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USS Trepang (SS-412)
Encyclopedia
The first USS Trepang (SS/AGSS-412) was a Balao-class submarine
in the United States Navy
. She was named for the trepang
, a marine animal sometimes called a 'sea slug' or a 'sea cucumber', having a long, tough, muscular body and found in the coral reefs of the East Indies
.
When the contract to build her was awarded to Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California
, SS-412 was to be named Senorita, which would have made her the only USN ship to be named for the senorita
, a brilliantly colored kelpfish found along the California
coast. She was renamed Trepang on 24 September 1942, and her keel was laid down on 25 June 1943. She was launched
on 23 March 1944 sponsored by Mrs. R. M. Davenport, the wife of the submarine
's prospective commanding officer, and commissioned
on 22 May 1944 with Commander Roy Milton Davenport
—already a three-time Navy Cross
winner—in command.
Following shakedown out of San Diego, California
, Trepang departed the West Coast on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Hawaii
where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat.
on 13 September for her first war patrol, the submarine prowled the waters south of Honshū
, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of 30 September, Trepang spotted a fast convoy
departing Tokyo Bay
. The submarine gave chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tanker
s, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.
On 10 October, Trepang attacked her second convoy, which consisted of a pair of tankers and a single escort. Although the submarine claimed a "kill", a postwar assessment of the action did not credit her with a sinking. The following day, the error was reversed. The submarine launched four torpedoes at another Japanese ship, and her commanding officer recorded that all of the "fish" had missed. This time, however, postwar accounting credited Trepang with the destruction of the 1,000-ton Transport Number 105.
On 12 October, the submarine cruised some 12 miles (19.3 km) southwest of the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Soon after she came to the surface, and her radar
swept the surrounding seas, four pips showed themselves on the phosphorescent screen—two large and two small—which were identified as two battleship
s and two destroyer
s.
Despite the fact that the phosphorescent waters would make his submarine stand out starkly in the night, Davenport closed at flank speed and fired a full spread of six torpedoes. The "fish" sped through the water toward their targets. He claimed success when explosions rumbled across the water, and flames lit up the night. Davenport turned the submarine to present her stern tubes to the enemy and loosed four more torpedoes. These all missed.
Davenport's gallant and skillfully pressed attacks earned him his fourth Navy Cross
. He felt that he had damaged a and had sunk a destroyer
, but a study of Japanese records after the war did not verify either claim.
Her supply of torpedoes exhausted, Trepang cleared the area and headed for the Marshall Islands
. She reached Majuro
on 23 October for voyage repairs alongside submarine tender and brief training.
The weather was dark, windy, and rough on 6 December as Trepangs conning tower broke the surface after a day's submerged inshore patrol off Luzon
. While shifting course toward deeper water, she detected a group of ships approaching from the northward. Upon closing to investigate, Trepang counted seven large ships and three escorts in the convoy which slowly approached the Philippines.
Trepang radioed news of her "find" to her packmaster and then submerged. The submarine shot straight and true, sending freighter Banshu Maru Number 31 and cargo ship Jinyo Maru to the bottom in quick succession and damaging a third vessel, Fukuyo Maru. However, as Trepang came about to administer the coup de grace to Fukuyo Maru, the third cargo ship obligingly blew up and sank. Meanwhile, as Segundo and Razorback arrived on the scene, Trepang fired all of her remaining torpedoes at a fourth ship which, she reported, blew up and sank soon thereafter. However, this fourth sinking was not confirmed by Japanese records. In the meantime, the other two American submarines were trying to finish off the fleeing remnants of the shattered convoy and managed to sink two ships, one with the aid of American naval aircraft. Trepang, now out of torpedoes, sped back to Pearl Harbor, arriving before Christmas
.
Following this war patrol, Davenport, one of the most highly decorated submariners of the war, left Trepang for shore duty as an instructor at the United States Naval Academy
.
, , , and on an anti-picket boat sweep past Nanpō Islands, the eastern island chain south of Tokyo
, to clear the sea lanes for the aircraft carrier
s of Task Force 58 which in turn was about to strike the Japanese home islands to neutralize them during the assault on the strategic island of Iwo Jima
. Trepang encountered no worthwhile targets during the patrol and had to settle for performing lifeguard duty for aircraft carrier
assaults on Tokyo. On 24 February 1945, the submarine sank the 875-ton freighter Usuki Maru and blew the bow off another small coastal vessel. While maneuvering to finish off the crippled ship, several antisubmarine vessels appeared on the scene from behind a nearby headland and converged on the fleet boat. Trepang dove deep as the Japanese subjected her to a seven-hour depth charge
barrage.
in March, Trepang headed for the Yellow Sea
, a "hazardous duty" area due to its vast stretches of shallow water. Despite the danger, the submarine performed well, bagging the 1000-ton landing craft Transport Number 146 on 28 April; the 4667-ton, heavily-laden freighter, Miho Maru two days later; and Minesweeper Number 20 which blew sky-high with a hit on her magazine on 4 May. In addition, the submarine surfaced to shell a junk with a load of lumber. The sole member of this victim's crew, a Korean, understood little sign language, and looked to be of little value for intelligence purposes, so he was put back on board his barely seaworthy craft, with tools and food, and sent on his way. Leaving the Yellow Sea, Trepang did a short tour of lifeguarding for B-25 Mitchell
strikes on Shanghai
, China
, and for the continuing series of B-29 Superfortress
raids on Tokyo, before she returned to Guam.
. In the former role, she arrived on station to the southeast of Tokyo Bay. Having experienced two previous tours of lifeguarding, Trepang 's men expected a series of long dull days, spent moving in circles, squares, or triangles to break the monotony.
However, shortly before noon on her first day, lookouts spotted a blossoming parachute overhead and soon saw the splash of a crashed P-51 Mustang
fighter damaged while escorting Superfortresses to Tokyo. Trepang bent on full power and soon picked up the downed aviator, Second Lieutenant Lamar Christian, USAAF
, safe and sound. During the maneuver, another Mustang, piloted by First Lieutenant Frank Ayres, USAAF, radioed that it, too, was in trouble; and the pilot requested permission to bail out. Trepang replied telling Ayres to "be patient" until the first rescue was complete. Ayres circled the submarine until Christian was safely on board the submarine. Ayres then executed a perfect jump and landed some 400 yard away from Trepang and was soon hauled on board.
Three days after rescuing the two airmen, Trepang turned them over to submarine which was on her way home with 30 other aviators already on board. In the middle of the transfer, the submarines picked up a radio message from a "Boxkite" (rescue search plane) that a Superfortress crew, downed the previous day, was floating a mere seven miles (10 km) from the Japanese seaport of Nagoya. Accompanied by sister ship which had also been discharging passengers to Tigrone, Trepang surged ahead.
The two submarines raced to save the Superfort's crew. Trepang put on full speed and arrived on the scene first. She found eight survivors in four groups of rafts, spread over about four miles (6 km) of ocean. By the time Springer arrived on the scene, Trepang had picked up seven of the fliers. Springer picked up the last man.
En route to a rendezvous with submarine , Trepang sighted a small, troop-laden freighter and sank the ship with her deck guns. A dozen or so Japanese soldiers from the flaming vessel refused to be picked up and taken prisoner and so were left to drown.
Subsequently patrolling off the eastern coast of Honshū
, Trepang went scoreless until July, when she spotted a coastal convoy of three ships. She torpedoed and sank the lead ship—Koun Maru Number Two—but the other vessels conducted evasive action and sped away from the scene at full speed.
Satisfied that she had done her best, Trepang, heading to seaward, suddenly shuddered under the impact of two depth bomb explosions. A solitary Japanese plane had spotted Trepangs shadow in the shallow waters and had attacked with depth bombs. Fortunately, all missed their mark.
Given another lifeguarding assignment, Trepang stood on the alert to pick up possible downed airmen from British and American carrier strikes on the Japanese home islands. During this tour in July 1945, she rescued one pilot, Lieutenant, junior grade, Bill Kingston, USNR. In addition, on 14 July, she witnessed a shore bombardment conducted by three battleship
s and a heavy cruiser
against Kamaishi
.
By now, the war was moving fast, and Trepang returned to Pearl Harbor for a refit. There, she watched the tumbling succession of staggering headlines—first the atomic bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union
's entry into the Far Eastern War, Japan's tentative acceptance of surrender terms, and finally, on 15 August, peace at last.
, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Trepang remained in reserve into the 1960s. She was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine and given hull classification symbol
AGSS-412 on 11 June 1962. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register
on 30 June 1967, the submarine was authorized for disposal on 22 December 1967. She was subsequently sunk as a target during Exercise "Strike Ex 4-69" on 16 September 1969 by the combined gunfire of destroyers and .
Trepang received five battle stars for World War II
service and a Navy Unit Commendation
.
Balao class submarine
The Balao class was a successful design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 122 units built, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, the boats had slight internal differences...
in 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...
. She was named for the trepang
Sea cucumber (food)
Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer in French, trepang in Indonesian, namako in Japanese and in the Philippines it is called balatan...
, a marine animal sometimes called a 'sea slug' or a 'sea cucumber', having a long, tough, muscular body and found in the coral reefs of 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...
.
When the contract to build her was awarded to Mare Island Navy Yard in 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...
, SS-412 was to be named Senorita, which would have made her the only USN ship to be named for the senorita
Senorita
Señorita is the Spanish honorific equivalent of Miss.Other uses:*Señorita banana, a banana cultivar from the Philippines.*Señorita Colombia, Colombian beauty contest*Señorita EP, a five-song extended play from Superdrag...
, a brilliantly colored kelpfish found along the 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...
coast. She was renamed Trepang on 24 September 1942, and her keel was laid down on 25 June 1943. 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 23 March 1944 sponsored by Mrs. R. M. Davenport, the wife of the 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...
's prospective commanding officer, 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 22 May 1944 with Commander Roy Milton Davenport
Roy M. Davenport
Rear Admiral Roy Milton Davenport was an officer in the United States Navy and is the first individual and only sailor to receive five Navy Crosses, the U.S. Navy’s highest decoration after the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant General Chesty Puller, US Marines, was the second to be awarded five; there...
—already a three-time Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
winner—in command.
Following shakedown out of San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, Trepang departed the West Coast on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Hawaii
Hawaii
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...
where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat.
First patrol: September – October 1944
Setting out from Pearl HarborPearl 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 13 September for her first war patrol, the submarine prowled the waters south of 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...
, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of 30 September, Trepang spotted a fast convoy
Convoy
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...
departing Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
. The submarine gave chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tanker
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
s, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.
On 10 October, Trepang attacked her second convoy, which consisted of a pair of tankers and a single escort. Although the submarine claimed a "kill", a postwar assessment of the action did not credit her with a sinking. The following day, the error was reversed. The submarine launched four torpedoes at another Japanese ship, and her commanding officer recorded that all of the "fish" had missed. This time, however, postwar accounting credited Trepang with the destruction of the 1,000-ton Transport Number 105.
On 12 October, the submarine cruised some 12 miles (19.3 km) southwest of the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Soon after she came to the surface, and her radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
swept the surrounding seas, four pips showed themselves on the phosphorescent screen—two large and two small—which were identified as two 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...
s 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.
Despite the fact that the phosphorescent waters would make his submarine stand out starkly in the night, Davenport closed at flank speed and fired a full spread of six torpedoes. The "fish" sped through the water toward their targets. He claimed success when explosions rumbled across the water, and flames lit up the night. Davenport turned the submarine to present her stern tubes to the enemy and loosed four more torpedoes. These all missed.
Davenport's gallant and skillfully pressed attacks earned him his fourth Navy Cross
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the highest decoration that may be bestowed by the Department of the Navy and the second highest decoration given for valor. It is normally only awarded to members of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard, but can be awarded to all...
. He felt that he had damaged a and had sunk a 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...
, but a study of Japanese records after the war did not verify either claim.
Her supply of torpedoes exhausted, Trepang cleared the area and headed for the 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...
. She reached 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 23 October for voyage repairs alongside submarine tender and brief training.
Second patrol: November – December 1944
On 16 November, Trepang got underway for the Philippine Islands leading a "wolfpack" which also included sister ships and .The weather was dark, windy, and rough on 6 December as Trepangs conning tower broke the surface after a day's submerged inshore patrol off Luzon
Luzon
Luzon 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...
. While shifting course toward deeper water, she detected a group of ships approaching from the northward. Upon closing to investigate, Trepang counted seven large ships and three escorts in the convoy which slowly approached the Philippines.
Trepang radioed news of her "find" to her packmaster and then submerged. The submarine shot straight and true, sending freighter Banshu Maru Number 31 and cargo ship Jinyo Maru to the bottom in quick succession and damaging a third vessel, Fukuyo Maru. However, as Trepang came about to administer the coup de grace to Fukuyo Maru, the third cargo ship obligingly blew up and sank. Meanwhile, as Segundo and Razorback arrived on the scene, Trepang fired all of her remaining torpedoes at a fourth ship which, she reported, blew up and sank soon thereafter. However, this fourth sinking was not confirmed by Japanese records. In the meantime, the other two American submarines were trying to finish off the fleeing remnants of the shattered convoy and managed to sink two ships, one with the aid of American naval aircraft. Trepang, now out of torpedoes, sped back to Pearl Harbor, arriving before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
.
Following this war patrol, Davenport, one of the most highly decorated submariners of the war, left Trepang for shore duty as an instructor at the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
.
Third patrol: January – March 1945
Again sailing for Honshū, Trepang—now under Cmdr. Allen R. Faust—teamed up with submarines, , , and on an anti-picket boat sweep past Nanpō Islands, the eastern island chain south of 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...
, to clear the sea lanes for the 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...
s of Task Force 58 which in turn was about to strike the Japanese home islands to neutralize them during the assault on the strategic island of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
. Trepang encountered no worthwhile targets during the patrol and had to settle for performing lifeguard duty for 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...
assaults on Tokyo. On 24 February 1945, the submarine sank the 875-ton freighter Usuki Maru and blew the bow off another small coastal vessel. While maneuvering to finish off the crippled ship, several antisubmarine vessels appeared on the scene from behind a nearby headland and converged on the fleet boat. Trepang dove deep as the Japanese subjected her to a seven-hour 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...
barrage.
Fourth patrol: April – May 1945
Following her return to GuamGuam
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...
in March, Trepang headed for the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
, a "hazardous duty" area due to its vast stretches of shallow water. Despite the danger, the submarine performed well, bagging the 1000-ton landing craft Transport Number 146 on 28 April; the 4667-ton, heavily-laden freighter, Miho Maru two days later; and Minesweeper Number 20 which blew sky-high with a hit on her magazine on 4 May. In addition, the submarine surfaced to shell a junk with a load of lumber. The sole member of this victim's crew, a Korean, understood little sign language, and looked to be of little value for intelligence purposes, so he was put back on board his barely seaworthy craft, with tools and food, and sent on his way. Leaving the Yellow Sea, Trepang did a short tour of lifeguarding for B-25 Mitchell
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
strikes on Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and for the continuing series of B-29 Superfortress
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...
raids on Tokyo, before she returned to Guam.
Fifth patrol: June – July 1945
Trepang 's fifth war patrol was divided into two parts—the first saw the ship operating in a lifeguard capacity while the second gave her a more offensive role off northeastern Honshū and eastern HokkaidōHokkaido
, 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...
. In the former role, she arrived on station to the southeast of Tokyo Bay. Having experienced two previous tours of lifeguarding, Trepang 's men expected a series of long dull days, spent moving in circles, squares, or triangles to break the monotony.
However, shortly before noon on her first day, lookouts spotted a blossoming parachute overhead and soon saw the splash of a crashed P-51 Mustang
P-51 Mustang
The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
fighter damaged while escorting Superfortresses to Tokyo. Trepang bent on full power and soon picked up the downed aviator, Second Lieutenant Lamar Christian, USAAF
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
, safe and sound. During the maneuver, another Mustang, piloted by First Lieutenant Frank Ayres, USAAF, radioed that it, too, was in trouble; and the pilot requested permission to bail out. Trepang replied telling Ayres to "be patient" until the first rescue was complete. Ayres circled the submarine until Christian was safely on board the submarine. Ayres then executed a perfect jump and landed some 400 yard away from Trepang and was soon hauled on board.
Three days after rescuing the two airmen, Trepang turned them over to submarine which was on her way home with 30 other aviators already on board. In the middle of the transfer, the submarines picked up a radio message from a "Boxkite" (rescue search plane) that a Superfortress crew, downed the previous day, was floating a mere seven miles (10 km) from the Japanese seaport of Nagoya. Accompanied by sister ship which had also been discharging passengers to Tigrone, Trepang surged ahead.
The two submarines raced to save the Superfort's crew. Trepang put on full speed and arrived on the scene first. She found eight survivors in four groups of rafts, spread over about four miles (6 km) of ocean. By the time Springer arrived on the scene, Trepang had picked up seven of the fliers. Springer picked up the last man.
En route to a rendezvous with submarine , Trepang sighted a small, troop-laden freighter and sank the ship with her deck guns. A dozen or so Japanese soldiers from the flaming vessel refused to be picked up and taken prisoner and so were left to drown.
Subsequently patrolling off the eastern coast of 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...
, Trepang went scoreless until July, when she spotted a coastal convoy of three ships. She torpedoed and sank the lead ship—Koun Maru Number Two—but the other vessels conducted evasive action and sped away from the scene at full speed.
Satisfied that she had done her best, Trepang, heading to seaward, suddenly shuddered under the impact of two depth bomb explosions. A solitary Japanese plane had spotted Trepangs shadow in the shallow waters and had attacked with depth bombs. Fortunately, all missed their mark.
Given another lifeguarding assignment, Trepang stood on the alert to pick up possible downed airmen from British and American carrier strikes on the Japanese home islands. During this tour in July 1945, she rescued one pilot, Lieutenant, junior grade, Bill Kingston, USNR. In addition, on 14 July, she witnessed a shore bombardment conducted by three 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...
s and a heavy cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
against Kamaishi
Kamaishi, Iwate
is a small, historic city located on the Sanriku rias coast of Iwate, Japan. As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 41,022 and a density of 92.9 persons per km². The total area is 441.42 km². It is famous in modern times for its steel production and most recently for its promotion...
.
By now, the war was moving fast, and Trepang returned to Pearl Harbor for a refit. There, she watched the tumbling succession of staggering headlines—first the atomic bombs on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's entry into the Far Eastern War, Japan's tentative acceptance of surrender terms, and finally, on 15 August, peace at last.
Post-war activities
After completion of her refit, Trepang departed Pearl Harbor and arrived at San Diego on 3 September 1945. Decommissioned on 27 June 1946 and placed in reserve at Vallejo, CaliforniaVallejo, 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...
, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Trepang remained in reserve into the 1960s. She was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine and given hull classification symbol
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
AGSS-412 on 11 June 1962. Struck 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 30 June 1967, the submarine was authorized for disposal on 22 December 1967. She was subsequently sunk as a target during Exercise "Strike Ex 4-69" on 16 September 1969 by the combined gunfire of destroyers and .
Trepang received five 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 and a Navy Unit Commendation
Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation of the United States Navy is an award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944...
.