Snuffy
05-20-07, 09:12 PM
On September 9th 1942 at 05:00 hours the USS Shark departs Perth-Fremantle and heads north on patrol under the command of Capt. Snuffy. Our mission is to patrol off the Phillippines and engage enemy shipping, but after two tries we don't make it.
The date above is the start of the first leg of the mission. We made it as far as Tara Island in the Mindoro Straight on October 11th, when we polished off our fish and gun ammo. We radioed a convoy contact and was told by COMSUBPAC to RTB at our discression. Instead we stopped off at Exmouth Gulf and got a refit with a tender, and headed back to our assigned patrol destination, which we did not reach the second time either. Again we made it no farther than the northwest coast of Celebes Island. We took some damage from this battle and decided to call it a mission end and headed back to Perth-Fremantle.
The final tally of the two part unfinished mission was 2 tankers, 23 cargo ships, & 8 warships for a total of 115,713 Tons. One of the tankers was a "Large Modern Tanker" that weighed in at 10,0002 Tons, and one of the cargo ships was a "Huge European Liner" weighing in at 18,765 Tons. With the exception of 2 medium gun boats, all the warships were DDs.
USS Shark returned to Perth-Fremantle on October 28th 1942 and was dry docked for repairs before her next mission.
Due to Capt. Snuffy's failure to complete his previous assignment, he and his crew and the USS Shark have been reassigned to patrol of the north of the Phillippines again.
The date above is the start of the first leg of the mission. We made it as far as Tara Island in the Mindoro Straight on October 11th, when we polished off our fish and gun ammo. We radioed a convoy contact and was told by COMSUBPAC to RTB at our discression. Instead we stopped off at Exmouth Gulf and got a refit with a tender, and headed back to our assigned patrol destination, which we did not reach the second time either. Again we made it no farther than the northwest coast of Celebes Island. We took some damage from this battle and decided to call it a mission end and headed back to Perth-Fremantle.
The final tally of the two part unfinished mission was 2 tankers, 23 cargo ships, & 8 warships for a total of 115,713 Tons. One of the tankers was a "Large Modern Tanker" that weighed in at 10,0002 Tons, and one of the cargo ships was a "Huge European Liner" weighing in at 18,765 Tons. With the exception of 2 medium gun boats, all the warships were DDs.
USS Shark returned to Perth-Fremantle on October 28th 1942 and was dry docked for repairs before her next mission.
Due to Capt. Snuffy's failure to complete his previous assignment, he and his crew and the USS Shark have been reassigned to patrol of the north of the Phillippines again.