longest career by a U.S. skipper?

[Bilge_Rat]

This is more of a trivia question, but does anyone know which U.S. skipper served for the longest time at sea in WW2?

I was reading up on Wreford "Moon" Chapple who commanded S-38 in Manila on dec. 8/41 and famously sneaked into Lingayen Gulf to sink an enemy transport. He was then given command of U.S.S. Permit in feb. 42 and took her out on 6 war patrols until august 43. He then commissioned U.S.S. Bream and took her out on 3 war patrols in june-november 44, pulling into port as skipper for the last time on november 22nd, 1944.

so 3 boats=10 war patrols=3 years. Did anyone have a longer wartime career?

[Stealhead]

You are only counting half of the picture men that where commanders pre and early war probably already had at least 6 or 7 years in subs at sea and some a few years in surface ships as well so an early war sub commander easily had almost a decade of sea time under his belt or more. Even guys that became COs later in the war likely had at least a few years in subs as lower officers prior.The US Navy preferred sub COs to have at least a few years experience prior to becoming a CO.

Here is a listing of the actual lengths of his war patrols or at least some of them If you really wanted to you could request to see his military records and find out exactly how many sea hours he had. Sounds to me like he was one of the most experienced sub officers actually still at the front and not at a desk.

http://www.uscusers.com/balsam/196.htm

That is 10 war patrols over a three year time span not 3 years actually at sea.The 10 war patrols might have equated to a full year combined I dont know you would have to look up a given CO discover his entire sea time in subs if it is listed or calculate the total time at sea for each patrol he went on as a submariner. I think they measure it in hours and they calculate total miles covered some long term sailors are given an award for huge numbers of hours.

[Armistead]

Chapple with 10-11 as actual Captain on patrol may have the record during war, seems he had the record for actual number of patrols. I went looking, but found no one that exceeded him..yet.

I would guess time at sea as well as Captain during war.

[WernherVonTrapp]

The longest certified career as a submarine captain is 18 years 9 months 26 days and was achieved by Wonjang Kim and Kwanghyun Kim (both South Korea) as of 17 October 2007.:D

The longest submerged and unsupported patrol made public is 111 days (57,085 km 30,804 nautical miles) by HM Submarine Warspite (Cdr J. G. F. Cooke RN) in the South Atlantic from 25 November 1982 to 15 March 1983.:D

Most successful submarine commander was
Lothar von Arnaud de la Perière (the captain of the German submarine U-35) fought in the German Imperial Navy in World War I, during which he sank an astounding 194 ships with a total tonnage of 454,000 Gross Registered Ton (GRT). In many cases the vessels were unescorted merchant ships, meaning that the submarine's crew would board the vessel, inspect its cargo, and allow the crew to board lifeboats. It would then be sunk using the sub's 88 mm (3.5 in) deck gun to conserve torpedos.:D

The largest target ever sunk by a submarine was the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano (72,890 tonnes or 160.9 million lb), sunk by USS Archerfish (Cdr Joseph F. Enright, USN) on 29 November 1944.:D

Largest gun on a submarine:
The three British Royal Navy M Class submarines (M1-3) developed towards the end of the First World War were fitted with a deck-mounted 30.48-cm (12-in) gun, a weapon more commonly found in turrets on battleships. The diesel-electric powered submarines were 90.5 m (297 ft) long, had a surface displacement of 1,600 tonnes (3.5 million lb), and could travel at 8 knots (15 km/h or 9 mph) submerged and at 14 knots (26 km/h or 16 mph) on the surface.:D

[TorpX]

This is more of a trivia question, but does anyone know which U.S. skipper served for the longest time at sea in WW2?


Are you interested in the number of war patrols, or the length of time at sea? In any case, remember, that many skippers were on one or more war patrols, as XO's or in another capacity, before they were given their own commands.

[Armistead]

German's and Brit's, etc....don't count........see the thread title.:O:

[WernherVonTrapp]

German's and Brit's, etc....don't count........see the thread title.:O::haha: I know, but I couldn't resist. All those stats come from the Guinness Book of World Records. They had everything, but.