What the FRAK?!?!?!!

[PopManiac]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

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A list I posted a while back...by no means complete, but just to show that many, many successful skippers only went on about 5 patrols.

Slade Cutter, USS Seahorse: 4 patrols, 72,000 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Gordon Underwood, USS Spadefish: 3 patrols, 75,386 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Henry Bruton, USS Greenling: 4 patrols, 54,564 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Robert Dornin, USS Trigger: 3 patrols, 54,595 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Malcom Garrison, USS Sandlance, 4 patrols, 37,368 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
John Moore, USS Grayback: 3 patrols, 45,757 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Eli Reich, USS Sealion II: 3 patrols, 59,839 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Williard Laughon, USS Rasher: 3 patrols, 38,340 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Enrique Haskins, USS Guitarro: 3 patrols, 25,400 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Bernard Clarey, USS Pintado: 4 patrols, 42,956 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Thomas Dykers, USS Jack: 4 patrols, 42,417 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Lowell Stone, USS Lapon: 4 patrols, 39,100 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Donald Weiss, USS Tinosa: 3 patrols, 39,047 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Charles Kirkpatrick, USS Triton: 3 patrols, 22,749 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Frank Selby, USS Puffer: 4 patrols, 38,159 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
George Grider, USS Flasher: 2 patrols, 43,718 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Thomas Hogan, USS Bonefish: 4 patrols: 34,329 JANAC confirmed tons sunk
Louis McGregor, USS Pike & USS Redfish: 4 patrols, 44,637 JANAC confirmed tons sunk

Very interesting stuff Mookie, great job!

But, do we know whether they were 'retired', transferred to other positions and was it on request?

From what I have read (admittedly little on US subs in Pacific on WWII) there was quite a lot of stress involved so COMSUBPAC did grant transfer requests from especially the less successful skippers.

Crew transfers were also quite common.

But, apologies if I sound stubborn, it still strikes me as odd that COMSUBPAC would have a standing policy per se of 'retiring' successful skippers.

Unless, there was some kind of 'rotation' program involved, but why breakup successful crews in the middle of a shooting war?

Or were things so successful and easy-going for COMSUBPAC to allow them to experiment in their human resources dept?