USS Queenfish (SS393)
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USS Queenfish (SS393) |
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| Heading to sea, off Point Loma, San Diego, CA* | Original Battle flag design. Donated by EMC William J. Cavanaugh* |
| Submarine warfare had already reached
a fever pitch in the Pacific when the BALAO-class QUEENFISH (SS393) was
launched at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in July 1943. By the time she was
commissioned a little over seven months later, the U.S. Navy had overcome its
initial aversion to wolf pack operations. Fleet-type submarines had become
plentiful enough to concentrate multiple units in areas where Japanese supply
lines provided a wealth of targets.Departing Pearl Harbor in early August
1944, QUEENFISH teamed up with BARB (SS220) and TUNNY (SS282) in Luzon
Strait. In about two weeks "Ed's Eradicators" (after pack commander CAPT.
E.R. Swinburne in BARB) dispatched six confirmed merchantmen in three
separate convoys to the bottom, despite TUNNY's withdrawal after a week on
station with hull damage from aircraft bombs. QUEENFISH nailed three of the
victims for an official 15,000 tons. However, it is likely that QUEENFISH
sinkings were underestimated by half. After that first convoy had been
blasted, the adjacent pack moved west and attacked yet another convoy while
QUEENFISH was still working on her second.QUEENFISH and BARB had just
finished dealing with convoy No. 2 when COMSUBPAC ordered them to assist the
adjacent pack in rescue work. On the way, the Eradicators paused for a couple
of hours to attack their third convoy. QUEENFISH fired her last four
torpedoes for damage only while BARB recorded two large kills. They then
raced away to the rescue scene.The Japanese had picked up their own survivors
from the wreckage of two large transports sunk by the adjacent pack. They
made no attempt to save any survivors from among the 2lOO British and
Australian POWs embarked in the transports. The attackers managed to get 127
out of the water, all that could be safely taken aboard. The Eradicators
searched for two days, QUEENFISH rescuing 18, her companion 14. An
approaching typhoon terminated the hunt and the patrol. QUEENFISH proceeded
to Majuro in the Marshall Islands for refit after 59 days at sea.Although the
first QUEENFISH patrol was not unusual from the wolf pack aspect, it was one
of the most successful, showing what could be done by well-coordinated packs,
acting aggressively in Luzon Strait. The two packs accounted for 13 ships of
more than 89,000 tons.The hazards of so many submarines working in small
areas, communications difficulties and the in-house problem of pack
commanders embarked in a pack were being Overcome. Submarine Force Commanders
saw early on that the German method of central headquarters control was less
effective than control by on-scene commanders. Minimizing high frequency
radio contact was important. Pack members talked on TBS, the VHF
line-of-sight radio, or closed on the surface for flashing light, semaphore
or voice (loud hailer or just plain shouting) conversation.When QUEENFISH
departed on her second patrol in late October 1944, CDR. Loughlin had pack
command as well as ship command. "Loughlin's Loopers," which included BARB
and PICUDA (SS382), headed for the East China Sea. The "Loopers" had a sense
of humor as well as a penchant for dealing with the enemy: they called their
ships "Queerfish," "Boob" and "Peculiar." Their insensitivity was probably
not matched by the Japanese who, no doubt, had other names for them, equally
offensive, but unlikely to raise eyebrows in their own country. Offensive,
indeed, were the Loopers. A companion wolf-pack, called "Underwood's Urchins"
after its commander, also operated nearby.They had scarcely arrived in their
area on the busy track between Shanghai and southwest Korea when QUEENFISH
drew first blood, sinking two freighters convoyed by three escorts. While
QUEENFISH was thus occupied, BARB sank a merchant converted from an old light
cruiser.A couple of days later, QUEENFISH attacked a strongly defended convoy
in heavy seas. From an unfavorable firing position, she damaged one ship
before the escorts delivered a 50 depth-charge counter-attack. The Japanese
warships departed, and QUEENFISH surfaced to alert her packmates. As a
result, BARB sank one of the larger cargo ships in the group. The Urchins
picked up the convoy farther on, sinking one ship and damaging two
others.Both packs were then alerted by COMSUBPAC to approach of a large
convoy from Manchuria heading for the Philippines. Besides the usual tankers
and freighters, this convoy included a small carrier and a large aircraft
ferry loaded with planes for Manila plus several troop transports.Once again,
QUEENFISH made the first contact and quickly sent the 9200 ton ferry to the
bottom. In the next 48 hours, the two packs destroyed eight ships of the
convoy including the 21,000 ton carrier and the largest of the troop
transports. The bulk of a Japanese army division and most of its equipment
never reached the Philippines, making General MacArthur's in-progress
invasion of the Commonwealth that much easier.Before November was over, the
two packs sank four more loners. Having expended their torpedoes, they headed
for Guam. QUEENFISH accounted for four of the total bag of one of the most
successful wolf pack operations of the war (19 ships, 110,00 tons, half of
them victims of the Loopers) in her 35-day second war patrol. The
Presidential Unit Citation for her first two runs awaited her return to
port.QUEENFISH was underway again two days before the end of 1944, once more
leading the Loopers. The Loopers took up station in the northern portion of
the Formosa (Taiwan) Strait in shallow water close to the mainland and where
convoys holed up at night and hugged the coast by day.Almost immediately BARB
spotted a big convoy and all three submarines attacked. What happened in the
ensuing melee is still not clear. QUEENFISH unleashed an all-tube load of
torpedoes at three targets; all ten missed. After reloading, Loughlin scored
two hits of four shots at a tanker, getting one-third share for the sinking
with his packmates. Two shots from the stern tubes at a charging destroyer
missed. QUEENFISH successfully evaded the counterattack, while PICUDA and
BARB pressed home attacks. The former leveled a 10-shot salvo that hit and
damaged three ships, then sank a tanker with reloads. BARB put at least three
ships on the bottom. All told, the pack eliminated five ships from the convoy
and three others were severely damaged.For the rest of the patrol, QUEENFISH
and her sisters operated virtually independently. A little more than a week
later, Loughlin attacked a small convoy, firing eight torpedoes (his last) at
several ships. PICUDA some days later, expended her last weapons more
successfully and sank a transport. Both concluded their patrols while BARB
remained, entered a Chinese harbor, shot up the residents and saw her CO,
Eugene Fluckey, earn the Medal of Honor. Gone 32 days, QUEENFISH was credited
with only one-third of a kill. Still, it was a record which CDR. Loughlin
would probably have gladly swapped for the events of the fourth
patrol.QUEENFISH departed Hawaii as a member "Post's Panzers." CDR. W.S.
Post, senior CO in SPOT (SS413), also had SEA FOX (SS402) in his wolf pack,
the second to bear the name. The three proceeded to QUEENFISH's previous area
in the Formosa Strait. SPOT expended all her weapons, netting one kill and
sharing another with Navy aircraft, then left to get more. Pack command
devolved upon CDR. Loughlin. Almost two weeks of fruitless patrolling ended
when SEA FOX attacked a small convoy, damaged one vessel and alerted the pack
commander.What occurred that night of 1 April, 1945 has been the subject of
dozens of articles in magazines and journals and of entire chapters in
several books. QUEENFISH sank a lighted, marked Japanese ship granted U.S.
safe conduct to carry supplies for Allied prisoners of war. A tragic combin-
ation of circumstances and errors engulfed QUEENFISH and her skipper: missed
communications, unclear messages, near-zero visibility, concern for counter-
attacking destroyers, perfect accuracy with four radar-aimed torpedoes, etc..
AWA MARU sank in a couple of minutes. When the one survivor picked up by
QUEENFISH told his story, Loughlin immediately reported to COMSUBPAC,
CINCPACFLT and CNO.QUEENFISH was ordered into port; CDR. Loughlin was
relieved of command, tried by court-martial and convicted of one of the three
charges, negligence in obeying orders. After the war, it was confirmed that
AWA MARU was loaded with munitions and contraband. Loughlin survived to
continue an illustrious career that led to flag rank. QUEENFISH resumed the
war.By the time she arrived in the East China Sea on her fifth and last
patrol, QUEENFISH, under CDR. F.N. Shamer and operating independently, found
that her targets were simply gone. Lifeguard duty could be carried out minus
the "distraction" of sinking enemy ships: 13 Navy fliers were rescued. Her 69
days completed, QUEENFISH refitted at Midway and was still there at war's
end.(Corrections from Captain Shamer, forwarded by
Harry Hall, 12/23/96:"Fifth patrol entry. The 13 aviators were picked
up on the previous patrol. We were closing Guam after sinking the AWA MARU.
The spot was about 100 miles west of Iwo Jima. Unfortunately, my patrol (the
5th) was unsuccessful. I think that Tirante's sinking of collier inside a
small harbor south of Nagasaki (she surfaced in the harbor and barrelled out
on the surface while taking motion pictures in color) was the only ship sunk
outside of the Sea of Japan in the time frame of our patrol. We gunned down a
four masted junk in the Yellow Sea in an area where any junk was to be
destroyed without risking boarding and inspecting first. I didn't like doing
this and did no more. We rescued two survivors. The first round, VT fused,
killed almost all of the crew. The two rescued were the only visible people
in the water. ---------------)"After World War II, QUEENFISH
served as force flagship at Pearl. When her guns and associated equipment
were removed, she became the model for active fleet-type boats that did not
receive Guppy, snorkel, SSR, SSG or other special conversions. Little is
recorded about this "QUEENFISH Modification" * that
was a household word for submariners in the 50s.*
See "The Acid Test" on the stories page
for more on this (editor).The Korean "Conflict" brought QUEENFISH
twice to those waters in 1951 and 1953. Most waterborne targets, were in the
Yalu, beyond the range of QUEENFISH and MacArthur's bombers. A home-port
shift to San Diego in 1954 assured assignment to "rendering services" as a
way of life. A 1960 redesignation as "AGSS" (Auxiliary Submarine, defined by
some who served in this type as "same operational tempo, smaller crew")
followed QUEENFISH to her decommissioning in 1963. Slated for scrapping, she
was "saved" for a nobler end. QUEENFISH rests where she spent all her adult
life, in the Pacific, sunk as a target for more modern weaponry.
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