USS Tinosa (SS-283)
Encyclopedia
USS Tinosa (SS-283), a , was the first ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the tinosa, a poisonous, black, tropical fish.
The first Tinosa (SS-283) was laid down on 21 February 1942 at Vallejo, California
, by the Mare Island Navy Yard
; launched on 7 October 1942; sponsored by Mrs. William E. Molloy; and commissioned on 15 January 1943, Lt. Comdr. Lawrence Randall Daspit in command.
, arriving at Pearl Harbor
on 16 April 1943. Over the next two years, she completed twelve war patrols in the Pacific
and was credited with sinking 16 enemy ships, totaling 64,655 tons.
, Japan
, while sustaining some depth-charge
damage herself.
After refitting at Midway
, she got underway on 7 July to patrol the sea routes between Borneo
and Truk
. On 24 July 1943, Tinosa encountered the cargo ship Tonan Maru No. 3, the largest tanker of the Japanese fleet, 19,262 tons, sailing from Palau
to Truk. Codebreaker warning had put Tinosa in a perfect position to shoot the tanker with a spread of four torpedoes. None exploded. The boat's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander L. R. (Dan) Daspit recorded in his log, "Target had been carefully tracked and with spread used [torpedoes] could not have run properly and missed."
Tinosa made herself a second chance by chasing throughout the following day. Daspit also checked the torpedoes he had left and insured that the magnetic influence exploders had been disabled (see below for why). Even so, the first two torpedoes of the second attack had to be shot at an awkward angle and range. They hit and exploded disabling Tonan Marus engines. With the target dead in the water Tinosa found herself in an ideal firing position, moving in to fire on the tanker at the submarine equivalent of point blank range. The torpedo appeared to hit its target but did not explode. Daspit and crew continued to fire torpedoes one at a time at this (for 1943) huge tanker. All of them hit. None exploded. Daspit's log gives time of firing of each and states over and over again "fired [nth] torpedo. Hit. No apparent effect." Daspit recorded about the sixth one since Tonan Maru had become a "sitting duck", "... Hit. No apparent effect. This torpedo hit well aft on the port side, made splash at the side of the ship and was then observed to have taken a right turn and to jump clear of the water about 100 feet (30.5 m) from the stern of the tanker. I find it hard to convince myself that I saw this."
He took his sub to the other side of the target and fired the eighth and ninth torpedoes even as he saw a destroyer approaching from the east. As Tinosa went deep they heard the last torpedo hit and stop running. Daspit recorded in his log, "No explosion. Had already decided to retain one torpedo for examination by base." After shooting nine torpedoes at a sitting duck over almost an hour and a half 1009 to 1131, and taking time out to examine the fish in the torpedo room between shots, Lieutenant Commander
Daspit took Tinosa back to Pearl Harbor with the single remaining weapon.
Daspit stormed into SUBPAC's office. He had shot 15 torpedoes at Tonan Maru over two days and only 2 of them had worked. The others shot under idea conditions failed to explode. Rear Admiral Lockwood, COMSUBPAC wrote: wrote, "I expected a torrent of cusswords, damning me the bureau of Ordnance
, the Newport Torpedo Station
and the Base Torpedo Shop, and I couldn’t have blamed him – 19,000 ton tankers don’t grow on trees. I think Dan was so furious as to be practically speechless. His tale was almost unbelievable, but the evidence was undeniable." When, upon inspection, nothing obvious was found wrong with that last torpedo, Commander Swede Momsen
suggested conducting tests on actual warshots by firing them against the cliffs of Kahoolawe
, a small island south of Maui
. The first two exploded. The third one did not. Within a few days the cause was traced to a firing pin that was mounted athwart-ships such that when the torpedo hit a target dead-on (ninety degree track angle) the deceleration forces slowed the pin's motion in its bearings and its spring couldn't move it fast enough to set off the explosive train. A glancing blow, however, would result in the proper behavior (which is why Daspit's first two torpedoes, fired at less optimum track angle, did explode).
Two solutions were worked on. One involved recycling a very light metal alloy that had been melted down from the engine of a Japanese airplane that had crashed on Oahu during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Both solutions were installed into torpedoes very quickly and the submarine force finally had a mostly reliable weapon 21 months after the war started.
This was the third strike for the Mark 14 torpedo. It started with the USS Sargo
missing 13 of 13 easy shots in December 1941. Finally on 20 June 1942, Admiral Lockwood, the Commander of Submarines South West Pacific (COMSUBSOWESPAC), arranged to have torpedoes - with special non-exploding warheads (but unlike the exercise heads of that time and later they were filled to make them just as heavy as the actually explosive-filled warheads) - shot at fishnets. They were set to run at 10 feet (3 m). 850 yards (777.2 m) away they went through the nets at 25 feet (8 m) depth. The Bureau of Ordnance
(BUORD) wouldn't accept this until they were forced to face the facts and conduct their own experiment. They confirmed Lockwood's experiments on 1 August.
But that wasn't the end. It wasn't until 27 April 1943 that BUORD admitted that the magnetic influence exploder was susceptible to premature explosions. Even then it wasn't until 24 July when Admiral Nimitz ordered that the influence exploders be disabled on all Pacific Fleet submarines. This did not apply, however, to COMSUBSOWESPAC. Admiral Christie
then in command had been the officer in charge of testing the super secret influence exploder in the 1930s and he just couldn't give up on the concept and he ordered that his boats continue to use the defective magnetic exploder.
This set the stage for Dan Daspit, USS Tinosa and the Tonan Maru to show that the contact exploder was defective as well, as described above.
on the morning of 6 October, Tinosa sighted a lone tanker. In a midday torpedo attack, she damaged the enemy ship; then quickly dove to 150 feet (45.7 m). Four depth charges exploded nearby, springing open lockers and knocking men off their feet in the after torpedo room. Moments later, a fire broke out in the motor room but was quickly brought under control. Throughout the afternoon, Tinosa and continued to harass the tanker until evening, when they had the satisfaction of seeing their target go down, sinking by the stern.
At sunset on 6 October, Tinosa bombarded a radio station on Alet Island, near Truk. She ended the patrol at Midway on 16 October.
. The submarine fired six torpedoes, scoring hits on both cargo ships. The entire action took only five minutes and left her between two mortally-stricken ships, her position clearly marked by torpedo wake
s leading out ahead and astern—a perfect fix for the enemy escorts. Amid the sounds of the cargo vessels breaking up, Tinosa dove deep to avoid the certain counter-attack of the escort vessels. A short time later, four depth charges exploded close by the submarine, knocking out her planes, gyro, steering, internal communications, and other equipment. She made a wild climb to 250 feet (76.2 m), then dove to 380 feet (115.8 m), before her crew regained control. Tinosa then resumed evasive tactics which enabled her to elude the remnants of the convoy late in the afternoon.
During an attack on a convoy on 26 November, Tinosa sank Japanese cargo ship Shini Maru and then dodged 34 depth charges, none of which caused her any damage. She emerged from this encounter with a torpedo stuck in her number 5 tube but managed to remedy the problem and headed for the Molucca Passage-Palau traffic lanes.
On 3 December, she sighted a large passenger-cargo vessel, the Azuma Maru, protected by a single escort. At 18:20, Tinosa launched a torpedo attack from periscope
depth, damaging the Japanese ship. At 21:01 while maneuvering on the surface as she sought to finish off the Azuma Maru, Tinosa came under fire from the now-blazing cargo vessel; and, minutes later, she narrowly avoided being rammed by the crippled enemy ship which circled out of control because of a damaged rudder. At 21:20, Tinosa fired three more torpedoes, and the Azuma Maru disappeared, leaving behind a fiercely burning spot of oil and debris. The submarine then eluded the enemy escort and returned to her patrol area. She concluded this patrol at Fremantle
, Australia
, on 16 December 1943.
, Tinosa landed an intelligence team and its supplies at Labian Point, North Borneo
, under cover of darkness on 20 January, before proceeding to the Flores Sea
. Two days later, she sank Koshin Maru and Seinan Maru and damaged a third ship in a running attack on a convoy off Viper Shoal. In another action on the night of 15 February – 16 February, Tinosa drew gunfire from the ships of a convoy as she torpedoed and sank Odatsuki Maru and Chojo Maru. She ended her fifth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 4 March 1944.
and her sixth patrol on 29 March. Operating off Japan and the Ryukyus
, this wolf pack preyed successfully on passing convoys by stationing units along well-traveled routes. The submarines made six major attacks on this patrol. Tinosa herself sank two Japanese cargo ships, Taibu Maru and Toyohi Maru, in a night attack on 4 May. On this patrol, she also sank a trawler with her 4 inches (101.6 mm) gun on 9 May and claimed to have damaged three other vessels. The submarine arrived at Majuro
on 15 May.
on 7 June, bound for the East China Sea. On 18 June, she resorted to unusual tactics in attacking a three-masted 400-ton fishing sampan
which had withstood her gunfire. Tinosa closed the enemy vessel, doused her with fuel oil, and set her ablaze by tossing flaming, oil-soaked rags on her deck. Shortly after dawn on 2 July, Japanese planes and patrol vessels forced Tinosa to go deep near Nagasaki and kept her down until dusk. The following day, the submarine sank two passenger-cargo ships in an attack on a convoy, adding Konsan Maru and Kama Maru to her list of kills. Following this patrol, Tinosa reported to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, California, on 7 August, for a much needed overhaul.
equipment in locating Japanese mines. After 58 days at sea, Tinosa returned to Pearl Harbor.
On 17 March 1945, Tinosa got underway from Tanapag Harbor
in the Marshalls. Despite unexplained damage in her bow-plane rigging gear, Tinosa proceeded to the Nansei Shoto area and resumed testing the mine-detecting capabilities of her temperamental FM sonar. She also observed Japanese shipping and took reconnaissance photographs before ending the patrol at Apra Harbor
, Guam
, on 7 April.
Although there was no opportunity to attack enemy shipping during this patrol, Tinosa bombarded a Japanese installation on Ulul Island on the night of 14 May. She also made numerous photographs which she turned over to intelligence officers upon her arrival at Guam on 16 May.
on 29 May. En route, she rescued 10 survivors of a ditched B-29
. Acting on this special mission as a member of a wolf pack selected to initiate Operation Barney, an incursion into the Sea of Japan, Tinosa accomplished the dangerous task of plotting mines in Tsushima Strait
on 6 June.
Following the completion of this special mission, Tinosa made six aggressive torpedo attacks, sank three cargo ships, and—during the daylight hours of 12 June—launched a brilliant surface battle against the Keito Maru, a Japanese sea truck. Having sunk four Japanese vessels and damaged a fifth, she completed her llth patrol arriving at Pearl Harbor on 4 July.
After refitting, Tinosa set course for her 12th patrol on 11 August. Before she reached her assigned area this patrol was terminated by Japan's capitulation. On 26 August 1945, she departed Midway for an overhaul at San Francisco. After operating off the West Coast from January to June 1946, she was placed in reserve. In January 1947, Tinosa was placed out of commission.
precipitated her recommissioning in January 1952. However, she was decommissioned on 2 December 1953, and her name was struck from the Navy List
on 1 September 1958. The use of her hulk for experimental and training purposes was authorized on 2 March 1959. She was used as an ASW
target, then scuttled off Hawaii in November 1960.
Tinosa received nine battle stars for World War II
service. She received the Presidential Unit Citation
for her fourth, fifth, and sixth war patrols.
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 tinosa, a poisonous, black, tropical fish.
The first Tinosa (SS-283) was laid down on 21 February 1942 at Vallejo, California
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
, by the Mare Island Navy Yard
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...
; launched on 7 October 1942; sponsored by Mrs. William E. Molloy; and commissioned on 15 January 1943, Lt. Comdr. Lawrence Randall Daspit in command.
World War II
After preliminary operations, the submarine proceeded to HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, arriving at 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 16 April 1943. Over the next two years, she completed twelve war patrols in 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...
and was credited with sinking 16 enemy ships, totaling 64,655 tons.
First and second war patrols, May – August 1943
On her first war patrol, conducted from 3 May to 19 June 1943, Tinosa damaged three enemy ships in the waters east of KyūshūKyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, 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...
, while sustaining some depth-charge
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...
damage herself.
After refitting at Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, she got underway on 7 July to patrol the sea routes between 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....
and Truk
Chuuk
Chuuk — formerly Truk, Ruk, Hogoleu, Torres, Ugulat, and Lugulus — is an island group in the south western part of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia , along with Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Chuuk is the most populous of the FSM's...
. On 24 July 1943, Tinosa encountered the cargo ship Tonan Maru No. 3, the largest tanker of the Japanese fleet, 19,262 tons, sailing from Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
to Truk. Codebreaker warning had put Tinosa in a perfect position to shoot the tanker with a spread of four torpedoes. None exploded. The boat's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander L. R. (Dan) Daspit recorded in his log, "Target had been carefully tracked and with spread used [torpedoes] could not have run properly and missed."
Tinosa made herself a second chance by chasing throughout the following day. Daspit also checked the torpedoes he had left and insured that the magnetic influence exploders had been disabled (see below for why). Even so, the first two torpedoes of the second attack had to be shot at an awkward angle and range. They hit and exploded disabling Tonan Marus engines. With the target dead in the water Tinosa found herself in an ideal firing position, moving in to fire on the tanker at the submarine equivalent of point blank range. The torpedo appeared to hit its target but did not explode. Daspit and crew continued to fire torpedoes one at a time at this (for 1943) huge tanker. All of them hit. None exploded. Daspit's log gives time of firing of each and states over and over again "fired [nth] torpedo. Hit. No apparent effect." Daspit recorded about the sixth one since Tonan Maru had become a "sitting duck", "... Hit. No apparent effect. This torpedo hit well aft on the port side, made splash at the side of the ship and was then observed to have taken a right turn and to jump clear of the water about 100 feet (30.5 m) from the stern of the tanker. I find it hard to convince myself that I saw this."
He took his sub to the other side of the target and fired the eighth and ninth torpedoes even as he saw a destroyer approaching from the east. As Tinosa went deep they heard the last torpedo hit and stop running. Daspit recorded in his log, "No explosion. Had already decided to retain one torpedo for examination by base." After shooting nine torpedoes at a sitting duck over almost an hour and a half 1009 to 1131, and taking time out to examine the fish in the torpedo room between shots, 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...
Daspit took Tinosa back to Pearl Harbor with the single remaining weapon.
Daspit stormed into SUBPAC's office. He had shot 15 torpedoes at Tonan Maru over two days and only 2 of them had worked. The others shot under idea conditions failed to explode. Rear Admiral Lockwood, COMSUBPAC wrote: wrote, "I expected a torrent of cusswords, damning me the bureau of Ordnance
Bureau of Ordnance
The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...
, the Newport Torpedo Station
Naval Station Newport
The Naval Station Newport is a United States Navy base located in the towns of Newport and Middletown, Rhode Island. Naval Station Newport is home to the Naval War College and the Naval Justice School...
and the Base Torpedo Shop, and I couldn’t have blamed him – 19,000 ton tankers don’t grow on trees. I think Dan was so furious as to be practically speechless. His tale was almost unbelievable, but the evidence was undeniable." When, upon inspection, nothing obvious was found wrong with that last torpedo, Commander Swede Momsen
Charles Momsen
Charles Bowers Momsen , nicknamed "Swede", was born in Flushing, New York. He was an American pioneer in submarine rescue for the United States Navy, and he invented the underwater escape device later called the "Momsen lung", for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal in 1929...
suggested conducting tests on actual warshots by firing them against the cliffs of Kahoolawe
Kahoolawe
Kahoolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. Kahoolawe is located about seven miles southwest of Maui and also southeast of Lanai, and it is long by wide, with a total land area of . The highest point on Kahoolawe is the crater of Lua Makika at the...
, a small island south of Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
. The first two exploded. The third one did not. Within a few days the cause was traced to a firing pin that was mounted athwart-ships such that when the torpedo hit a target dead-on (ninety degree track angle) the deceleration forces slowed the pin's motion in its bearings and its spring couldn't move it fast enough to set off the explosive train. A glancing blow, however, would result in the proper behavior (which is why Daspit's first two torpedoes, fired at less optimum track angle, did explode).
Two solutions were worked on. One involved recycling a very light metal alloy that had been melted down from the engine of a Japanese airplane that had crashed on Oahu during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Both solutions were installed into torpedoes very quickly and the submarine force finally had a mostly reliable weapon 21 months after the war started.
This was the third strike for the Mark 14 torpedo. It started with the USS Sargo
USS Sargo (SS-188)
USS Sargo , the lead ship of her class of submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sargo.Her keel was laid on 12 May 1937 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 6 June 1938 sponsored by Mrs. Chester W. Nimitz , and commissioned on...
missing 13 of 13 easy shots in December 1941. Finally on 20 June 1942, Admiral Lockwood, the Commander of Submarines South West Pacific (COMSUBSOWESPAC), arranged to have torpedoes - with special non-exploding warheads (but unlike the exercise heads of that time and later they were filled to make them just as heavy as the actually explosive-filled warheads) - shot at fishnets. They were set to run at 10 feet (3 m). 850 yards (777.2 m) away they went through the nets at 25 feet (8 m) depth. The Bureau of Ordnance
Bureau of Ordnance
The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...
(BUORD) wouldn't accept this until they were forced to face the facts and conduct their own experiment. They confirmed Lockwood's experiments on 1 August.
But that wasn't the end. It wasn't until 27 April 1943 that BUORD admitted that the magnetic influence exploder was susceptible to premature explosions. Even then it wasn't until 24 July when Admiral Nimitz ordered that the influence exploders be disabled on all Pacific Fleet submarines. This did not apply, however, to COMSUBSOWESPAC. 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...
then in command had been the officer in charge of testing the super secret influence exploder in the 1930s and he just couldn't give up on the concept and he ordered that his boats continue to use the defective magnetic exploder.
This set the stage for Dan Daspit, USS Tinosa and the Tonan Maru to show that the contact exploder was defective as well, as described above.
Third war patrol, September – October 1943
Tinosa next departed Pearl Harbor on 23 September. While prowling waters near the CarolinesCaroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
on the morning of 6 October, Tinosa sighted a lone tanker. In a midday torpedo attack, she damaged the enemy ship; then quickly dove to 150 feet (45.7 m). Four depth charges exploded nearby, springing open lockers and knocking men off their feet in the after torpedo room. Moments later, a fire broke out in the motor room but was quickly brought under control. Throughout the afternoon, Tinosa and continued to harass the tanker until evening, when they had the satisfaction of seeing their target go down, sinking by the stern.
At sunset on 6 October, Tinosa bombarded a radio station on Alet Island, near Truk. She ended the patrol at Midway on 16 October.
Fourth war patrol, October – December 1943
Departing Midway on 27 October, Tinosa headed for the Palau-Truk sea lanes. On the morning of 22 November, she sighted two cargo ships and two small escort craft steaming in convoyConvoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
. The submarine fired six torpedoes, scoring hits on both cargo ships. The entire action took only five minutes and left her between two mortally-stricken ships, her position clearly marked by torpedo wake
Wake
A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...
s leading out ahead and astern—a perfect fix for the enemy escorts. Amid the sounds of the cargo vessels breaking up, Tinosa dove deep to avoid the certain counter-attack of the escort vessels. A short time later, four depth charges exploded close by the submarine, knocking out her planes, gyro, steering, internal communications, and other equipment. She made a wild climb to 250 feet (76.2 m), then dove to 380 feet (115.8 m), before her crew regained control. Tinosa then resumed evasive tactics which enabled her to elude the remnants of the convoy late in the afternoon.
During an attack on a convoy on 26 November, Tinosa sank Japanese cargo ship Shini Maru and then dodged 34 depth charges, none of which caused her any damage. She emerged from this encounter with a torpedo stuck in her number 5 tube but managed to remedy the problem and headed for the Molucca Passage-Palau traffic lanes.
On 3 December, she sighted a large passenger-cargo vessel, the Azuma Maru, protected by a single escort. At 18:20, Tinosa launched a torpedo attack from periscope
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
depth, damaging the Japanese ship. At 21:01 while maneuvering on the surface as she sought to finish off the Azuma Maru, Tinosa came under fire from the now-blazing cargo vessel; and, minutes later, she narrowly avoided being rammed by the crippled enemy ship which circled out of control because of a damaged rudder. At 21:20, Tinosa fired three more torpedoes, and the Azuma Maru disappeared, leaving behind a fiercely burning spot of oil and debris. The submarine then eluded the enemy escort and returned to her patrol area. She concluded this patrol at Fremantle
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...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, on 16 December 1943.
Fifth war patrol, January – March 1944
After sailing on 10 January 1944 for the South China SeaSouth 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...
, Tinosa landed an intelligence team and its supplies at Labian Point, North Borneo
North Borneo
North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is...
, under cover of darkness on 20 January, before proceeding to the Flores Sea
Flores Sea
The Flores Sea covers 93,000 square miles of water in Indonesia.- Geography :The seas that border the Flores Sea are the Bali Sea , Java Sea , and the Banda Sea ....
. Two days later, she sank Koshin Maru and Seinan Maru and damaged a third ship in a running attack on a convoy off Viper Shoal. In another action on the night of 15 February – 16 February, Tinosa drew gunfire from the ships of a convoy as she torpedoed and sank Odatsuki Maru and Chojo Maru. She ended her fifth patrol at Pearl Harbor on 4 March 1944.
Sixth war patrol, March – May 1944
In company with and , Tinosa got underway for the East China SeaEast 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:...
and her sixth patrol on 29 March. Operating off Japan and the Ryukyus
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
, this wolf pack preyed successfully on passing convoys by stationing units along well-traveled routes. The submarines made six major attacks on this patrol. Tinosa herself sank two Japanese cargo ships, Taibu Maru and Toyohi Maru, in a night attack on 4 May. On this patrol, she also sank a trawler with her 4 inches (101.6 mm) gun on 9 May and claimed to have damaged three other vessels. The submarine arrived at Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
on 15 May.
Seventh war patrol, June – August 1944
After refitting, Tinosa departed the MarshallsMarshall 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...
on 7 June, bound for the East China Sea. On 18 June, she resorted to unusual tactics in attacking a three-masted 400-ton fishing 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...
which had withstood her gunfire. Tinosa closed the enemy vessel, doused her with fuel oil, and set her ablaze by tossing flaming, oil-soaked rags on her deck. Shortly after dawn on 2 July, Japanese planes and patrol vessels forced Tinosa to go deep near Nagasaki and kept her down until dusk. The following day, the submarine sank two passenger-cargo ships in an attack on a convoy, adding Konsan Maru and Kama Maru to her list of kills. Following this patrol, Tinosa reported to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, California, on 7 August, for a much needed overhaul.
Eighth and ninth war patrols, November 1944 – April 1945
Tinosa departed San Diego on 7 November 1944 and proceeded, via Pearl Harbor, to Nansei Shoto to reconnoiter its waters and to test new FM sonarSonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
equipment in locating Japanese mines. After 58 days at sea, Tinosa returned to Pearl Harbor.
On 17 March 1945, Tinosa got underway from Tanapag Harbor
Tanapag Harbor
Tanapag Harbor is the primary harbor of Saipan, and is located on the western side of the island. It is separated from the Philippine Sea by a barrier reef,located about 3 km off the shore. This reef forms the Saipan Lagoon....
in the Marshalls. Despite unexplained damage in her bow-plane rigging gear, Tinosa proceeded to the Nansei Shoto area and resumed testing the mine-detecting capabilities of her temperamental FM sonar. She also observed Japanese shipping and took reconnaissance photographs before ending the patrol at Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, on 7 April.
Tenth war patrol, April – May 1945
On 28 April, Tinosa headed for Truk. Her FM sonar equipment — which she had received while at Guam — remarkably improved her sonar range, and she gathered data on sonar performance throughout the voyage. On 3 May, she narrowly escaped damage from bombs dropped by an enemy airplane off Moen Island.Although there was no opportunity to attack enemy shipping during this patrol, Tinosa bombarded a Japanese installation on Ulul Island on the night of 14 May. She also made numerous photographs which she turned over to intelligence officers upon her arrival at Guam on 16 May.
Eleventh and twelfth war patrols, May – August 1945
Tinosa got underway for the Sea of JapanSea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
on 29 May. En route, she rescued 10 survivors of a ditched B-29
B-29 Superfortress
The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...
. Acting on this special mission as a member of a wolf pack selected to initiate Operation Barney, an incursion into the Sea of Japan, Tinosa accomplished the dangerous task of plotting mines in Tsushima Strait
Tsushima Strait
is the eastern channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.The Tsushima Strait is the broader eastern channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island, with the Japanese islands of Honshū to the east and northeast, and...
on 6 June.
Following the completion of this special mission, Tinosa made six aggressive torpedo attacks, sank three cargo ships, and—during the daylight hours of 12 June—launched a brilliant surface battle against the Keito Maru, a Japanese sea truck. Having sunk four Japanese vessels and damaged a fifth, she completed her llth patrol arriving at Pearl Harbor on 4 July.
After refitting, Tinosa set course for her 12th patrol on 11 August. Before she reached her assigned area this patrol was terminated by Japan's capitulation. On 26 August 1945, she departed Midway for an overhaul at San Francisco. After operating off the West Coast from January to June 1946, she was placed in reserve. In January 1947, Tinosa was placed out of commission.
Second period in commission, 1952–1953
The Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
precipitated her recommissioning in January 1952. However, she was decommissioned on 2 December 1953, and her name was struck from the Navy List
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 1 September 1958. The use of her hulk for experimental and training purposes was authorized on 2 March 1959. She was used as an ASW
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....
target, then scuttled off Hawaii in November 1960.
Tinosa received nine 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. She received the Presidential Unit Citation
Presidential Unit Citation (US)
The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
for her fourth, fifth, and sixth war patrols.