USS TULLIBEE (SS-284)

Keel laid down by Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, CA 1APR42;
Launched: 11NOV42; Sponsored by Mrs. Kenneth C. Hurd;
Commissioned: 15FEB43 with LCdr Charles F. Brindupke in command.

USS TULLIBEE (SS-284) held shakedown training from 8 to 30 April and departed for Hawaii on 8 May. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 15 May and held further training exercises in Hawaiian waters. Numerous air fitting leaks developed, and she was docked for repairs twice. When this proved ineffective, the submarine entered the navy yard until 11 July.

On 19 July, TULLIBEE got underway for the Western Caroline Islands and her first war patrol. On the 28th, she sighted a passenger-cargo ship, accompanied by an escort and an aircraft that prevented an American attack. On 5 August, the submarine began patrolling the Saipan-Truk traffic lanes. Five days later, she sighted smoke on the horizon which proved to be three freighters with an escort. TULLIBEE closed the range to 2,700 yards; fired one torpedo at the ship on the right and three at the vessel on the left. As the submarine fired the first torpedo, a ship rammed her and bent her number one periscope. She went deep and was depth charged by the escort as the ships sped away. As they had been set to run at a depth of 15 feet -- too deep for the draft of the largest target -- none of the torpedoes exploded.

On 14 August, TULLIBEE sighted a convoy of three freighters with an escort and began an end-around run to get into good attack position. She fired a torpedo from a range of 3,000 yards and went deep. It missed, and she returned to periscope depth to fire three torpedoes at the last ship. It apparently saw their wakes as it turned and combed them. The submarine again went deep. When she surfaced, the targets had escaped. On the 22nd, TULLIBEE sighted a convoy of five ships escorted by two destroyers; closed to 2,000 yards; and fired three torpedoes at the nearest freighter. Two minutes later, she fired three more at another ship. As she went deep to avoid a destroyer heading her way, she heard one explosion. She soon heard the bursts of two more torpedo explosions, followed by breaking up noises. When she surfaced, she sighted over 1,000 empty 50-gallon oil drums, but no ships. Postwar examination of Japanese records indicated that TULLIBEE had damaged one freighter and had sunk a passenger-cargo ship. The patrol terminated when the submarine reached Midway Island on 6 September.

On 28 September, TULLIBEE began her second war patrol. Her assigned area was in the East China Sea between the Ryukyus and the China coast. On 4 October, she sighted a convoy of nine passenger-cargo ships with three destroyer escorts. The submarine pulled well ahead of the convoy and tracked them until the next morning. At 0058, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a large freighter with one hitting the target a minute later. Another spread of three from the bow tubes produced two hits on a heavily laden cargo ship. Minor explosions and breaking up noises began immediately as the cargoman sank. Twelve days later, TULLIBEE contacted a convoy of seven ships with three escorts which later separated into two groups; one hugging the China coast and the other heading for Pescadores Channel. She attacked the largest ship in the last group with six torpedoes. One hit the target. The submarine began an end-around run and fired four torpedoes at another ship. Two torpedoes soon broached, and TULLIBEE broke off the attack. She went deep and rigged for silent running to evade the escorts. On 5 November, the submarine was running submerged near Okinoyerabu Shima when she sighted a large, three story building on the island. She surfaced and fired 55 shells into the barracks before retiring at full speed. She began the voyage back to Hawaii the next day and reached Pearl Harbor, via Midway, on the 16th. Her official score for this patrol was one passenger-cargo ship sunk, a tanker damaged, and a passenger-cargo ship damaged.

TULLIBEE's third patrol was in a wolf pack with sister ships USS HALIBUT (SS-232) and USS HADDOCK (SS-231). The trio sortied from Pearl Harbor on 14 December 1943 for the Marianas to intercept enemy shipping plying between Truk and Japan. On 2 January 1944, TULLIBEE sighted a Japanese I-class submarine on the surface and fired four torpedoes at a range of 3,000 yards. The enemy saw the wakes and combed the four of them as TULLIBEE was forced deep by an enemy floatplane which dropped six bombs.

On 19 January, HADDOCK reported that she had damaged an Japanese escort carrier which limped to Saipan. TULLIBEE sighted the carrier there on the 25th, close ashore and well protected by escorts and aircraft. The submarine remained on station for several days awaiting an opportunity to sink the carrier. However, when she surfaced on the 28th, she learned that the carrier had slipped away. Three days later, the submarine made radar contact with two targets. She fired three torpedoes at what appeared to be a freighter and swung left to fire one at the escort. The first target, a net tender, took two hits; disintegrated, and disappeared in about one minute. The torpedo fired at the escort missed, and the submarine went deep to evade. TULLIBEE cleared the area the following day and returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 February.

On 5 March 1944, TULLIBEE departed Pearl Harbor to start her fourth war patrol of WWII. She stopped at Midway to top off with fuel, and having left that place on 14 March, she was not heard from again. The area assigned to TULLIBEE was an open sea area north of Palau, and she was to cooperate with surface forces in the first carrier strike on Palau.

TULLIBEE was to leave her area not later than 24 April 1944, and on that date a dispatch was sent directing her to proceed to Majuro for refit. She was expected at Majuro about 4 May, but instructions stated that a submarine unable to transmit would not go to Majuro, but to Midway. On 6 May 1944, Midway was alerted for a submarine returning without transmission facilities, but the lookout was not rewarded and TULLIBEE was presumed lost on 15 May 1944.

The following story of TULLIBEE's loss is taken from a statement made by the lone survivor, C.W. Kuykendall, GM2(SS). He reports that the boat arrived on station, 25 March, and on the night of 26 March a radar contact was found to be a convoy consisting of a large troop and cargo ship, two medium sized freighters, two escort vessels and a large destroyer.

Having solved the convoy's speed and course, TULLIBEE made several surface runs on the large transport, but held fire, being unable to see her due to squally weather. The escorts had detected the boat's presence, and dropped 15 to 20 depth charges. The boat came in to 3,000 yards, still unable to see the target, and fired two bow tubes. A minute or two later a terrific concussion shook the boat, and Kuykendall, who had been on the bridge, soon found himself struggling in the water. Since range and bearing of escorts was known, the survivor states that he is sure the explosion was the result of a circular run of one of TULLIBEE's own torpedoes.

There were shouting men in the water when Kuykendall first regained consciousness after the blast, but after about ten minutes everything was silent, and he never again saw or heard any of the other TULLIBEE men. At 1000 on 27 March, an escort vessel located the swimming man, and after firing on him with machine guns, came in and picked him up. He learned that the transport they had fired at had sunk.

The story of his captivity is much the same as the stories of other submarine survivors. He was questioned assidously by English-speaking officers, and beaten when he refused to give any more information than international law required. In April 1944, he was taken to Ofuna Naval Interrogation Camp, where he stayed until 30 September. From that date until rescue on 4 September 1945, he was forced to work in the copper maines of Ashio.

TULLIBEE received three battle stars for World War II  service.

Compiled by SUBNET from "Dictionary of American Fighting Ships"
and "U.S. NAVAL SUBMARINE FORCE INFORMATION BOOK '97" -- J. Christley

Photos and text contributed by Royal Weaver MTCM(SS)(Ret.).