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USS Robalo (SS-273)
Encyclopedia
USS Robalo (SS-273), a Gato-class
submarine
, was the only ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the róbalo or common snook
. Her keel
was laid down on 24 October 1942 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company
at Manitowoc, Wisconsin
. She was launched
on 9 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. E.S. Root, and commissioned
on 28 September 1943.
After passage by inland waterways and being floated down the Mississippi River
, Robalo deployed to the Pacific
. On her first war patrol (under the leadership of Commander
Stephen Ambruster, Annapolis
Class of 1928), she sortied from Pearl Harbor
, hunting Japanese ships west of the Philippines
. There, en route to her new station in Freemantle
, she damaged a large freighter, firing four torpedo
es at 3100 yards (2,834.6 m). She spent 36 of her 57-day mission submerged. When she arrived, her commanding officer was summarily relieved by Admiral Christie
and replaced with Manning Kimmel
(Class of 1935).
In March 1944, Christie (based on Ultra
) feared surprise from a strong Japanese force. When Chester W. Nimitz, Jr. in , made contact on his SJ radar
and reported "many large ships", Christie scrambled to respond. Robalo, along with , , , and all ran to intercept. No attack ever materialized.
For her second patrol, Robalo went to the South China Sea
, assigned to interdict Japanese tanker
traffic from French Indochina
to the fleet anchorage at Tawi Tawi. On a "wildly aggressive patrol" lasting 51 days, Robalo fired twenty torpedoes in four attacks. She was bombed by a Japanese antisubmarine
aircraft, suffering shattered and flooded periscopes and loss of radar, while taking a harrowing plunge to 350 feet (106.7 m) after her main induction was improperly closed (a casualty frighteningly reminiscent of Squalus
) in diving to escape. When she returned to Freemantle, Captain "Tex" McLean (commanding Subron 16) and Admiral Christie both considered relieving Robalo' s skipper for his own safety. She was credited with sinking a 7500-ton tanker which was not confirmed postwar by JANAC.
Robalo departed Fremantle on 22 June 1944 on her third war patrol. She set a course for the South China Sea
to conduct her patrol in the vicinity of the Natuna Islands
. After transiting Makassar Strait
and Balabac Strait
(which was well-known to be mined
), she was scheduled to arrive on station about 6 July and remain until dark on 2 August 1944. On 2 July, a contact report stated Robalo had sighted a Fusō-class
battleship
, with air cover and two destroyer
s for escort, just east of Borneo
. No other messages were ever received from the submarine and when she did not return from patrol, she was presumed lost.
in the Philippines
. It was picked up by an American soldier who was on a work detail nearby. The note was in turn given to H.D. Hough, Yeoman Second Class, who was also a prisoner at the camp. On 4 August, he contacted Trinidad Mendosa, wife of guerrilla leader Dr. Mendosa who furnished further information on the survivors.
From these sources, it was concluded Robalo was sunk on 26 July 1944, 2 miles (3.2 km) off the western coast of Palawan Island
from an explosion in the vicinity of her after battery, probably caused by an enemy mine
. Only four men swam ashore, and made their way through the jungles to a small barrier northwest of the Puerto Princesa Prison Camp, where Japanese Military Police
captured them and jailed them for guerrilla activities. On 15 August, they were evacuated by a Japanese destroyer and never heard from again. Robalo was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
on 16 September 1944.
There are two Japanese destroyers lost in August 1944 in either of which the four survivors could have been held:
Robalo earned two battle stars for World War II
service.
Gato class submarine
The United States Navy Gato class submarine formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II...
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 only 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 róbalo or common snook
Common snook
The common snook is a species of marine fish in the family Centropomidae of the order Perciformes. This species is native to the coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, from southern Florida and Texas...
. 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 24 October 1942 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company
Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company
Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, was a major shipbuilder for the Great Lakes. It was founded in 1902, and made mainly steel ferries and ore haulers. During World War II, it built submarines, tank landing craft , and self-propelled fuel barges called "YOs". Employment...
at Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...
. 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 9 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. E.S. Root, 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 28 September 1943.
After passage by inland waterways and being floated down the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, Robalo deployed to the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. On her first war patrol (under the leadership of Commander
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...
Stephen Ambruster, Annapolis
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
Class of 1928), she sortied 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...
, hunting Japanese ships west of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. There, en route to her new station in Freemantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, she damaged a large freighter, firing four 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 at 3100 yards (2,834.6 m). She spent 36 of her 57-day mission submerged. When she arrived, her commanding officer was summarily relieved by Admiral Christie
Ralph Waldo Christie
Ralph Waldo Christie was an admiral in the United States Navy who played a pivotal role in the development of torpedo technologies...
and replaced with Manning Kimmel
Manning Kimmel
Manning Marius Kimmel was a United States Navy submarine officer in World War II and the son of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. He served as both junior and Executive Officer on several submarines, and finally assumed command of USS Robalo as a Lieutenant Commander...
(Class of 1935).
In March 1944, Christie (based on Ultra
Ultra
Ultra was the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by "breaking" high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. "Ultra" eventually became the standard...
) feared surprise from a strong Japanese force. When Chester W. Nimitz, Jr. in , made contact on his SJ radar
SJ radar
SJ radar was the name of a type of S-band radar set used on United States submarines during the Second World War. The widespread use of the SJ radar, combined with the very low use of radar in the Imperial Japanese Navy gave great operational flexibility to the U.S...
and reported "many large ships", Christie scrambled to respond. Robalo, along with , , , and all ran to intercept. No attack ever materialized.
For her second patrol, Robalo went to the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
, assigned to interdict Japanese tanker
Oil tanker
An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
traffic from French Indochina
French Indochina
French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
to the fleet anchorage at Tawi Tawi. On a "wildly aggressive patrol" lasting 51 days, Robalo fired twenty torpedoes in four attacks. She was bombed by a Japanese antisubmarine
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
aircraft, suffering shattered and flooded periscopes and loss of radar, while taking a harrowing plunge to 350 feet (106.7 m) after her main induction was improperly closed (a casualty frighteningly reminiscent of Squalus
USS Sailfish (SS-192)
USS Sailfish , a , was originally named Squalus.Her keel was laid on 18 October 1937 by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, as Squalus, the only ship of the United States Navy named for the squalus. She was launched on 14 September 1938 sponsored by Mrs. Thomas C...
) in diving to escape. When she returned to Freemantle, Captain "Tex" McLean (commanding Subron 16) and Admiral Christie both considered relieving Robalo
Robalo departed Fremantle on 22 June 1944 on her third war patrol. She set a course for the South China Sea
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea that is part of the Pacific Ocean, encompassing an area from the Singapore and Malacca Straits to the Strait of Taiwan of around...
to conduct her patrol in the vicinity of the Natuna Islands
Natuna Islands
The Natuna Islands archipelago is located in the Natuna Sea in the larger Tudjuh Archipelago, off the northwest coast of Borneo. The islands are administratively part of the Riau Islands province of Indonesia and are the northernmost non-disputed island group of Indonesia...
. After transiting Makassar Strait
Makassar Strait
Makassar Strait is a strait between the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi in Indonesia. To the north it joins the Celebes Sea, while to the south it meets the Java Sea.The Mahakam River of Borneo empties into the strait....
and Balabac Strait
Balabac Strait
Balabac Strait is a strait in the South China Sea, at . It separates the Balabac island , Philippines from the Banggi Island north of Borneo that are a part of Malaysia's Sabah state....
(which was well-known to be mined
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...
), she was scheduled to arrive on station about 6 July and remain until dark on 2 August 1944. On 2 July, a contact report stated Robalo had sighted a Fusō-class
Fuso class battleship
The Fusō-class battleships were two battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy constructed during World War I. Displacing upon completion, and , the vessels of this class, were the first super-dreadnoughts of the IJN. They were completed from 1915 to 1917, both in Japanese shipyards...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
, with air cover and two 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...
s for escort, just east of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. No other messages were ever received from the submarine and when she did not return from patrol, she was presumed lost.
Fate of survivors
On 2 August, a note was dropped from the window of a cell of Puerto Princesa Prison Camp on Palawan IslandPalawan Island
Palawan Island is the largest island of the Palawan Province, Philippines. The northern coast of the island is along the South China Sea, while the southern coast forms part of the northern limit of the Sulu Sea. This island is very undeveloped and traditional...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. It was picked up by an American soldier who was on a work detail nearby. The note was in turn given to H.D. Hough, Yeoman Second Class, who was also a prisoner at the camp. On 4 August, he contacted Trinidad Mendosa, wife of guerrilla leader Dr. Mendosa who furnished further information on the survivors.
From these sources, it was concluded Robalo was sunk on 26 July 1944, 2 miles (3.2 km) off the western coast of Palawan Island
Palawan Island
Palawan Island is the largest island of the Palawan Province, Philippines. The northern coast of the island is along the South China Sea, while the southern coast forms part of the northern limit of the Sulu Sea. This island is very undeveloped and traditional...
from an explosion in the vicinity of her after battery, probably caused by an enemy 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...
. Only four men swam ashore, and made their way through the jungles to a small barrier northwest of the Puerto Princesa Prison Camp, where Japanese Military Police
Kempeitai
The was the military police arm of the Imperial Japanese Army from 1881 to 1945. It was not an English-style military police, but a French-style gendarmerie...
captured them and jailed them for guerrilla activities. On 15 August, they were evacuated by a Japanese destroyer and never heard from again. Robalo 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 16 September 1944.
There are two Japanese destroyers lost in August 1944 in either of which the four survivors could have been held:
- AkakazeJapanese destroyer Asakaze (1922)was the second of nine Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. Advanced for their time, these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, but were considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War....
, sunk on 23 August 1944 off Cape Bilinao, LuzonLuzonLuzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, by . - YūnagiJapanese destroyer Yunagi (1924)was the ninth and final vessel of the Kamikaze-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy following World War I. Advanced for their time, these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s, but were considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War.-History:Construction...
, sunk on 25 August 1944 off northwest Luzon by .
Robalo earned two battle stars for World War II
World 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...
service.
External links
- On Eternal Patrol: USS Robalo
- Dive Detectives Dive Detectives TV series looks for the Flier and Robalo (http://www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=152495).