Info on Historic Photo Intel Missions?

[fatty]

I am looking for sources on historic photo intelligence gathering missions carried out by subs in the Pacific. Does anyone have any tips? I can't find jack online except for a handful of periscope photos.

Were subs in the Pacific actually tasked to take photos of IJN ships and installations?

[CDR Resser]

Dick O'Kane writes about a photo recon mission that he and his crew performed in the TANG. They photographed Wake Is. and served as a lifeguard for a Marine bomber raid the during their 1st patrol.
It is included in the report of TANG's first patrol on the Legends of the Deep site and in his book Clear the Bridge.

Respectfully Submitted
CDR Resser

[tater]

No photo missions of ships was ever ordered, since it's a silly idea, lol.

They took pictures of island defenses, usually in preparation for landings.

[-Pv-]

Here's a little bit:
http://jmlavelle.com/gunnel/patrol1.htm

-Pv-

[Torplexed]

A lot of the first sub missions out of Pearl were recon missions of the Marshalls, Caroline, Marianas and Gilbert Islands since so little was known before the war about which islands there were the principal Japanese bases. Since these ex-German islands had been mandated to Japan after World War One they had become terra incognita to the United States. No US ship had been allowed to visit them since that period when the islands had belonged to Imperial Germany.

Although submarines were the only spies that could penetrate into this area beyond the range of shore-based aircraft, they were poorly adapted for this kind of reconnaissance. Even with the periscope fully extended their horizon was only about two miles and they could see nothing beyond the immediate beachead. Periscope photography was still in a rudimentary stage of development with few adequate cameras. Charts of the Mandate Islands were notoriously inaccurate and currents were of unknown force and direction. Many of the atolls were so large that a submarine keeping one atoll entrance under close observation would completely miss busy traffic through another channel a few miles distant.

Anyway...there's a bit of info about how US periscope recon got up and running. ;)

[bookworm_020]

I have a book wich metions some things about photo recons, alas it's in storage! What I remember is that, as posted above, most photo recons where of landing areas. This help some landing as it showed that some spots were not the best place to come ashore at ( defences, natural obstructions, populaton nearby).

One of the quirks of doing photgraphy through a periscope was finding a camera that could do a good job of it. One sub that was tasked with photo recon was given a camera and found that it was useless, so one of the officers pulled out his SLR and said have a go with it. it turned out it was the best camera for the job, the problem was it was a german manufactured camera! The Navy placed ads in photo magazines offering good prices for simliar cameras, they got 10 cameras in the end.

Japanese held island, being photograped by an american sub using a german camera!

Only one sub was ever lost on photo recon missions, but it wasn't the most popular of missions to get!

[LukeFF]

http://www.valoratsea.com/recon.htm

[aanker]

I saw a US Navy 35 mm sub periscope camera made by Kodak someplace that looked like a plain 1940's - 1950's era camera with the typical leather shoulder/neck strap and a lens tube on one end and an eye piece tube on the other and it looked like they just pressed it on to the periscope sight... no threads.

Can't remember where I saw it though... maybe a Sub museum? (been to a few over the years) ... phew! ... must be getting old. lol

Art

[Mush Martin]

They ended up using leicas where they could find them instead.

[tater]

Thanks for the link, luke, I had it someplace but forgot.

You'll see that every single photo mission in RL was invasion intel on beach defenses.