Friday, October 26, 2012

Submarines World War II History

LtCdr. Francis White was the only skipper who lost two

submarines in combat, the S-39 and the S-44.

The IJN I-176 (Cdr. KosaburoYamaguchi) was the only
Japanese boat to sink an American
submarine (Corvina) during the war.

The last Japanese submarine to be sunk in the Pacific, the
I-373, was torpedoed by Spikefish (Monaghan) on the
morning of 13 Aug. 1945, in the East China Sea.

As late as July 1945 Japanese guns on the cliffs of Lombok
Strait shelled the Loggerhead as she proceeded through the
strait on the surface.

In July 1945 Bugara (Schade) operating in the Gulf of
Siam, sank 12 junks, 24 schooners, 16 coasters, 3 sea
trucks and one naval auxiliary, all by gunfire.

In the early morning hours of June 22, 1945, Barb,
(Fluckey) fired a dozen 5-inch rockets into the town of
Hokkaido from 5000 yards off shore.

A Japanese prisoner, recovered from a wrecked aircraft by
Atule (Mauer) had the following items in his pockets: 7
packs of Jap cigarettes, 1 pack of British cigarettes,
calling cards, ration books, club tickets, diary, note
book, flight record and two magnetic detector tracers,
with notes concerning them, a thick wad of money, a vial
of perfume and a number of other personal items.

On the night of 8-9 December 1944, in a coordinated attack
with Sea Devil, Redfish heavily damaged the aircraft
carrier Hayataka; ten days later she sank the newly built
carrier Unryo.

When Robalo was sunk, presumably by a mine, on 26 July
1944, five of her crew swam ashore and were captured by
Japanese military police and jailed for guerrilla
activity. They were evacuated by a Jap destroyer on 15
August and never heard from again.

On 27 Oct. 1944 Rock fired 9 torpedoes at Darter, stranded
on Bombay Shoal.

In Feb. 1943 Tautog (Sieglaff) laid mines off Balikpapan,
Borneo. In April 1944, the Jap destroyer Amagiri struck
one of these mines and sank. This was the same destroyer
which rammed the PT-109, commanded by J.F.Kennedy.

The first boat to be equipped with QLA sonar for locating
mines, was Tinosa.

When Admiral Nimitz assumed command of the Pacific Fleet
in Jan. 1942, he raised his flag on the submarine
Grayling. Relinquishing command nearly four years later,
he lowered his flag on the submarine Menhaden.

America's first Japanese POW was sub-Lieut. Sakamaki,
captured when his midget submarine, launched from the
I-18, struck a reef in Kaneohe Bay and he swam ashore and
surrendered.

The second Japanese submarine sunk, a midget caught inside
Pearl Harbor and sunk by the seaplane tender Curtiss, was
later raised. Too badly damaged for intricate examination,
it was used as fill-in material in the construction of a
new pier at the submarine base.

During 520 war patrols in 1944, submarines fired 6,092
torpedoes, more than in 1942-43 combined (5,379).

Statistically it took 8 torpedoes to sink a ship in 1942,
11.7 in 1943, 10 in 1944.

During 1944, 117 navy and air force personnel were rescued
by U.S. Subs; The Tang (O'Kane) picked up 22 for the leader in this
category.

During 1944 Japan lost 56 submarine, 7 to U.S. Submarines.

On Nov. 21, 1944, Sealion II (Reich) fired a salvo of fish
at each of two BB's, the Kongo and Haruna. The Kongo was
hit and sunk, but the DD Urakazi intercepted the fish
meant for Haruna and was instantly sunk.

Message to all submarines on 13 April 1944: "Until further
notice give fleet destroyers priority over maru types as
targets for submarine attacks.

During 1944 U. S. submarines sank 1 BB, 7 Cvls, 2 CA's, 7
CL's, 3 DD's and 7 SS's of the Japanese navy.

So numerous were submarine attacks on the
Singapore-to-Empire trade routes in 1944 that a common
saying in Singapore was that "one could walk from
Singapore to Tokyo on American periscopes.

Emperor Hirohito, upon learning of the Bataan death march
at the conclusion of the war, stripped General Homma, the
responsible commander, of his medals and decorations.

When the loss of Saipan was announced to the Japanese
people on July 18, 1944, Prime Minister Tojo and his
entire cabinet resigned.

On Feb. 22, 1945 the Flounder fired four fish at a Jap
patrol boat. Two of the fish ran in a circle, causing
Flounder to maneuver frantically to avoid disaster. On the
following day she collided with Hoe.

The Flounder (Stevens) sank the only German U-boat that
was credited to U.S. Submarines in the Pacific.

The last of the German commerce raiders, the Michael, was
sunk by Tarpon (Wogan) on Oct. 18, 1943 while enroute to a
Japanese port.

On December 28th the Dace (Cole) torpedoed the Japanese
collier Nozaki, the last ship to be sunk in 1944.

The last large merchantman to be sunk by submarine during
WW-II was the Hokozaki Maru, sunk March 19, 1945 by Balao
(Worthington).

The last Japanese warship afloat in the South Pacific, thelight cruiser Isuzu,
was sunk by Charr (Boyle) after shewas previously hit and badly damaged by Gabilan (Parham)
The Flasher sank more tankers than any other submarine.

The largest merchant ship sunk by submarines during WWII,
the Tonan Maru #2 was sunk by Pintado (Clarey) on 22August 1944.

Except for those officers who received the Congressional
Medal of Honor, Commander Davenport was the most decorated
man of the war.

During 1944, 14% of the CO's were relieved fonon-productivity, 30% in 1942 and 14% in 1943.
A total of 7 reserve officers achieved command of a fleet
submarine in WW-II







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