Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas, 2012.


What better way to celebrate Christmas than to remember the ships and crews that celebrated the holidays throughout the years. Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



Figure 1:  USS Astoria Christmas Dinner Menu, 1937. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 2:  USS Case Christmas Dinner Menu, 1926. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 3:  USS Oklahoma Christmas Dinner Menu, 1936. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 4:  USS Nevada Christmas Dinner Menu, 1940. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 5:  USS Monterey Christmas Dinner Menu, 1918. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 6:  USS Santa Fe Christmas Dinner Menu, 1945. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image. 
 

Figure 7:  USS Omaha Christmas Dinner Menu, 1937. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure  8:  USS New York Christmas Dinner Menu, 1943. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 9:  USS Rochester Christmas Dinner Menu, 1931. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 10:  USS Oregon Christmas Dinner Menu, 1917. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image. 
 

Figure 11:  USS New Orleans Christmas Dinner Menu, 1934. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.  
 

Figure 12:  USS Raleigh Christmas Dinner Menu, 1937. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image.    
 

Figure 13:  USS Isabel New Year’s Day Menu, 1922. Courtesy US Navy Department Library. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

USS Glennon (DD-620)


Figure 1: USS Glennon (DD-620), date and place unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 2: USS Glennon (DD-620), date and place unknown. The ship in the center background is probably the battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) which would place the photograph in the period just prior to D-Day, 6 June 1944. Courtesy of Fred Weiss and Bill Fessenden. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 3: USS Glennon (DD-620) in the foreground with another unidentified destroyer in a convoy bound for France. Photograph taken from US Destroyer Operations in World War II by Theodore Roscoe. Click on photograph for larger image.


 
Figure 4: USS Glennon (DD-620) on 22 October 1942 at the New York Navy Yard, New York. Courtesy Ed Zajkowski .  Click on photograph for larger image. 
 

Figure 5:  USS Glennon (DD-620) on 19 October 1943, place unknown. Photograph from the collection of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, Vallejo, California. Courtesy of Darryl Baker. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 6: USS Glennon (DD-620), at right, after her stern was blown off by a mine off Normandy on 8 June 1944. USS Rich (DE-695), a US PT boat, a British motor launch, and an American Auk class minesweeper are standing by. Rich soon hit another mine, which also destroyed her stern, and was then sunk by a third mine. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.   

 
Named after US Navy Rear Admiral James H. Glennon (1857-1940), the 1,620-ton USS Glennon (DD-620) was a Gleaves class destroyer and was built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 8 October 1942. The ship was approximately 348 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 270 officers and men. Glennon was armed with four 5-inch guns, two 40-mm guns, five 20-mm guns, 10 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.
After completing her shakedown cruise off the coast of New England, Glennon was assigned to escort and protect convoys carrying men and supplies for the invasion of Italy. From 9 to 15 July 1943, Glennon participated in the invasion of Sicily. She eventually returned to the United States and steamed into New York harbor on 3 December 1943. The destroyer then made two round-trip convoy escort voyages to England and one to Gibraltar. Glennon arrived in New York from Gibraltar on 22 April 1944 and left on 5 May with a convoy that arrived at Belfast, Ireland, on 14 May. The ship then joined the giant naval armada that was gathering for the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.
Glennon was assigned to “Assault Force U” of the Western Naval Task Force for the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. The destroyer arrived in the Baie de la Seine, France, on D-Day and after patrolling the area for German submarines and motor torpedo boats, was ordered to join the other warships providing gunfire support for the Allied troops on shore.
The next day, on 7 June, Glennon steamed off “Utah” beach at Normandy and fired 430 5-inch shells at enemy shore positions in support of Allied ground troops moving toward Quineville, France. On 8 June, the ship, which was under the command of Commander Clifford A. Johnson, was moving along the Normandy coast  for another gunfire support mission when at 0830 hours Glennon’s stern struck a mine. The blast destroyed most of the ship’s stern and the minesweepers USS Staff (AM-114) and USS Threat (AM-124) arrived on the scene to sweep the area for additional mines. The destroyer escort USS Rich (DE-695) also arrived a few minutes later to assist Glennon, but suddenly Rich hit three mines which exploded within a few minutes of each other. These catastrophic blasts blew off a 50-foot section of Rich’s stern. Rich sank 15 minutes after striking the mines.
The minesweeper Staff discovered that she could not tow Glennon, whose fantail seemed to be firmly anchored to the ocean bottom by her starboard propeller. Most of Glennon’s crew was moved on board Staff and those remaining on the destroyer lightened her stern by pumping fuel forward and jettisoning depth charges and topside equipment. On 9 June, additional salvage equipment was gathered on some nearby ships that came to assist Glennon. Approximately 60 officers and men also re-boarded Glennon to assist in the salvage operation.
But on the following morning of 10 June, just as Commander Johnson was preparing to resume salvage efforts on board his ship, a German artillery battery on shore near Quineville spotted Glennon and began firing cannon shells at her. A salvo soon hit Glennon amidships and cut off all power. After being hit yet again, Commander Johnson ordered “Abandon Ship” and the remainder of the crew was taken off in a landing craft. The battered hulk of USS Glennon remained afloat until 2145 hours on 10 June 1944, at which point she rolled over and sank. During this whole ordeal, the ship lost 25 crewmen killed and 38 wounded. Glennon was awarded two battle stars for her service during World War II.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280)


Figure 1:  S.S. Henry R. Mallory (American Passenger Ship, 1916). This is a halftone reproduction of artwork showing the ship prior to her service in the US Navy. She was USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) from 1918 to 1919. This image is one of ten photographs published circa 1918-1919 in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Figure 2:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) at the New York Navy Yard, 6 September 1918, while painted in pattern camouflage. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 3:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919 showing the ship's foredeck, as seen from her bridge. Note the life rafts on deck and hanging from the rigging, winch, cargo-handling booms and ventilation cowls. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Figure 4:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919, showing the ship's foremast and "crows' nest" lookout position. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.   
 

Figure 5:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919, showing the ship's after deck house, looking aft from her amidships’ superstructure. Note the life rafts on deck and hanging from the rigging, cargo booms and ventilation cowls, with her after port five-inch gun in the middle distance. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 



Figure 6: USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No.1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919, showing one of the ship's after five-inch guns. Note that the sights are aligned horizontally, while the gun barrel is elevated. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 7:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919, showing the interior of the ship's wheel house. Note the steering wheel, binnacle and engine order telegraph. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Figure 8:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918 or 1919, showing the ship's officers' mess room ready for a meal. Note the tiled deck and fluted columns around the exterior of the room. This image is one of ten photographs published in a "Souvenir Folder" of views of and on board USS Henry R. Mallory. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 9:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) arriving in New York Harbor from France in 1919 with her decks crowded with homeward bound troops. Photographed by J. W. Allison, 42 West 39th St., New York, New York.  Donation of Robert W. Fisher, February 1974. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 10:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) in port in 1919, while employed bringing troops home from Europe. Location not listed. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Figure 11:  USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) in port, circa 1918 or 1919. Location unknown. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 12:  S.S. Henry R. Mallory (American Passenger Steamship, 1916). Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken while the ship was in port, circa 1942 or early 1943, while she was serving as a civilian-operated troopship. This ship served as USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280) from 1918 to 1919. Copied from the book Troopships of World War II, by Roland W. Charles. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Figure 13:  US Coast Guard Cutter Bibb (WPG-31), date and place unknown. Bibb, her crew, and her indomitable captain, Commander Roy L. Raney, USCG, were the true heroes of convoy SC-118. US Coast Guard photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
 
Figure 14: Commander Roy L. Raney, USCG, commanding officer of the US Coast Guard cutter Bibb (WPG-31). US Coast Guard photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

 
The 10,910-ton Henry R. Mallory was a commercial passenger transport that was built in 1916 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia. The ship was owned and operated by the Mallory Lines and was named after its president, Henry R. Mallory. The ship was acquired by the US Navy on 13 April 1918 for use as a troop transport during World War I. The ocean liner was subsequently converted into a military transport and was commissioned on 17 April 1918 as USS Henry R. Mallory (ID No. 1280).  The ship was approximately 440 feet long and 54 feet wide, had a top speed 15 knots, and had a crew of 80 officers and men. Henry R. Mallory could carry almost 2,200 troops and was armed with four 5-inch guns for self-defense.
Soon after being commissioned, Henry R. Mallory was used to transport American troops to Europe. The ship brought a total of 9,756 soldiers to France during World War I and once the conflict was over, Henry R. Mallory brought thousands of troops back to the United States. The ship was decommissioned in mid-September 1919 and transferred to the War Department roughly a month later. Henry R. Mallory was returned to her owners and resumed service as a civilian ocean liner until the start of World War II.
After the United States entered World War II, Henry R. Mallory was once again used as a troop ship. Only this time, the ship was under US Army direction and had primarily a civilian crew, although the ship also had a Naval Armed Guard detachment on board. Henry R. Mallory made several voyages to Ireland; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Iceland from July 1942 to January 1943.
On 24 January 1943, Henry R. Mallory left New York City as part of Convoy SC-118, which was headed for England. Although Henry R. Mallory was loaded with troops and equipment, her final destination was the American base at Iceland. Convoy SC-118 consisted of 63 merchant ships but was only escorted by eight Allied warships (three British destroyers, three British corvettes, the Free French corvette Lobelia, and the US Coast Guard Cutter Bibb). SC-118 was a slow-moving convoy and the German Navy, which had received intelligence reports that the convoy was headed towards Iceland, sent approximately 21 U-boats to intercept it. The convoy was at sea for several days before encountering the dreaded “wolf pack” of German submarines. During the very early morning hours of 4 February, the fighting began in earnest.
Although badly outnumbered, the Allied escorts put up a remarkable fight. At least two U-boats were sunk during the battle and many more were damaged, some severely. But the plain fact of the matter was that there were too many U-boats and too few escorts. In addition, U-boat “Ace” Kapitanleutnant Baron Siegfried von Forstner on board U-402 had just arrived in the area and was attacking merchant ships almost at will. A wild melee ensued, with tankers and merchant ships being torpedoed left and right as escorts pounced on various submarine contacts, whether the U-boats were submerged or running on the surface. And most of this was happening at night and in bad winter weather. A few more Allied escorts joined the battle (one of them being the US Coast Guard cutter Ingham), but like a school of sharks attacking a vulnerable seal, the U-boats swarmed in for the kill.
At 0600 Greenwich Time on the morning of 7 February 1943, Henry R. Mallory was for some unknown reason straggling at slow speed all alone astern of convoy SC-118. She also was not steaming in a zigzag pattern. Had she been moving in a zigzag pattern, the ship would have been a much more difficult target for a U-boat to hit. Although at the time she was capable of doing 14 knots, which was quite fast for a troop ship, Henry R. Mallory was assigned to a slow-moving convoy going at roughly seven knots, even though she could have gone at high speed to Iceland on her own and probably avoided all contact with German submarines. So on the morning of 7 February 1943, Henry R. Mallory was a big, fat, slow-moving target that was steaming in a straight line and not taking any precautions by sailing in a zigzag pattern.
All of these facts were not lost on Siegfried von Forstner on board U-402, which suddenly crept into the area and spotted Henry R. Mallory that fateful morning. By that time, Forstner’s ship had sunk four merchant vessels during the battle as Henry R. Mallory lumbered into view. He was surprised that such a large and valuable target was going so slow and not moving in a zigzag pattern, but he wasn’t about to question his good luck. There were no Allied escorts in the area, so when U-402 came to within 900 yards of Henry R. Mallory, Forstner fired a single torpedo that hit the unsuspecting troop ship squarely in the No. 3 hold on the starboard side. U-402 only had three torpedoes left, so Forstner saw no need in wasting another torpedo on a ship that was clearly sinking.
Meanwhile, panic, lack of discipline, and sheer inexperience on board Henry R. Mallory turned a bad situation into a disaster. No general alarm was sounded after the torpedo hit. Some of the passengers and crew were jarred from their sleep by the explosion, while others slept through it, being unable to distinguish the blast from the pounding of the waves hitting the side of the ship in the rough seas. Many men were trapped in compartments by jammed doors and steel that was twisted and deformed by the explosion. No commands came from the bridge after the attack, no emergency flares were fired, no radio distress calls were sent out, and no orders were given to abandon ship. As Henry R. Mallory slowly sank, individual lifeboats and rafts were sent over the side, evidently at the initiative of the men gathered around each lifeboat.

Although the seas were rough, the lifeboats and rafts should have been able to get away safely because the ship was sinking so slowly. But the inexperienced wartime crew simply could not handle the deadly situation. Only five of the nine undamaged lifeboats managed to get away from the ship. One of these was partially swamped with water and another was badly overloaded. A third was only partially loaded and capsized soon after hitting the water. A fourth was launched with the seacock open, which caused the boat to flood as soon as it was in the water. Three boats capsized as they were lowered, one of them loaded with injured men. Another lifeboat got hung up while being lowered and was cut from the falls, sending it crashing into the water where dozens of men were swimming.
Only 175 men got away in the lifeboats. Almost all of the men were inexperienced in launching the rafts, many of which were frozen to their supports, making them impossible to pull off. A number of the rafts that were launched were secured alongside the ship by one-inch thick ropes, but there were no knives or axes to cut them loose. As a result, when the ship went down, it pulled many of the rafts down with it, along with the men that were on them. No passengers had been taught how to lower the floor of the rafts for greater stability and, as a result, many rafts repeatedly turned over in the heavy seas.
An hour after being torpedoed, Henry R. Mallory took a heavy list to port and then went down steeply by the stern. Many survivors were crowded on the bow and, as it rose higher, men began jumping into the icy water. After the ship sank, the sea was covered with wreckage, boats, rafts, swimmers, and bodies. Most of the men died within a few minutes from exposure to the cold water. Those who were fully clothed lasted a big longer. But many were so ill-prepared for the sinking that they had little clothing on and suffered terribly before being frozen to death in the water or on the wet rafts. The men who were fortunate enough to find one of the few box-type merchant marine rafts fared better. And most of the few lifeboats that remained floating were swamped with water while their freezing occupants tried to bail out the water with their hands. After roughly 30 minutes, the cries of the men swimming in lifejackets ended and an eerie silence settled over the darkness and the waves.
Nobody in convoy SC-118 even knew Henry R. Mallory had been torpedoed, let alone sunk. By sheer accident, the US Coast Guard Cutter Bibb stumbled on some of the survivors in a lifeboat. At approximately 0950 hours, Bibb spotted a red flare in the distance and steamed towards it. At 1000 hours, a lifeboat was sighted and it was loaded with survivors and small lights were seen scattered over a large area of water. These lights were probably attached to the life jackets of the dead men floating in the ocean. Dawn at that far northern latitude was still nearly an hour away. Bibb picked up the first survivors, discovered that they were from Henry R. Mallory, and notified the rest of the ships in the convoy. Bibb’s skipper, Commander Roy L. Raney, USCG, sent out an urgent message requesting help to pick up the survivors that he now could see were floating all around him. But time was short. Raney knew that a man could only survive in the icy waters of the North Atlantic for a few minutes and the longer he waited for permission to pick up all of the survivors, the more men would die from exposure. But Raney also understood the risk of a warship stopping to pick up survivors in darkness in an area crawling with enemy submarines. Bibb ran the very real risk of being torpedoed while trying to rescue the men that were dying in the sea.
Soon Raney received a radio message from the officer in command of the convoy’s escorts, British naval Commander F. B. Proudfoot, Royal Navy, on board HMS Vanessa. Proudfoot, who evidently did not want to risk losing one of his few escorts to a submarine attack, ordered Bibb to “Rejoin [the convoy] at best speed!” When the message was shown to Raney, he reportedly cursed softly under his breath and then looked out at the water covered with hundreds of American troops. He felt certain that the escort commander was not aware of the magnitude of the disaster. So Roy L. Raney crumpled the message in his fist, stepped out to the wing of the bridge, and told his executive officer to “Stand down on the next boat. We are going to pick up these men.” Raney well understood the risk to his own ship, but he continued picking up survivors. With precious minutes slipping by, Raney intended to rescue as many men as possible and said he would take full responsibility for his actions.
Moving their ship carefully among the rafts and lifeboats, Bibb’s crew began a frantic race against time. In the 50-degree water four hours after Henry R. Mallory went down, nearly all of the swimmers were dead and many of the men on the rafts were either dead or dying. Crew members from the Coast Guard cutter went over the side on cargo nets to help survivors that were too weak to help themselves. It soon became evident that too much time was being used to get dying or badly injured men aboard and that these delays would prevent other uninjured men in the water a chance for survival. When Raney discovered that two men had died after being brought on board his ship, he ordered that rescue efforts be concentrated on men who were at least able to pass a line under their own arms to be hoisted on board the ship. It was a terrible choice to have to make, but it ended up saving many lives of men who otherwise would have died.
As more time passed, fewer and fewer men were found alive. More dead men than live ones were now being found on board the rafts and the dead were left as they were. By noon, Bibb was still finding a few more survivors clinging to wreckage. The US Coast Guard cutter Ingham then arrived on the scene and began assisting Bibb with rescue operations. When the search for survivors was finally ended, the results were staggering. Of the roughly 494 men on board Henry R. Mallory when she left New York City, Bibb rescued 205 men, three of whom later died from their wounds. Ingham was able to rescue another 22 men, two of whom later died. Lost among the 272 men who died that horrible night were the ship’s captain, 48 crewmen, 15 US Naval Armed Guards, and 208 passengers. It was one of the worst Allied troop ship disasters of the war.
Henry R. Mallory didn’t have to sink. Questionable planning by naval authorities, allowing such a valuable target to straggle outside the protection of the convoy and steam slowly without moving in a zigzag pattern, an inadequately trained captain and crew, lack of leadership, and panic all contributed to the initial disaster. This was made worse by the fact that, even after being hit, the loss of life need not have been heavy had the ship been calmly and properly abandoned since there was more than enough time before the ship actually went down. The only major bright spot in this whole tragic story was the heroic rescue effort made by Commander Roy L. Raney and the crew of the USCGC Bibb. Had it not been for them, the loss of life would have been far worse than it was.
The story of Henry R. Mallory is also an object lesson of how unprepared we were to fight a major submarine war in early 1943. We simply did not have enough ocean escorts to protect the vast number of merchant ships headed for Europe. Being so unprepared for this war cost the lives of many men, proving once again that the lack of preparedness for military conflict never ends well.

Please Note: Perhaps the most thorough account of the battle of convoy SC-118 and the loss of Henry R. Mallory can be found in the book Bloody Winter, by Captain John M. Waters, Jr., USCG, and published by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1984.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

USS Snapper (SS-185)


Figure 1:  USS Snapper (SS-185) photographed during the later 1930s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 2:  Bow view of USS Snapper (SS-185) in dry dock at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 10 April 1939. US Navy photograph courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 3:  Panoramic photograph of USS Holland (AS-3) moored at Buoy 19, San Diego harbor, California, in 1940, with eleven submarines alongside. Submarines are (from left to right): Salmon (SS-182); Seal (SS-183); Stingray (SS-186); Perch (SS-176); Pollack (SS-180); Cachalot (SS-170); Cuttlefish (SS-171); Skipjack (SS-184); Sturgeon (SS-187); Snapper (SS-185); and Sargo (SS-188). SS-182 through SS-187 were members of Submarine Division 15, commanded by R.W. Christie. USS Richmond (CL-9), flagship of the Submarine Force, is in the right distance. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute, James C. Fahey Collection. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 4:   USS Snapper (SS-185) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 24 February 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 5:  USS Snapper (SS-185) underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 24 February 1945. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 6:  USS Snapper (SS-185) seen from ahead while underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 24 February 1945. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 7:  USS Snapper (SS-185) seen from astern while underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 24 February 1945. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.     

 
Named after a bass-like fish, the 1,449-ton USS Snapper (SS-185) was a Salmon class submarine built by the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine, and was commissioned on 15 December 1937. The ship was approximately 308 feet long and 26 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots surfaced and 9 knots submerged, and had a crew of 55 officers and men. Snapper was armed with one 3-inch gun, two .50-caliber machine guns, two .30-caliber machine guns, and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes. The submarine carried a total of 24 torpedoes.
On 10 May 1938, Snapper left Portsmouth Navy Yard and went on her shakedown cruise which took her to Cuba, the Panama Canal Zone, and Chile. The ship returned to Portsmouth on 15 July. During the next three years, Snapper patrolled off Panama, Hawaii, and the west coast of the United States. The ship was transferred to the Philippines in the fall of 1941 and, after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941, Snapper began her first war patrol a few days later. During that patrol, Snapper stalked the waters off Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the East Indies, but was unable to locate any enemy targets.
During March and April 1942, Snapper left Fremantle, Australia, for her second patrol which took her back to the East Indies and then to the Philippines, where she delivered ammunition and evacuated some personnel. On her return trip to Australia, Snapper towed the disabled submarine USS Searaven (SS-196) back to Fremantle. Snapper remained based in Australia into 1943 and made four more cruises to the East Indies, the South China Sea, and the Solomon Islands.
While on her seventh war patrol on 27 August 1943, Snapper sank the Japanese freighter Tokai Maru off the coast of Guam, but received only partial credit for the “kill” because the ship had already been damaged by another submarine. Then on 2 September, Snapper made contact with a convoy of five Japanese cargo ships that were being escorted by two warships. Snapper must have been spotted because the cargo ships attempted to “zig-zag” away from the area. At the same time, the two escorts steamed towards Snapper head on. The American submarine then fired torpedoes “down-the-throat” at one of the escorts, the Japanese frigate Mutsure, which had only entered service two weeks previously. It was a difficult head-on shot, but at least one torpedo hit Mutsure and blew her bow completely off. The Japanese warship was soon covered with flames and sank shortly after that. Snapper quickly left the area because the other Japanese escort had started a depth-charge attack. Snapper escaped but remained in the general vicinity. On 6 September, Snapper intercepted another convoy and fired three torpedoes, but all of them missed. On 17 September, the ship ended her seventh war patrol and returned to Pearl Harbor.
During Snapper’s eighth war patrol, the ship prowled off the coast of Honshu, Japan, from 19 October to 14 December 1943. While being pounded by heavy seas on 29 November, Snapper sighted a convoy of five ships and two escorts. As she neared the convoy, Snapper fired three bow torpedoes and scored two hits that set the cargo ship Kenryu Maru on fire. The cargo ship quickly settled by the bow and sank.
After completing an overhaul at Pearl Harbor, Snapper began her ninth war patrol on 14 March 1944. Snapper cruised the waters around the Bonin Islands and on 24 March made contact with a convoy of 12 ships. Snapper fired eight torpedoes at the convoy and scored six hits, but none of the ships sank. Due to heavy seas, Snapper was unable to continue the attack. Japanese escorts and bad weather prevented any further attacks from taking place, so Snapper left and went to Midway Island to get more food, fuel, and munitions.
Snapper began her tenth war patrol engaged in lifeguard duties for American pilots and air crews that were shot down near the Japanese-held island of Truk. On 9 June 1944, while the submarine was patrolling on the surface, a Japanese plane descended unexpectedly from a low-lying cloud and attacked the ship. As Snapper made an emergency crash dive, the plane dropped a bomb which exploded on a main hatch, instantly killing one crewman and injuring several others, including the captain. As the submarine continued to dive, machine gun shells from the attacking plane were heard striking her hull. Snapper escaped and eventually surfaced after the enemy aircraft left the area. After surfacing, the crew discovered that the ship’s pressure hull had not been damaged but that the submarine was trailing a heavy oil slick, which indicated that the fuel oil tank had been punctured. After some repairs were made, two wounded enlisted men were transferred to USS Bushnell (AS-15) at Majuro Atoll on 13 June, and Snapper continued her lifeguard duty until returning to Pearl Harbor on 21 July.
On 5 September 1944, Snapper left Pearl Harbor for her eleventh and final war patrol, which took her once again to the Bonin Islands. On 1 October, Snapper attacked two enemy merchant ships escorted by a small patrol craft. The submarine fired her bow torpedoes at a large merchant ship and then swung around and fired a shot at the smaller escort vessel. Hits were scored on both ships resulting in the sinking of the passenger-cargo ship Seian Maru and the coastal minelayer Ajiro. Snapper then established a lifeguard station off the coast of Iwo Jima on 18 October and ended her eleventh patrol at Midway Island on 27 October before returning to Pearl Harbor.
Snapper left Pearl Harbor on 2 November 1944 and steamed to the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, for an overhaul. The ship completed its overhaul and left Mare Island on 9 March 1945 and arrived at San Diego, California, on 11 March. The submarine was assigned to local training operations for several months. Snapper transited the Panama Canal on 20 May and arrived at New London, Connecticut, on 27 May, where she remained until being decommissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 17 November 1945. Snapper was struck from the Navy list on 31 April 1948 and was sold for scrapping on 18 May of that same year. USS Snapper received six battle stars for her service during World War II.