Rank & Name: Lt. Commander Ethan Edwards
Cycle: 5 ( November 2003 ) Special Mission
Squadron & Division: 2 / 4A
USS & SS: U.S.S. Gato SS-212
Patrol Zone & Sector(s): Task Force 42 ( Solomon
Islands )
TDC: Auto
Realism (%): 95%
Crew experience: Elite
Number of Warships sunk: 8
Number of Merchants sunk: 7
Warship tonnage: 21,202 tons
Merchant tonnage: 44,580 tons
Total JANAC tonnage: 32,819 tons
Types of Warship sunk:
|
Date |
Time |
Lat &
Long |
Class of
Vessel |
Tonnage |
|
January 19, 1943 |
22:09 |
8-47S, 159-11E |
A Type Submarine |
2,934 tons |
|
January 19, 1943 |
22:09 |
8-47S, 159-11E |
A Type Submarine |
2,934 tons |
|
January 19, 1943 |
22:09 |
8-47S, 159-11E |
Kaidai Type Submarine |
1,810 tons |
|
January 20, 1943 |
02:50 |
8-51S, 159-17E |
B Type Submarine |
2,564 tons |
|
January 20, 1943 |
03:22 |
8-52S, 159-18E |
C Type Submarine |
2,564 tons |
|
January 20, 1943 |
03:23 |
8-52S, 159-18E |
B Type Submarine |
2,564 tons |
|
January 20, 1943 |
05:37 |
8-54S, 159-26E |
Kuma Class CL |
5,832 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
09:02 |
6-55S, 155-40E |
Kagero Class DD |
--------------- |
Types of Merchant sunk:
|
Date |
Time |
Lat &
Long |
Class of
Vessel |
Tonnage |
|
January 21, 1943 |
08:13 |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Oil Tanker |
10,320 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
08:31 |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Oil Tanker |
10,320 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
08:31 |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Large Freighter |
3,900 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
08:35 |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Troop Transport |
5,340 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
09:03 |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Coastal Tanker |
1,410 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
09:22 |
6-55S, 155-39E |
Troop Transport |
6,190 tons |
|
January 21, 1943 |
11:15 |
6-55S, 155-40E |
Converted Factory Ship |
7,100 tons |
Conducted Lifeguard duty: NONE
|
Date |
Time |
Lat &
Long |
|
|
|
|
Conducted Photo Recon: YES
|
Date |
Time |
Location |
Lat &
Long |
|
January 21, 1943 |
08:00 hours |
Buin, Bougainville |
6-55S, 155-41E |
Patrol Narrative: Assigned a ‘Special Mission’ from Task Force 42. Mission Orders state that IJN submarines are evacuating Guadalcanal and heading Northwest up through the ‘Slot’ and than between the Treasury and Shortland Islands and finally up the West coast of Bougainville. Submarines are expected to be in two separate groups and will depart within the next 12 hours. Orders are to sink all the IJN Submarines. If a Photo Recon mission is requested this is to be secondary to the primary mission of finding and sinking the submarines.
Arrived on station on
January 19, 1943 with a mixed load of torpedoes (9- MK 10’s and 15- MK 14’s)
and the new SJ Radar. Heading Southeast
down the slot toward Guadalcanal, no contacts.
January 19, Air
contact detected, went to radar depth and later spotted an IJN torpedo bomber.
Avoided contact and lost contact with the Aircraft. Picked up the air contact
again and assumed this pilot was on a routine patrol of the area. Picked up the
same contact several times through out the day and spotted the aircraft several
times but avoided contact and as dusk started to fall we finally lost the air
contact on Radar for good. Surfaced and continued Southeast.
January 19, 21:32
hours we picked up a radar contact on SJ radar ahead bearing about 356`.
January 19, 21:50
hours we received orders for a Photo Recon mission of the Harbor facilities at
Buin, Bougainville, on or before 09:50 hours on January 23.
January 19, 21:55
hours we spotted three IJN Submarines on the surface headed for our position,
we dove to radar depth. Fired a single
MK 10 torpedo at each target sinking all three. Resuming the patrol.
January 20, 02:23
hours, picked up a radar contact ahead, dove to radar depth. 02:38 hours we
spotted an IJN Submarine on the surface, we fired a single MK 10 torpedo and
sunk the target. Resuming the patrol.
January 20, 02:54,
picked up another radar contact ahead at 13,500 yards, dove to radar depth.
03:09 we spotted two IJN Submarines on the surface headed for our position. We
fired a single MK 10 torpedo at each and sunk both targets. Surface and headed
North toward Bougainville for the P/R mission.
January 20, 04:58
hours we picked up a radar contact bearing 018`. We headed for the contact to
investigate. We spotted two IJN CL’s with three Destroyers for escort. We set-up
on the trailing CL and fired, three hits and one dud, sinking a Kuma Class CL.
Dove to avoid the escorts and lost contact. Surfaced and headed northwest
again. Had to submerge and run at 100 feet due to air contact on SD Radar.
Surfaced at dusk and continued toward Buin for the P/R mission.
January 21, 06:15
hours, entered the outer harbor and spotted many ships at anchor with two DD’s
patrolling and a bonus a convoy entering the port via the channel between
Bougainville and Shortland Island.
January 21, 08:00
after creeping between the two patrolling DD’s we were well inside the harbor
and between the port and the patrolling DD’s we completed the Photo Recon of
the port. With the mission completed we decided to sink some of the shipping in
the port. We set-up on a Oil Tanker on the far side of the harbor and set the
torpedo to run on slow speed in the hopes that it will draw the patrolling DD’s
away from our position and free us up to sink others.
The torpedo hit and
sunk the Oil Tanker and both DD’s headed away from our position and we were
able to set-up on several other good targets. After sinking three more Marus
one of the DD’s headed away out to toward the open sea and the second was
moving between the anchored ships. We set-up on a Troop Transport and a Coastal
Tanker and fired but the Kagero Class DD moving between the anchored ships
intercepted one of our torpedoes and was immediately sunk, the second torpedo
sunk the Coastal Tanker. We move into another firing position and fired at the
Troop Transport again, this time the torpedo was a dud. We fired again and this
time we sunk the target.
The second DD is now
heading back into the harbor so we moved off and settled on the bottom to await
the developments. After and hour and a half the pinging grew faint so we went
to periscope depth and could not spot the DD anywhere in range. We set up on
the Converted Factory Ship and fired. Two hits and another dud. We fired again
and this time the CFS was headed for the bottom and we were headed out of the
harbor toward the open sea and home.
Rank & Name Lt. Commander Ethan Edwards