest

died an instantaneous death when the shore batteries opened

up and three shells landed just 150 yards over. All hands

agreed they could really learn just as much from a descriptionfurnished by the officer at the periscope.But that was only the prelude to the day's trouble. At 9:54

P.M. two destroyers and a cruiser wheeled in her direction.

Bill Irwin picks up the story: "Generally speaking we werein a bad way. We believed the ships were friendly, even

though they were acting very belligerent. Our battery was lowand so was our air supply. We were four to five thousand yardsoff a reef on which the current was setting us at about 2 knots.

If we went down, we were in for a nasty time. If we didn't, we

60 BATTLE SUBMERGED

would be detected and might have difficulty identifying our-

selves. That they were Japs was considered unlikely. So recog-

nition signals were gotten in hand.

"Ship which was closing us was seen to open fire. [It was the

destroyer J7.S.S. Ringgold, Commander Thomas F. Conley,

Jr.] Fired the green recognition comet. The salvo landed. Per-

fect shooting (straddle). The Executive Officer has had the

ship closing us under constant observation since 2140 and

absolutely no attempt was made to challenge this vessel. Wewere in our assigned area. This was a clear case of shooting

first and asking questions later. The Executive Officer, whowas the last to leave the bridge, saw another salvo fired. One

projectile hit and exploded in some fashion just as we closed

the hatch. Our routine diving was disturbed and we forgot

to close the outer voice tube valve. The projectile hit the con-

ning tower and the concussion damaged the inboard voice

tube valve so that it leaked. Sparks squirted from the conningtower bilges but no fires started. Salvos could be heard land-

ing as we went deep. One close explosion near the motor room

ruptured a water line to the port main motor water coolingand caused considerable leaking in the bilges."

On the surface the cruiser Santa Fe had joined in the shell-

ing. When the destroyer's projectile was observed to strike the

target and the submarine disappeared, the task force com-

mander sent an enthusiastic "Well done!" to the Ringgold. It

was an insult added to the injury, but happily unheard by the

deep-diving Nautilus, whose troubles were increasing.The skipper took his submarine down to test depth, as deep

as safety permitted, and called all hands to depth-charge sta-

tions. It took six degrees up-angle at full speed, he learned,

to barely hold the boat up. In other words, she had to "climb

like hell" in order to stand still. Water poured in through the

damaged voice tube valve, which grounded out both peri-

scope motors, and streamed down the conning tower hatch. Atthat depth, the water was being forced into the boat at

BECONNAISSANCE 61

tremendous pressure, and every pump was strained to send

it back where it came from.

Motors every place were getting wet and being shorted out.

A leak started in the pressure hull but it was covered in time

to prevent disaster. The main induction was flooded and the

drains leaked and the engine room was awash.

That one American 5-inch projectile caused the Nautilus

more trouble than all the Japanese explosives showered uponher.

But the Nautilus had evaded the Jap vessels which hadtried to depth charge her into oblivion, so now use of someof the same tactics on the vessels above her was indicated. Bythis time the skipper had his doubts that the warships were

overeager Americans. Such nasty behavior made him think,

perhaps wishfully, that perhaps they were Japs after all. For-

tunately they were saving their depth charges, probably con-

vinced that the submarine was destroyed.

"By keeping track of the bearings on the surf on our star-

board hand," recorded the skipper, "we decided we could

work around slowly to the south and get some component in

our favor, which is what we did.

"We knew that time was running out fast. We had an im-

portant date at Abemama and we were going to keep it even

if we had to surface and fight our way through the horde that

was molesting us/'

Now, remember that through all this Nautilus was carrying

seventy-eight passengers. How did the Marines feel about the

situation? Let the skipper tell you. "The seventy-eight Marines

we had aboard were stoic but they unanimously claimed that

they would much prefer a rubber boat on a very hostile beach

to their present predicament. We managed to assure them

they would get their boat ride but there is one thing certain.

Not one of them will hesitate to leave the ship when landingtime comes!"

At 0040, November 20 (forty minutes after midnight, Navy

62 BATTLE SUBMERGED

time), there was a happier tone in the skippers diary. "Peri-

scope depth. . . . Everything is beginning to look rosy

again."A few minutes more and they were on the surface heading

south and radar reported that all was clear.

Late that afternoon the skipper wrote, "Off the beach

selected for landing. The Marine officers observed the beach.

They seem anxious to get off the submarine and they made no

bones about their reason. They have all agreed that a torpedo

room makes a most unsatisfactory foxhole!"

By midnight the Marines were safely and gratefully ashore,

where they could at least shoot back at anybody. The sub-

marine, according to plan, lay back and waited for develop-ments. They were slow in coming, but with the morning well

advanced the Marine captain was rowed out to the submarine

to report .trouble. The advance had been halted by enemy

strongpoints. He pointed them out on a chart.

Bill Irvin promptly replied, "Have your boys move back

some, and well clear the Japs out with our guns."

Captain Jones was a little apprehensive. The flat trajectory

would bring the shells very close to the heads of his men. If

one fell short well, it was bad enough being shot at once byan American warship.But Bill assured him there would be no shorts. He suggested

that the Marines mark the limit of their advance with some-

thing easily seen bedsheets would do, he jocularly sug-

gested. He promised faithfully that the Nautilus shells would

drop beyond them, into Jap-held terrain.

He kept his promise. At 0810 the 6-inch guns of the Nautilus

opened up. After seventy-five rounds had been lobbed into

the area a message was received from Captain Jones.

CEASE FIRE. SITUATION IN HAND. THANK YOU.

The Nautilus had completed her third and final mission in

the Gilberts!

Carlson's Raiders

THE WORDS Commando, Raider, or Ranger always conjureto our imaginations a colorful picture of tough, daring menwith blackened faces, armed to the teeth, landing stealthily

on the enemy's coast and striking in savage surprise. They kill,

smash radio installations, blast ammunition stores, fire build-

ings, throw the whole enemy establishment into a turmoil and

.then, loaded with priceless information, they vanish into the

protecting darkness before the adversary can recover his wits.

The picture produced is pallid beside the reality. To per-form their perilous tasks the Raiders, meticulously selected

in the first place, had to graduate with distinction from a long,

strenuous, exacting course of training. There was no place in

their ranks for an average man.

Early in August, 1942, the Marines expected to attempt to

establish a beachhead at Guadalcanal, first way station on the

long road back. Hoping to divert enemy attention from this

maneuver, a raid was planned on Makin, strategic atoll in the

Gilberts. It came as no surprise that Lieutenant Colonel Evans63

64 BATTLE SUBMERGED

F. Carlson was told that two companies from his famous

Second Raider Battalion had been selected to try to convince

the Japs that a full-scale operation was being planned for the

Gilberts. Our High Command knew that under his brilliant

leadership those tougher-than-ordinary Marines would, bytheir ripping, tearing tactics, convince the Japanese that each

man was a whole squad.This was before we had even finished raising our ships from

the bottom at Pearl Harbor. Of course, we were rushing new

ships to completion but we were still far short of numbers and

types needed. We didn't even have enough destroyer and

cruiser protection to permit our carriers to perform more than

hit-and-run raids. The day when we could employ a large

force of battleships, cruisers, and carriers to give two well-

separated islands a good going over before attempting a land-

ing was still months away. The landing at Guadalcanal alone

would tax our reserves to the utmost. And the balance of

power still remained with the enemy, if he should decide to

throw his full strength into the Solomons area. That was whyit was so extremely important to convince the Japanese wewere making a similar thrust at the Gilberts in the hope theywould divert some of their strength to that area, or at least

confuse them long enough to enable our Marines to becomeestablished on Guadalcanal,

Yes, the Makin raid was of tremendous importance to the

success of our first island invasion. Perhaps vital. However,the business of transporting 211 officers and men to the island

that lay about 2,000 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, without

the knowledge of a vigilant and suspicious enemy, posed a real

problem.Then the Silent Service offered to fill the breach. It was sug-

gested to the High Command that submarines could most

ably provide the necessary transportation. Suggestion becameconviction and two of our largest and most heavily armedundersea craft were selected for the risk-laden mission: the

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 65

Nautilus (Lieutenant Commander William H. Brockman),387 feet long and carrying two 6-inch deck guns; the Argonaut

(Lieutenant Commander John R. Pierce), originally built as

a mine layer, and of approximately the same size and arma-

ment. Captain John M. Haines, veteran submariner, was the

group commander.

Both skippers had years of wide experience in subs behind

them. Jack Pierce had operated the Argonaut most creditablyin the fog-bound, treacherous waters of the Aleutians. Bill

Brockman had ridden Nautilus into the Battle of Midway. It

was there that he had proved that he would soon become one

of the ace skippers of the Silent Service. By the time he

brought his boat back to Pearl Harbor after that historic battle

in June, Nautilus' conning tower was grimly gay with minia-

ture Japanese flags, one for each kill. His most conspicuous

accomplishment had been a brilliantly executed attack, in

the face of strong enemy anti-submarine measures, which

sank the aircraft carrier Soryu, damaged by bombs from Navycarrier planes. Jap cruisers were trying desperately to guardthe ship as she limped toward safety but she was doomedwhen Bill Brockman charged in and gave her the coup de

grace with six torpedoes. After that affair the Nautilus' opera-tions had been extended to Empire waters, where she had

definitely made her presence known. Incessant depth-chargeattacks had wrinkled hull plates to washboard corrugations,and there was a noticeable weeping of rivets throughout the

hull when she sailed proudly into Pearl Harbor. Efficient NavyYard workers soon remedied these battle damages and further

prepared the submarine for her daring trip to Makin. For such

a trip, many extra preparations were necessary.Of course the submarine is not like the ordinary ship. Space,

always at a premium in any ship, is even more precious in

undersea craft. Just about every square inch of space is alwaysneeded and utilized by the crew that normally lives aboard.

It therefore followed that when a hundred extra men and their

66 BATTLE SUBMERGED

equipment are to be taken aboard for a 2,000-mile trip, manyextra provisions must be made. To accommodate them all

below decks meant that many things had first to come out.

Nautilus and Argonaut had to be stripped down to less than

bare essentials. Of course, neither passengers nor dunnagecould be carried on deck, as with surface ships, because the

submarines had to be prepared to submerge on a moment's

notice. This would be particularly true when nearing enemywaters.

Triple racks of spare torpedoes in the forward and after

torpedo.rooms took up most of the compartments' space. This

was a mission when sinking ships would only be a defensive

measure, so out came the torpedoes to provide more room.

Only those in the tubes remained. With so many extra men

living below decks absorbing great quantities of oxygen, addi-

tional air-conditioning units had to be installed. These would

prove even more necessary when tropical waters were reached

where the air was soppily humid.

The submarines not only had to get the Raiders to their

destination but it was essential that they arrive in the best

of physical shape. An athlete below par doesn't win a race.

Bill Brockman and Jack Pierce were good choices to carrythe equally daring Marines on a raid where the odds were

tipped heavily against them. But submariners and Marines

have never been ones to count the odds when the reward is

so great or a mission so important.Once the submarines were clear of Pearl Harbor they pro-

ceeded independently. The Nautilus, being speedier, led the

way. This was done for several reasons. If Japanese recon-

naissance planes saw two submarines cruising together it

might breed suspicion of something greater in the wind than

a routine patrol, for these were the days before the WolfPacks. Another reason, of even greater importance, was the

desire to "case the joint." Nautilus had been assigned the fur-

ther task of making a periscope reconnaissance of the island

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 67

before landing day, to observe any preparations the Japanese

might have made to resist a landing. Moreover, a study of the

tides and currents about the atoll was a very important factor

in deciding where the landing would be made. The Hydro-

graphic Office had been unable to provide such information

on the island, so careful had the Japs been in denying anyinformation on the Mandates to the outside world.

When Admiral Halsey made his raid on the Marshalls and

Gilberts in January and February he had caught the enemyoff guard. Apparently the devastating attack at Pearl Harbor

had given them a complete sense of security. But it was un-

likely that the Makin garrison had forgotten the visit of nine

Yorktown bombers to its apparently safe little island. The

Navy flyers had shown complete disregard for the beauty and

quiet of the atoll, destroying both and a few hundred Japaneseto boot with fiendish 500-pound bombs. So this time there

was little hope that the Japs would be found dozing over their

sake cups.

Despite the extra air-conditioning units temperature and

humidity inside the submarines climbed to 90 and tried to

reach 100 when they entered the warm tropical waters of the

Equator-straddling Gilberts. Every surface within the boats

dripped water. To say that the voyage was extremely uncom-

fortable is like saying it is unpleasant to be cooked alive. Butthe closely packed, sweating men voiced no complaint. Theyfelt that the sheer novelty of traveling over 2,000 miles in a

submarine placed them in a uniquely favored class. It would

really be something to talk about later. And besides, the chowwas swell in these boats! Although the tiny galley had to be

kept in constant operation, it provided two full meals a dayfor all hands and passengers plus soup and crackers at noon.

Once the Nautilus was traveling southwest at her best speedBill Brockman inspected his boat and was satisfied with whathe saw. The morale of the men was high. With good weather

it was possible to get the passengers up on deck in relays for

68 BATTLE SUBMERGED

periodic airings and setting-up exercises. To break the monot-

ony drills were held that enabled them to move about. In

addition, to make them feel that they were a part of the ship's

company, the Marines were assigned watches. A Marine is

a most versatile person and fits quite easily into a strange

routine. If only something could have been done to keep the

temperature in the forward torpedo room below 90 degrees

and to lower the terrific humidity, everyone would have been

quite comfortable. However, pulling air through the boat with

the engines periodicallyto get rid of the old atmosphere was

the only expedient possible. It did help some and the men

were grateful for the little good it did.

A little after 3:00 A.M. on August 16 the navigator pointed

out a dark blob that had popped up off the starboard.bow, The

Nautilus had made her first landfall, Little Makin Island

(north of Makin) . Now for a look-see. The skipper set a course

to pass the northeast coast of Makin one and a half miles

abeam to starboard. She submerged and two hours later the

submarine was in position. The periscope reconnaissance was

most thorough. Prominent objects shown on* the chart were

sought and checked, the set of the currents was carefully

noted, a note made of coral reefs that would interfere with

the passage of landing craft. After circling the island Bill

wanted to go around Ukiangong Point and reconnoiter the

lagoon entrance at Flink Point. But they had been creeping

along at snails pace, and, bearing in mind that he was to

rendezvous with the Argonaut at nine that night, plus the

necessity of recharging his storage battery, the skipper aban-

doned the idea. It wasn't too important. The information he

had was more than sufficient for tbeir needs.

It was as dark as a whale's stomach when the Nautilus sur-

faced and set a course for the rendezvous. From all appear-ances the garrison on Makin was blissfully unaware of the

blow that was about to befall it. The island seemed to be

enjoying a peaceful tropical routine just taking it easy.

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 69

A shadow a little darker than the others loomed up in the

right direction and they hoped it would materialize into the

Argonaut. But just then one of those heavy tropical rains sud-

denly hit and visibility shut down to zero. The squall moved

on, the darker spot reappeared, more distinct; a few minutes

later the two submarines lay close to each other, Bill and Jack,

Captain Haines and Colonel Carlson, discussing final plans

.for the landing.The Nautilus led the way to the embarkation point.

They had planned to have the buoyant rubber landing boats

assemble alongside the Nautilus, then shove off simultane-

ously for the two designated beaches. For many weeks, at

Midway and in the Hawaiian Islands, the Raiders had trained

intensively in night landings from submarines, especially on

how to handle and land the unwieldy rubber boats in the

surf. So this was old business to them now. But despite the

careful training, several unexpected difficulties arose to pesterthem. First the weather refused to cooperate. The sea swells

made it difficult to keep the rubber boats alongside, and the

outboard motors chose this moment, of all times, to become

temperamental. The wash of the sea going through the

Nautilus' drain holes in the superstructure, mingled with the

roar of the surf, caused a cacophony of noises that all but

drowned out orders to the boats. It was fortunate that the

enemy was not maintaining a beach patrol.

Colonel Carlson swarmed all over the submarine gettinghis landing boats into the two prearranged groups. But with

a number of his boats soon immobilized because of wet motors

the Colonel made a quick change in plans and directed those

in movable boats to form a single group and land at only one

beach. This word got to all the rubber craft except one which

landed at the second beach, in the rear of the Japs accordingto the original plan. The Colonel remarked ruefully that there

is always someone who doesn't get the word. But it turned out

to be a very fortunate mistake for, despite the paucity in

70 BATTLE SUBMEBGED

number, this boatload, under the command of Lieutenant

Oscar F. Peatross, made the Japs think they were a whole bat-

talion, which aided materially in the major attack. They more

than lived up to the traditions of the Raiders by their fury and

savagery and the volume of terrifying yells.

Then an embarrassing situation developed. During the rush

of getting the boats started from the Nautilus no one noticed

that Colonel Carlson's own boat had drifted off, its crew curs-

ing futilely at the drowned motor. The Colonel bellowed to

the full extent of his lung power for his boat to come along-

side, but his best was not good enough. No one could hear him

above the surging of the sea. Captain Haines saved the day by

grabbing a megaphone and calling another boat alongside to

take care of the fuming, immobilized leader of the Raiders.

Eventually, at 4:21 A.M., the last difficulty had been licked

and the final boatload of Raiders headed for the shadowyshore.

The two submarines then moved to their station four miles

off the beach and waited for the first report of the landingvia voice radio communication the walkie-talkie.

At 5:45 the first message was received. Dripping with pes-

simism, it was short and to the point, EVERYTHINGLOUSY! But the next one a little later sounded more hopefuland more the type expected of a true Marine. It said, SITU-

ATION EXPECTED TO BE WELL IN HAND SHORTLY.The well-trained Marines had quickly overcome the initial

confusion caused by the rubber boats and wet engines, andthe landing had proceeded quietly and quickly. This certainlywas no drill! Not a human sound broke the utter stillness, until

an overeager lad decided to test his gun to be sure it wouldwork and of course it did, with a report that sounded to the

Raiders as if it could be heard in Tokyo. Colonel Carlson knewhe could delay the attack no longer. There was no use hopingthat the Japs would think that bang was caused by a fallingcoconut.

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 71

The Nautilus followed the attack by the intermittent mes-

sages received. About six o'clock an indistinct message indi-

cated that the Marines desired gun-fire support on the

Ukiangong Point Lake area where the Japanese reserves were

supposed to be located. More information was requested but

apparently the ailing walkie-talkie had really gone sour. Of

course, Jap snipers could have aggravated its illness. In anyevent it was pretty obvious that the Marines wanted some

fire support. Fortunately, the Nautilus* skipper had enough

imagination to fill in the gaps and sufficient initiative to do

something about it. The first salvo from the 6-inch guns went

whizzing toward the Ukiangong Lake area a few seconds

later. Wham! Too short! Up 200 yards! Wham! Almost on! Upsome more. Wham! The cloud of smoke and debris that

showered skyward was followed by an excited report from the

now operating walkie-talkie. They were on! Oh boy and howl

Then followed a methodical pounding of the reserve area.

When it had been reduced to a smoking rubble the walkie-

talkie suggested a new target a merchant vessel lay in the

harbor out from the government pier. From all appearances it

was getting up steam to get out. If the Nautilus worked fast

the sailing could be delayed permanently. A location was

given the submarine.

A check showed that trees screened the target from the sub-

marine but that obstacle only added zest to the problem. It

wouldn't have bothered a cruiser or battleship, and theyweren't going to let it bother a submarine either. Use indirect

fire. Quite simple: select a tree as a reference point and, with

the help of the walkie-talkie operator, waft a few experimentalshots for range and deflection. Well, that was it! When smokeand fire sprouted above the waters of the lagoon the operatorashore gleefully reported that a transport and a patrol yachtwere resting at the bottom of the lagoon."Name another target, son."

This shelling of the reserve area and the shipping in the

72 BATTLE SUBMERGED

harbor turned the tide of battle for the Marines, it was learned

afterwards. But despite the help from the Nautilus the

Marines were finding the going difficult The Japs were fight-

ing desperately, to the last man. The snipers who had lashed

themselves in the treetops had to be sought out and killed one

by one. A little before noon two Japanese Navy reconnais-

sance planes flew over Makin and dropped two bombs, forcing

the Nautilus and Argonaut to dive. Scarcely had they surfaced

when they were forced down again by twelve shore-based

bombers. They had to remain submerged for the rest of the

day.The Japanese attempted to reinforce the garrison by send-

ing two planes carrying thirty-five men. The planes landed

in the lagoon but were promptly destroyed by Marine

machine-gun fire.

At one time the situation had its assuaging touch of humor,macabre as it was for the enemy. When the Marines withdrew

about 200 yards to catch breath after repelling three banzai

charges, the ground they had occupied soon overflowed with

the enemy. The Japs were so happy at retrieving lost groundthat they failed to notify their bombers, who were grimly re-

turning to attempt what the ground troops had been unable

to accomplish wipe out the hated Marines. Their bombswere accurately dropped, all right, but on the Japanese now

occupying the terrain.

It had been arranged that the Marines would withdraw to

the submarines some time after 6:30 and before 11:00 that

night, to take full advantage of darkness and high tide. Thedarkness existed as predicted but the surf was in an ugly and

uncooperative mood. Consequently the exhausted men ex-

perienced great difficulty in launching their boats and gettingthem through the rollers with the engines still running, and

many men and much equipment went into the water. Despitethe herculean efforts of the men to get away from the beachabout 120 of the exhausted Raiders, practically naked and

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 73

almost unarmed, had to remain ashore that night. They had

reached, as Colonel Carlson understated his emotions later,

"the spiritual low point of the expedition." But a Raider could

take it.

The group commander, Captain Haines, sized up the ur-

gency of the situation in early morning and manned two re-

serve landing boats with volunteers and all available arms to

help evacuate the men on the beach. He also sent a message to

assure Colonel Carlson that the Navy would remain in-

definitely to get the men off. Of course, they might be forced

to submerge during the day, but they'd be there just the same.

The relief boats passed four boats wearily making their wayback to the submarines. One of them carried the executive

officer of the Raiders, the son of the President, bald, be-

spectacled Major Jimmie Roosevelt.

Captain Haines described how close they came to not

making the submarines. "Roosevelt was the last man out of

the boat and had just barely got his tail feathers down whenthe first Jap plane came over and the Argonaut had to gounder. If that plane had appeared fifteen or twenty seconds

earlier I'm afraid Major Jimmie would have been swimmingaround in the Pacific."

But the same Jap plane got in his innings on the tiny volun-

teer relief expedition, strafing until the boats were cut to

pieces. Only one volunteer managed to swim ashore. It washe who carried the message to Colonel Carlson: the subs

would stand by.

Enemy aircraft buzzed about like angry hornets the entire

day and again the submarines were forced to remain sub-

merged.

Although his Marines were stranded ashore, Colonel Carl-

son realized that they were being subjected to practically no

molestation and he began to take stock of the situation. This

was not like the enemy. Why had there been no harassing?

Cautiously a few Marines were sent out on a probing trip. To

74 BATTLE SUBMERGED

their surprise they found very few Japanese alive. Between

the Jap bombers and the Marine guns a very thorough job of

extermination had been done. Eighty-three dead were

counted, which could account for most of the garrison. The

bodies were searched for papers and their weapons appro-

priated to rearm the Marines. Emboldened, the castawayMarines ventured farther, setting fire to such structures still

remaining on the island, gasoline supplies and other usable

stores.

Then, acting on a request from Colonel Carlson, the sub-

marines moved over to the lagoon entrance to evacuate the

Raiders. By midnight the Marines were aboard and headed

for Pearl Harbor, the swirling flames from the installations

burning redly in their wake.

Although the expedition had been costly for the Marines

thirty dead and many badly wounded, the results more than

outweighed the cost. In addition to annihilating the garrison

and destroying the installations there, the over-all effect was

tremendous. It caused the Japs enough concern to divert a

task force of cruisers and destroyers and transports to the

Gilbert Islands instead of reinforcing the Japanese on Guadal-

canal where the Marines were grimly hanging on.

The Makin raid also demonstrated that it was perfectlyfeasible to use submarines to transport troops for long dis-

tances. The round trip made by the submarines had covered

over 4,000 miles. Colonel Carlson declared that the success

of the Makin expedition resulted from the unity of mind andeffort that welded the personnel of the submarines and Raid-

ers into an effective fighting team. To this Captain Haines

added, "To me, the most gratifying feature of this expeditionwas the spirit of cooperation between the Raiders and the

naval personnel. We trained the Marines to be lookouts. Wegave them diving stations, and the crews of the submarinesassisted in every way with the launching of the craft and re-

assembly, re-embarkation of the Marines. , . r

CARLSON'S RAIDERS 75

Yes, the submarines had aided materially in the success of

the expedition and gained invaluable experience for future

island landings, They had qualified to give the Raider call,

Gung Ho!

Mine Laying

FOR CENTURIES seagoing booby traps have been plantedin enemy waters designed to catch the most wary. Everymodern maritime nation that has ever engaged in war is fully

aware of the probability that mines will be sown off her coasts,

harbors, and bases, in tidal reaches of rivers and even the

channels. Mining and countermining are contests of ingenuityof which little is heard, and less understood, in public annals

of warfare. Each side endeavors to outsmart the other on the

type of mine used, the agent causing it to detonate, and the

anti-mine devices preventing it from being effective. If mines

are planted in waters deemed inviolate such as Japan's sa-

cred Inland Sea, for example a decided advantage is natu-

rally gained. Of course, a nation at war also lays mines to

protect her own waters from penetration by enemy ships.

During Civil War days mines were simply a heavy chargeof explosive anchored a certain distance under water and

exploded by contact with a ship's hull. These mines weresometimes called torpedoes. When Farragut uttered his im~

76

MINE LAYING 77

mortal words at Mobile Bay, "Damn the torpedoes, full speedahead!" he meant mines.

Despite the many kinds of mines inaugurated during the

two World Wars, the contact mine is still used most effectively,

although the simple type which instantly explodes upon first

collision has been supplanted by those detonated by induced

magnetism, pressure or chemical action. The majority of the

mines the Japs planted to trap our submarines were of the

simple contact types. Mine fields were stretched across the har-

bor and channel entrances and coastal sea lanes of the Em-

pire, and the shallow waters of the East China Sea, the

Straits of Tsushima and La Perouse.

Only three American submarines are known definitely to

have been lost to mines. There may have been others, for the

causes of some of our losses have never been learned. Mines

probably took their percentage.The toll would unquestionably have been much greater had

we not contrived to learn the location of many of Japan's de-

fensively mined areas. Of course, many mine fields even our

own were automatically suspected because it is usually quiteobvious to the experts where they should be planted.

Naturally channels have to be established in protectivelymined waters to permit the defender's warships and merchant

vessels safe passage. Such channels, although periodically

changed, are carefully charted. It was not too uncommon for

our submarines to find charts of such fields among the surface

debris left where a torpedoed ship had gone down. Such in-

formation was quickly passed on to the other submarine com-

manders.

Fishing junks and schooners along the China Coast always

appeared to know where the mines were, either by instinct or

instruction. By following the fishing fleets, our submarines

were guided through the coastal mazes. By pooling all such

knowledge that we acquired from the different sources, wewere able to keep a pretty good tab on the mine fields, al-

78 BATTLE SUBMERGED

though always just a little behind the facts because the enemy

kept planting new fields.

The great North Sea mine barrage of World War I was

unquestionably the greatest mine-laying project of history.

Mines at varying depths were laid across the North Sea thick

as dandelions on a suburban lawn to prevent the deadlyU-boats from leaving home waters. It was very effective, but

such a project in the vast Pacific was well beyond the capacity

of all mine-laying instruments.

In World War I U-boats laid a number of mines along our

Atlantic seaboard, one of which caused the loss of the United

States cruiser San Diego off Fire Island, New York, in the sum-

mer of 1917. Another struck the old battleship Minnesota off

the New Jersey coast.

From the very start of World War II the U-boats were veryactive planting mines in all English maritime channels which

took a heavy toll of ships regardless of nationality enteringor leaving British ports. It wasn't that the British didn't knowabout the work going on the sinkings told them only too

pointedly. The extraordinary losses were due to ingeniousnew methods devised by the German scientists in detonatingmines and making them invulnerable to standard sweepingor neutralization techniques.With British doggedness their trawlers, augmented by

Dutch and Norwegians, were out every morning to sweep or

detonate the mines they knew the U-boats had laid during the

night, a routine that recalls a story told in London by a British

Admiral. It seems that this procedure had become a daily

grind off Southampton. The U-boats planted their mines at

night; the British carefully swept them up in the morning.Then one day the radio was filled with guttural imprecations.The day before, the British, knowing how the Germans con-

form to habit, neglected to do their half of the chore and that

night the U-boats had run afoul of their own mines and blown

up!

MINE LAYING 79

The United States submarine service had never devoted

much time or thought to mine laying, even though the value of

offensive and defensive mining was recognized, in theory at

any rate. One submarine, the capacious Argonaut, was de-

signed for use as a mine layer, and, not long before WorldWar II a technique was evolved to fit any submarine to lay

mines. The main reason mine laying didn't rate highly was

the understandable desire and its sympathetic receptionof the submarine skippers to shoot their game on the wing,not just set traps and snares. In the gentlemanly days before

undeclared and unrestricted warfare, mine laying smacked

of the unsporting, however well-recognized was the worth of

strategically placed mines. If they could be planted where

the enemy took it for granted that a submarine would not

dare approach, such as inshore waters, he would probablysend his ships barging through to their doom. A few exercises

like this might cause the enemy to take it for granted that all

inshore waters were a potential danger, forcing a diversion of

his strength to regular sweeps to protect his coastal traffic. It

would also tend to induce him to run his ships outside the belt

in deep, nonminable waters where attacking submarines

would be waiting with unlimited freedom of action.

There were practical reasons, too, why we didn't use sub-

marines for mine laying as soon as we knew we were in a warfor survival. First, we didn't have nearly enough submarines

to perform their primary job a lack which at this writing has

become even more hazardously great. The second reason was

that everyone in the Service had a job on his hands wrestlingwith the torpedo problem earlier described. With our sub-

marine crews taking underwater depth-charge beatings to getinto an attack position only to have the torpedoes bounce

harmlessly against the enemy's hulls, the major effort was to

get better torpedoes and not to bone up on the neglectedlessons on mining.

Paradoxically, however, it was the torpedo problem that

80 BATTLE SUBMERGED

permitted our first submarine mine planting in the fall of 1942.

Actually we had more submarines available than torpedoes,

so Commander Submarines thought to put the idle boats to

war work on a mining experiment.Six submarines, Thresher, Tambor, Gar, Tautog, Whale,

and Grenadier, were dispatched in October and November,

1942, to inaugurate the first of thirty-seven mine-planting mis-

sions. They should have all been named Guinea Pig, for theywere laboratory experiments in fact. The experts had figured

as well as they could in theory but there were still swarms oftc

bugs" that would have to be worked out in actual practice.

Five of the boats were sent down to the southwest to lay their

mines in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, the Gulf of Siam,

and off French Indo-China. This remote region seemed to

offer the best possibility of an element of surprise with the

least possible danger. The enemy could be expected to believe

that inasmuch as our boats had been quite active in Empirewaters, our mining efforts would be directed there also. To

inspire this idea, just in case the Japanese didn't think of it

unassisted, the sixth boat, the Whale, was sent to lay her eggsin the sound between Honshu and Shikoku, the heavilytraveled southern exit from the Inland Sea. The boats ex-

perienced some technical difficulties but all managed to planttheir mines without damage to themselves.

Just what embarrassment the enemy experienced from this

first crop of mines was never learned. Mines usually reap a

very indeterminate return, for it is not practical to maintain a

watch to count the enemy ships destroyed, if any. It's rather

like giving money to a stranger to invest for you. It may payoff, and sometimes you may even hear that it has, but mainlyyou can just hope.From the submariner's point of view there is a much faster,

safer, greater return guaranteed from the expenditure of the

torpedo. He knows where he's putting it and he can get im-

MINE LAYING 81

mediate returns on the investment, Commander Submarines

wasn't unconcerned about sending his boats on mine-layingmissions either, because of the greater hazards involved in

such submarine operations. The boats had to operate in

shallow waters deep in enemy territory, and on top of that

the laying of the mines themselves held some danger to the

boats. For these reasons submarine mine planting was not

extensively employed, although enough mines were judi-

ciously placed in various strategic Empire waters throughoutthe war so that the enemy did not dare to become negligentin his mine sweeping. And, mine sweeping required the use of

boats and fuel and skillful sailors from his fast dwindling

supply that otherwise would have been used against our

forces.

However, one boat was right at the cashier's window a

couple of times when the enemy ships blundered into her

mine plant. This was the Trigger, commanded by Lieutenant

Commander Roy S. Benson.

Trigger was one of three submarines sent out to southern

Empire waters in the second mining group; the others were

the Sunfish and the Drum. The Triggers area was Inubo Saki,

about sixty miles east of Tokyo. Roy Benson had taken com-

mand of the Trigger just before her second war patrol,, and

started her on the career of fame that continued to mountwith each of her succeeding skippers until cut short by enemyaction during her twelfth war patrol.

On December 5, 1942, the Trigger departed from Pearl

Harbor on her third war patrol, her skipper's second. Their

special mission meant, of course, that the submarine's favorite

weapon, the torpedoes, had to give way to mines. But not

exclusively; there were a few of the lethal fish on board to

use, after the mines had been planted. The restriction was

very trying; suppose a nice, fat target steamed by, beggingfor a torpedo, but first lay your mines was the order. Of course,

82 BATTLE SUBMERGED

if a sub found herself in a jam she wouldn't be expected to

take it sitting down, but the mine layers weren't supposed to

incite action.

On December 16 the Trigger arrived at her objective off

Inubo Saki, and, of course, just as expected, that big, fat

freighter really did appear, steaming along as unconcernedlyas if her skipper didn't have a fear or care in the world, which,

as far as United States submarines went, he didn't have at

the moment.

Even though it made him unhappy to miss any opportunity

to knock over a few easy targets and it seemed to him the sea

was full of Jap ships, Roy Benson still found them valuable.

They helped him map out the location for the two mine plants

that he expected to lay. After a few days' observation, he was

able to identify accurately the courses preferred by the

merchantmen. That was one consolation for having to let

them go unmolested.

It was on December 20 that Benson decided he had enoughinformation to carry out the operation. Also, the strain of just

sitting and watching enemy ships sail past was beginning to

tell on everyone's nerves. That night, at 8:58, the Trigger sub-

merged and slipped into her first selected area. Bright moon-

light shimmered over the waters where the submarine was

busily at work. Rehearsals had been held many times and the

crew went to work efficiently. The first plant was laid on a line

perpendicular to one of the routes that the skipper had ob-

served used by ships passing Inubo Saki. Without mishap or

accident the operation went off smoothly, quickly.

Within half an hour the second plant was in the process of

being laid. Then a report from the sound operator caused the

skipper to take a careful look to the southward. There had to

be a slight interruption in their work, for a very cogent reason.

Roy Benson tells why:

"Sighted a ship approaching from southward heading al-

MINE LAYING 83

most exactly for this vessel. Ceased laying mines. Intended to

permit this vessel to go by and then resume laying mines.

Vessel was now identified as a large freighter with a small

escort vessel inshore from it. They passed under our stern, this

vessel on course 090 at that time. Position would have been

perfect for a torpedo attack with stern tubes but considered

completion of mine plant as the immediate objective. A bit

over five minutes after the freighter passed our stern there

was a violent explosion. . . . The freighter is 90 degrees from

her former course lying in the trough of the seas rolling in the

heavy swells violently while the escort vessel is circling her.

An excellent view of the freighter was now had. Her back had

been broken. Amidships the main deck was awash. About 10

feet of her stem was above water and the bow was high out of

water. The freighter sank rapidly. . . ."

Thus the Trigger obtained first-hand confirmation of the

success of her mine planting, within the hour! It had been

almost as expeditious as a torpedoing. The Boss wouldn't have

to wait very long to learn that the mines they were using and

the technique employed was satisfactory. Yes, quite satis-

factory indeed.

Now that the first burst of excitement was over, the Triggerlaid aside her role of spectator and went back to work com-

pleting the second mine plant. It was while they were getting

clear of the second plant that another explosion was heard in

the direction of the first mine field. They hopefully suspectedthat the patrol vessel, which had continued whirling about the

stricken freighter in a dither of fright and anxiety, had whirled

just a little too far and run afoul of another of the charges. But

having no desire to chance going through their own mine

field to check up, the question of what had caused the second

blast or its consequence had to remain forever unanswered.

Now that the mine planting business was completed, RoyBenson felt that he was free to devote the remaining time of

84 BATTLE SUBMERGED

the patrol to expending his torpedoes profitably. He plannedto return for a look a little later to see if any more enemy ships

had been snared.

Two days later a freighter was sighted coming down the

coast zigzagging madly that is, until a Trigger torpedocrashed into her just forward of the bridge. Although settling

by the bow she began to toot her whistle wildly and turned

away.

Roy Benson made his plan quickly. He disliked letting a

winged bird get away, but the Trigger was already in shallow

water about two miles off shore, with a current setting them

in not the most enviable position, to be sure. The fathometer

showed that the submarine was about to go aground, so the

skipper swung her about to bring her stern tubes to bear* The

target's main deck was awash and her screws were nearly out

of the water. The chances were that she would sink anyway,but Roy knew that very badly damaged ships had managedin the past to limp home and be patched up to sail again, so,

not desiring to have such an eventuality take place ( and also,

perhaps in defiance of the six sea planes that were hurrying

out) he sent a torpedo tearing into the freighter's stern. It im-

mediately removed all doubt about the ship's future useful-

ness to Japan.Christmas Day passed quietly in the submarine. Running

submerged during the day, en route to observe their mine

plants, nothing happened to interrupt a full turkey dinner.

The crew exchanged simple gifts and warm greetings and

played records of Christmas carols, not that a single memberwould have objected to foregoing the homely celebration for

a chance at a big target. The gift they wanted put in their

stockings was a 10,000-ton ammunition ship. They didn't

know that Santa was reserving that present until the following

day.

During that midafternoon of December 26 they watchedfour columns of smoke approaching Inubo Said and the Trig-

MINE LAYING 85

ger moved in to collect her belated Christinas present. Then,to the pop-eyed surprise of Benson and Co., it happened again!

"At this instant," related Roy Benson, "the leading ship,

which reached the exact bearing of our mine plants, com-

menced smoking at least five times as great as before and the

three other ships scattered to the northward. The smoke off

our mine plant lasted only a few minutes." Four ships hadcome up to the mines, only three had left. And for the second

time the Trigger had the unique experience of observing the

efficacy of her own mines.

After this the enemy must have begun to suspect that his

ships weren't blowing up without some good reason, because

no more ships tried to negotiate the waters of the Trigger mine

field.

It was the end of December now and Trigger decided she

wanted to end up the old year with a sinking. Late that after-

noon this wish came true. But it wasn't a walkover by anymeans. "The seas," said Roy Benson, "had picked up late this

afternoon and were now mountainous. Even with 10 feet of

periscope out, the seas spilled over the sight and the targetcould be seen only momentarily. Depth control was pre-carious. Use of high speed, trimming heavy, and the excellent

performance of duty of the planesmen and the diving officer,

Lieutenant S. H. Gimber, USN, were the only reasons whyan undetected attack was at all possible. The target was largeand zigzagging on courses about 60 degrees apart. She hada cargo of planes on her stern."

With all of those planes aboard her value to the Japs wastoo great to ignore and Trigger had no intention of doing so,

bad weather or no weather. The range was closed to 700 yardsbefore the first torpedo went swishing out. A glimpse of the

target a little later proved that she would never reach portnor would her cargo drop bombs on American troops.The Trigger was now willing to let the old year take its

departure without complaint. Optimistically revisiting her old

86 BATTLE SUBMERGED

mine plant twice only proved the enemy wasn't sending anymore ships through that area at all. Hunting all of the time, it

took Trigger ten days to find something suitable to dedicate

to a Happier New Year.

, On January 10, with her patrol drawing to a close, the

Triggers search was rewarded. The skipper and his navigator

were sweeping the periscope about, taking bearings to estab-

lish their noon position when a ship was sighted heading for

them at high speed. She was throwing out a bow wave as onlya destroyer can do. Wherever she was going she was in a big

hurry. But the Trigger changed the destroyer's direction and

destination. Three torpedoes sent the Okikaze, all 1,300 tons

of her, to the bottom, but not in one piece.

Submarine Versus Submarine

IT IS NOT generally realized, and less frequently appre-

ciated, that submarines can be killers of their own kind. The

United States submarines in the Pacific proved it by their

score of twenty-five confirmed sinkings of enemy undersea

craft. They actually became the nemesis of the Japanese sub-

mersibles.

Submarine against submarine is an event of sudden contact,

snap decision and quick attack. One submarine becomes vul-

nerable to another when caught on the surface by an opponent

submerged or otherwise unseen, such as by possessing the bet-

ter radar during darkness. Once the subs are both submergedthe battle becomes stalemated except for the very remote

possibility of ramming.With our subs operating in Empire waters from the very be-

ginning of the war the enemy's logical retaliation would have

been to have his subs lurking on submerged patrol, exacting a

heavy entrance fee from us for venturing into Japanese waters.

Actually, only one definite sinking of an American submarine

was ever credited to Japanese undersea craft.

87

88 BATTLE SUBMERGED

The Japs started the war with eighty-three fleet submarines,

and of course constructed many others during the long war.

However, there was too much difference of opinion in the

Japanese High Command over their best employment for the

submarine ever to be exploited for maximum results.

Then, as the war progress reversed and we started up the

long road back, Japanese subs were mainly employed for

evacuation and transportation, or to carry badly needed sup-

plies to islands besieged by sea and air. Our own submarines

had destroyed so much Japanese shipping they dared not risk

the remnant. Submarines were often used to evacuate key

personnel or even a whole garrison, as in the daring evacuation

of Kiska, under our very noses. This was a remarkable feat

that left our faces very red indeed. But such employment per-

mitted no use of the submarine's offensive weapon the tor-

pedo.In February, 1945, the United States submarine Batfish,

commanded by Commander J.K. (Jake) Fyfe, made that

form of evacuation highly unpopular by sinking three Japa-nese undersea boats, bulging with V.I.P/s, in four days.

Lieutenant Commander Elton (Joe) Grenfell, in the Gudg-eon, had started the sub vs. sub dueling as early as January

27, 1942, by catching the Japanese 1-17S on the surface a few

hundred miles west of Midway and expertly subtracting it

from the enemy's fleet roster. The Silent Service accounted

for four more that year. The 1943 score was three; 1944 was

better, with eight in the bag.It remained for the Batfish to set the all-time individual

record with her bag of three on one patrol, accounting for a

full one-third of the subs sunk in 1945.

Jake Fyfe had taken command of the Batfish just before her

fourth war patrol, which was conducted in the area around

Palau from August 1 to September 12, 1944.

There was a reason for die dearth of targets that the Batfishfound there. It had been well blasted by the heavy carrier

SUBMARINE VERSUS SUBMARINE 89

strikes of July 25 to 28, preliminary to attacks on Yap, Palau

and Ulithi, and the Japs were giving the area a wide berth.

Nevertheless, by braving navigational hazards in the inade-

quately charted waters near Velasco and Ngaruangl Reefs,

the Batfish managed to sink two destroyers.

But Jake had his heart set on bagging an enemy sub. On two

occasions, August 5 and August 11, he thought his wish was

about to be gratified. Targets were discovered, the tedious

maneuver of approach executed. Then, blinko, each sub dove

and stayed out of sight. There was nothing Jake could do

about it except mutter in his beard.

On September 3 the Batfish set out for Fremantle, Australia,

to refit. Of course, she could boast of a couple of destroyers

and some small fry; but Jake still wanted to bag a submarine.

The crew had become infected with the same ambition.

Skee, the gunner's mate, stood in front of a pinup picture

( under whose curvaceous image a wistful member of the crew

had pasted the Lucky Strike slogan, "So round, so firm, so fully

packed") and shook a reproving finger. "You ain't doing right

by us, honey. You wanna stay on here, yuh bettah get in the

game."On October 8 the Batfish was en route to her new area in the

Sulu Sea and South China Sea. She had many miles to gobefore finally poking her nose into San Fernando Harbor on

western Luzon to make her first kill a lowly freighter.

But, despite the fact that he added another ship to the bagthe next day, Jake felt that he was increasingly plagued with

bad luck. Another submarine had sat on the surface lookingas big and inert as Fujiyama itself, until the panting, eager

Batfish raced in for the kill. Same old story: the Jap chose a

submarine's safest refuge, down, out, and away.Then the Batfish had to proceed to Pearl Harbor.

The submarine jinx was getting Jake down. Three surfaced

submarines contacted and not even a shot at them! As theystood in toward the entrance buoys at PearlHarbor on Decem-

90 BATTLE SUBMERGED

ber 1, Skee, the gunner's mate, gave the pinup girl a final

warning. 'It's either this time, honey, or we're getting another

girl See?"

The sixth war patrol which was conducted in the South

China Sea-Luzon Straits area "Convoy College" from

December 30, 1944 to March 3, 1945, was to be Jake Fyfe's

last patrol in the Batfish. On this patrol the Batfish was a

member of "Joe?s Jugheads," as the three-ship pack was called

in honor of the skipper of the pack flag boat, Archerfish,

Commander Joe F. Enright. The third member of the division

was Blackfish, Lieutenant Commander W. L. Kitch.

Joe Enright had made an inspiring record for himself in his

previous patrol by sinking the biggest ship to fall to a sub-

marine during the war, the giant 62,000-ton carrier, Shinano,

with six torpedo hits.

Well, if Joe Enright could continue to carry his luck to his

pack, perhaps Jake Fyfe would achieve his fondest dream.

The pack spent the early part of their patrol west of HongKong in the vicinity of Hainan Island. So far as the Batfish was

concerned, the Jughead's luck had run out. About the only one

aboard who profited by the time spent in the area was the

pharmacist's mate, who found opportunity to practice the

practical factor of his chief petty officer examination by patch-

ing some shot-up fishermen from a Chinese junk.Then just when Jake thought he had figured out all the

angles on the movements of an elusive freighter with which

they had been playing hide and seek from Gaalong Bay to

YuHn, Hainan, the skipper had to log with a tinge of regret,

"Received orders changing our patrol area. Hate to leave here

now that we have 'cased the joint' so -well and feel that nothingcould get by us again. Headed for Luzon Straits, . . ."

But they had been sent there for a very good reason. The

Japs were busy evacuating some of their key personnel from

Aparri in northern Luzon. Their control of the Philippine

Archipelago was fast becoming a memory a bitter memory

SUBMARINE VERSUS SUBMARINE 91

of what the Japanese had dreamed would be a new empirefor them. Most exits from the Philippines had been closed,

and there now was no way to get the personnel out in any

great numbers except by submarine. But our head man in

subs proposed to slam that door in their faces, too. There

would be no more pulling troops out from under our verynoses as they had in the Aleutians, So he added the Plaice and

Scabbardfish to Joe's Jugheads to make the exit route from

Luzon too tight a squeeze even for the agile Nipponese. Bat-

fish was directed to plug the passage between Babuyan and

. Calayan Islands.

And then it happened!At 10:50 on the night of February 9 radar reported a good

contact at 11,000 yards and there was every evidence that it

was a submarine. Swiftly, silently the Batfish moved in for

the kill. Thirty minutes later the command that makes everysubmariner's heart beat faster sounded through the boat.

"Stand by!""It's a submarine," called Jake jubilantly, when the range

was closed to 1,850 yards.A four-torpedo spread whipped out toward the target. All

hands waited breathlessly for the explosions, mentally ticking

off the seconds.

Nothing! The inen relaxed, every face somber with disap-

pointment. Jake had missed. Hard luck still dogged them.

His voice choking with disappointment, the skipper gaveorders to pull out to the right. He refused to admit defeat yet.

He would do an end around and try again. That is, if the Japsub remained on the surface.

The moonless night was further darkened by a heavy over-

cast. So far the target had only been sighted by radar. But on

this attempt Jake decided to move in close enough for a visual

contact and that would be plenty close.

At exactly one minute after midnight the Batfish was againin a firing position, at a range of 1,000 yards. There it was!

92 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Black against black, but unmistakably silhouetted a Japa-nese I-class submarine.

Jake was in the position for which he had prayed all duringtwo previous patrols. Below decks, every article that bore anyresemblance to a good-luck charm was reverently rubbed and

cajoled by an expectant and hopeful crew.

The second torpedo did the trick. A brilliant orange-red

explosion lit up half the sky, and the 1-41 took her last dive.

Jake had a yen to salvage some Nip submariners not for

humanitarian purposes alone but the night was so very dark

that a searchlight would be necessary for the rescue. Such a

blatant advertisement of his presence in the neighborhoodwould be far from prudent, so Jake decided to wait until day-

lightBut with dawn the oil slick and debris proved only to be

magnets for our own planes, who swarmed all over the placelike wasps to a honey pot. Whenever Batfish tried to lift her

head for a look-see, the enthusiastic aviators greeted her with

TNT bouquets. So, by courtesy of our planes, Batfish re-

mained submerged until darkness and the zoomies had to gohome.

Now that Batfish had finally broken the jinx and bagged a

submarine Jake began to take a new interest in life. Japanesewater was a pretty good place to be after all. What he didn't

suspect was that the Batfish's shower of luck was going to turn

into a veritable deluge.At 7:51 that night radar signals again indicated the presence

of the same type of target as the night before. The Batfishdrooled at the prospect of chalking off another Jap submarine.

Since the night was even darker than the one before, Jakedecided to chance an ineffective enemy yadar and get in onthe surface close enough to identify the target by class. Thenat 1,200 yards, after the Stand By had sounded, the enemysub suddenly dove, leaving unbelieving eyes on the Batfish

bridge gaping at an empty ocean.

SUBMARINE VERSUS SUBMARINE 93

The Bat-fish was now in a vulnerable position. It could hap-

pen to her too! The skipper lost no time in pulling clear, curs-

ing himself for waiting too long for the perfect setup. Waited

until he had been spotted, he thought bitterly as he gaveorders to dive.

"Why didn't I realize those fellows have eyes too. Nowhe'll never show himself again tonight!"But just one half-hour later Sound reported the cheering

news of a swishing noise from the direction of the target. This

swishing noise contained all the beauty of a wonderful sym-

phony for Jake and his crew. There is no other like it to a sub-

mariner's ears and nothing else can duplicate it. A submarine

was blowing her ballast tanks to surface!

It now seemed likely that the Jap was convinced that his

contact was an error and he had decided to be on his wayagain. This time, Jake vowed, he was not going to give him a

chance to suspect anyone. He was going to shoot from a sub-

merged position, dark as the night was.

At 10:00 P.M. from a 880-yard range Jake fired his first tor-

pedo, then sent three others in the combing spread. But it wasa needless precaution, for the first one literally blew the target

apart. In addition to the regular explosion there were two loud

internal explosions from the target.

"Maybe this guy was carrying ammunition to General

Yamashita," remarked the skipper.Number two Jap submarine (RO-112) for the Batfish and

Skee gave the pinup girl one of his most approving glances.But there was still more to come.

Radar electrified everyone at 1:55 A.M. on February 13 byreporting another contact and again bearing a very close

resemblance to the previous submarine contacts. It seemedtoo good to be true; but Jake was perfectly willing to provehimself wrong. The bow torpedoes had been expended, but

the stern tubes were loaded and ready to go.

A little later Jake was convinced. "Looks like another Nip

94 BATTLE SUBMERGED

sub/' he announced exultantly, and a muted cheer rang

through the boat.

But this third one was a wary fellow and proved a bit

skittish. For while the range was still outside of the torpedolimit the enemy suddenly dove. Something had disturbed him.

The Batfish hoped she hadn't been responsible and patientlywaited. Before long radar reported that the sub was on the

surface again. Once more the Batfish rolled up her sleeves.

Then when the range was being closed radar lost the targetfor about forty minutes. Cold sweat slowly.began to gather on

Jake's brows when the horrible suspicion assailed him that the

Batfish might have become the target. Then when the badmoments of waiting inspired the urge for a change of position,radar brought sunshine back into their lives by reporting con-

tact again. It was a beautiful world after all!

By 4:30 A.M. the Batfish had made an end-around and wasin a submerged attack position. This had to be it. No more

horsing around; the dawn would come awfully early.

"How long can this streak of luck keep up? Please, long

enough for this one," muttered Jake, crossing his fingers over

the periscope handles.

When the first torpedo brought a large yellow ball of fire,

followed by an explosion, the Batfish knew that she hadchalked off another sub. This time it was the RO-113, as

proved by a wooden box containing Japanese navigational

equipment and a book of tables the Batfish recovered at day-break.

"From the positions listed in the work book," said Jake Fyfe,"it looks like this guy went from Nagoya to Formosa before

he headed down toward Luzon to join his ancestors."

The Archerfish made it a fourth for the pack the next day,

They Chose Death

ALTHOUGH the stories of Captain John P. Cromwell and

Commander Howard Gilmore can hardly be classified as

describing missions normally performed by the submarine

fleet, their selfless courage symbolizes the spirit of the Serv-

ice.

One was a captain who felt he knew too much to risk be-

coming a Japanese prisoner and chose to die rather than risk

betraying his country under drugs and tortures; the other,

a skipper who elected death rather than endanger his sub-

marine and crew. Because men of this caliber manned our

submarines, the Silent Service never faltered no matter how

tough the going became. Nor did the Navy have a monopolyon the breed of patriot who, like Nathan Hale, would regret

having only one life to sacrifice for his countrymen. Their

spiritual kinsmen flew the Army Air Force's planes, guidedtanks into battle and toted guns or blood plasma past the front

lines.

Because he was commander of a wolf pack, Captain Crom-95

96 BATTLE SUBMERGED

well was given complete information about the strategy to beused in the central Pacific area, in case his pack should beneeded in the forthcoming offensive operation dubbed with

the code name Galvanic. Before Captain Cromwell left Pearl

Harbor, Commander Submarines called him privately into

his office for a thorough briefing on all of our pending plans.

Ironically enough, Admiral Lockwood told Cromwell he was

sorry to be forced to give him such dangerous information.

Neither could know or expect that the knowledge would beCromwell's self-signed death warrant.

The captain left Pearl Harbor in the Sculpin on November

5, 1943, in company with the Searaven and Apogon, for an

operational patrol.

During the forenoon of November 19 the skipper of the

Sculpin., Commander Fred Connaway, intercepted a small but

well-guarded convoy near Truk in the Carolines, and movedin to a successful attack, despite the vigilance of the escorting

destroyers.He must have made a very important kill, the way the de-

stroyers swarmed down upon him. The veteran skipper tried

every evasive tactic he knew but the sea wasps refused to beshaken off. By noon, accurately placed depth charges had the

Sculpin practically out of control. The strong-pressure hull

had been badly distorted by the heavy explosions that still

were shaking the submarine. Water was pouring into the boat

alarmingly fast from many leaks. Diving and steering gearswere deranged, and the outboard doors of the torpedo tubeswere jammed rendering Sculpin incapable of fighting backwith her only submerged weapon. As the savage mauling con-tinued without abatement the crew found it increasinglydifficult to keep the submarine from plunging out of controlto a depth too great to survive. And, to add to their distress,the storage batteries were almost exhausted.

If any of the crew were to be saved they had no choice butto surface. Through tightened lips Fred Connaway reported

THEY CHOSE DEATH 97

to the pack commander, Captain Cromwell: "Our only chance

is to surface and fight our way clear/'

Captain Cromwell silently nodded his agreement.The courageous gesture made by the men pouring out on

deck to man the 3-inch deck gun and the two 20-millimeter

guns after the Sculpin surfaced was as futile as the Charge of

the Light Brigade.A Japanese destroyer immediately turned her overwhelm-

ing gun power against the obviously distressed boat Theyknew no submarine would elect to use a small deck gun in-

stead of her torpedoes if she had any choice.

Fred Connaway watched the superior speed and gun powerof the destroyer making a shambles of the Sculpin s topsideuntil he realized it was only a question of seconds before his

entire crew would be annihilated. Connaway decided to save

as many of his men as possible by scuttling the Sculpin. After

his order to abandon ship, and with the men going over the

side, Connaway was killed when one of the destroyer's shells

struck the conning tower. The same burst instantly took the

lives of the gunnery officer, Lieutenant Joseph R. Defrees, Jr.,

and Lieutenant N.J.

Allen.

That holocaust put Lieutenant George E. Brown in com-

mand. He was the one who had gone below to tell CaptainCromwell that it was time to leave the Sculpin.But the pack commander had already made his irrevocable

decision. He knew that the Japanese had ways of extractinginformation from prisoners by torture and drugs. Since he was

a senior officer he was sure that the enemy would use everydevice in the Book of the Damned to learn something, any-

thing, about the next American move in the bewildering

island-hopping technique being employed by the Allies. Herealized that, no matter how great his determination to remain

silent, it was possible he might be forced to tell what he knew.

He refused to be responsible for the death of a single Ameri-

can.

98 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Cromwell took a deep breath, twisted his lips into a forced

smile, and extended his hand. "Go ahead, Brown. I know too

much to go with you. Good luck, and goodbye/'

Aghast, Brown stammered his protests, but the hand that

grasped his shoved him violently toward his duty to giveorders for the Sculpins final dive. The broken, leaking craft

went down, carrying with her the gallant officer who hadelected to die with the submarine rather than endanger his

country.An incredible account of the men who left the Sculpin has

been gathered from postwar sources. Unhappily, it contains

a cruelly ironic twist that proves again the old adage that truth

is stranger than fiction.

After the Sculpin had taken her final dive, the destroyerYokohama drew near the men struggling in the water, strafingthem with machine-gun fire. After killing several the Japsceased fire and began to rescue the remainder that is, the

unwounded ones. Those who needed medical attention werethrown overboard. One of them, John Paul Rourke, had a

difficult time avoiding this treatment. He managed to con-

vince his captors that his slight wound would not affect his

health.

While en route to Truk, Torpedoman Thomas secretlybriefed the forty-one survivors on the story he had told their

captors. Before long the Japs were digging out charts fromas far back as 1820 in a vain attempt to locate the secret island

between the Gilberts and Truk where the captives had with

feigned reluctance admitted the American subs were refuel-

ing. The Japs were still eagerly searching for the mythicalisland when the destroyer arrived at Truk.

Here the prisoners were divided into two groups and trans-

ferred to two escort carriers, the Chuyo and Unyo, for trans-

portation to Japan, These two carriers were part of a task forcewhich included the carrier Zuiho, a cruiser, Maya, and two

destroyers, Sazanami and Urakaze. This would have com-

THEY CHOSE DEATH 99

pleted the saga of the Sculpin survivors if the Sailfish, com-

manded by Commander Robert E. M. Ward, had not taken a

hand in their fate.

Soon after sunset on December 2, 1943, the Sailfish sightedthe Japanese task force on its way to the Empire. Despitestorm-churned seas and driving rain, Bob Ward headed the

Sailfish through jet-black darkness to make a surface attack.

Soon after midnight two torpedoes were sent crashing into

the hull of the carrier Chuyo.The escorting destroyers came racing up to protect the

badly wounded ship from further onslaught and began salting

the sea for miles around with depth charges. Their accuracywas much inferior to their zeal. The Sailfish was only briefly

shaken up, but the attack did nothing to diminish her desire

to continue the fight. So, when the convoy moved on, the

submarine surfaced to pursue the wounded carrier. It was

against principle to let a winged bird go.

Shortly before dawn the submarine attained another attack

position, and the Chuyo absorbed two more torpedoes. Still

she floated.

Ward was annoyed. In the murky dawn he submerged and

ran in to take a look at the carrier through his periscope.At closer range he saw where he could place a few more

torpedoes to finish off the badly damaged Chuyo, but whathe could not see were twenty-one Sculpin survivors pennedon deck. Nor could those men guess, let alone know, the

identity of the submarine that was preparing to deliver the

coup de gr&ce to the carrier and so complete their own doom.

Such coincidences shatter the laws of probability, because the

submarine was the one that their Sculpin had stood by in

rescue attempt when she lay helpless on the sea bottom off

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in May, 1939.

At that time the Sailfish was known as the Squalus!

George Rocqk was the only American survivor, after three

more torpedoes from the Sailfish sank the blazing Chuyo. He

100 BATTLE SUBMERGED

was sent to the copper mines in Japan, where he joined the

twenty prisoners who had been aboard the other carrier.

One February day in 1943 a badly battered American sub-

marine, the Growler, crawled home from her fourth war patrol

in the western Solomons near the Rabaul traffic lanes. The

battle-scarred hull represented only her material condition;

the human element of the team of ship and men was passion-

ately eager to return to battle. They had an awesome revengeto exact for their skipper who, helplessly wounded on the

bridge, had commanded his second-in-command to save shipand crew, and remained on the submarine's bridge when she

was forced to dive.

The Growler had won an extraordinary reputation for her-

self under the command of Commander Howard Gilmore

on her four excursions against the Japanese fleet.

Prior to her first war patrol, she had been one of the sub-

marines patrolling the probable avenues of approach by Ad-

miral Yamamoto's task force making its fatal rendezvous at

Midway.Once the Battle of Midway was history the Growler took off

for the Aleutians. This was June 20, 1942. The enemy hadlanded and occupied the western Aleutians at Kiska and Attu.

On June 3, Rear Admiral Kakuda, commander of the occupy-

ing force, had sent thirty-six bombers and twenty-nine Zeros

from his two carriers to make a diversionary attack on our base

at Dutch Harbor, the first bombs to be dropped on the North

American continent.

With the enemy fleet fully prepared to try to hold all it had

grabbed, the targets promised to be abundant if one could

see through the interminable fog and live through the foul

weather. But the Growler saw through it well enough to gettwo destroyers in Kiska Harbor.

The next patrol netted four ships, one of them a tanker, the

Itukushima.

The third patrol was disappointing, for throughout the

THEY CHOSE DEATH 101

Growler seemed to have the whole ocean to herself. But on

the fourth patrol, in January, 1943, the Growler was scarcelyon station before she picked off a freighter in a convoy and

two days later sank another. Then, during the early hours of

February 7, occurred the heroic tragedy.One hour after midnight, Gilmore detected a ship about

2,000 yards off his starboard bow. The torpedo tubes weren't

quite ready, so Gilmore swung the Growler away to allow

time to prepare, then turned back toward the target. It was so

dark he couldn't see the enemy ship reverse course and head

straight for him. Not until radar warned that the target was

very close could the skipper see what had happened. Amoment later the screen showed that the target was too close

to attack with torpedoes they wouldn't have time to arm.

Without hesitation Gilmore chose the only course left to

damage the enemy vessel. He gave the order to ram the now-

recognized gunboat."Full left rudder!"

Then he sounded the collision alarm. It was only seconds

before the Growler plowed into the enemy ship at seventeen

knots. The sub heeled over about 50 degrees, then righted.Before the ships could draw apart, the gunboat began to

sweep the submarine with machine guns at point-blank range.The skipper's command came with the first burst: "Clear

the bridge!" The officer of the deck, the quartermaster andtwo wounded men slid down the hatch.

The executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Arnold F.

Schade, peered anxiously up toward the bridge where the

din of machine-gun fire still resounded. The skipper should

have been easing his body down by then but, instead, camehis clear-voiced command:

"Take her down!"

Schade hesitated even though the order left no room for

doubt.

"Take her down!"

102 BATTLE SUBMERGED

It was definite, decisive. The hatch was still open but no

one was coming down through it. Further delay would meanthe loss of the boat and all hands below. Sick at heart and

stomach Schade closed the hatch and sounded the divingalarm. How close the call was was measured by a bullet that

pierced through the conning tower, through which water

streamed into the submerging boat.

Dead on the bridge beside the mortally wounded skipperwere Ensign W. W. William and Petty Officer W. F. Kelley.

Howard Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Congres-sional Medal of Honor. The citation, in part, read, "For his

inspiring personal heroism in ordering his ship submergedas he lay wounded on deck, knowing he would be lost, Com-mander Howard W. Gilmore became the first member of the

Submarine Force to be awarded the Congressional Medal of

Honor. Through his splendid spirit of self-sacrifice his ship,

though seriously wounded, lived to fight again and to take an

honored place in the fight against the enemy before her ownloss in November, 1944."

Operation Appendectomy

Submerged !

MOST THINGS in normal life are automatically regulated bylaw and order. But through the ages some things have success-

fully resisted all efforts of man-made laws to control, and chief

among them are the weather and the vermiform appendix.When the appendix becomes seriously inflamed, there is onlyone thing to do remove it without delay. Unfortunately wecan't do the same with unpleasant weather.

Ordinarily the health of our submariners was excellent.

However, before starting a war patrol, which usually averagedabout sixty days away from the base, each member of the

crew was given an especially thorough examination to detect

any incipient disease. This was of utmost importance, for, from

the very start of the war, submarines operated deep in enemywaters, beyond plane range even from our bases. They never

carried medical officers. Each carried a pharmacist's mate

thoroughly grounded in first aid. Of course, in the event of the

103

104 BATTLE SUBMERGED

unpredictable he and the skipper could fall back on the old

submarine formula: "If you can see it, paint it with iodine. If

not, give salts." Occasionally that formula didn't apply.In prewar days most of the submarines didn't even carry a

pharmacist's mate. The skipper doubled for doctor and drug-

gist. But this deficiency did not occasion too much concern.

The tenders were usually not too far away and a plane or de-

stroyer could reach the position of the sub in time enough to

take care of any emergency. But the time came when, under

compulsion of war, the submarines ventured where no other

craft air or surface could follow.

Since there were not enough doctors available to supplyeach ship with one, let alone each submarine, the undersea

boys could only hope that nothing would happen that theycould not handle themselves. It turned out that even in cases

of inflamed appendices they were not found wanting, as was

demonstrated when, in September, 1942, the Seadragon

(Lieutenant Commander William E. Fen-all) left Darwin,

Australia, on her fourth war patrol.

A dark night was chosen to transit Lombok Strait between

Java and Bali. The enemy had just overrun the Dutch East

Indies like a tidal wave and was keeping a sharp lookout for

Allied subs, who were already making their deadly bite felt

in the Japanese supply line.

For a week the Seadragon assiduously plied her trade with-

out much remuneration. Then the radar operator sent spirits

soaring by reporting that inactivity was ended. Pips were ap-

pearing on the screen!

But at the skipper's side First Class Pharmacist's MateWheeler B. Lipes, his forehead wrinkled with worry, was also

making a report. The skipper listened with concern because

he knew that Lipes was not one to worry needlessly.Some of the crew, related Lipes, had been "off their feed"

for a few days but a little of the standard old remedy was

straightening them out. So when Darrell Dean Rector, seaman

OPERATION APPENDECTOMY SUBMERGED! 105

first class, began to complain of pains in the lower regions of

his stomach "Doc" had at first relegated the seaman to the

"off the feed" category. But the pain persisted, and appearedto be confined to the right side. After a second and more

thorough examination, Lipes said, he had decided that this

was no ordinary case of bellyache or trots. So he thumbed

through his medical books for symptoms that matched. Whenhe had closed the books no doubt remained. Rector had acute

appendicitis and needed an immediate operation.Bill Ferrall scratched his head thoughtfully. It was all very

well to talk about operations, but being on war patrol in the

Java Sea without a medical officer did not jibe very well with

the suggestion. A rendezvous with Allied destroyers or planesin these waters was out of the question and it was a long wayback to Australia, too long. Furthermore, it was doubtful that

the Japs would heed the sanctity of a submarine chargingacross the sea with hospital markings on it, and even if theydid it was still a long way to the nearest Allied port. The possi-

bility of recourse to a surgeon had to be ruled out immediately.The skipper looked questioningly at slender, soft-spoken

Pharmacist's Mate Lipes."It's about six of one, and half a dozen of the other, Cap-

tain," said Lipes. "But I think I can do the job."

"You?" ejaculated the skipper.

"Yes, Sir. I've been present as an assistant when many an

appendix was removed. There's nothing to the operation if

no complications set in, such as a rupture. With a steady plat-

form, a few people to help, another gander at my medical

books, a few improvised instruments, and a fair J-factor, I

can bring him through. With your permission, Captain, 111

assume the full responsibility. At least, it'll give Rector a

chance. Without it, he's as good as dead anyhow."The skipper nodded his head slowly. The pharmacist's mate

enjoyed the respect and confidence of the entire crew. "It's

my responsibility and I have confidence in you, Lipes. If

106 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Rector agrees to the operation, so will I. I'll give you a steady

platform, my officers will act as your assistants, and I will

pray for a good J-factor. Good luck."

When the situation was explained to the ailing seaman he

cocked an eyebrow at the confident Lipes. "Go to it, Doc. It

ain't doing me any good where it is."

The growing pips on the radar screen were forgotten at

10:45 A.M., September 11, 1942, when the Seadragon left the

war behind and planed down to 120 feet. The motors were

slowed until no motion was perceptible. The wardroom table

on which the patient was stretched could not have been more

steady if it had been alongside the dock or in a hospital. Every-

thing was all set. Lipes's improvised instruments were ready,

and the electricians had rigged floodlights. Then Wheeler

Lipes went confidently to work.

, The requests that he made of his amateur assistants ship's

officers were not in the technical language heard around

a hospital operating table, but it was a language they under-

stood and obeyed with alacrity.

At 1:22 P.M. Wheeler Lipes slowly pulled off his rubber

surgical gloves. With a final look at the neat stitching he

nodded to his assistants, a satisfied smile on his face. "Thanks,

gentlemen. Our J-factor was good."The offending appendix had been removed and the patient

was resting easy. Two weeks later Darrell Dean Rector wasback on duty.Thus was performed the first submerged appendectomy in

submarine history. The courageous pharmacist's mate was

promoted to warrant officer.

Before the year was out two other submarines were con-

fronted with the same serious condition. They, too, werehandled efficiently and successfully. On December 13, in the

Grayback (Lieutenant Commander E. C. Stephan) Pharma-cist's Mate First Class Harry B. Roby performed an appendec-

tomy on Torpedoman's Mate W. R. Jones, with the same

OPERATION APPENDECTOMY SUBMERGED! 107

efficiency and success displayed by Wheeler Lipes. Then on

December 22, Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas Moore

did the same for Fireman First Class George Platter in the

Siluersides (Lieutenant Commander Creed Burlingame).Both patients recovered in a short time.

The record shows that there were eleven cases of acute ap-

pendicitis aboard submarines during the war with not a single

fatality. But back in Washington in the Navy's Bureau of

Medicine and Surgery, the doctors wondered whether no sub-

marine pharmacist's mate thought he had earned his stripes

until he had removed somebody's appendix with a steak knife

while six fathoms deep.

Wolf Packs

WE HAD A total of 117 wolf packs in the Pacific from Octo-

ber, 1943, until the close of the war. They usually consisted

of three boats; for special missions they had as many as seven,

and once even nine boats.

Most of the colorful titles given the packs by the submarin-

ers could be traced to some characteristic of the leader or

handy alliteration or maybe a pun on his name, as were the

inspirations for Commander Fenno's "Fennomints," Com-mander Hiram Cassedy's "Hiram's Hecklers," CommanderE. R. Swinburne's "Ed's Eradicators," Commander Moseley's

"Moseley's Maulers."

The wolf-pack method of attack proved to be the mosteffective in our efforts to sever the enemy supply line from the

south. Some of the larger bags of enemy vessels were con-

tributed by packs commanded by Commander Lewis S. Parks,"Parks's Pirates," Captain L. N. Blair, "Blair's Blasters," Cap-tain W. V. (Mickey) O'Regan, "Mickey Finns," CommanderG. R. Donaho, "Donk's Devils" (thirteen ships on one patrol,

108

WOLF PACKS 109

record for a three-boat pack), Commander Clarey, "Clarey's

Crushers," Commander J.B. Oakley, Jr., "Ben's Busters." The

largest pack was formed when three were merged into one,

nine boats in all, under Commander E. T. Hydeman. In June,

1945, they traversed the entire Sea of Japan from the mined

Strait of Tsushima to La Perouse Strait between Hokkaido and

Sakhalin. The score racked up by "Hydeman's Hepcats" dur-

ing their twelve days in waters considered sacredly inviolate,

the Emperor's private ocean, was twenty-eight ships. On the

debit side of the books for the Hepcats was the loss by depth

charges of the Bonefish (Commander L. L. Edge), the last

submarine to be lost in the war.

The term wolf pack has always brought to mind a pictureof gaunt, fierce, four-footed wolves tenaciously hanging on

the flanks of a drove of cattle or sheep, darting in to snatch

off an unwary or lagging animal or, if hungry enough, even

attacking a whole herd. Early in the war the name was very

aptly applied to the U-boat flotillas in the Atlantic. They werea more than reasonable facsimile of the old fur-coated

marauders of cattle-trail days. Patiently the pack would trail

a convoy during daylight hours, always staying just below

the horizon. Then under the protection of the gathering dusk

it would move up to position for the kill. The tactics employedwere simple but extremely effective.

Average Atlantic convoys were composed of sixty or more

ships, ordinarily steaming in ten columns of six ships each.

Such a formation would extend over an area of about five

miles wide and three miles long, but larger ones carrying

troops and supplies for an invasion would cover the whole

horizon. In the first years of the war, usually only six escorts

could be provided as watch dogs for the whole convoy: one

astern, two on each flank and one ahead! It's easy to see that

with such inadequate protection the door was left wide openfor an aggressor. There was more than enough room in that

110 BATTLE SUBMERGED

vast sea area for a submarine running almost awash to knife in

undetected, line up desirable targets and pump out all tor-

pedoes. In the ensuing pandemonium of exploding, burning

ships, it was no difficult problem for the U-boat to race off

into the dusk again very like a wolf indeed who had stam-

peded a herd of sheep and made his kill. If an escort happenedto loom up, the U-boat raider could always submerge and

sneak out that way. It was practically a one-way game in those

days of too few escorts, and even these few seldom had speed

enough for effective pursuit. Radar, of course, was not yetstandard equipment. Only the scarcity of operating U-boats

(there were, on the average, fewer than forty operating at any

one time) versus the high number of Allied convoys kept the

Nazis from effectively stopping our flow of supplies across

the Atlantic. The million-ton-per-month mark of sinkings,

could the Germans have sustained it, would have prolongedthe war indefinitely, if not won it for Hitler.

But the problem facing our subs in the Pacific differed en-

tirely from the Germans' in the Atlantic, both in the size of

convoys and the number of escorting vessels they had to

evade. Out there, an eight-ship convoy was considered large

by both adversaries and if the ships were valuable they would

be thoroughly hedged about by escorts under an umbrella of

aircraft, sometimes as many as one warship for each merchant-

man. Compare that to the one to ten ratio in the Atlantic!

Now, the idea of coordinated attack groups, or wolf packs,had been tried out by our submarine service, too. In the

middle '20s they experimented with what was called the sec-

tion attack formation. In this early forerunner of the packtechnique a section of three boats maneuvered as a single unit.

But it was an unwieldy procedure, since underwater com-munications are always unreliable. The boats were required to

attain their attack positions in approximately the same line

and to fire their torpedoes simultaneously. Due to uncertain

communications before firing as well as when directing a

WOLF PACKS 111

countermarch, and with the consequent possibility of col-

lision, the section attack soon became known familiarly as

"the suicide attack."

It was not long before the experiment was abandoned, not

only because of the danger to our personnel and the small

promise of success but primarily because it has always been

recognized that the submarine skipper is an individualist.

More so than any other type of commanding officer, he

achieves his greatest successes when he is left free to attain his

own attack position and "point his own gun."

Nevertheless, the idea of wolf packs remained. Submariners

were confident that it had merit. And the Nazis proved it for

them in the excellent results they achieved in the Atlantic,

although the Germans used tactics that only vaguely re-

sembled the old section attack. Apparently they, too, had

recognized the advisability of giving their skippers a free rein.

However, it was not until October, 1943, that we had

enough submarines available in the Pacific to warrant our

first experiment in coordinated attacks. Captain Charles B.

Momsen, one of our most experienced submarine officers, led

the first American wolf pack. It consisted of the Cero, Shad

and Grayback. The selected operating area was the East

China Sea.

Although no coordinated attacks as envisioned by doctrine

were made, three ships were sunk by independent action. Onevaluable fact was learned and brought home. The pack was

able to transmit information on convoys to each of its mem-bers as to speed, course, location, and make-up. This, Momsen

felt, was the essential element to provide the hitherto missingteamwork.

Captain Momsen's recommendation was succinct and con-

cise. Inaugurate a doctrine, he counseled, whereby the packcommander remains on the beach, collects information on

convoy movements and gets it out to his boats. The ,subs, at

almost double radar distance from each other, can then fan

112 BATTLE SUBMERGED

out on a search line. When a convoy is located, the good word

can be spread to the others. The packs should contain at least

three boats. One can be restricted to each flank, the other trail.

The flankers can do an end around and make attacks from

ahead and the trailer finish off the cripples, or become a flanker

if the convoy should zigzag enough. But don't direct the skip-

pers' approach for them, Momsen begged. Leave to the cap-tain the necessary latitude and independence that he must

have to attain his own attack position.

This recommendation was not immediately adopted. Other

packs had to be tried out first, to get other points of view. But

all of the pack commanders soon came to the same conclusion,

particularly regarding the independence of action. By the

summer of 1944 the packs were efficient, well-handled teams

of convoy annihilators, progressing rapidly in their aim to

strangle the Japanese supply line from the south. The onlymodification made in Captain Momsen's original recom-

mendation was that the pack commander accompanied his

boats. In some cases he was a separate officer riding in one of

the boats, but more often he was the senior skipper.

By the summer of 1944 it was an accepted doctrine that the

pack commander collected and disseminated the information

among the group, made the decisions regarding the pursuit of

convoys, and assigned his boats their positions on the convoyunder consideration. But from there on the play belonged to

the skippers.When TParks's Pirates" left Pearl Harbor in June, 1944, their

avowed purpose was to major in enemy attrition at ConvoyCollege. This lucrative campus stretched south from Formosato Luzon and was the converging point for several Japanese

convoy routes. The Pirate commander, Lewis S. Parks, wasthe veteran skipper of the Pompano during her early pioneer-

ing photo reconnaissance patrol of the Marshalls prior to

Admiral Halsey's raid. He was particularly pleased that his

flagship was the Parche, for her skipper was Commander

WOLF PACKS 113

Lawson P. Ramage. This flaming-haired officer had alreadyestablished a reputation for himself in command of the Trout

during some hectic patrols in the southwest Pacific. Lew Parks

felt he could have made no better choice. Glancing at the

other two pack members who steamed along astern he felt

even greater satisfaction in his little team. The Steelhead,

commanded by Commander Dave L. Whelchel, had madesome fine patrols under her daring, efficient skipper. He was

one of those people endowed with the happy faculty of not

only seeing every opportunity when it appeared but beingable to grasp it without ado. For instance, just a little over

six months before, Whelchel had been given the not too

spectacular assignment of planting some mines off Hok-

kaido. The mission having been completed without inter-

ference, Whelchel decided to let the Japs in on the newsthat the Steelhead was hunting in their neighborhood, just

in case someone wanted to try to chase him out and perhaps

unwittingly run afoul of his mines. But no Japanese wanted

to play, so the skipper decided to stir up the neighborhood a

little. He piloted his boat to within two miles of the beach off

the industrial town of Mororon, where he proceeded to makethe night hideous for the inhabitants by lobbing shells from

the deck gun into the Nihon Steel Works until it had been

well-plastered. Then the Wanishi Iron Works were accorded

the same treatment, before the Steelhead called it a day.He managed to do a lot of serious damage to Jap installa-

tions but as an invitation to the Japs to play squat-tag in the

mine fields it was a failure.

The Hammerhead, commanded by Commander John C.

Martin, had a fine record too and, although Lew couldn't

foresee it then, an even greater one ahead.

To the intense disappointment of the Pirates the campus of

Convoy College seemed to be enjoying a vacation. Back and

forth they steamed in Luzon Strait., using lots of valuable fuel

oil but keeping their torpedoes in their tubes. In spite of the

114 BATTLE SUBMERGED

many stories they had been told regarding the fertility of the

College as a hunting ground the Pirates were beginning to

wonder if they were going to be forced to take their torpedoesback to Pearl Harbor, a most distasteful task for any sub-

marine. Two different single prizes had been dangled tantaliz-

ingly in front of the target-hungry pack, but constant air har-

assing and long-range, radar-controlled gun attacks had

stepped on their eager, clutching fingers.

At dawn on July 30 the Hammerhead reported barely

enough fuel on board to make her way back to the base so

Parks directed her to return. There was not too much oil left

in the remaining two but they decided they could stick it out

another day or so. Many fingers were crossed that morning.Then during the forenoon the Steelhead sighted smoke roll-

ing up over the horizon. A little later, when the myriad masts

poked up like a side view of an asparagus patch, it requiredno high-powered glass to observe that the convoy had a goodair umbrella, which only enhanced the convoy's value in the

submariners7

eyes, although it prevented the Steelhead from

surfacing and doing an end-around for position. She was

pinned down for the day.When the covering darkness finally came the Steelhead was

oflF in hot pursuit and with a yoicks and view-halloo for the

Parche. On the bridge of the Parche Red Ramage was strain-

ing his eyes to sight the reported quarry. Meantime the radar

operator was fervently being enjoined to verify the Steel-

head's contact. This was what they had been praying for.

Red Ramage was unhappily aware that the sun has no re-

gard for the plans of man and continues to pop up over the

horizon at the scheduled time willy-nilly. This was going to

be a close race with time. "Where are they? Where are they?"he kept muttering under his breath to the pack commander,who stood looking over his shoulder. Then his heart leapedinto his mouth, for two rockets had suddenly streaked across

the dark overcast skies ahead of them. It could mean only one

WOLF PACKS 115

thing! The convoy! Even before he could ring up for all four

engines the radar operator breathlessly reported that pipswere splattered all over his board. This was all the skipperhad to hear to confirm his hopes completely.The Steelhead had flushed the convoy first and sent six tor-

pedoes crashing into a tanker and a freighter. First blood for

the Pirates! That was what had evoked the convoy alarm

sighted by the Parche.

By this time the convoy was completely alerted and, know-

ing the prevalence of American wolf packs, all enemy eyesand radars were sweeping the fuzzy horizon to detect anyother interloper in their midst.

Ramage found that an escort was steaming between himand the convoy and decided to adopt a little strategy to re-

move him from his annoying station. Believing that he pos-sessed the faster ship, the skipper steered the Parche up to the

quarter of the escort until he felt sure that he must have been

sighted. Then he started to swing about in a wide circle, in-

viting the escort to chase him. If it could just be drawn awayfrom the formation, the gunboat would leave the way open for

the faster Parche to cut back and plow in through the gap. But

the escort wouldn't play, and continued doggedly on his

course, ignoring the afluring bait. When the submarine pulled

up to a position astern, but inside the second escort, and found

herself still ignored, the Parche began to suspect that it was a

low period for the lookouts and they didn't see her. Just then

the convoy executed a zig so wide that it almost became a

countermarch, and suddenly the radar showed that all shipswere heading straight for the Parche. Talk about luck! The

very targets the submarine had been straining every nerve to

overtake were piling right into her arms.

"Well," grinned the skipper to Lew Parks, "I asked for tar-

gets, and, boy, are they here!" Although the escorts had be-

latedly spotted her and were now striving to draw a bead on

the Parche with their guns, Ramage gave the orders that

116 BATTLE SUBMERGED

would deal out the Sunday punches that had been dormant so

long in the tubes and racks.

It wasn't difficult to line up targets. What really became

difficult was for the Parche to avoid being rammed by the

milling ships that were frantically trying to keep clear of each

other and at the same time pepper die killer in their midst. It

soon became a wild melee with bullets coming from all direc-

tions.

A torpedo from the Parche's stern tubes lashed out and laid

open the side of a freighter. Quickly the skipper darted about

on the bridge lining up targets and sending out torpedoes from

both bow and stern tubes. The targets were in such profusionthat instead of trying to find one, the harder task was to select

one from the many. Then an unforeseen danger reared its

head. The boat had become so completely surrounded by the

convoy that there remained no avenue of escape. Ramage was

forced literally to start trying to shoot a way out of the cordon

closing about the submarine. Some of the escorts were as close

as 200 yards. By this time the leading tanker had sunk and a

second had begun to burn brilliantly, and bullets and shells

were whizzing over the Parches bridge with increasing in-

tensity. Lew Parks told us that he believed the only reason

the Parche wasn't blown out of the water by the rain of shells

was because the range was so short the guns on the high-decked Japanese ships could not be depressed sufficiently to

bear on the low-freeboard submarine.

The most nerve-racking part of the entire battle came when

they had expended all except two of their first load of tor-

pedoes, and the skipper and commodore had to sweat out

long minutes until a torpedo tube would be reported reloaded

by the men below decks. They felt like sitting ducks lyingthere waiting, without even the deck gun manned because,to minimize the chances of casualties, the skipper had the

bridge cleared of all except himself, the pack commander and

Seen through the periscope of the U.S.S. Drum, a merchant ship

goes down quickly after a successful attack by the sub. (Official-

photograph, U.S. Navy.)

The bow of the U. S. S. Sea Dragon surfaces as the raider approachesthe flaming Jap ship she has just attacked.

( Official photograph,U.S. Navy.)

The two periscopes and radar antenna, "eyes of the submarine/

The bridge watch and lookouts. Searching fortargets.

Rockets away! (Official photograph,U.S. Navy.)

[7.S.S. Parche entering Pearl Harborsubmarine base after second war patrol.

( Official photograph, U. S. Navy. )

A messenger buoy which can be released

from a disabled U.S. submarine.The ball-shaped sections are buoyancychambers. A reel in the center carries a

wire cable connected to the submarine's

escape hatch and unreels automaticallyas buoy rises.The rescue chamber is thencovered on this cabin to effect the rescue.

(Official photograph, U.S. Navy.)

A U. S. Pacific fleet submarine approaches downed air crew in their rub-

ber raft to effect their rescue in the East China Sea. ( Official photograph,U.S. Navy.)

Crewmen of the U.S.S. Tang help aboard Navy fliers shot down during

the air strike on Truk. (Official photograph, U.S. Navy.)

Stand by to fire! The compactness and complexity of a submarine mech-

anism are seen in this torpedo room. The breech doors of two torpedo

tubes can be seen behind the two men in the. foreground. (Official

photograph, U.S. Navy.)

In the torpedo test shop at the Submarine Base, after body is tested before

delivering torpedo to submarine. (Official photograph, U.S. Navy.)

Submarine crew, reprovisioning at an advanced base, are stowing an electric "tin

fish" below decks. ( Official photograph, U. S. Navy. )

U.S.S. Perch, converted to a troop transport. The large cylindrical chamber abaft

the conning tower is a watertight compartment for stowing amphibious landing

gear. (Official photograph, U.S. Navy.)

wNjjfivfP1

U.S.S. Gubera, a new Guppy-type submarine, plowing through a choppy sea under

normal cruising conditions. (Official photograph, U.S. Navy.)

Periscope depth with only periscope and schnorkel showing above water.( Official

photograph, U. S. Navy. )

il'n

1

fft''

l

f<^ I

Jt";*V'*!i|

l

*'t^ ! *'"

?

'' ^ fitP^P^Mj&fy'

U; '''r'btW' ' ^

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'

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' I(t>4 t

' 5w

The streamlining of the Guppy-type submarine adds speed. The U.S.S. Clamagore.

(Official photograph, U. S. Navy. )

17S.S. Requin leaving Submarine Base, New London. (Official photographU.S. Navy.)

Central operating compartment. The diving officer hovers over planesman and

watches depth gauge while the skipper makes periscope observation. Note: Most

skippers used the conning tower periscope. (Official photograph, U. S. Navy, )

"Air king keeps watchful eye on air supply." Air

manifold in central operating compartment. All

tanks in boat can be blown from this manifold.

( Official photograph, U. S. Navy. )

Torpedo room. Torpedomen sleep with their torpedoes.

WOLF PACKS 117

a quartermaster who volunteered to man the T.B.T, (torpedo

bearing transmitter).

The last man had just scampered down the bridge hatch

when the torpedo room forward reported that two of then-

tubes had been reloaded. Ramage quickly allocated them,

plus the two he had held in reserve, to a large tanker filled with

petroleum, which meant more to the Japanese than humanlives. The oiler simply disintegrated under the terrific impactof the four loads of torpex. More Jap ships would not put to

sea and fewer airplanes would fly.

In the terse diction of his profession, here's how Ramagedescribed the wild and woolly fight here. "First torpedo dis-

integrated bow while the other three piled into his bridge,

quarter and stern respectively. Tanker sank almost immedi-

ately leaving only a small oil fire on surface. . . . The escorts

now started to become a problem with their indiscriminate

machine gun fire and flares. However, along came another

target, a medium AK or AP [cargo or transport] with a siz-

able superstructure just asking for trouble. All set to fire on

him when an AO [oil tanker] intervened causing even more

trouble. ... At 800 yards range fired three stern tubes at

this menace (the tanker was spraying the Parche very gener-

ously with 20-millimeter and 40-miUiineter stuff). All hit the

gunfire from that quarter was effectively silenced and with

five torpedoes in her the big tanker gave up and went down

leaving only a small oil fire as did the first one. . . . Twoescorts on the port quarter were now concentrating their

machine gun fire on us and we were about to come right to putthem astern and head for the prize of the evening, a huge AP,when we spotted a small fast job similar to the Kaiho Maru

coming up sharp on the starboard bow, intent on ramming us.

Called the engine house to pour in all the oil they had the

other fellow had the right of way but we were in a hurry.When halfway across his bow, put the rudder right swinging

118 BATTLE SUBMERGED

our stern clear. The Japs were screaming like a bunch of wild

pigs as we cleared all around by less than 50 feet. Mutual

cheers and jeers were exchanged by all hands. . . ."

The submarine was now left surrounded by smoking and

sinking ships and destroyers spouting bullets from all guns at

anything that even resembled the deadly steel hunter in their

midst.

"We found ourselves boxed p on both sides/* continued

Ramage, "and the big transport ahead with a zero angle

[headed directly for them]. This left no alternative but to fire

down his throat, ... It was a bull's-eye. . . . The big APwas stopped and down by the bow but showed no further

signs of going down so we decided [the skippers always used

we instead of I] to go back and deliver the coupde grace. . . .

But the big AP suddenly disappeared from sight and radar

in one big blurb as the stern came up and went straight down,head first. Set course 330 to put a little distance between us

and this hornets' nest as dawn was beginning to break. . . .

One of the escorts challenged us with AA AA by searchlight;

this appeared to be rather unusual until one of the quarter-

masters, Courtland Stanton, explained, 'These Japs probablyhave a lot of forms to fill out too/

"This referred no doubt to

the voluminous reports that had to be submitted by each sub-

marine after an attack, a necessary yet tedious requirement.In this forty-six-minute thrill-packed action "that was

eminently outstanding in the annals of submarine warfare/'

to quote the Board of Awards, the Parche fired nineteen tor-

pedoes and obtained fifteen hits.

As the Parche raced for the safety of the horizon she could

hear the explosions of the torpedoes that the Steelhead hadfired at the remnants of the convoy fleeing blindly in her direc-

tion. Two more ships, a tanker and a freighter, were never to

be of use to the Empire again.The night's work was not yet done. A Japanese patrol vessel

offered to contest Parches way. This time the gun crews were

WOLF PACKS 119

invited topside to prove their prowess by quickly blasting the

enemy vessel out of the water.

But the pinkish gun flashes were sighted in the murky dawn

by an enemy cruiser-destroyer task force, belatedly coming

up to aid the convoy, and their accurate gun fire forced the

submarine to submerge to "get the hell out of the neighbor-

hood," for there were not enough torpedoes remaining aboard

to conduct another fight with so husky a gang of opponents.In recommending the skipper for the highest of all awards,

the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Board said:

"The counterattacks of the enemy against the Parche dur-

ing her series of aggressive surface torpedo attacks upon the

convoy on 31 July, 1944, were probably the most intensive

and thorough counterattacks ever encountered by a sub-

marine engaged in surface approaches and attacks againstthe enemy. Only exceptional seamanship, outstanding per-sonal heroism and extreme bravery of Parches CommandingOfficer saved this submarine from serious damage, if not total

destruction by enemy gunfire and ramming."The Commanding Officer's courageous and fearless actions

in remaining on the bridge of his submarine during intense

and accurate enemy gunfire in order to maintain the offensive

at all times, enabled him to control his ship skillfully and

efficiently, launch his torpedoes effectively and evade the

enemy's vigorous efforts to destroy Parche. . . ."

Commenting later on his decision to remain in the midst of

the convoy and slug it out, Ramage said with a grin, "Theycrowded me too much and made me mad."

As an illustration of how calmly the submarine crews took

all events in their stride, even such a vicious battle, Lew Parks

relates that as soon as they were clear of the cruiser-destroyer

group he sauntered aft to the galley. There was the cook

serenely arranging the dessert for the day. And the dessert?

Cream puffs!

The Board also took full cognizance of the work of the

120 BATTLE SUBMERGED

officer who had planned, then led the Pirates to, an eminentlysuccessful pack attack. He had remained on the bridge of the

Parche all during her epoc battle as an inspiration and ex-

ample to her skipper. A Gold Star was presented to Lew Parks

in lieu of a third Navy Cross. He received it with the follow-

ing citation:

"For extraordinary heroism as Commander of a Coordi-

nated Attack Group of Submarines, during operations against

enemy Japanese shipping off the Luzon Straits and in the

South China Sea, from June 17 to August 17, 1944. Coordinat-

ing the submarines under his command into an efficient attack

group, Captain Parks contributed materially to the success

of attacks in which seven enemy ships and two armed patrolcraft totalling 57,000 tons were sunk and five additional enemy

ships totalling 33,930 tons were damaged. By his skillful ship

handling and leadership in the face of severe enemy counter-

measures he was directly responsible for the outstandingrecord of his attack group. His professional skill, courage, and

devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions

of the United States Naval Service."

Lifeguards*

EVEN IF only cold-bloodedly regarded, with no humanitar-

ian considerations at all, a military aviator's life is worth takingtrouble to preserve. A trained and seasoned pilot represents a

capital investment of tens of thousands of dollars. He cannot

be easily replaced. But no nation on earth is more concerned

with the comfort and safety of its fighting men than the United

States, and it was more than pragmatic utilitarianism that

caused our military leaders to demand maximum security for

pilots: self-sealing gasoline tanks, bullet-proof cockpits, re-

liable parachutes.

Self-inflating rubber boats, radio-equipped and stocked

with provisions and devices to make sea water potable were

provided every plane, to keep aviators downed over the ocean

alive. The biggest problem of all was how to rescue the men,

* Five hundred and four airmen were rescued in the Pacific by eighty-sixsubmarines. Those rescuing ten or more were: Fogy, 10; Ronquil, 10; Tinosa,

10; Trepang, 10; Seafox, 11; Peto, 12; Pintado, 12; Sailfish, 12; Scabbardfish,

12; Goto, 13; Guavina, 13; Queenftsh, 13; Seadevil, 15; Whale, 15; Mingo, 18;

Gabtian, 17; Ray, 21; Tang, 22; Tigrone, 31.

121

122 BATTLE SUBMERGED

some means of plucking the pilot out of the sea in the veryshadow of an enemy island with Zeros vindictively searchingfor the American flyers. It was a dismaying sight to a downedaviator in his rubber bubble to see no shelter but the island

he and his squadron mates had just been trying to make un-

inhabitable, against the empty horizon over which his ship-

mates had disappeared to report to the carrier that one of their

messmates would not be back, It was disheartening to the

squadron, too, that they were helpless to render aid. Neither

the carrier nor her escorts could risk coming under the gunsand bombs of the island in search of the missing man. Nothingcould be done for luckless Jim: nothing except hope that he

would survive the tortures to which he would be subjectedif he were taken prisoner. Better that a Zero fighter had fin-

ished off many an aviator later killed piecemeal by enemyinquisitors in Japanese prison camps.

So the admirals and the generals who had the whole world-

wide war to worry about, fretted over the preservation of

individual lives. The Japanese, in their mystic dedication to

the principle of "dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," who

taught their soldiers that immediate sainthood awaited the

man killed in battle, had no such concern, until suddenly theyfound themselves deprived of their first-team pilots.

It was Rear Admiral Charles A, (Baldy) Pownall, com-

manding a carrier task force, who first opened discussions

with Commander Submarines Pacific, Admiral C. A. Lock-

wood, on the possibility of having submarines in the vicinityof islands slated for carrier strikes to "sort of keep an eye openfor downed aviators/' It would bolster their morale, he said,to know that there was some possibility of being picked up,that their chances would not be limited to capture or starva-

tion once they were forced to take to the life rafts.

What the aviation admiral didn't know was that Com-mander Submarines already had firm plans for just such arescue service and that he was only waiting for the final details

LIFEGUARDS 123

to be ironed out before offering it to the Fleet. The elated

Baldy was told that the submariners had no intention of just

sitting around on their ditty boxes waiting for aviators to find

their way to them. When an aviator was forced down on the

sea, Admiral Lockwood wanted him to know that the sub-

marine was going to do most of the finding. Proximity of

enemy islands, blazing guns, or strafing planes would not

deter them in their work either, he promised, and the aviators

soon learned that Admiral Lockwood's was not empty talk. In

fact, they became quite confident that even if their 'chute

landed them in the maw of a volcano a submarine would pokeher snoutish nose through the fire and brimstone and pullthem out. Or, as the late Ernie Pyle succinctly put it, in Life

on a Carrier: "Even if you were shot down in Tokyo Harbor

the Navy would be in to get you."The boost to the morale of the pilots was noticeable at once

and their confidence in the submarines was incalculable. In

fact, the two branches of the service achieved a profound and

sentimental respect for each other.

Admiral Pownall broached the air-rescue subject in August,1943. One month later when his planes descended like a tor-

nado on unsuspecting Marcus Island the Snook, commanded

by Lieutenant Commander C. O. Triebel, was standing by in

the island area. The surprise was so complete that little op-

position was offered the planes, so there was no opportunityto test the new technique. All pilots returned safely to their

carriers.

But the plans drawn up by Admiral Lockwood were sub-

jected to a severe test the following month. Six pilots were

picked up who warmly, if wetly, attested to the soundness of

the plans. All were members of Rear Admiral A. E. Mont-

gomery's pilot group who started the first of a long string of

attacks that were to descend on Wake. The tiny island was to

become a living hell for the enemy, who had thrown an over-

whelming force against a Marine contingent there in Decem-

124 BATTLE SUBMERGED

ber, 1941, Every carrier, cruiser, or battleship passing near

did its share toward making their life unbearable. Before the

war was over the Japanese garrison was praying for us to land

and take the island back. Anything to stop the deadly tornados

being visited upon them!

But enemy confidence was still high when the first strike

was made on October 6 and 7, 1943. Their planes offered the

most violent kind of opposition to having the Skate, com-

manded by Commander Eugene B. McKinney, effect the

rescue of those six downed pilots. Machine-gun fire seriouslywounded Lieutenant (jg) W. E. Maxon, and one screamingdive bomber achieved a noncrippling hit on the Skate's top-side. But the lifeguard work continued throughout the two-

day strike.

The technique of locating the downed pilots developed

during the following months. Over the Navy's traditional

coffee cups, submariners and aviators together discussed plansand results; suggestions were freely exchanged and appre-ciated in mutual confidence.

With carriers sending their pilots in for a strike from manymiles below the horizon and with only a limited number of

submarines available for lifeguarding, it was recognized that

a positive method had to be developed for giving the positionof the downed plane to the submarine either by the injured

plane or by one in the squadron, or both. The use of a "refer-

ence point" was therefore devised. Some outstanding landor navigational mark easily recognizable by the submarinewas selected in advance of the strike and this information

given to the duty submarine. Here is how it worked.

Naturally when a pilot suddenly discovered that he was

going to have to bail out he couldn't take time out to encode his

distress call. It had to be a voice call in plain language andinasmuch as the enemy could also pick it up a simple yeteffective code had to be devised. The lifeguard subs were as-

signed names of comic strip characters as a voice call. We'll

LIFEGUABDS 125

say, for example, that it was Moon Mullins. If the submarine

received the voice message, 20 MOON MULLINS 180, the

skipper would kno^ immediately that a pilot was down

twenty miles from the landmark on a true bearing of 180.

But the Japs caught on to the method. In an attempt to lure

our submarines within range of their guns and planes theywould send out voice calls indicating that a pilot was downat the target point.

No submarines were lost by this sabotage of our system but

it contained potential elements of danger. These cries of wolf

were taking our boats on too many unnecessary chases where

there were no downed pilots, but plenty of Zero pilots waiting

hopefully aloft. Nevertheless, no call could be neglected.Some solution had to be found to combat this nuisance.

That called for another huddle. Finally it was a Japanese

linguist who came up with the right answer. Don't destroy the

simplicity of our code, he advised. That is not the solution.

Why not capitalize on the difficulty the Japanese tongue has

with the letter L? Once the lifeguarding submarine was givena name where the L's predominated, such as Flabby Flanks

or Flashy Lassie, the voice calls from the Nips for "FrabbyFranks" and "Frashy Rassie" only provided amusement to the

listening sub. The remedy was as simple as that!

The Harder, captained by one of the outstanding skippersof the Silent Service, Commander Sam Dealey, was assignedthe job of doing a reconnoitering job of Woleai Island, about

500 miles west of Truk in the western Carolines. It was sus-

pected that the enemy was doing a lot of construction there in

the way of air strips and storage warehouses. Before the car-

rier boys put an end to that real-estate development theywanted verification of the suspicion, without in turn revealingtheir curiosity to the Japs. So the Harder was directed to playthe role of Peeping Tom and to find out what was going on.

By sunset on March 29, 1944, the Harder had. Slowly cir-

cling the island throughout the day Sam Dealey saw plenty

126 BATTLE SUBMEBGED

through his periscope to tell the fly-fly boys. And he took pic-

tures to prove it: planes taking off, their characteristics, loca-

tion of strategic targets, all were carefully noted. All of this

information went out on the Harder radio that night.

On April 1 ("April Fool's Day but they weren't fooling,"

chuckled Dealey ) ,the carrier planes gave the carefully recon-

noitered island the works and the Harder squatted dutifully

waiting for a lifeguard call.

It came early in the raid, at 8:40 A.M., to be exact. "Planes

sighted headed for Woleai," recorded the skipper. "Contacted

aircraft by voice and learned of downed pilot drifting toward

reefs off the second island west of Woleai. Made full speed

on four engines.

"From here on the picture in the skies looked like a gigantic

Cleveland Air Show. With dozens of fighters forming a com-

fortable umbrella above us, we watched a show that made

Hollywood 'Colossals* seem tame. We rounded the southeast

coast of Woleai one to two miles off the beach and had a

perfect ringside seat. The plastering that the airmen gave this

Jap base was terrific! Bombs of all sizes rained on every struc-

ture on the island. Several buildings seemed lifted and thrown

high in the air. . . ."

Sam's description as he drove on toward the reported planeindicated that the airmen were having a real field day, with

the enemy fighting back gamely.

"Fighter now zoomed the Harder one mile off the north-

east corner of Woleai and guided us toward the downed pilot.

He was finally sighted on the northwest tip of the second

island to the west of Woleai. Battle stations, surface, were

manned, the ship flooded down, and maneuvered into a spotabout 1,500 yards off the beach. White water was breakingover the shoals only twenty yards in front of the ship and the

fathometer had ceased to record. Planes now advised us that

if rescue looked too difficult from here (and it did), a better

approach might be made from another direction."

LIFEGUARDS 127

The skipper goes on casually to describe a rescue outstand-

ing for daring and seamanship. "Backed off to make approachfrom another angle. The aviator had been standing on the

beach and was now observed to fall and lie there outstretched

on the sand. His collapse was undoubtedly due mainly to

physical exhaustion, but also to the disappointment at seeinghis chances of rescue fade away. We were then advised by the

plane that further air reconnaissance showed the first ap-

proach best after all. Reversed course and headed back at full

speed. Made ready the rubber boats (no paddles aboard),selected Lieutenant Sam Logan, J.

W. Thomason, SC Ic, and

Francis X. Ryan, MoMM Ic, from a large group of volunteers

and maneuvered the ship in for a second attempt at rescue.

Moved in again until the forward torpedo room reported"Bottom scraping forward' [soundings at zero fathoms] and

worked both screws to keep the bow against the reef while

preventing the ship from getting broadside to the waves.

[Authors' note: A most difficult feat of seamanship as well as

being extremely dangerous with the prevailing flood tide.]

"The three volunteers dove over the side and commenced

pushing and towing their rubber boat toward the beach about

1,200 yards away. A line was payed out from the sub to the

rubber raft in order to pull it back from the beach. Meanwhile

one of the planes had dropped another rubber boat to the

stranded aviator, who got in that and commenced feebly try-

ing to paddle to sea against the tide. When the rescue partyreached a spot where they could stand up, Thomason was

directed to remain with the rubber boat while Lieutenant

Logan and Ryan waded in through the surf toward the avia-

tor. Both were in the breakers now most of the time and their

feet and legs were badly cut by the coral reefs. After about

half an hour, Logan and Ryan, alternately swimming and

wading, reached the aviator, whose raft had meanwhile

drifted farther away. By this time he was thoroughly ex-

hausted.

128 BATTLE SUBMERGED

"They kept him in the raft and by alternately pushing and

swimming headed back toward their rubber boat from which

a line led to the submarine about 500 yards away. Meanwhile

a float plane (also attempting the rescue) taxied over the

line to the raft an3 it parted! The entire rescue party was now

stranded. Thomason was then recalled and managed to swim

back to the sub after a hard battle against the tide. Another

volunteer swimmer, Freeman Paquet, Jr.,GM Ic, then dove

over the side and finally managed to swim a line to the three

men standing just inshore of the heavy breakers. This line

was made fast to the raft and, little by little, the four men

were pulled through the breakers and brought back to the

ship.

"Throughout the entire rescue the cooperation of the avia-

tors was superb. They kept up a continuous pounding of the

islands by bombs and flew in low to strafe the Japs and divert

their attention from the rescue. In spite of this Jap snipers con-

cealed in the trees along the beach commenced shooting at

the ship and the rescue party and bullets whined over the

bridge uncomfortably close. The rescue could never have been

attempted without the protection afforded by the planes. Too

much praise cannot be given the officer and three men whoeffected the rescue. [All four were later awarded the NavyCross.] Its daring execution, under the noses of the Japs and

subject to sniper fire from the beach can be classified as a truly

courageous accomplishment and the rescued aviator, Ensign

John R. Galvin, USNR, though physically exhausted, showeda character that refused to admit defeat. It is a privilege to

serve with men such as these.

"This account," explained the skipper, "has been written in

considerable detail partly to portray the spectacular air

smashing of a Jap base, and partly in sheer pride of the volun-

teers who carried out the rescue/'

Later, Commander Submarines noted that "the rescue

LIFEGUARDS 129

effected only through the superb seamanship of the Com-

manding Officer."

On March 16, 1944, the Tang, commanded by Lieutenant

Commander Richard H. O'Kane, left Midway for Palau for

a lifeguarding station. It was her second war patrol. She had

earned her Combat Insignia Award during her first patrol by

sinking five enemy ships in the Marianas, a good start for a

ship that was to earn a reputation as a great fighting ship. The

Tangs company was none too happy over her new assignmentbut admitted philosophically that all of the boats had to take

their turn at it. Besides, they would be able to expend a few

torpedoes after the strike was over.

Just to reassure his crew that they were still in the game of

doing damage to the enemy whenever the opportunity arose,

O'Kane nosed in through the late twilight on April 24 to a

position on the west side of Fais Island ( east of Ulithi Island ) .

Gun emplacements had been reported on the east side of Fais.

Also, a phosphorite refinery was reported in full operationthere, Dick O'Kane planned to give his gun crews a chance to

knock it out of commission with the 4-inch deck gun. Thirty-

three rounds were lobbed into the factory until the target was

blazing and the skipper saw no point in waiting around onlyto draw the wrath of avenging planes. Besides, he had a date

for lifeguard duty off Truk Atoll.

They arrived there at 4:00 A.M. on April 30. It was about

forty miles east of Truk, the too much publicized Japanese

stronghold, but well within easy gun range of some of the

islands that dotted the atoll. The skipper relates the early

minutes of the first day's strike that came soon after their

arrival on station. "Sighted first plane on SD [radar] . . .

watched plane go down in flames over Dublon Island. . . .

Dived for thirteen minutes and avoided a group of possibly

planes which closed rapidly to two miles. . . .

130 BATTLE SUBMERGED

On surfacing, flights up to fifty planes were continuously

shuttling between Truk and the southwest. With the possible

exception of a sinking Maru this was the most encouraging

sight we've witnessed in the war to date. . . . Sighted tops,

then the superstructure of our task force [famous Task Force

58]. ... 1025 received first report of downed plane and

headed for reported position two miles off Fourup Island at

emergency speed. Bombers working over Faleu and Ollan is-

lands were most reassuring, and with numerous fighters to

guide us, located the life raft promptly about four miles west

of reported position." A little later Lieutenant (jg) S. Scam-

nxell, USNR, J.D. Gendron, AMM 2c, and H. B. Gemmell,

ARM 2c, were pulled aboard safely, and the Tang pulled out

of island gun range and awaited the next call. No more camethat day but the night was devoted to looking for a reportedraft. The Tang, even though it might bring the enemy downon her, made her presence known by firing green Very stars,

but no reply was received, from either friend or foe. One of

the pilots recovered the following day turned out to be the

man they had been searching for. He said that he had sightedthe Very stars but was afraid to answer them.

Before daylight the next day the Tang was back on station

awaiting the second day's strike.

At 6:00 A.M. anew menace entered the picture. The conningtower of a Japanese submarine was sighted proceeding south

around Kuop from Otta Pass. The Tang quickly "pulled the

plug" and started an approach to remove the menace but our

fighters and bombers started over and the Jap submerged, andthat was that! It is strictly stalemate when two submergedsubs commence groping for each other. Anyhow the Tanghad other business to attend to, and the Jap could wait. Sur-

facing, the submarine skipper hurried to his designated life-

guard station, spreading conspicuous identification colors ondeck. He had reported the presence of the Jap sub to thetaskforce commander, who directed his boys to keep their

LIFEGUABDS 131

eyes open for it, but, at the same time, to "remember that

one of our own subs is there waiting to pick you up in

case."

Here is the skipper's own description of a very busy day,

picking up downed pilots at 8:28 A.M.

"Headed at emergency speed for life raft reported two anda half miles southwest of our favorite OUan Island [he hadtaken time out the day before to lob a few 4-inch shells into

it]. Before we reached the scene a float plane from the U.S.S.

North Carolina capsized in the cross chop in an attempt to

rescue. Another North Carolina plane had made a precarious

landing and when we arrived was towing both raft and fellow-

pilot clear of the island. This action was most helpful, for we

expected competition from Ollan, although nearby fighters

were already strafing her gun emplacements for us . . . After

LieutenantJ. J. Dowdle, USNR, Lieutenant (jg) K Kanze,

for whom we had searched the night before, and R. E. Hill,

ARM 2c, were on board, and the second plane from the North

Carolina had somehow gotten into the air again, we pro-ceeded to sink the capsized plane with 20-millimeter fire. Atthis time a smoking torpedo bomber was spotted hitting the

water about seven miles to the east. Proceeded down the bear-

ing at emergency speed and opened fire on nearby Ollan as we

passed."The skipper was firing on Ollan mainly to keep attention

from the downed pilot, and also because he hoped a little

offensive action might keep them from hammering at him and

forcing him to submerge.The skipper's narrative continues: "The Japs removed the

trees intended to camouflage their position evidently feeling

they were a hindrance since it was no longer a secret. It gaveus an unobstructed point of aim, however, and our hitting4-inch H. E. [high explosive], with a few common sandwiched

in, supported by strafing fighters and topped off with twobombers must have discouraged them for they did not return

132 BATTLE SUBMERGED

any fire. . . . Sighted life raft and survivors ahead under

circling fighters."

In a few minutes Commander A. R. Matter, USN, J. J.

Lenahan, ARM 2c, and H. A. Thompson, AOM 2c, were

pulled aboard. Then the submarine was off again at emer-

gency speed to round Kuop where three life rafts had been

reported off the eastern reef. "As our track took us close byour submarine contact of the morning, requested and

promptly got good air coverage . . . rolled through this spotat 21 knots fairly confident that the Jap would get no more

than a fleeting glance. As Lieutenant ( jg) Burns had landed

his North Carolina plane off the eastern reef, requested that

he attempt to tow the rafts clear. He was a big jump ahead of

us though having taken all seven men from three rafts on

board and taxied with them to seaward. They were now in

no immediate danger, so followed our escorting planes to a

raft just off Mesegon Island in the bight between Kuop and

Truk. As we thoroughly expected to be driven down, riggeda free running line and life ring to the SD mast for towing the

raft clear while submerged, but our strafing escorts evidently

discouraged any opposition. . . . Recovered H. L. Hill,

USNR, then headed back for a fighter pilot reported in water

just off the eastern reef of Kuop. By the time of our arrival

planes had dropped a rubber boat to him, but he was too weakto do more than climb aboard it. ... After pulling perhapsour most grateful passenger aboard, Lieutenant (jg) J. G.

Cole, USNR, backed up wind clear of the reef and headed for

the waiting float plane at emergency speed. She was well clear

about three miles east of Salat Island and no difficulty was

experienced in bringing the following aboard, LieutenantR. S. Nelson, USNR, Lieutenant (jg) R. Barber, USNR, Lieu-

tenant (jg) Burns, USNR, Ensign C. L. Farrell, USNR, J.

Livingston, ARM lc, R. W. Gruebel, AMM 2c, J. Haranek,ARM 2c

? O. F, Tabru, AMM 2c, and R. E. Hill, ARM 2c. Theaction of Lieutenant (jg) John Burns in making the rescue

possible by deliberately placing himself in as precarious a

LIFEGUABDS 133

position as any of the downed personnel, will be made the

subject of a special report. [Authors' note. This officer waslater awarded the Navy Cross.] Sank the float plane which

had a flooded battered tail, with 20-millimeter fire, and pro-ceeded at emergency speed to round Kuop to the last reportedraft south of Ollan Island. As all planes were recalled as of

1630 and we could not reach the raft until sunset, requestedtwo night fighters to assist in locating it. Our passage throughthe area of the morning contact was not quite as comfortable

without air coverage, but again 21 knots took us through in a

hurry. The night fighters joined us at sunset as we were ap-

proaching the last reported position three and a half miles

south of Ollan, and immediately commenced their search.

Fifteen minutes later one of the fighters circled then fired

several red Very stars four miles northwest of us. Closed at

emergency speed, spotted the raft from atop the shears, as it

was now too dark for periscopes."Lieutenant D. Kirkpatrick, USNR, and R. L. Bentley, AOM

2c, were picked up, then a thank you and a dismissal given the

efficient planes. After that the Tang commenced a slow-speedsearch west of the atoll just in case someone had been missed.

In this two-day strike the carrier force had lost twenty-seven

planes in action. Of forty-six pilots and air crewmen makingwater landings, twenty-eight were rescued. The Tang, with

the splendid cooperation of the carrier aircraft and seaplanes

picked up twenty-two of the twenty-eight.

Fighter-plane cover had made it possible for the Tang to

remain on the surface during the lifeguarding, had located

the downed pilots for her, had given her ample protection

against enemy island guns and ambitious Zero fighters. After

this convincing example of mutual support, fighter cover for

lifeguarding submarines was included in all operation orders.

It should also be mentioned that when the B-29 strikes com-menced against the Empire, submarines were placed alongthe water routes over which they flew to be on hand for rescue

work, for which scores of B-29 crews were very grateful.

Mission of Mercy

DURING their initial attacks the Japanese took a great num-ber of prisoners; Americans on Guam, Wake, the Philippines,and British., Canadian, Australian, and Dutch in Hong Kong,

Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. While riding on the crest

of conquest/ the enemy kept many of the prisoners in the

locality where they had been captured partly to save the time

and expense of transporting them back to Japan and partlyfor psychological reasons. They served as prima facie evi-

dence to support the propaganda-fed native populations that

the much-vaunted power of the white man was an explodedmyth, that the real master was the Asiatic. To exploit that

idea even further, the captives were forced to labor on tasks

formerly performed by the Melanesian and Indonesian island-

ers when the white man had been their overseer,

But when the first faint etchings of the proverbial hand-

writing began to appear on the wall, and the Japs had to beginscraping the bottom of the barrel for man power at home, theystarted shipping Allied prisoners to Japan from every corner

134

MISSION OF MERCY 135

of their crumbling empire. Prisoners of war were packed into

the holds of their cargo ships and transports like the slave

ships of old, to provide labor in the Japanese mines, factories

and on the highways.From the Allied point of view they chose a very unfor-

tunate time to commence the export of prisoners, because in

1944 the Silent Service had at last the number and quality of

operating boats it had dreamed of in 1941. For the first time

we had enough boats equipped with reliable Mark 18 electric

torpedoes with large torpex war heads and superior radar to

cut the vital Japanese supply line with the south. Not onlywere our submarines well-equipped but they were nowmanned by experienced personnel who were neglecting no

part of the many lessons learned during two years of operatingin Far Eastern waters.

By international law a combatant can request safe conduct

for any ship exclusively carrying prisoners of war, but our

submarines had removed so many ships from the Japanesemerchant marine roster that the Nipponese refused to send

any of their precious ships to Japan without carrying vitally

needed loot to their factories and food queues. Perhaps they

hoped that when the sentimental Americans learned our tar-

gets often carried a hold crammed full of Allied prisoners in

addition to oil and supplies, we would spare them the loot

rather than chance killing our own men. Actually this was not

such a wild assumption. No doubt we would have spared any

ship we definitely knew had prisoners aboard. But, of course,

we couldn't give all ships safe conduct just because there wasa possibility they might be carrying captive friends. It was

just another example of the enemy taking advantage of what

they considered our weak-willed concern for human life.

Under such circumstances it was inevitable that some

enemy prison ships would fall victim to our torpedoes, espe-

cially since they were supplied with an extra heavy escort. Tothe skippers of our submarine gauntlet the more a convoy was

136 BATTLE SUBMERGED

protected the more it was enhanced in their eyes. Potent pro-

tection meant cargoes vitally material to Japan's emaciatingwar effort.

It wasn't until after the war that we learned that the Sailfish

had sent to their deaths twenty of the twenty-one survivors

of the submarine Sculpin when she sank the escort carrier

Chuyo in December, 1943.

Whenever a submarine discovered that the target she had

sunk carried prisoners of war the word was immediatelybroadcast to other subs and a careful search was instituted

and continued until every possibility of finding survivors alive

had been exhausted.

Eighty-two prisoners finally managed to reach Sindangan

Bay in northwest Mindanao, Philippine Islands, after the

Shinyo Maru was torpedoed by the Paddle on December 7,

1944. Filipino guerrillas sent word to Commander Sub-

marines, who immediately dispatched the Narwhal (Com-mander J.

C. Titus) to evacuate them on September 29, 1944.

It was earlier in that same month that the greatest toll was

taken of any convoy carrying prisoners. With hundreds of

Australian and British captives aboard, the heavily guardedflotilla was en route to the Empire from Singapore. It carried,

too, a capacity load of rubber, tin, and rice. The convoy wasalmost annihilated by the torpedoes of Ben's Busters, consist-

ing of the Sealion (Commander Eli T. Reich), Growler

(Commander T. B. Oakley, Jr.), and the Pampanito (Com-mander P. E. Summers). Two days after the slaughter it waslearned that many war prisoners were adrift in the convoy's

graveyard. Forthwith the Sealion and Pampanito ran back to

conduct rescue operations to the capacity of their boats, andcalled another pack, the Barb and Queenfish to continue the

work of human salvage.The Busters were working in the South China Sea from

Luzon Strait westward to Hainan Island when they made a

shambles of the Singapore convoy. The patrol had started on

MISSION OF MERCY 137

August 17, 1944, but it wasn't until September that pickings

really became good.The attack, as seen through the eyes of the Sealion, exempli-

fies the ferocity and tenacity with which the packs were strik-

ing at convoys.On her first patrol, conducted in the East China and Yellow

Seas, the Sealion had given ample evidence that she fully in-

tended to avenge the loss of the ship whose namesake she was,

the old Sealion that had been wrecked by Jap bombers at

Cavite Navy Yard on December 10, 1941. With four ships to

her credit and the proud recipient of the Combat Insignia

Award, Sealion was off to a good start. Her career reached its

highest point on her third patrol when she gained the distinc-

tion of being the only submarine ever to sink a modem battle-

ship. She not only sank the Kongo but put a couple of tor-

pedoes into the Yamato too!

But on this second patrol the torpedo business was prettyslack until the pack ganged up during the early hours of Sep-tember 12 on a north-bound convoy of nine large ships, well-

protected by escorts. Here was something really worth sinkingtheir teeth into and they tore into it like famished wolves.

During her first attack on the surface the vigilant escorts

scorched the Sealion and curbed her ambitions momentarily,but not her enthusiasm. In two hours she was back, havingdone a quick end-around. This time Eli Reich decided to doit the hard way a submerged attack in darkness. This wouldat least prevent the escorts from picking him up on their

efficient radars. It was pretty dark when he peered throughthe periscope but light enough to see four big ships steaming

along like ducks in a row. Dawn was too close for Eli to

dawdle around. This would be his last chance to shoot before

daylight. So he gave them the works. The first three torpedoeswent lashing out toward the sub's favorite target, a tanker,

then three each at two armored transports.

Without waiting to observe the results the Sealion went

138 BATTLE SUBMERGED

deep and rigged for the inevitable depth-charge attack. The

escorts had already displayed their efficiency, so the sub-

marine had no illusions that her attack would go unpunished.But when they heard three heavy explosions signaling the

destruction of all their targets the Sealioris crew felt that theycould grin and bear whatever it cost to make a triple kill!

Unbeknownst to the Sealion one of the large transports was

the Rakuyo Maru, crammed with prisoners of war from Singa-

pore.

That night the Growler had made her kill and left the area,

leaving the Pampanito to pursue and clean up all she could

of what was left. Seven of her torpedoes found marks in two

enemy ships. It was not until September 14, two days after

the Sealion attack, that the Pampanito, while picking her waythrough the oil-strewn, debris-cluttered seas, discovered the

first of the prisoners hanging on a raft. Letting the battered

convoy flee to Hong Kong without further molestation, the

submarine commenced looking for other prisoners, mean-while sending a dispatch to the Sealion asking for assistance

in the rescue. The Sealion, too, promptly forgot the grim busi-

ness of completing the job she had started and made flank

speed to the scene. Eli Reich relates what they found.

"Sighted life raft with several men aboard. Commenced

maneuvering to effect rescue. The first survivor was hauled

aboard and sent below for medical treatment. Continuedrescue of survivors from Rakuyo Mam which had been tor-

pedoed about 0530 on September 12, 1944. The survivors were

English and Australian prisoners of war from the MalayanPeninsula. All were suffering from malnutrition, malaria, beri

beri, pellagra, exposure, thirst, and all were coated with a

thick layer of crude oil. A total of fifty-four men were re-

covered until darkness and space limitations on board Sealion

prohibited further rescue. . . . [Pampanito picked upseventy-three]. . . . Came to course 090 and headed for

Balintang Channel [north of Luzon]. It was heartbreaking

MISSION OF MERCY 139

to leave so many dying men behind. . . . One o the sur-

vivors died of shock and exposure. . . . Conducted burial

services for the deceased survivor and committed his body to

the deep." [The skipper doubles as a chaplain in a submarine.]"Received ComSubPac despatch ordering Sealion to Saipan at

best possible speed." Pampanito received the same orders.

In the meantime ComSubPac sent the pack in the adjoiningarea to continue the search for survivors.

Three more of the survivors in the Sealion died and wereburied at sea before she could reach Tanapog Harbor, Saipan.

Terrence Patrick Johnson, Australian, Michael Degaura,3rd Indian Corps, William Henry Fuller, British, and R. E.

Laws, Australian, gave a combined synopsis of the horrible ex-

perience of being torpedoed by one of our own submarines.

Unedited, it reads:

"We were sleeping topside on the Rakuyo Maru" they re-

lated. "At about 0200 a two-funneled destroyer with hori-

zontal bands around the after funnel was evidently struck by a

torpedo and blew up [the Hirado by Growler]. There was a

lot of gunfire and flares [Growler first target; Sealion later, on

their first pass at the convoy] but after a while everything was

quiet once more. About 0500 or 0600 a red flare went up alongthe port side of the tanker which was right ahead of us. Thentwo torpedoes struck the tanker and it burst into flames [Sea-

lion attack], literally blew up, throwing flaming oil high in

the air. Then we saw the ship which had been on the port bowof the tanker swerve in close to the tanker almost collided,

we'd say. It looked to us as if the other ship had been disabled,

for they just seemed to drift into each other. Then the second

ship caught fire aft and in a moment there was a puff of smoke

up around his bridge and she was ablaze forward. Then there

was a thud up forward on our ship followed by another aft

[Sealion torpedoes] and the Rakuyo began to settle in the

water. The Japs took to the boats and, about five minutes

later, we went into the water too, and climbed aboard some

140 BATTLE SUBMERGED

rafts. The tanker was burning fiercely. We feared an oil fire on

the water so we tried to keep as far away from her as possible.

Just after dawn the ship which collided with the tanker went

down, stern first, [Sealions first AP, Nankai Mam]. Half an

hour or so later the tanker sank. The oil burned on the water

for a little while and then went out. The Rakuyo now had a list

to starboard but it looked as if she wouldn't go under for a

while. Some of us started back, but before we got to her she

began to keel over and settle some more. So we changed our

minds about going back for provisions and water. At about

1800 the Rakuyo sank [Sealions second AP].

"Shortly after we were in the water a destroyer picked upthe Japs in the long boats. We were held off with revolvers.

In the afternoon another destroyer came up, escorting a

passenger-freighter. These ships rescued the remaining Japs.

Then all three ships steamed off.

"After the Rakuyo was hit we didn't notice what happenedto any other ships in the convoy except the tanker and the

ship which collided with her. The rest just disappeared. That

ship was bigger than the Rakuyo, she had a clipper bow and

several decks. When she joined the convoy off Luzon a sailor

said she looked foreign like a Scandinavian and was sup-

posed to be loaded with raw rubber."

Thus we heard about the unhappy aftermath of the brilliant

attack by the Sealion.

Ed's Eradicators, ordered by Commander Submarines to

assist in the rescue, ordinarily consisted of the Rarb, Tunnyand Queenfish, but only two boats were still operating in

Luzon Strait. The Tunny had suffered a pretty rough going-over by depth charges and had been sent to the Yard for re-

pairs. However, the Barb (Commander Eugene B. Fluckey)and Queenfish (Commander Charles E. Loughlin) reversed

their roles from killers to rescuers.

On the night of September 16 the Rarb received word from

MISSION OF MERCY 141

the Queenfish that a convoy of five ships and six escorts was

headed her way.There was only one effective means of clearing the way for

the rescue and Barb did just that. She ended up with a tanker

and an escort carrier to her credit. Feeling that no more time

could be lost before proceeding to the area where they hopedto locate more survivors, Gene Fluckey recorded, "Received

orders from ComWolfPack to proceed to survivor area. I

heartily agree. As an afterthought inserted here, having seen

the piteous plight of the fourteen survivors we rescued, I can

say that I would forego the pleasure of an attack on a Jap Task

Force to rescue any one of them. There is little room for senti-

ment in Submarine Warfare, but the measure of saving one

Ally's life against sinking a Jap ship is one which leaves no

question, once experienced."So they passed the word about the convoy on to the next

pack, Donk's Devils, and were off once more.

It was almost ten o'clock on the morning of September 17

when they encountered the first wreckage. During the ensu-

ing six hours the two submarines picked their way carefully

through the flotsam that by now had spread over many squaremiles. Despite the heavy seas all living survivors were rescued,

fourteen in the Barb, eighteen in the Queenfish.Gene Fluckey found the survivors to be in the same fear-

ful physical shape. "The at first dubious, then amazed, and

finally hysterically thankful look on their faces, from the time

they first sighted us approaching them, is one we shall never

forget. Several of them were too weak to take the lines thrown

them. These were rescued by the valiant efforts of Lieutenant

Commander R. W. McNitt, USN, Lieutenant (D-V[G])

J.G. Lanier, USNR, and C. S. Houston, MoMM 2c, who dove

in after them. Too much credit cannot be given to the crew

for their superb performance and willing efforts in the produc-tion line we had formed from the deck party who picked them

142 BATTLE SUBMERGED

up, stripped them and passed them on to the transportation

gang to get them below, where they were received by the

cleaners who removed the oil and grease, then on to the

doctors and nurses for treatment, thence to the feeders, and

finally to the sleepers who carried them off and tucked them

in their bunks. . . .

"By separate correspondence a recommendation for com-

mendation is being forwarded in the case of W, E. Donnelly,PhM Ic. Through his untiring efforts working day and nightthese men were brought over the hump without loss of a

single life.

"On the amusing side the following remarks were recorded

as the survivors were being carried to their bunks."

*I take back all I ever said about you Yanks/"'Three bloody years without a drink of brandy. Please

give me another/"'Turn me loose, 111 run to that bunk/

**

*Be sure to wake me up for chow/"*As soon as I can I'm going to write my wife to kick the

Yankee out I'm coming home!'"

.

Then as an insertion added even later, the skipper said,

"As a matter of record I wish to express my appreciation to

the officers and crew for their splendid contribution of over

$500 as a stake for the survivors. After a refit at Pearl Harbor

this included practically every cent aboard ship."All during the daylight hours the next day the two sub-

marines continued to search for survivors but no more werefound.

Fluckey recorded, "Surface patrolling searching for survi-

vors. We are now in the tail end of a typhoon, the wind has

picked up to 35 knots and the seas are very heavy. Believe it

will be impossible for any survivors on rafts to last throughthe night/'

At seven that night they set a course for Saipan where they

MISSION OF MERCY 143

were welcomed alongside the U.S.S. Fulton on September25 and the grateful survivors moved to a hospital.Thus 159 prisoners of war were saved (seven died later)

by the same source that almost caused their deaths.

Submarine Versus Destroyer

DESTROYERS are the prime enemy of submarines. One of

their essential duties is to screen larger vessels from sub-

marine attacks, wherefore they are of shallow draft; light,

fast and agile; hard to hit with a torpedo and quickly maneu-

verable to avoid attack. They can "spin around on a dime/'

They all carry depth charges and the newest listening gear.

At the beginning of the war there wasn't a Jap destroyer afloat

that didn't consider herself more than a match for any number

of submarines, and, by all the rules except the incalculable

factor of human intelligence, they should have been. But this

confidence began to ooze a bit after the hunted turned hunter

and we started cutting them down.

Of fifty-two American subs lost during the war, Japanesesurface forces definitely only accounted for sixteen. Countingall the "possibles," they certainly did not sink more than

twenty-four, mines probably accounting for most of the bal-

ance. On the other side of the ledger, Japanese anti-submarine

forces lost forty-two destroyers and approximately one hun-144

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 145

dred lesser escort vessels to our submarines. The light vessels

of the Japanese Navy not only failed fully to protect the heavy

ships and the convoys, but they themselves took dispropor-tionate losses in their war with the submarines.

They were worthy adversaries. The Japanese ships were

good, and their crews brave and well-trained, by Japanesestandards. They just weren't smart enough. They fought an

orthodox war? whereas the Americans used ingenuity and

initiative. It was the old story of the Indian fighter versus the

classically trained Redcoat.

The duty of the submarine was to slip past escorting de-

stroyers and, undetected, get to the valuable tankers and

cargo ships. Normally, a sub didn't even consider attackinga destroyer unless it was found alone, or the submarine wasbacked into a corner and had to fight her way out There were

a few cases when the submarine, having been balked in an

effort to reach the convoy, picked off the destroyers just to get

even, but this was very rare. A tanker sunk meant that morethan one ship couldn't go to sea for lack of the fuel of which

Japan had to import every drop. Better to save a torpedo for

a second chance at an oiler or munitions ship than to sink an

escort.

There came a time, though, when the old feeling about de-

stroyers was reversed. By April, 1944, when Jap tankers were

rarer than destroyers and the mobility of the Japanese fleet

was threatened, the Joint Chiefs in Washington decreed that,

to maintain this condition and aggravate it, submarines were

to give enemy destroyers high priority. They were madenumber two on the list, right after the much sought-for but

by now rarer tankers.

Only one Jap destroyer, the Sagiri, was sunk by subs in

1941, and she was torpedoed off Borneo by a Dutch sub-

marine. It was not until February 8, 1942, that an American

submarine started the ball rolling and then only out of neces-

sity. The ancient S-37, commanded by Lieutenant John C.

146 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Dempsey, was completing an eventless daylight submerged

patrol off eastern Borneo and was just preparing to surface

for the night to charge batteries when several ships were

sighted through the periscope. Gearing the S-STs croupyDiesels into high to wring out her full ten and a half knots,

Dempsey followed in the darkness. It was almost eight o'clock

when he had drawn close enough to see that hopes were par-

tially realized in that it really was a Japanese convoy, but a

column formation of four enemy destroyers was interposedbetween the S-S7 and the cargo ships. Breaking through this

tight defense posed a problem for which there was no satis-

factory answer, A run around end by the plodding S-boat was

as out of the question as a Percheron coming from behind to

win the Derby. After pondering the situation for a few

minutes vainly hoping for inspirational angle of attack on

the convoy, Dempsey decided to take on all four destroyers!

Later submarines were equipped with from four to six tubes

forward, and four aft. What Dempsey proposed to do was

rather like hunting a herd of lions with a single-barreled shot-

gun.With four targets and four torpedoes he simply parceled

one out to each destroyer in the column. That he got one out

of the four was almost a seagoing miracle.

The third destroyer in the column caught its torpedo solar

plexus. The amidships section rose twenty feet above the bowand stern ends and the Natsushio went down, first of the twoscore plus that finally fell to American submarines.

This attack brings into sharp focus the prewar concept of

submarine attacks on destroyers. Dempsey wouldn't have con-

sidered using a single torpedo on any larger type ship, but a

destroyer was not thought to be worth a full salvo. A sub-

marine that had fired four torpedoes at a single destroyer then,even though sinking it, would have been more likely to receive

censure for wastefulness than praise for sinking an enemy

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 147

ship. In 1944, almost any sub would pick one ship and let

fly a four-torpedo salvo if presented with the same target.

In 1941 an average of 1.8 torpedoes were fired at each de-

stroyer target. In 1944 it was 3.3 per attack. Of course the

scarcity of torpedoes in 1941, as compared to the unlimited

number available in 1944, probably had considerable bearingon this trend.

The directive from the Commander in Chief for the subs to

bear down on destroyers came long after Sam Dealey had

given the Harder her baptism of blood and a reputation that

made her name a most descriptive one. The short, cheerful,

tooth-brush-mustached officer was the second of six sub-

marine skippers to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Service, the whole Naval Service, suffered one of its

heaviest and most saddening losses when the Harder failed

to return from her sixth patrol. The long string of vicious

depth-charge attacks that had all but blasted the Harder out

of the water during five previous patrols finally caught up withher off western Luzon.

Sam Dealey arrived at Pearl Harbor on May 23, 1943, to

take the Harder out for his first war patrol in command. Opti-

mistically maybe, realistically as it proved eventually, RisingSun stencils had surreptitiously been taken aboard to or-

nament the conning tower with the symbols of her Trills.

She looked far too bare among the grizzled veterans that were

returning to the Base with a broom at the yardarm.The operating area for her first patrol was in Empire waters

south of Honshu. On the night of June 22 the Harder madeher first tackle and brought down a large freighter. Three

well-placed torpedoes insured the first Rising Sun a place on

her conning tower. She also received her baptismal depth-

charge attack, prolonged and savage.Now the Harder was a veteran too! When she arrived at

Midway on July 7, returning to Pearl Harbor, there was a new

148 BATTLE SUBMERGED

light in the eyes of every man aboard, and a new swagger and

jauntiness in their walk. For there was more than one scalp

depicted on the conning tower and one stood for the ex-

seaplane tender Sagara Mam. Sam Dealey had become a "hot"

skipper on his first patrol.

On August 24 Harder headed back to her old area south of

Honshu on her second patrol, to take up where she had left off.

The hunting was still good, and the stenciled flags now ac-

counted for an additional four cargo ships and one tanker.

On October 30, 1943, she started her third patrol as a mem-ber of Commander Freddie Warder's (

of Seawolf fame ) pack,

accompanied by the Snook and Pargo. The hunting this time

was conducted in the Marianas area. On this cruise the

Harder s torpedoes bagged three big freighters, insuring that

some 20,000 tons of stores and supplies would never reach

their destination on Saipan except as litter on the beaches.

When she returned from this patrol the Harder was sent

to the coast for a "face-lifting" treatment during a month at

the Mare Island Navy Yard, and a well-earned shore leave for

the crew.

Early in March, 1944, she was back at Pearl Harbor, ready,as the skipper phrased it, to "ride the Pacific merry-go-round

again." And on March 16 she took off for her new area of

operations in the western Carolines, in the immediate vicinityof Woleai Island 500 miles west of Truk. It was there that she

participated in a dramatic rescue of one of our pilots whohad been forced down, which is described in Chapter 11. Andit was there that she intercepted the new directive makingenemy destroyers a primary target.

It may have been coincidence, but she had no sooner re-

ceived the changed order of things than the Harder showedstrict compliance by summarily removing a destroyer from the

Imperial Navy. The target obligingly provided was the Ika-

zuchi, of the 1,850-ton Fubuki class.

To fit the Harder for her fifth and memorable war patrol she

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 149

was sent alongside the tender at Fremantle, Australia. In addi-

tion to the usual refurbishing there was always a little extra

patching up required when this submarine hit port. She al-

ways seemed to undergo more than her share of depth-chargeattacks.

The Harder left Fremantle on May 26, 1944. Her assignedarea was in the Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Borneo,in the Sulu Sea, and in addition to sinking ships, she hadtwo other assignments. One was to remove some Intelli-

gence operators from the northeast coast of Borneo. A coupleof other subs had failed in their attempts to rescue them, but

success was mandatory for the Harder because the increas-

ingly desperate Japs were closing in on our people. Evidenceof the mission's importance was the presence of the Australian

Ace Commando, Major William Jinkins, loaned to give aid

in this rescue attempt.Their other assignment was extremely important too. The

heavy naval forces of the Japanese were known to be concen-

trated at Tawi Tawi anchorage in the Sulu Archipelago(northeast of Borneo). When we delivered our first blow at

the gates of what the Japs considered their inner defense line,

the Marianas, our High Command expected the reaction at

Tawi Tawi to resemble a disturbed hornets* nest. So the

Harder and Redfish (Lieutenant Commander Marshall H.

Austin) were sent to hang around that vicinity and catch the

first movement of the enemy. They were given permission to

do any damage they could but they were especially directed

to find out in which direction the Japs would jump.

Captain Murray Tichenor, operations officer for SubmarinesSouthwest Pacific, went along on the Harder as an observer.

He wanted to see at first hand how practicable the operationorders were that he had been scribbling for the boats. It's

sometimes difficult to understand every facet of an operationfrom a seat on the tender. Furthermore, he also wished to ob-

serve at first hand the conditions under which the subs oper-

150 BATTLE SUBMERGED

ated. Finally, and perhaps compellingly, he loved the sub-

marine service and when a man attains four stripes it is rare

that he gets a chance to see the enemy through a periscope.

He certainly got an eyeful on this trip.In fact, there were

times when he even hinted that Sam Dealey was putting on a

show for his special benefit.

After doing considerable broken field running through fleets

of fishing boats the Harder arrived off Cape Mangkalibat,which thrusts from eastern Borneo into the Strait of Makassar,

at dawn on June 5.

The skipper strongly suspected by their actions that some

of the sailboats were a little out of character for fishing vessels.

They behaved more like wolves in sheep's clothing spotters

for the Japs, but Dealey*s tight schedule didn't permit time

to prove it. Anyway, it didn't matter too much if the boats

were on picket duty because the enemy already had the grim-mest sort of evidence that United States subs continuallyhaunted those waters. It wasn't their presence, which theywere impotent to prevent, but catching them that bothered

the Japs most.

Rain squalls are often a great nuisance and source of dis-

comfort but those the Harder encountered this cruise were

an undisguised blessing. They permitted her to arrive un-

detected at the southern entrance of Sibutu Passage. This is

the channel that lies between Sibutu Island on Borneo's north-

east coast, and Tawi Tawi, the Japanese anchorage betweenBorneo and the Philippines.Inasmuch as this is the only deep-water channel between

the Celebes and Sulu Seas, the Japs knew that our subs hadto use the passage, and they had no intention of letting anygo through.The Harder waited until after darkness before giving the

Japanese the opportunity to try and stop her. As the affair

turned out, it would have been a lot cheaper for them if they

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 151

had given the submarine a safe conduct passage including

personal escorts.

Just as the Harder was getting all wound up to start her

dash the radar operator brought the proceedings to a halt byreporting that a convoy was barging down the pass.

"We're not in such a big hurry after all/' grinned the skipper.

"Besides, this is business that can't wait. The other job can,

within reason."

Sam described this first encounter thus: "The moon was

full, brilliant, and almost overhead during the latter part of

the run, but was shielded intermittently by low cumulusclouds. Our intent was to dive ahead of the convoy and to

maneuver into a position between the flank escorts and the

tankers from which an almost simultaneous attack could bemade on the destroyer and the three closly grouped ships of

the convoy. This optimistic intention was later frustrated."

And for a very good reason. The moon suddenly broke

through the clouds, floodlighted the surfaced sub and madeall on deck feel as self-consciously prominent as Lady Godivaat a ball game. The nearest destroyer wasn't slow to take ad-

vantage."It was immediately apparent/

7

said Sam Dealey, "that hewas headed hellbent for the Harder, smoking heavily and

showing a prominent bow wave/'

Two choices remained. She could dive or

"We turned tail toward the destroyer, made flank speed and

hoped the Jap would get discouraged and return to his convoybut he had other intentions (none of them friendly). His

speed increased to 24 knots and the range was graduallywhittled down to 9,000 yards as he followed down our wake.

(At 19 knots we left a wake that looked like a broad avenue

for five miles astern).

"It was painfully evident that our business with the convoywould have to wait until the destroyer was taken care of/'

152 BATTLE SUBMERGED

The Harder decided she had run far enough. Now, she had

only one thing in mind: Get that fellow! She submerged to

periscope depth, twisted around to bring the stern tubes to

bear, and waited for the destroyer, racing down her wake,

to come within torpedo range. And at twenty-four knots it

couldn't take long! The Japanese was steering a straight

course, charging after the sub which he apparently thoughtwas still fleeing on the surface. It was a poor guess.

"At a range of 1,150 yards," related the skipper, "we sent a

triple dose of torpex (referring to the war-head explosive)

toward the Jap. The first shot missed ahead, the second and

, third shots were observed to hit near the bow and under the

bridge respectively. The target was immediately envelopedin flame and smoke, the tail rose straight in the air and half

a dozen of his depth charges going off.

"Surfaced at 1,000 yards distant, watched the destroyer go

under, and headed back toward the spot where it had been.

One Franklin buoy (or one of similar design) burned lone-

somely over a large oil slick but there was no ship and there

were no survivors to be seen. The last moments of the de-

stroyer were observed by the commanding officer, most of the

fire control party, by Captain Tichenor and the bridge look-

outs."

Japanese records indicate that this was the destroyerMinatsuki.

The first pressing problem had been disposed of handily.Now to take the convoy under consideration. Full speed ahead

on four engines! "From here," observed the skipper, "it wouldbe a race to see who could get to Tarakan first."

But another destroyer popped into sight to offer strenuous

opposition to any attempted liberties with the three precioustankers. Again the Harder prepared to square away for a

passage at arms, but this time the target was wide awake andwatchful. When the submarine let fly with her punch, the

destroyer neatly sidestepped and countered savagely with

SUBMAKINE VERSUS DESTROYER 153

heavy depth charges that battered and buffeted the Harder

for the next hour and a half. As Sam Dealey admitted, "That

fellow was on their varsity!"

When the weary destroyer drew away from her rather

groggy opponent, the Harder took cognizance of the time

element that had inexorably crept into the problem. It was

too late to try for another pass at the fast-stepping convoy, so

the submarine headed for Sibutu and rescue for the trappedobservation party.At dawn the Harder sighted what was believed to be the

mast of a ship, and the submarine slithered down for an attack

position from well below the surface just in case a plane

happened to be sitting around overhead. After an hour anda half Sam figured that it was about time to take a look at the

traffic and tried to come up to periscope depth. Then the most

sickening sensation a submariner can feel, more dismayingthan the jolt of depth charges, jarred all hands the grate of

the keel on a submerged obstacle. No one had suspected that

the heavy set of the uncharted current during the night hadtaken them near the reef on which they were now in danger of

being hung. Dealey gave the immediate order to blow mainballast tanks, then backed full speed and miraculously man-

aged to clear the reef without apparent damage. But all hands

sprouted goose bumps at the thought of what might have hap-

pened, if the skipper hadivt had the hunch to plane up for

a look-see when he did. The Jap base was much too close for

any Americans to be stranded on a reef, if they were lucky

enough to get that much fresh air before extinction.

But the target? To top it all off, the "ship" was still where

it had first been seen, and where it still is a small island!

Shortly before noon the Harder submerged again to wait

out an aircraft contact when a destroyer suddenly loomed

up on the periscope, coming at a fast clip and only about

4,000 yards away. No one suggested that this might be an

island when the Harder turned toward her. A minute later

154 BATTLE SUBMERGED

the two killers were headed for each other and closing fast.

The Jap had seen the periscope. That was made as plain byhis belligerent approach as if he had flown a flag hoist.

"Stood by with four tubes forward to fire down his throat, if

necessary," related Sam in his war diary later. "At that stage

there wasn't much choice. Angle on the bow changed from

zero to 10 degrees starboard, then quickly back to 15 degrees

port." The situation was growing more tense every second.

What would the destroyer do next? If he would only stay on a

steady course for just a few minutes! At this rate it looked as

though it might surely have to be a head-on "down the throat"

shot, with the target practically crawling over the submarine

the next moment.

At a range of 650 yards the angle on the bow had opened to

20 degrees port. The skipper filled his lungs to expel a sigh of

relief, and then the destroyer perversely but cannily began to

swing back. Sam Dealey, his forehead bathed in sweat, waited

no longer; he couldn't, unless he wanted the fellow coming

through his conning tower.

"Fired one-two-three in rapid succession. Number four

wasn't necessary! Fifteen seconds after the first shot was fired

it struck the destroyer squarely amidships. Number two hit

just aft number three missed ahead. Ordered right full rud-

der and ahead full to get clear. At range of 300 yards we wererocked by a terrific explosion believed to have been the de-

stroyer magazine. Less than one minute after the first hit, andnine minutes after it was sighted, the destroyer [later identi-

fied as the Hayanami] sank tail first, observed by the Com-

manding Officer, Executive Officer, and, of course, CaptainTichenor."

But a lot of other equally interested persons had seen it godown. Sound reported fast screws racing up from all direc-

tions. So the sub went deep and philosophically rigged for

depth charging, while the yeoman broke out the forms onwhich to record each explosion.

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 155

They weren't long in coming and continued for two gruel-

ing hours.

At 3:30 that afternoon the Harder had crawled from under

and was again at periscope depth, tubes reloaded, looking for

trouble. Two FwZmfa-class destroyers came steaming up and

the Harder prepared to make someone pay for the depth-

charge drubbing, but at 4,000 yards the destroyers suddenlywheeled about and quit the neighborhood.

However, it was still a busy area. Later in the afternoon an

investigating committee of six destroyers headed for the sub-

marine.

"Looked as though the Harder had worn out her welcome

here," observed Sam. "We felt as if we had a monopoly on the

whole Pacific war this date. ( Such popularity must be pre-served. )" The temptation was to further deplete the Imperial

Navy's dwindling forces but the skipper"Made a quick review of the whole picture and decided that

discretion here was definitely the better part of valor. The

battery was low, air in the boat was none too good, the crew

was fatigued, and our navigational position in a narrow strait,

with strong and variable currents, was not well known. I really

believe that we might have gotten.one or two of the enemy

ships, but under the above listed conditions, a persistent and

already humiliated enemy (after two sinkings within twenty-four hours just off a fleet base) would probably have de-

veloped an attack from which the Harder might not have

pulled through. No apologies are made for my withdrawal

The gamble would have been taken at too great a risk/'

The skipper having made his decision, the Harder began

evading to the north to lose the destroyers and get on with her

assigned task. The navigator was unable to fix the ship's posi-

tion due to a "fuzzy" horizon, but it appeared they were

headed up the center of Sibutu Passage. A tiny blip suddenlyblossomed on the radar screen, dead ahead at 1,500 yards. It

was sighted immediately from the bridge by moonlight, a

156 BATTLE SUBMERGED

small boat by all appearances. At 1,200 yards it was discovered

to be a low rock pinnacle sticking straight up out of the sea,

with white foam breaking around it. Dealey ordered full right

rudder, and "within 400 yards of grounding on this pinnacle as

we reversed course/' he noted in his diary. "Special credit is

due Wilbur Lee Clark RT [radio technician] 3c, USNR for his

alert watchstanding. He undoubtedly prevented a groundingwhich might well have been disastrous."

The navigator was able to check his position a little later on

Sibutu Island light and by midnight the submarine was head-

ing north again. At ten o'clock on the morning of June 8 the

Harder was submerged off the northeast tip of Borneo below

Cape Unsang. She was two days late for the rendezvous; Sam

apologetically explained later that the compulsory sinking of

two destroyers had delayed them.

Late that night the submarine crept in to keep her ren-

dezvous with the Intelligence operators. With nothing to

break the stillness of the night except the muffled paddlingof the rubber boat, Major Jinkins pulled off his little miracle

and got the operators aboard safely. There was a silent hand

shake and a low murmur of thanks before they disappeareddown the hatch.

Sam lost no time clearing the neighborhood. The Japs had

been ready to spring their trap on the operators at dawn, and

when it became obvious that the prey had escaped, theywouldn't have any trouble guessing how it had been managed.Sam wanted deep water under him before the investigating

planes inevitably arrived.

At 5:32 A.M. the expected snooper came diving in. The Japshadn't waited until dawn to find out that the agents they hadhunted so long and persistently had been snatched away.

"Bridge lookout sighted float type plane close/' related

the skipper. "Made quick dive. Bomb exploded as we passed75 feet also close! The sub was thoroughly shaken and re-

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 157

suited in an early and prompt reveille for all hands, but no

damage of a serious nature was sustained/'

The new passengers were already getting a quick initiation

into routine life aboard the Harder. One of them vowed later

that if he had suspected what they were going to have to go

through before he reached Australia nothing could have

dragged him off Borneo. He would have insisted upon wait-

ing for the next boat.

The skipper didn't doubt that the plane had sent a hurrycall to the destroyers at Tawi Tawi. They could be expectedto come swarming out in a few hours, looking for trouble

and the Harder. Conditions to receive them properly were

not auspicious from the Hardens point of view.

"The smooth glassy sea/' explained Sam, "with aircraft

overhead precluded a successful attack at periscope depth, so

it was decided to swing to the northeast and not attempt a

southward transit of Sibutu until nightfall. However, the

longer we remained undetected., the more convinced that Japaviator would be that his bomb hit the mark. Such an assump-tion wouldn't have been far wrong/*At 11:00 A.M. "sound picked up propeller noises of two

destroyers approaching from the westward [direction of Tawi

Tawi. The advance guard!]. A periscope attack in the glassy

sea against alerted destroyers with air support was not con-

sidered to be 'good ball/ Increased depth and rigged for silent

running. Both destroyers passed overhead and nearby several

times/*

By early afternoon the searchers had been shaken off. Samreturned to periscope depth to find that the seas had picked

up enough to ruffle the surface, so now they could make a

periscope attack. He headed directly for the northern entrance

to Sibutu, ready to do battle once more.

Soon after sunset the Harder was on the surface speedingdown the pass. Radar picked up a few patrol vessels but they

158 BATTLE SUBMERGED

were far enough abaft the beam for the Harder to show them

her heels. Nevertheless it indicated that the enemy was goingto make his best attempt to prevent the submarine from going

through.At 9:00 P.M. the skipper recorded, "Entered northern bottle-

neck of Sibutu Passage with the Jap fleet base at Tawi Tawi

just six miles away on port beam. Trouble was expected here

and did we find it!"

Just a minute later radar reported a destroyer ahead. Samsaw it at the same time. It didn't worry him because by nowhe felt competent to handle the destroyer situation. Another

was sighted almost immediately near the first, but Dealey still

felt confident that he would be able to handle both of

them.

The actions of the destroyers seemed to indicate that theywere simply patrolling the narrows, and had no suspicionthat a stranger was entering their midst. If they could just be

kept in ignorance a few minutes longer! Sam picked out the

logical one to "gun" first the larger one.

"At 3,000 yards both destroyers zigged SO degrees to their

right (with the first presenting a 30-degree port track) and

the picture becamee

just what the doctor ordered/ At a rangeof 1,000 yards on the nearest target, both destroyers were

overlapping, with a 100-degree track showing, so without

further delay commenced firing the bow tubes. No. 1 ap-

peared to pass just ahead of the first destroyer, No. 2 struck it

near the bow, No. 3 hit just under the destroyer bridge, andNo. 4 passed astern of the near target. The sub was swinginghard right to avoid hitting the first destroyer and fire waswithheld on remaining tubes until a new setup could be putinto the T.D.C. [target data computer] for an attack on the

second destroyer. About 30 seconds after turning the second

destroyer came into view just astern of what was left of the

first one which was burning furiously. Just then No. 4 torpedo,which had passed astern of the first target, was heard and

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 159

observed to hit the second target (no more torpedoes were

needed for either).

"Meanwhile, a heavy explosion, believed to be caused byan exploding boiler on the first destroyer, went off and the

sub (then about 400 yards away) was heeled over by the con-

cussion. At almost the same time a blinding explosion took

place on the second destroyer (probably his ammunition go-

ing off) and it took a quick nose dive.- When last observed bythe Commanding Officer and Executive Officer (and the

eager Captain Tichenor, naturally) the tail of the second de-

stroyer was straight in the air. And the first destroyer had dis-

appeared."The Harder, so far in her one-ship war, had whittled down

Admiral Ozawa's badly needed light forces by four destroyersand the patrol wasn't even over.

The submarine surfaced to see the damage and to make a

rapid shift to a more quiet neighborhood. Only a large cloud

of steam and heavy vapor hung over the spot where the first

destroyer had been. A lighted buoy marked the spot where the

second ship had taken her last plunge.At flank speed the Harder tore along to the south before the

night flyers could arrive. Half an hour later she had to duck

under for a while to let one go by, but she was soon up and

off again.At 11:05, however, things weren't so simple. "Sighted air-

craft float type plane, flying at height of 100 feet, coming in

off our starboard quarter and almost on top of us. It is believed

that he sighted us just as the rudder was shifted hard left.

He whizzed by the starboard beam at a range of 100 yards!

Submerged. First aerialbomb not so close, second aerial bombdamned close! Increased depth."Then the bombs became more distant.

"Sound contact on approaching ship. Rigged for silent run-

ning. Remained deep for remainder of night to rest a wearycrew/'

160 BATTLE SUBMERGED

At 0445, "Surfaced to change air in the boat before another

all day dive, and to cram more 'amps' in the battery/'

Before dawn she was once more submerged and headingfor a point south of Tawi Tawi for her reconnoitering duty.

Destroyers were observed on apparently routine patrol but

none came close to the lurking submarine. The passengers

became wistful for the comparatively quiet life of dodging

Jap patrols in the jungle.

At 5:00 P.M. the next afternoon, June 10, excitement surged

through the Harder like a tidal wave when Sound reported a

large movement of ships, light and heavy screws. The very

thing they had come to witness! The passengers now beganto ask, "Is this trip necessary?"A quick periscope observation disclosed a large task force

three battleships, four or more cruisers, and six or eight

destroyers. Float-type planes circled overhead. The first move-

ment of Ozawa's force was coming out!

The skipper describes what happened: "Sea was glassysmooth and events which followed quickly showed that our

periscope was sighted.

"While watching and identifying the nearest of the battle-

ships (which was definitely of the Musashi class) it was sud-

denly.enveloped in a heavy black smoke and Sound reported

hearing three positive explosions. The first assumption (and

hope still remained) was another of our subs [Sam knew the

Redfin was on watch] had put three torpedoes in the battle-

ship, but a reconstructed version of the affray shows that the

following was more likely.

"Immediately after the smoke and explosions around the

battleship, a destroyer, which until then had blended in withthe big ship, headed directly for us belching black smoke. It

is believed that one of the float-type planes had spotted our

periscope and dropped a smoke float near it. Whereupon the

battleship's escorting destroyer laid down a quick smokescreen between us and the battleship and dropped three 'scare'

SUBMARINE VERSUS DESTROYER 161

charges as he headed our way." But there was no guessingabout the destroyer that was heading for the Harder with a

bone in his teeth and fire in his eyes. "The sound man ob-

tained a 'turn count' for 35 knots on the destroyer. His bowwave and rapidly closing range verified it!

"With the idea that we were now scheduled for another

working over anyhow, it was decided to have a crack at the

destroyer first. The bow was swung toward him for another

'down the throat' shot. ( Maybe recent events have just gottenus too much in the habit of shooting destroyers anyhow? )

At

a range of 4,000 yards . . . the angle on the bow still zero

and the destroyer echo ranging right on us steadily! The pic-ture had reached the stage where we had to hit him or else."

When the range was 1,500 yards Sam calmly fired three tor-

pedoes. With the destroyer knifing directly down on themthe "fish" wouldn't have far to run that is, to hit.

"Sound had now picked up other fast screws moving in

from the starboard beam but this was no time to look; the

Harder went deep.

"Fifty-five and sixty seconds respectively after the first shot,

two torpedoes struck with a detonation that was far worse

than depth charging. By this time we were just passing 80 feet

and were soon beneath the destroyer. Then all Hell broke'

loose! It was not from his depth charges for if they had been

dropped at that time this report would not have been com-

pleted, but a deafening series of progressive rumblings that

seemed to blend with each other. Either his boilers or maga-zines, or both, had exploded and it's a lucky thing that ship

explosions are vented upward and not down.

"The previously reported sound on the starboard beam wasnow reported moving in for his share of the fun and started

laying his barrages as we were going deep. It is believed that

they fell astern. They were loud and close and added their

bit to the jolting around but none compared in intensity to

the exploding destroyer we had just passed beneath.

162 BATTLE SUBMERGED

"Other explosions, believed to be aerial bombs, began to

land nearby, and all added up to make the most uncomfortable

five minutes yet experienced during the Harder s five war

patrols. Something between twenty or thirty distinct depth

charges or bombs were counted but no one was interested in

numerical number at the time/'

Finally the Harder pulled clear of the bombed area and

once more all hands, including the passengers, drew a deepbreath. When they again raised their periscope in the dark-

ness, a lone lighted buoy was burning forlornly over the spotwhere the attack had taken place. For the extraordinary ex-

ploit of sinking five destroyers in a matter of almost four days,

Sam Dealey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

After surfacing, the Harder sent a contact report by radio

announcing that the first of the heavy forces had left TawiTawi anchorage. At dawn she was back counting noses in the

anchorage.After a few days more the Redfin was told to take over and

the Harder returned to Australia to discharge her thankful

passengers and to get a few more torpedoes so she could con-

tinue her patrol.

She never returned from the sixth patrol.

Penetrating Enemy Harbors

THE DARING submarine skipper, whose adventurous spirit

carried him to deeds above and beyond the demands of ordi-

nary duty, was just the type to challenge the boasted impreg-

nability of an enemy harbor. From the first weeks of the war

till its end, submarines were piloted past or through deadlybarricades designed by the enemy to deny entry to all excepttheir own. But any enemy harbor that was considered a safe

and crack-proof ship's haven drew the submarine skipperswith irresistible fascination. They were always positive that

if they could only slip in among that bunch of nice, fat prizes

they would have a bang-up clambake. Of course, the real

catch to that was always, "If they could slip in!"

Invariably when a submarine did successfully penetratedefenses to unload her torpedoes against ships whose vigi-

lance was complacently relaxed, no great difficulty was ever

experienced in making an exit during the ensuing confusion.

Sometimes there was even a complete absence of counter-

measures. Of course, mines and nets were always an ever-

163

164 BATTLE SUBMERGED

present danger, even though they had been marked on the

submarine's chart as they were detected on the way in.

During the earliest part of the war in Europe, on October

14, 1939, the Nazis dramatically demonstrated that no har-

bored vessel was out of reach of the submarine, regardless of

nets, mines, and sound detectors. Under the superbly skillful

piloting of Lieutenant Gunther Prien the U-47 achieved what

the British harbor defense experts would have bet their lives

to be an impossibility. He made a daylight submerged en-

trance into the "impregnable" Scapa Flow and sank the British

battleship Royal Oak. Only because the rest of his torpedoeswere defective and bounced harmlessly against the hulls of

even more important targets was the loss limited to just one

ship. But what was even more distressing was the impotenceof British anti-submarine countermeasures to prevent Prien's

escape to the North Sea after the attack. A few days later JohnBull's face really burned when, with the Fiihrer standing

exultantly at his side, Prien not only described how he had

entered the Fleet Base but proved by his presence that the

British had been completely unable to prevent his escape.

Despite this event, and the boast voiced at the same time

that other ports would be visited, the British were still unable

to completely protect their harbors. For a U-boat got into the

Firth of Forth and torpedoed H.M.S. Belfast, and later, the

battleship Nelson found herself on the receiving end of a tor-

pedo at Loch Eue.

With two years' lessons to profit by, the United States

learned on the very first day of the war in the Pacific that the

enemy not only was able to torpedo and bomb our ships in

the harbor with his airplanes, but that his midget submarines

were capable of successfully negotiating our supposedly im-

pregnable Pearl Harbor Channel. Unopposed and undetected,one midget got as far as Ford Island which is just about as

far as one can get where she launched her load of two tor-

pedoes. With the holocaust that had already descended on

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 165

our fleet, these two torpedoes could not have added muchmore to our woes even if they had hit their targets, which for-

tunately they didn't. One gushed in between the seaplanetender Curtiss and the old cruiser Raleigh. The other bur-

rowed into the bank on the island before the midget was

blasted to oblivion by the Curtiss.

The Japs told us later that they had five of the midgets wait-

ing off the Harbor on that fateful morning to do their bit for

the Emperor.One of them was sunk early that morning by the destroyer

Ward and another foundered on a reef southeast of Kaneohe

Bay where it was captured and taken to the beach as a war

trophy. The fate of the remaining midgets was never learned.

It was enough, though, to demonstrate what we had ample

opportunity to learn at others' expense, not only that we were

in a war with a daring ruthless enemy, but that submarines

could upset the best laid plains for the defense of ships in

harbor. It was a lesson our submarine skippers took to heart

and put to superlative use throughout the war.

On January 7, 1942, during his first war patrol, Lieutenant

Commander Stan Moseley, in the Pollack, made a daylight

submerged attack on a freighter and sank it with two tor-

pedoes. Moseley simply reported the location as Lat. 34-27

N, Long. 139-59 E. In his endorsement of the patrol report,

Commander Submarines added, "In case anyone is interested,

the latitude and longitude of this sinking is Tokyo BayPLater that same month, somewhere around noon on Janu-

ary 24, Liuetenant Commander Chester C. Smith squeezedthe Swordfish through the narrow channel at Kema (north-

east Celebes) and torpedoed a freighter that lay in the road-

stead.

Harbor penetration was popular from the start. Target-

hungry subs probed any harbor or roadstead that appearedto contain enemy shipping. This daring type of daylight sub-

merged harbor penetration continued until the boats were

166 BATTLE SUBMERGED

equipped with dependable radar, which opened up a newfield to the skippers : the night surface entrance.

Here was something that tried their daring even more than

the daylight attacks, with greater fascination and excitement

in nosing past the patrols on a dark night, letting loose a load

of Sunday punches against smugly complacent shipping andthen breaking for the open sea.

When, month after month, the toll of ships continued to

mount from this method of attack the Japanese began to

suspect that only the lack of wheels prevented the appearanceof our subs on the Ginza in Tokyo. Certainly no spot in the

Empire with water deep enough for subs remained inviolate.

Take, for example, the exploits of two of our submarines:

the 'Barb, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Eugene B.

Fluckey, who culminated her eleventh war patrol by steaminginto the harbor of Namkwan, China, on the East China Sea,

on the night of January 23, 1945; and the Tirante, com-manded by Lieutenant Commander George L. Street, III,

who topped her first war patrol with a visit to a harbor of Quel-

part Island (south of Korea) on April 14, 1945. These attacks

were so outstanding and paid off so richly that the two skip-

pers were each awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The Barb was a signal example of how positively a sub-

marine reflects the personality and, well, call it the luck of her

commanding officer. Lieutenant Commander Eugene B.

Fluckey took command of her on April 28, 1944, prior to

her eighth war patrol. Under this slender, slight, red-haired

and forever smiling officer, greater luster was added to her

reputation with each patrol, as is about to be related in theevents leading up to the night-hawking foray on Namkwan.Her eighth war patrol was conducted in the "Polar Circuit"

area, the Kuriles and the Sea of Okhotsk. Five ships werecredited to the Barb's torpedoes.On the ninth patrol she was a member of a pack, Com-

mander E. R, Swinburne's Ed's Eradicators. The other two

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 167

members were the Tunny and Queenfish and they operatedin the popular Convoy College area, south of Formosa. Their

large bag this time included a carrier of the Otaka class.

During her tenth patrol, the Barb, with the Queenfish and

Tunny, worked as a packknown as "Loughlin's Loopers," after

the pack commander and skipper of the Queenfish, Com-mander Loughlin. The pack assiduously combed the waters

off the west coast of Kyushu and southeast Korea. The Barb's

score was still high: five ships, three schooners, plus three

ships badly damaged, one of which was a carrier. Gene

Fluckey was unquestionably a "hot" skipper.When the Barb left Guam on December 27, 1944, on her

eleventh patrol it was still as a member of Loughlin's Loopers,

although the Picuda (Commander E. T. Shepard) had been

substituted for the Tunny, whose battle damage required

Navy Yard repairs. Their assigned area was in the East China

Sea, in the vicinity of Formosa. On January 4 the Barb was in

the area, eager to see what it had to offer. Each boat in the

pack operated independently, within a prescribed area, until

the tocsin call went out to gang up on a convoy.At three in the afternoon China aircraft sent their hopes

soaring when they reported a convoy in Formosa Strait (northand west of Formosa), heading for Shanghai. With the bone

in her teeth, Barb was off at the receipt of the word. No one

was going to leave her at the post.

But the skipper was doomed to disappointment. For when,in spite of a heavy rain squall, a fair attack position was at-

tained, the convoy zigged away. His only consolation was that

at least the zig should carry the convoy into spitting distance

of either the Queenfish or Picuda. A little later seven explo-sions confirmed his hopes. He learned afterward that they hadbeen caused by Picuda torpedoes.

Well, this brush beating was fine, Fluckey thought, but the

Barb had some torpedoes that she wanted to exercise besides

her engines.

168 BATTLE SUBMERGED

During the next afternoon the chances for giving them some

of that exercise began to look good. Contact was made with

a convoy heading toward Takao in southwest Formosa, Againthe Barb lost no time racing in pursuit, spreading the goodword to the pack.Gene planned to make a daylight submerged attack from

the coastal flank. This would tend to either slow the convoyor turn them toward the Queenfish and Picuda, a procedurethat usually reaped rich rewards for a pack while beating the

convoy back and forth like a tennis ball.

The second ship of the convoy falling victim to the Barb's

torpedoes went up with such a tremendous explosion that it

shook the submarine violently as a slipper in a terrier pup's

jaws. "The Barb" logged the skipper, "was forced sidewaysand down. Personnel grabbed the nearest support to keepfrom being thrown off their feet, cases of canned goods burst

open in the forward torpedo room later we found a section

of deck grating ripped out of the superstructure. . . ."

No wonder. They had blown up an ammunition ship!

Then, when no escorts attempted a depth-charge attack on

them the skipper continued, "Amazingly we appear to have

leprosy. All escorts have scampered over to the unattached

side of the formation. . . . Can feel aggressiveness surging

through my veins, since the escorts are more scared than weare. Commenced reload forward. . . . Heading for convoy."

By 8:00 P.M. the Barb, on the surface now, was inching her

way in on the starboard flank of the convoy, where two ex-

plosions signaled that the Picuda was at work again. Since

Gene Fluckey was concerned about the position of the Queen-fish he decided he would attack the convoy from the quarterto avoid fouling the rest of the pack. Then he decided to test

out a new theory. Figuring that since the convoy would be

expecting attacks from ahead or the beam the escorts wouldbe bunched up there, Fluckey deduced he would encounter

no opposition by coming up from astern to attack the last ship

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 169

in the formation, and from there working his way up the line.

The red-haired, freckle-faced skipper was a person of imag-ination and he liked to try out his ideas.

The idea was good. Good? It was perfect!

Without opposition, he torpedoed the last ship and moved

up to pump three "fish" into the next one ahead, a large ship

resembling a tanker. Let him describe the result:

"Three hits timed and observed followed by a stupendous,

earth-shaking eruption. This far surpasses Hollywood and

was one of the biggest explosions of the war. The rarefaction

following the first pressure wave was breath taking. A highvacuum resulted in the boat. Personnel in the control roomsaid they felt as if they were being sucked up the hatch. Per-

sonnel in the conning tower, wearing shortened shirts not

tucked in at the belt had their shirts pulled up over their heads.

On the bridge the air was wrenched from my lungs. Somehowit formed the words, "All ahead flank/ The target now re-

sembled a gigantic phosphorous bomb. At first glance as the

torpedoes hit all we could ascertain was that the target had a

long superstructure and a funnel amidships. The volcanic

spectacle was awe inspiring. Shrapnel flew all around us,

splashing on the water in a splattering pattern as far as 4,000

yards ahead of us. Topside we alternately ducked and gawked.The horizon was lighted as bright as day. A quick binocular

sweep showed only one ship remaining and a few scattered

escorts. None of the escorts close to the ammunition ship could

be seen. These were probably blown up and we could claim

them as probably sunk except that I figure that four ships

sunk, one probably sunk, and one damaged, is about all the

traffic will bear for a twelve-torpedo expenditure. In after-

math the forward torpedo room reported several missiles

struck the hull, but no apparent damage was sustained.

"At this stage of the game I was ready to haul ashes. How-

ever, the Engineering Officer who had never seen a shot fired

or ship sunk from his diving station in five runs, really had his

170 BATTLE SUBMERGED

guns out. Frantically he pleaded that we couldn't let the last

ship go. Besides he loved to hear the thump, thump, thump,

thump of the torpedoes, and to see millions of bucks going

sky high. Good sales talk." (Although no sales talk was ever

needed by the skipper, so long as there were torpedoes and

targets available. )

But the engineering officer had to postpone seeing the spec-

tacle after all. While the discussion was held, the wounded

vessel gave a momentarily startling imitation of a submarine

and vanished bow first under the water.

And then occurred an incident that gave the skipper a cold

sweat. Having checked on the position of the rest of the packhe took off after a single ship and raced around for a position

from ahead. He saw what appeared to be an escort coming

up, but he decided to wait in his attack position for the rangeto close anyway. The skipper counted the seconds until that

time arrived when two violent explosions interrupted his cal-

culations. Then Gene Fluckey realized that the "escort" he

had spotted coming up as if to protect the target was actually

his pack-mate, Queenfish, making an attack. Had he fired

earlier, the Barb's torpedoes would have cut her down!

Gene decided that the shooting was over for the night. As

he pulled out of the area, he prayerfully murmured thanks

again and again for the hunch that had made him delay, thus

miraculously averting gruesome tragedy.

Slowly the Barb proceeded to the lifeguard station she hadbeen assigned for an impending B-29 strike.

Many days followed when nothing worth shooting ap-

peared. Apparently the word had gotten around that no con-

voy was safe in that neighborhood and they just weren't mov-

ing. Allied air reconnaissance reported sighting convoys, but

every time Barb raced up to ambush position, no ships broke

the horizon's rim. Either the aviators were "seeing things," or

else or else, Gene Fluckey's hunch told him the convoyswere holing up in one or two of the harbors along the coast and

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 171

would not move until the weather was foul enough to enable

them to slip past the killers lying in wait for them. If the hunch

was valid, there was just one way to handle this situation,

Gene decided: find out where they are hiding and go in after

them!

The Barb still had half of her torpedoes left twelve.

The water along the China Coast is shallow and the bottom

gently shelving. That meant he would have to go inside the

ten-fathom curve to conduct his search. It also meant that if

enemy planes discovered him, there would not be enoughwater in which to submerge for evasion. That was a risk that

no submariner took lightly but, the skipper believed, well

worth taking regardless. Then, working along a string of

small islands commencing with Tungyung (off Foochow) the

Barb proceeded up past Piseang Island, Seven Stars, and

Namki.

At seven o'clock the evening of January 22 after another

day's fruitless search the skipper narrated in his war diary.

"Passed edge of Junk fleet. Approaching 10 fathom curve.

Sorry to leave Junks even though they provide an obstacle

race, for we depend upon their routes to keep us clear of mine-

fields/' A little later: "Quartermaster tugged at my sleeve and

confidentially said, 'Don't look now, but we just passed a mine10 yards abeam to port/ Probably garbage. . . . Picked upJunk. Joined him in 9 fathoms of water. Commenced patrol-

ling to seaward on his quarter, using him for a mine sweeper/'

By 9:20 that night Gene came to the conclusion that the

ships he was seeking must have anchored so he decided to

search the coast. The lack of junks between the coast and

Piseang Islands could indicate a mine field, so the Barb de-

cided to ease around Piseang Islands and close the coast north

of them.

Soon after midnight the Barb began to hug the shore toward

Namkwan, about seventy miles up the China coast from Foo-

chow, where juncture was made with another junk fleet. An

172 BATTLE SUBMERGED

hour later the radar officer and operator insisted that the

splatter of pips on the scope were ships even though it ap-

peared unlikely at such a range. Nevertheless, it was worth

while investigating. What was there to lose? So Fluckey con-

tinued along with the entourage of several hundred darkened

junks, which acted as a good shield in the revealing moon-

light besides confusing any enemy radar screen. But once the

moon had set at 1:37 the Barb pulled out of the formation and

headed for Incog Light, about nine miles off Namkwan Har-

bor.

It was at 3:00 A.M. when the Barb nosed around Incog

Light and Gene Fluckey slowed the ship to take stock of the

situation. The radar was glowing like a convention of light-

ning bugs. A big convoy had anchored in the lower reaches of

Namkwan Harbor! The skipper's hunch had paid off again,

and he had vowed that when and where they found *em, he'd

go in after them.

Fluckey consulted with his executive officer over plans.

First, there was the possible mine field location. "Fully realize

our critical situation," wrote the skipper in his diary, "and the

potential dangers involved. Estimate the situation as follows:

(a) Recent unknown mining in this vicinity is a known fact.

Mines could be laid from Incog Island to Tae Island. How-

ever, a more effective mine field would be from Incog Island

to Ping Fong, the eastern entrance to Namkwan Harbor which

would provide a protected anchorage behind it. Since the

position of the anchored convoys is too close to this line,

assume the latter mine field does not exist. (I hope!) The

former, though doubtful, must remain a possibility, particu-

larly in view of the absence of Junks, (b) Jap radar interfer-

ence is showing up. . . . One escort appears to be patrollingseveral thousand yards northeast and a second escort to

the east of the anchored ships covering the logical positionfor entry and attack, A third escort is working close to Incog

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 173

Light apparently more concerned with using his radar to keephimself off the rocks. Visibility is very poor."

The two officers then carefully prepared a plan of attack

and retirement. Taking into consideration the location of what

he believed to be a mine field and the known location of the

escorts, Fluckey planned to go in from the southeast. This

would give him the maximum advantage of the prevailing low

visibility. Keeping this visibility in mind he planned to retire

through an area marked "unexplored," "rocks awash/' and

"rocks, position doubtful" With his efficient radar he was

confident that they could clear the navigational hazards; on

the other hand he was betting that the Jap escorts would hesi-

tate to pursue them through the danger area. Once clear he

planned to join the fleet of friendly junks and become the pro-verbial needle in the haystack.

It never entered the skipper's mind that his plan could fail.

There was a time element which had to be considered also.

The attack position would be twenty-five miles from the

twenty-fathom curve: an hour's run before it would be safe

to dive. Therefore the attack would have to be a complete

surprise and the force of the attack sufficient to throw the

enemy completely off balance. It must be a speedy, dartingknife thrust, concluded the skipper, who was calmly prepar-

ing to stick his head in the dragon's mouth with every inten-

tion not only to withdraw it safely, but to bring along all its

teeth. He added, "Figure the odds are ten to one in our favor*

Man battle stations, torpedoes! Let's go!"The radar operator and the skipper kept a vigilant watch on

the escorts when the Barb pointed in. "Seriously considered

placing the crew in life jackets," said Gene, "but the atmos-

phere throughout the boat is electric. The men are more tense

than Tve ever seen them. (Is it to be wondered?) Save for

an occasional report of 'Single ping sounding, six fathoms/the Control Room is so quiet that the proverbial pin would

174 BATTLE SUBMERGED

sound like a depth charge. Discarded the idea of life jacketsas definitely alarmist, with so many hearts doing flipflops. . . .

Made ready all tubes." He only had four torpedoes forward,

eight aft, four of the latter in the tubes.

Now the Barb passed the first escort unchallenged andthere was only the swish-swish of water gurgling in and out of

the superstructure to break the utter stillness of the night.

They could have been alone on the ocean. The harbor was

really sound asleep. Presently they were close enough for

black smudges to become detached from the dark mass in the

form of silhouettes of ships. It was a perfect setup! "Ships are

anchored in three columns/' noted the skipper, "about 500

yards apart with a few scattered ships farther inshore. Franklythis must be the most beautiful target of the war. Actual

measurement of the target length is 4,200 yards. Ships are

banked three deep. Even an erratic torpedo can't miss. Radarofficer counts twelve ships on one bearing. Estimated at least

thirty ships present. Our biggest job will be to prevent too

many torpedoes hitting one ship.""Stand by!" The low-voiced word through the submarine

was what the crew was waiting for. Paradoxically, all handsrelaxed in relief. The great strain was really over for them.

They were in. What a skipper! Not one man doubted that hecould get them out again as safely.There was a pause a hundred heartbeats long, and then the

boat lurched as the first bow torpedo belched forth, quicklyfollowed by the three others in the forward tubes. The Barbheeled slightly as the rudder was put hard over to twist theboat about so that the stern tubes could go into action. (Howslowly the sluggish boat turned. Hurry, hurry, hurry! What's

holding us back?)"Stand by aft!" Again that lurch when four torpedoes

lunged out one after the other. All hot and straight!

Then, "All engines ahead, flank! We're getting out!"

Now would come the race for the twenty-fathom curve,

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 175

twenty-five miles away. The four engines were straining to

produce every ounce of power the engineers could coax out

of them.

Back of them torpedoes could be seen exploding against the

thickly massed ships in geysers of red flames. The skipper's

prediction had been right. Targets were too closely bunched

to miss. All eight torpedoes had scored hits!

While the skipper, with a prayer for a good J-factor, guidedhis ship over the "unexplored ground" toward the submarine's

only refuge deep water one hour away the engineers were

"pouring on the oil" and the torpedomen aft were crammingthe remaining four torpedoes in their tubes. Meanwhile every

pair of eyes on the bridge lookout stations played their binocu-

lars over the long line of blazing and exploding ships to assess

damage and to watch for pursuers. The whole anchorage was

brilliantly alight, like a wholesale fireworks display with the

aurora borealis and a couple of sunsets to boot. The engineer-

ing officer finally got his glimpse of what a few million bucks

going up in the air resembled that time.

Six ships were counted as having been hit by the eight tor-

pedoes. Even as they gaped at the nightmarish picture in

Namkwan Harbor, the whole side of one 'ship in the second

column blew out in a sheet of flame one more ammunition

ship! Seconds later another ship in the third column blew upwith a tremendous explosion another shipload of shells that

would never find a target in American troops.

The Barb had certainly been partial to ammunition ships on

this patrol, with four so far. Four ships in the harbor were un-

questionably destroyed and two others so badly damagedthey would have been better off on the bottom.

This is how the skipper himself described the exit from the

harbor: "The Barb is now highballing it for the twenty fathom

curve at 21.6 knots, broken field running through the Junkfleet, with the radar sweeping rapidly thirty degrees either

side of the bow wildly maneuvering when some of the Junks

176 BATTLE SUBMERGED

are inside the sea return. [Maneuvering among and trying to

outguess a fleet of Junks., even under normal conditions, is

an experience that puts a strain on the best of seamen.] Expectto see a Junk piled up on the bow any second. . . . Gun fire

from well astern. Some poor Junks getting it. Some form of

navigational light lighted on Tae Island. Probably to aid the

escorts' navigation, . . . Sent contact report to Picuda. . . ."

One hour after the first torpedoes were fired he adds grate-

fully, "the Galloping Ghost of the China Coast crossed the

twenty-fathom curve with a sigh. Never realized how muchwater that was before. However, life begins at forty fathoms!

Kept going. . . . Slowed to 19 knots. . . . Dawn. Assume

the Japs will expect us to submerge, so will stay on the sur-

face." But at 6:33 radar warned that a plane was coming in

fast toward them. "A C.O.'s privilege to change his mind.

Dived," the skipper added.

The Tirante didn't emerge from the Portsmouth Navy Yard

construction pier until the fall of 1944. Her skipper was Lieu-

tenant Commander George L. Street, III. Although he had

been on nine previous war patrols, this was his first command.

Both skipper and ship were getting away to a late start. Dueto the time involved in training a new crew and the long trip

to the Pacific it wasn't until March 3, 1945, that Tirante, in full

war regalia, left Pearl Harbor. She accompanied two other

pack members, the Tinosa and Spadefish, to operate in the

East China and Yellow seas.

Pickings had become pretty slim this late in the war;

skippers were gobbling up prizes that they would have dis-

dained in the lush year of 1944. Japan's merchant marine hadbeen done for by the combination of Allied submarines and

air power. The Empire's warships had fuel enough only for

one more desperate sortie. Factories and populace were starv-

ing, deprived of the materials they needed by the submarines'

elimination of Nippon's sea-borne commerce.

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 177

A blood-red sun had sunk below the western horizon, its

reflection glowing like a bonfire, when the Tirante surfaced

and shook the waters of the Pacific from her rounded hull.

A transit of Tokara Strait had to be made in order to enter

the East China Sea. That is unless a single engine plane had

ripped down almost over the bridge. The skipper recorded:

"Diving time a little faster than that of a rock."

Next day, in the western approach of Van Diemen Strait

(southwest Kyushu) the skipper was able to record with a

touch of enthusiasm: "First blood for the Tiranter The prizewas a freighter which disintegrated from the impact of a

torpedo.A few days later Tirante was able to carry out a promise

made to the employees of the Westinghouse Factory at

Sharon, Pennsylvania, who were manufacturing their Mark18 (electric) torpedoes. The workers had collected the funds

to pay for a torpedo which they asked to have delivered in

their name to the Japs. To Tirante had been given the honor

of making the delivery, and on March 28, George Street

happily wrote in his log that he had sent the Pennsylvanians'

torpedo crashing squarely into the middle of a large cargo

ship. It took just that one "fish" to deprive Hirohito's starve-

ling forces of the food, ammunition, and other supplies needed

to stiffen their resistance to the ever-advancing Americans.

However, the Japanese escorts returned that unasked-for

gift with marked enthusiasm by a string of depth charges on

the Tirante. Fortunately for Street's merry men the results

were not as positive as that of the gift torpedo. The submarin-

ers swept up the shattered light bulbs and flakes of paint and

moved on. Their good deed for the day had been done.

But the ship-sinking business was pretty slack for the next

few days. Skipper Street recorded rather plaintively, "No ac-

tivity of any kind. Our carrierbased fighters musthave scoured

the water front"

178 BATTLE SUBMERGED

It wasn't until Tirante reached the Korean coast on April 8

that her luck changed for the better. A brand-new tanker,

loaded with oil, fell victim to their torpedoes.

Optimism again began to rise in the boat. Two days later in

the Yellow Sea Tirante worked her way into a two-ship con-

voy. A transport loaded with troops, the Nikko Maru, took the

full count with three torpedoes. Her consort, the Ramb II,

squirmed clear and made a dash for the horizon while the

escorts kept the Tirante pinned down with depth charges.

The skipper's comment for April IS as he patrolled the

Shanghai-Saisho route off Saisho To (Quelpart Island) was

very brief. "Sighted plane and dived for day. Upon surfacing

heard the melancholy news of the death of our Commanderin Chief (President Roosevelt). . . . Intend to make investi-

gation of a reported anchorage on the north shore of Quelpart

during darkness. Our six torpedoes forward will be ideal for

this work." All torpedoes aft had been expended.

George Street had been toying with this idea for some time.

Since the targets wouldn't come to him, he determined to

get them the hard way.At midnight the surfaced Tirante crept toward Quelpart

Island's northwestern coast. On the bridge, Street's thoughtsran something like this, as sometimes uttered aloud to his

executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Edward L. Beach:

"This island was one solid black wall. But there must be

patrols. Wait a minute! What's that long, low, black blob sud-

denly stirring off to port? A patrol, evidently suspicious be-

cause we are coming too close. He's stopped again. Must be

satisfied that we're a junk and he's gone to sleep again. A swell

night for sleeping. Radar says there's another patrol to star-

board. Wouldn't know it was there without radar. Bet you he's

pinging too. That fellow could be a nuisance. He's headingour way. What suspicious people, these damn Japs. Hold

your breath. We are almost inshore of him now and he's get-

ting doubtful whether he saw us or not. We must be merging

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 179

with the land pips; he's gone back to his routine patrol. Man,it's good to draw a deep breath again. He's not completelysatisfied yet. Keep an eye on him, Ed; he is always a mental

hazard and, potentially, a real one. If only we had another

chart instead of this damn Jap zoomie one. Not an asterisk-

dash-blank sounding inside the ten-fathom curve, and that's

where we are. Maybe the 'zoomies' don't need them but wecould certainly use a couple. Hope this place isn't mined.

Hope none of those five shore-based radar are working over-

time. They could certainly raise hell if they are.

"Battle stations! Only 1,200 yards from the beach and can't

see a thing. Whew! Get a whiff of cattle from the beach.

Wonder if that barnyard perfume gives some of the boys a

touch of homesickness. Ill take Chanel No. 5 for mine anytime and not off a cow either. A couple of spots over there in

this early morning mist look a little darker might be promis-

ing. Those two patrol boats certainly aren't working here just

for their health. There must be ships, even if there isn't enough

visibility to shoot. We'll scoot around that little island to portand see what the other side of the anchorage has to offer. Hug-ging this island like a fraternity brother. That patrol vessel

is still not overly suspicious, but he's restless and unsure of

himself. Something is wrong and he hasn't quite figured it out

yet. But he sure is annoying. This northern side is much better.

. . . These dark shadows have detached themselves from the

island background and have become ships. How quiet it is.

That patrol is heading this way again. The current is settingus on the beach. We'd better get in closer and have it over

with. It's 3:40 and these Nips get up early. Tell radar to giveme the range to the largest ship ahead. . , . Twenty-fivehundred yards? . . . Land looming close aboard on both

sides. Patrol still not overly alerted. Pinging loudly outboard

of us. Probably wonders what in hell a junk is doing going to

the anchorage. We'll save him from guessing if he just givesus a few more minutes of grace. This land background is really

180 BATTLE SUBMERGED

our savior. Secure the soundings! If those ships can get in here

so can we. Both 40-millimeter guns are loaded and ready with

gun crews, because well have to shoot our way out if boxed

in. Too shallow to dive. Don't want the gunners' fingers to get

too itchy, though. Exec says he's got three targets picked out

and is sighted on the largest and ready to let fly when I give

the word. . . . Wait until we back her down and lay to. . . .

O.K., Ed, fire one torpedo as a sighting in shot to get the dopeon the current/*

George Street at 3:55 A.M. continues his narrative when he

is unable to curb his curiosity from his control spot in the

conning tower. "Captain went to the bridge to get in on the

fun up there. Missed to the right. Torpedo hit the beach and

exploded, proving there was no torpedo net/' he added with

self-consoling philosophy."Fired one torpedo aimed at left edge of the largest target

to correct for current effect. Wake aimed straight for the tar-

get. . . . Fired another torpedo aimed same as previous one.

Straight as a die. Exec's keen shooting eye looked right-on

tonight ... A tremendous explosion. A great mushroom of

white blinding flame shot 2,000 feet into the air. Not a sound

was heard for a moment, but then a thunderous roar flattened

our ears against our heads. The jackpot and no mistake! In this

shattering convulsion we had no idea how many hits we hadmade but sincerely believe it was two. In the glare the Tirante

stood out, in her light camouflage, like a snowman in a coal

pit. But, more important, silhouetted against the flame, weretwo escort vessels, both instantly obvious as fine new frigatesof the Mikura class. The captain instinctively ordered, 'Rightfull rudder, all ahead flank!' and as quickly belayed it." Heremembered he still had torpedoes in his forward tubes.

"Steadied to 'pick off' the two frigates. . . . Bearing and

range seem about right now. . . . Fired one torpedo at the

left hand frigate. . , . Another torpedo a?"> same target.Shifted to the other one. . . . Last torpedo at the right hand

PENETRATING ENEMY HARBORS 181

frigate. . . . That's all the calling cards we have left. Nowlet's really get out of here. No unfinished business!

"One beautiful hit in the left hand frigate. The ship literally

exploded, her bow and stern rising out of the water, and the

center disappeared in a sheet of fire. Must have hit her maga-zines. Very satisfactory to watch, though not the equal of the

previous explosion, of course. Possibly two hits in him. . . .

A hit on the other Patrol Frigate also . . . right amidships.No flames this time, other than explosion, but a great cloud of

smoke immediately enveloped her and she disappeared. Wejubilantly credit ourselves with three ships sunk with at least

four, probably five hits for six 'fish.'"

George Street was the only skipper to ever get a Congres-sional Medal of Honor on his first war patrol.

A Strange Target

THE Bowfin, commanded by Lieutenant Commander John

Corbus, introduced something unique in submarine warfare

during her sixth war patrol by accounting for a concrete dock

and a bus loaded with a Japanese liberty party, Not that the

rest of the patrol was not more orthodoxly remunerative. An

entire three-ship convoy escorted by two destroyers was tor-

pedoed, and then en route home the gun crews had a little

rare exercise while shelling three more freighters to destruc-

tion.

Giving credits for ships sunk was routine for the Award

Board. But the concrete dock and a liberty bus! Of course both

dock and the busload of sailors were creditable blows to the

enemy but how credit them? Sunk, one bus? No! The prosaic-

minded Board adjourned without arriving at a satisfactory

answer. So this story is not official.

During early August, 1944, Johnny Corbus was guiding his

submarine in and out of that long string of islands slanting

down southwest from Kyushu and extending almost to For-

182

A STRANGE TARGET 183

mosa, They are known as the Nansei Shoto group. FamedOkinawa is in the middle of the chain.

August 9 had been spent by the Botofin in making a sub-

merged reconnaissance "casing the joint," as they liked to

term it of Minami Daito and Mitai Daito. The sub was on

the western side of Minami Daito when Johnny Corbus hadhis first glimpse of the new concrete dock with a ramp leadingdown to the water. This initial look only evoked the* skipper'sacademic interest though, because what he was really inter-

ested in seeing was the ships tied up to it. However, today it

was as bare as a bird's nest in December, so the skipper hadan opportunity to observe the precipitous cliffs surroundingthe island, a typographical condition to be noted and reported

upon to those planning landings in this group of islands. TheOkinawa campaign was still almost a year off but all informa-

tion on any Japanese island structure was in demand by the

Joint Chiefs looking ahead to the final invasion.

The Bowfin pulled out from the islands before sunset. Amore intimate acquaintance with the anchorage was plannedfor the next day, provided there were ships there.

At 7: 15 next morning the Bowfin felt her way back into the

shallow bay barely submerged. The second look at the dock

was disappointing. The nest was still bare. But the day's pros-

pects began to take on a brighter aspect when a trawler escort

and a merchant ship were sighted approaching, trailed bystill another ship.

The course the ships were steering indicated that they were

heading for the new dock on Minami Daito so Johnny Corbus

discontinued the approach he had started on the last ship.

Another more ambitious plan had occurred to him. Why not

wait until the ships moored at the dock, then get all three? So

the Bowfin quietly slithered in to post herself opposite the

landing.After the first cargo ship was moored the trawler disap-

pointed Corbus by turning out of the landing area, but the

184 BATTLE SUBMERGED

second ship lay to, apparently waiting for the word to go

alongside the dock. Okay, two out of three, then! The plan of

destruction was quite simple. Torpedo the ship lying to, then

give the works to the moored one.

Simple? Not even a periscope angle had to be computed.The bow was just pointed at the target and that was that. The

second torpedo from the bow tubes really blew the unmoored

ship apart.The skipper swung the Bowfin for a shot. The three remain-

ing torpedoes from the bow tubes leaped at the second target.

"All three torpedoes ran true as a die/' recorded Corbus,

"and all hit where aimed. The resultant explosions were tre-

mendous. The debris was thrown at least 200 feet in the air.

A large automobile bus on the dock was being loaded with

personnel just before we fired. When the debris had settled

the bus was just a tangled mass of wreckage. The dock was

practically obliterated and of course there was no sign of the

merchant ship. [With three torpedoes hitting it this was

understandable.] The decision to fire three torpedoes was

based on the desire to not only sink the ship but to wreck the

dock as well. Both objectives were accomplished. Had nowclosed the beach to 850 yards. Came left with full rudder,

twisting, starboard ahead two thirds, port backing full. . . ."

During daylight on August 22, in the vicinity of Tori Shima,the Bowfin attempted to get in a submerged attack on a three-

ship convoy escorted by two destroyers, but the enemy's

listening devices detected the submarine and the cargo shipstook off.

Johnny Corbus let the ships get out of sight and sound of

him and then surfaced and sped after them at flank speed, for

an end-around position.

At 8:30 that night the Bowfin radar picked up the convoy.

They were still in their original formation, but now a newfactor entered the problem. The Bowfin would have to get in

her attack before the targets reached the sanctuary of the

A STRANGE TARGET 185

narrow channel between Taira Jima and Suwanose Jima, but

a bright quarter moon, not due to set until 9:30, might as well

have been a searchlight. There wasn't much choice left to

Johnny Corbus. "We'll attack now/' he announced, "and we'll

try for the whole convoy/' He had it all figured out. The six

bow torpedoes would be distributed evenly between two shipsand an escort; the stern tubes, two at the remaining ship, and

two at her escort. It was as simple as that in the plan, that is.

Johnny Corbus describes how the plan worked out. "Point

of aim was nearest overlapping ship [Argun Mam]. Could

see escort just astern of ships. Came right with full rudder and

flank speed for stern shots. . . . Observed first hit in the

leading overlapping ship [Lima Maru] about one third of wayback to bridge. Torpedo #1. Observed second hit in this ship

just abaft the bridge. The first hit partially tore her bow off

and the second one broke her back. Stern rose high in the air

and she disappeared. This was #2 torpedo. Observed first hit

in the trailing overlapping ship [Argun Maru] just about at her

bridge. Torpedo #4. Observed second hit in this ship about

one quarter of a length inside her stern. Great clouds of black

smoke and fire were observed and she commenced settling

by the stern. Torpedo #5. Observed hit in the destroyer. Theword 'hit' does not fully describe the effect complete disinte-

gration would more adequately cover the result of #6 tor-

pedo. There was a violent explosion and a blinding flash that

illuminated that sector of the horizon and the destroyer could

no longer be seen. Suspected magazine explosion. . . . Com-menced firing stern tubes at the remaining ship [Nana

Maru]. . . . Just after firing #8 torpedo saw escort a little

to the left of the target. He turned on three vertical blue lights

and they appeared to grow larger and draw to the left keepingabout in line with big target . . . destroyer exploded.

Thought that the explosion of the first destroyer was violent

but this was even more so. The same type of violent flash oc-

curred accompanied by a roar, the three lights went out and he

186 BATTLE SUBMERGED

could no longer be seen. . . . Observed one hit in the big tar-

get [Nana Mam}. This appeared to be well aft and a red glowof fire was observed. . . . While opening range to the west-

ward to reload, observed damaged freighter [Argun Maru]

burning fiercely with much black smoke as if she were carrying

fuel. She was down the stern with her bow high in the air. . . .

Freighter [Argun Maru] disappeared. Heard three muffled

heavy explosions as if her boilers were exploding."

The entire convoy had been destroyed within half an hour's

sailing distance of safety.

The attack en route to Midway on September 4 could onlybe anticlimactic when a small convoy consisting of two small

merchantmen and a larger one was overtaken. That was whenthe gun crews on the Bowfin had their innings. Everybodywas happy except the ship's painter. How in the hell would

you picture a dock and a bus amid all the trophy flags paintedon the conning tower?

But for a really painful dilemma, consider the Gate's.

The submarine service spent a lot of time preparing for the

war they knew was coming in the Pacific and tried to providefor all possible eventualities. Even actual experiments with

live depth charges were conducted to see what would happento the various instruments on the bulkheads in the compart-ments when the depth charges began to explode and the sub-

marine was shaken like a rat in a mastiffs jaws. Of course theyhad to play it a little more conservatively than the Japs did

later, but nevertheless it was very realistic. Yet in spite of all

the planning and experiments, one little possibility was over-

looked which can be forgiven, for it only happened to one

submarine during the entire war. But on that particular boat

the Gato, the skipper, Lieutenant Commander RobertJ.

Foley, spent quite a few bad moments trying to figure out

what the answer in the book should have been.

It was late afternoon on December 20, 1943. A two-shipescorted convoy was attacked and one sunk, one hit, when a

A STRANGE TARGET 187

couple of destroyers raced up and Foley had to submerge to

sit out the ensuing depth-charging."This was the worst depth-charging we had ever received/*

related Bob Foley. "Practically all of the charges seemed right

on top of us and the ship was shaken violently with each. How-

ever, the Goto took it very well. These new escorts were too

proficient. They spotted us accurately and stayed on. Al-

though we were at all times about 70 feet below our test depth. . . none of our T^ag of tricks' was effective in shaking them,until after about two hours, when a slow gradual turn seemed

to leave them astern."

Groggy and battered though she was, there was still plentyof fight left in the Goto. Shaking off the water like a mean-

tempered whale, the Goto surfaced and sped along in the

wake of the escorts to locate the freighter, if still afloat.

During the early moments after surfacing Bob Foley wasintent on accomplishing two things: locating and destroyingthe freighter, and clearing up the woozy feeling in his head

induced by the savage pounding of the depth charges. The

skipper was grateful for a fresh western breeze coming in over

the deck and clearing his head. Mechanically he peered over

the bridge in the lowering visibility of first dusk to see if any

damage had been done forward. In a moment he steppedback shaking his head dubiously. Maybe that pounding was

causing him to see things, he muttered to himself. Somethinglike that had happened once during his boxing days at the

Academy. Surely that must have been an apparition out there

on deck. Bob rubbed his eyes and looked again. It was still

there!

Catching the quartermaster by the arm the skipper pointeddown over the bridge. The quartermaster's eyes bulged.

"Gawd, Cap'n, it's one of them things!"Even before the executive officer had poked his head up

the bridge hatch after the skipper's hasty invitation, the wordhad flashed through the boat with the speed of scandal. They

188 BATTLE SUBMERGED

had a new shipmate and a very unwelcome one, indeed. Alarge metal can lay on deck, an unexploded depth charge!

How to get rid of it posed a very neat question. Submarines

naturally have no way to launch such projectiles. They are

always on the receiving end of that particular type of missile.

The Gato carried no bomb-disposal experts who could quicklyrender the charge harmless, so the suggestion to roll it over-

board was dismissed. It would explode, surer than shootku

Things were beginning to build up to an impasse when the

youngest ensign on board darkly suggested they return the

bomb to its donor. At first his remark was met with incredulous

stares but the skipper soon grinned and nodded his head in

approval when the plan was explained.

Quickly the preparations were made. The Goto was broughtto a stop and the lethal charge which seemed to have the

Gatos "number'* inscribed on it was gingerly and very ten-

derly lifted up and lashed into one of the inflated rubber boats

with .a slow leak in it, and set adrift. When last seen in the

gathering dusk it was bobbing along merrily in their wakeand squarely in the path of the now pursuing destroyers. Life

isn't perfect, so there is no way of telling whether the "ash

can" was ever received by the Japanese. But no member of

the crew can be convinced of that.

Of course, submarines attract the unusual and the unprece-dented the way a bald head lures flies, as when Lieutenant

Commander William B. (Barney) Sieglaff learned about

Mohammedans.

Barney had the Tautog, a "hot" submarine, a lucky shipwho had earned her several skippers at least one Navy Cross

apiece, and he didn't like making his seventh war patrol a

nonshooting excursion cruise for a couple of Japanese-looking

guys the High Command thought more important to putashore in occupied territory than sinking enemy tankers.

The passengers were Javanese, one of them a*liaj,"

who

A STRANGE TARGET 189

had made not one but seventeen pilgrimages to Mecca. Theywere a couple of big wheels in the Mohammedan world and

they were going on a precarious journey throughout enemy-held areas to raise the native resistance.

Sieglaff & Co. were drilled in the etiquette o entertainingMohammedan guests in ways calculated to avoid any affront

to practitioners of that complex religion. They had to have a

special diet. Barney had to point the Tautogs nose to the East

at prayer time, thrice daily.

At meal times protocol was rigidly observed at the tinymess table in the wardroom and the older Javanese gravelythanked the skipper for the meticulous courtesy being ex-

tended them.

Well, thought Barney philosophically one night, after his

guests asked if they could be excused after the evening meal

to go topside for a walk in the starlight, they're not such bad

joes. But we'll land them on Kabaena Island without regretsand go about our business. And then he lighted a cigarettewhile waiting for the executive officer to show up for their

daily cribbage tussle for the Tautog championship.

Leaning back against the bulkhead the skipper lazily blew

smoke rings and wondered what was delaying the executive

officer. From out in the compartment he could hear the crew's

radio blaring out selections from a popular music program.This must be rather startling to our sober-faced guests, he

thought, when boogie-woogie and jive saturated the air of

the compartments, drowning out all other sounds.

In self-defense together with his inability to hear the news

broadcast on the wardroom radio above the cacophony of

trumpets and traps. Barney turned the dial to that of the

crew's station. Above the crescendo of the music he was not

conscious at first that his two guests had returned and quietly

slipped into the long seat across from his with a quiet requestin faultless English: "May we join you, Captain?""To be sure, gentlemen. Please do," Barney said and

190 BATTLE SUBMERGED

reached for the radio dial. "That orchestra is trying to beat

itself to death, I'll tune it down a little."

"Please don't, Captain/* entreated the Javanese who had

beat a path to Mecca so often and who had already been

tagged with the name of "Allah" by the crew. "We find it very

exhilarating and even more beautiful and enjoyable than the

night on deck," he sighed. "It makes me dream of love, home,and freedom."

Barney laughed. "You amaze me. I didn't know you had

this type of music on Java. Somehow I thought your tunes

were more like the Hawaiian variety."

A grin overspread "Allah's" face. "You see, Captain, after

our escape from Java iny colleague and I lived in Australia in

a camp with your wonderful Marines. From them we learned

to appreciate your fine American music. Our names were kepta secret from them also, but they called us Butch and Joe. I'm

Butch. We would feel flattered if you called us that also. They

taught us a song they said all Americans sing. With your per-

mission, Captain, we would like to sing it for you."And immediately the Oriental pair gave out lustily with

the Marine Hymn, with a few variations of Navy bluejacketand Army doughboy invention that will never appear in print.

From then on the Mohammedan holy men were accepted as

full-fledged members of the crew they were simply Butch

and Joe to everyone. It was with the genuine regret of all

hands that on the night of May 25, 1943, Barney put themashore on Kabaena Island.

"You know," said Barney, turning to his executive officer,

"I like those boys. I thought at first we were stuck with a

couple of stuffed shirts. I was sort of planning a couple of

emergency drills in the dark just to break down their reserve.

I couldn't have been more wrong about them."

"Yes, they were good joes, captain," agreed the executive

officer. "But you know something I think maybe we missed

a good bet. Those fellows probably would have been ame-

A STRANGE TARGET 191

nable to a little crap game, after having lived with the Ma-rines/'

Barney shook his head. "If they took to craps like theylearned those songs, it's lucky you didn't bring it up. Those

fellows would have had not only your shirt but your pants as

well"

"^fc.

Periscope Spies

AFTER THE Solomons campaign in 1942 and the Midwaydisaster the Japanese High Command decided that perhapsdiscretion was not only the better part of valor, but very muchthe best part, and so the fleet was held in readiness until the

opportune moment should arrive when a devastating blow

could be struck at the American forces rolling across the

Pacific. It had been a costly lesson but well-learned: the fleet

would best be used in waters where fuel and land-based

planes were available to their own forces but denied the

enemy, meaning us.

By early summer, 1944, it was quite obvious to the Japanese

High Command that the next major Allied effort would be

against either Palau or the Marianas, in what the Japaneseconsidered their inner defense ring. Either was the occasion

for which the still powerful Japanese fleet had been held in

reserve. Either would commit the biggest concentration of

force the United States could afford, and if the Japanese could

triumph in that battle, they might not be able to win the warbut they would certainly not lose it.

192

PERISCOPE SPIES 193

So when the first of the Marianas, Saipan, was attacked in

June, 1944, the Japanese Navy prepared to smash the Allied

spear thrust, shaft and head, with an all-out -effort. However,the Allied High Command, fully aware of what the enemy's

reasoning had to be, expected the Japanese to oppose the

Marianas' invasion with all strength by land, sea, and air. But

it was one thing to guess however accurately what the

enemy was going to do and quite another to find out how he

was going to do it.

Admiral Spruance and his Fifth Fleet had the job of sup-

porting the landings on Saipan and protecting the amphibiousforces. This itself was a full-time job and could not be com-

bined with the highly important task of watching for the ex-

pected sorties by the enemy fleet, without weakening the force

necessary to protect the beachhead on Saipan. True, the Fifth

Fleet contained Admiral Mitscher's strong carrier force, but

to send carrier units westward to the Philippine area to scout

the bases where the Jap naval forces lay would only create a

double jeopardy: first, because the operation at Saipan needed

the planes almost hourly to consolidate landings; second, be-

cause no fast battleships or cruisers could be spared to supplythe carriers with their curtain of fire against the enemy's land-

based planes.Yet if Admiral Spruance was going to be able to withdraw

his fleet from the Saipan area at the critical njoment to inter-

cept and frustrate the Japanese counterattack, accurate in-

formation would have to be made available to him well in

advance. He had to know positively the time of the departureof the enemy from his base or bases, the composition of the

Japanese fleet and its route to the Marianas area.

This truly grave responsibility was given to the one force

that had carried the offensive into Empire waters from the

first day of thewar onward, the fleet arm that was sinking ( and

would continue to sink) more enemy tonnage than all of the

other military agencies combined the submarines.

194 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Commander Submarines assigned twenty-eight of his boats

to the network that was to keep the necessary information

flowing to Admiral Spruance up to the very hour his fleet

would have to assemble to checkmate the enemy.Submarines had already informed their boss that the main

enemy units had left Singapore and Brunei, Borneo, and were

concentrated at the Tawi Tawi anchorage in the Sulu Archi-

pelago between Borneo and the Philippines. The Japanese had

good reasons for selecting this anchorage. It was close to their

own oil supply on Borneo, and equally handy to the sites theysurmised the Allies would strike next, Palau or the Marianas.

Moreover it was out of the reach of troublesome carrier planes,which had already made the Truk area untenable for their

ships.

As a first step in the information network, three submarines

were sent to prowl the vicinity of Tawi Tawi; three others to

the southeast of Mindanao, on the route to Palau or the

Marianas; three more were in Luzon Straits (between Luzonand Formosa); and one each in San Bernardino and SurigaoStraits the only passages for large ships to the PhilippineSea. Thus, all avenues of approach by enemy fleets werewatched.

To obtain and transmit information on the course, speed,

composition, and disposition of the anticipated enemy fleet,

five other submarines were placed north and west of the

Marianas. They were also to watch for war ships from the

Empire's homeland bases. Patrolling the lanes west of the

Marianas were the other craft assigned to the watchdog detail.

With this network not much privacy or secrecy was prob-able for any enemy fleet trying to slip in and smash the Saipan

landing. The Fifth Fleet was provided with a story-book

setup.The movement of the first enemy force from Tawi Tawi was

observed on June 10 by the Harder, commanded by Com-

PERISCOPE SPIES 195

mander Dealey. Through the sub's periscope the skipper ob-

served three battleships, four or more cruisers, and six or more

destroyers heading south, probably for Sibutu Passage (be-

tween Sibutu and Tawi Tawi) . Before diving deep to escape a

destroyer that headed for him belligerently at high speedSam Dealey coolly fired three Mown the throat" torpedoesand damaged it enough to take the sting out of the depth-

charge attack that followed.

That night the Harder sent in her report that the first enemycontingent was on the move. At the time it appeared headed

for Halmahera, western New Guinea. Actually, it turned north

several days later and passed to the east of Mindanao where it

came under the surveillance of other subs.

The Redfin (Commander M. H. Austin) took over the

Harder s vigil when she returned to Darwin for more tor-

pedoes and fuel. On June 13 the Redfin observed the main

Japanese Fleet striking force sortie from the anchorage: four

battleships, eight cruisers, six carriers with planes on deck,

and eleven destroyers, a formidable fleet. The submarine was

not quite able to see without being seen, and the Japanese

destroyers laid down a heavy depth-charge curtain which

prevented the Redfin from getting a torpedo in a major ship,

but Austin was able to send in the contact report of the

enemy's composition and its course toward the coast of Bor-

neo.

To the self-appointed welcoming committee of the Fifth

Fleet it was now evident that this force would transit either

Surigao or San Bernardino Strait to reach the Philippine Sea.

There was a chance it would choose the much longer route

via Luzon Strait, but the possibility was ruled out consideringthe fuel and time the longer but safer route would require, and

time and fuel was what the Japanese were running out of.

So the Flying Fish and Growler, guarding the San Bernar-

dino and Surigao Straits, were alerted. The question Admiral

196 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Spruance wanted answered now was: where and when would

the enemy striking force, under the command of Vice-Admiral

Jisaburo Ozawa, enter the Philippine Sea?

On June 15 the Flying Fish, commanded by Commander

Robert D. Risser, patrolling in San Bernardino Strait, an-

swered that question. During the early morning of that dayBob Risser knew something important was impending, when

he sighted several patrol planes and two carrier-based aircraft

sweeping back and forth over the Strait.

Later that morning the sight that presaged the real story

was revealed. "Sighted two small unidentified (possibly

carrier-based) planes to the southeast/' the skipper logged.

"Sighted masts they are coming through the east channel

and are hugging the beach. Came to normal approach at

standard speed. It was soon apparent that our chances for

attack were zero but we continued in at high speed to developthe contact. Even this was difficult for the closest range at-

tained was approximately 22,000 yards. It was a large task

force, however, and I estimated three carriers, three battle-

ships, several cruisers and destroyers. The only one definitely

identified was a Nagato-class battleship."

The Flying Fish was too far away to see all the ships Red-

fin had reported, but it was obviously the same force that had

sortied from Tawi Tawi on June 13. Admiral Ozawa and his

striking force were in the Philippine Sea. Everyone knew he

would probably be joined by the ships reported by Sam

Dealey in the Harder. But where was that force now?The answer was given the same day by Slade Cutter in the

Seahorse: TASK FORCE IN POSITION 10-11 S . . . 129-35

E . . . COURSE NORTHEAST SPEED 16.5 KNOTS . . .

SEAHORSE TRAILING.The two enemy task forces were now in the Philippine Sea

and evidently spoiling for trouble. It was equally evident that

the two forces would unite before their big strike.

When and where would this take place?

PERISCOPE SPIES 197

Again the submarines furnished the answer, while dispos-

ing of two of the enemy carriers.

The Caualla (Lieutenant Commander HermanJ. Kossler,

making his first war patrol, in command) supplied Admiral

Spruance with the required information and, with the primary

job done, then attacked and sank a large carrier, the Shokaku.

The Cavalla was en route to San Bernardino to relieve the

Flying Fish, who was very low on fuel, when Kossler was told

about that submarine's June 13 contact. An area on the sus-

pected track of the enemy fleet was assigned her. The FlyingFish's relief could wait a while.

Late that night the Cavalla made a long-range contact on

a small task force consisting of a large and a medium tanker

and three escorts.

Herman Kossler immediately started an. approach on the,

high-speed, zigzagging ships but he was sighted by the alert

escorts and driven down. On surfacing, the Cavalla got off its

contact report to the Big Boss and then prepared to carry out

his original job of replacing the Flying Fish, for his own fuel

supply was inadequate to pursue the tanker group, which was

making high speed.But Commander Submarines knew something about the

over-all picture that Herman Kossler didn't. These tankers

were vitally important! They were en route to rendezvous with

and to refuel the Jap Striking Force and that rendezvous

would answer another of Admiral Spruance's burning ques-tions: where were the two Japanese fleets meeting? So Com-mander Submarines told the Cavalla that the destruction of

the tankers was of priority importance. TRAIL, ATTACK,REPORT, he directed the Cavalla, and gave the same instruc-

tions to the Seahorse, "Pipefish, and Muskallunge. If the tank-

ers could be destroyed, the dearth of fuel would seriously

handicap the enemy striking force. But if they could not be

sunk, at least they would lead the submarines to the enemyfleet.

198 BATTLE SUBMERGED

On second thought Commander Submarines realized that

the race might prove too long for the Cavallas fuel supply. Hetherefore amended his original orders, instructing Kossler to

follow the enemy's track at normal two-engine speed, con-

cluding his message with the dubiously encouraging words,

KEEP YOUR CHIN UP.

From the several submarine contact reports Admiral

Spruance estimated that the enemy could not arrive in the

Marianas area before June 17, so early that day he led his fleet

westward to meet the Japanese, counting on the subs to givehim the enemy's exact position. Again they did not let him

down, for that same night the Caualla, tailing the convoy,saw blobs sprout on the radar screen as thickly as freckles on

a red-headed boy's nose.

"Following was estimate of the situation," wrote HermanKossler. "Our contact was a large task force, zigzagging be-

tween 060 and 100, speed 19 knots. Seven good size pips were

showing, indicating a very large ship, probably a carrier on

the starboard flank, flanked on the port quarter by two col-

umns of ships of two ships each. Probably battleships or

cruisers. . . . Range to carrier, which was closest ship, 15,000

yards. Although the night was fairly dark, this ship could be

seen and looked mighty big. We were in position on the track

ahead of the formation ... it was apparent that we were onthe track of a large fast task force, heading some place in a

pretty big hurry."Herman Kossler was right. His submarine was spang in

the middle of Admiral Ozawa's force, and in a position that

every submarine skipper dreams of a real chance at a largecombat ship. But something of greater importance than mak-

ing a dream come true stayed the hand of the young skipper.The primary mission of the subs was to get the word of the

enemy's disposition to Admiral Spruance, so his ships of the

Fifth Fleet could prevent the Japanese from piling into the

amphibious force putting 8,000 men ashore at Saipan.

PERISCOPE SPIES 199

It was not easy to obey orders; everyone in the Cavalla was

anxious to make the first kill, but they all knew Kossler could

make only one decision. "Since we had no knowledge of a

previous contact report on this force/* as Kossler himself

logged it, "it was decided to abandon the attack and surface

as quickly as possible in order to send in a contact report. This

was a tough decision to make, because the carrier tracked very

nicely up to the time it passed us by. Went to 100 feet and tried

to keep count of the ships as they passed/'It took almost an hour for the Cavalla to get clear of the

two destroyers covering the rear of the formation and get off

her report to Commander Submarines and Admiral Spruance,

concluding with, "Chasing task force at four-engine speed!"Admiral Spruance informed Commander Submarines that

he and his Task Force 58 now had all the information theyneeded and would carry the ball from there out. The next sue-

cint word sent to the subs was the welcome order, "Shoot first

and report afterward."

The skipper of the Cavalla smiled happily as his boat sped

along on the trail of the enemy with all the power the

engineers could coax from the four engines, but their best was

not good enough. At 1:00 A.M. on June 19 he reluctantly dis-

continued the chase and changed course to head for the sub-

marine's previously assigned area. Commander Submarines,

upon receiving the report, ordered the Cavalla back into the

race. The Jap ships were in front of the submarine, not behind

her, so the Cavalla, rejuvenated in spirit, swung about and

continued the chase. There was always a chance, all hands

thought hopefully, of overtaking a laggard.At 3:45 A.M. the roar of an airplane's engine roused Herman

Kossler from needed sleep, and he hustled into the control

room just as the Cavalla was submerging, and a white-faced

and almost speechless officer of the deck stammered the reportthat a plane had dived low over the ship.

"A plane, hey?" mused the skipper. "Let's see. The closest

200 BATTLE SUBMERGED

enemy base is Yap, 180 miles off. This fellow must belong to

a carrier. That's worth taking a look at/'

But when they surfaced, another plane dove on them so

Kossler decided to watch for further developments throughhis periscope.At 10:39 A.M. four small planes were sighted. Crew and

skipper tensed with excitement. By all the signs a carrier must

be near.

The planes were tracked back to the horizon, and then,

right under them, the superstructure of a ship appeared."Shoot first and report afterwards, ComSubs said, didn't he?"

Kossler repeated happily.The word sending all hands to battle stations was antici-

pated well in advance. Magazines, crossword puzzles, acey-

deucey boards and even the time-honored morning coffee

cups had already been put aside. The big moment for whichall had prayed their first kill had arrived!

"When I raised my periscope this time," related the skipper,"the picture was too good to be true. I could see four ships,a large carrier with two cruisers ahead on the port bow, anda destroyer about 1,000 yards on the starboard beam. Thecarrier was later identified as Shokaku class (it was the

Shokaku itself) and the cruisers as Atago class. ... I could

see the destroyer on the cruisers' starboard beam might giveme trouble but the problem was developing so fast that I hadto concentrate on the carrier and take my chances with the

destroyer. ... I let the Executive Officer and Gunnery Offi-

cer take a quick look at target for identification purposes . . .

when sighted and during attack she was in the act of taking^onaircraft . . . at the time of the attack only one plane was seen

left in the air and the forward part of the flight deck was

jammed with planes. My guess at least thirty, maybe more."

At 11:18 A.M. the low-voiced "Stand by" sounded throughthe Cavalla. Only quickened breaths could be heard in the

compartments. Then: "Fire One!"

PERISCOPE SPIES 201

The submarine lurched as the first torpedo left the tube, to

be followed quickly by five others.

Before the Cavalla could reach deep submergence, the first

three torpedoes were heard to explode on the target. Thenanother type of explosion was not only heard but felt. For

three unrelenting hours the Cavalla was buffeted by a furious

depth-charge attack; three destroyers blindly rained tons of

explosive into the depths in search of revenge for the mortal

blow that had been dealt one of their best carriers. After

dropping 106 depth charges the destroyers withdrew, leavingthe battered submarine badly leaking, her crew glassy-eyedand groggy, but happy twice over. For what had caused the

destroyers to break off the engagement was signaled by a

different kind of explosion. Their carrier had blown up!For Kossler, who had to sacrifice the earlier opportunity to

sink the carrier, it was a fitting reward to deliver so mag-nificent a first blow at the Japanese fleet that had finally comeout of hiding.But the Silent Service added much more to Admiral

Ozawa's grief before he finally came to grips with Task Force

58. Some hours before the Shokaku was stricken from his fleet

the Admiral stood on the bridge of his flagship, the carrier

Taiho, to watch seventy planes take off for the first strike

against the American fleet. For more than six months the pilots

had been training for this moment, and Ozawa knew theywere good. And they were, but just not good enough, nor

numerous enough, to contend with Admiral Mitscher's carrier

boys, What followed, then, was what in naval history will for-

ever be known as the famed "Marianas Turkey Shoot." Some

planes of the first Japanese wave did manage to break throughto Admiral Lee's force of battleships and cruisers, registering

bomb hits on the South Dakota and Indiana, but when the

fight was finished, so was Japan's naval air power.Ozawa was still optimistic, however, when he shockingly

had to take an unanticipated boat ride. Scarcely had the

202 BATTLE SUBMERGED

planes taken off, when his trained eyes saw by the action of a

screening destroyer that a submarine had been detected try-

ing to penetrate the screen. Ozawa raised his binoculars, which

were immediately jarred from his grasp as the Taifao shook

convulsively. There was no doubt that a submarine was in

their midst, nor which target the submarine had selected.

It was the Albacore, commanded by Commander James W.

Blanchard, that had bitten savagely into Ozawa's flagship.

Upon sighting the enemy task force, big Jim Blanchard had

maneuvered the Albacore in position to attack the fast-movingcarrier as she steamed into the wind to discharge her planes.

Then, when the submarine was ready to fire, the skipper was

horrified to discover that the computer for giving the correct

periscope angle had suddenly gone sour and with a twenty-seven-knot target there could be no second chance. He had

to make the best of a bad situation. So with a "by guess and

by God" periscope angle, Jim Blanchard crossed his fingers

and sent six torpedoes lunging toward the target. The first

five missed astern, but the sixth struck home and started a fire

that doomed the ship. An hour later, above the din of depth

charge explosions against the submarine's hull the Albacore

crew heard three heavy explosions that signaled success. Theylearned afterward that when the Taiho had foundered theyhad knocked the Japanese fleet's flagship from under the feet

of the Empire's most distinguished admiral, and the unhappyOzawa had been forced ignominiously to transfer to the car-

rier Zuikaku sister ship of the Cavallas victim, the Shokaku.

At the crucial moment for both fleets, the United States

submarines destroyed two of the enemy's best carriers. It wasthe second major contribution of the Silent Service to the con-

quest of the Marianas, although history inadequately records

them in relating the battles for Guam, Saipan and Tinian.

Earlier in the month, prior to the first American landing madeon Saipan, the Pintado, Shark, and Flier sank eight troop and

cargo ships carrying food, supplies, and about half a division

PEKISCOPE SPIES 203

of troops to the garrison there. How much this meant to the

United States assault force in that bloody battle no one can

estimate, and only those who were there can appreciate.All of this was the prelude to the First Battle of the Philip-

pine Sea, in which Admiral Mitscher's airmen practically

denuded Ozawa's remaining carriers of pilots and sent the

broken fleet to refuge in Empire waters minus one more car-

rier, the Hiyo (also called the Hitaka). Four others were

damaged, but not so seriously that they could not be patched

up for Japan's last try, four months later, in the Second Battle

of the Philippine Sea.

In that battle the submarines again provided the fleet's best

eyes. They gave the first warning that the powerful forces of

Admirals Kurita and Nishimura were on their way, and once

more a setup was provided for our two fleets, the Third and

Seventh. But this time, at a very critical stage the ball was

fumbled and only merciful Providence prevented stark trag-

edy from being visited upon the hundreds of defenseless cargoand troop ships in Leyte Gulf.

When the Japanese fleet left Tawi Tawi anchorage for

Philippine waters in June, 1944, hopes of smashing our fleet

still were high. After the First Philippine Sea Battle, when

only headlong flight had saved the Japanese, the senior offi-

cers of the Imperial Navy realized that the American Navywas too much for them and only desperate measures could, at

best, achieve face-saving retaliation: But what could theydo with Admiral Kurita's potentially powerful fleet, licking

its wounds far to the south in the Lingaa-Singapore area, with

the full array of the American sea power between it and

Ozawa's carrier force frantically 'endeavoring in Empire wa-

ters to replace the pilots lost in the disastrous Marianas cam-

paign?The Japanese knew they were violating one of the cardinal

principles of naval warfare thus to separate the fleet. But there

were compelling reasons for the Japanese decision to leave

204 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Kurita's force in Lingaa and Ozawa's in Empire waters, until

the day arrived for their last desperate thrust against the

enemy, and the most compelling of the list was the American

submarines.

Since the beginning of the war the submarines had been

biting deep into the arteries of the Empire. The Imperial

supply line to the south had become but a broken thread since

the submarines, selecting tankers as their favorite targets, had

bled the Japanese fleet of its life-giving fluids. After the toll

they had taken, and were continuing to take, it would have

been impossible to fuel Kurita's fleet if it had been moved to

Empire waters.

Since this was true it might have been easy enough to

balance Kurita's force with the necessary carriers by movingOzawa's fleet south. But Ozawa was confronted with the all

but insurmountable task of replacing the pilots he had lost,

and Singapore was no place to achieve that. The task could

only be accomplished in Empire waters, at the source of

supply, rather than in an area hundreds of miles to the south.

So the problem which devolved upon the shoulders of Ad-

miral Toyoda, the Navy High Commander in Tokyo, was howto make the most use of his ships in face of the double di-

lemma. Certainly it would not benefit the Empire to have

them.just sit out the rest of the war. All illusions about over-

powering the United States fleet in conventional battle hadbeen dissipated. The only ambition now was to make the

Americans pay extravagantly for anything they got. The strik-

ing force that had streamed for the Marianas in June chargedlike a lion, although it had to run like a hare. Now Toyoda de-

termined to employ a different approach. This time he'decided

they would use the tactics of the fox.

The next Allied move pointed to the Philippines. The Japa-nese were certain that we would want to make good Mac-Arthur's publicized promise, "I will return," nor did the

United States conceal that intent.

PERISCOPE SPIES 205

Toyoda's plan Plan Sho-Go for the defense of the Philip-

pines was extremely daring and no wonder, since it was born

of desperation. Time was running out fast for the Nipponese.If disaster was ever to be visited upon the Allies it would have

to come when their forces descended upon the Philippines,the Imperial planners figured, and so they decided that if theycould compute the psychological moment to bring up their

powerful fleet from the south, separate it into two groups to

attack the Americans from two directions, they could divide

the Allied strength and then unite their two forces to crush

the Allied transport and cargo ships wherever we had chosen

to land.

One force under Vice-Admiral Shoji Nishimura, consistingof two battleships, one heavy cruiser and four destroyers,

termed the Southern Fleet, would go in through SurigaoStrait. The main or Central Fleet of five battleships, ten heavycruisers, two light cruisers, fifteen destroyers, under Admiral

Kurita, would slip in through San Bernardino Strait. And if

Ozawa's carriers were only good to bait the trap, that was

honorable enough a job if it meant the humiliation of the

incredible Americans.

Of course, Admiral Toyoda was perfectly aware that Ad-

miral Halsey's Third Fleet and Admiral Kinkaid's Seventh

Fleet could be overwhelming obstacles to the success of their

plan, but the Japanese Admiral had confidence at least hopein the efficacy of the fox's skin. Mentally, he had written

off Admiral Nishimura's small force. It would probably be

lost, but it would serve its purpose if it divided the Allies and

kept their full force from joining the main battle. It was Hal-

sey's powerful Third Fleet of fast, large battleships and car-

riers that had to be taken out of the play until Kurita could

complete his work of destruction. On this gamble Toyoda was

agreeable to hazarding some of his best blue chips. He guessedthat Halsey's fliers were itching to get the carriers that had

slipped out of their grasp at the Marianas, and that the Bull

206 BATTLE SUBMERGED

would quickly charge at anything that looked like carriers on

the rampage. But how far could Halsey be lured away? That

was the dominating question in Toyoda's thoughts.Ozawa was accomplishing a near miracle in remanning his

denuded carriers with pilots, but time was too short to givethe fliers the necessary training and experience needed to

challenge the American naval aviators. However, they would

have to do, training or no, and it must be admitted that the

Japanese aviators were willing and eager.

The plan, therefore, called for Admiral Ozawa and his car-

riers, augmented by two battleships, three light cruisers and

ten destroyers, to sail boldly down from home waters and

practically dare Admiral Halsey to come up and meet the

Japanese "Main Fleet." If the Third Fleet Commander should

fall for the tempting bait and leave San Bernardino Strait un-

guarded long enough for Kurita to get through to his ob-

jective, the Philippine invasion could become the war's great-est debacle for the Allies. The success of the plan depended

entirely on whether, and for how long, Halsey could be fooled

by the "Main Fleet" illusion.

It is interesting to note how well their strategy worked.

Kurita and Nishimura left the Lingaa area on October 18,

topped off with fuel at Brunei, Borneo, and on October 22 set

off for their respective straits. They were supposed to sweepinto Leyte Gulf three days later to commence their annihila-

tion of Allied landing forces.

But the American submarines were the incalculable factor

in materially upsetting the execution of this beautifully con-

ceived plan. Specifically, the Darter and the Dace, workingas a wolf pack, showed up the seams in Toyoda's foxy dis-

guise.

The value of the Darters contact report of the movementof the enemy forces can best be judged by the remarks of

Admiral Kinkaid, the Seventh Fleet Commander, upon whose

PERISCOPE SPIES 207

shoulders fell the brunt of the blow from the Japanese forces.

"The Fourth War Patrol of the L7SS Darter" said Admiral

Kinkaid, "embraces one of the most outstanding contributions

by submarines to the ultimate defeat of the Japanese Navy.On 23 October the Darter intercepted in Palawan Passage a

strong enemy task force composed of heavy cruisers and

battleships which was bound for Leyte Gulf, bent on destroy-

ing our forces. As the result of a brilliantly executed dawnattack the Darter stopped two heavy cruisers, sending one

to the bottom and seriously damaging the other. The selection

of the time for the attack is considered well advised in view

of the difficulty in attacking radar-equipped war vessels at

night and considering the intelligence desired on the composi-tion of the enemy forces. This intelligence, which was

promptly transmitted, was the first tangible evidence of the

size and magnitude of the forces which the enemy was as-

sembling to dislodge our position in Leyte. The early receiptof this information enabled our forces to formulate and putinto execution the countermeasures which resulted in majordisaster for the Japanese in the Second Battle of the PhilippineSea/'

The important role the Darter and Dace played in the pre-lude to the subsequent battle was not accidental. CommanderSubmarines had placed them where they were in conformance

with the general plan of supplying our High Command with

information on enemy movements. Figuring that a movementof Japanese naval forces was probable, if not inevitable, in

view of the Philippine invasion, Commander Submarines sta-

tioned submarines where task forces would be most likely to

travel en route to the Philippine Sea.

During the latter part of September, 1944, the Darter, com-

manded by Commander David H. McClintock, and the Dace

(Commander Bladen D. Claggett) shifted their reconnais-

sance duty from the Celebes Sea northward to the South

208 BATTLE SUBMERGED

China Sea. During the entire period culminating in the his-

toric contact with the main Japanese task force the two

skippers held frequent conferences to plan their work. Radio

intercepts indicated that there was a big movement of shipsafoot and both subs carefully patrolled their assigned end

of the Palawan Passage, the Darter taking the southern end

near Balibac Island between Palawan and Borneo. A fleet

coming up from Lingaa via Brunei, Borneo, would have to

steam through the channel. It was just a question of waitingfor it.

On October 12 the Darter made a daylight attack on seven

large cargo ships, escorted by two destroyers, and badly

damaged two of them.

The Dace, working with the Darter as a pack, joined next

night in a combined surface attack on a convoy, sinking two

ships and damaging others. But this was not the big game the

two were seeking.After the Darter picked up a broadcast on the night of

October 20 reporting the Philippine invasion in Leyte, all

small fry were ignored by the submarines. The remaining tor-

pedoes were now reserved for the big fellows, for it wouldbe now or never for the Japanese fleet to attempt to smashthe invasion.

On Saturday night, October 21, the Darter made a radar

contact on a group of ships that appeared to contain heavycruisers. While she was getting off contact reports to her owntask force commander and the Dace, the Darter took off in

pursuit, but though she cut corners by going through the

treacherous Dangerous Ground, the targets were making too

much speed to be overtaken. However, this presaged the

movement of the enemy toward Leyte.At midnight on the twenty-second with the subs surfaced

within speaking distance, the two skippers discussed plansrather disconsolately. It seemed likely that the enemy had in

some manner slipped by unnoticed, they agreed, when the

PERISCOPE SPIES 209

Darter's radar operator sauntered up to his dapper skipper."A rain squall contact on the radar screen, Captain/' he re-

ported casually.

Acting on a hunch the skipper quickly took a look.

"Squall, hell! Those are ships and plenty of them!" And

they were coming up from the west of Borneo! Just what theyhad been waiting for!

McClintock grabbed a megaphone and called over to the

Dace. "We have radar contacts. Let's go!"He heard the immediate and enthusiastic response: "Roger!

What are we waiting for?"

The long wait was over. This was it!

Keeping ahead of the formation by employing their highest

speed, the two subs carefully studied the enemy ships. There

were eleven heavy ships in two columns with numerous de-

stroyers acting as screens. This was no doubt one of the ex-

pected heavy enemy forces, perhaps even the largest one.

Before dawn the Darter had gotten off three contact reportsto the Boss, each one confirming and expanding on the others,

describing the make-up of the enemy formation and its speed.Their intelligence work now being completed, the subs

were free to lessen the problem for the surface forces. TheDarter gave the word to the Dace., "Let's get 'em!" The Dacehad already selected her target.

Admiral Kurita, in his flagship, the heavy cruiser Atago, was

having early morning tea in his sea cabin with his chief of

staff, Rear Admiral Koyanagi, when the first of five Darter

torpedoes struck the cruiser. He had only a few minutes to

leap into his barge and make speed for the destroyer Kishi-

nami before his proud flagship slid under the water bow first

and in flames. Before he could clamber aboard the destroyerKurita gloomily watched another cruiser, the Takao, belching

smoke, fire and steam and calling for help. The stern tubes of

the Darter had accounted for her grievous condition. Two

destroyers were detailed to escort her back to Brunei.

210 BATTLE SUBMERGED

The swirls of the sinking Atago were still in evidence whenthe Admiral watched a heavy cruiser on the other flank, the

Maya, disintegrate and disappear under the impact of four

torpedoes from the Dace.

On the same day, off Luzon, the Bream, commanded byCommander Wreford G. (Moon) Chappie, caught one of the

heavy cruisers, the Aoba, coming down from the Empire to

join up, and put it out of action. And Commander TommyWogan, in the Besugo, reported Ozawa's carrier force stream-

ing down from the Inland Sea. Positive information of the

approach of the enemy and of the composition of his forces

had now been sent to our High Command, That was the sub-

marines' mission. Subtracting four heavy cruisers from the

enemy's fleets was sheer cumshaw, but it was now up to the

commanders of the Third and Seventh Fleets to carry the

ball.

Admiral Kinkaid sent his tactical commander, Vice-Admiral

Oldendorf, to handle the situation at Surigao Strait, and dur-

ing the early hours of October 25 his units quickly annihilated

the force of Vice-Admiral Shoji Nishimura, the American

battleships executing another dream-book tactic, "crossing the

T" of,the Japanese battle line. So much for the Southern Fleet.

The burden of success for the Japanese scheme rode on

Admiral Kurita's Central Fleet.

Kurita's confidence was somewhat shaken in the Palawan

Passage when he saw three of his heavy cruisers taken from

his fleet by the Darter and Dace. It could be an omen of thingsto come, he thought, as he sipped bitter tea in his sea cabin

on the battleship Yamato, the "unsinkable" battleship whose18-inch guns were the heaviest ordnance anywhere afloat.

The next morning Kurita drank his tea in more tranquility.From all appearances, everything was going well, and it

looked as if his ships would have a field day in Leyte Gulf.

That would make up for a lot of past disasters, the admiral

thought with grim anticipation.

PERISCOPE SPIES 211

Soon after ten that morning his complacency was rudelyshaken when radar reported the approach of a large flight of

planes. A few minutes later the first wave of United States

carrier dive bombers and torpedo planes were screamingdown in a savage attack, and when the skies were cleared an-

other cruiser commenced limping back to Brunei. The giant

battleship Musashi showed no bad effect from the one torpedohit registered on her.

In the early afternoon the second wave of planes from the

Intrepid, Cabot and Independence came down and concen-

trated their fury on the Musashi, and three more torpedoeshit that battleship. This time Kurita glumly watched the sister

ship of the Yamato slow down and circle, badly hurt.

Why fighter planes had not come out from the Manila fields

according to plan had Kurita worried. Not that it would have

eased his mind any, but he couldn't know that the Manila

fighters were having plenty to occupy their attention from

Admiral Sherman's carriers off Luzon/

The carrier attacks against Kurita's ships continued with

increasing fury and volume. By four that afternoon five waves

of planes had reduced the Jap fighting power considerably.The huge Musashi was definitely unable to proceed to Leyteand was told to retire. The four remaining battleships had

been bombed but not enough to impare their fighting power.It takes torpedoes to get a battleship. No battleship was sunk

by bombs alone during the war.

By this time Kurita was convinced that the Ozawa plan had

failed completely in view of the continuous carrier attacks

and that it would be wiser for him to retire beyond the rangeof carriers, particularly as he had no air coverage or hope of

any. Kurita therefore reversed his course.

The blood-red sun was hanging low in the western sky when

planes from the Intrepid, Cabot and Independence swoopeddown for a final performance, giving the coup de grd.ce to the

badly damaged Musashi, the battleship sinking in the twilight

212 BATTLE SUBMERGED

off Sibuyan Island due north of Panay. Her executive officer,

Captain Kenkichi Kaot, later testified that the ship had re-

ceived thirty bombs and twenty-six torpedoes no ship is un-

sinkable under such punishment.Kurita duly reported his westward flight to the Navy High

Command in Tokyo, Admiral Toyoda, but even before he

received the answer, "With confidence in heavenly guidancethe entire force will attack," Kurita's courage had returned

under the protecting cloak of darkness and his force was again

steaming eastward to carry out the original plan. His fleet had

now been reduced to four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two

light cruisers and eleven destroyers, still a very formidable

force.

At 1:00 A.M. on October 25 he expected to complete his

passage of San Bernardino Strait. The course would then be

along the east coast of Samar. At 11:00 A.M. they would arrive

at Leyte Gulf!

Two people received the news of Kurita's appearance on

October 25 with mingled emotions and considerable concern:

Admiral Kinkaid, whose heavy forces under Admiral Olden-

dorf were at Surigao Strait where they had smashed the JapSouthern Fleet that morning but who in consequence were

out of ammunition; and Rear Admiral C. A. F. Sprague, com-

mander of the escort "jeep" carriers, upon which Kurita's big

ships were descending.Both confidently expected Admiral Halsey's Task Force 34

to contain any force appearing at the Strait. But the Ozawalure was finally working and Task Force 34 was hot after

Ozawa's ships, believing that it was the enemy main force. It

was just what the Japs had hoped and gambled on.

That morning Leyte's prospects looked pretty grim. Kin-

kaid's battleships and cruisers could not get back in time to

defend it even if they had anything to shoot with, and

Sprague's "jeep" carriers, their planes providing all the air

PERISCOPE SPIES 213

support the ground forces on Leyte possessed, would be

wholly ineffective. The transports appeared doomed.

At 7:00 A.M. that fateful day Admiral Sprague and his six

small carriers and seven escorts bravely prepared to put them-

selves in the way of the onrushing Japanese. It was one of

those "magnificent but futile" actions, cousin-german to the

Charge of the Light Brigade, that men will do just to be doing

something in a hopeless situation.

For two hours Kurita's heavy cruisers and battleships

peppered the "jeeps" and their destroyer-escorts at will. Theescorts delivered desperate torpedo attacks but the Japanesetide rolled on unchecked. The Gambier Bay was ripped to

pieces by shell fire; then the Kitkun Bay and Saint Lo came in

for the same treatment, the latter sinking. Three escorts, the

Johnson, Samuel B. Roberts, and Hoel were sunk.

Admiral Kinkaid, in his headquarters ship, Wasatch, at

Leyte, anxiously followed the course of the battle off Samar.

Ship after ship was put out of battle, and still no Task Force

34, fully capable of handling the situation once it arrived.

The troop ships and cargo-carriers in Leyte Gulf were

doomed, sure as shooting fish in a barrel.

Then an inexplicable thing occurred and saved Leyte andthe invasion forces.

Kurita was a troubled man. He simply couldn't believe what

he saw. Everything was too easy. His ships just couldn't goon picking off the escort carriers and their escorts one by one

indefinitely, without more show of resistance. The savage car-

rier attacks the day before were proof to him that Halsey had

not been fooled. Kurita was certain that the Americans were

deliberately sacrificing the escort carriers and destroyers just

to lure him into a trap of their own. Any minute now waves of

planes would come screaming down on him as on the previous

day, and that would be the end of the Japanese Navy.

So, with the destruction of the escort carriers within his

214 BATTLE SUBMERGED

grasp and Leyte only two hours away, he ordered his fleet to

reverse course and head for San Bernardino Strait at full

speed! He was questioned closely after the war for an explana-

tion regarding his sudden withdrawal when he had all the

trump cards in his hand, but he could give none except that

he feared another deluge of carrier planes.

Once the jitteryKurita regained confidence again and re-

versed course to resume his work of destruction. -But his

courage quickly oozed again, and, this time for good, once

more he raced for the Strait, leaving Admiral Sprague gazing

after him with puzzled but grateful eyes.

17Shore Bombardment

THE CONTROVERSY over the value of deck guns on sub-

marines has ranged over many years and through two world

wars. In the First World War the U-boats used them to great

advantage, sinking smaller unarmed vessels. It was cheaperthan expending any of their limited supply of torpedoes and

broadened their scope of activities. Then the British con-

structed a bombardment submarine, called the M-boat This

submersible was equipped with a 12-inch gun and designed

primarily to slip undetected close to the Belgian coast, emerge,lob shells into the surprised Germans, then submerge and

get clear before retaliatory measures could be effected.

In theory, the idea was very good. In actual practice it

didn't pan out. For one thing, the M-boat?

s constructors didn't

take enough time to solve its inherent diving trouble un-

wieldiness. The result was that a couple of the dual-purposesubmarines could not move as fast as the indignant enemy andwere sunk. After these casualties, the British Admiralty de-

cided to concentrate its efforts elsewhere. There is no doubt215

216 BATTLE SUBMERGED

that if time enough had been taken to study its fairly obvious

problems, the M-boat would have been extremely effective

as a bombardment weapon. At least the designers of the old

M-boats of World War I were men of vision and imagination,and they might have accomplished a great deal if they had

received more support and allowed more patience.

Between the two wars the subject of guns still kept sub-

marine officers divided into two irreconcilable schools of

thought, and both schools inevitably developed into extrem-

ists. It was either plenty of guns, or none at all, and advocates

of either had as many convincing arguments as the others.

During the first few years after World War I our Navy built

no new submarines. Our main operating craft were the R- and

S-boat type, the best that had come out of the war for us, al-

though as far from the sleek, air-conditioned, multiple-

torpedo-tubed, speedy jobs that emerged in World War II

as a Model T Ford from the 1951 model. But there was morethan the usual peace-time scarcity of money and the Navyhad to do the best it could with what was allowed it. The R-

and the S-boats were all right for training purposes, and quitehabitable except in tropical waters, which, after all, was all

anybody could want after a "war to end wars."

The R-boats had a 3-inch gun mounted forward. The S-

boats a 4-inch gun. Two gunnery practices were assignedthem each year. First, the Short Range Battle Practice that

every naval ship fires to qualify its Pointers and Trainers.

Second, Long Range Battle Practice Battle Surface!

This was a spectacular affair, and as realistic as could be

simulated in peace time. The exercise called for a surprise

gun attack on a merchant vessel, or perhaps a picket boat not

too well-armed. The submarine approached the target a tar-

get mounted on a towed raft and submerged to periscope

depth. When a specified bearing was attained, the submarine

sounded "Battle Surface" and came topside as quickly as pos-

sible, going ahead at the top speed that could be extracted

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 217

from her engines. With the water still streaming off the bridge,the hatch was flung open, the gun crew swarmed over the

top of the bridge and quickly made the deck gun ready to

fire, fifteen shells were fired at the target, the gun secured; and

down the hatch tumbled the gun crew. When the skipper was

sure that the last man was back on the bridge he gave the

diving alarm, and in less than a minute (theoretically) the

submarine was out of sight again. Later, a torpedo practicewas combined with "Battle Surface," which practice was

sufficiently realistic and practicable to be used many times

during World War II.

When the giant Nautilus and Narwhal were built the school

that believed in large subs with big guns had the "say so," and

these subs each had two 6-inch deck guns.

When, shortly before World War II, we started buildingour first long-range submarines in quantity, the pendulum had

swung the other way. No guns. The theory was that the nat-

ural weapon for submarines was torpedoes and deck gunswere just an unnecessary ornament and excess weight. Ac-

tually, neither the big-gun advocates nor the no-gun expertswere able to visualize the operations that submarines would

be called upon to perform in a war with Japan. Of course, no

one even dreamed of a Pearl Harbor and the destruction our

surface craft would suffer that December 7 either, which

would leave the submarines virtually alone to contest the

Pacific against the Japanese Navy.The result of this disagreement was that most of the first

boats to start the war, of the Pompano class, for instance, onlyhad a 3-inch gun, augmented by a fifty-caliber machine gun,in a compromise between the two factions. Like most com-

promises this turned out to be a poor one.

Before the war had been in progress for very long sub-

marines returning from patrols in Empire waters reported that

their little 3-inch pea shooters did nothing but cause a few

splinters tofly.

The best they could do with the gun was to

218 BATTLE SUBMERGED

force the crews to dive overboard from coastal craft they at-

tacked, while their inability to sink them necessitated a board-

ing party to place bombs below decks in the enemy craft. This

method, the submarines complained, was just downright tedi-

ous and unhealthy, besides giving the Service a bad name on

the Oriental waterfront. The fifty-caliber machine gun was

also given "thumbs down" by the sub skippers. It was unre-

liable and ineffective.

The submarine High Command had absolute faith in the

skippers, who were giving the boats the kind of test the

theorists hadn't been able to imagine, and consultations were

initiated to choose a gun that would fill the submarine's par-

ticular bill.

They finally decided upon a 4-inch gun which gave very

satisfactory results. Whenever a submarine went to the Yard

for a "face lifting" the old pea shooter was replaced with a

4-inch gun. A 20-millimeter had augmented the fifty-caliber

gun even before that.

In 1943 a 40-millimeter gun was added to the armament, for

the boats were finding more and more opportunities to use

their deck guns. As a matter of record, a number of subs cameto the surface and slugged it out against patrol vessels with

their deck guns instead of staying down and being subjectedto depth charges. And certainly the hundreds of luggers,schooners and junks sunk while attempting to cany food sup-

plies to a slowly dying Empire settled the issue until the

snorkel came along after the war. Snorkel-type submarines

are gunless again, on the theory that a submarine designed to

stay under water all of the time obviously doesn't need them.

Toward the latter part of the war a special 5-inch gun was

designed for submarines and installed on many of the latest

boats. A few even carried two of them, to sweep up picketboats in close Empire waters.

It remained for the fabulous Barb to add still another refine-

ment to the submarine's armament a rocket launcher!

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 219

The installation of the rocket launcher had been an ex-

tremely difficult concession to gain. But the red-haired skipperof the Barb, Commander Fluckey, had a record that had

earned him favorable consideration on any request he sub-

mitted. In each of his previous command patrols, now four in

number, the submarine had been awarded the Presidential

Unit Citation and her skipper had received Navy Crosses for

the first three, and a Congressional Medal of Honor for the

fourth.

After returning from that patrol the Barb had been sent to

the Coast for an extensive "face-lifting" job, which included

one of the new 5-inch guns.When they went back to Pearl Harbor for refresher training

before going out on their twelfth patrol, the final round of the

war in the Pacific was in progress. Iwo Jima had been taken

and on April 1 our forces moved to the doorstep of the Empireby landing on Okinawa.

Six days later planes from Admiral Spruance's fast carrier

force swarmed over an enemy task force in the East China

Sea off Kyushu and with torpedoes and bombs sank the

world's biggest gunned battleship, the Yamato (her sister

ship, the Musashi, had suffered a similar fate the previousOctober in the Strait of San Bernardino) and then sent the

cruiser Yahagi and four destroyers down to keep her com-

pany.Not only had the subs all but obliterated the Jap shipping,

but fighter sweeps on the southern Empire coastal regionswere making targets even more scarce. The planes were comb-

ing the Empire, seeking out the bases for the deadliest weaponproduced by the enemy air force so far the suicide plane,the kamikaze.

When Gene Fluckey learned that the Barb would operatein the Polar Circuit on her twelfth patrol he took stock of the

situation. From skippers who had recently been there he heard

many gripes about the dearth of targets. Since the carrier

220 BATTLE SUBMERGED

fighters had been extending their activities to that area there

simply weren't enough targets to go around. The torpedoeswere put in the tubes, pulled out for checking and returned.

But few were being fired the only way a submariner likes to

see a torpedo leave its tube.

But the Barb's skipper was a very adaptable officer as well

as possessing a great deal of imagination. If the planes were

getting sub targets, there was no reason why he shouldn't get

a few carrier targets. But how? Gene Fluckey began to mull

over that question: "The Barb has a nice new 5-inch gun. It

ought to have a great many uses but it has limitations too.

No, that isn't the complete answer. Wait a second. I saw some

spare rocket launchers the other day. Now if we could snagoff one of these. Why not? No one can blame a fellow for try-

ing"And no one did, because Admiral Lockwood said yes. In

fact, he became very interested in the young skipper's uniqueidea and decided it might prove to be worth while. It could

be an experiment that contained extraordinary potentialities.

After all, in spite of all our hopes this wasn't necessarily the

war that would end all wars. There might be others, and

rockets were beginning to receive more attention all of the

time. The sooner their possibility for use on subs was tested

the better.

So when the Barb departed from Pearl Harbor on June 8,

1945, she had a rocket launcher tucked away. On June 21 the

Barb arrived in her area off the northeast coast of Kunashiri,

nearest of the Kuriles to Hokkaido. Within three hours she

was testing out the effectiveness of the 5-inch gun, using two

sturdy luggers for guinea pigs. The rapidity with which theywere smashed and sunk bore out all of the claims that hadbeen made for 5-inch guns.

After testing out their new gun Gene and his crew becameeven more anxious to use their rockets. But they weren't quitesure just which target to select for the experiment.

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 221

Early that evening, while the sun was still shining brightly,

(there are only four hours of summer darkness in that lati-

tude) a plane came out from Shari on the north coast of Hok-kaido and gave the Barb an uncomfortable harassing with its

bombs. The skipper's blue eyes narrowed, At last they had a

satisfactory target. Shari would have the honor of being the

recipient of their first rockets.

At 1:50 A.M. on June 22 the submarine manned a newbattle station, rockets. Eagerly the rocket launcher was set

up while the submarine took station off the fog-shroudedindustrial city of 20,000. At 2:34 A.M. everything was ready.

They were all set to launch the first rocket assault ever made

by an American submarine. The skipper describes the mo-

mentous event: "Rockets away! An inspiring sight. C.O. wore

polaroid goggles at darkest setting for launching to maintain

night adaption. All rockets left in five seconds and their trail

disappeared about twenty feet above the deck. Rockets ob-

served to fall in an area estimated at 500 yards in diameter

in the center of town. Explosions were seen, heard and felt.

No fires were started. Reversed course and withdrew at high

speed as dawn was breaking. . . . Shore-based air search

radar was turned on. Evidently the Japs think they were

being bombed."

To help maintain that illusion the Barb headed for Karafuto

(southeast Sakhalin Island) to search for ships from Taraika

Bay (southern Sakhalin), sometimes called Patience Bay*While they were steaming northward the skipper told the

officers new to the submarine that in this part of the world

things often aren't what they seem. "It was just about a year

ago," he said. "We had worked in an<^ out down the coast of

Karafuto on the edge of an ice field. It was good maneuvering

practice for the O.O.D. [officer of the deck]. After sun-up but

with the sun obscured we sighted a solid pack of ice thirty

feet high at 6,000 yards. A kaleidoscopic color was being re-

flected off its side. We maneuvered the ship to parallel it. After

222 BATTLE SUBMERGED

passing along its side for twenty minutes, all hands on the

bridge sighted the masts and funnels of four trawlers appar-

ently ice-bound. Our lookouts even reported smoke from one

funnel. We decided to close for a gun shoot, to lob over a few

at some really fast ships from the edge of the field. Imagineour surprise when the ice field just backed rapidly away from

us and then it and the trawlers disappeared! It was an un-

believable mirage. The O.O.D. said he must have been on

patrol too long and requested a relief. I laughed and asked

if he were serious and he said he sure was so I told him O.K.

Well, the new O.O.D. arrived on the bridge thinking we were

a bit touched. In a little while he too reported an ice field on

the opposite bow. Of course bynow I felt like a grizzled Arctic

veteran who knew all about mirages so I took a good look

through my binoculars and ascertained it to be another

mirage. The O.O.D, immediately wagered a quart of whiskythat it wasn't. Considering the scarcity at the time and also

to teach him a lesson I took him up on it. We approached the

mirage confidently. It was the real McCoy. I decided it was

time for me to go below too." The skipper smiled. "Ill skip the

mirages this time. But I'd give a quart of that same whisky for

a prisoner. I want to find out something about things ashore."

Their opportunity to grant his wish showed up the next

morning. It was a large two-decked, two-masted Diesel

wooden trawler. During the early part of the attack the new40-millimeter guns with their telescopic sights were tried out

with much success. But it required three shots in the hull from

the 5-inch to stop her. In order to conserve 5-inch ammunition

the skipper had decided to board the trawler but a fire beganto sweep through her, so the idea was quickly abandoned. But

they still had to get a prisoner. "The Japs forward," related the

skipper, "seemed content to be fried, rather than come out of

hiding and risk survival in the icy water. Consequently, since

we wanted a prisoner and did not want to leave a blazing markof our presence, determined to sink Trawler by a high-speed

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 223

sweep close aboard in order to wash sufficient water througha large 5-inch hole in the waterline."

Another example of this skipper's imagination and origi-

nality!

"Opened out, speeded up to sixteen knots and swept byabout ten yards off his port beam. Target filled and sank. . . .

Took aboard one prisoner. Five others volunteered (i.e.,

drowned deliberately) and another committed hara-kiri byslitting his throat. . . ."

The crew christened the prisoner Kamikaze.

A few days were spent futilely chasing a convoy which per-sisted in remaining close inshore while her escorts made life

miserable for the Barb. One of the depth-charge attacks was

so severe that the skipper admitted it was miraculous that the

sub didn't give at the seams.

When they were finally able to surface at 7:50 P.M., the

skipper records, "All clear. Sun still up. Surfaced, plotting all

kinds of foul deeds." But the enemy had gone by.Since radar couldn't seem to pick up any more ships they

decided to devote part of a morning to bombarding KaihyoTo, most southern Sakhalin. "This island," said Gene Fluckey,"contains large government-operated seal rookery on the

eastern side. We plan to land and take it. A prisoner will be

valuable to check routing and frequency of Kurile convoys/*At5:00 A.M. on July2: "Sighted Kaihyo To. Large stockades

of the seal rookery were in evidence on the eastern side, two

beacons, radio antenna, and an observation post were on the

flat top of the island. Eased around south of the island, on the

edge of visibility circle, trusting to our camouflage for non-

detection before the bombardment. Reefs and shoals extend

off the island/*

At 6:25: "Headed in for bombardment. Was a bit surprisedto find twenty or more large barracks, warehouses and build-

ings on the western side. Looks like business has expanded

beyond our expectations and those of the pilot and chart. . . .

224 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Manned battle stations, Guns. Noticed people madly runningaround the island." They had sighted them and knew that this

wasn't a good-will visit. "Our presence is known. Range 1,100

yards. Commenced firing 40-millimeter. Simultaneously island

personnel opened up on us with machine guns which walked

across us without hitting. Immediately returned their fire with

our twin 20-millimeter, two fifty-caliber, and two thirty-

caliber, concentrating 40-millimeter on an exposed fifty-

caliber mount which the enemy had mounted on top of the

fifty-foot cliff overhanging the buildings on this side of the

island. Opposition ceased. Range 900 yards. Commenced fir-

ing 5-inch gun, systematically destroying all buildings.

Spotted in 75-millimeter field piece unmanned on the cliff.

Turned the 40-millimeter gun onto it, and their fourth shot

hit it, knocking a wheel off ... leaving it on its side. . . .

Reversed course to remain in close. ... At range of 800

yards stopped to let the guns literally tear the place to pieces.

The 40-millimeter destroyed the observation post, three sam-

pans close to the beach, and an oil dump of about thirty drums.

These drums must have contained seal oil for the automatic

fire striking the oil pouring down the beaches, gave off large

flashes, but never set it on fire. A fire broke out in one of the

large buildings near the center of the concentration and

quickly spread to other buildings. Really a wonderful sightand the ideal submarine bombardment huge fires burning,sections of buildings flying tip in the air, sampans destroyed,oil drums tumbled and

split,a field piece overturned, and a

machine gun hanging loose, unattended. Too much praisecannot be given the gun crews. We have emphasized thriftyuse of our limited ammunition, almost to the danger point, andnot a bullet or shell was wasted. . . . To really appreciate this

bombardment one must see the results."

At 7:24, "Ceased fire. Opened out to observe results. Se-

cured guns. Island is a shambles with fires spreading. Stoppedand lay to 3,500 yards to observe results and give the planes a

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 225

couple o hours to arrive in case a transmission had been sent

before we silenced their transmitters. This is a precaution

preparatory to our intended landing/' There were only five

fathoms of water where the Barb had steamed during the

bombardment, not enough to get her bridge under.

At 10:30 the skipper notes, "No planes yet ... so assume

bombardment is still a private matter. Flooded forward and

inflated rubber boats. Called away Assault Force [the Barb

carried her own home-trained Commandos] and briefed them.

Plan to land on northwest side of island with 40-millimeter

laying a barrage 200 yards ahead of party. Stopped 650 yardsfrom beach in five fathoms of water. Looked every bit of island

over for possible unknown fortifications. Fires burning mer-

rily about one third of buildings having now been con-

sumed."

Fifteen minutes later, as the assault party was preparing to

man their boats amidst encouraging advice of the others to

fetch back a geisha or two, something was spotted on the

beach that had escaped everyone's attention before fortifi-

cations. "To our amazement/' said Gene, "the C.O. and

O.O.D. spotted four pill boxes along the top of this barren

island protecting this side. Commenced firing 40-millimeter

at one large pillbox from which an antenna led." Up to this

time the enemy had not revealed the presence of his pillboxes.

But it didn't tax the imagination of the Commandos to guesswhen they had planned to do so. "Fire was immediately re-

turned by machine guns and rifles. Opened up with all auto-

matic guns which silenced the opposition. After eighteen shots

from the 40-millimeter put one in the slit of the pillbox and

blew open part of front side. Real accuracy. Gave up the idea

of landing as too risky. The result to be obtained was only

project No. 3. (Take a prisoner. Kamikaze would have to do

for the time being. )Withdrew. At about 4,000 yards the Japs

again opened up with machine guns in a face-saving attempt.On losing sight of the island, now rechristened Little Iwo,

226 BATTLE SUBMERGED

fires were still burning. As an interesting sidelight members

of the Assault Party had refused offers of $200 to swap places

with other members of the crew prior to the discovery of the

pillboxes. Afterwards, price was best expressed by one of the

Commandos: "You can buy me for a nickel/

"Set course to investigate the town of Shiritori where 'more

dirty work at the crossroads' had been planned."A little before 6:00 P.M. the next day the Barb dove and

closed the beach for a closer observation. "Shiritori is a greatly

enlarged, thriving town with numerous factories. Spottedtrains scuttling back and forth for future references/

7

At 9:26 that evening, "Surfaced. Set course for Shikuka.

Our presence in Patience Bay will be a sore subject to the

Japs tomorrow so decided to give Shikuka a rocket massage.Shikuka is another large town in the northwestern part of

Patience Bay which has really grown up. It has many factories

and land and seaplane air bases. Ten-fathom curve is five

miles off the beach/' The skipper had studied these places

very thoroughly when he had patrolled there the year before.

Then at 1:00 A.M. July 3, "Sighted range lights of Shikuka

Harbor. Heavy overcast and a light drizzle. . . . Perfect for

rocketeering. Set up rocket launcher and checked circuits,

. . . Manned battle stations, rockets. Loaded twelve rockets.

Target to be center of town with drift going into factories.

. . . Put on polaroid goggles to watch fun. Rockets away!!!

Nothing happened. After a few frantic minutes found a loose

connection in the circuit. Backed down and regained firing

position. . . . Rockets away!!! This time the system worked

and the 5-inch rockets went swishing out. Rockets landed with

their usual thunder and explosions amongst a mass of build-

ings. Scampered for deep water. No fires started. Lightsblinked on and off in town for a few minutes, then darkness.

Set course down middle of Patience Bay en route to Otomari

in Aniwa Wan [most southern bay of Sakhalin] . This area will

need cooling off/'

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 227

Then followed a fortnight of monotonous routine, if it can

ever be monotonous navigating a submarine in icy, shallow

water, with the hunter frequently becoming the hunted. Two

freighters, a lugger and a Diesel sampan were their total bag.

Targets were most certainly getting scarce even in Japan'shome waters.

For variety they had a box seat at a carrier-plane raid on the

Japanese coastal city of Nemuro. As Gene describes it:

"Closed beach to watch the fun. The first wave quickly set

Nemuro afire and knocked out all important targets. Then a

search began for something to strike. About fifty fightersscoured the area. We spotted a few radio stations for themwhich they immediately set ablaze. This section of Hokkaido

appears very soft. Thought we might join in the sport by a

shore bombardment but neither our cover nor ourselves could

find anything worth wasting 40-millimeter on after scout

along the shore. There were only a few impoverished villagesleft. The high point of the strike came when the followingVHF conversation was overhead. Ambitious Pilot to Section

Leader: 'There's a horse. I'm going after him/ Section Leader

sternly, 'You leave that poor horse alone/ We noticed five or

six horses grazing in a field. The last of the opposition. . . .

Secured from lifeguard. Requested a week's extension to

cover area time we had absorbed in lifeguard and en route.

Extension granted/'After all, his Commandos had spent a lot of time practicing

and they still hadn't had their innings. The skipper didn't wantto disappoint them.

On July 18 the Barb was off the southeast coast of Sakhalin

where she managed to get in a torpedo attack on a largearmored cargo carrier and its escort, a frigate. This used upthe last of their torpedoes. ". . . Took a quick peek as frigate

passed at 300 yards, staring into the ends of half a dozen

binoculars with which their lookouts were sweeping. Noticed

the Jap O.O.D. berating one port lookout and men fiddling

228 BATTLE SUBMERGED

around the depth charge racks. ... To complicate matters

the elevator handle of the periscope picked this opportunemoment to come off, much to my surprise. Couldn't resist the

exclamation, 'See no hands!' However, soon returned to the

serious business of consummating a one-armed approach/'The frigate blew up when a torpedo set off his depth

charges, but the other ship came off scot-free and with nothingleft in her tubes the Barb could do nothing to stop the AK zig-

zagging away at top speed.The skipper still had some days left to his extension and

despite his lack of torpedoes he planned to spend them profit-

ably. There was still that railway train! And he still had a lot

of rockets left.

"Our plan/' revealed the skipper, "is to locate a suitable

coastal position of the railways, land our saboteur force and

plant a fifty-five pound demolition charge under the tracks.

Then this charge will be exploded by a train passing over and

closing the microswitch."

Now to find the spot: "Sighted the regular north-bound

train. Located a fairly good position, we had previously lo-

cated two good landing spots north of Shireturi/' But the

operation was off for that night bright moonlight and no

clouds.

The next evening, July 20, the skipper's log recorded,

"Sighted regular train. Previous observations have given us

their timetables now. Selected optimum position for landingwhile we coasted with two fathoms beneath the keel. Sandybeach, no houses within 700 yards of spot and submarine

could approach to 1,000 yards from beach without grounding.Our plans have been laid for three long weeks, every detail

checked, the waterproof firing system made up now all weawait is four hours of darkness with the moon covered and a

calm sea/' But he had to glumly record, "Sea calm, but weare fouled up by a perfect lover's night, bright moon. Cloud-

less/'

SHORE BOMBABDMENT 229

The next night, "Another lover's night. Patience. . . ."

But by noon the next day, July 22, the boat became muchmore optimistic about their chances that night. "Southerlybreezes brought a stratus. At last the weather is right. Passed

word that saboteurs will land tonight. After days of patiently

waiting and observing, the undercurrent of expected action

that ran through the boat made everyone's spine tingle. Evenour prisoner, Kamikaze, was swept away with it and asked

to be permitted to join the party. Not an escapist; he has sup-

plied information on dogs and beach patrols when questioned.

Briefly the outline of our project is as follows:

"To blow up a train at a vital point in the Karafuto East

Coast railway system. Under overcast to approach beach on

batteries at slack water, flooded until two fathoms of water

remains under the keel, as checked by leadsman. Here, ap-

proximately 1,000 yards offshore, the two rubber boats, con-

taining eight men and equipment will be launched. Naviga-tion to be by radar. Hoped-for landing point to be 800 yardsfrom nearest house. Upon beaching, signalman and guardremain with boats. Other six men will proceed across highwayto track. At suitable position for planting charge the party will

divide. One guard proceeding fifty yards up track near the

road. Another fifty yards down track, and a third twenty yardsinland. The remaining three will dig under the tracks, plantthe battery and charge, test and adjust the firing circuits,

recall the men, make final hookup and return to the ship. All

men will carry red flashlights, watches, knives, two *D* rations,

lifejacket, cigarette lighter and pistol. Other equipment in

the boats consists of radar corners, carbines, tommy guns,hand grenades, demolition charges, electrical equipment,home manufactured shovels and pick, signal gun, Very pistol,

binoculars, line and wedges. Party should land at 2330 and

return prior to 0230. Twilight commences about 0245.

"Communications were to be simple: (1) Alert two bob-

white whistles; (2) Assemble whippoorwill whistles; (3)

230 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Mechanical whistle emergency dash for the boats; (4) two

Very stars we are in trouble, lay a barrage in direction indi-

cated; (5) one Very star from submarine we are in trouble.

Will return every night; (6)W on blinker gun party is re-

turning to boat; (7) one Very star at fifteen-minute intervals

unable to locate submarine after thirty minutes paddling

from beach/' He then lists the party with Lieutenant William

W. Walker in charge. There were Francis N. Sever, James E.

Richard, John Markuson, Paul G. Saunders, Billy R. Hatfield,

Lawrence W. Newland, and Edward Klinglesmith.

The skipper would have given his right arm to have been

able to place his own name on the list and so would every

other member of the crew.

"Trains at this point have varied from seven to thirty-two

cars. The average train consists of twelve freight cars, two

passenger cars and one mail and baggage car. Though narrow

gauge the engines are large and of the European type rather

than the Oahu type."

At ten the Barb was ready to stand in for the beach and the

great adventure. "Briefed saboteur party. Headed in. The at-

mosphere is charged with excitement. Rubber boats are being

inflated, equipment is being gathered and last minute joshing

is well in progress. The night is perfect with a moderate over-

cast hiding a three-quarter moon, so that we have just enough

light, the sea is calm and the tide is slack. . . . SJ contact at

4,500 yards on two spitkits coming down coast. Probably

luggers or sampans. Lay to and tracked them across our bowat five knots /*

Finally, when it looked as if the whole show would be

spoiled by the spitkits who most irritatingly zigged their way,radar reported the way clear and again the saboteurs were

subjected to offers of heavy bribes for a swap."Lost valuable time with those spitkits. They are by now.

Commenced closing beach, wiggling back and forth adjusting

position. Planned for landmarks indefinite/'

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 231

At zero hour, actually at 0000 July 23. "Saboteur attack #1.

In position at last. Two fathoms under the keel. Shore line

950 yards. We can do no better. Launched rubber boats. Asboats shoved off had planned to say something apropos to such

an operation as 'Synchronize your watches/ however, all I

could think of was, 'Boys, if you get stuck head for Siberia 130

miles north, follow the mountain range. Good luck.' Watchedthe boats all the way in and radar easily tracked them by their

radar corners. I imagine the Barb is easily sighted from the

beach, but, I hope, hard to identify." Then at 0035, "Partylanded on the beach. Seconds dragging by. Feel positive that

once initial landing is made, unopposed, the rest will go off

smoothly. Momentarily expecting shots, flares, and a general

clamor, but the blackness of the night has engulfed us all in a

challenging silence."

Then at 0047 he had an awful moment. "An unscheduled

north-bound train coming up the tracks. No lights except from

the firebox, while smoke swirling back. The boys ashore must

be in the middle of their job now. Crossed my fingers and held

my breath. Imagination running rampant. . . . Train passing

by successfully. Heaved a sigh of relief and shifted that horse-

shoe around again."At 0132 he softly murmured, "Thank God. At last the boats

are leaving the beach. Muffled cheers from our side. Their

blinking becomes insistent. Perhaps they mistake us for a

patrol vessel. Gave them a short dash and darkness settled."

Then at 0145. "Ye Gods! Another north-bound train coming

up the tracks. Broke the silence to yell to the boats, 'Paddle

like the devil!' Entirely wasted, the boats have spotted the

train and the paddles are churning like egg beaters. The train

is getting closer and closer. Any second now. What a moment!

Even the boats have stopped to look. Everyone is awestricken

with the expectancy of momentary destruction. . . Wham!What a thrill! What a beautiful sight! The charge made a

much greater explosion than we expected, the engine's boilers

232 BATTLE SUBMERGED

blew, wreckage flew 200 feet in the air in a flash of flame and

smoke, cars piled up and rolled off the tracks in a writhing,

twisting mass of wreckage. Cheers! . . . Hauled the boats

aboard backed clear . , . kicked ahead and hauled out to

deep water. A small fire flickered alongside the tracks and,

shortly, lights of a car dashing along the road. Feel more

proud and happy over what my lads have done than I would

in sinking a hundred ships. Their stories are priceless. Bear

with me while I give you the highlights briefly as heard over

the medicinal libation.

"Our navigation, though chosen for such a coastline, was

about 500 yards off to the north. Haze covered the two close

peaks the party was to work in on, and the boat compass was

erratic. Consequently when the party landed they found

themselves in somebody's backyard, fifty yards from a house.

Fortunately, no dogs put in an appearance though dog tracks

with human barefoot prints alongside were noticed on the

beach. After a short period of huddled reconnaissance, the

main party left the boat guards and proceeded cautiously in-

land, skirting the houses. At this point what had appeared to

be grass, from our offshore view, turned out to be waist-high

bulrushes, which crumbled and crackled with every move,

shrieking out their presence. All shapes took on human form.

About 200 yards inland they came to the highway. Another

huddled reconnaissance. All clear, so Lieutenant Walker arose

starting a dash across the road and immediately fell head first

into a four-foot ditch. Picking himself up, he cautioned the

rest to watch out for the ditch, then made a dash across the

highway and immediately fell head first into the ditch on the

other side. A hundred yards farther and they arrived at the

track, reconnoitered and selected their spot. Having noticed

a peculiarly shaped object a short way down the tracks,

Markuson, a guard, was told to check on it and the guardswere sent out. Digging commenced, but soon stopped whensome one came running up the tracks. It was Markuson, who

SHORE BOMBABDMENT 233

reported,f

]eepers, that thing is a lookout tower/ When ques-tioned as to why he didn't give the alert to warn them of his

approach, he replied, 1 tried to whistle, but when I saw that

tower my mouth dried up.' Quiet continuing, he was againsent out. Digging recommenced, but the picks and shovels

shattered the night with loud ringing sounds. They were laid

aside and excavation continued dog fashion. A flickering light

was spotted down the tracks. A train? Work ceased. In properfrontier fashion all ears were pinned to the rails. No sound.

Turn to again.

"Suddenly at an estimated range of 75 to 100 yards a train

loomed up, roaring down on them. Nearly the entire partymade a dive for the nearest foxhole, the few remaining

squeezed themselves into hiding behind bushes six inches

high and two inches wide. The train blared past with the

engineer hanging far out of his cab and looking each of the

party over personally.

"When the initial foxhole crash dive was made, Hatfield,

the electrician, landed in such a fashion that both carbon

dioxide cartridges attached to his lifejacket went off. He was

sure he was shot, yet soon found that he was merely approach-

ing maternity as his Mae West inflated.

"The train by, the project hurried along with no untoward

occurrences, other than the boys' decreasing the microswitch

clearance to the rail well below what had been assigned just

to be sure it would work. Circuits were checked, the chargehooked up, the digging disguised, and then the night filled

with whippoorwills. (A rather incongruous bird in that lati-

tude.) A little difficulty was encountered in launching the

boats through the light surf with everyone getting a bit

soaked. About two-thirds of the way back they sighted the

train and thoroughly enjoyed watching the fruits of their

efforts being explosively plucked."And well they might. Perhaps Mountbatten's Commandos

or Carlson's Raiders might have done it differently. But no one

234 BATTLE SUBMERGED

could have bettered the complete success of the Barb's Com-

mandos.

The next day the irrepressible Barb planned further de-

struction. After all, they still had a collection of rockets

aboard, so why not present them to Shiritori on southeast

Karafuto. At noon on July 24 the submarine started "casing

the joint" submerged. "Planning a rocket massage tonight. It

is necessary to locate targets. This is a large factory town, one

chimney disappeared in the clouds, measured at better than

400 feet high. . . . Shiritori looks so promising that we plana triple rocket massage, two on the district, one on the town."

When they surfaced at 7:34 P.M. it was to receive a messagefrom the Boss telling them to depart the area. The King-fish

was already there to take over. But the Barb was not to be

dismissed so lightly. Although she had to carry out her orders

she was determined on this lastfling.

The Kingfish was at the

other end of the area. "It now becomes necessary to speed upour unfinished business/' observed the skipper.

At 9:17, "Man battle stations, rockets. Poor visibility, but

we have a nice radar picture. For this job one of the Jap charts

recovered from a sinking is proving invaluable. It has an en-

larged insert of Shiritori, including the plan of the factorydistrict. . . . Rockets away!!! Our first batch of twelve went

swishing on their way toward the factory district. First batch

landed with their customary heavy explosions. . . . Reload.

Rockets away!!! Second batch of eight headed for the fac-

tories. . . . Reload. . . . Twisted ship to get town in our

sights. . . . Second batch landed. Rockets away!!! Third

batch "off for the town. Third batch landed. Secured battle

stations, rockets. Set course for town of Kashiho, fifteen miles

south, to give its factories our final rocket massage as a re-

minder that no town can sit and laugh at the depth chargeswhile the Barb is getting her ears pinned back by a Temtsukioff shore. . . . Two large fires broke out at Shiritori, followed

SHORE BOMBARDMENT 235

by muffled explosions. . . . Reversed course . . . another

fire started. Many explosions, shooting flames up into the

heavy overcast. Crew came topside to enjoy the unexpectedeffect of our rockets, Circled while fires spread amid continu-

ing explosions. . . . Head south for Kashiho with fires and

explosions increasing."At 2:24 A.M. twelve rockets left the Barb heading for the

factories in Kashiho. They landed with loud explosions."After watching the result of their handiwork the Barb

moved over to Shiri for a 5-inch bombardment of the canner-

ies and other buildings there. No fires were started but con-

siderable damage was observed.

A course was then set to take them out of the area. There

was still some ammunition left aboard and the skipper

planned to expend that on the way out.

On the northwest coast of Kunashiri the town of Shibetoro

got the nod. A thriving sampan factory close to the beach

looked tempting.The 40-millimeter and 20-millimeter went to work to break

it up. When a bullet set off an oil tank the flames soon spreadover the mill and sampans. It quickly became a blazing in-

ferno. When they pulled out most of the factory had been

leveled with fire.

Then they sighted a trawler roaming by just after they had

used up the last of their shells!

But the Barb still had one more joker in her bag of tricks.

She had some hand grenades aboard which the Marines at

Midway had taught the crew to use. So the Barb calmly sweptback and forth under its stern and lobbed the grenades over.

They exploded with a loud bang but the trawler was a little

too tough to succumb until a fire broke out which the Japanesecould not get under control. Two prisoners were taken before

they left the trawler burning.One of the prisoners they had captured from a sampan near

236 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Shiri told them that he had read in the local Japanese news-

paper that their special train had been destroyed by a bomband that 150 men had been killed.

The Barb arrived at Midway on August 2. Before another

patrol could be started the murmurings of "Uncle" by the

Japanese had become loud and insistent for Hiroshima and

Nagasaki had been blasted.

Thus ended the war career of the incredible Barb and her

skipper, who during five patrols had accounted for over 178,-

000 tons of enemy shipping, plus inestimable extensive dam-

age ashore. When Admiral Nimitz was made Chief of Naval

Operations in December, he appointed Gene to be his per-sonal aide. It was an honor, of course, but it was a most abrupttransition for Gene to leave the realm of Buck Rogers and

Superman for the desk-bound paper-shuffling Washingtonshore.

The Submarine

In World War HI

IN WORLD WAR I the U-boats came perilously close to

defeating the Allies. Early in World War II, U-boat sinkingsof merchant shipping reached the disastrous figure of a million

tons a month. If the campaign as originally conceived by the

German Submarine High Command had continued, the Allies

could not have paid the price exacted of convoys crossing the

Atlantic. But internal jealousies in Hitler's General Staff and

American naval ingenuity combined to lick that problem just

in time to avert catastrophe.In the Pacific, our subs sank more Jap tonnage than all of

the .other services combined. That the submarines more than

any other single branch of the armed services were responsiblefor Japan's defeat is not a claim; it is the award of history. Theystarved Japan's industries for lack of raw materials and so de-

prived die enemy fleet and air force of fuel that the Empire's

collapse was only a matter of weeks when the atomic bomb

gave it the coup de grace.237

238 BATTLE SUBMERGED

Will the submarine play a major role in a third world war?The answer is an unequivocal yes.

At the conclusion of both world wars the German sub-

marine had features far in advance of ours or our Allies'. In

1919 and in 1946 the German submarine secrets were amongthe top prizes of war. The electric torpedoes we used in the

last war were developed from a German torpedo of 1918. On

VE-Day the Allied navies scrambled for the secret of the

snorkel and the Model 21 U-boat, for they knew that both of

these would revolutionize submarine warfare.

If the Germans in each war of their making were so far

ahead of their adversaries in submarine skills, why did theysuffer such an appalling loss of subs? Mainly, perhaps, because

the Germans had never been able to put their new develop-ments into mass production; of course, too, our anti-submarine

measures improved tremendously with practice in actual war-

fare. But these are not the decisive reasons.

The ultimate answer is the old Navy truism no ship is

any better than its skipper and his crew. German submarines

that were a generation ahead of the world's best could not

make their mechanical superiority felt because the crews wereinferior to the task.

The Germans began World War I with only a few subs,which so quickly demonstrated their ability to sink English

ships almost at will that there was a belated rush to expand the

U-boat navy. But the Germans learned it was easier to build

submarines than to provide experienced crews. There is noshort cut to experience in operating submarines. It demands

years spent in the boats themselves. So, although the Germanscontinued to increase the size of their submarine fleet and to

improve their boats tremendously with the ingenuity born of

desperation, the provision of experienced personnel couldnot keep pace. Then the essentially terrestial-minded HighCommand, both Imperial and Nazi, decreed that the Armyand Air Force had first rights to the diminishing resources of

THE SUBMARINE IN WORLD WAH HI 239

critical materials and human intelligence. The submarine

service lost its privilege of having the choice of carefully

selected personnel, The result was a minimum of improvedsubmarines manned by inferior crews, facing vastly improvedAllied anti-submarine measures, which produced a rapid de-

cline in U-boat sinkings and an increasing loss of submarines

with consequent and decisive loss of the morale of that

service.

Admittedly, if the U-boats of 1918 had been manned by the

skilled and daring personnel of 1914 and 1915 a large part of

the American Expeditionary Forces would never have reached

the shores of France and the complexion of the war, if not the

result, would have undergone a drastic change.The United States submarine service started with the

premise learned at German expense that when World War II

came we must have enough experienced skippers to fight a

four-year war with full allowance for all normal battle attri-

tion to our boats, and experienced personnel to back up the

commanders. The plan worked. Skippers commanding our

boats at the beginning of the war had been in the service at

least ten years. At no time during the war was a submarine

sent out on a patrol with a skipper who had less than six or

seven years' experience. The results amply rewarded the care-

ful training and planning of over twenty years.

The Germans, too, had not forgotten, and at the start of

World War II they were inflicting appalling losses on the

Allied life line with their U-boats. True, the Allies were sink-

ing U-boats but the Germans were replacing them in greater

numbers, and maimed by experienced personnel, according to

carefully laid plans. Then, once again, the error of 1917-1918

was repeated. The U-boat boys were receiving too much ac-

claim for their feats, and jealous Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe

leaders, competing for the Dictator's favor, began to whisperin the ears of their Fuhrer. They insinuated that the subs were

needlessly receiving more than their share of the cream of the

240 BATTLE SUBMERGED

crop at the expense of the Fiihrer's own pride, the Army.Could it be a plot? The neurotic Hitler, frantic over reverses

in Africa and Europe, was convinced. The result was that the

flow of selected personnel to the U-boats was cut off. The

Army command even went a step farther. The highly trained

personnel of the undersea craft were taken off for Army duty,

and replaced with crews that had not even seen a submarine

before. Material needed for building more of the snorkel and

21-type submarines was diverted to tanks and planes. The

U-boat ceased to be a major factor in the war. Even the vastly

improved submarines when manned by inferior, inexperi-

enced personnel were not capable of interrupting the mount-

ing flood of American factory and man power surging against

the Fiihrer's forces. The skippers lacked both skill and daring,

especially in the face of vastly improved Allied anti-subma-

rine measures. Morale deteriorated until it took only a few

depth charges to explode close by for the U-boat to surface

and surrender. The sun had again set for German sea power.What if a third world war pits the Russian submarine

against Allied shipping bearing the weight of American in-

dustrial production and armies overseas? What would the task

of our own submarines be in such a conflict?

That the submarine in World War III will repeat its highly

important role of World Wars I and II is an assured fact. Con-

trol of the sea is still necessary to win a war, and the versatile

submarine can again tip the scales for the winning power. Tocounterbalance any submarine menace, a nation must possesstwo advantages, both stemming from a powerfully efficient

navy: A more effective submarine fleet than its enemy, andskillful enough anti-submarine measures and devices to neu-

tralize the enemy's subs when encountered.

Inasmuch as the Russians had access to all German sub-

marine plans at the close of World War II, and captured as

well the German constructors and naval officers to ensure

proper interpretation of blueprints and plans, it must be as-

THE SUBMARINE IN WORLD WAR HI 241

sumed that the Russian submarine of 1950 is as good as that

o the United States. If war comes in the next two or three

years it is probable that the submarines of both navies will

possess high speed and be capable of crossing the ocean at

depths from one to three hundred feet, making their detection

virtually impossible with present-day devices. Their weaponswill consist of electrically driven homing torpedoes of long

range. They will very likely launch rockets and guided missiles

at land targets and plant mines that will defy sweeping.

Where, then, will be the difference? Who wins?

The decision rests with two factors: anti-submarine meas-

ures and personnel.With German scientists lending their aid to the very capable

Russian ones, the race in anti-submarine measures will be

close, but in the matter of experienced personnel we will con-

tinue to excel.

What will have to be done to combat the submarines that

will be sent in against the United States in another war is de-

scribed by Rear Admiral Charles B. Momsen, USN, foremost

authority in submarine development and also in anti-subma-

rine countermeasures. "If another war comes," said Admiral

Momsen, "submarines could be used against us for mine lay-

ing, attacks against shipping and naval units, as radar picketsto give advance warning of air raids, as troop carriers, cargo

carriers, and guided-missile launchers. The type of submarine

to be dealt with would be an improvement over the WorldWar II type. This new type, which we now call the inter-

mediate, caused great consternation, among naval staffs, for

in one stroke the position of the submarine had been restored.

"There were not a great many of these new craft built and

since it takes quite a while to build new types, we have had

time to work up defenses against it. Since World War II a

great deal of effort has been placed upon the solution of this

knotty problem."Defense against submarines will be along these lines:

242 BATTLE SUBMERGED"Aerial bombardment of enemy submarine bases and build-

ing yards, if completely effective, would be a solution. Notethat this requires carriers with their supporting ships andland-based planes with their supporting bases. Experience has

taught us, however, that in spite of great effort in bombing,

only a limited number will be destroyed by this means. . . .

"Mining harbors and channels if completely effective could

prevent submarines from getting to sea. Mining requires air-

craft, surface ships and submarines. We are not so naive as to

believe that this can be entirely successful and we feel certain

that some would escape to the open sea but a significant

number will be sunk.

"Next, we could place our submarines across the passagesof egress to the open sea. This would require submarines and

supporting air and surface units. Again only a percentage of

enemy boats would be intercepted.

"Regretfully we must face the fact that we would have sub-

marines prowling the high seas searching out and threateningour merchant ships and fleets.

"If they remain submerged at all times, making use of the

snorkel, it would be very difficult for our aircraft and shipsto discover them. Even so, extensive air power, sufficient to

keep the submarines submerged, would produce importantresults in reducing their mobility."When those which have overcome all of these difficulties

do find targets, their capability to strike effectively is verygreat, for the range of the modern torpedo is so great that it

outranges our present detection devices. . . .

"In both fleets, submarines are especially designated to

evolve the best technique of destroying enemy submarines.It is well to point out that submarines operating in ambush in

fixed positions are able to remain very quiet, whereas the

enemy submarine intent on reaching his hunting ground is

committed to movement and movement means noise. Thereresults a battle of noise levels in which the anti-submarine

THE SUBMARINE IN WORLD WAR in 243

submarine holds the high cards. We are now constructing a

new type of submarine called the SSK-submarine killer. It is

around this type that we propose to build the submarine de-

fense against the submarine. I can say that from my own ex-

perience there is no foe that strikes more terror in the heart of

a submariner than enemy submarines operating in the same

waters. It is somewhat analogous to two blindfolded antago-nists armed with baseball bats, each waiting for the other to

break silence. . . . The most difficult part of the problem that

confronts us is defending ships from attack by those subma-

rines which are able to reach their targets."

Anti-submarine warfare has top priority in the Navy's prep-arations today. Naturally, progress in the art is in the top-secret category, but it can be said that significant advances

have been made in sonar devices, in the employment of heli-

copters against submarines, and in application of atomic en-

ergy. But equipment is no substitute for trained intelligence.

Consistently well-trained and highly experienced personnelenabled our submarines to overcome the obstacles imposed

by the enemy and reach their targets. In final analysis, no

machine can compensate for lack of the skill acquired through

years of long, hard experience.Attack and defense techniques, submarine handling under

severe service conditions, are acquired only by patiently

climbing the long, arduous road of experience. There is no

short cut. Therein lies our great advantage in any war in which

we would be involved in the next decade. Only the expert in

submarine warfare can expect to succeed in its antithesis,

anti-submarine warfare. One must know by experience such

experience as this book has tried to relate the maximum po-tentialities of the submarine in order to combat it in the hands

of an adversary.We know that the least profitable area of anti-submarine

warfare is on the high seas. We know that the submarine is

more vulnerable when it is on the surface and logic as well

244 BATTLE SUBMERGED

as naval science tells us that it is therefore most vulnerable

when it cannot but remain on the surface, which is on the

building-ways and in the fitting pens.In the only war which present prospects can involve us, die

outcome will hinge wholly on the ability of the United States

to deliver its man power and industrial production at the

enemy's gates. Even as we realize that the best area in which

to defeat the submarine is on land, the potential enemy knowsthat the best place to defeat our superlatively equipped armies

is on the ocean, before they can reach the battlefield.

If there is any moral finally to be drawn from this book, it

is not so much satisfaction with the superiority of the subma-

rines of the United States Navy as it is appreciation of the

most versatile instrument of warfare, bar none. Herein youhave read what the submarine could do, and now even better

can do, in expert hands. It behooves us to prevent the possi-

bility of a like book being written by our adversary in WorldWar III.

To that prevention, the Silent Service is grimly but confi-

dently dedicated.

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