Archive for March, 2010

RIP USS Triton

Where was Flier 66 years ago today? | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 16 2010

Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve updated.  I’ve been away from home, traveling and interviewing for the book, and visiting family since they live in the area.  It kept me away for a bit.  This entry was supposed to be posted yesterday, March 15, but I’ll post it here today.

Sixty-six years ago today, the USS Redfin and the USS Robalo sat again in Fremantle, the threat of imminent invasion over.  The Tenders returned from Albany, and shipping resumed its normal pattern.   The Flier of course, is still being repaired in Mare Island for another month.

The Redfins continued their training getting ready for their departure in a few days, and the Robalos were released again to R&R.

It was also the first anniversary of the loss of the USS Triton.

The USS Triton was a new submarine on December 7, 1941.  She was patrolling around Wake Island (which, due to the International Date Line, it was actually December 8 ) and saw smoke rising.  The crew thought little of it, believing it was more construction, until they heard a radio transmission that night telling them Wake was under attack and to stay out of range of the shore guns lest she be mistaken for an enemy submarine and fired upon.  Her first war patrol started at that moment, and over the next few days, she evaded enemy ships and nearly sank one.

The USS Triton coming to dock in Dutch Harbor Alaska on 16 July 1942. Taken from navsource.org

The six patrols Triton completed took her to nearly every corner of the Pacific:  she tracked destroyers in Alaska, guarded the corridor between Wake and Midway Island, sank ships in the East China Sea, and called Pearl Harbor and Brisbane Australia home.

On March  15, 1943, the Triton, operating near, but not with, the Trigger, apparently attacked a convoy of ships.  Trigger also attacked a convoy, quite possibly the same one.  (These convoys, if they were large, could cover many square miles of ocean each.)  Trigger was thoroughly depth charged, but after it was all over, could hear three destroyers continually bombarding a distant patch of ocean for another hour.  The Triton was never heard from again, and vanished with all 74 hands.

After the war, Japanese records revealed that this convoy bombed an area near where Triton was patrolling until an oil slick and debris bearing American markings floated to the surface.  This was considered sufficient proof  that Triton was destroyed.  She has never been found.

The USS Triton page on On Eternal Patrol

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Farewell Seawolf I

And now for something completely different..., Where was Flier 66 years ago today? | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 13 2010

While the Flier is still up on blocks in Mare Island and Redfin and Robalo patrol outside Fremantle waiting for the invasion that will never come, we’ll step back a little bit in time to acknowledge another lost submarine, the first US Submarine Seawolf, more commonly known as H-1.

The Seawolf was laid down in 1911 and renamed while still under construction to USS H-1.  H for the seventh class of submarines, and 1 because she was the first submarine in that class.  She was commissioned in 1913 and her eight sisters quickly followed.

They served for seven years, including guarding the East Coast during WWI.

In the winter of 1920, the H-1, H-2, and H-3 were sent from New London to California via the Panama Canal.  Once clear, they steamed north, but on March 12,  the H-1 grounded on a shoal near Santa Margarita Island off Baja California.

The crew had to abandon ship and swim to safety.  Some headed to shore, some were picked up by the H-2 and H-3, who tried to help as many as possible.  Of the crew of twenty-five,  four men, M.S. Delarmarine, H.M. Gillef, Joesph Kaufman, and H-1′s Commanding Officer James Reid never made it to safety.

The H-1 remained hard aground until the Repair Ship Vestal (later attacked and damaged in Pearl Harbor) pulled her free.  She must has sustained significant damage, because 45 minutes later, she rested on the bottom of the ocean in 50 feet of water.

Following WWI, the Navy was awarded the unsunk German U-Boats, and those re-wrote the American submarine blueprints, leading to what would become the Fleet Submarine of WWII.  These boats were being built and launched in 1920, so the loss of an old boat like the H-1, wasn’t considered important enough to salvage, despite the shallow depth.  She was abandoned.

Her wreck was discovered in 1992, though I have been unable to find any photos of her hulk.

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BREAKING: Trailer released for Dive Detectives

The Book, The Exhibit | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 12 2010

I’ve noticed a lot of people have found this site looking for photos or images of the Flier wreck.  Those are all in the possession of the filmers, YAP Films and Mike and Warren Fletcher of Dive Detectives.  The search for the Flier will be featured in a future episode of “Dive Detectives” called “Submarine Graveyard” and they recently posted their trailer for this episode, and the first glimpses of the USS Flier at rest in Balabac Straits!

There’s no news yet on when this will air, but it will definitely be exciting when it does especially since it seems they are tracking not only the Flier, but her sister the Robalo, whose grave location is still unknown and the fate of the crew is still a mystery.

On another note, I was able to meet with someone today who was able to give me wonderful insights into my main character, Al, and will require quite a bit of work, but I think will really improve the book.  I’ll have to re-write a couple of scenes, that’s for sure!

And as for the exhibit, we’re still looking for funding, but hopefully, as more stuff about the Flier comes out, we may find sponsors or get interest from foundations.  I’ll keep everyone posted.

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Calling all Flier Families

The Exhibit | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 09 2010

Well, this has finally been announced officially, so I can put it up here:

The Great Lakes Naval Memorial and Museum will be hosting the National Flier Memorial Service on the 66th anniversary of her sinking, Friday, August 13, 2010.

We are looking for the family members of all Flier crewmembers.  The USS Bowfin museum is helping to find them with the assistance of a team of volunteers.

The crew page on ussflier.com, with the names and information and photos of the crewmembers can be found here:

If any of these men look familiar, please contact me or Charles Hinman of On Eternal Patrol’s website.

I’ll post more details as they become available.

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INVASION

Where was Flier 66 years ago today? | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 08 2010

Sixty-six years ago today, Fremantle faced one of her darkest hours.

In 1942, the Imperial Navy of Japan spent 11 days raiding in the Indian Ocean, before thought to be secure under British Naval and Air Force command.  They were wrong.

The Japanese, at the cost of 20 of their airplanes, sank a British aircraft carrier, two cruisers, two destroyers, a sloop, 23 merchant ships, and more than 40 airplanes.  The Allies were never secure in their part of the ocean again.

In March 1944, the Japanese again tried to raid into the Indian Ocean.  This time they were not so lucky, but the standing orders were to kill any merchant sailors they came across except those (and the orders were specific who) who could be interrogated for useful information.

On March 6, an American Submarine (and the records don’t say who, and I don’t have the right resources to discover it right now) detected at least two very large Japanese ships coming through Lombok heading for the Indian Ocean.  What Fremantle didn’t know what these ships, the Kinu and the Oi, were on their way to keep nearby Sundra Strait free and clear for the return of the raiders who were ALREADY hundreds of miles deep in the Indian Ocean.

Fremantle did some quick calculations and realized that it would take at least three days to get to Fremantle, but more likely the attack, if it did come, would come on March 11, the night of the full moon, which would give the best light to night-attacks.

The submarines were the best line of defense.  Each crew, including the Redfin and Robalo, was quickly assembled, provisioned and all but thrown out of harbor to protect everyone.  The Submarine Tenders, the moment all of their charges were in the open ocean, weighed anchor and fled for Albany, 200 miles south.  The merchant ships in port were quickly scrambled and sent to weigh anchor in the sea lanes just outside of Fremantle.  If this was a real attack, warning would hopefully come quickly enough that these ships could flee south or west, and if it never came, they were nearby.  The British battleships and destroyers were also anchored in these same sea lanes.  The harbor was closed, and, some say, rigged with explosives so if all defenses failed, the Japanese would at least not find a viable harbor to start their own base.

For days, while the submarines ranged far and wide searching for the enemy, everyone in Fremantle was on pins and needles.

Meanwhile, the raiders, consisting of three heavy cruisers, who WERE in the Indian Ocean, had found a British merchant vessel, the Behar, approximately halfway between Fremantle and Sri Lanka.  She was carrying a cargo of zinc.  The cruisers fired three shots, sinking the Behar, but not before she managed to get off a distress call.

Fearing that Fremantle might hear the call and rally some troops, the raiders turned and fled back home.

Most of the Behar’s crew, initially picked up by the cruiser Tone, were eventually murdered.  Only 15 people survived, including the two women onboard.  They had been dropped off near Jakarta Indonesia, the night before the rest were killed.

Fremantle didn’t hear the call, only one Fremantle-bound freighter did, but as days passed with no enemy in sight, panic slowly subsided and people started to resume normal life, though with a greater degree of passion to help the war effort than had been seen in months.  By March 16, traffic had resumed in Fremantle’s harbor.

On March 17, the freighter who had heard Behar’s call, dropped anchor, but by then, no one was worried about raiders sneaking up on them, though security protocols were drastically tightened.

Redfin’s crew must have viewed this interlude as an interesting training run.  I don’t know what Robalo’s crew may have thought about it, but being interrupted after only two days vacation, I’m sure they weren’t thrilled, though they did their duty.  At least it didn’t count against their R&R!

For more information see:

Japanese Indian Ocean Raid 1944

E-Book “Australia in the War of 1939-1945: Chapter 13–Pacific Drive, Indian Ocean Interlude” You’ll need to scroll down to page 388 for the best account of this little-known emergency.

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Redfin and Robalo: Sub Sisters

Uncategorized | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 06 2010

Sixty-six years ago today, the USS Robalo pulled into Fremantle after her first patrol.  She may even have moored next to the Redfin.

Robalo and Redfin shared a special relationship.  All submarines are sisters, but some are closer than others.  The Redfin (SS-272) and the Robalo (SS-273) were both Manitowoc boats, were built side-by-side, were laid, launched, and commissioned within weeks of each other.  They tested themselves in the depths of Lake Michigan, and probably moored side-by-side night after night.  Both were packed up on barges and shipped down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and both would have a new commander after her first patrol.

USS Robalo launch. Due to the narrowness of the Manitowoc River, submarines and other ships were launched sideways into the water. While it was common for some of the commissioning crew to ride their submarine into the water when she launched at Groton or Mare Island, that did not happen in Manitowoc!

But now, the Robalo was finishing her first patrol, under her commissioning CO Stephan Ambruster.  She  had traveled from Pearl Harbor, down the western coast of the Philippines and finished in Fremantle.  She damaged one freighter.  Her crew was looking forward to the standard two-week R&R that was due them as soon as they could be relieved by the Tender’s relief crew.

Redfin was beginning her two weeks of training and testing before leaving for her second patrol.  Both would return to Fremantle after their second patrols, and Redfin would bring news of Robalo home to Fremantle.

The USS Redfin undergoing her shakedown trials in Lake Michigan.

Their endings would be quite different.

While Robalo would vanish and her ending remains a mystery in many ways (not even her date of loss is known for certain), the Redfin completed seven war patrols and served honorably in Korea and Vietnam.  Despite numerous upgrades and refittings, Redfin eventually was retired and finally scrapped, the fate of many gallant submarines.  Her crew still gathers and maintains a website in Redfin’s memory.

For more information on the Redfin, check out their webpage (with some great photos of WWII submariners at work and play)

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The Unsung Heroes of the Submarine Service:The Submarine Tender

Where was Flier 66 years ago today? | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 05 2010

One question I was frequently asked when I worked at the Silversides was “Why are submarines “boats” and other ships “ships”?

Make no mistake, subs are boats, not ships, and if you call a sub a ship in a submariner’s hearing, they are sure to correct you, maybe gently, maybe humorously, but they WILL correct you.

If any water vessel is deployed from a larger vessel, the smaller vessel is called a boat and the larger vessel is a ship.  The very earliest submarines were often unable to operate for long distances, so if they needed to be transported long distances, they were hauled aboard a large ship, hence the original term “boat” for a submarine stuck around long after submarines were capable of going places large surface ships couldn’t manage.

An example of the initial ship-boat relationship. This is the USS Caesar, transporting submarines to the Philippines from Virginia 1908-1909. The two subs on board are either Shark and Porpoise (SS-8 and SS-7) which would date the photo to April-June 1908 or Adder and Moccasin (SS-3 and SS-5) which would date the photo to July-October 1909.

This symbiotic relationship soon lead to a subset of the Submarine Force:  The Submarine Tender.  Foot for foot, the submarine is the most complex piece of equipment in the Navy, and needs experienced technicians to repair and maintain them.  Early sub were used for coastal defenses, and had little to no room for provisions, bunks, or living space, so crews would come back at the end of the day.  As submarines moved about, the ships on which they were moved became the homes for the submarine crews and the base from which repairs were made, provisions were acquired, and eventually, these type of “mother ships” evolved into a new ship class within the Navy:  The Submarine Tender.

These ships were traveling submarine bases.  Provided the boat didn’t need to be dry-docked, the submarine tender could repair, re-load, restock, refuel,  replace personnel, and send the submarine back out.  The Submarine Tender could drop anchor and turn any port into a submarine base in a matter of hours to days, and after Pearl Harbor, these ships became the front lines of the war in many ways.  As the Allies pushed further into the Pacific and took back territory, a submarine tender could be sent in to a newly liberated area and create a submarine base days closer to the front, shaving days off a patrol and turn-around time between sub patrols.

It was the Submarine Tender Holland that pulled up stakes and raced south to Fremantle, establishing a new base.  By the time Redfin dropped anchor there two years and a half years later, two sub tenders, the Orion and the Griffen were the heart of the US Submarine Base.  Other submarine tenders established or enhanced bases at  Pearl Harbor, Brisbane, Midway Island, Guam, Saipan, Majuro Atoll, Marianas Islands, Dutch Harbor Alaska,  and more.

WWII was probably the Golden Age of the submarine tender.  Between training, salvage, repair, and tending duties, 28 tenders served, and 4 were lost.  A submarine tender, Pigeon, was the first naval vessel to earn the Presidential Unit Citation for towing and saving the submarine Seadragon from her burning warf during the Japanese bombing of Cavite Bay.  Pigeon won a second one a few days later.  Another tender, Canopus, feigned being an abandoned hulk off the coast of the Philippines during the Japanese invasion, while repairing and reprovisioning submarines by night.  She was later scuttled to keep her out of enemy hands after the surrender of Bataan.  The Orlotan helped raise and repair ships in Pearl Harbor and then helped salvage Japanese submarines off Guadalcanal.

As technology advanced, submarines became more self-reliant, and when repairs beyond the submarine’s crew were needed, they could be accomplished in port or in dry-dock.  There are only two submarine tenders left in the Navy’s arsenal, USS Emory S. Land, and USS Frank Cable, both are over 30 years old, and have no replacements planned.

The USS Orion in a photo dated September 1944, likely at Mios Woendi. Here you see the "Mother Ship" configuration with her nest of submarines which she was tending.

in 1944, the Orion was the tender that re-fitted the Redfin and Flier as they sat next to each other before Flier’s last patrol, and Griffen could have repaired the Redfin and Robalo.  Without these ships, submarines would have been more limited and more vulnerable.

For more information about Submarine Tenders, check out A Tender Tale:

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Trading Crews

Where was Flier 66 years ago today? | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 04 2010

Between patrols, submarine crews were usually re-organized a bit.

After Sub School, the potential submariners were shipped to their new boat or new station, wherever it was located:  Goton CT, Manitowoc WI, Mare Island, CA, Honolulu HI, Brisbane Australia, Fremantle Australia, Midway Island.  Then, when a submarine was scheduled to leave, as much as 1/3 of a crew would be reassigned.  Experienced hands would be pulled off to man new submarines under construction, to man shore stations for a while (a type of mental rest, working for a few months on submarines (usually repair, cleaning between patrols, ect.) without the stress of the enemy hunting you) or man another sub scheduled to go on patrol.  The open places were usually occupied by men straight out of Sub School or experienced hands that were expected to learn or experience another submarine and its command structure and culture.

After Sub School, and once they were assigned to a submarine, a non-qualified submariner (often called a “non-qual”) had a year to finish qualification on board a practicing submarine.  Unlike surface ships where a radioman was expected to know a radio and a baker to bake, and a gunner to man the weapons systems, a submarine radioman, in addition to knowing the radio, had to know EVERY other system on the submarine.  Same with the baker or the gunner crews.  The cook had better know how to fire a torpedo and repair the engines, and the enginemen (MotorMacs) and Torpedomen had to know how to make coffee and use the kitchen if necessary.

The reasoning was simple:  a submarine crew is small and often works in remote areas where the nearest friendly ship may be days away.  If something happened that wiped out a portion of the crew, permanently or temporarily, the rest of the crew had to be able to take over and man every system in an emergency,  including repairs if necessary.

On the Redfin, after Commander Austin came aboard, the traditional crew shuffle took place.  It was only a few people for two reasons:  1.) the submarine itself was only on its second patrol and the crew was still learning to work together and 2.) with a new commanding officer, the crew needed to have as little disturbance as possible.

One of the men who was detached from the Redfin at this point though, was Kimball Elwood Graham.  Where he was immediately reassigned is unknown, but he will come back into play later.

On another note, 68 years ago yesterday, the USS PERCH went on eternal patrol.  Commissioned in 1936, she was one of the older submarines in the fleet during the war.  She was in Cavite Bay when the Japanese bombed the submarine base, and scouted and patrolled the area while the submarine base began its long flight south.  Damaged in a severe depth charge attack on March 1, Perch‘s crew tried for three days to repair her while dodging and diving to avoid other enemy destroyers.  On March 4, with two cruisers and three destroyers closing in to attack, and the Perch unable to dive, her captain, David Albert Hurt, knowing that despite her age, Perch was a valuable trophy if captured, ordered “Abandon Ship, Scuttle the Boat”.  And sank his boat.  The entire crew was captured and remained POWs for the remainder of the war, six dying in captivity.

Strangely, Perch was not done yet.  On November 23 (Thanksgiving Day) 2003, the Perch was discovered by a team of divers who were looking for the wreck of the HMS Exeter which was sunk on March 1, 1942 (the same day Perch was severely damaged).  They found a large object on the bottom of the ocean, and went down to check, and found the Perch, sitting upright.  Unlike the Flier, whose wreck was authenticated by the Navy, Perch’s remains have not been authenticated, but the strange thing is the evidence is fairly conclusive.

See, prior to WWII, all submarines had a brass plaque affixed to their fairwater with the name of the submarine attached.  After Pearl, these were removed and, on new constructions, placed inside the subs.  Perch was never in port long enough to have hers removed, so the divers found it still attached to the side of the boat: “USS Perch: United States Submarine”.  By pure chance, Perch became the fourth submarine discovered since WWII, and the only one to be found by accident.

For more information, please see On Eternal Patrol’s page on USS Perch

All photos of the wreck are copyrighted, and can be viewed here.

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Another Chapter, enjoy!

The Book, The Exhibit | Posted by Rebekah
Mar 02 2010

I’m starting  to realize why there are not many blogs about the development of museum exhibits.  I know  a whole lot more than I am allowed to say at this time.  As soon as I can, I will pass things on here, but some days it’s like “Can’t talk about this, can’t say that, that’s still in development…”

I’ve got a few meetings in a couple of weeks that I hope will solidify some things so I can get started on real graphics and things.

In the meantime, I’m posting the first chapter of my book which takes place in Fremantle and Darwin.  I hope you all enjoy:

Chapter 1: Fremantle Australia, August 2, 1944

Tomorrow I believe we watch the Robalo join the fleet at Freo, and remember a lost submarine.

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