The War Below
Page 45
The twenty-two year-old Malone: Eugene Malone interview with author, Aug. 5, 2009.
“I have a new officer”: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Oct. 2, 1943.
Crews wrapped up: Unless otherwise noted, the remainder of this chapter is drawn from the following sources: Silversides Report of Seventh War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1943; John S. Coye, Jr., unpublished memoir, pp. 14–15; The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral John S. Coye, Jr., pp. 64–78.
What Coye didn’t know: Balao Report of Second War Patrol, Nov. 16, 1943.
the 1,915-ton Tairin Maru: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 106.
loaded down with 2,100 tons: Shinshichiro Komamiya, Senji Yuso Sendan Shi (Wartime Transportation Convoys History), part 1, trans. William G. Somerville (Tokyo: Shuppan Kyodosha, 1987). This is a privately translated document and pagination varies among versions. As a result I have chosen not to include references to specific page numbers and in subsequent citations refer to this work solely by its Japanese title. Much of this same information can be found in Alden and McDonald’s book, which also depended on Somerville’s translation.
Balao’s skipper had fired: Balao Report of Second War Patrol, Nov. 16, 1943.
the 5,407-ton Tennan Maru: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 107.
Two torpedoes ripped: Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
the 1,893-ton Kazan Maru: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 107.
the 6,182-ton passenger freighter Johore Maru: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 107; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Chapter 8. Drum
“Leaving behind”: Drum crew calendar, June 3, 1943.
Commander Delbert Fred Williamson: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943.
McMahon had failed: JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix.
The thirty-nine-year-old Williamson: Details on Williamson’s background are drawn from the following sources: Delbert Williamson oral history interview with the Navy, Aug. 18, 1944, Box 30, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, World War II Oral Histories, 1942–1946, NARA; Delbert Williamson midshipman file, USNA.
“He is extremely”: J. S. Heavilin, ed., The Lucky Bag of 1927: The Annual of the Regiment of Midshipmen (Annapolis, Md.: USNA, 1927), p. 138.
Williamson served: Delbert Williamson oral history interview with the Navy, Aug. 18, 1944; “Delbert Fred Williamson ’27,” Shipmate, vol. 51, no. 8, October 1988, p. 92; Verner Utke-Ramsing interviews with author, Aug. 20, 2009, and Nov. 10, 2009.
Lieutenant Mike Rindskopf: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, pp. 80–81; Maurice Rindskopf interview with author, Aug. 28, 2009.
One example: Blair, Silent Victory, pp. 143–44.
Veteran combat officers knew: Eugene Malone e-mails to author, June 22, 2011.
Victory at Guadalcanal: Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Submarine Operational History World War II, vol. 1, p. 36.
Engineers had finally: Ibid., p. 50; Jolie, “A Brief History of U.S. Navy Torpedo Development,” pp. 35–36, 85.
Fifty-two new fleet boats: Voge, ed., “Submarine Commands,” vol. 1, p. 51.
Submarines in 1943: Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Submarine Operational History World War II, vol. 1, p. 50; USSBS, The War Against Japanese Transportation, 1941–1945, pp. 37–38, 134; Roscoe, United States Submarine Operations in World War II, pp. 298–99.
America’s efforts: Frederick D. Parker, Pearl Harbor Revisited: United States Navy Communications Intelligence, 1924–1941, United States Cryptologic History, Series IV, World War II, vol. 6 (Fort George G. Meade, Md.: Center for Cryptologic History/National Security Agency, 1994), p. 7; “Pearl Harbor Revisited—Linguists,” www.nsa.gov; Layton, “And I Was There,” pp. 28–32.
The value of this newfound intelligence: Layton, “And I Was There,” pp. 34–35; “The Origination and Evolution of Radio Traffic Analysis: The Period Between the Wars,” Cryptologic Quarterly, vol. 6, nos. 3–4, Fall–Winter 1987–88, p. 25.
The intelligence haul: “The Origination and Evolution of Radio Traffic Analysis: The Period Between the Wars,” pp. 27–35.
Japan changed: Parker, Pearl Harbor Revisited, p. 18.
This complex new cryptosystem: Ibid., pp. 19–21; Robert J. Hanyok and David Mowry, West Wind Clear: Cryptology and the Winds Message Controversy—A Documentary History, United States Cryptologic History, Series IV, World War II, vol. 10 (Fort George G. Meade, Md.: Center for Cryptologic History/National Security Agency, 2008), pp. 5–6, 9; Layton, “And I Was There,” pp. 77–78; Stephen Budiansky, Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II (New York: Touchstone, 2002), p. 319; W. J. Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1979), pp. 54–55; Duane L. Whitlock, “The Silent War Against the Japanese Navy,” Naval War College Review, vol. 48, no. 4, Autumn 1995, pp. 43–52.
America failed to grasp: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 77.
The pursuit: Parker, Pearl Harbor Revisited, pp. 20–21, 23–25, 30, 34–35, 45, 49–51.
Largely unable to read: Ibid., p. 42.
In what analysts viewed: Ibid.; Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, pp. 27–28.
“Homeland waters?”: Layton, “And I Was There,” p. 18.
Cryptanalysts dropped: “Pearl Harbor Review—JN-25,” www.nsa.gov; Frederick D. Parker, A Priceless Advantage: U.S. Navy Communications Intelligence and the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway, and the Aleutians, United States Cryptologic History, Series IV, World War II, vol. 5 (Fort George G. Meade, Md.: Center for Cryptologic History/National Security Agency, 1993), pp. 20–28, 41–58.
A Naval Academy graduate: Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, pp. 9–10.
The intelligence community: Ibid., pp. 23, 75, 126–28.
“Intelligence, like money”: Ibid., p. 128.
The veteran submariner: Ibid., pp. 63–64, 103–5, 124–26.
“Whatever the causes”: Ibid., p. 127.
But that changed: Ibid., pp. 125–27; Layton, “And I Was There,” pp. 471–72.
These same decrypts: C. A. Lockwood, June 17, 1947, COMINT Contributions, Submarine Warfare in WWII, SRH-235, NDL.
The Chicago native: Richard G. Voge Navy Bio, Jan., 24, 1964, NDL; Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, United States Submarine Losses, pp. 8, 13; History of the USS Sailfish (SS-192), July 1948, Office of Naval Records and History, Ships’ Histories Section, Navy Department.
The two men met: Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, pp. 125–26; C. A. Lockwood, June 17, 1947, COMINT Contributions, Submarine Warfare in WWII.
Code breakers developed: The Role of Communication Intelligence in Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, January 1943–October 1943, vol. 1, Nov. 19, 1945, SRH-011, p. 1, NDL.
“1 freighter to arrive”: Ibid., p. 2.
Burlingame peered: Silversides Report of Fourth War Patrol, Jan. 31, 1943.
Another Ultra: The Role of Communication Intelligence in Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, January 1943–October 1943, vol. 1, Nov. 19, 1945, SRH-011, p. 7.
Burlingame picked up: Silversides Report of Fourth War Patrol, Jan. 31, 1943; Alden and McDonald, p. 62.
Intelligence alerted: The Role of Communication Intelligence in Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, January 1943–October 1943, vol. 1, Nov. 19, 1945, SRH-011, pp. 8–9; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 62.
From January to October 1943: The Role of Communication Intelligence in Submarine Warfare in the Pacific, January 1943–October 1943, vol. 1, Nov. 19, 1945, SRH-011, p. ix.
“There were nights”: Holmes, Double-Edged Secrets, p. 128.
Armed with a cup: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir pp. 75–76; Maurice Rindskopf as told to Dr. Karel Montor, “Case Study of Leadership at Sea,” unpublished report, USNA.
Drum lookouts had spotted: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec
. 5, 1943.
the Hie Maru: JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix; Robert J. Cressman, The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2000), p. 193.
The 535-foot-long vessel: E. Mowbray Tate, Transpacific Steam: The Story of Steam Navigation from the Pacific Coast of North America to the Far East and the Antipodes, 1967–1941 (New York: Cornwall Books, 1986), pp. 124–25.
The city of Yokohama: “Cherry Blossoms Taiko-Gata Stone Lantern and Roses,” Seascope, No. 180, June 2002.
Requisitioned by the military: Roger Jordan, The World’s Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2006), p. 541.
The skipper fired: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943.
The three-ship convoy: Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Hie Maru had not only escaped: Jürgen Rohwer, Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War II, 3rd rev. ed. (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 285.
The skipper listened: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943; JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 113.
Rindskopf was impressed: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 81.
Williamson demonstrated: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943.
Williamson had found: Ibid.
Rindskopf heard: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 81.
Chief Petty Officer George Schaedler: George Schaedler interview with author, Nov. 5, 2009.
A finger-sized stream: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 81; Maurice Rindskopf interview with author, Aug. 28, 2009.
Water streamed in: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943.
The battle station auxiliary man: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 81; Maurice Rindskopf interview with author, Aug. 28, 2009.
Three hours after: Drum Report of Eighth War Patrol, Dec. 5, 1943.
Chapter 9. Silversides
“The sixteenth depth charge”: Robert Worthington diary, May 22, 1942.
John Coye paced: Silversides Report of Eighth War Patrol, Jan. 15, 1944; Eugene Malone interview with author, Jan. 7, 2011; Operational Order No. 285–43, Dec. 3, 1943, Box 297, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Orders and Related Documents, NARA.
Coye preferred: Eugene Malone interview with author, Jan. 7, 2011.
“My own personal attitude”: The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral John S. Coye, Jr., p. 72.
he’d sunk four ships: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix.
In a private critique: E. W. Grenfell to John Coye, Jr., Nov. 11, 1943.
“This short patrol”: C. A. Lockwood, Jr., to the Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet, Nov. 13, 1943.
The plan position indicator in contrast: Blair, Silent Victory, p. 448; Roscoe, United States Submarine Operations in World War II, p. 290; Eugene Malone interview with author, Jan. 7, 2010.
“change the course”: Eugene Malone, “Silversides’ Great Eighth.”
“It is obviously useless”: Silversides Report of Third War Patrol, Nov. 25, 1942. Burlingame repeated this same line in his fourth patrol report.
“must not be belittled”: J. H. Brown, Jr., to Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, Feb. 3, 1943.
“It is hoped”: Ibid.
He had shanghaied: Eugene Malone interview with author, Aug. 5, 2009.
lanky lieutenant: Eugene Malone interview with author, Jan. 7, 2011.
One afternoon in New Caledonia: Eugene Malone, “Fighting World War II in a World War I Submarine”; Eugene Malone, “Silversides’ Great Eighth”; Eugene Malone interview with author, Jan. 7, 2011.
“Gosh, this big boat life”: Eugene Malone letter to Helen Malone, Nov. 9, 1943.
“Since I made lieutenant”: Eugene Malone letter to Helen Malone, Dec. 1, 1943.
“Dished out combat insignia”: Eugene Malone to Elinor Ives, Nov. 25, 1943.
“His in laws”: Eugene Malone letter to Helen Malone, Dec. 1, 1943.
New Guinea stretched: USSBS, The Campaigns of the Pacific War, p. 173; Frank L. Kluckhohn, “West and East—Two Kinds of Warfare,” New York Times, Oct. 17, 1943, p. SM12; Merlin Spencer, “Monotony Foe in New Guinea,” Telegraph-Herald, May 31, 1943, p. 6; Pat Robinson, “I Saw War in New Guinea,” St. Petersburg Times, March 18, 1943, p. 10.
“To die in front”: Frank Prist, “Nature Is Third Antagonist for Yanks in ‘Green Hell,’ ” Palm Beach Post, Jan. 25, 1943, p. 2.
Climbing out of the Pacific: Samuel Eliot Morison, History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 12, Leyte, June 1944–January 1945 (Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press/Little, Brown, 1970), pp. 30–32; “Advance in the Pacific,” editorial, New York Times, Sept. 16, 1944, p. 12.
“It is believed”: Operational Order No. 285-43, Dec. 3, 1943.
“He looks green”: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Dec. 7, 1943.
“Some of the crates: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Dec. 5, 1943.
The skipper, the officer: unless otherwise noted, the remainder of this chapter is drawn from the following sources: Silversides Report of Eighth War Patrol, Jan. 15, 1944; John S. Coye, Jr., unpublished memoir, pp. 15–16; The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral John S. Coye, Jr., pp. 78–87.
the 1,911-ton Shichisei Maru: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, p. 122; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
the 1,970-ton Tenposan Maru: Ibid.
the 3,311-ton Ryuto Maru: Ibid.
“Excellent aggressive patrol”: E. W. Grenfell to John Coye, Jr., Jan. 26, 1944.
“I started out thinking”: Eugene Malone letter to Helen Malone, Jan. 16, 1944.
“He is developing”: Eugene Malone letter to Anna Maria Ives, Jan. 16, 1944.
Malone climbed up: Eugene Malone interview with author, Aug. 6, 2009; Eugene Malone, “Submarine Versus Submarine.”
Silversides raced: Ibid.; Silversides Report of Eighth War Patrol, Jan. 15, 1944.
“Some utter fool”: Eugene Malone letter to Anna Maria Ives, Jan. 16, 1943.
“The recorder”: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Jan. 17, 1944.
“Darling, sit back”: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Dec. 26, 1944.
“The nasty culprit”: John Bienia letter to Alpha Bienia, Jan. 17, 1944.
Chapter 10. Tang
“Sadly”: Richard H. O’Kane, Clear the Bridge! The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1977), p. 19.
The prolonged blast: Tang Report of First War Patrol, March 3, 1944; Tang deck log, Jan. 22, 1944; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, pp. 55–56.
twenty-six submarines: Blair, Silent Victory, pp. 942–43.
Tang eased out: Operational Order No. 30–44, Jan. 21, 1944, and Charles Lockwood to Richard O’Kane, Jan. 22, 1944, Box 297, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Orders and Related Documents, NARA; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, pp. 55–56.
Nothing in O’Kane’s formative years: Background on O’Kane comes from the following sources: Richard O’Kane Navy Bio, March 15, 1967, NDL; Richard O’Kane midshipman file, USNA; Jim O’Kane interview with author, Jan. 22, 2010; William Leibold interview with author, July 8, 2009; Floyd Caverly interview with author, July 16, 2009.
“Investigation of this”: C. P. Snyder to Superintendent, Feb. 10, 1931, USNA.
Upon graduation: USNA, Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934), p. 38.
O’Kane’s class: Slade Cutter, The Reminiscences of Captain Slade D. Cutter, U.S. Navy (Retired), vols. 1–2 (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Oral History Department, 1985), pp. 143–62 (vol. 1), 512–23 (vol. 2); The Reminiscences of Rear Admiral Charles Elliot Loughlin, pp. 44–49.
“Everybody was kind of laughing”: The Reminiscences of Captain Slade D. Cutter, vol. 2, pp. 512–13.
Lieutenant Commander Marvin Kennedy: Background on Kennedy comes from the following so
urces: Marvin Kennedy Navy Bio, Jan. 14, 1953, NDL; Marvin Kennedy midshipman file, USNA; George Grider as told to Lydel Sims, War Fish (Boston: Little, Brown, 1958), p. 23; Richard H. O’Kane, Wahoo: The Patrols of America’s Most Famous World War II Submarine (New York: Bantam, 1989), p. 11.
Kennedy’s demand: O’Kane, Wahoo, pp. 55–58; Grider, War Fish, pp. 56–57.
“There were no screens”: Wahoo Report of First War Patrol, Oct. 17, 1942.
Through the periscope: James L. Mooney et al., eds., Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, vol. 8 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981), pp. 29–33.
“If we bagged”: Grider, War Fish, p. 56.
“Made approach”: Wahoo Report of First War Patrol, Oct. 17, 1942.
Wahoo still had: Ibid.
“No, Dick”: O’Kane, Wahoo, p. 58.
O’Kane fumed: O’Kane, Wahoo, pp. 68–69.
The skipper’s timidity: Wahoo Report of Second War Patrol, Dec. 26, 1942; O’Kane, Wahoo, pp. 77–81.
“No words”: O’Kane, Wahoo, p. 81.
When Wahoo arrived: Marvin Kennedy undated letter to Clay Blair, Jr., Box 68, Clay Blair, Jr., Papers, AHC.
Three and a half years: Background on Morton comes from the following sources: Dudley Morton Navy Bio, August 28, 1957, NDL; Dudley Morton midshipman file, USNA; David A. Stretch, ed., The Lucky Bag of 1930: The Annual of the Regiment of Midshipmen (Annapolis, Md.: USNA, 1927), p. 165; Grider, War Fish, pp. 60, 68–69; O’Kane, Wahoo, p. 73.
“boulder”: “Must Be Presumed . . . ,” Time, Dec. 13, 1943, p. 68.
stuffing four golf balls: John Griggs III letter to Clay Blair, May 29, 1972, Box 67, Clay Blair, Jr., Papers, AHC.
“He was built”: Grider, War Fish, pp. 68–69.
“Mush the Magnificent”: Ibid.
“maker of Jap widows”: “Skipper of Wahoo Tells of Sinking 19 Jap Ships,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1943, p. 3.
Kennedy had covered: O’Kane, Wahoo, pp. 109–11.
“In his mind”: John Griggs III letter to Clay Blair, May 29, 1972.
“Most of us”: Grider, War Fish, p. 69.
“You will be”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 17.