// IMMEDIATE //
From: LCDR Greg Turner, USS Muskellunge (SS-262)
To: ComSubRon 4
Cc: ComSubPac
Date: November 25, 1943
Re: Patrol Report (August 00 Cycle 1)
RMKS/ 1. Arrived on station midmorning November 12, 1943. Started patrol of Kii Suido strait to search for naval traffic from Kobe naval base.
RMKS/ 2. At 16:12 SJ radar made contact bearing 035° at 30,600 yds. Made visual at 18:30 on 2 Yagumo class DDs. Went to radar depth at 18:32. Spotted 1 AMC at 6,600 yds and 1 DD at 3,400 yds. Final check showed 1 AMC, 2 LF, 2 SF, 4 SM, 1 TT, and 2 DDs. At 19:21 I turned southeast and surfaced to make an end around. At 22:00 I dove ahead of the convoy fired 2 MK-18 electric torpedos at a Standard Merchant at 987 yds at 22:09. One hit damaged SM and 1 miss. Fired 1 Mk 18 at AMC at 1,207 yds at 22:10. Hit damaged the AMC. Fired 1 MK 18 at same SM at 940 yds at 22:11 and sank SM. Escorts had no wake to follow off these electric fish so they made no contact and moved off by 23:19. Had dove to 325 feet to avoid escorts. Had a good temperature gradient at 200 feet. Arrived at radar depth at 23:20 and surfaced at 23:27. Cleared area and headed for Kii Suido, 15 miles south of strait.
RMKS/ 3. Sat, November 13, 1943. 01:47 made SJ contact bearing 022° at 32,240 yds. Never made visual contact due to bad weather. Made SJ contact bearing 102° at 21,910 yds. Went to radar depth at 11:08 and spotted convoy bearing 165°. Went to flank speed to intercept. Spot check at 11:15 showed a destroyer at 2,200 yds. At 11:22 the destroyer spotted my surface wake and opened fire on it and turned toward me. I fired 2 MK 14 torpedoes and dove to 300 feet. Sank 1 Yugumo class DD. Check later showed convoy turning north and second escort heading toward me. Dove back to 300 feet and turned southeast. Had a good temperature gradient at 150 feet. I eluded the escorts and went to radar depth at 12:39. Radar showed convoy at 185° degrees at 11,120 yds. Due to range and the convoy being alerted to my presence I let the convoy go. I surfaced at 12:50.
RMKS/ 4. At 13:56 made SJ contact bearing 036° at 17,415 yds. While tracking this contact SJ radar made contact on a different convoy bearing 096° at 14,670 yds. Changed course to intercept second convoy. Spotted a ship at 15:52 bearing 347°. Identified a 2-ship patrol (Hatsuharu class DD). I turned south to open out and set course for Bungo Suido strait. RMKS/ 5. Sunday, November 14, 1943. 00:57 made SJ contact bearing 021° at 31,420 yds. Went to radar depth at 02:08 and picked up active sonar two minutes later. Spotted 2 DDs patrolling. Surfaced at 03:30 and headed out of patrol area. SJ contact at 06:14 bearing 154° at 32,150 yds. Group was moving away from us. SJ contact at 07:28 bearing 022° at 27, 250 yds. Made visual at 07:41 at 10,440 yds on 1- Shiratsuyu class DD and 1- Yugumo class DD. I went to radar depth and turned south to get in front of convoy. Spot check at 07:54 showed 8 merchants and 4 destroyers. Went to 100 feet at full speed to intercept. At 08:05 I attained firing position ahead of convoy. Identified 1- SF, 2- SM, 2- OT, 1- LF, 1- Supply and 3- Hatsuharu class and 1- Shiratsuyu class DD. At 08:05 I fired 1 MK-18 electric at Oil Tanker at 2,200 yds then dove with destroyers all around. At 08:07 sound reported an explosion but no breaking up sounds. Active sonar began searching. At 08:24 sound-reported low speed screws overhead. Arrived at periscope depth and spotted 4 ships circling while the others scattered. 1DD guarded the circling ships while the other DDs fanned out to search for us. Dove back to 300 feet and headed northeast. At 08:59 went to periscope depth and tool up a station 3 miles off the deep-water shelf east of Bungo Suido strait. At 09:49 sound reported active sonar and the periscope watch reported a Cruiser task Force passing 6,400 yds to port. Had no shot due to no radar warning on TF. Sighted mast on 2 DD, 3 LC, and 1 HC.
RMKS/ 6. At 10:00 sound reported low speed screws bearing 059°. Nine minutes later I spotted 1 SF bearing 019° at 5,100 yds. The crew was in favor of a gun action so I surfaced the boat and the gun crew went into action. Opened fire at 10:12 at 3,900 yds. Fired 10 shots for 10 hits. Due to patrols and the refusal of the ship to sink I elected to fire 1 MK-14 torpedo at 1,300 yds. Target was sunk. Dove to periscope depth and turned south. Surface radar reported 4 fast movers heading south toward us. Went to 325 feet and continued south. Freighter must have radioed for help. Escorts never made contact and moved off by 11:28. Surfaced the boat at 11:40 and headed away from the coast to charge the batteries and give the crew a needed break. Had not even finished charging the batteries when SJ radar made contact bearing 000° at 17,470 yds. Made visual at 12:44 on 3 Sampans. At 13:03 the deck gun opened fire at 1,000 yards. Fired 8 rounds for 5 Hits and 3 Misses. Sank sampans and continued patrol. At 16:40 I set course for ISE WAN.
RMKS/ 7. Monday November 15, 1943. Made SJ contact bearing 030° at 36,460 yds. Closest contact was 8,640 yds in the dark. Convoy got away. At 03:30 made SJ contact bearing 334° at 30,770 yds coming out of the ISE WAN strait. Radar showed that the convoy turned and headed back up the strait. I moved the boat away from the strait as daylight approached. At 06:33 made SJ contact bearing 348° at 25,810 yds. At 06:57 I sighted a DD and went to periscope depth. At 06:59 I made my depth 100 feet as I closed on convoy. Convoy consisted of 4 SM, 3 AMC, 2 SF, 1 LF, and 1 OT. At 07:10 I came to PD and fired 2, MK-18 torpedoes at OT at 1,761 yds and fired 2, MK-14 torpedoes at SM at 980 yds. Immediately dove to 325 feet and headed northwest. At 07:14 sound reported the tanker sinking and the SM was hit by one torpedo but missed by the second. As we passed 275 feet the OOD reported that the dive planes were jammed on full dive. I ordered emergency reverse and ordered the ballast blown and stopped our decent at 450 feet. I kept the boat at 325 after the recovery and waited out the escorts. At 08:47 I went to periscope depth and then surfaced at 08:53.
RMKS/ 8. Made SJ contact bearing 033° at 23,30 yds at 08:54 Contact was moving away. At 12:35 made SJ contact bearing 022° at 31,700 yds. Range closed rapidly. Made visual at 13:27 on mast of Standard Merchant. Went to flank speed to intercept. Identified 1- SM, 1 OT, 1 AMC, 1 SF, 1 LF, 2 Mutsuki DD, 2 Asashio DD, and 3 Shiratsuyu class DD. I began my end around at 13:30. At 14:21 I went to periscope depth 1,500 yds ahead of convoy. At 14:41 convoy turned northeast 5,446 yds to port. I began maneuvering for a firing position. Check at 14:53 showed 3 DDs within 3,000 yds. DD dropped depth charges at 14:59 just as I began to fire torpedoes. Convoy turned more to the north and I dove to 325 feet in case I had been spotted. I heard distant depth charges as I passed under the convoy. At 15:17 sound reported 8 sets of high-speed screws in the area. Lost contact by 16:24 and went to radar depth. Radar showed convoy at 22,680 yds. Convoy moved on. Sighted a large patrol at 20:00 and reversed my course to clear the immediate area.
RMKS/ 9. 00:34 November 16, 1943. Made SJ contact bearing 053° at 8,220 yds. Spotted 3 sampans at 00:41 and closed for surface action. Opened fire at 00:49. Fired 10 rounds for 8 hits and 2 misses. Sank sampans. At 02:00 made SJ contact bearing 0666° at 300,720 yds. Contact moving away. At 05:45 I headed for Bungo Suido strait. At 08:17 I made SJ contact bearing 350° at 33,710 yds. At 09:18 I made visual contact bearing 339° at 14,480 yds on 1 TT, 1 CFS, 1 LF, 1 - SF and 4 Asashio class DDs. Completed end around by 10:54. At 11:27 I fired 2, MK-14 steam torpedoes at CFS at range of 990 yds. 1 missed and 1 hit that sank the ship. Also fired 1 steam and 1 electric at DD at 985 yds. Destroyed 1 Asashio class DD. Also fired 2 steam torpedoes at Large Freighter at 970 yds. Sank LF. Also fired 1 steam torpedo at SF at 501 yds. Sank SF. At 11:37 dove to 325 feet with escorts pinging. I headed northwest. At 11:48 I received one depth charge run. Not to close but did rock the boat around. Finally lost contact at 12:06. Went to radar depth at 12:33. At 12:55 I spotted a single DD bearing 314°. Believe it was a DD from the last convoy. Went to 325 feet at 12:59 as DD closed. Radar check at 13:38 showed no contacts within 40,000 yds so I surfaced and set a course for Pearl Harbor.
RMKS/ 10. Arrived Pearl Harbor on November 25, 1943.
Patrol Summary:
TDC: Auto
Conditions:
Seas: Calm Weather: Partly Cloudy
Enemy Sunk:
1. 1 x Standard Merchant 3,440 tons 33-12N x 135-48E 2. 1 x Small Freighter 1,940 tons 32-22N x 133-00E 3. 1 x Oil Tanker 6,270 tons 33-38N x 136-47E 4. 1 x Small Freighter 1,720 tons 32-13N x 132-48E 5. 1 x Large Freighter 5,080 tons 32-13N x 132-48E 6. 1 x Converted Factory Ship 4,470 tons 32-13N x 132-48E 7. 1 x Asashio Class DD 1,980 tons 32-13N x 132-48E 8. 1 x Yugumo Class DD 2,520 tons 33-26N x 134-48E 9. 3 x Sampans 70 tons ea. 31-54N x 133-19E 10. 3 x Sampans 70 tons ea. 33-10N x 135-27E TOTAL 27,840 tons
Enemy Escaped:
1. 11 x Standard Merchant 2. 6 x Small Freighters 3. 5 x Large Freighters 4. 4 x Supply 5. 4 x Armed Merchant Cruisers 6. 3 x Oil Tankers 7. 2 x Troop Transports 8. 9 x Asashio class DDs 9. 6 x Hatsuharu class DDs 10. 5 x Shiratsuyu class DDs 11. 2 x Yugumo class DDs 12. 2 x Mutsuki class DDs 13. 7 x Unidentified DDs 14. 3 x Unidentified Light Cruisers 15. 1 x Unidentified Heavy Cruiser
Damage Sustained:
None
Ordnance Remaining:
Torpedo: 3 Deck gun: 67
Comments:
The new MK-18 electric fish are great. A ship has no way of finding where it came from. The coast of Japan is loaded with traffic. I recommend wolf pack operations here to put the hurt on the Japs. I would also recommend loading all subs with 90% electric torpedoes and 10 % steam. The steam are faster and have greater range which make s them ideal for long shots where you have time to clear the target area but the electrics wake less signature make them ideal for warships even though they have a shorter range. Request reloads and refit.
LCDR Greg Turner
USS Muskellunge (SS-262)
// SENDS //