Little known facts about WWII US Sub Warfare

[swdw]

Copied from the US Sub Vets of WWII site.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS
by Bill Wolfe, Editor of Polaris

The first Japanese casualty to American arms during WW-II was an aircraft shot down on Dec. 7th, 1941 by the Tautog.


The first submarine force casualty sufferedd in WW-II was G. A. Myers, Seaman 2, shot through the right lung when Cachalot was strafed during the Pearl Harbor raid.


The first "live" torpedoes to be fired by a Pearl Harbor submarine was fired by the Triton (Lent), 4 stern tubes fired on the night of Dec. 10, 1941.


The first Pearl Harbor boat to be depth charged was the Plunger (White) on Jan. 4, 1942 - 24 charges.


The first "down the throat" shot was fired by Pompano on Jan. 17, 1942.


The first Japanese warship to be sunk was torpedoed by Gudgeon (Grenfell) at 9 AM on Jan. 27, 1942, the IJN I-173 (SS).


The first major Japanese warship lost to submarines during WW-II was the heavy cruiser Kako which fell victim to S-44 (Moore) on Aug. 10, 1942.


The first submarine to fire on a battleship was Flying Fish (Donaho) Sept. 1942, damaging a Kongo class BB.


The first submarine to fire on an aircraft carrier was Trout (Ramage), Damaging Taiyo, August 28, 1942.


The first Japanese ship to be sunk by gunfire was by Triton (Kirkpatrick), near Marcus Island on Feb. 17, 1942. At the time, Kirkpatrick was the youngest skipper to get command at Pearl.


The first man to die in submarine gun action was Michael Harbin, on Silversides, May 1942.


The first rest camp for submarine crews was established at a military encampment at Malang, in the mountains of Java, 89 miles from Soerabaya. Three days were allotted to submarine crews there in January 1942.


The first TDC (Mark 1) was installed in the Cachalot.


The Plunger was the first boat to sustain an "arduous" depth charge attack and survive.
In September 1936, Cdr. C. A. Lockwood Jr., assumed command of SubDiv 13 composed of the new boats Pike, Porpoise, Shark and Tarpon.


On December 31, 1941, Captain Wilkes evacuated Corrigidor on board the Seawolf to establish a new base at Soerabaya, Java. Simultaneously Capt. Fife boarded Swordfish and sailed to Darwin, Australia.


Expressing the view that Japan could not hope to be victorious in a war with the U.S., Admiral Yamamoto was "shanghaied" to the post of Commander of the Combined Fleet (from the Naval Ministry) to thwart a possible assassination at the hands of his many dissenters.


A survivor of the Jap carrier Kaga, at the Battle of Midway, told how some of his shipmates saved themselves by clinging to the air flask of a torpedo fired from Nautilus which hit the carrier and failed to explode, the concussion separating the warhead from the airflask.


LtCdr. Francis White was the only skipper who lost two submarines in combat, the S-39 and the S-44.


The IJN I-176 (Cdr. Kosaburo Yamaguchi) was the only Japanese boat to sink an American submarine (Corvina) during the war.


The last Japanese submarine to be sunk in the Pacific, the I-373, was torpedoed by Spikefish (Monaghan) on the morning of 13 Aug. 1945, in the East China Sea.


As late as July 1945 Japanese guns on the cliffs of Lombok Strait shelled the Loggerhead as she proceeded through the strait on the surface.


In July 1945 Bugara (Schade) operating in the Gulf of Siam, sank 12 junks, 24 schooners, 16 coasters, 3 sea trucks and one naval auxiliary, all by gunfire.


In the early morning hours of June 22, 1945, Barb, (Fluckey) fired a dozen 5-inch rockets into the town of Hokkaido from 5000 yards off shore.


A Japanese prisoner, recovered from a wrecked aircraft by Atule (Mauer) had the following items in his pockets: 7 packs of Jap cigarettes, 1 pack of British cigarettes, calling cards, ration books, club tickets, diary, note book, flight record and two magnetic detector tracers, with notes concerning them, a thick wad of money, a vial of perfume and a number of other personal items.


On the night of 8-9 December 1944, in a coordinated attack with Sea Devil, Redfish heavily damaged the aircraft carrier Hayataka; ten days later she sank the newly built carrier Unryo.


When Robalo was sunk, presumably by a mine, on 26 July 1944, five of her crew swam ashore and were captured by Japanese military police and jailed for guerrilla activity.
They were evacuated by a Jap destroyer on 15 August and never heard from again.


On 27 Oct. 1944 Rock fired 9 torpedoes at Darter, stranded on Bombay Shoal.


In Feb. 1943 Tautog (Sieglaff) laid mines off Balikpapan, Borneo. In April 1944, the Jap destroyer Amagiri struck one of these mines and sank. This was the same destroyer which rammed the PT-109, commanded by J.F.Kennedy.


The first boat to be equipped with QLA sonar for locating mines, was Tinosa.


When Admiral Nimitz assumed command of the Pacific Fleet in Jan. 1942, he raised his flag on the submarine Grayling. Relinquishing command nearly four years later, he lowered his flag on the submarine Menhaden.


America's first Japanese POW was sub-Lieut. Sakamaki, captured when his midget submarine, launched from the I-18, struck a reef in Kaneohe Bay and he swam ashore and surrendered.


The second Japanese submarine sunk, a midget caught inside Pearl Harbor and sunk by the seaplane tender Curtiss, was later raised. Too badly damaged for intricate examination, it was used as fill-in material in the construction of a new pier at the submarine base.


During 520 war patrols in 1944, submarines fired 6,092 torpedoes, more than in 1942-43 combined (5,379).


Statistically it took 8 torpedoes to sink a ship in 1942, 11.7 in 1943, 10 in 1944.


During 1944, 117 navy and air force personnel were rescued by U.S. Subs; The Tang (O'Kane) picked up 22 for the leader in this category.


During 1944 Japan lost 56 submarine, 7 to U.S. Submarines.


On Nov. 21, 1944, Sealion II (Reich) fired a salvo of fish at each of two BB's, the Kongo and Haruna. The Kongo was hit and sunk, but the DD Urakazi intercepted the fish meant for Haruna and was instantly sunk.


Message to all submarines on 13 April 1944: "Until further notice give fleet destroyers priority over maru types as targets for submarine attacks.


During 1944 U. S. submarines sank 1 BB, 7 Cvls, 2 CA's, 7 CL's, 3 DD's and 7 SS's of the Japanese navy.


So numerous were submarine attacks on the Singapore-to-Empire trade routes in 1944 that a common saying in Singapore was that "one could walk from Singapore to Tokyo on American periscopes.


Emperor Hirohito, upon learning of the Bataan death march at the conclusion of the war, stripped General Homma, the responsible commander, of his medals and decorations.
When the loss of Saipan was announced to the Japanese people on July 18, 1944, Prime Minister Tojo and his entire cabinet resigned.


On Feb. 22, 1945 the Flounder fired four fish at a Jap patrol boat. Two of the fish ran in a circle, causing Flounder to maneuver frantically to avoid disaster. On the following day she collided with Hoe.


The Flounder (Stevens) sank the only German U-boat that was credited to U.S. Submarines in the Pacific.


The last of the German commerce raiders, the Michael, was sunk by Tarpon (Wogan) on Oct. 18, 1943 while enroute to a Japanese port.


On December 28th the Dace (Cole) torpedoed the Japanese collier Nozaki, the last ship to be sunk in 1944.


The last large merchantman to be sunk by submarine during WW-II was the Hokozaki Maru, sunk March 19, 1945 by Balao (Worthington).


The last Japanese warship afloat in the South Pacific, the light cruiser Isuzu, was sunk by Charr (Boyle) after she was previously hit and badly damaged by Gabilan (Parham)
The Flasher sank more tankers than any other submarine.


The largest merchant ship sunk by submarines during WWII, the Tonan Maru #2 was sunk by Pintado (Clarey) on 22 August 1944.


Except for those officers who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, Commander Davenport was the most decorated man of the war.


During 1944, 14% of the CO's were relieved for non-productivity, 30% in 1942 and 14% in 1943.


A total of 7 reserve officers achieved command of a fleet submarine in WW-II

[Raptor1]

Originally Posted by swdw

The first Japanese casualty to American arms during WW-II was an aircraft shot down on Dec. 7th, 1941 by the Tautog.

Wasn't this the Ko-hyoteki midget submarine rammed by USS Ward an hour before the attack?

[swdw]

The term "arms" is a reference to some kind of weaponry being used- so the author was correct AFAIK

[Mush Martin]

Nice post but I differ with the fourth last point.


Empress of Canada I

Built in 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland, the 21,517 ton, 653 foot ocean liner undertook her maiden voyage occurred on May 5, 1922. Based at the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, the first Empress of Canada provided service to Japan, Hong Kong, and China. Following the outbreak of World War II in 1939, she was converted for use as a troopship. On March 13, 1943, while en route from Durban, South Africa to Takoradi carrying Italian prisoners of war, the Empress of Canada was torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine (01-13S 09-57W) approximately 400 miles (640 km) south of Cape Palmas off the coast of Africa. Of the approximate 1800 people on board, 392 died. She was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and her sister ships included Empress of France and Empress of Britain

[swdw]

This is not a historical dissertation, but a collection of some interesting details most peole don't know. Since people are so quick to find fault with this article, please keep in mind- it was written about US submarines and the date of the article ws not given, nor did he list all of his sources.

So in the context of the article the author was correct in his statemnet MM. If you look outside the context of the article, you are correct.

Raptor1, if he pulled info from war patrol reports, he would be using the names often associated with the reports.

[Mush Martin]

I wasnt intending to find any fault with the article myself only the
single point which I felt wasnt your error but likely someone elses
that compiled the original list. I think the only real problem even
with the point is that it doesnt limit itself to US subs which would
then make the claim 100% correct. its more a semantics thing I think
than anything else. Personally I for one am a great fan of posts
that fill in historical backgrounds for people.

I still think this is a great thread myself.
M

[edit] also im trying to resolve the difference between listed US and British
tonnage measurements I think the brits used long tonnes but I may be wrong
still looking.

[Raptor1]

Oh, right, sorry

[Rockin Robbins]

The website is ussubvetsofworldwarii.org. They only recognize what they know. They're sub jockeys, not historians comparing knowledge from all over the world. Their world is US submarine warfare in the Pacific and the Atlantic run down to the Panama Canal during WWII.

This is no more innacurate than someone from the middle ages talking about something being as immovable as the Earth. They told the truth so far as their experience could reach. So have the United States sub vets. You want to fight 'em?

[Raptor1]

On the night of 8-9 December 1944, in a coordinated attack with Sea Devil, Redfish heavily damaged the aircraft carrier Hayataka; ten days later she sank the newly built carrier Unryo.

Note about this, the Hayataka was actually the Junyō, the name of the ship was passed from a Japanese POW after the Battle of Midway and the Kanji (隼鷹) was misread as Hayataka, so the USN referred to this ship as the Hayataka for the duration of the war

[Jaeger]

Statistically it took 8 torpedoes to sink a ship in 1942, 11.7 in 1943, 10 in 1944.

if this would be simulated in sh4, we were very frustrated an demotivated when playing it, i think...

greetz, Jaeger

[Raptor1]

8 Torpedo hits, or 8 Torpedoes launched with only...say...3 hits?

[swdw]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

8 Torpedo hits, or 8 Torpedoes launched with only...say...3 hits?

Total torpedoes fired/ships sunk= torpedoes to sink ships. This is not the only place I've seen this discussed.

Why did it change for the worse as torpedoes got better? You need to have a big picture perspective. Here's only a couple of many reasons.

1. Later in the war, the japanese ASW was better.

2. Also keep in mind that when you give a directive to make fleet destroyers a priority target, the hit to miss ratio will change drastically. PLus SS skippers started taking on all kinds of ASW craft as they got more aggressive. This again changes the hit to miss ratio.

3. later in the war, larger targets were becoming scarce and more torpedoes were fired at smaller, more maneuverable, ships.

[Wilcke]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

8 Torpedo hits, or 8 Torpedoes launched with only...say...3 hits?

Torpedos expended per ship sunk. Not hits. Early on there was torpedo shortage so skippers were told one fish one ship.In the last two years of the PTO, torpedoes were no longer a short commodity and the skippers tended to shoot six fish at a time at targets. At least that is what I got out of Silent Victory.