[fireftr18]

Captain Henry Limpid
USS Sea Lion

May 10, 1942
After getting back from patrol, I received word from Admiral Jimbuna that I’ll be captain of a new boat. I’ll also be adding to my current crew. The Admiral escorted me to a rusty old Sargo class boat. My “new” boat wasn’t so new after all. It turned out, Pearl gets the new boats, and their old one’s get sent to Brisbane, I guess you can’t get everything. My expanded crew wasn’t enough to fill all the empty slots. I turned around and looked at my old boat. At least the Sea Lion is better than the old leaky Pig boat we had.

We received our orders. Patrol off the coast of Rabaul. We made our way there. Our “new” boat was quieter, more spacious, and faster than our old boat. Other than drills and testing the boat, it was a quiet trip. We arrived on station and started a boring patrol. The weather was fair, and the sea was calm.

June 13, 1942
We got our first contact. We continued to track it by radar until it came in sonar range. Went to periscope depth and continued tracking her. XO Wolferz called general quarters. When she reached about 4,000 yards, I raised the scope. She was a loan freighter, a Nagara Maru class. Her belly was so full, she looked as if her decks were in danger of staying awash. In middle of the night, I felt confident we were not going to be seen.

Our boat was lined up to fire so that the fish would hit the ship at an angle. Torpedoes set for slow speed, contact detonator, depth set shallow. Ordered all four tubes fired.

After hearing from Chief Petty Officer Steve that the fourth fish was fired, I ordered the rudder to a full turn. Increased speed to full, to line up the boat for a stern shot, just in case.

After waiting, my firing officer, Ensign Aktungboy announces, “Torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir.” How can four torpedoes be duds?

After the stern was lined up, we were about 2,000 yards away. I ordered speed to slow. I ordered all four stern tubes fired. Then just watched and waited while the empty tubes were being loaded.

After waiting, Ensign Aktungboy announces, “Torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir, torpedo is a dud, sir.” What’s going on here? How can our brand new Mk 14s all be duds? We must be doing something wrong.

At this point, even tube one hadn’t been loaded yet. A decision needed to be made. I looked carefully at the ship’s deck. Wolferz used the observation scope and did the same. We both came to the same conclusion. The Japanese ship didn’t have any armament on board. I ordered the emergency tanks blown. We’re going to sink this thing the old fashioned way. I ordered my navigation officer, Lieutenant Armistead to keep the boat lined up with the ship. Chief Petty Officer Scurvy got his crew together and started firing as quickly as they could.

After a lot of great shots and a couple pretty fire balls, the Nagara Maru started sinking beneath the waves at 08:44.