//IMMEDIATE//
From: CDR Greg Turner (USS Hoe)
ComSubRon 12A
To: ComSubPac
Date: May 26,1943
Re: Patrol Format (June 01 - Cycle 1)
RMKS/ 1. Departed Pearl May 1,1943 and stopped to top off the fuel tanks at Midway before heading out to station. Arrived off Northern Japan (NJ-7) May 12,1943 with 24 Mk-14 torpedo's aboard.
RMKS/ 2. Thursday May 13,1943 05:19 dove to radar depth at sunrise and stayed submerged until 20:27 then surfaced to continue patrolling.
RMKS/ 3. Friday May 14,1943 06:10 dove to radar depth as the sun rose. At 07:09 SJ radar made contact bearing 014` at 13,780 yds. 07:21 spotted 1 - Asashio class DD at 6,500 yds + 1 - Tanker at 11,500 yds bearing 010`. 07:26 eased down to periscope depth and setup to fire. Identified 3 - Standard Merchants in left column, 2 ships in middle column (unidentified), and 1 - Tanker and 1 - Troop ship in right column. At 07:46 fired 2 torpedos at Tanker at 1,300 yds set at 21 feet (SUNK). 07:47 fired 2 torpedos at 2nd Merchant at 700 yds set for 16 feet. Both torpedo's fired at the SM were duds but the 2 hit the Tanker with an ear shattering explosion that sent it down. I immediately fired a 3rd and 4th torpedo at the 2nd SM but these to were duds. Since the 2nd Merchant had now passed ahead I setup on the 3rd Merchant and fired 2 torpedos at 850 yds then dove with the DD close astern closing my position. Sound heard no detonations on the 3rd target but was having trouble hearing anything with all the noise. 08:34 arrived back at periscope depth with the DD astern and spotted 1 Merchant afire bearing 301` at 4,800 yds making 5.7 kts. Also spotted a Troop ship bearing 275` at 6,280 making 6.9 kts. Set intercept course to catch up to the burning Merchant and dove to 100 feet as an aircraft appeared in the area. Slowed occasionally to let sound listen and by 09:48 was in position to fire. At 09:50 fired 1 torpedo at the Merchant at 1,100 yds set at 16 feet (SUNK). Came to Radar depth but showed no contacts at all out to 40,000 yds. Due to a low battery (less than 200 volts) I elected to remain stationary at 250 feet and await dark. 20:03 surfaced and headed east to charge the batteries.
RMKS/ 4. Saturday May 15,1943 00:19 SJ contact bearing 344` at10, 720 yds. Changed course to investigate and at 00:27 spotted 1 DD bearing 332` at 5,800 yds making 23 kts. Dove to radar depth and continued to close. At 00:38 identified 1 - Tanker, and 1 - Merchant at 5,700 yds. At 00:42 spotted the remainder of what was a large convoy in two columns. Five ships in the column nearest me and three in the far column. Final tally was 2-Tankers, 2-Merchants, 1-Factory ship, 2-Troop ships, 2-Armed Cruisers, and 2-Supply ships at an average speed of 11 kts. 00:47 fired 3 torpedo's at an Armed Cruiser at 1,120 yds and also fired 3 torpedo's at a Tanker at 1,050 yds then turned for a stern shot. 1 torpedo prematured alerting the convoy but the Tanker didn't evade (SUNK). Sound reported hits on the Armed Cruiser but it continued on (DAM). The escorts jumped on me and gave me a thorough pounding for the next few hours. Even at 350 feet they were making sonar contact at ease. I finally went to 388 feet and lost the escorts or they just retired one. 04:45 lost contact on the escorts and arrived back to periscope depth at 04:56. After a sweep eased up to radar depth and picked up at contact bearing 185` at 11,800 yds. 04:59 surfaced and headed east to charge the batteries and air out the boat. One minute after surfacing I spotted a DD heading away at 12,250 yds. I continued east at full speed. Dove to radar depth at 07:00 with 500 volts in the batteries. And stayed submerged until dark and surfaced at 20:26.
RMKS/ 5. Sunday May 16,1943 00:55 SJ contact bearing 247` at 12,680 yds. 01:04 lookouts spotted 1-Yugumo class DD at 5,000 yds making 22 kts. Dove to Radar depth and continued in. 01:20 made visual on convoy and went to periscope depth. Identified 3-Armed Cruisers, 2-Troop ships, 1-Tanker, and 2-Standard Merchants making 10 kts in a single column. 01:31 fired 2 torpedo's at the Tanker at 940 yds set for 23 feet and fired 2 torpedo's at a Troop ship at 612 yds (SUNK) set for 16 feet then headed deep. Both torpedo's fired at the Tanker were duds. And 1 torpedo fired at the Troop ship prematured but the 2nd fish done it in. The escorts keep me down until 03:51 when I lost contact and went to radar depth at 04:00. Picked up the DD astern at 10,000 yds and watched it head over the horizon. Stayed submerged due to daylight and surfaced at 21:15.
RMKS/ 6. Monday May 17,1943 00:20 SJ contact bearing 304` at 10,170 yds. Lookouts spotted 1-Fubuki class DD bearing 003` at 6,100 yds. I turned north to reduce my silhouette and dove to radar depth. Spotted the front of a convoy at 8,100 yds bearing 052`. After making visual at 00:31 I went to periscope depth to attack. Identified 2-Troop ships, 3-Armed Cruisers , 2-Large Freighters and 1-Standard Merchant making 5.1 kts in a single column. At 01:17 fired 3 torpedos at the 2nd Armed Cruiser (DAM) then turned to fire my last 2 stern torpedos. All three fish hit but only one detonated and the other two were duds. 01:20 fired 2 torpedo's (Last ones) at a Troop ship at 850 yds (SUNK). One was a dud but one detonated sinking the ship. The escorts came charging in and I headed deep. I had crossed into shallow water and bottomed out at 200 feet but did no damage to the ship. At 01:34 the escorts sonar found us and I blowed enough ballast to get us off the bottom to maneuver. The escorts must have picked up the blow because they descended on my position and let the dept charges rain down. One drop damaged the Radio and disabled Engine 4. I headed southeast and at about 02:40 crossed into deep water and dove to 350 feet. The escorts still continued to track me with sonar and keep up the attack. No more charges were damaging close but they sure shook things around. I continued down to 383 feet until the pressure hull began to buckle and finally at 05:02 lost the escorts. Arrived radar depth at 05:12 and picked up contact bearing 292` at 7,400 yds. A look with the scope showed it to be a Merchant all by itself. I had radar continue to track it and search the area for a sleeper escort but due to the damage from the attack the radar wasn't functioning properly. At 05:23 I decided to surface and attack the Merchant with the deck gun. Opened fire at 05:24 at 2,600 yds. Over the next 25 minutes the gun crew fired 79 rounds scoring 74 hits, which sank the ship (SUNK). At 05:48 SD radar picked up an air contact at 16,000 yds and I crash-dived the boat. As we went under SD reported 2 aircraft instead of 1. Heard 7 depth charge explosions at a distance but the planes remained in the area apparently searching for us. Came to radar depth to check the area at 05:52 and SJ radar picked up a contact bearing 000` at 2,800 yds closing fast. A look through the scope showed no ships in the area and SJ radar reported the contact blip had disappeared. Fearing an enemy submarine I dove deep to avoid it. Dove to 300 feet and stopped engines to listen and conserve the already low battery (300 volts) in case we did have fight a submarine. 09:13 heard an aircraft overfly the boat. At 12:48 went to radar depth and picked up an aircraft at 12,700 yds . Dove back to 300 feet and stayed until after dark at which time I surfaced after checking the area and set course for Pearl Harbor.
Patrol Summary:
TDC: Auto
Conditions: Enemy Sunk:
Total: 44,430 tons
Enemy Damaged:
1. May 15,1943, 00:49, Armed Cruiser, 41-33N x 142-20E Enemy Escaped:
1. 5 x Standard Merchants Damage Sustained:
1.Radio - Minor Torpedo Performance:
Duds - Premature - Misses - Hits Aircraft Encountered: Ordnance Remaining:
Torpedoes: 0 Comments: The Japanese seem to have built an improved sonar set. With my depth at 350 feet the escorts continually found me with ease. I had no way to check water temperature but I felt sure we had a good gradient. Torpedo performance is still not that great but we had just fewer than 50% detonations this patrol. Still we lost at least 4 ships due to duds. Fired 24 torpedo's for 10-Duds, 10-Hits, 2-Prematures, and 2-Misses. Request refit and reload.
CDR Greg Turner /SENDS/
Seas: Moderate
Weather: Mostly Cloudy
1. May 14,1943, 07:47, Tanker, (9,760), 42-01N x 142-58E
2. May 14,1943, 09:57, Standard Merchant, (7,210), 41-48N x 142-56E
3. May 15,1943, 00:48, Tanker, (5,270), 41-33N x 142-20E
4. May 16,1943, 01:32, Troop ship, (5,410), 41-26N x 142-13E
5. May 17,1943, 01:20, Troop ship, (10,330),41-35N x 142-25E
6. May 17,1943, 05:46, Standard Merchant, (6,450), 41-16N x 142-31E
2. May 17,1943, 01:17, Armed Cruiser, 41-35N x 142-25E
2. 4 x Troop ships
3. 3 x Armed Merchant Cruisers
4. 2 x Supply ships
5. 2 x Large Freighters
6. 1 x Tanker
7. 1 x Converted Factory
8. 1 x Fubuki DD
9. 1 x Asashio DD
10. 6 x Unidentified DD's
2.Engine 4 - Disabled
-10 -------- 2 --------- 2 ------ 10
3
Deck Gun: 16
CO USS Hoe
CO SubRon 12A