[Macgregor the Hammer]

Fall of the Rising Sun Ultimate v1.2

USS Gudgeon SS-211 Tambor Class
Pearl Harbor
LtCdr. Ian ‘Sandy’ MacDonald
July 1942, 4 weeks out of Pearl

First patrol area: Southern Marshalls
Spent 5 days patrolling the assigned area with no enemy contact. We parked ourselves on the convoy resupply route from Truk and Wake Island. COMSUBPAC reassigned us to an area north of the first assignment. 3 days into the patrol, sonar reported a merchant 12 miles away. Attack party began the track and we set-up for a 90° zero gyro shot. The biggest concern was the surface chop. Seas were 4’-5’ due to a recent storm and I debated using the deck gun. We set the torpedoes to run a 5’. Surprisingly, none of them broached. Out of 4 torpedoes, 1 hit, 1 dud and 2 misses. The target was a Japanese auxiliary freighter, about 5000 tons. She was hit amidships and it was fatal. She instantly started to list and finally capsized and sank.

The tracking party officers and myself sat down in the ward room and reviewed the attack. We look at what went right and what needs improvement. The one item we all agreed on was a torpedo attack with high seas has to get much closer to the target track, a run <1000 yards. These review sessions are very helpful in developing better skills and team work.