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Post by crushedhat on Apr 21, 2024 0:04:24 GMT
Jan 1943
The Japanese have their backs against the wall in the Solomons while the Allies make steady progress in New Guinea.
Patrol Assignments: Snapper (silentwolf) Solomons – thru Jan 43 Sardine (rodmod) China Sea – thru Jan 43 Sealion (ChefEd) Solomons – thru Jan 43
In Harbor (Freemantle, Australia): Guardfish (arianus) refit – thru Jan 43
Patrols ending in Jan 43 are due 27 Apr 2024, while those ending in Feb 43 are due 4 May 2024, unless circumstances force an earlier return. All Boats will end their patrols in Freemantle, Australia. Any Boats more than a month overdue without notifying the admin (crushedhat) will be declared “Lost.”
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Post by ChefEd on Apr 21, 2024 13:45:36 GMT
USS Sealion SS-195 Salmon Class
December 1942 / January 1943 Patrol Station: Solomon Islands
Patrol # for this Commander: 5 Successful Patrol: Yes Number of Freighters sunk: 3 / 7 Number of Tankers sunk: 0 / 0 Number of Troop Ships Sunk: 1 / 2 Number of Warships Sunk: 0 / 0 Number of Capital Ships sunk: 0 / 0 Tonnage sunk: 0 / 38,100 Refit Time: Two ( 2 ) month(s), Ready APRIL 1943 Award Requests: Silver Star, for 4 ships sunk on a single patrol.
Commander, LtCDR Herbert Crabtree Exec, LT Hadden Levay 3rd officer, LT (jg) Abdiel Shoemaker Chief Engineer, LT Morris Decker – SW, RTD on or about 1 MAY 1943 Pharmacist's Mate, PhM2c Lamar McGuire
Crew Skills: Veteran
Ship’s Log The Sealion will be patrolling along the north shores of the Solomon Islands. Our mission is to intercept any Japanese shipping heading into or out of the island chain.
Reports are that there is still heavy fighting on Guadalcanal, but the Japanese are being pushed back further and further west on the island.
Even with the handwriting on the wall, the Japanese are not giving up without a fight. They appear to be using anything that floats to bring in troops, weapons, and supplies to Guadalcanal.
With a beeline course, it has still taken 11 days to arrive on station: skirting half of Australia, and navigating up between New Guinea and New Britain on the west and Bougainville to the east.
1 DEC 1942 - Departed Fremantle
1 DEC through 20 DEC No Enemy Encountered
21 DEC 0140HRS After ten days of empty seas, on station, off the north coast of Santa Isabel, we spotted a small freighter, Meisei Maru (1,900T) with escort, an Akikazi DD. We surfaced at medium range and fired four torpedoes at the target, before diving and changing course. Three of the four torpedoes struck and detonated against the enemy ship. The ship exploded and disintegrated [OOC – 7 damaged points against a 2 pt target]. We were detected by the enemy escort, which damaged our deck gun, and AA gun, on its first pass. We eluded the escort, avoiding further damage.
Unable to repair the deck gun or the AA gun.
22 DEC through 29 DEC No Enemy Encountered Unlike last Christmas, Cookie was able to scrounge a decent holiday meal for the crew, before we left Fremantle.
30 DEC 2005HRS Between Choiseul and Santa Isabel, we spotted a troop ship, Anzan Maru (5,500T) with escort, another Akikazi DD. We again made a surfaced attack at medium range and fired four torpedoes at the target. Two torpedoes hit, with a single detonation severely damaging the enemy ship. We avoided detection by the enemy escort.
2330HRS Reacquiring the slowed ship, we found her without her escort. We surfaced at close range and fired two stern torpedoes at her. Two hits, no detonations.
31 DEC 0030HRS Maneuvered to fire two more stern torpedoes at the target. No enemy escorts or aircraft were detected. One torpedo hit but failed to detonate.
0045HRS Still no sign of enemy escorts or aircraft. Fired two bow torpedoes at the lucky target. Their luck finally ran out. Both torpedoes detonated causing another catastrophic explosion on a target [OOC – 7 damage points on top of initial two points for a 3 point target].
1 JAN through 2 JAN No Enemy Encountered
3 JAN 1943 1105HRS North of Choiseul The Tokyo Express is still running piecemeal. Sighted a small freighter Koho maru (900T) with escort, a Type 28-GO ES, trying to run the Slot to Guadalcanal. We caught him far enough up the Slot, between Bougainville and Choioseul, to catch him before nightfall. Submerged at medium range, we fired two torpedoes, with one hitting, and failing to detonate. We eluded the escort. We lost the enemy as dusk fell.
4 JAN through 7 JAN No Enemy Encountered
8 JAN 0340HRS Patrolling north of Choiseul, we intercepted two more enemy supply ships, Misaki Maru (4,400T) and Taga Maru (2,200T), with escort, a Kamikaze DD. We made our usual surface attack at medium range, firing three stern torpedoes at the larger merchantman, and one at the smaller. All four torpedoes struck their targets, with one dud against the Misaki Maru. The larger ship was heavily damaged but did not sink. The smaller sunk with the single torpedo. We were able to elude the enemy escort.
0810HRS Reacquired the damaged ship, still with escort. Fired two torpedoes, both striking and detonating against the enemy ship, sinking her. We were unable to evade the enemy escort this time, losing our last AA gun. The enemy escort made a second pass, seriously injuring Lt Decker, and causing various minor injuries to members of the crew.
We finally eluded the escort.
9 JAN through 16 JAN No Enemy Encountered
17 JAN 0820HRS North of Bougainville, we sighted a pair of enemy ships, both around 2,200 tons, with escort. With only two torpedoes left to us, I decided to attack only one of the targets. Submerged at medium range, we fired our remaining two torpedoes at the trailing freighter, the Mayachi Maru (2,200T). Only one found its target but failed to detonate. The enemy escort wasted no time in locating us, causing some minor damage to the hull accompanied by some minor flooding. We were able to avoid the second pass of the enemy escort.
18 JAN through 28 JAN No Enemy Encountered
29 JAN 0825HRS Two days out of Fremantle we were surprised by a Mavis flying boat. We barely crash dove in time to avoid the enemy attack.
30 JAN through 31 JAN No Enemy Encountered
1 FEB 1943 - Arrived Fremantle
Captain’s Log 3 JAN 1943 I am not sure how Cookie manages to work the magic he does in the galley. He and his men managed to make a small batch of ‘Torpedo Juice’. I was just enough for a small toast for each of the crew on New Year’s.
5 JAN 1943 Things are improving.
Our overall performance has been mediocre, at best. The fact that our torpedoes are grossly defective, not helping our cause.
Of our four successful patrols, we have fired forty-nine torpedoes at the enemy. Of these 32 have actually struck enemy shipping, for a low success rate of 65%. However, of the torpedoes that have hit the enemy, almost 47% have failed to detonate. An unacceptable rate of failure.
On our fifth patrol, fourth successful, we fired all 24 torpedoes, approximately half of all torpedoes we have fired since the war started. 75% of those torpedoes found the enemy, with an improved rate of 39% failure to detonate. 40% is still an unacceptable rate of failure for a weapon that costs $10,000 per unit to manufacture.
Of the prior three patrols with five enemy ships sunk, only three were sunk by torpedo, with 25 fired. It took just over 8 torpedoes per kill. With four sinkings this last patrol, we achieved an improved rate of 6 torpedoes per kill for all torpedoes fired.
For torpedoes that actually hit and detonated, it is taking about 2.5 torpedoes per kill. That amounts to an overall 4.5 torpedoes failing to hit or damage enemy shipping.
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rodmod
Submarine Commander
Posts: 33
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Post by rodmod on Apr 22, 2024 20:06:30 GMT
Submarine Name: USS Sardine Patrol: #5 / Dec 1942 - Jan 1943 Patrol Assignment: China Sea Successful Patrol: Yes Number of Freighters Sunk: 1 / 8 Number of Tankers Sunk: 1 / 1 Number of Warships Sunk: 0 / 0 Number of Capital Ships Sunk: 0 / 0 Total Tonnage Destroyed: 8,200t / 41,100t
Refit Time: 1 month, ready Mar 1943.
Award Requests: Battle Star (5), SCPI (5)
Promotion check for CO
Patrol Narrative:
Sardine was ordered back to the China Sea for her fifth war patrol. The outbound transit was uneventful, and amidst patchy fog on the night of 12 December the boat encountered a maru proceeding unescorted – possibly a troop transport moving between Formosa and Japan. The deck gun appeared to have little effect, so four torpedoes were fired at the target, of which two hit, sinking the ship. The rest of December was quiet as the crew celebrated Christmas and rang in the New Year.
In good visibility on the morning of 7 January 1943, Sardine encountered an unescorted oil tanker. A dozen rounds from the deck gun was all it took, and Tourville left the area with the target engulfed in flames and settling by the stern. The rest of the month produced no sightings, and the transit back to Freemantle was uneventful. Once again, the China Sea appears to be a good hunting ground with minimal Japanese ASW activity.
Sardine will be taken into dockyard hands to have her conning tower cut down further, and to have her 3” pop gun replaced by a more capable 4” weapon. Her .50 cal AA mounts will be replaced with 40mm and 20mm weapons.
(Troop transport of 5,400t sunk by torpedoes, tanker of 2,800t sunk by deck gun)
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Post by silentwolf on Apr 28, 2024 5:31:45 GMT
USS Snapper Porpoise class 3 Battle Stars
LCDR Sam Anderson SCPI(3)
Patrol: #4/ Dec 1942 - Jan 1943 Patrol Assignment: Solomons Successful Patrol: Yes Number of Freighters Sunk: 1 / 5 Number of Tankers Sunk: 1 / 1 Number of Warships Sunk: 1 / 1 Number of Capital Ships Sunk: 0 / 0 Total Tonnage Destroyed: 6,800 / 35,900
Refit Time: 3 months (Hull Damage), ready May 1943
Award Requests: Battle Star (4) SCPI (4)
Note: 3rd Officer Oscar Murray advanced the EXPERT status prior to this patrol.
" We returned to the Solomons for the fourth patrol...
One evening, we intercepted an escorted freighter... I fired twelve torpedos and scored several hits on the freighter, however only two detonated!
Fortunately, this would be enough to send the target under...
My boat was detected a few times during this engagement, but evasive maneuvers allowed "Snapper" to escape with only minimal Hull Damage.....
The next encounter was quite interesting...
We detected an IJN submarine, presumed to be "RO 115", running at cruising speed on the surface....
I attacked with 4 torpedoes....
Minutes later, 2 explosions completely destroyed the Japanese sub, they never saw it coming......
The final weeks of the patrol would be extremely uneventful, until our last night on station....
SJ radar picked up 2 contacts within hours from our position. We moved at full speed to intercept before sunrise.....
It was a juicy target...a 10,000 ton tanker...
I was determined to take her down...
I fired all of my remaining torpedos (forward and aft) from medium range...
It was unbelievable....3 hits and 3 duds!
We endured an intense counter attack...
A substantial amount of flooding occurred and diesel 4 was damaged...
I took my boat deep and eventually escaped......"
LCDR Sam Anderson, USN
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