Return to Book Page. Preview — Subs on the Hunt by Richard Sheffield. Subs on the Hunt: On December 7, the order was issued to the U. Those that returned came back with tales of unbelievable heroism, hard won victory, crushing defeats, faulty equipment, deadly mistakes, unexpected humor, and haunting On December 7, the order was issued to the U. Those that returned came back with tales of unbelievable heroism, hard won victory, crushing defeats, faulty equipment, deadly mistakes, unexpected humor, and haunting decisions. Starting with the story of the brave little S - It was very questionable as to whether or not she would even survive the crossing to Japanese waters.
Despite the fact that she left a continuous oil slick wherever she went, she carried the fight to the enemy and sunk the ton Kato, the first Japanese warship to be sunk by a lone submarine. Continuing with stories from the Silversides, Wahoo, Trigger, Harder, Bowfin, and finishing with all five war patrols of the unmatched Tang, here are all the details and insights, straight from the men who fought the battles.
Kindle Edition , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Subs on the Hunt , please sign up. He then hit her with two more torpedoes causing her to settle slightly by the stern. Next he closed to less than a thousand yards and fired eight more fish at the tanker's broadside.
Although he witnessed eight more hits, none of the warheads exploded. The problem was obviously in the exploder. Tests conducted by the Submarine Force at Pearl immediately thereafter finally pinpointed the problem with the exploder mechanism. In addition, the Mk. On June 24, , Admiral Nimitz sent a message to all submarines and destroyers directing them to deactivate the magnetic exploder and fire all torpedoes for impact hits. Production of steam torpedoes early in the war did not keep up with expenditures.
I 4 in high speed and the MK. Its speed was not consistent, and it had shipboard maintenance problems.
Due to the steam torpedo shortage in late and in it became necessary to send some submarines on patrol with mixed torpedo loads, as well as mixed mine and torpedo loads. The higher speed Mk. Submarines built at Manitowoc were barged down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The Cramp Shipyard in Philadelphia also launched 12 fleet class submarines which were commissioned during the war.
Two each of these were completed at Boston and Portsmouth Naval Shipyards. Fleet Type submarines commissioned during the war years were: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard built 79 fleet boats between and The first required building days. This was reduced to days in Manitowoc - 27 submarines built at Manitowoc were placed in commission before the war ended.
A very few of the memorable events that occurred are listed below. The name of the Commanding or responsible officer follows the name of the submarine. Sieglaff directed the manning of a. It was transporting a large task force of Japanese scientists and technicians south to organize the resources of the conquered territory for supporting the Japanese war effort. Nearly all of this task force was lost. The 3 turret upper magazine was flooded, the ship listed 2 to 3 degrees, and slowed slightly. SAURY was credited with damage to one destroyer. JACK made 30 successful attacks during 9 war patrols.
Dealey was nicknamed "The Destroyer Killer". TANG was sunk by one of her own torpedoes which made a circular run. He fired all 24 torpedoes and sank 3 freighters and a mine layer. She was completed as the world's largest aircraft carrier and became the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine. Enright sank her on her maiden voyage. POLLACK Lewellen was suddenly caught in the searchlight beam of an escorting destroyer while making a night surface attack on a convoy.
She fired two down-the-throat torpedoes and dove at full speed. The bow planes failed to rig out. Before the dive could be stopped at feet the boat took a down-angle estimated at fifty-three degrees. Only one person survived. Gross made 39 successful attacks during her 14 patrols, sank 18 ships and damaged 21 others. In her final attack on the night of October 24, she fired a torpedo which made a circular run and sank her. Among them was an escort carrier of 20, tons and an ex-light cruiser of over 10, tons. She was credited with 17 ships. Darting in and out, PARCHE fired 20 torpedoes in a daring night surface attack within a period of 46 minutes to get 15 hits.
Ramage was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his aggressiveness, courage and personal heroism. Ships sunk included an aircraft ferry, a submarine tender, a destroyer, a submarine, and an ex-gunboat. Submarine Search Tactics The most serious tactical problem in sinking a Japanese ship was that of finding one.
The old German recipe for rabbit stew advised one to first catch the rabbit. The same holds for finding suitable ship targets. Laymen who have never been to sea cannot visualize the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. In the early months of the war this problem was made particularly difficult by the threat of attack by aircraft when patrolling on the surface. Consequently, it was common practice to dive at dawn and surface at sundown. Target detection when submerged was limited largely by the range of vision which is limited by the "height of eye" of the periscope lens above the sea, curvature of the earth and atmospheric clarity.
A detection range of 6 to 8 miles on a ship's masts showing above the horizon is about average during daylight in good weather. A periscope moving through the water leaves a trail that can be detected by sharp-eyed airmen. Consequently, it was common practice to use the periscope intermittently at creeping speed which also saved the battery. Visual detection range on a ship at night varies widely depending upon atmospheric conditions, moonlight, and target size.
Normal practice when on the surface was to have five men on the bridge at all times. Two lookouts were normally stationed in the periscope shears to cover the forward sectors to the horizon, and one lookout was stationed aft on the bridge deck. All bridge personnel used 7 X 50 binoculars with coated lenses, and lookouts were required to use them continually.
Only two submarines were equipped with the SD non-directional anti-air-craft radar early in the war, but by about late summer to fall of all submarines were so equipped. That usually provided warning prior to attack from the air allowing submarines to run on the surface during daylight. Tactical use of the SD radar varied with the Commanding Officer. Some CO's used it intermittently when on the surface to reduce the probability of interception of the emitted radar signal.
Others used it continually. The SJ surface search radar was first installed in our submarines in about mid By the end of all submarines were so equipped. Normally the SJ was used continually when on the surface. It could be used for tracking targets when submerged at shallow keel depths of about 48 feet. Depth control was difficult except in calm seas at that depth.
The ST periscope radar was introduced about It provided good range and fair target bearing information. The raised periscope was frequently used when on the surface to provide a higher "height-of-eye", and therefore greater detection range. Japanese Counterattacks The Japanese were not well equipped for anti-submarine warfare ASW , nor did they use their equipment in a tactically effective manner during most of the war.
For example, they had no ship borne radar installations at the start of the war, and very few on shore. Japanese ship-borne radar would have been a serious detriment to night surface operations conducted extensively by our submarines after they were equipped with radar. Japanese escort vessels and anti-submarine aircraft were not equipped with radar until the fall of , and what they had was inferior to comparable Allied radar.
By doctrine it was normally only used at night for fear of revealing the presence of an ASW ship or aircraft. On the other hand, Japanese escorts were well equipped with directional radar intercept receivers early in the war, but there is little evidence that it was effectively employed to detect submarine radar emissions. It was learned after the war that Japanese aircraft had never reached the stage of consistently homing in on our submarine's radar emissions.
Subs on the Hunt: The 40 Greatest U.S. Submarine War Patrols of World War Two
A Japanese radio direction finder net was well established at the start of the war. The Commander of a submarine which transmitted a radio message could pretty well be assured that his position was immediately known to within about 10 miles. The standard Japanese depth charge at the start of the war contained an explosive charge of pounds.
By depth charge design or tactical usage these charges were at first usually set to explode at depths of less than feet. By early , however, king sized charges were in service. They contained an explosive charge of 1, lbs. The planes called in surface ships which trailed grappling hooks. Caught by one of these, Millican ordered ahead full, turned sharply to the right, and went deep - below test depth. They could be added without impact to the boat's war fighting abilities due to the extra room of the big fleet boat.
However, one feature in particular had a very practical side to it. High humidity generated by tropical waters will quickly condense and begin dripping into equipment, eventually causing electrical shorts and fires. Air conditioning, acting mostly as a dehumidifier, virtually eliminates this problem and greatly increases mechanical and electrical reliability.
It proved to be a key factor in the success of these boats during World War II. Twelve submarines of this class built by Electric Boat received what would be the final installations of the Hooven-Owens-Rentschler HOR double-acting diesel engine. The Navy had been tinkering with this engine off and on since because its unique design promised nearly twice the horsepower in a package the same size as other diesel engine types.
Unfortunately, the HOR company ran into severe design and manufacturing problems and these engines proved to be operational and maintenance nightmares. These engines were hardy, rugged and well liked by the crews and served the boats quite well.
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At the beginning of the war Gato -class boats, as well as the Gar and Tambor classes, had fully shrouded fairwaters visually similar to modern nuclear submarines. Experience during the war leads to the progressive reduction of this structure to reduce visibility and radar profile at the expense of underwater performance and foul weather operating comfort.
Most of the subs in post-war movies show the final result of these modifications. A side benefit of these modifications was the creation of convenient locations for anti-aircraft guns.
Subs on the Hunt: The 40 Greatest U.S. Submarine War Patrols of World War Two by Richard Sheffield
Twenty of the 52 US submarines lost in World War II were of this class, plus Halibut , a damaged boat that returned to the US but was considered a constructive total loss and not repaired. There is occasionally some confusion as to the number of Gato -class submarines built, with some sources listing the total as This is due to the transitional nature of the first four boats SS through SS constructed under the second contract by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
The government-owned shipyards Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Mare Island Naval Shipyard began to make the transition to the new Balao design in the summer of Electric Boat, due to the huge backlog of Gato -class construction, was not ready to make the transition to the new design until January Manitowoc had already completed their allotted production run of Gato s and could not switch over to the Balao design until Electric Boat supplied them with the plans.
Faced with a work stoppage while they waited for Electric Boat to catch up, managers at Manitowoc got permission to complete four additional boats SS through SS to Electric Boat's Gato -class plans. Manitowoc's first Balao -class boat was Hardhead. The Gato boats were authorized in appropriations for Fiscal Year , as part of President Franklin Roosevelt 's proclamation of "limited emergency" in September She was commissioned on 1 November and was the only Gato -class boat in commission when the war started. In addition, the government purchased an old foundry downstream from the main yard, constructed ten slipways and turned the yard over to Electric Boat.
Called the Victory Yard, it became an integral part of Electric Boat operations.
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All of the Gato s with one exception, Dorado would eventually fight in the Pacific Theater of Operations. However, in the summer of , six brand new Gato s were assigned to Submarine Squadron 50 and sent to Rosneath , Scotland to patrol the Bay of Biscay and to assist in the Operation Torch landings in North Africa.
All in all they conducted 27 war patrols but could not claim any verified sinkings. Considered a waste of valuable resources, in mid all six boats were recalled and transferred to the Pacific. Once they began to arrive in theater in large numbers in mid-to-late , the Gato s were in the thick of the fight against the Japanese. Many of these boats racked up impressive war records: Flasher , Rasher , and Barb were the top three boats based on tonnage sunk by US submarines. Silversides , Flasher , and Wahoo were 3rd, 4th, and 7th place on the list for the number of ships sunk.
Their principal weapon was the steam-powered Mark 14 torpedo in the early war years, with the electric Mark 18 torpedo supplementing the Mark 14 in late Due to a stunted research and development phase in the Depression-era s, and in great part due to the arrogance and stubbornness of its designer, the Naval Torpedo Station Newport under the Bureau of Ordnance , the "wonder weapon" Mark 14 proved to be full of bugs and very unreliable.
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They tended to run too deep, explode prematurely, run erratically, or fail to detonate. Bowing to pressure from the submariners in the Pacific, the Bureau eventually acknowledged the problems in the Mark 14 and largely corrected them by late The Mark 18 electric torpedo was a hastily copied version of captured German G7e weapons and was rushed into service in the fall of Unfortunately it too was full of faults, the most dangerous being a tendency to run in a circular pattern and come back at the sub that fired it. Once perfected, both types of torpedoes proved to be reliable and effective weapons, allowing the Gato s and other submarines to sink an enormous amount of Japanese shipping by the end of the war.
The Gato s were subjected to numerous exterior configuration changes during their careers, with most of these changes centered on the conning tower fairwater. The large bulky original configuration proved to be too easy to spot when the boat was surfaced; it needed to be smaller. Secondly, the desire to incorporate new masts for surface and air search radars drove changes to the fairwater and periscope shears. Third, additional gun armament was needed, and cutting down the fairwater provided excellent mounting locations for machine guns and anti-aircraft cannon.
Variations on the above mods included the 1A shortened navigation bridge , 2A plating removed from periscope shears , and the 3A and 4A which moved the SJ radar mast aft of the periscopes.
Deck guns varied during the war. Many targets in the Pacific War were sampans or otherwise not worth a torpedo, so the deck gun was an important weapon. Additional anti-aircraft guns included single 40 mm Bofors and twin 20 mm Oerlikon mounts, usually one of each. The 56 remaining Gato -class submarines, designed to fight an enemy that no longer existed, were largely obsolete despite the fact they were only two to four years old.
Allied submarines in the Pacific War
Such was the pace of technological development during the war that a submarine with only a foot test depth was going to be of little use, despite being modern in most other aspects. There were enough of the Balao and Tench boats, with their greater diving depth, that the Gato s were superfluous for front line missions. The Guppy modernization program of the late s largely passed these boats by. The advent of the Kamikaze demonstrated the need for a long-range radar umbrella around the fleet.
Surface ships refitted with powerful radar suites were put into service, but they proved vulnerable in this role as they could be attacked as well, leaving the fleet blind. A submarine, though, could dive and escape aerial attack. After experimenting with the concept on several Balao and Tench -class boats, and realizing that a deep diving depth was not overly important in this role, six Gato s were taken in hand Pompon , Rasher , Raton , Ray , Redfin , and Rock for conversion.