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USS Pompano (SS-181)
Encyclopedia
USS Pompano (SS-181), a United States
Porpoise-class
submarine
, was the second ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the pompano
.
Her keel
was laid down on 14 January 1936 by the Mare Island Navy Yard in California
. She was launched
on 11 March 1937, sponsored by Mrs. Isaac I. Yates, and commissioned
on 12 June 1937, Lieutenant Commander
Lewis S. Parks in command.
, Pompano operated out of Mare Island off the West Coast of the United States
, training her crew and patrolling in a constant state of readiness.
Although the submarine was awarded a battle star for the attack on Pearl Harbor
, she had not yet arrived from Mare Island. Reaching port shortly after the attack, she sailed from Pearl Harbor
on 18 December 1941 for her first war patrol, devoted mainly to reconnoitering the eastern Marshall Islands
for an aircraft carrier
strike in January. Aircraft from bombed her in error on 20 December, but she escaped damage.
Pompano arrived off Wake Island
on 1 January 1942 to gather intelligence, approaching close enough to see Japanese machine gun posts. On 8 January, "bedeviled by breakdowns in her temperamental H.O.R. engines" she inspected Bikar and subsequently viewed several other islands of the group.
She sighted several large ships protected by patrol craft in the harbor at Wotje. On 12 January, one of these stood out: Yawata, with four escorts. Pompano fired four Mark 14 torpedo
es for two hits, and the target apparently broke up, disappearing from view. Five days later, when one of the patrol boats steamed out of the harbor, Pompano worked her way between him and the channel. Both torpedoes exploded prematurely (a constant problem for the Mark VI exploder), foiling her first attack. Then, with the enemy charging directly for her, the submarine waited until her target was 1000 yards (914.4 m) away before firing two more torpedoes "down the throat". They missed, and the enemy delivered an ineffective depth charging
.
After thoroughly reconnoitering Maloelap, Pompano departed on 24 January, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 31 January. On the same day, aided by her reports, the fast carriers of the Pacific Fleet struck the Marshall Islands.
On her next patrol, to Japanese home waters, Pompano left Pearl Harbor on 20 April 1942 (with a load of older Mark 10 torpedoes, due to production shortages at Newport Torpedo Station), refueled at Midway Island, and entered her area 7 May patrolling the sea lanes west of Okinawa and in the East China Sea
. Shipping was scarce, but on 24 May, she caught a large sampan
and sent it down with gunfire. On the next day, after chasing for seven hours and fighting a motor fire in the process, she torpedoed Tokyo Maru, which exploded and sank.
As Pompano shifted her patrol area to the main route between Japan
and the East Indies
, a large transport escorted by one destroyer
caught her eye on 30 May. Running to a position ahead of the convoy, she waited until her victim was only 750 yd (685.8 m) away, scoring solid hits (with two more Mark 10 torpedo
es) which sank Atsuta Maru two and a half hours later.
With her fuel getting low and a strong possibility of not being able to refuel at Midway Island on the way back because of the Japanese attempt to invade the island, Pompano began to work eastward. On the morning of 3 June, she found a small inter-island steamer, setting the vessel afire with gunfire.
On 5 June, while on the shipping route between Japan and the Mariana Islands
, the submarine caught a trawler and sank it with gunfire. Two days later, word arrived the Japanese fleet, decisively defeated in the Battle of Midway
, was fleeing toward Japan. Pompano took up a position to intercept them, but made no contact. On 13 June 1942, she put into Midway for refueling, and on 18 June arrived in Pearl Harbor. She was credited with sinking five ships for a total of 16,500 tons; postwar, only two for 8,900 tons were confirmed.
After a refit
- and a change of command, to Willis M. Thomas - she sailed from Pearl Harbor again on 19 July, bound for Japan, on her third war patrol. By 3 August, she was in her area, and began patrolling within four miles (7.5 km) of the coast. A few minutes past midnight on the morning of 7 August, she launched four torpedoes at a large freighter, but all missed.
Two days later, a destroyer sighted Pompano, and opened fire. As Pompano ducked under, shells could be heard hitting the water. Soon a heavy barrage of depth charges exploded close aboard. Rising water in the engine room necessitated starting the pumps, which brought another heavy barrage. After running aground twice while attempting to escape, wiping off the sonar
heads and with her battery almost exhausted, she surfaced, determined to fight on, only 1000 yd (914.4 m) from shore, evaded the tincan and hastily cleared the area.
Undaunted, at noon on 12 August 1942, she dove and set up on a freighter, which was coming into position when Pompano sighted an enemy destroyer coming down between the sub and her target. Firing two torpedoes, Pompanos men heard two very loud explosions, and saw a huge column of spray and water through the periscope, blotting out the destroyer's bow at 700 yd (640.1 m). Both sets of screws stopped immediately. As Pompano closed the freighter, it settled below, evidently a victim of the second torpedo.
Another attack on 21 August failed when a convoy escort kept Pompano down while three freighters passed. On the morning of 23 August, she launched another torpedo attack on a large passenger freighter, only to have all three torpedoes miss. The target replied with his deck gun. Surfacing after nightfall, the sub sighted a destroyer 7000 yd (6,400.8 m) away but could not attack when the destroyer sighted her in turn, and launched depth charges close aboard.
The last attack of the patrol came while en route Midway when, on the 500 miles (804.7 km) circle from Tokyo
, Pompano sighted Naval Auxiliary 163 lying to. Since the vessel was of shallow draft, and since there were no other enemy forces visible, the submarine surfaced and engaged with deck guns, sinking the enemy an hour later. Pompano sighted an unidentified periscope the next morning, but it disappeared before she could attack. The ship arrived Midway on 8 September and Pearl Harbor four days later.
An overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, including the installation of new main engines, kept the ship in the yard until 18 December 1942. Sailing back to Pearl Harbor, she departed on her fourth war patrol on 16 January 1943. The Marshalls were her first objective, and at dawn on 25 January, she was off Kwajalein
. After reconnoitering the area, she moved on to Truk to begin patrolling.
Catching a tanker with only one escort on 30 January, she damaged it with torpedoes. Another tanker came in view on 4 February, but only one of the stern torpedoes hit; damaged, it managed to make port. Moving back to the Marshalls, Pompano sighted another tanker on the morning of 18 February. Two hits slowed the Japanese down, but depth charging held Pompano down until her target had escaped. After reconnoitering Rongerik, Rongelap, and Bikini Atoll
, she returned home, mooring at Midway on 28 February. She would get credit for no sinkings this time out.
She left Midway again on 19 March, bound for Tokyo. During the entire patrol, with 26 days on station, she sighted only four torpedo targets, one of them a submariner's dream, an aircraft carrier, identified as . Pompano fired six torpedoes at long range 4000 yd (3,657.6 m), and was credited with damage for 28,900 tons (denied postwar). She made only one other attack, spent two-thirds of the patrol fighting rough weather, and returned to Midway on 5 May, then to Pearl Harbor five days later.
On 6 June, the submarine was underway again from Pearl Harbor for the Nagoya, Japan. Stopping briefly at Midway to top up supplies, she entered her area on 19 June, patrolling across traffic lanes from Japan to the south. She celebrated the Fourth of July
by putting two more torpedoes into a grounded ship, damaged by an earlier attack by . Next day, she encountered a convoy, firing four torpedoes with no hits. On 7 July, she came upon two destroyers and, showing surprising aggressiveness, launched three torpedoes at each, missing every time. Two days after that, an ill-advised long shot at a three-ship convoy also missed, while on 10 July, a tanker escaped thanks to two erratic Mark 14s. Her last two torpedoes were extreme-range misses against a freighter. A good-sized sampan was sunk with gunfire on 17 July. Pompano ended the unsuccessful patrol at Midway on 28 July.
Pompano left Midway on 20 August, bound for Hokkaidō
and Honshū
. She was never heard from again, and when she failed to return, was presumed lost. The Japanese knew she was in her area, however, for two ships fell to her torpedoes during September: Akama Maru on 3 September, and Taiko Maru on 25 September. The enemy made no anti-submarine attacks during this period in Pompanos area, so newly-laid mine
s in the vicinity, not known to U.S.Navy intelligence until after she sailed, probably sank her. Pompano was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
on 12 January 1944.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Porpoise-class
Porpoise class submarine
Porpoise class submarine can refer to:* The British Grampus class of six submarines launched in the 1930s is sometimes called the Porpoise class* The British Porpoise class of eight submarines launched in the 1950s...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
, was the second ship of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to be named for the pompano
Pompano
Pompanos are marine fishes in the Trachinotus genus of the Carangidae family . Pompano may also refer to various other, similarly shaped members of Carangidae, or the order Perciformes. Their appearance is deep bodied and mackerel-like, typically silver and toothless with a forked tail and...
.
Her keel
Keel
In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event...
was laid down on 14 January 1936 by the Mare Island Navy Yard in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 11 March 1937, sponsored by Mrs. Isaac I. Yates, and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 12 June 1937, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Lewis S. Parks in command.
Service history
In the years preceding World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Pompano operated out of Mare Island off the West Coast of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, training her crew and patrolling in a constant state of readiness.
Although the submarine was awarded a battle star for the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, she had not yet arrived from Mare Island. Reaching port shortly after the attack, she sailed from Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 18 December 1941 for her first war patrol, devoted mainly to reconnoitering the eastern Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
for an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
strike in January. Aircraft from bombed her in error on 20 December, but she escaped damage.
Pompano arrived off Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
on 1 January 1942 to gather intelligence, approaching close enough to see Japanese machine gun posts. On 8 January, "bedeviled by breakdowns in her temperamental H.O.R. engines" she inspected Bikar and subsequently viewed several other islands of the group.
She sighted several large ships protected by patrol craft in the harbor at Wotje. On 12 January, one of these stood out: Yawata, with four escorts. Pompano fired four Mark 14 torpedo
Mark 14 torpedo
The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II.This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war, and was supplemented by the Mark 18 electric torpedo in the last 2 years of the war...
es for two hits, and the target apparently broke up, disappearing from view. Five days later, when one of the patrol boats steamed out of the harbor, Pompano worked her way between him and the channel. Both torpedoes exploded prematurely (a constant problem for the Mark VI exploder), foiling her first attack. Then, with the enemy charging directly for her, the submarine waited until her target was 1000 yards (914.4 m) away before firing two more torpedoes "down the throat". They missed, and the enemy delivered an ineffective depth charging
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
.
After thoroughly reconnoitering Maloelap, Pompano departed on 24 January, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 31 January. On the same day, aided by her reports, the fast carriers of the Pacific Fleet struck the Marshall Islands.
On her next patrol, to Japanese home waters, Pompano left Pearl Harbor on 20 April 1942 (with a load of older Mark 10 torpedoes, due to production shortages at Newport Torpedo Station), refueled at Midway Island, and entered her area 7 May patrolling the sea lanes west of Okinawa and in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. Shipping was scarce, but on 24 May, she caught a large sampan
Sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat bottomed Chinese wooden boat from long. Some sampans include a small shelter on board, and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. Sampans are generally used for transportation in coastal areas or rivers, and are often used as traditional fishing boats...
and sent it down with gunfire. On the next day, after chasing for seven hours and fighting a motor fire in the process, she torpedoed Tokyo Maru, which exploded and sank.
As Pompano shifted her patrol area to the main route between Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, a large transport escorted by one destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
caught her eye on 30 May. Running to a position ahead of the convoy, she waited until her victim was only 750 yd (685.8 m) away, scoring solid hits (with two more Mark 10 torpedo
Mark 10 torpedo
The Mark 10 was a torpedo first put into use by the United States in 1915 and was used as the primary torpedo in the S-class submarine. It used alcohol-water steam propulsion. It was succeeded by the problematic Mark 14 torpedo, but remained in service in S-boats & fleet submarines through the...
es) which sank Atsuta Maru two and a half hours later.
With her fuel getting low and a strong possibility of not being able to refuel at Midway Island on the way back because of the Japanese attempt to invade the island, Pompano began to work eastward. On the morning of 3 June, she found a small inter-island steamer, setting the vessel afire with gunfire.
On 5 June, while on the shipping route between Japan and the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
, the submarine caught a trawler and sank it with gunfire. Two days later, word arrived the Japanese fleet, decisively defeated in the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
, was fleeing toward Japan. Pompano took up a position to intercept them, but made no contact. On 13 June 1942, she put into Midway for refueling, and on 18 June arrived in Pearl Harbor. She was credited with sinking five ships for a total of 16,500 tons; postwar, only two for 8,900 tons were confirmed.
After a refit
REFIt
rEFIt is a boot menu and maintenance toolkit for EFI-based machines like the Intel Macs. It can be used to boot multiple operating systems, including triple-boot setups with Boot Camp. It also provides a way to enter and explore the EFI pre-boot environment. The name "rEFIt" is likely a play on the...
- and a change of command, to Willis M. Thomas - she sailed from Pearl Harbor again on 19 July, bound for Japan, on her third war patrol. By 3 August, she was in her area, and began patrolling within four miles (7.5 km) of the coast. A few minutes past midnight on the morning of 7 August, she launched four torpedoes at a large freighter, but all missed.
Two days later, a destroyer sighted Pompano, and opened fire. As Pompano ducked under, shells could be heard hitting the water. Soon a heavy barrage of depth charges exploded close aboard. Rising water in the engine room necessitated starting the pumps, which brought another heavy barrage. After running aground twice while attempting to escape, wiping off the sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
heads and with her battery almost exhausted, she surfaced, determined to fight on, only 1000 yd (914.4 m) from shore, evaded the tincan and hastily cleared the area.
Undaunted, at noon on 12 August 1942, she dove and set up on a freighter, which was coming into position when Pompano sighted an enemy destroyer coming down between the sub and her target. Firing two torpedoes, Pompanos men heard two very loud explosions, and saw a huge column of spray and water through the periscope, blotting out the destroyer's bow at 700 yd (640.1 m). Both sets of screws stopped immediately. As Pompano closed the freighter, it settled below, evidently a victim of the second torpedo.
Another attack on 21 August failed when a convoy escort kept Pompano down while three freighters passed. On the morning of 23 August, she launched another torpedo attack on a large passenger freighter, only to have all three torpedoes miss. The target replied with his deck gun. Surfacing after nightfall, the sub sighted a destroyer 7000 yd (6,400.8 m) away but could not attack when the destroyer sighted her in turn, and launched depth charges close aboard.
The last attack of the patrol came while en route Midway when, on the 500 miles (804.7 km) circle from Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Pompano sighted Naval Auxiliary 163 lying to. Since the vessel was of shallow draft, and since there were no other enemy forces visible, the submarine surfaced and engaged with deck guns, sinking the enemy an hour later. Pompano sighted an unidentified periscope the next morning, but it disappeared before she could attack. The ship arrived Midway on 8 September and Pearl Harbor four days later.
An overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, including the installation of new main engines, kept the ship in the yard until 18 December 1942. Sailing back to Pearl Harbor, she departed on her fourth war patrol on 16 January 1943. The Marshalls were her first objective, and at dawn on 25 January, she was off Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
. After reconnoitering the area, she moved on to Truk to begin patrolling.
Catching a tanker with only one escort on 30 January, she damaged it with torpedoes. Another tanker came in view on 4 February, but only one of the stern torpedoes hit; damaged, it managed to make port. Moving back to the Marshalls, Pompano sighted another tanker on the morning of 18 February. Two hits slowed the Japanese down, but depth charging held Pompano down until her target had escaped. After reconnoitering Rongerik, Rongelap, and Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
, she returned home, mooring at Midway on 28 February. She would get credit for no sinkings this time out.
She left Midway again on 19 March, bound for Tokyo. During the entire patrol, with 26 days on station, she sighted only four torpedo targets, one of them a submariner's dream, an aircraft carrier, identified as . Pompano fired six torpedoes at long range 4000 yd (3,657.6 m), and was credited with damage for 28,900 tons (denied postwar). She made only one other attack, spent two-thirds of the patrol fighting rough weather, and returned to Midway on 5 May, then to Pearl Harbor five days later.
On 6 June, the submarine was underway again from Pearl Harbor for the Nagoya, Japan. Stopping briefly at Midway to top up supplies, she entered her area on 19 June, patrolling across traffic lanes from Japan to the south. She celebrated the Fourth of July
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
by putting two more torpedoes into a grounded ship, damaged by an earlier attack by . Next day, she encountered a convoy, firing four torpedoes with no hits. On 7 July, she came upon two destroyers and, showing surprising aggressiveness, launched three torpedoes at each, missing every time. Two days after that, an ill-advised long shot at a three-ship convoy also missed, while on 10 July, a tanker escaped thanks to two erratic Mark 14s. Her last two torpedoes were extreme-range misses against a freighter. A good-sized sampan was sunk with gunfire on 17 July. Pompano ended the unsuccessful patrol at Midway on 28 July.
Pompano left Midway on 20 August, bound for Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
and Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
. She was never heard from again, and when she failed to return, was presumed lost. The Japanese knew she was in her area, however, for two ships fell to her torpedoes during September: Akama Maru on 3 September, and Taiko Maru on 25 September. The enemy made no anti-submarine attacks during this period in Pompanos area, so newly-laid mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
s in the vicinity, not known to U.S.Navy intelligence until after she sailed, probably sank her. Pompano was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 12 January 1944.