Patrol Report September 00 I
SS-287 Bowfin fourth War Patrol covering the period from 3/4/44 to 3/14/44
To: ComSubPac, Commander SUBRON 4 - Manual TDC
PROLOGUE TO
Arrived Fremantle 1/29/44 after third War Patrol. After refit relocated to Darwin, Aus. Had the honor of taking Radm. Christie ComSubSoWesPac on this voyage so he could see how his boys lived. (See attached Photo of Radm. Christie on the Bowfin). Again we took a split load of 14 Mark 14 and 10 Mark 18 torpedo's.
NARRATIVE
3/4/44 Departed Darwin for the Philippine's. Will concentrate on troop transport convoys per orders. Conducted daily drills enroute and practiced rapid deep submergence. Arrived on station 3/8/44. After a swing through the Leyte Gulf and San Bernadino Straits will patrol the eastern shipping lanes off the strait.
Rmks 1. 3/9/44 0245. SJ Contact 32000 yards turn to intercept before dawn. This group is well covered looks like by 8 DD's heading 000 at 17 knots. Can't intercept from present position so we back out and try an end around to gain position ahead. 0410 after getting ahead them by passing to the East of the island discover two armed merchants, a supply ship, and a standard merchant escorted by 8 DD's at 17 knots heading for the San Bernadino Strait. Trying to get into the strait ahead of them for a predawn attack. Set up the attack from dead ahead of convoy ships in roughly three columns. Fire 2 mark 14's, 2000 yards, high speed, depth 10 feet at tanker 15510 tons in right column one hit and sunk second nothing to hit. One Mark 14 at lead ship in middle column range 1500 yards misses to the left and passes to the right of second ship in the column. Two mark 14's at lead ship in right column range 1000 yards one hit dud one miss ahead. Fired one mark 18 at first ship in middle column range 900 yards miss. Main body departs to the East, one merchant continues bearing 350 while the DD's are searching behind us so we crawl north through the strait. The DD's make two passes nothing close before we make good our exit. Keep the convoy in radar range as it reforms but continue into the open sea for some deeper water. Hit bottom in the strait between 185 and 240 feet. Radar picks up a plane a couple of time right after dawn but never closer than 14000 yards.
Rmks 2. 3/10/44 2032. SJ contact 33000 yards coming out of the San Bernadino Strait. We are positioned just off the 100 fathom line NE of the strait. Monitor the contact on radar to see if it is a patrol or a convoy. Turns out to be one high speed armed merchant with one escort leading the way out of the Strait. 2125 a small ship of only 4700 tons traveling at 18 knots with an escort doing a bang up job so we let this one pass.
Rmks 3. 3/11/44 0054. SJ contact 33500 yards coming out of Legaspi heading 090 looks like six to eight ships. Close quickly to identify the targets. Radar indicates probably four escorts on each of the points. Sight the convoy just as they turn NE out of Legaspi. This could be the reinforcement convoy, transports in the lead with tankers and merchants doing about 11 knots with a heavy escort. Report contact with this group to Pearl and move in to attack. 0215 commence firing. One mark 14 range 2500 yards speed high depth 10 at tanker in lead of third, farthest column, miss, two mark 14's at factory ship in middle column one hit one miss, two mark 18's at troop transport in near column range 1500 yards two hits ship sinks, one mark 14 at tanker second ship in middle column miss. Turn stern too enemy all except the damaged factory ship turn to course 180 at 10 knots, DD's are chasing explosions at end of run of the misses on far side of the group. 0230 fire one mark 18 at damaged factory ship hit but still floating. 0233 fire another mark 18 hit target destroyed. Convoy turns to 270 and DD's are coming in our general direction. Circle around to the West to avoid the escorts and pursue the convoy. Convoy settles on course 135 track by radar to get in position for a second attack before dawn.
Rmks 4. 03/11/44 0510. Commence second attack on the convoy. Fire two mark 18's at lead ship in center column a factory ship 2500 yards and one mark 18 at tanker in closest column by himself range 1200 yards, then one mark 14 at second factory ship in the middle column range 2700 yards. Begin a turnaround to bring stern tubes to bear. Hit on tanker he is burning, hit and miss on lead factory no sign of damage, the miss hits a large freighter leading the far column, miss on second factory ship in middle column. From stern tubes fire one mark 14 at damaged tanker hit and sunk, two mark 14's at second factory ship both hit he is burning, final mark 14 at damaged freighter hit, he is slowing and burning. Dive to evade and load final two mark 18's in the stern tubes for final attack. 0549 fire one mark 18 at the large freighter range 800 yards hit and sunk. The damaged factory ship is doing about 3 knots all other ships are departing heading 000 at 10 knots. 0650 Fire last mark 18 at factory ship range 1100 yards hit and sunk. Out of torpedo's and dawn is breaking. Evade escorts, report results to Pearl and receive order to return to Darwin. Arrived Darwin 3/14/44.
Jap ASW
Escorts were for the most part light and ineffective on convoys. No task forces were encountered.
Torpedo performance summary
Attack one - Five Mark 14's and one mark 18 all fired at depth 10 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
���������������������
1 0 1 4
Result - sunk 15510 ton Tanker.
Attack two - Four Mark 14's and four mark 18's all fired at depth 10 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
���������������������
5 0 0 3
Result - sunk 8510 ton Transport and 3170 ton Factory ship.
Attack three - Five Mark 14's and five mark 18's all fired at depth 10 feet high speed.
Hit Prem Dud Miss
���������������������
9 0 0 1
Result - sunk 15010 ton Tanker, 5990 ton Large Freighter and 3170 ton Factory ship.
Totals
Hit Prem Dud Miss
���������������������
15 0 1 8
Torpedo performance
NO premature's. Except for possible entry errors and evasive action when shooting at multiple targets no problems with the Mark 14's or Mark 18's. TDC timing to target appears fast or the torpedo's are slower than expected for Mark 18's. All hits are well after anticipated time. Do not see the discrepancy with the Mark 14's at high speed.
Deck Gun was not used.
SJ Radar
Performance made contact at about 30000 to 34000 yards.
SD radar
Aircraft were detected at around 17000 yds during the patrol.
Damage
None
Weather Conditions
Calm to Moderate seas and Fair to partly cloudy while in PZ.
Endurance factors
Fuel remaining 71%, torpedo's 0, shells 100, supplies 45 days.
Photo Recons
None requested.
Ships sunk - six
Oil tanker 15510 tons Troop Transport 8510 tons Factory Ship 3170 tons Oil tanker 15010 tons Large Freighter 5990 tons Factory Ship 3170 tons ������������������������������ TOTAL 51360 tons
Respectfully,
LTCMD Ray McNeice
Commander SS-287 Bowfin