[DeePsix501]

Patrol Report: 25 January 1942 – 17 Feburary 1942
USS Triton (SS-201)


Objective: USS Triton is to depart Pearl Harbor on 25 January for 165E 7N, just west of the Marshall Islands, and patrol. Report any enemy contacts.



25 January 1942 – Departed docks in Pearl Harbor at around 0800. Set course SSW to the Marshall Islands. Planned to pass south of the islands and come back north to my patrol sector. Weather looks promising, clear crisp January day. Crew is in high spirits after making it back from first patrol in time for New Years. They seem eager to give it back to the Japs after what happened on the 7th of last month. The island is still pretty shaken up about it.



29 January 1942 – Clear weather held until tonight. We are approximately 2/3 of the way to the Marshall Islands. At around 1800 wind and waves began to pick up and we have been bucking some pretty high seas. Despite rough swells, we plan to arrive on time to patrol sector. We run crash dive drills to keep the men on their toes.

1 February 1942 – We arrive at our patrol location west of the Marshal Islands on time. The sea is still pretty rough. No contacts as of yet. Will continue running patrol pattern.

2 February 1942 – At 0100 we picked up a contact bearing 090, closing south towards us. Set new course northwards and rushed to intercept. At 0252, visual contact is made. Watch identifies it as a friendly freighter. I confirm. Disappointedly return south to our patrol sector and send a status report to COMSUBPAC. I am unhappy with patrols productivity.



3 February 1942 – Patrol orders are completed. After discussion with my officers we decide the best place to hunt for merchant traffic is off the coast of Guam and Siapan, which lies to our west. We radio COMSUBPAC and the give us the green light to commence patrolling off coast of Guam. We set course so slide south of the islands and ring around north once we pass them to patrol the western coasts of Guam.



5-6 February 1942 - At around 2334 we get a contact report not far west of Guam, 145E, 14N. We plot intercept course. At 14:01 on the 16th we make visual contact with a ship bearing 347. We dive to periscope depth and begin to observe. We identify it as a medium modern composite freighter. We close distance and continue to observe. At 14:13 we line up a three torpedo salvo. Fire each with 5 degree spread. Two out of the three hit, one explodes prematurely. Target rolls to starboard and sinks.



We surface and continue north. At 17:13 we get another contact and plot intercept course. We make visual contact at 18:23 and we dive to periscope to avoid being silhouetted by the setting sun. After a few minutes of observation we identify her as a Medium Euro Composite Freighter and line up a firing solution. At 18:39 we fire another 3 torpedo salvo. Two hit, one miss. Ship explodes violently into flames and sinks.



We then surface and continue patrol. Just as darkness covers the sea we make visual contact with two more coastal freighters going from Siapan to Guam. We identify lead ship as a coastal freighter and rear one as a large old split freighter – which is exceptionally rusty and old looking. From our current position we really don’t have a shot on the lead ship, so we line up a four torpedo spread on the large split freighter. We fire salvo at 2315, three explosions. She sinks and we stay submerged till clear of other ship.



7 February 1942 – At 12:42 we are forced to crash dive by a large Jap search plane, probably from Guam. We continue submerged till nightfall.

8 February 1942 – At 0900 near Siapan, we make visual contact with a small freighter. Initial visual inspection is suspicious. We see large structures on the fore and aft decks which possibly could be deck guns of some sort. We think it might be a Q ship of some sort, so we dive as a precaution and continue to observe. As we draw closer we observe that it is in fact not a Q ship. We line up our last two forward torpedoes and fire at about 800m. One hits and the ship tries to limp away. We surface and finish her off with the deck gun. At around 1200 fuel is running low for return along with torpedoes and provision. We plot course back to pearl. At 1500 search plane forces us under till nightfall.



9 February 1942 – Nearing friendly waters. Friendly task forces pass by us on our way back. Haze and fog limits visibility. As a precaution we run underwater most of the day. Once we past 170E Longitude we should be home free.

13-14 February 1942 - Storms North of Marshall islands slowing progress. Continue running under water to avoid bucking heavy seas.



17 February 1942 – 0800 Dock at Pearl Harbor. The crew is again in high spirits. We ran into no escorts and suffered no casualties. We sunk four merchant ships on this patrol bringing our total to 7 enemy merchants sunk.