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.