With our first patrol cut short by uncontrollable flooding in our aft torpedo room (I recommended a commendation for bravery for Chief Moseley who managed to secure the compartment and make sure he and everyone made it out) we set out on our second patrol intent on making up for lost time.
Following our being spotted by aircraft during daylight charging of our batteries as we approached Japan, sonar detected a warship heading to our position from long range (we later surmised that it was directed to us by the aircraft). When finally in view of our periscope the craft was small and it was approaching on a direct course. We were somewhat stationary with just enough push to shift heading. I ordered the helmsman to make full right rudder until our bow tubes were presented directly. Holding off until the craft was within 1000 yards, we fired off two torpedoes (knowing we've had some duds recently). One hit and the sub chaser went down quickly.
Closer to the coast running on the surface at dusk, we were again spotted by aircraft and dove to avoid. Once again a warship was directed to us with similar results to the first (using only one torpedo this time.
In our patrol zone we looked for merchant tonnage to sink. A large oiler (estimated to be 10,000 tons) was sighted but a nearby warship was making it impossible for us to surface and set up an intercept course. I ordered to make aft tubes available to sink what ended up being a destroyer escort. This ship, though, was not headed directly our way. It was running a search pattern nearby. Closing the distance while running in reverse, we got as close as possible, and attacked within 1200 yds. Two torpedoes were fired thirty seconds apart. When it was estimated the first torpedo missed the DE appeared to hone in directly and sped our direction. We emptied our remaining stern tubes. One out of the four hit its mark.
After the sinking of the DE we surfaced to catch up with the large oiler. We finally were able to set up a good shot on it several hours later and 3 torpedoes were fired, all three scoring hits with no duds. It broke in half and sank quickly.
Deciding to make our way back to deeper water, we crawled along with our battery charge low but managed to avoid being found. Surfacing at night, we resumed standard speed in order to make time while charging. After a couple of hours we received some light damage from a shore battery that went unnoticed by us on our way inbound through the shallow passage (near hits can still break things). We submerged at 2/3 speed for awhile then resurfaced to resume our escape to deeper waters but before that occurred we managed to find more merchant shipping of considerable tonnage and sending a tanker and merchant to the bottom.
Being low on torpedoes and being cleared to return from patrol when checking in, we made our way directly back to Pearl for replenishment and repairs.
Cdr. T.E. Sting