SILENT SERVICE

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

les.b this post is for you.

I'm old, I was born during WWII into a military family. We finally got a TV when I was 13. A really ugly Zenith black and white. Everything was black and white in those days. I was eat up on everything military, I watched all those old post WWII movies and documentaries. Remember the Prudential series, "You are there" with Walter Cronkite or The Victory at Sea series. Many of my favorites were about the Silent Service, I was fascinated by submarine duty.

When I went through bootcamp in San Diego, those of us who were selected as "Honorman" from each company in the battalion, were taken on a tour of a WWII "pigboat" still in operation. It was the USS Redfish (SS395). I got to thinking that maybe being in subs wasn't so neat. anyway, my Navy career didn't take that route. Later in my Naval experience, I went aboard the USS Alabama(SSBN 731), Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Nuclear submarine. This re-affirmed my lack of enthusiasm for being underwater.

While assigned to Pearl Harbor on my last tour, I had the opportunity to visit the Submarine Service Museum. For a career Navyman and history buff this was exciting stuff.

Photos:
1. View of the USS Arizona from the fantail of the USS Bowfin.

2. Memorial to 52 submarines lost during WWII, Bowfin in background.

3. Another view of memorial.

4. Sub's deck in memorial to Silent Service.

5. Another view of same.

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

The Submarine Service Museum is dedicated to those brave men of the Silent Service. 52 subs lost, 375 officers and 3131 enlisted men.

Photos:

1. Inside museum.

2. Display of MOH recipients.

3. Nuke boats at dock in Pearl.

4. USS Alabama.

 

[walkin jack]

Master Chief I am really enjoying all of these posts about WWII and your Navy experiences. Lot of interesting history and remembrances about important places and a crucial time in our history. It's especially nice from someone with your experience and patriotism.

Thank you sir!

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the Submariners.
It's clearly a Military speciality that I would have difficulty doing.
A while back, I had a Retired USN Captain neighbor.
Actually had two, this one was the aviator.
He had been head of NROTC here at the university of NM.
When he attended the how to teach ROTC school, all they talked about recruiting and graduating Submariners.
Especially nuc engineers.
Flying? So you want to blow 2-3 Mil of the taxpayer's money doing something that is so much fun you should be embarrassed to get paid for it?
Get on the end of that long line!

 

[427mach1]

I recall seeing a documentary on the German wolfpacks of WWII. I don't recall the exact numbers, but something like 36,000 out of 45,000 German submariners perished during the war. Not the kind of odds most of us would like to have in our respective careers.....

 

[the ringo kid]

les.b this post is for you.

I'm old, I was born during WWII into a military family. We finally got a TV when I was 13. A really ugly Zenith black and white. Everything was black and white in those days. I was eat up on everything military, I watched all those old post WWII movies and documentaries. Remember the Prudential series, "You are there" with Walter Cronkite or The Victory at Sea series. Many of my favorites were about the Silent Service, I was fascinated by submarine duty.

When I went through bootcamp in San Diego, those of us who were selected as "Honorman" from each company in the battalion, were taken on a tour of a WWII "pigboat" still in operation. It was the USS Redfish (SS395). I got to thinking that maybe being in subs wasn't so neat. anyway, my Navy career didn't take that route. Later in my Naval experience, I went aboard the USS Alabama(SSBN 731), Ohio Class Ballistic Missile Nuclear submarine. This re-affirmed my lack of enthusiasm for being underwater.

While assigned to Pearl Harbor on my last tour, I had the opportunity to visit the Submarine Service Museum. For a career Navyman and history buff this was exciting stuff.

Photos:
1. View of the USS Arizona from the fantail of the USS Bowfin.

2. Memorial to 52 submarines lost during WWII, Bowfin in background.

3. Another view of memorial.

4. Sub's deck in memorial to Silent Service.

5. Another view of same.

Great photos as always. Isnt the USS Bowfin our highest scoring sub of WWII?

 

[the ringo kid]

I recall seeing a documentary on the German wolfpacks of WWII. I don't recall the exact numbers, but something like 36,000 out of 45,000 German submariners perished during the war. Not the kind of odds most of us would like to have in our respective careers.....

3 out of 4 WWII German submariners--were killed in action. Or 30,000 out of 40,000 didnt make it. Ive met about 100 of the survivors through tha last 20 years-friends with many--and was given honorary titles of: Honorary Crewman of U 181 (Wolfgang Luth's boat then Kapitan zur See Kurt Freiwalds boat. I was guest of honor at the U 181 reunion in Bad Camberg-on Sept 15-16-2000-and made an honorary member of the Kriegsmarine.

Inspite of what SOME very small-minded people say and think--the Kriegsmarine had no nazis serving in it-Gross Admiral Raeder made it so-and Donitz continued it so. Im proud to be the only American to hold the honor of being an honorary crewmember of U 181--and one of very few who has the other. Im also an honorary member of the French Foreign Legions all German Battalion. These cant buy you a cup of Joe--but are neat things to be associated with.

 

[the ringo kid]

For what it's worth, im also an honorary memeber of Merrill's Marauders--two of them made me one--both now gone. :-(

 

[Chuck24]

Iirc Donitz' son was lost in a u-boat.

 

[mtgianni]

I have long had a fascination with WW11 era subs and assumed if I was drafted I would sign with the Navy and volunteer for submarine duty. I have toured a couple and looked in awe at what was accomplished with bare minimum tooling.
A friend who served there talked about the realities of crawling into a bunk that someone just left with your own "fart sack" and the tight quarters that dampened my enthusiasm some. Still one of the last great corsairs to get in, get out and get gone. Pre radar subs put fear into enemies hearts that is difficult to repeat.

 

[les.b]

Chief:

Thanks so much for starting this thread!!!

On July 20th, 1942, the USS Scamp, hull number 277 was launched, one of the the latest and most impressive of the United States most technologically advanced Naval vessels of the time:

My Uncle Gene was ordered to the USS Scamp on September 18th, 1942.



On board the USS Scamp 277, November 26th, 1943, awards are being conferred on the crew by Commodore J. Fife. Here is one of Gene's fellow officers, Lieutenant P. A. Bethany receiving a Silver Star. Uncle Gene is among the Officers and Men present, but you can barely see him to the starboard in the photo about third officer forward. I have another photo from the same ceremony where 1 st Class Petty Officer W. W. Mumm is receiving the Navy Cross. You can get a feel for the size of the vessels from this photo:



Scamp spent her seventh war patrol searching the shipping lanes between New Guinea, Palau, and Mindanao in the Philippines. She exited Milne Bay on 3 March 1944 and, after uneventful patrolling, put in at Langemak Bay, from 29 March to 31 March, for repairs to her torpedo data computer. Following her resumption of patrol, she battle surfaced on 4 April and set fire to a 200-ton trawler, but broke off the action when her deck gun failed.

Three days later, south of Davao Gulf, she encountered six cruisers escorted by destroyers and planes. She dived and the destroyers passed overhead without noticing her presence a scant 100 feet (30 m) below the surface. She returned to the surface at 1405 but was forced down by a plane. A little later, she tried to surface again but was attacked by a diving float plane. As she crash dived to escape the enemy plane, an aerial bomb exploded. All hands were knocked off their feet by the explosion and all power was lost. Scamp began to take an up angle and started to settle rapidly. At just below 300 feet (91 m), she began to hang on, then started up. The diving officer reported that the hydraulic controller had been jarred to "off" in the attack and that the hydraulic plant started closing all the main vents as fire started filling the maneuvering and after torpedo rooms with a thick, toxic smoke.

Fortunately, the sub caught at 52 feet (16 m), the decision having been made to surface and slug it out with the deck gun if she could not be held below 50 feet (15 m). Scamp started down again, "see sawed" three times, and started down a third time before power was regained. Soon the submarine was making two thirds speed on each shaft and had levelled off at 150 feet (46 m). She released oil and air bubbles to appear to have sunk and then headed for the Admiralty Islands. At 21:06, she surfaced and, with a 17 degree list, made for Seeadler Harbor, Manus, where she arrived on 16 April 1944 She made emergency repairs at Manus, shifted to Milne Bay on 22 April and then moved on to Pearl Harbor for a thorough overhaul at the yard. This is when Uncle Gene was able to secure some leave time, and travel to San Francisco.

Here is his wedding picture taken on July 16th, 1944, at the U. S. Navy Chapel, Treasure Island. I don't know why he is rolling his eyes.:



Roughly six months after Gene's marriage, he was killed in action, as we later learned from Japanese records, after the war when his sub was sunk in Tokyo Bay on November 11th, 1944. At the time that the letter was written though, as you can see, that information was not known. Here's what we now know, from post war perspective the Scamp was on its eighth War Patrol when she was sunk:

"Eighth war patrol and loss of the Scamp.... Scamp set out on her eighth war patrol on 16 October. She fueled at Midway Island on 20 October, then set course for the Bonin Islands. On 9 November, she acknowledged a message changing her patrol area. She reported her position to be about 150 miles (240 km) north of the Bonin Islands with all 24 torpedoes aboard and 77,000 US gallons (290,000 L) of fuel remaining. On 14 November, she was ordered to take up the life guard station off Tokyo Bay in support of B-29 Superfortress bomber strikes, but failed to acknowledge the message. Scamp was never heard from again. From records available after the war, it appears that Scamp was sighted by Japanese planes and reported depth charged by Kaibokan CD-4 to the south of Tokyo Bay on 11 November 1944. Scamp was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 April 1945."

Scamp (SS-277) earned seven battle stars for World War II service.



Gene was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and so forth after the loss of the Scamp. Here is the Citation for the Bronze Star:



After the War, the Navy sent this "Synopsis" of his career to Aunt Fleda. I think it adds another dimension to seeing the War through the history of one man, from small town, U.S.A. and how he fit in to the largest enterprise ever undertaken by our nation. Here it is:







I am still going through the effects of Aunt Fleda, who recently passed. There is a lot of irrelevant stuff there, and I am slowly piecing together some of the information on Gene. These documents make him seem more real to me, who grew up in his shadow, and are giving me some insight not only into him, but the Silent Service that the Master Chief had in mind when he started this thread. Although I have sea duty behind me, I can only imagine what it must have been like in those small diesel powered boats when being stalked by Japanese Destroyers armed with depth charges, and Japanese Subs armed with torpedoes. None of today's high tech navigational and counter measures, jus some rudimentary sonar gear, a periscope. Wow.

Best Regards, Les

 

[OLDNAVYMCPO]

Amazing Les, thanks for the post. The pictures add an emphasis to this thread, a measure of the cost of freedom. What a legacy, you should be so proud. All my uncles served during the war, some even stayed for a career. They are all gone now and sadly their kids made no effort to preserve any thing from that period.

 

[rwsmith]

Our bomber got beat up at first....

I recall seeing a documentary on the German wolfpacks of WWII. I don't recall the exact numbers, but something like 36,000 out of 45,000 German submariners perished during the war. Not the kind of odds most of us would like to have in our respective careers.....

The 'Daylight Precision Bombing' in Europe gave our flyers pretty poor odds, but that improved with new tactics and strategies.

 

[STCM(SW)]

Half of the U.S. Army Air Force's casualties in World War II were suffered by Eighth Air Force (more than 47,000 casualties, with more than 26,000 dead). Seventeen Medals of Honor went to Eighth Air Force personnel during the war.

 

[Cyrano]

A few years ago, after climbing all over the USS Massachusetts, I visited the submarine at anchor nearby. I'm ashamed to say I couldn't fit through the hatch.

 

[les.b]

Amazing Les, thanks for the post. The pictures add an emphasis to this thread, a measure of the cost of freedom.

Thanks, Chief!! Keep checking my above post, rather than add posts, I have edited it, and added some more information and illustrations. I am still digging stuff out of Fledas effects, so I keep finding new material. As you know, I have Gene's private Log, and I will post a couple of pages that haven't been shown before, which I think will help tell not just Gene's story, but that of a single Submarine, and what it did for the War. Multiply that by the whole Sub fleet, and you have a pretty powerful weapon, which did its part in the Pacific!!

Thanks again for the thread!!

Best Regards, Les

 

[Targets Guy]

Lots of memories being stirred by this thread.

My dad went to boot camp at Farragut NTC in Farragut, ID. He was the Honorman of his company.



He then went to diesel school at Navy Pier, Chicago and onto advanced diesel school in Detroit.



He attended advanced diesel school in this building in Detroit.


He then went to San Diego and was assigned to LCI's and then shipped out to Tulagi for training as a rocket loader and shooter on the newly designated LCI (G); landing craft ships that carried rocket launchers in the foredeck.

Here is his ship, the LCI (G) 365 on its way to the Guam invasion in Jun 1944 after participating in support landings at Saipan.



This is a copy of the deck log of the LCI (G) 439 from Jul 21, 1944. Dad and the rest of the flag staff moved to the 439 after the 365 was put out of action from being damaged by Japanese 75mm arty pieces on Guam.



My dad died in 1965 before I knew any of this information. I spent the summer of 2013 researching this and making contact with a few of his remaining shipmates. I actually talked to one man who remembered dad. I gained a tremendous respect for what these men endured for our continued freedom.

 

[Targets Guy]

As a result of my research I wrote to the Sec Nav and got Dad awarded the Combat Action Ribbon almost 70 years after he earned it.



My Dad, my hero.

 

[hoosierone]

Have to jump in. I've read all the books I could find on WWII subs, including US, German, and Japanese. I don't think I'd last a week in that environment. These men were very special.

Nowadays, with women on board, to me it is inconceivable to pull duty like that. Sorry if that is not PC.

 

[muddocktor]

Great photos as always. Isnt the USS Bowfin our highest scoring sub of WWII?

No, there are several subs that were ahead of her in numbers sunk and tonnage. Not that she had a poor sinking record by any means. The Bowfin didn't make the top 10 either with US wartime records or after JANAC butchered the records after the war.

The WWII sub that had the record for highest number of subs sunk was the USS Tang (SS-305) and most probably the highest tonnage sunk too. In 5 war patrols she sank 33 ships and of those 5 patrols, the second patrol ended up with the Tang not having a chance to fire any torpedoes. Instead on that patrol, she recovered 22 airman on lifeguard duty, which was a record at the time. On her 5th and final war patrol, the Tang was sunk by a circular run of their last torpedo fired on the patrol. Nine survived the sinking and war, with 78 crewmen lost. The commander, Dick O'Kane, did survive the sinking and the war (just barely) and was awarded the CMOH for this patrol. He was a true American hero, as was his boat along with all the other submarine vets that served in WWII.

If you want a good read on the Tang and also of 5 patrols of the USS Wahoo that O'Kane participated in, he wrote a book titled "Clear the Bridge! The War Patrols of the USS Tang". It gives you a very thrilling record of the Tang's short existence and also a very good idea of what war patrols in a US submarine in WWII were like. I highly recommend this book.