DeepSix
05-05-06, 06:33 PM
I'm sure this is familiar to navy buffs, but I only learned it a couple days ago; perhaps there are a few others who don't know (sorry, it's kinda long).
Sculpin and Squalus were sister ships (SS-191 and SS-192) of the Salmon-class, both commissioned in 1939. On May 23 of that year, during a test dive, Squalus partially flooded and sank in about 240 feet of water, killing twenty-three. The survivors deployed the sub’s emergency buoy, which floated to the surface carrying with it an emergency telephone connected to the sub (standard equipment). Squalus was located by Sculpin, her survivors rescued with a rescue diving bell, and – after much effort – the boat herself was raised and eventually recommissioned as Sailfish about a year later. It was determined that the sinking had been caused by a faulty main induction valve.
Although raised, repaired, and rechristened, Sailfish became something of an ill-omened boat. Some crew considered her jinxed and took to calling her "Squailfish." Determined to break the superstition, her first wartime skipper informed the crew that anyone caught calling her "Squailfish" would be court-martialed; however, he suffered a nervous breakdown during the first depth-charging the boat received and ordered his exec to take command and to confine him to his stateroom. The problem of morale was certainly not isolated to Sailfish, nor was her captain the only one to crack, but Sailfish continued to have problems through several patrols and under different captains.
Although her second skipper fared reasonably well with Sailfish, her third – despite having conducted aggressive (and successful) patrols on his previous command – was relieved after three patrols for lacking aggressive tactics. His replacement was even less aggressive and was relieved after just one patrol. Morale sank so low on Sailfish that she became the subject of an unofficial investigation and received, as a result, an almost entirely new wardroom staff as well as a new skipper.
In late 1943, Sailfish's sister ship Sculpin was one of several boats assigned to special missions during the invasion of Tarawa. On board for her mission was the submarine's division commander, John Cromwell. Cromwell knew all the invasion battle plans and also knew about Ultra (the codebreaking that enabled the U.S. to track Japanese naval moves). Sculpin attacked a convoy on November 18, 1943, going deep after firing so as to avoid the depth charges. However, the convoy had left a "sleeper" behind as it made its escape. Sculpin surfaced only to find a destroyer waiting for her. She dived again and waited several hours before coming up for another look.
On the way up, the depth gauge stuck at 125 feet. The diving officer did not realize this and so continued to pump water out and kept the planes up, and Sculpin broached. The destroyer attacked again, and this time the depth charges did severe damage. Sculpin’s captain decided to try duking it out on the surface. As soon as he surfaced, though, one of the destroyer’s first gun salvos struck the bridge and killed him, his exec, and the gunnery officer. Command now passed to the senior-most officer, who gave the order to abandon ship and told the chief to open the vents. Cromwell felt that he knew too much about both the invasion and Ultra and so chose to stay behind, as did the diving officer whose mistake had brought Sculpin out of the water. Ten other men also went down with the ship; some may have been dead or wounded, others may have feared capture and treatment in prison camp.
Of the survivors picked up by the destroyer, one man was badly wounded and the Japanese simply threw him back into the water. The others were taken to Truk and interrogated for ten days. After that, they were divided into two groups for transport back to Japan – 21 on the aircraft carrier Chuyo and 20 on the carrier Unyo. When these carriers (plus the Zuiho) left Truk, USN codebreakers (unaware of the prisoners on board) picked it up and several boats were sent after them.
Among them was Sailfish (former Squalus), now with a new captain (following the investigation) who was trying everything he could to improve morale, despite a hot torpedo run that put a tube out of commission for the rest of the patrol. Sailfish moved to intercept the Japanese carriers and caught up with them in the middle of a typhoon. Despite the confusion of the storm and a stiff counterattack from the escorts, Sailfish made a successful attack and became the first submarine to sink a Japanese carrier: Chuyo, 20,000 tons.
In a sad and ironic twist, though, 20 of the 21 Sculpin survivors were lost when Chuyo was sunk. Sailfish had unknowingly torpedoed crewmen from the boat that had helped rescue her some four years earlier. Almost as many crew were lost from Sculpin as had been lost on Squalus (although by now the original crews had long since rotated to other duties). But Sailfish had finally shaken off her "jinx;" she served out the rest of the war with distinction – and without another change of command.
Sculpin and Squalus were sister ships (SS-191 and SS-192) of the Salmon-class, both commissioned in 1939. On May 23 of that year, during a test dive, Squalus partially flooded and sank in about 240 feet of water, killing twenty-three. The survivors deployed the sub’s emergency buoy, which floated to the surface carrying with it an emergency telephone connected to the sub (standard equipment). Squalus was located by Sculpin, her survivors rescued with a rescue diving bell, and – after much effort – the boat herself was raised and eventually recommissioned as Sailfish about a year later. It was determined that the sinking had been caused by a faulty main induction valve.
Although raised, repaired, and rechristened, Sailfish became something of an ill-omened boat. Some crew considered her jinxed and took to calling her "Squailfish." Determined to break the superstition, her first wartime skipper informed the crew that anyone caught calling her "Squailfish" would be court-martialed; however, he suffered a nervous breakdown during the first depth-charging the boat received and ordered his exec to take command and to confine him to his stateroom. The problem of morale was certainly not isolated to Sailfish, nor was her captain the only one to crack, but Sailfish continued to have problems through several patrols and under different captains.
Although her second skipper fared reasonably well with Sailfish, her third – despite having conducted aggressive (and successful) patrols on his previous command – was relieved after three patrols for lacking aggressive tactics. His replacement was even less aggressive and was relieved after just one patrol. Morale sank so low on Sailfish that she became the subject of an unofficial investigation and received, as a result, an almost entirely new wardroom staff as well as a new skipper.
In late 1943, Sailfish's sister ship Sculpin was one of several boats assigned to special missions during the invasion of Tarawa. On board for her mission was the submarine's division commander, John Cromwell. Cromwell knew all the invasion battle plans and also knew about Ultra (the codebreaking that enabled the U.S. to track Japanese naval moves). Sculpin attacked a convoy on November 18, 1943, going deep after firing so as to avoid the depth charges. However, the convoy had left a "sleeper" behind as it made its escape. Sculpin surfaced only to find a destroyer waiting for her. She dived again and waited several hours before coming up for another look.
On the way up, the depth gauge stuck at 125 feet. The diving officer did not realize this and so continued to pump water out and kept the planes up, and Sculpin broached. The destroyer attacked again, and this time the depth charges did severe damage. Sculpin’s captain decided to try duking it out on the surface. As soon as he surfaced, though, one of the destroyer’s first gun salvos struck the bridge and killed him, his exec, and the gunnery officer. Command now passed to the senior-most officer, who gave the order to abandon ship and told the chief to open the vents. Cromwell felt that he knew too much about both the invasion and Ultra and so chose to stay behind, as did the diving officer whose mistake had brought Sculpin out of the water. Ten other men also went down with the ship; some may have been dead or wounded, others may have feared capture and treatment in prison camp.
Of the survivors picked up by the destroyer, one man was badly wounded and the Japanese simply threw him back into the water. The others were taken to Truk and interrogated for ten days. After that, they were divided into two groups for transport back to Japan – 21 on the aircraft carrier Chuyo and 20 on the carrier Unyo. When these carriers (plus the Zuiho) left Truk, USN codebreakers (unaware of the prisoners on board) picked it up and several boats were sent after them.
Among them was Sailfish (former Squalus), now with a new captain (following the investigation) who was trying everything he could to improve morale, despite a hot torpedo run that put a tube out of commission for the rest of the patrol. Sailfish moved to intercept the Japanese carriers and caught up with them in the middle of a typhoon. Despite the confusion of the storm and a stiff counterattack from the escorts, Sailfish made a successful attack and became the first submarine to sink a Japanese carrier: Chuyo, 20,000 tons.
In a sad and ironic twist, though, 20 of the 21 Sculpin survivors were lost when Chuyo was sunk. Sailfish had unknowingly torpedoed crewmen from the boat that had helped rescue her some four years earlier. Almost as many crew were lost from Sculpin as had been lost on Squalus (although by now the original crews had long since rotated to other duties). But Sailfish had finally shaken off her "jinx;" she served out the rest of the war with distinction – and without another change of command.