by Peter Sasgen
“Toyama Wan was no more hazardous than any other place except it was a bay and as such had only one direction to go to get out.” The depth of this bay is 350 fathoms.
“No one knows just what happened to the Bonefish. We thought that some information might come from the Japanese after the war was over through claims made by their antisubmarine vessels. There is one third of a chance that they struck a mine. There is no way to tell just where the boat might have been sunk.”
On June 18, four days before the Bonefish was assumed missing, she reported having sunk a large cargo vessel and a transport. “She could have easily sunk more.”
The nine subs were scheduled to hold a rendezvous on or about the night of June 21 to decide their exit through La Pérouse Strait, whether surfaced or submerged. The Bonefish did not appear, but it seems the foggy weather which existed made the other subs think nothing of her absence. The Tunny and the other subs went on out of the Japan Sea and then, seeing the continued absence of the Bonefish, Comdr. Pierce waited there for two days and tried to contact her by radio. I have heard that the Bonefish had radio and radar trouble all during the patrol. Commander Submarine Pacific Fleet, Adm. Lockwood, sent a message to the eight subs as they went out of La Pérouse Strait, saying that disturbances in Japan Sea indicated that the Bonefish was still in the Sea and that he had tried to send a message to her telling how the others had left the sea. No one went back to look for her or to see if she needed help.
All nine subs received the Navy Cross for this raid, including the Bonefish which probably sunk several ships besides the two which she reported at the rendezvous on June 18th. The Tunny, leader of group two, was the only one of the nine to sink not one enemy ship. A total of [twenty-eight] ships were destroyed.
A conference of all officers from the eight returning boats was held with Adm. Lockwood in [Pearl Harbor]. Success within the sea was reported as far as damage done to the enemy was concerned. As for the [FMS] gear, it was not infallible. The greatest success was that only one sub, USS Bonefish, was lost, whereas I am told that “at least” half of those entering the raid were not expected to return. Several have written me or told me the equivalent of the following quotation from one comdr.: “You are correct about the patrol being dangerous. I felt that I would not get back. I did not tell anyone about it but it is the case.”
Comdr. Pierce wrote me that the “whole affair was on a volunteer basis.” In other more accurate words, the subs with the above equipment were called into port to participate and none dared refuse. As for the Bonefish, Comdr. Edge was told by the Submarine Force Personnel Officer the day he arrived in Pearl Harbor in March that he would be sent to a staff job as electronics officer immediately after his April patrol. Despite this, on reaching Guam before that patrol began, Adm. Lockwood told him personally that he would have to take the Bonefish on this one more patrol, and ordered her on the raid. This is the “volunteer basis” on which Comdr. Edge took the Bonefish on the raid in the Japan Sea. He wrote me of his disappointment on learning that he had another patrol yet to make.
From another source: “We were ordered to make the June raid the same way we were ordered to make any other patrol except we had all this special charts and gear to make the run. I was not asked particularly whether I wanted to make the run or not. It has always been the policy for any skipper who wanted to give up command to merely say so and he would be relieved. However, I was not asked directly whether I wanted to make the patrol.”
The USS Bonefish made a brilliant record on her eight war patrols deep in the enemy’s territory. Her two commanders had won for her six Navy Cross medals, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and a Navy Unit [Commendation]. For Comdr. Edge’s first patrol on her, June 25 to August 13, 1944, the Bronze Star was awarded for the sinking of enemy ships totalling 20,000 tons, and for damaging 7,500 tons. For his second patrol which took place in the Sulu Sea and around the Philippines, September 15 to October 27, 1944, his first Navy Cross was awarded for the sinking of enemy ships totalling 22,000 tons, and for damaging additional vessels totalling 7,000 tons. The danger involved in the areas of this patrol and the fact that two of our own fliers were rescued by the Bonefish were considered in this award.
It was during this patrol that General MacArthur first landed in the Philippines on Leyte Island. Comdr. Edge’s third and fourth patrols in the Bonefish are discussed above and each won additional Navy Cross medals. According to Adm. Lockwood, the Bonefish, under the command of Comdr. Edge, is known to have sunk four tankers, five freighters, two transports, and five small craft, also with the damaging of a minelayer and a large tanker.
Sarah Simms Edge [unsigned]
APPENDIX FOUR
An Edited Address by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Delivered on Navy Day, October 27, 1945
Almost four years ago, when they struck a treacherous blow at our sea power at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese galvanized America into action. From their homes in every quarter of the United States men and women hastened to volunteer in the Armed Forces of our country. Bravely they went forth on our ships, they landed on hostile shores, and fought with the knowledge that it might—and in some cases, it would—cost them their lives.
On Navy Day this year—let us remember those officers and men whose spirits look down on us from some Valhalla of fighting men. They gave their utmost—they gave their all. The impressive record of the ships they manned is long. You have heard the names of some of them. There are others—now lost—which will be long honored in our history.
The battleship Oklahoma, the cruiser Houston, the carrier Lexington, the escort carrier Lipscomb Bay, the destroyer Laffey, the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, the minesweeper Emmons , the submarine Bonefish which, in the closing days of the war, entered the Sea of Japan through dangerous minefields to cut the last links between Japan and her resources on the Asiatic mainland.
These ships, and others, went down in the far places of the earth, each of them fighting in the best traditions of our Navy. I cannot name them all. But, those that have been named can stand for all the others on which men have died at their battle stations. Those men died that we might have peace and security. They helped to shape in the forges of war the great sea power which is ours today.
C. W. Nimitz
APPENDIX FIVE
Award and Commendation to Commander Lawrence L. Edge by Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood Jr.
The Commander Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, has the honor to award the Submarine Combat Insignia and to commend in absentia
COMMANDER LAWRENCE L. EDGE, U.S. NAVY, FOR SERVICES AS SET FORTH IN THE FOLLOWING CITATION:
“The U.S.S. BONEFISH failed to return as scheduled from an offensive war patrol which she was conducting in restricted waters, heavily patrolled by enemy air and surface forces. This vessel has continuously distinguished herself since her first appearance in enemy water by her successful and relentless attacks against the enemy, and it is definitely known that the BONEFISH was pursuing just such bold and aggressive tactics up until the time she was declared missing.
“As commanding officer of the U.S.S. BONEFISH, Commander Lawrence L. Edge’s skill, daring and wholehearted devotion to his service and to his country contributed directly to the vessel’s many successful attacks against the enemy. The Commander Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, forwards this commendation in recognition of his splendid leadership and courageous performance of duty, which were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval Service.”
C. A. Lockwood, Jr., Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy. [signed]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many individuals played an important role in the writing of Hellcats. Most important of all are Lawrence Lott Edge Jr. and Sarah Edge Shuler, son and daughter of Lawrence Lott Edge and Sarah Simms Edge. Larry, Sarah, and their spouses opened their hearts and their homes to me, welcomed me as a member of the Edge family, and provided every kindness and assistance I needed to write Hellcats. Larry and Sarah’s mother had kept a
voluminous cache of correspondence and documents from the war years, which I was privileged to read and study at length. I was staggered by the sheer amount of material in this cache, all of it in near pristine condition after having survived numerous family moves and storage in less than ideal conditions over a span of more than sixty-five years. Perusing this material I had the uncanny feeling that Sarah Edge had carefully saved it not just because it was a touchstone to her former life, long vanished, but also because she may have believed that someday someone would want to write a book about what Lawrence and his shipmates accomplished.
To be sure, Hellcats is not the first book ever written about Operation Barney. Charles A. Lockwood’s pioneering Hellcats of the Sea was published in 1955 and later made into a Hollywood movie, entitled Hellcats of the Navy. The film starred Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis (later, Nancy Reagan) as the love interest. Though Lockwood’s book has long been out of print, his telling of the story is an essential road map to the navigation of Operation Barney’s complex, multilayered history. The Edge family archive provided another kind of road map: a vast and rich trove of personal and poignant wartime correspondence between Lawrence and Sarah overflowing with a man’s love for his wife and children. They also provided an intimate view of the emotions experienced by a wartime sub skipper that I believe are unique to the submarine service. In addition, the letters and official documents in the collection reveal the inner workings of a cold Navy bureaucracy at war with the Japanese and sometimes with itself. The exception to this is the warm correspondence between Sarah Edge and Charles Lockwood. All of this material gave the already compelling story of Operation Barney a depth and texture it would not otherwise have had. For all of the help and kindnesses shown me by the Edge family, I am deeply grateful.
I am also deeply grateful to Dr. Kurt S. Maier, Senior Cataloger at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He provided copies of documents relative to Operation Barney from the papers of Charles A. Lockwood archived at the library. Dr. Maier was tireless in his searches and findings, and provided valuable assistance without which Hellcats could not have been written.
I also want to thank Barbara Hydeman Barnes, Patricia Hydeman Barry, and her husband, Bob, for providing personal documents and photographs related to the career of Barbara and Patricia’s father, Captain Earl T. Hydeman, and his participation in Operation Barney. Their deep interest and gracious response to my requests are greatly appreciated. Also, I want to thank Patricia Fornshell, whose father, Allen George Maghan, F1c, perished on the Bonefish. Patricia provided family documents that in the early planning of Hellcats offered insights into the missing-in-action stage of the Bonefish’s loss.
Thanks are also due to William E. Scofield, who served in the Bonefish under her first skipper, Commander T. W. Hogan. Bill set me on the right course to locate material on the ship’s early career and Bonefish family members. Also thanks to John Clear, EMC (SS), U.S. Navy (retired), for his generous assistance with the World War II submarine patrol reports for the Hellcats and other boats. Author Steven Trent Smith provided valuable documents related to Operation Barney from his private collection. Denise Clark and Michele Mazanec at the United States Naval Academy Alumni Association located biographical materials on various academy graduates who skippered submarines during World War II. Thanks, too, to the staff of the Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy for their generous loan of rare microfiche of ComSubPac’s administrative history; and to the staff of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, for providing copies of documents originally published by the University of California Division of War Research (UCDWR), San Diego, California.
Deep appreciation goes to my literary agent, Ethan Ellenberg, for his advice and counsel. And to Brent Howard and the editorial and production staff at Penguin/ NAL for their hard work and expert guidance in the publication of Hellcats.
As always, I thank my wife, Karen, for her abiding interest in and help with a multitude of issues both big and small as this project first developed from an idea, then stretched out over the course of many months. Finally, a special thanks to my dad, a submariner’s submariner, who, during World War II, served in the USS Rasher.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Alden, John D. The Fleet Submarine in the U. S. Navy: A Design and Construction History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979. (The only book of its kind that presents in arresting detail the development of the U.S. fleet-type submarine and why they looked and performed like they did. A fascinating study.)
Allen, Thomas B., and Norman Polmar. Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan—and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. (A concise but detailed account of the planning for the invasion of Japan, with statistics of both offensive and defensive forces including estimated casualties.)
Beach, Edward L. Submarine! New York: Henry Holt, 1946. (One of the best books ever written about World War II U.S. submarine operations, by a man who lived it.)
Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. Philadelphia and New York: Lippincott, 1975. (The definitive history of the submarine war. Blair also does a good job of making sense of the ever-changing command structure, which influenced operations for both good and bad.)
Brackman, Arnold C. The Other Nuremberg: The Untold Story of the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. New York: Quill/William Morrow, 1987. (Brackman revisits the issues that made these trials so controversial in their time.)
Costello, John. The Pacific War: 1941-1945. New York: Quill, 1982.
Cragon, Harvey G. The Fleet Submarine Torpedo Data Computer. Dallas, Texas: Cragon Books, 2007. (An in-depth tour of and working guide to the type of TDCs installed in U.S. subs. Not for the casual reader, as expertise in trigonometry and electrical theory are essential to a complete understanding of this complicated analog computing machine.)
Dull, Paul S. A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941-1945). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1978.
Friedman, Norman. U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
Hastings, Max. Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45. New York: Vintage, 2009.
Holmes, W. J. Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979.
Lockwood, Charles A. Down to the Sea in Subs: My Life in the U.S. Navy. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1967.
———. Sink ’Em All: Submarine War in the Pacific. New York: Dutton, 1951.
———, and Hans Christian Adamson. Hellcats of the Sea. New York: Greenberg, 1955. (Lockwood’s personal account of Operation Barney: the road map through it.)
Moore, Stephen L. Spadefish: On Patrol with a Top-Scoring World War II Submarine. Dallas, Texas: Atriad Press, 2006.
O’Kane, Richard H. Wahoo: The Patrols of America’s Most Famous Submarine. Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1987. (O’Kane’s experiences as Dudley Morton’s exec. Provides keen insights into Morton’s thinking and doing.)
Parillo, Mark P. The Japanese Merchant Marine in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1993. (A very good study of Japan’s wartime merchant marine operations, including tables and statistics that provide a clear picture of the merchant marine’s successes and failures.)
Potter, E. B. Nimitz. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1976. (The definitive biography of CinCPac; with valuable insights into the thinking and political maneuverings of the Navy’s high command.)
Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Roscoe, Theodore. United States Submarine Operations in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute, 1949. (A dated but still valuable source for information about the U.S. sub war in all its facets—especially valuable for JANAC sinking statistics and much
more.)
Sasgen, Peter T. Red Scorpion: The War Patrols of the USS Rasher. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
Scofield, William F. Dear Ma! Facet History Publications, 2007. (A personal memoir of the author’s service aboard the USS Bonefish, and “dedicated to life before television”; a lively commentary on the submarine service.)
Shirer, William L. End of a Berlin Diary. New York: Popular Library, 1961.
Smith, Steven Trent. Wolf Pack: The American Submarine Strategy That Helped Defeat Japan. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2003. (Smith’s book gives a detailed account of U.S. submarine wolf-packing, and also the history of and the individuals responsible for the development of FM sonar.)
Winton, John. Ultra in the Pacific: How Breaking the Japanese Codes and Ciphers Affected Naval Operations Against Japan. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1993.
Archives, Private and Public
The correspondence of Lawrence L. Edge and Sarah S. Edge. Letters from the collection of Lawrence L. Edge Jr. and Sarah Edge Shuler.
The correspondence of Sarah S. Edge and Charles A. Lockwood Jr., other naval officers, and U.S. Navy bureaus.
The correspondence of Sarah S. Edge and various families of the crew of the USS Bonefish.
The service records of Lawrence Lott Edge, courtesy of Lawrence L. Edge Jr.
The papers of Charles A. Lockwood. The Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Lockwood’s day-to-day triumphs and travails described in correspondence with his colleagues both in the United States and at various bases throughout the Pacific theater of operations.)
Hyper War on the Web at www.ibiblio.org. “United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Naval Analysis Division, Summary Report, July 1, 1946.” And “Reports on the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan.” And “Japanese and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes.”