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From: LCDR Ronny Gundersen
To: CMDR Greg Turner
(ComSubRon 4A)
Cc:
ComSubPac
Date: 4
November 1942
Subject: Patrol
Report, USS Trigger SS-237 (Cycle 4, June 2002)
Remarks: 3rd War Patrol, USS Trigger
Date:
4 November, 1942 Patrol
Area: Empire (SJ- 8)
Sub: USS Trigger SS-237 Class:
Gato
Crew: Elite Status: Operational
Total Patrol Time: 21.7
Days Repair
Time: Operational
Fuel Used: 69,173 Gallons (59%) Realism Rating: 115%
Ships Sunk:
8 Tonnage: 61,140 / 20,360
Pilots Saved:
0 Photo Recons: 0
Weather: Clear / Partly
Cloudy Seas: Calm / Moderate
Patrol Mileage: 1,655 Nautical
Miles
Ordnance Remaining: 0 -
MK 14 Torpedo’s, 0 – Deck Gun Rounds.
(Medals
Awarded –Navy Cross + Bronze Star + V)
Date Time Location Ship Type Tonnage
Status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)
17 Sept 42 15:44 33-12N x 135-57E Large Freighter 4,720 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)
17 Sept 42 15:47 33-12N x 135-57E Standard Merchant 9,830 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4)
18 Sept 42 09:58 33-28N x 136-38E Oil Tanker 9,690 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5)
22 Sept 42 01:45 33-37N x 136-54E Troop Ship 7,310 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6)
22 Sept 42 01:45 33-37N x 136-54E Troop Ship 7,310 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7)
25 Sept 42 04:13 33-20N x 136-08E Armed Merchant 8,060 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8)
25 Sept 42 04:15 33-20N x 139-08E Large Freighter 6,310 SUNK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9)
23 Sept 42 06:38 33-34N x 136-38E (CL)
Nagara N/A DAM
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10)
23 Sept 42 06:38 33-34N x 136-38E (CL)
Naka N/A DAM
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11)
25 Sept 42 04:46 33-17N x 136-03E Troop Ship N/A DAM
Total: 61,140 Raw /
20,360 Adjusted
Damage Sustained:
None
Aircraft Encountered:
2
Aircraft Shot Down:
Depth Charges:
293
Commander's
Comments:
September
12 1942
06:18 Curse those weather gods here
in the pacific! On our last patrol a storm made us miss our patrol area by
several days. Now they've done it again. With rain and overcast since we left
Pearl Harbor our navigator had a hard time to even find Japan! He did a good
job though, but when the weather lightened up we realized we were in the very
southern end of Japan. South in the middle of SJ-4 to be exact, and our
assigned patrol area is SJ-8. When I'm writing this we've already been
traveling east for a couple of hours. The weather is now clear and the sea is
calm of course. Our next problem now is to get through the straits into SJ-5.
We have received information about mines in the area so we have to enter that
area on surface by night. With the luck we've had so far I'll guess we'll reach
that area by early morning. I'll try to pass south of Tanegt Shima.
20:35
Finally we have a bit of luck. We are now at the mined straits, east of
Yaku Shima. It is dark, but with calm seas, clear sky and a new moon hanging up
there, I doubt the Japs will need a searchlight to find us. Oh heck, here goes
nothing. I order to set course south of Tanegt Shima, as close as possible to
the island. If there are patrols out there they will have a hard time spotting
us with the island in the background (with our luck? yeah right!). We charge in
with standard speed to get this over with as soon as possible.
22:19 We made it! We're through the straits. No
patrols spotted, but we were so close to land that some kids playing by the
water waved at us. I ordered the men to wave back. I guess the kids thought we
were one of their subs.
September
13 1942
07:14 Sonar reports low-speed
screws bearing 328 relative. Going to periscope depth (PD) to get a better
look. We are now southwest in SJ-5, about 70 miles east of Tanegt Shima,
heading 082'. At PD I spot one escort and two Merchants, probably Tankers, at
20,945 yds. They are heading towards us at 181' at a speed of about 11 kts.
I'll have another look when they are closer. I will not attack them since they
are not in my patrol area, but I'll get a good look at them and send a contact
report. We didn't get closer than 15,000 yds. From what I could see there were
2 escorts, one of them a MUTSUKI class, and 1 Tanker, 1 Standard Merchant, 1
Large Freighter and 2 Small Freighters. The convoy is heading 180' at 11.6 kts.
Sending contact report and resuming patrol.
September
15 1942
18:08 Sub spotted 7,863 yds away. Only had
visual contact for a couple of seconds and then it dived and we lost contact.
It was spotted at 33-14'N, 136-06'E, heading 251' at unknown speed.
September
16 1942
20:08 The Sea is calm and the weather is partly
cloudy. We have finally arrived our assigned patrol area and a ship is spotted.
It's a troop transport at 4,256 yds heading 243' at 11 kts. Heading to intercept. A few seconds later
1-Supply Ship and 1 Small Freighter came into view. The Troop Transport is
closest and is target #1. Torpedo depth is set to 15 ft and we dive to PD.
20:17 I Order to fire two torpedoes at Troop
Transport. First torpedo hit and sank the ship. The other torpedo also hit the
ship and rips her apart. The other two ships scatter and speed up. Both are now
heading away from us at their maximum speed. They never came closer to us than
1,800 yds. Before we reach surface they are gone. Satisfied with one Troop Transport we continue our patrol.
September
17 1942
15:34 Sonar reports low-speed screws
bearing 305' relative. Going to PD to investigate. The weather is partly cloudy
and almost no wind. The sea is calm. Our sonar picked up the sound from a
Merchant. Also in the convoy are a Large Freighter and a YUGUMO class
destroyer. I pick the Merchant as primary target and set torpedo depth to 20
ft. Torpedo’s 1 & 2 are fired at Merchant at 1,200 yds, and torpedo’s 3
& 4 at Freighter at 600 yds (torpedo depth is set to 11 ft for the
Freighter). Torpedo #2 and #3 are duds, but #1 hit the Merchant and damages it and
#4 hit and sink the Freighter immediately. I order to fire tube 5 & 6 at the
Merchant. #5 is a dud but #6 hits. The Merchant still won't sink, but fires are
now spreading on its deck. When it is aft of us I order to fire tube 7. The
Destroyer is now pinging and searching for us. As the torpedo hit the Merchant
the Destroyer found us. Confirming that
the Merchant is sinking we dive to 175 ft at 2/3 speed. At his first run the
Destroyer throws 3 depth charges at us, but none of them cause any damage.
16:31 Apparently they were not very eager
to sink us, or they are really terrible at their job. After less than an hour
they give up and head home, and they never found us again after that first run,
and no more than the first three depth charges were expended. Lucky for us
anyway. We speed down to 1/3 forward and resume patrol.
September
18 1942
09:45 Sonar detects distant hi speed
screws bearing 323' relative. I decide to go to PD to see if there are any
valuable ships worth sinking up there. The weather is the same as yesterday. At
PD I can see 1 Tanker surrounded by no less than 5 Destroyers. The Tanker is
3,468 yds away from us, heading 70' at 16 kts. The closest Destroyer is less
than 1,000 yds away so I decide not to stay with periscope up to identify the
escorts. This Tanker MUST be special with all those escorts. I order a turn to
attack the tanker. Torpedo depth is set to 21 ft. At 1,300 yds torpedo’s 1
& 2 are fired at the Tanker and we immediately dive to 260 ft at 2/3 speed.
I also order to head away from the escorts, but by now they surround us.
Despite our efforts to sneak away they find us after only a few seconds. Time
to do the Depth Charge Dance. Torpedo #1 was a dud, but torpedo #2 was a hit and
the Tanker sank. All we have to do now is to escape the escorts.
11:38 That escaping part wasn't all
that easy. Those pesky Destroyers did everything to make us regret the attack.
We even heard the sound of planes circling from time to time.
15:38 It seems they are leaving us now. I
believe they ran out of depth charges about 30 minutes earlier, at least that's
the last time we heard a depth charge. 176 depth charges were thrown after us,
and we had to dive to 398 ft to avoid them. About half of them were pretty
close, but as incredible it sounds we received no damage (our chef has even
learned to secure food and accessories). The crew is fairly shaken by the heavy
depth charging. Our batteries are nearly empty, only about 150 Ah left (and we
even tried to conserve battery level during our evasive maneuvers).
September
19 1942
00:32 Destroyer spotted 226' relative. By
raising the periscope I could see 1 Tanker and 1 Small Freighter. It's partly
cloudy and the sea is calm, so we have no problems spotting the ships. They
probably have a good chance at spotting us too, so I decide to dive to PD.
After a little while a support ship shows up too. The Destroyer is of the
YUGUMO class. The speed of the convoy is 16 kts, and they are at a distance to
us, heading 066'. I decide to surface and pass them by flank speed and get in
position ahead of them. The Tanker is the obvious primary target in this
convoy.
01:09 Fired torpedo 7 & 8 at
Tanker from 1,700 yds. Both torpedo’s prematured and the Destroyer started to
look for us. Convoy escaped and was last seen at 33-43'N, 137-02'E heading 066'
at 16 kts. The Destroyer used 3 DC's to "scare" us and then gave up.
Probably because they never found us.
01:39 KONGO class BB spotted, heading 96'
at 27 kts. When spotted it was 6,756 yds away. When I realized we couldn't get
in position on it we resumed patrol. Other ships in that group was: 1- NAGATO
(BB), 1 -TONE (CA), 1 -SHIRATSUYU (DD) and 1- AKIZUKI (DD).
05:40 While we are preparing the boat for a dive an Armed Merchant
Cruiser and a Destroyer suddenly shows up. I immediately order crash dive as it
seems the Destroyer has spotted us. When at PD I get a better look at the
ships, and I realize that the Destroyer hadn’t spotted us after all. A third
ship comes into sight, a Supply Ship. The Destroyer is of the MUTSUKI class.
The convoy is 8,000 yds away from us, heading 246' at 16 kts. We're unable to
get in a firing position so we continue our patrol.
September
20 1942
06:28 Sonar picks up active sonar from
northwest. Probably a patrol from the Ise Wan area. We turn around to southeast
to avoid detection. From the pinging our sonar man believe there are 3 ships in
the patrol group.
07:00
We can no longer hear the pinging from
the patrol group, so we resume patrol.
September
22 1942
01:14 Convoy spotted at 7,300 yds
heading 70' at 6.8 kts. 1- YUGUMO and 1- MUTSUKI class Destroyer Escorts, 2- Troop
Ships and 1- Tanker. I select the two troop ships as my primary and secondary
target. Torpedo depth is set to 15 ft. The weather has changed slightly. The
sky is still partly cloudy but the sea is now moderate. Hopefully this helps us
remain undetected.
01:31 We are now positioned in front of
the convoy. The closest Troop Transport is 2,300 yds from us. I intend to use
my aft torpedo’s this time.
01:41 Fired torpedo’s 7 to 10 at the two troop
ships. All torpedo’s worked fine and sunk both ships.
03:22 We escaped the Destroyers and are
surfacing again to recharge batteries before we must dive for submerged patrol
during daylight hours again. We were not hit by any of the 33 depth charges dropped
at us. Only a couple of them was close, so compared to the episode of September
18 this was merely a drill (or vacation as some of the crew put it). After an
hour of rest and damage inspection of the hull we resumed patrol.
September
23 1942
06:34 Sonar reports hi-speed screws
bearing 276' relative. We turn south and I order periscope depth to
investigate. From a quick glance I could see 3- Destroyers and 2- Light
Cruisers at 3,647 yds. We're closing in with standard speed. The CL group is
moving at 23.4 kts towards us. Fired two torpedo’s at each of the two Light
Cruisers when they were 1,000 and 1,400 yds away. It resulted in 1 dud, 1
premature and 2 hits (one hit on each of the Light Cruisers). Our torpedo’s
depth was set to 11 ft. When looking for damages on the two CL's, no fires
could be seen but both of them slowed down their speed significantly so
something vital must have been damaged or destroyed by our attack. The
Destroyers (now 5 of them) are hitting us with their sonar’s. The CL's (1-
NAGARA and 1- NAKA class) was out of range for another attack. They are now
heading 122' at 16 kts. I also spotted a plane escorting the group. We dive as
fast as we can to avoid the depth charging by the escorts and plane. We level out
at 330 ft.
08:13 We escaped the escorts. Set
depth to 160 ft and resume patrol. 78 depth charges were used trying to sink us
(and some of them shook us quite a bit, but no damage was done).
11:29 Sonar report hi-speed screws bearing 329` relative. Going to PD
to take a look. It is a CL group heading 226' at 25.5 kts. The group was over
10,000 yds away from us. There were 9 ships in the group, but only 1 was a
Light Cruiser, the rest was Destroyers. I was unable to identify most of the
Destroyers, but 1 FUBUKI and 1 ASASHIO was positively identified. The CL was a
NAKA class. We're not in a position to attack or pursue the group so we dive to
160 ft again and continue patrol.
18:02 On surface for night patrol.
September
24 1942
18:31 On surface again after patrolling
submerged during the day. The sea is once again calm and the weather is clear.
20:41 Lookouts report sighting of a
ship, probably a Destroyer. I raise the periscope to get a better view, and
they were right. It's a MUTSUKI escorting an Armed Merchant Cruiser. They are
9,470 yds away heading 243' at 21 kts. They're heading away from us so we
resume patrol.
September
25 1942
03:32 Troop Transport sighted at 9,462
yds heading 253' at 8.8 kts. In a line 1- Large Freighter and 1- Armed Merchant
Cruiser (AMC) follows. The AMC is my primary target, and torpedo depth is set
to 17 ft. We now have only 3 torpedo’s left, one aft and two forward. Fired
first torpedo at 900 yds, the last (aft) at 700 yds. 1 torpedo prematured but
the next two hit their target. This damaged the AMC and a huge fire could be
seen onboard. We follow the damaged ship submerged as we can see their guns on
deck being prepared for use (one of the deck guns is disabled by the
explosion). The other two ships split up and sail their own course. I also
noticed that there were mounted deck guns on the Large Freighter as well, but
it seems they have problems operating it. No shots were fired from the Large
Freighter or the AMC when we surfaced. Both ships were more than 2,000 yds
away. We concentrated on the damaged AMC first, but in between a few shots were
aimed at the Large Freighter to keep the crew busy on that deck and prevent
them from using their deck guns. After some 20 or so hits on the AMC it sank,
and we could now redirect all our firepower on the Large Freighter. Our tactic
to keep the Japs away from their deck guns worked. Not a single shot was fired
from that ship. At last that ship sank too. 67 rounds were used to sink both
ships. The weather has changed since yesterday. It's now partly cloudy and the
sea is moderate. Thus we lost contact with the last ship, but one of the lookouts
spotted lights on the horizon so we headed that way at flank speed. The lookout
had very good eyes; it was the Troop Transport he had spotted.
04:43 I Order the crew at the deck gun to
open fire at the Troop Transport. All 26 shells are expended only to damage the
ship. A number of small fires appear, but only to be put out by her crew. Her
deck is a mess and a couple of large holes can be seen in her hull, but these
are over the waterline. Her top speed is reduced to about 4 kts. With no more
ammunition on board we head home to Pearl. This has been a very successful
patrol for USS Trigger and her crew. We are all very pleased with our effort.
21:55 USS Trigger leaves her
designated patrol area and sets course to homeport.
List
of torpedo performance:
Hits: 15
Duds:
5
Premature:
4
LCDR Ronny Gundersen
CO USS Trigger, SS-237
U.S. Navy
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