A new website name, new look and
low-cost flat-rate shipping!
July 2011: R.A. Cline
Publishing is changing, expanding and improving. We will soon be moving our
domain name from SubmarineBooks.com to AllNavyBooks.com. With the new name
comes a major product expansion to include more than submarine books to
all navy books. As always, R.A. Cline Publishing offers you the
opportunity to see each and every book "before" you buy
it. Another great improvement comes with a new flat-rate, one-charge
shipping cost (USA only / ground service). Purchase as many titles as you wish
and the shipping charge remains at just $4.99 per order. Shipping costs to Alaska,
Hawaii and outside the United States are higher and not included in this low
price offer.
USS Wahoo lost in
1943 has been found!
Above photo: A close-up of Wahoo's
forward mounted 4-inch deck gun. Behind it the conning tower. photo
courtesy:
Vladimir Kartashev.
July 2006: A team
of Russian
divers have reported finding the American submarine USS Wahoo
(SS-238). Using information obtained from outside sources Russian divers
found the wreck of Wahoo. Lost with
all hands in October 1943, Wahoo was the pride of the U.S.
Pacific submarine fleet. Under the command of Dudley "Mush" Morton, Wahoo
became the most famous American submarine in World War II. Sinking 19 Japanese
ships, Morton quickly rose to the top in the U.S. sub fleet. Returning from
her successful seventh war patrol in the Sea of Japan, Wahoo was
attacked and sunk in the narrow
La Perouse Strait on October 11, 1943; all 79
men aboard the submarine died, including Commander Dudley Morton.
Yeoman
Forest J. Sterling was the last man off Wahoo and later wrote the
book "Wake of the Wahoo." Of Wahoo's
loss, Navy Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, Jr. wrote in his book "Sink
'Em All"; "It just didn't seem possible that Morton and his fighting
crew could be lost. I'd never have believed the Japs could be smart enough
to get him."
Diving from the
sailboat Iskra, the Russian's, from the Far Eastern State Technological
University combed the dark depths and found the famous sub resting up-right on the
bottom of the La Perouse Strait at a
shallow depth of just 185 feet.
Above photo: A view of Wahoo's stern, showing
her screws, rudder and aft diving planes. Aft torpedo tubes are just visible
at the top of the photo. photo
courtesy:
Vladimir Kartashev.
Above photo: Wahoo's stern prior
to launch in 1942. Screws, rudder, diving planes and torpedo tubes are all
visible.
Above: A map of the La Perouse Strait where
Wahoo was sunk in October 1943.
Missing World War II sub found with 42 entombed sailors
.JPG)
Key West, Florida,
May 24, 2011 / PRNewswire: An
exploration team led by Tim Taylor aboard
the expedition vessel "RV Tiburon" has located and documented the wreck
of the World War II submarine USS R-12 (SS-89). The R-12
was lost on June 12,1943 in 600 feet of
water, sinking in less than 15 seconds. She sank nearly 70 years ago
taking 42 US servicemen to their deaths off the coast of the Florida
Keys, USA. The reason for her loss
remains unknown. R-12 began its career as a World War I era sub
that was re-commissioned for service in World War II. At the time of the
sinking R-12 was engaged in war time patrol operations near
Key West. Only two officers and 3
enlisted men survived the disaster that claimed 42 lives. In making the
discovery, the team deployed a state of the art autonomous underwater
robot which collected first ever imagery of the remains of R-12.
They are collaborating and sharing their findings with the US Navy. RV
Tiburon is launching an expedition in the Spring of 2012 to further
investigate the possible causes of the sinking, and collect detailed
archeological baseline data.
For press Queries please contact:
Norwegian salvage of German U-864
submarine postponed
The
Norwegian government has decided to postpone the salvage of submarine
U-864, citing technical uncertainties. The cabinet said it needs more
answers about risks involved raising the World War II wreck that sank with a
hazardous cargo west of the island of Fedje. "We want to conduct more
thorough studies to ensure that this is conducted in a manner that is both
secure as well as safe for the environment," said Fisheries Minister Lisbeth
Berg-Hansen.
The
former German submarine that now rests on the seafloor at a depth of 492
feet (150 meter) is surrounded by mystery. According to decrypted intercepts
of German naval communications with Japan, U-864's mission was to
transport military equipment to Japan, including approximately 67 metric
tons (74 tons) of mercury. There was some speculation as to whether U-864
was carrying uranium oxide; however, radiation measurements conducted by the
Norwegian Coastal Administration in 2005 could find no traces of the
mineral. According to the passenger list, several high ranking German and
Japanese engineers and weapons experts traveled on U-864 when it sunk
on February 9, 1945. While en route to Bergen, Norway, the submarine ran
aground and had to stop in Farsund for repairs. After a radio transmission
was decrypted, the British submarine HMS Venturer was rerouted to
intercept the U-boat. One of four torpedoes fired at the German submarine
hit U-864 and split the boat in two.
U-864 a Type IX long-range
U-boat went down in the North Sea west of Bergen, Norway, with a loss of
all hands. It was on a highly-sensitive, long-range, covert mission
codenamed "Operation Caesar" to deliver highly sensitive technology to
their wartime ally, the Empire of Japan. The U-864's top-secret
manifest included jet-engine parts from the German high-speed Me-262 jet
fighter plane that the Japanese were going to try to clone, missile
guidance systems from Peenemünde, Guided missile development, of the
type used on the V-2 Rocket, and several tons of mercury, a raw
material that was in short supply in Japan but that was vital to the
industrial production of ordnance since it was a necessary component in
the fabrication of detonators. U-864 had originally set in to
the U-Boat Pens in Bergen to repair damage from having run aground
during their first attempt to set off on the mission (they had to take
very round-about routes that were often less safe and not well charted
to avoid the deadly mass of Allied anti-submarine warfare patrols (ASW)
in the main shipping channels). During this voyage, however, their
normally quiet engine started to make an abnormally loud, rhythmic noise
that could be easily detected by any ASW equipment in the area. Since
the area was crawling with Allied (primarily British) ASW ships,
submarines, and aircraft, U-864 returned to the pens at Bergen
to repair the problem. Little did he know their Enigma code, Germany's
naval encryption system, had been broken by British mathematician Alan
Turing and his team at Bletchley Park. Unbeknown to the Germans, all
naval communications to the Nazi U-Boat fleet were being read by Allied
commanders, and they already knew of "Operation Caesar." The Royal Navy
quickly dispatched their submarine HMS Venturer to intercept
and destroy U-864 and on February 9, 1945, the task was
completed with a full spread of torpedoes. One hit was all it took.
In
early 2003, the Royal Norwegian Navy rediscovered the wreck and its
hazardous cargo. The mercury contained in 1,857 rusting steel bottles
already leaked into the ocean and posed a severe environmental threat.
Scientists discovered that about 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms) of mercury leak
every year from the 285 foot (87 meter) long former submarine. Attempts
using robotic vehicles to dig into the half-buried keel of U-864 were
abandoned after the unstable wreck shifted. After a three-year study, the
Norwegian Coastal Administration recommended to entomb the wreck in a 39
foot (12 meter) thick layer of sand and reinforce the structure with gravel
or concrete to prevent erosion. However, the proposal of burying the wreck
has been criticized by locals and environmentalists concerned about possible
future problems. On November 11, 2008 the Norwegian Coastal Administration
awarded a salvage-contract covering the possible recovery of U-864
and the disposal of its hazardous cargo to Mammoet Salvage BV. The Norwegian
company did also receive a contract to salvage the Russian nuclear submarine
Kursk in 2001 and was confident that it could raise the wreck of the
U-864 in a safe manner without harming the environment. The Norwegian
government approved the operation on January 29, 2009. The cost of raising
the wreck and disposing the hazardous cargo was estimated at $172 Million (1
billion Kroner). The government did not announce a new timeline after its
surprise move.
Sunken American World War II submarine USS
Perch found by accident near Java
Above photo courtesy Kevin Denlay
By Gregg K. Kakesako -
Honolulu
Star-Bulletin
January 21,
2007: The wreck of a
World War II submarine was discovered by accident near Java on
Thanksgiving Day 2006, according to officials of the "USS Bowfin
Submarine Museum." Charles Hinman, the museum's education director,
said the 300-foot diesel submarine USS Perch (SS-176) was
discovered in 190 feet of water in the Java Sea by an international
team of divers and photographers who were hoping to photograph the
wreck of the British cruiser Exeter. The news of the
discovery was welcome news to Robert Lents, who was a 20-year-old
torpedoman when the Perch was sunk on March 3, 1942. "I got
$35 still in my locker," said Lents, 85, who now lives in Mountain
Home, Arkansas. "The only thing I grabbed when I left the ship was
my toothbrush and the Japanese took that away." U.S. Navy records
show that the Perch, after a shakedown cruise in the North
Atlantic, reported to the Pacific Fleet in November 1937.
On March 1, 1942, the Perch
was on the surface 30 miles northwest of Soerabaja, Java, when it
was attacked by an enemy convoy that was landing troops west of
Soerabaja. Two Japanese destroyers forced the Perch to the
bottom with depth charges, damaging the submarine's starboard
engines. Two days later the Perch, while on the surface and
unable to dive because of extensive damages, was attacked by two
Japanese cruiser and three destroyers. At that point, David Hurt,
commander of the submarine, ordered the Perch to be scuttled.
The crew of 54 sailors and five officers was taken prisoner by the
Japanese. Six later died in prison camps of malnutrition. Lents
spent 3 1/2 years in two Japanese prison camps and was released on
September 18, 1945. He recalls that one of the camps housed nearly
600 sailors from the Exeter. He had only been on the Perch
for six months when it was sunk. "There are only five of us left
now." Lents said in a telephone interview last week.
Hinman said a team of divers led by
Vidar Skoglie, who owns and operates the vessel MV Empress,
found the wreck north of Surbaya City, Java. It was first discovered
by the ship's sonar. Dive team members Kevin Denlay, Dieter Kops,
Mike Gadd and Craig Challen discovered a plaque, (see
photograph above) covered with more than half a century of
marine growth, that read "USS Perch Submarine." Hinman said Denlay
contacted him and Navy officials in early December and sent the
museum photographs and a DVD of the dive. Hinman said the wreck,
like all Navy warships sunk at sea, is protected from salvage
operations by U.S. and international laws. Commander Mike Brown,
spokesman for "Pacific Fleet Submarine Forces," said the information
he's seen indicates that the vessel looks like the Perch.
"However, official confirmation will have to come from higher
headquarters."
The discovery of the Porpoise-class
submarine follows other announcements last year of the location of
three other submarines lost in World War II: the
USS Wahoo north of Hokkaido in 1943, the
USS Grunion near the Aleutian chain in 1942, and the USS
Lagarto, which was sunk 62 years ago by a Japanese minelayer in
the Gulf of Thailand. More than 3,500 submariners lost their lives
aboard 52 submarines that were destroyed during World War II, which
is about the number of nuclear attack submarines that now make up
the Navy fleet. Hinman said the museum has played a crucial role in
the attempts to find the Lagarto,
Wahoo, Grunion and Perch. "In
the Wahoo and Perch discoveries, we were the people
who contacted the Naval Historical Center and the local Naval
commands, and provided them with the dive photos and historical
material. We assisted with the Navy with the identification of
Lagarto and Wahoo, and will be the site of the memorial
ceremony for the Wahoo families this October."
American carrier USS Oriskany scuttled
off Florida coast
Above photo: U.S. Navy: / PH2 (AW/NAC) Jeffrey P. Kraus
May 18, 2006: American
aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CVA-34) has been scuttled 24 miles off the south coast of Pensacola, Florida. The largest
ship ever intentionally sunk as an artificial reef the "Big
O" needed about 500 pounds of explosives to rip a large hole in the
vessel's hull sending the 888-foot carrier to the bottom of the Gulf of
Mexico. With hundreds of veterans watching from a safe distance, Oriskany
(oh-RISK'-uh-nee) slipped beneath the
sea in 37 minutes, going down stern first in approximately 212
feet of water.
Launched
October 1945, due to the end of World War II, construction on Oriskany was suspended in August 1947.
Later modernized, the carrier was
finally commissioned in September 1950. The 32,000-ton Oriskany
made one Korean War combat cruise before being placed out of commission
from January 1957 until March 1959. During that time a second up-date included a new angled flight deck, steam catapults and
many other improvements. The Navy sent Oriskany into
the Vietnam War in 1965. Tragedy struck the vessel on October 26, 1966,
during her second Vietnam War deployment, when fire ravaged her forward
compartments, killing 44 crew members. Following repairs Oriskany
returned to the war zone in mid-1967. Senator John McCain,
(R-Arizona) was shot-down and taken prisoner in North Vietnam following
his flight which originated from the ship in 1967. The Korean War movie
"The Bridges at Toko-Ri" was filmed on board Oriskany. After 26 years of service
the vessel was decommissioned in September 1976, and sold for scrap in
1994. However, when the ship was never broken-up she was repossessed in
1997.
USS Petrof Bay
World War II
fighter plane has been found!
An FM-2 Wildcat now under restoration (see photo above) was
recently discovered to be one of the veteran fighter planes formerly
attached to Composite Squadron VC-93. During World War II, the battle scared
fighter saw action from the tiny deck of the escort carrier
USS Petrof Bay
(CVE-80). In late March 1945, the FM-2 was
placed aboard the carrier before it sailed for the invasion of
Okinawa. During the bloody battle, the fighter flew countless sorties over
the enemy held island. When the planes' serial numbers were uncovered from
the official Petrof Bay log book, its World War II history was confirmed.
Following World War II, the plane hit a low point in its career, placed on a
children's playground in a Seattle, Washington suburb. The Wildcat
remained on the playground for 10-years before it was removed around 1970,
as a safety hazard. Over the next 25-years there were several failed
attempts to restore the battered FM-2. Finally in 1998, Milt James at the
Seattle Museum of Flight in Everett, Washington received the go ahead to
bring the fighter back to its original combat condition. During the project,
the fighters' serial numbers (# 74512) were traced back to the Petrof Bay.
Famous Australian warship HMAS Sydney
discovered
CANBERRA, March 17
(Xinhua): The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced Monday
(March 17, 2008) the wreckage of HMAS (Her Majesty's Australian
Ship) Sydney, sunk off the West Australian coast during World War
II, has been found. -See photo above- The
Sydney's entire crew of 645 went down with the vessel in the Indian
Ocean in November, 1941, and its location has been a mystery for more than
66 years. It was announced Sunday that the wreckage of the German merchant
raider Kormoran—which is believed to have sunk the Australian
warship—was found in waters about 800 kilometers north of Perth. The
Sydney was located Sunday, about 22 kilometers from the Kormoran.
HMAS Sydney was found about 12 nautical miles from the Kormoran,
just eight nautical miles from the scene of the battle site at a depth of
2,470 meters. See website for more
photos and more info.
Author Forest Sterling passes away at 91
By Jeff Porteous
So Long, Yeo.
Retired Chief Yeoman
Forest James Sterling, author of the nonfiction World War II submarine
classic Wake of the Wahoo, succumbed to congestive
heart failure in a Gulfport, Mississippi hospital in the early hours of
Thursday, May 23, 2002—just
six days after celebrating his 91st birthday.
Sterling, for years a resident of the nearby U.S. Naval Home, had
been suffering from poor circulation and steadily declining health in recent
months. He spent his last few weeks in the Home's "Sick Bay" before being
transferred to the hospital, where he soon slipped into a coma and passed
away. Memorial services were held at the Biloxi National Cemetery on
Tuesday, May 28, where he was laid to rest.
Long known to shipmates and friends as "Yeo," the career Navy
yeoman gained national recognition when his
Wake of the Wahoo—an
autobiographical account of his duty aboard the renowned USS Wahoo,
perhaps the most successful U.S. fleet submarine of W.W.II—was
first published in 1960. Wahoo, under the command of daredevil Dudley
W. "Mush" Morton, became famous for a number of tactical firsts, including
entering an enemy harbor to torpedo a ship, and wiping out an entire convoy
single-handedly. Sterling's reporting on these and other events is nearly
unique in the submarine canon: the unassuming viewpoint of an ordinary
enlisted sailor, rather than the more commonly published privileged or
technical perspective of command. This has made his book not only thrilling
but also accessible to both layman and "old salt" alike. Another indicator
of Wake's acceptance and notoriety: it's periodically assigned
reading for incoming cadets at the Naval Academy. Forest narrowly survived
the October, 1943 wartime loss of the Wahoo
through an unexpected last-moment transfer off the sub by order of his C.O.,
Morton, in order to allow him to further his Navy schooling back in the
States. Sterling then went on to serve on several other subs and ships, not
only surviving World War II, but enjoying a long and successful postwar
naval career as well. He retired from the Navy a Chief Petty Officer in
1956, and thereafter took college writing courses in Ventura, California to
prepare for his Wahoo memoir. Since then, Sterling had also been
active with the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II organization,
belonging to and helping to found local chapters in Southern California, for
example.
Forest Sterling was predeceased by his wife Marie, the "one great
love of his life," in the 1980s, and is now survived by only a handful of
distant, scattered relatives in California, Oregon, Oklahoma and Arizona.
With
Wake of the Wahoo just recently returning to print
after a nearly forty year absence, the book now becomes a legacy; a truly
fitting tribute to the man whose famous World War II skipper often referred
to him as "The best damned yeoman in the Navy!"
Above photo: Mr. and Mrs. Forest J. Sterling seen
here in a rare U.S. Navy photo taken in 1949. Photo courtesy of Holly Hayes
Admiral
Eugene B. Fluckey, daring World War II submarine
skipper, dies at 93
By Richard Goldstein - the New York Times
Rear
Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey, one of America’s most
daring submarine commanders of World War II and a
recipient of the Medal of Honor, died Thursday (June
28, 2007) in Annapolis, Md. He was 93. The cause was
complications of Alzheimer’s disease, his daughter,
Barbara Bove, said.
Fluckey (photo above), the skipper of the submarine
USS Barb (SS-220) in the Pacific from April
1944 to August 1945, Commander Fluckey was known for
innovative tactics. He was the only American
submarine skipper to fire rockets at Japanese
targets on shore and he oversaw a sabotage raid in
which sailors from his submarine blew up a Japanese
train. In addition to receiving the Medal of Honor,
the nation’s highest award for valor, he was awarded
four Navy Crosses, his service’s second-highest
decoration. The Joint Army-Navy Assessment
Committee, which provided final, official tallies
for World War II submarine attacks, credited him
with destroying 95,360 tons of Japanese shipping,
the highest total for any American submarine
commander. According to his own findings, based on
his 10 years of post-war research, the Barb
sank about 145,000 tons under his command during
five extended periods at sea. He was credited by
military authorities with sinking 16 Japanese ships
and taking part with two other skippers in a 17th
sinking, the fourth-highest total among America’s
World War II submarine commanders. By his own
accounting, he sank 28 ships and took part in a 29th
sinking. In September 1944, the Barb sank the
20,000-ton Japanese aircraft carrier Unyo
together with an 11,000-ton Japanese tanker in the
same torpedo salvo.
Richard O’Kane (USS
Tang), also a Medal of Honor recipient,
ranked No. 1 in sinkings, with 24, but No. 2 behind
Commander Fluckey in tonnage destroyed, according to
the joint assessment unit, whose post-war findings
generally differed from submarine commanders’
reports filed in the aftermath of combat. Telling of
the Barb’s attacks on Japanese shipping early
in 1945, Clay Blair Jr. wrote in the book “Silent
Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan”
that when Commander Fluckey brought his submarine
back to Pearl Harbor, “he was greeted with a red
carpet." "His endorsements were ecstatic. One
stated, ‘The Barb is one of the finest
fighting submarines this war has ever known.’ ”
Eugene Bennett Fluckey was born in Washington on
October 5, 1913. When he was 10, he was impressed
with a radio speech by President Calvin Coolidge
stressing persistence as a prime ingredient for
success. He named his dog Calvin Coolidge, and
inspired by the admonition to excel, he finished
high school at age 15. He graduated from the Naval
Academy in 1935 and served on the submarine Bonita in the early years of World War II before
commanding the Barb and taking as his motto
“we don’t have problems, just solutions.” He was
awarded the Medal of Honor for the Barb’s
attacks on Japanese ships between December 1944 and
February 1945 in waters off the eastern coast of
occupied China and was cited specifically for the
events in the predawn hours of January 23, 1945. The
Barb, riding above the surface in shallow,
uncharted, mined and rock-obstructed waters, sneaked
into a harbor some 250 miles south of Shanghai and
scored direct hits on six of the more than 30
Japanese ships there. A large ammunition ship was
blown up in the attack, according to the citation.
“Clearing the treacherous area at high speed, he
brought the Barb through to safety, and four
days later sank a large Japanese freighter to
complete a record of heroic combat achievement,” the
citation said.
In
the summer of 1945, the Barb became the first
American submarine armed with rockets, and it used
them to strike a Japanese air station and several
factories. On July 23, 1945, the Barb
embarked on a sabotage mission. With the submarine
standing 950 yards offshore, eight volunteers,
aboard a pair of rubber boats, paddled onto Japanese
soil on the southern half of Sakhalin Island under
cover of night and planted explosive charges on
railroad tracks 400 yards inland. Commander Fluckey
had considered giving the crewmen a terse
Hollywood-style sendoff, but as he told The New York
Times afterward, all he could think of was: “Boys,
if you get stuck, head for Siberia, 130 miles north.
Following the mountain ranges. Good luck.” The
crewmen did not get stuck, and as they paddled back
to the Barb, a 16-car train came by,
triggering the explosives. The wreckage flew 200
feet in the air. Soon after the war ended, Commander
Fluckey became an aide to Navy Secretary James
Forrestal and to the chief of naval operations,
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,
soon after the war’s end. He was promoted to rear
admiral in 1960. He commanded American submarine
forces in the Pacific and was the director of naval
intelligence in the 1960s. He retired from military
service in 1972. In addition to his daughter, of
Summerfield, Fla., and Annapolis, he is survived by
his wife, Margaret; four grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren. His first wife, Marjorie, died
in 1979. For all his exploits, Admiral Fluckey said
he was most proud of one thing. As he put it in his
memoir, “Thunder Below!”
(1992): “No one who ever served under my command was
awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded or
killed, and all of us brought our Barb back
safe and sound.”
World War II submarine, USS Flier, sunk in 1944, found!
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
February 2010: On the night
of August 13, 1944, Ensign Al Jacobson was topside on the
USS Flier
(SS-250) as the submarine raced to intercept a Japanese convoy reported
to be off Palawan in the Philippines. Jacobson, then 22, was taken by
the beauty that surrounded him. "He said it was actually one of the
prettiest moments of his life. There were mountains all around and the
sunset and
just extraordinary beauty," his son, Nelson, recalled his father saying.
It was a moment of tranquility that was suddenly replaced by the hellish
reality of war. The 311-foot sub sank in 30 seconds when a hole was torn
in the hull by what survivors and historians believe was a mine. Only 14
men made it out. Just eight of those, including Jacobson, made it to
safety.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet
submarine force yesterday (February 1, 2010) confirmed that a sunken
sub found in the Balabac Strait in 330 feet of water is the USS
Flier. "I am honored to announce that, with video evidence and
information provided by a team from YAP Films and assistance from
the Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Flier has been
located," said Rear Admiral Douglas McAneny, commander of the
Pacific submarine force. "We hope this announcement will provide
some closure
to the families of the 78 crewmen lost when
Flier struck a mine in 1944." Flier is the fifth
sunken World War II U.S. submarine to be found since 2005. The
Flier's sinking highlights the danger faced by Pacific Fleet
submariners during World War II. According to the United States
Navy, of the 288 submarines deployed in the Atlantic and Pacific
during World War II, 52 were lost, with 48 destroyed in the Pacific
war zones.
Jacobson was the last of the Flier survivors
when he died in 2008. He had gathered as much information as he could
about the Flier's demise and location to fully understand what
happened, his family said. They carried on the quest after he died. In
spring 2009, with the aid of the Jacobson family, a team from
Toronto-based YAP Films located the wreckage of the Flier. The
Navy said father-and-son divers Mike and Warren Fletcher of the
television show "Dive Detectives" captured the first footage of the
rusting submarine since it went down, and provided the imagery to the
Naval History and Heritage Command to confirm the identification. "It's
an emotional and exciting time for us, and obviously it's not just my
father's sub, it's the whole crew, and the whole idea that we're sort of
bringing closure to this extraordinary story," said Nelson Jacobson, who
lives in Michigan. His father was "very blessed later in life with a
successful career, and he was an engineer and problem solver and wanted
to really understand what happened that evening," he added.
Above photo: USS Flier in 1944
The Flier had left Pearl Harbor in January
1944 but ran aground at Midway Island. After repairs in California, the
Flier again left Pearl in May of that year and attacked several
Japanese ships. The night of the sinking, as the 1,525-ton Gato-class
submarine made 18 knots, nine men were on deck on lookout. Jacobson was
sitting in the gunner's seat of the aft gun when the sub exploded and
started going down, his son said. "All he could think about were those
great big brass propellers churning right past him," Nelson Jacobson
said. The explosion came at 10 p.m. In the darkness, the survivors
treaded water until the moonrise provided some light, and at about 4
a.m. the men began to make their way toward a silhouette of land, said
Michael Sturma in his book, "The USS Flier, Death and Survival
on a World War II Submarine." By then, some of the men had disappeared.
The remaining men clung to palm trunks and swam landward. For the next
five days the survivors swam and used makeshift rafts to hop from one
coral outcropping to another, surviving on coconuts, before they were
aided by Filipinos. Clad only in underwear, the Flier survivors
were severely sunburned, and their feet were gashed and bleeding from
walking across sharp coral, Sturma said. Sturma said the eight Flier
sailors were the first Americans of the Pacific war to survive a
submarine sinking and make it back to the United States.
Now in stock: "EIGHT SURVIVED"
The Harrowing Story
of the USS Flier and the Only Downed World War II Submariners to
Survive and Evade Capture.
Battleship USS Iowa goes to the Port of
L.A.
By Donna Littlejohn Staff Writer /
DailyBreeze.com
High fives and talk of champagne celebrations swept through San
Pedro on Tuesday (September 6, 2011) after the U.S. Navy announced that the
USS Iowa (BB-61) battleship would be
coming permanently to the Port of Los Angeles. "I'm elated, it's wonderful
news," said Andrew Silber, owner of the Whale and Ale Pub in downtown San
Pedro, an area that could see some overflow business after the historic ship
is open for tourists. The decision opens the way for the nation's last
battleship without a home to open as a museum. "We've been moving at full
steam ahead ever since the port granted us Berth 87," said Robert Kent,
president of the Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit group awarded the
ship donation. A group in Vallejo, Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific
Square, had worked for years to get the vessel moved to Mare Island. L.A.'s
successful bid, Kent said, "is a tribute to the teamwork" of the
organization, lawmakers and the port.
The Iowa,
nicknamed the "Big Stick," is known for transporting President Franklin D.
Roosevelt across the Atlantic on the first leg of his journey to confer with
allied war leaders at Tehran, Iran, in 1943. A custom on-board bathtub built
to accommodate the president, who suffered from polio, remains one of the
ship's unique features. The ship also served in subsequent wars and was
decommissioned for the final time in 1990.
The Navy made the
long-anticipated announcement after nearly an eight-month review process
that included a competing bid for the ship from Vallejo. In the end, the
Navy said the Pacific Battleship Center submitted the only application
meeting its requirements for ship donation. Kent said the goal now is to
"get the ship here as fast as we can and get her opened for San Pedro." But
that probably won't happen until next year (2012). "The next step is to work
with the Navy very closely to tow her out of (Suisun Bay in Northern
California) and get her to a berth site where we can do some of the external
work," Kent said. The work, which could take a couple months, would most
likely be completed at a berth in Northern California, he said. "We'd like
to do a lot of the work on the exterior (first) so when she comes down here
to L.A. she'll be looking good," Kent said. The ship, which will be towed
out of its bay probably in late October, could be ready to move to the Port
of Los Angeles as early as December or January, he said. The timing of the
final three- to four-day tow south will depend on weather. "We have to have
a really clear window where there will be no Pacific storms coming out of
Alaska," Kent said. The vessel, which would most likely go to a temporary
berth in the port's outer harbor after arriving in Los Angeles, is widely
expected to become a major tourist draw to San Pedro's still-developing
waterfront. Many see it as the linchpin needed to make the waterfront
successful.
The attraction is
being created as a privately funded venture. On Tuesday, port Executive
Director Geraldine Knatz welcomed the Navy's decision as "exciting
news." "Combined with the existing and emerging attractions in and around
the Port of Los Angeles, the USS Iowa will be a significant asset and
another major step in our efforts to create a world-class Los Angeles
waterfront," Knatz said.
Camilla Townsend,
CEO and president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, said there will be a
jump-start in plans to welcome and market the ship in conjunction with the
community's Business Improvement District and the Arts, Culture and
Entertainment District, two other entities promoting the downtown and
waterfront areas.
"We believe (the
Iowa) is going to be the economic anchor on our waterfront that's
really going to bring people to San Pedro and provide a wonderful visitor
site," Townsend said. Formal transfer of ownership will occur when the
contract is signed, pending completion of regulatory requirements under the
National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act.
Meanwhile, a public scoping meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Port of
Los Angeles, marking the launch of the formal environmental impact study for
bringing the ship to San Pedro. While much work lies ahead to get the ship
tourist-ready, Kent and other supporters took some time Tuesday to
celebrate. He said his phone was ringing nonstop. Pouring in, he said, were
"resumes, volunteers, money, congratulations, requests to appear on radio
and TV shows. "It's been a very busy day," Kent said. "It's been an exciting
day."
Nuclear submarine USS Los Angeles
decommissioned
Above photo: Sailors assigned to the
fast-attack submarine USS Los Angeles (SSN-688) man the rails one
last time during the boat's decommissioning ceremony at the Port of Los
Angeles.
U.S.
Navy photo by Chief Mass Communications Specialist Jeffrey Wells.
January 23, 2010, Los
Angeles, Ca.: The nuclear submarine USS Los Angeles
(SSN-688) has faithfully patrolled the world's oceans for 33 years,
conducting all but one of her 18 deployments in the Pacific. She is the
fourth naval ship to be named after the City of Los Angeles, and is the lead
boat of her class. The Los Angeles was officially decommissioned on
January 23, 2010. Following the decommissioning ceremony, Los Angeles
was bound for the Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard in Bremerton, Washington where
the submarine will be dismantled and scrapped. The sub will make its way up
the coast under its own power. Lieutenant Commander David Benham said, "The
planned hull life was 30 years, but it was extended. It was well built.
She's already gone above and beyond her use. From May to November of this
year, she was in the Pacific."
The
361-foot-long submarine, was staffed by 13 officers and 121 enlisted men.
Her many capabilities include wartime functions of undersea warfare, surface
warfare, strike warfare, mining operations, special forces delivery,
reconnaissance, carrier battle group support and escort, and intelligence
collection. Steven Harrison, Commanding Officer, USS Los Angeles: "I
am very proud of each and every Sailor onboard. We all have worked very hard
to keep this warship at the forefront of submarine operations and the crew
has done a fantastic job meeting every operational requirement." Launched on
April 6, 1974 at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry-dock Company in Newport
News, Va., USS Los Angeles was commissioned on November 13, 1976. She
hosted President Jimmy Carter and the First Lady on May 27, 1997, for an
at-sea demonstration of the capabilities of the nation's newest fast-attack
submarine. She then made her first operational deployment to the
Mediterranean Sea in 1977 and was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation
In 1978, Los
Angeles transferred to the Pacific Fleet and was assigned to Submarine
Squadron Seven, home ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The sub and her crew
operated with distinction over the next 32 years, conducting 17 Pacific
deployments. Along the way, USS Los Angeles earned eight Meritorious
Unit Citations, a Navy Unit Citation, and the coveted Marjorie Sterrett
Battleship Award, awarded to the Pacific Fleet's top warship. Additionally,
she was awarded her squadron's annual Battle Efficiency "E" for excellence
in combat readiness eight times. Los Angeles participated in four
multinational "Rim of the Pacific" or RIMPAC exercises, and visited numerous
foreign ports in Italy, Republic of the Philippines, Diego Garcia, Hong
Kong, Mauritius, Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Canada and Singapore.
U.S. admits to salvaging sunken Soviet submarine
American government has
finally revealed details of a top-secret mission to raise a sunken Soviet
submarine.
By Tom Leonard
February 2010: The admission ends more than 30 years
of silence over one of the most elaborate and expensive
projects of the Cold War. The CIA (Central Intelligence
Agency) has always refused to confirm even the barest
details of "Project Azorian," a daring 1974 exercise
that was backed by the industrialist Howard Hughes and
estimated to have cost $1 billion in today's money.
However, following an application to
declassify the information under the
U.S. Freedom of Information Act, the
CIA has released an internal account
of the mission, albeit with some of
the biggest mysteries still
unanswered. The newly released
documents have passages that are
blacked out and questions about the
ultimate success of the
operation—and what the CIA learned
about Soviet subs and warheads
remain a mystery. Journalists and
historians have concluded the
ambitious salvage effort produced
mixed results, as only sections of
the submarine could be retrieved and
the most sensitive Soviet equipment
was not recovered.
In the 50-page article published in
1985 in the agency's in-house
journal, the CIA details how
President Richard Nixon went against
the advice of his senior military
chiefs in the hope of gaining
crucial intelligence from the
nuclear missiles being carried by
the sub. The Soviet Golf-II
submarine,
K-129, sank in 1968 in the
Pacific, 1,560 miles northwest of
Hawaii, in circumstances that have
never been explained. It was
carrying three ballistic missiles
armed with nuclear warheads.
According to the newly-released
papers, despite the difficulties of
reaching the vessel some three miles
down, Richard Nixon ordered the
creation of a task force to bring it
to the surface.
The project was nearly cancelled due to soaring costs
and concern that it might damage improving U.S.-Soviet
relations. However, a portion of the sub was eventually
winched to the surface by the Hughes Glomar Explorer,
a specially-designed salvage ship using a unique lifting
cradle. Mr. Hughes lent his name to the project to give
the ship cover as a deep-sea mining vessel but the CIA
papers reveal that she was continually dogged by Soviet
ships. Fearing the Russians might even try to storm the
ship, the Americans blocked up its helicopter landing
pad with crates. The Americans buried six lost Soviet
crewmen at sea, after retrieving their bodies in the
wreckage.
Exactly what the operation managed
to salvage remains unclear as
portions of the CIA text have been
redacted, but historians and
journalists have concluded that the
most sensitive Soviet equipment was
never recovered. The CIA
article—obtained by the National
Security Archive, an independent
watchdog—mentions only "intangibly
beneficial" results such as the
morale boost it gave to US
intelligence and advances in
maritime heavy-lifting technology.
World War II submarine USS
Lagarto found!
Divers have just discovered the U.S. submarine USS Lagarto (SS-371)
in the Gulf of Thailand. Lost with her entire crew of 86 men, in May 1945,
Lagarto now rest on the bottom in 220 feet of water. According to
diver Jamie McLeod the wreck "is perfectly upright and seems to be
intact..." Japanese records from World War II state the minelayer Hasutaka
attacked an American submarine later believed to be Lagarto at this
location. Among the lost is Leslie M. Doud, RM2c, a former
USS Snook
crewman. Lagarto Found
Above photo: USS Lagarto underway in 1944.
U.S.
Navy confirms sunken World War II submarine is the USS Grunion
By Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class (SW) Cynthia Clark,
COMSUBPAC Public Affairs
PEARL
HARBOR, HI. (NNS)—Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet
(COMSUBPAC), Rear Admiral Douglas McAneny announced today (Oct. 2008)
that the sunken vessel off the coast of the Aleutian Islands is in fact
the World War II submarine USS Grunion (SS-216).
"I am honored to announce that, with records and information
provided by the Abele family and
assistance from the Naval Historical Center, USS Grunion has
been
located," said McAneny. "We
are very grateful to the family of Grunion's Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele for
providing the underwater video footage and pictures that allowed
us to make this determination. We
also appreciate the efforts of the USS Cod Submarine Memorial
for their assistance in this matter.
We hope this announcement will help to give closure to the
families of the 70 crewmen of Grunion."
The submarine Grunion arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 20, 1942.
The vessel completed pre-patrol
training before departing on its first war patrol June 30. Grunion's
commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander
Abele, was ordered to proceed to the Aleutian Islands and patrol
westward from Attu on routes between the
Aleutians and the Japanese Empire. On July 10, Grunion was
reassigned to the area north of
Kiska. Over the next 20 days, the submarine reported firing on an
enemy destroyer, sinking three
destroyer-type vessels, and attacking unidentified enemy ships
near
Kiska.
Grunion's last transmission was received
on July 30, 1942. The submarine reported
heavy antisubmarine
activity at the entrance to Kiska, and that it
had 10 torpedoes remaining forward. On
the
same day,
Grunion was directed to return to Dutch
Harbor Naval Operating Base. There was
no contact or sighting
of the submarine after July 30, and on
August
16, 1942, Grunion was reported lost.
Commander Abele was posthumously awarded the
Navy Cross for heroism. A destroyer, USS
Mannert L. Abele (DD 733),
was commissioned in his honor, and was
later lost in action off Okinawa in 1945.
Japanese anti-submarine
attack data recorded no attack in the
Aleutian area at the time of Grunion's
disappearance,
so the
submarine's fate remained an unsolved
mystery for more than 60 years.
After discovering information on the
internet in 2002 that helped pinpoint USS
Grunion's possible location,
the sons of Grunion's commanding officer,
Bruce, Brad, and John Abele, began
working on a plan to
find the submarine. In August 2006, a team
of
side scan sonar experts hired by the
brothers located
a target near Kiska almost a mile below the
ocean's surface. A second expedition in
August 2007
using a high definition camera on a
remotely
operated vehicle (ROV) yielded
video footage and high
resolution photos of the wreckage of a U.S. fleet
submarine.
"This discovery has come about through a
stream of seemingly improbable events;
it's like we won
the lottery 10 times in a row," said Bruce
Abele, eldest son of Grunion's
commanding
officer.
"It is so dramatic to see the underwater
photo and be certain it was in fact Grunion;
not only
is this announcement important for the
families of the crew members, it's also
important for the
Navy and the country."
The Abele brothers then contacted the USS Cod Submarine
Memorial for assistance in
identifying the wreckage. The vessel is lying at a depth of about
3,200 feet. Very cold water and
lack of significant currents has preserved much of the wreckage.
Dr. John Fakan, director of the USS Cod
Submarine Memorial, remarked about the
importance
of having an unmodified example in USS
Cod, a fellow Gato-class submarine, in
identifying the
wreckage of USS Grunion.
"USS Grunion and USS Cod shared the
same blueprints," he said. "It is very
gratifying for me
and my crew to help with the identification
of the submarine."
With the information provided by the Abele
family and the USS Cod Submarine
Memorial,
COMSUBPAC and the Naval Historical
Center examined the evidence and historical
records
and determined that the submarine found at
the reported position could only be USS
Grunion.
"The synergy of our group working together
with the Navy for the common cause has
been a
wonderful group effort," Bruce Abele said.
"The teamwork combined with everyone's
compassion
and wisdom has resulted in our success."
According to Bruce's brother John Abele,
those responsible for contributing to this
included historians and engineers from the
discovery
United States, Australia, Israel and Japan.
Of particular
note was the involvement of Japanese naval
architect
Yutaka Iwasaki, who provided
information critical
to pinpointing the location of the submarine.
Bruce and John's brother, retired Lieutenant Brad
Abele, who recently passed away, also
played a significant
role in the find. As his brother John
explained, "Brad's experience as a Naval
aviator helped a great
deal by helping us to plot the strategy for
the
discovery."
Unfortunately, the cause of Grunion's
sinking remains a mystery. No matter
what the cause, the
end result was the loss of all hands. As the
Naval Historical Center noted, "no amount
of
analysis
or speculation will change or alter the fact
that families lost fathers, husbands, uncles
and brothers…
the Navy and the nation will always be
grateful for their service and their sacrifice."
Former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S.
Pacific Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz once
said, "When I
assumed command of the Pacific Fleet on
31
December 1941 our submarines were
already operating
against the enemy, the only units of the
Fleet that could come to grips with the
Japanese for months
to come. It was to the Submarine Force
that I looked to carry the load until our
great industrial activity
could produce the weapons we so sorely
needed to carry the war to the enemy. It is
to the everlasting
honor and glory of our submarine personnel
that they never failed us in our days of
great peril."
By the end of World War II, submarines
had made more than 1,600 war patrols.
Pacific Fleet
submarines like Grunion accounted for
more than half of all enemy shipping sunk
during the war.
The cost of this success was heavy: 52
U.S. Pacific Fleet submarines were lost,
and more than
3,500 submariners remain on "eternal
patrol."
A representative of the submarine force will
speak on behalf of the U.S. Navy at a
memorial
service
in Cleveland, Ohio, October 11. The
service, hosted by the USS Cod Memorial,
will honor the 70
crewmembers killed when USS Grunion
was sunk near the Aleutian Islands on or
about July 30, 1942.
"To provide ourselves and the families this
closure, it's icing on the cake," said John
Abele. "The
memorial service is a symbolic event; we've
discovered family we didn't know we had.
Not only is this
an honor for all of us, it increases the
feeling of community we've been able to
achieve."
For more news from Commander,
Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, visit
www.navy.mil/local/subpac/.
-USN-
Above photo: First photo of the USS Grunion on
the bottom at an estimated depth of 2,000 feet. Actually wreckage depth
later found to be about 3,200 feet. Photo courtesy:
USSGrunion.com
World War II submarine USS Snook
believed found!
An Okinawan company was performing
underwater operations with their American made Scorpio ROV in 1995 when
divers suddenly encountered a unidentified sonar contact. Resting on the
ocean floor at a depth of 350 meters or just over 1,100 feet was a large
exposed metal structure about 35 meters (82 feet) in length. The object was
roughly estimated at an angle of 20 to 30 degrees. The mystery vessel was
discovered off the coast of Irimore Island, the far southwest island in the
Okinawa chain and the last known patrol area of
USS Snook (SS-279). After some research, divers
believed they had stumbled onto the wreck of Snook who disappeared on
April 9, 1945.
Snook may have met her demise at the hands of a Japanese submarine—the
entire crew were lost. Divers hoped to return the wreck site however their
ROV was lost in 1997 and no further dive attempts were made. The book
Final Dive
deals with the World War II career of Snook.
Aircraft Carrier book reveals World War II Purple Heart candidate
Above photo: Senator Brownback (left)
displays Purple Heart before presenting it to James Dreiling (right).
James
E. Dreiling of Parsons, Kansas, a World War II Navy Veteran, has received the
"Purple Heart" Medal 55-years after his injury. Dreiling was injured in a
bizarre flight deck accident aboard the carrier USS Petrof Bay in October
of 1944. One of two crewmen who were accidentally thrown over the side of the
moving ship on the final day of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Dreiling was rescued
from the turbulent seas by an escorting destroyer and suffered a broken leg—the
other man was lost. 54-years later (in 1998) Dreiling's daughter, Cecilia
Baugher purchased Rick Cline's
book
Escort Carrier WWII
which she found at the
USS Petrof Bay
website.
Upon reading the book, which is about the Petrof
Bay, Baugher said; "To my surprise my dad is mentioned in the book [and] the
book told of his experience." When she read the other crewman was reported
'killed in the line of duty' Baugher said; "It really sparked us to seek this
[Purple Heart] further. Continuing, Baugher wrote; "We got together and decided
to see if dad qualified for the honor of the Purple Heart. I sent copies of the
title page of the book [Escort
Carrier WWII]
and the pages with the incident on them to our
Senator's office to see if he could help. I had everything that was needed
including medical records stating he had been injured in the line of duty. In
two-days I received a letter back requesting all the records I could come up
with on dad. I received word [Veterans Day—November 11, 1999] from our Senator's
office that they have received the Purple Heart and Senator Sam Brownback will
present it to him in Pittsburg, Kansas." On November 23, 1999, in front of
National television and print media, Senator Brownback presented James E.
Dreiling his Purple Heart,
"On behalf of a grateful Nation." During the presentation, he
received a standing ovation. Congratulations to Mr. Dreiling.
Johnny Lipes, famous World War II
submarine 'surgeon' dies at age 84
April 2005: Wheeler Bryson "Johnny" Lipes,
the Navy pharmacist's mate who during World War II performed the first
emergency appendectomy ever done aboard a submerged submarine, died of
pancreatic cancer in April 2005—he was 84.
His historic surgery was one of
the most famous lifesaving acts of World War II and took place aboard the
submarine USS Seadragon (SS-191) on September 11, 1942. His patient
was 19 year old Seaman 1c, Darrell Dean Rector. Lipes was not a doctor, and
of course had no prior
experience in surgery. To that date there had never been an appendectomy
performed aboard an American submarine. The surgery took place at a depth of
120 feet and lasted two-hours-and-36-minutes. By the end of the patrol
young Rector was back on duty. Upon the American press hearing of the appendectomy,
Wheeler Lipes became a war hero. Lipes' operation was later memorialized in the
classic films: "Destination Tokyo" (1943) and "Run
Silent, Run Deep" (1958). In February 2005, Wheeler B. Lipes belatedly
received a Navy Commendation Medal at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for his
historic World War II
appendectomy. At the Navy ceremony, Lipes downplayed his role, saying only, "I did what I had to do to save a
man's life. Darrell Rector was the brave one."
Sadly, Darrell D. Rector did not
survive the war. Two years later in October of
1944, Rector was a gunners mate aboard the submarine
USS Tang (SS-306). The 21 year old was
among the 77 men lost when Tang was struck and sunk by her own circle-run
torpedo.
