Patrol Report August 00 II
SS-287 Bowfin
Third War Patrol - covering the period from 1/4/44 to 1/29/44
To:� ComSubPac, Commander SUBRON 4 - Manual TDC
PROLOGUE TO
Arrived Fremantle 11/24/43 after second War Patrol. The new Mark 18-1 torpedo's were available so we were given a split load 50/50 with the Mark 14's.
NARRATIVE
1/4/44 Departed Fremantle for the South China Sea. Conducted daily drills enroute and practiced rapid deep submergence. Arrived on station 1/13/44 weather is clear, seas are Calm with a full moon. Set course for Hong Kong and will patrol outside the 100 fathom curve on the Hong Kong - Formosa route. Plan is to close in on the port exit at night and stay in deep water during the day.
Rmks 1.� 01/14/44 0035 radar contact 31500 yards coming out of Hong Kong. Turn bow on and stop to get direction and speed of target group. Looks like two large ships with seven or more escorts bearing 145 at 25 knots. Close at full speed to sight the enemy. Seas are moderate with a partly cloudy sky and the moon behind us. 0130 sight the enemy two escorts with a CA and a CL. Probably another pair but do not sight them. Attempt to gain position as they turn and head SW away from us. 0200 after sighting the second pair and two more escorts decide to break of the pursuit. Next time will get closer to island so they have to go around us and the moon is behind them.
Rmks 2.� 01/14/44 0250 another radar contact 32500 yards coming out of Hong Kong. Close quickly before they turn SW or NE. This is a smaller group probably two large ships with four escorts. They were heading into Hong Kong and anchored there. Turned and headed out sea for the day.
Rmks 3.� 1/14/44 1250 radio request photo recon of facilities near Hong Kong by 1059 on the 16th. Will run in this evening like we did last night and remain in the harbor area to get the picture on the morning of the 15th.
Rmks 4.� 1/14/44 2245 SJ contact 32000 yards. 2315 This group has stopped in Hong Kong except for patrolling DD's. Lights of the harbor are burning at reduced intensity.
Rmks 5.� 1/15/44 0225 DD's get suspicious and drop 8 DC's nothing real close. Continue our crawl into the harbor. 0240 they come by again and drop about nine more still nothing close. 0310 Another pass, this time they were close enough to cause some minor damage. Leaking in the crews mess and aft battery compartments, SD and SJ units knocked around. 0330 they do better this time SJ is beyond repair, leaking in forward engine room, control room, pump room and officers quarters, Aft battery and engine three damaged. Stop engines and let her settle to the bottom. 0345 they make another pass no damage this time. 0400 one pass two DC no damage. 0410 same DD going the other way one DC no damage. 0510 one DD is back on normal patrol others are stationary in harbor. All leaks repaired, pumps are running and other equipment under repair. 0535 under way again at 1/3 speed periscope depth heading towards recon target. 0610 got the pictures now try and find a hiding place for the day. Will break out after dark before moon rise.
Rmks 6.� 1/15/44 1715. Begin our exit of the harbor. One DD patrolling so move out at 1/3 speed depth 120. Each time he passes rig for silent running then resume 1/3 speed after he passes. 1845 on the surface Heading out to sea. 1915 encounter a large patrol outside the main harbor. Without SJ radar have to keep diving to get sound headings on escorts once I lose visual.
Rmks 7.� 1/16/44 2045. Spot ships heading right at us range 2000 yards. Dive to escape no time to set up a shot closest DD opens fire as we dive. Four sets of large screws sighted two CA's before going under. Sure miss the SJ radar.
Rmks 8.� 1/17/44 0020. Ships sighted 6100 yards. Two small CV's and escorts close quickly too 3000 yards then convoy zigs parallel to my heading. Fire two Mark 14's high speed depth 10 at each CV range 2500 yards. As they pass the nearest escort he turns and comes right at us dive to evade. Believe all torpedo's exploded at end of run no confirmed hits. Apparently the escort never saw us just his normal zig. They probably all zigged causing the misses. Torpedo's exploded at end of run and the tin cans all went after the them.
Rmks 9.� 1/17/44 1150. Ships sighted range 15000 yards. Two CA's two CL's and escorts. Attempt to intercept. This group has one DD escorting. 1450 in position for an attack. Fire six bow tubes with the group inline range to nearest ship 1500 to 1000 yards. Four Mark 18's followed by two Mark 14's. First passed ahead, second hit first CA, third hits second CA, fourth passed between first and second CA, fifth hits first CA dud, sixth hits second CA. Swing around and fire four stern shots at 600 to 1500 yards three Mark 18's followed by a Mark 14. First passes ahead of first CA second hits second CA he is burning, third passes between CA's and misses DD on far side, fourth misses all and explodes at end of run. One CA and the two CL's move off as a group at about 27 knots, 2 knots slower than before. The burning CA departs separately at 25 knots. The Fubucki escort hangs around then departs. Surface to chase the wounded CA and the DD spots us and comes back. He cruises right across our bow so fire one mark 18 at 1400 yards. Fubucki destroyed. Surface to chase the CA again and SD indicates two aircraft. Unable to regain contact. Sure miss having the SJ radar.
Rmks 10.� 1/17/44 2220. Sight a DD coming at us. Dive to get sound readings, indicates three high speed screws no slow can be heard. Maneuver in order to determine what these DD's are escorting. DD's spot me while getting into position on two CL's. Dive to evade escorts. 0015 finally get out from under these guys and back on the surface no damage from DC attacks.
Rmks 11.� 1/18/44 0215. Sight a DD followed by a convoy of three ships. Already between the DD and the convoy so dive and turn to attack. Fire two Mark 18 at second ship an armed merchant and two Mark 14's at third ship also an armed merchant range 1100 yards for each. All four hit both ships are burning. Fire final mark 18 forward at first ship range 500 yards either missed or did not arm dove to 80 feet to pass under the group. Come back to periscope depth and they have turned heading behind us setting up a stern tube shot. Fire one Mark 18 at the second armed merchant hit and now slowing considerably. The others are all moving off at 17 knots. After the destroyers depart run at flank speed after the cripple. At 0405 finish him off with two rounds from the deck gun. Without radar don't know where the rest are but cut across their original track trying to regain contact.
Rmks 12.� 1/19/44 1630. SD contact dive to radar depth to track. Pick up heavy screws close to investigate. Once the planes depart surface and find a small convoy. Turn to gain position keeping them out of sight except with the scope up. 1745 fire two mark 18 torpedo's range 1100 yards at lead standard merchant and one mark 14 at second ship armed cruiser. One hit on each ship. Convoy breaks up. Pursue three ships including the damaged standard merchant. Surface and finish him off with 23 rounds, 1 miss. Pursue a supply ship and sink him with 15 rounds. Circle the area hoping to find another ship and spot an armed merchant. He is making 21 knots so may or may not be the one we hit with the torpedo. He sinks after 43 rounds.
Rmks 13.� 1/19/44 2025. While pursuing ships find ourselves right in the path of two escorts leading a convoy. Crash dive but they spot us before we get under. They make a few DC runs but nothing close.
Arrived Fremantle 1/29/44.
Jap ASW
Escorts were lighter on convoys but heavy and aggressive on task forces. Harbor patrols were heavy but very inefficient. They were running at too high a speed to detect anything. Even when they suspected that we were there they did not aggressively search just a gentle pass by dropping a DC or two.
Torpedo performance summary
Attack one - Mark 14's all fired at depth 8 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
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0 0 0 4
Result: nothing.
Attack Two - 3 Mark 14's and 7 Mark 18's all fired at depth 8 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
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4 0 1 5
Result: One Takao class CA burning with three hits another unidentified CA with one hit slowed about 2 knots.
Attack Three - Mark 18 fired at depth 8 feet.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
��������������������
1 0 0 0
Result: Fubucki class DD 2090 tons sunk.
Attack four - Two Mark 14's and four mark 18's all fired at depth 8 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
��������������������
5 0 0 1 mark 18
Result: One armed merchant cruiser 4340 tons sunk a second one damaged.
Attack five - One Mark 14 and two mark 18's all fired at depth 8 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
��������������������
2 0 0 1 mark 18
Result: One armed merchant cruiser and one standard merchant damaged. This attack was finished off with the deck gun as a surface action.
Totals
Hit Prem Dud Miss
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12 0 1 11
Torpedo performance
NO premature's. Torpedo's appear to be running where aimed although hard to tell on the Mark 18's. Will shorten up the spreads don't need to shoot ahead and astern of the targets.
Deck Gun
83 shots fired, 82 hits.
Attack four finished off damaged armed merchant with 2 hits.
Attack five finished off damaged standard merchant 3790 tons with 23 shots, 22 hit.
Attack six sink supply ship 2700 tons with 15 rounds, all hit.
Attack seven sunk an armed merchant cruiser 12680 tons with 43 rounds all hit.
Flashless powder is getting better, ships were engaged from 1800 to 3700 yards with impressive hit results and no accurate return fire. None of the targets were able to locate our position using the gun flashes.
SJ Radar
Performance while operational, made contact at about 30000 to 33000 yards. Losing this piece of equipment puts the boat at a significant disadvantage in locating targets. Recommend additional spare parts and qualified technicians be assigned to each ship. Although the Engineering Officer and Radio men worked diligently trying to repair the unit it's loss for the balance of the patrol put us in peril a number of times.
SD radar
Aircraft were detected at around 17000 yds during the patrol.
Damage
Hull damage moderate 35%, system damage light 3% but oh what a 3%. Repair time eight days.
Weather Conditions
Calm to Moderate seas and Fair to partly cloudy while in PZ.
Endurance factors
Fuel remaining 33%, torpedo's 0, shells 17, supplies 30 days.
Photo Recons
Completed one as requested.
Ships sunk
Fubucki DD 2090 tons
Armed Cruiser 4340 tons
Standard Merchant 3790 tons
Supply Ship 2700 tons
Armed Cruiser 12680 tons
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TOTAL 25600 tons
Respectfully,
LTCMD Ray McNeice
Commander SS-287 Bowfin