Winter of 1944.
Marshall Islands.
U.S.S. Skate, Balao-Class.
Mission: Patrol Marshall Islands, Sink Merchant Convoys, Provide Support for Marine Landing.
Departure: January 3, 1944, Pearl Harbor
The dates from this point on are unavailable.
The U.S.S.
Skate set out for Marshall Island with a vetted crew of excellent skill and hand-chosen by Jack Russell, acting Commander of the ship.
[One Month Later]
We began our patrol of Marshall Islands to intercept any non-allied ships on approach to the islands. We spent two weeks without any contacts, meanwhile, the Marshall Landing went without a hitch. A decision was made to move further west, outside of Marshall Island's waters.
[One Week Later]
Radar contact, we tracked it eastbound towards Marshall, barring any assumptions, we believed it may have been bound for the islands to resupply their forces when we intercepted. Large Convoy of Tankers escorted by three Destroyers under the cover of dark were spotted. The
Skate closed into attack position at periscope depth and launched six torpedoes against two large tanker targets. Four torpedoes struck, two each. One sank immediately, the other's stern was in the water but still upright.
The destroyers were aware of the attack, but had no clue as to the direction as the tankers were at differering angles when the torpedoes detonated. We reloaded and fired another four torpedoes at medium tankers, striking both amidships and breaking them in half. The stern of both ships remained on the surface, screws in the air.
With the mediums dispatched, the Destroyers finally bore down upon us, one from the
Skate's stern. Two torpedoes were, as one of my crew stuccinctly put it, right down their d*mned throat. It was an immediate confirmed kill at 1,300 meters.
A second destroyer also bore down at us as we turned to deal with the burning large tanker that remained intact to our stern - we had passed it during our attack on the smaller ships, as well as the offensive-defensive manuever against the rearward destroyer. The additional destroyer once again took two torpedoes head on, one detonating directly underneath the command tower. The tower was blown clean off, while it broke in two.
The third destroyer was of trivial concern as it was using searchlights to attempt to locate us, because the destruction of the ships had generated sufficent noise to render their sonar useless - that, and there were multiple wrecks between us and them. We breached the surface and used the deckgun to finish off the persistent tanker - which was listing to port and awash up to its second stack, blasting a foolish gunner from the deck with a single shell. I don't know what that man was thinking, believing that he could defend a mortally wounded and unrecoverable ship with a dual machine gun, as the shell impacted against his emplacement. The annoyance silenced, we punched two holes in the bow and permanently sank her.
The last destroyer escort was already closing distance, and we expended the remaining torpedoes in a last attempt to wipe the remaining tankers - one medium and two small ships in the distance, while sending a farewell gift to the escort that bore down on us. Our watch crew reveled in the detonation that resulted as all torpedoes on the targets detonated.
We celebrated by having some well-brewed coffee on the way back through Marshall Islands - now under Allied control - bound for Midway for refit.
Final killcount: 2 large tankers, 3 medium tankers, 1 small tanker. 3 destroyers sunk.
Tonnage: 45,000+.
[Two days later.]
We were entering the Marshal waters as we were constantly harassed by submarine-hunting planes. Their aim had been so crude that we did not even need to submerge to evade their bombs. It had become so routine that our crew did not shrug when a pair of Betties came by and lobbed their six-pack bombs at us, missing by over ten to fifty meters.
One fateful morning, we were foolish to think that a Zero would miss. It was a near-direct hit to our stern, as our Anti-Aircraft attempted to shoot it down before the payload was dropped. It detonated near our screws, effectively buckling our hull in the engine room up to the command room. We began to take on water, as the damage control got to work - I think their priorities were a bit mixed.
We managed to repair the bulkheads by the end of the day, and even though the
Skate had fully submerged due to the amount of water in the rear quarter...we had sunk to a depth of 255 feet, before managing to blow the ballast in time before we reached hull crush depth. We rose to a reading of 60 feet, although our bow was the only thing out of the water. We began to pump the water out of the astern torpedo room and engineering rooms.
By midday our deck was above water, and we mounted a defensive measure against the three bombers that approached the
Skate, which was dead in the water.
Two of the bombers were on a direct track for us, and were promptly shot down before they could offload their bombs. The third managed to drop the bombs, but they exploded well off our bow. That plane, too, was shot down.
Finally, by dusk, we had our engines working to some capacity, and made for Midway with all capable speed through the Marshall Islands' defenses of cruisers and destroyers. It was a shame that a submarine tender wasn't in that flotilla, although we optimized our repairs during the journey and made our arrival to Midway late in the season.
Further repairs were done, and we made for Pearl Harbor before heading to San Francisco for an overhaul.
Amazingly enough, we suffered no casualties throughout our first war patrol. Our egos had been bruised sufficently enough that in hindsight, we were extremely lucky to survive -- and that pilot was very lucky to land such a crippling blow.
We received a naval commendation for sinking the convoy that had been bound for Marshall to resupply the japanese forces holding that area.
I look forward to our next war patrol - our lessons learned from the winter-spring patrol certainly will play a major role when we encounter air forces in the future.
-Signed,
Jack Russell, Captain of the Balao-Class Submarine,
U.S.S. Skate
[Photo Courtesty of the U.S. Navy Archives - U.S.S. Skate passing a destroyed Tanker]
