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USS Triton (SS-201)
Encyclopedia
USS Triton (SS-201), a Tambor
-class submarine
, was the first submarine and third ship of the United States Navy
to be named for Triton. Her keel
was down on 5 July 1939 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched
on 25 March 1940 sponsored by Mrs. Ernest J. King, wife of Rear Admiral King, and commissioned
on 15 August 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Willis A. "Pilly" Lent (Class of 1925) in command.
The new submarine held her shakedown training in the Caribbean Sea
from 14 January 1941 to 26 March and then conducted training and minelaying exercises in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- New London, Connecticut
area. Triton departed Portsmouth on 1 July, transited the Panama Canal
on 12 July, and arrived at San Diego, California
, on 20 July. Nine days later, she and sister ship headed for Hawaii
and arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 4 August.
from 30 August to 15 September, then participated in local and fleet operations in the Hawaiian area. On 19 November, the submarine headed west to conduct a practice war patrol and arrived off Wake Island
on 26 November. On 8 December, she saw columns of smoke rising over the island but assumed it was caused by construction work being done ashore. That night, when she surfaced to charge her batteries, she was informed by radio Wake and Pearl Harbor had been bombed and was ordered to stay out of range of Wake's guns. The next morning, Triton observed the Japan
ese bombing the island. On the night of 10 December, she was surfaced, charging her batteries, when flashes of light from Wake revealed a destroyer
or light cruiser
on a parallel course. The submarine was silhouetted against the moon, and the enemy ship turned towards her. Triton went deep and began evasive action. When the Japanese ship slowed astern, the submarine came to 120 feet (36.6 m) and fired four stern torpedoes—the first American torpedoes shot during World War II
—on sonar
bearings. She heard a dull explosion 58 seconds later and believed one had hit the target, then went to 175 feet (53.3 m) and cleared the area. (No sinking was recorded, and she was not credited with one.) After their initial repulse on 11 December, the Japanese returned with two aircraft carriers
, Hiryū
and Sōryū
; Triton was not informed, and made no attacks on them. Neither did she make any effort to evacuate the 350 Marines. On 21 December, the submarine was ordered to return to Hawaii
, and she arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 31 December.
and her second war patrol, covering the sealanes to Dairen, Shanghai
, and Korea
. She was off Kyūshū
on 17 February when she contacted a freighter. The submarine launched four torpedoes and scored one hit in the stern. The target stopped for a few minutes and then slowly got underway. That evening, Triton attacked another freighter with two torpedoes at a range of 1200 yards (1,097.3 m). One hit the Japanese cargo ship aft of her well deck, and the maru went dead in the water and began settling. Soon, several heavy explosions marked the end of Shinyo Maru Number 5. Four days later, the submarine intercepted two cargo ships. She sank Shokyu Maru with two torpedoes but could not attack the second ship because of its speed and the appearance of a four-engine patrol plane. On the night of 27 February, the submarine was on the surface for a battery charge when she sighted a ship approximately three miles away. She closed to attack and launched two torpedoes. One torpedo hit, but haze over the water and smoke from the damaged ship prohibited a second attack. Triton made no further contacts and returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 March, where she was praised for an aggressive patrol, earning credit for two ships totalling 12,000 tons (reduced to 5,982 tons postwar), but criticized for excessive use of torpedoes, which were in extremely short supply.
. Ten days later, the submarine contacted a 2,000-ton trawler near Marcus
, astonishingly stopped and not blacked out. After missing with two torpedoes (at point blank range), she surfaced to engage with her deck guns, firing 19 rounds of three-inch (76 mm) and "a hurricane of small-arms", leaving the trawler a sinking wreck, giving Triton the first confirmed sinking of an enemy vessel by deck gun fire by an American submarine.
Amid shallow, glassy seas and poor sonar conditions, on 1 May, she sighted six freighters, in two columns, escorted by a single torpedo boat
. She launched two torpedoes, and both hit the leading ship, Taei Maru (2,200 tons), which sank, then two more at the next freighter; both missed. She fired at a third cargoman but the torpedo ran deep; a second torpedo, set shallow and aimed at a different ship, broke the back of Calcutta Maru (5,300 tons), which promptly sank.
Triton contacted an escorted convoy on 6 May and launched two torpedoes at the trailing ship; one sank soon after leaving the tube, the other missed ahead. She next spotted a destroyer coming to the rear of the convoy, fired two more (both set shallow) at this same ship from 1200 yards (1,097.3 m), and went deep to elude. Her sonar heard two violent explosions; Taigen Maru (5,600 tons) had sunk. At that point, the submarine maneuvered around and ahead of the convoy to position for another attack. When she attained the desired position, she launched four torpedoes—two at the third ship and two at a fourth. Triton heard two explosions from the first spread (one in the third ship), none from the second (which had avoided), as she was forced to take evasive action from the escort. The submarine later returned to periscope depth, but no ships were in sight. The convoy had cleared the area. On 15 May, she sank two deep-sea fishing boats with her deck guns.
The next day, after monitoring orders to other boats attempting to intercept without success, Triton ran into position and at 15.20 spotted the crippled Shōkaku
and a destroyer, returning from the Battle of Coral Sea. At 6700 yards (6,126.5 m), with the target making 16 knots (31.4 km/h), Triton could not close the range, despite surfacing and bending on 19½ knots (36 km/h). She sent a contact report, but it was not acknowledged.
One day later, 17 May, in "one of the luckiest finds of the war", I 64 surfaced right in front of Triton; she fired her last bow torpedo from 6200 yards (5,669.3 m) and parts of the target were blown 100 foot into the air. I 64 (1,700 tons), the fourth Japanese sub sunk by the Pacific Fleet Sub Force, went down by the stern. Four days later, Triton fired her last four torpedoes at another enemy submarine; all missed. The patrol earned her credit for five ships of 24,200 tons (reduced to 15,800 postwar), terminating at Pearl Harbor on 4 June, as the Battle of Midway
began.
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Tritons fourth war patrol took her to Alaska
n waters and lasted from 25 June to 24 August. On 4 July, she was patrolling in a heavy fog, in the vicinity of Cape Sabok, when the fog lifted enough to reveal a Japanese destroyer. The submarine trailed the enemy for ten hours, in and out of patches of fog, until she had closed the range to 3000 yards (2,743.2 m). Triton then launched two torpedoes, and one hit amidships. The Japanese destroyer Nenohi
{right} (1,370 tons) capsized to port and slid under the waves in five minutes. Triton sighted a freighter on 28 July, but lost it in a fog bank. The same thing happened the next day. On 9 August, Triton saw an enemy submarine's periscope and prepared to attack. However, the Japanese sub struck first, forcing Triton to go deep as enemy torpedoes passed overhead. On 15 August, Triton launched four torpedoes at a darkened ship from a range of 1500 yards (1,371.6 m). There were two consecutive explosions, and flames shot over 200 foot into the air. To Triton, the enemy ship appeared to be larger than a destroyer. However, there is no official record of a sinking on that date. The submarine made no further contacts before returning to Pearl Harbor on 7 September, and was credited with two ships for 3,100 tons (postwar, only Nenohi, at 1,600 tons). She then entered Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for an overhaul until 6 December.
B-24 Liberator
bombers in strikes on Wake and to rescue the crews of any planes forced down at sea. She made no rescues, but, on the night of 23 December, she aided in guiding the Liberators in a night bombing attack on the island. On 24 December, the submarine sighted the mast of a ship on the horizon, headed for Wake anchorage. Triton (alerted by ULTRA
) closed to 1000 yards (914.4 m) and launched two torpedoes. One hit under the stack
, the other under the foremast. Amakasu Maru Number 1 was obliterated in a cloud of smoke and steam as she went under. The submarine then set a course for Brisbane
. On 28 December, she sighted an enemy ship, closed to 7000 yards (6,400.8 m), and launched three torpedoes into the transport Omi Maru. The ship sank almost immediately and, although there was much wreckage, no survivors were seen.
Triton was then ordered to patrol the Truk–Rabaul
–New Guinea
shipping lanes, north and northwest of New Ireland
, arriving on 30 December 1942. On 10 January 1943, Triton stalked an unidentified vessel but withheld her attack upon observing it was marked as a hospital ship. Three days later, she launched four torpedoes at a tanker and scored one hit. When the enemy began firing at her periscope, she went deep to begin an end around. About 20 minutes later, the submarine returned to periscope depth and launched a spread of four torpedoes. Two geysers of water rose amidships as high as the target's bridge, but no explosions followed. The next day, Triton attempted to attack a freighter, but an escort forced her down where she was subjected to a two-hour depth charge
attack. On 16 January, she attacked two cargo ships, scoring two hits on the first and one on the second; but her victims forced her to submerge before she could evaluate the damage. Later that day, Triton fired her last three torpedoes at a large freighter but heard no explosions. She then headed for Australia
and reached Brisbane
on 26 January, with a total of 6,500 tons for the trip.
, Triton (now in the hands of George K. MacKenzie
) on 16 February began her sixth and final war patrol, hoping to destroy enemy shipping between the Shortland Basin and Rabaul
. She reported smoke on 22 February and a new Japanese radar
at Buka
. On 6 March, the submarine attacked a convoy of five destroyer-escorted ships, sinking the cargo ship Kiriha Maru and damaging another freighter. One of her torpedoes made a circular run, and Triton went deep to evade it. She attacked another convoy on the night of 8 March and claimed that five of the eight torpedoes she had fired scored hits. She could not observe the results or make a follow-up attack because gunfire from the escorts forced her down. On 11 March, Triton reported she was chasing two convoys, each made up of five or more ships. She was informed was operating in an adjoining area and ordered to stay south of the equator
. On 13 March, Triton was warned that three enemy destroyers, including the Akikaze
were in her area either looking for a convoy or hunting American submarines.
On 15 March, Trigger reported she had attacked a convoy and had been depth charge
d. Even though attacks on her ceased, she could still hear distant depth charging for about an hour. No further messages from Triton were ever received. Post-war examination of Japanese records revealed on 15 March 1943, three Japanese destroyers attacked a submarine a little northwest of Tritons assigned area and subsequently observed an oil slick, debris, and items with American markings. On 10 April 1943, Triton was reported overdue from patrol and presumed lost, one of three lost in a month. This gave her 6,500 tons for the trip to Brisbane
.
There are persistent rumors Triton was actually lost off Moreton Island
near Brisbane
, sunk either to friendly fire
from an Australian pilot or Japanese mines or torpedoes. Her loss was allegedly covered up by the Australian military. It is undisputed two weeks after Triton was supposed to have been sunk, a welcoming committee, complete with band, mail delivery, fresh fruit and ice-cream was waiting for her on the dock at New Farm
on the Brisbane River
; since she could simply have suffered a radio casualty, this is unsurprising. The Australian Defence Department refers inquiries to the Australian War Memorial
in Canberra
. The Memorial's position is, it was highly unlikely Australian fire had sunk the submarine, and if there had been a cover-up during the war, the truth would have come out in the intervening years.
Triton received five battle stars for World War II
service.
The Triton is the subject of an episode of the syndicated
television
anthology series, The Silent Service
, which aired during the 1957-1958 season.
The bell for the USS Triton, which has been missing since around 1967 has been located and steps are being taken for it to be returned to Master Chief Harold Weston of the USS Triton SSRN-586. It will then be available for reunions, ceremonies and display.
Tambor class submarine
The Tambor class submarine was a United States Navy submarine design, used primarily during World War II. It was the USN's first practical fleet submarine and formed the core of the United States Pacific submarine fleet at the time of the US entry into World War II.-Design history:Early U.S...
-class 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 first submarine and third 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 Triton. 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 down on 5 July 1939 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. 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 25 March 1940 sponsored by Mrs. Ernest J. King, wife of Rear Admiral King, 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 15 August 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Willis A. "Pilly" Lent (Class of 1925) in command.
The new submarine held her shakedown training in the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
from 14 January 1941 to 26 March and then conducted training and minelaying exercises in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
- New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
area. Triton departed Portsmouth on 1 July, transited the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
on 12 July, and arrived at 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...
, on 20 July. Nine days later, she and sister ship headed for 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...
and arrived 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 4 August.
First patrol
Assigned to Submarine Division 62, Triton made a training cruise to MidwayMidway 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...
from 30 August to 15 September, then participated in local and fleet operations in the Hawaiian area. On 19 November, the submarine headed west to conduct a practice war patrol and arrived off Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
on 26 November. On 8 December, she saw columns of smoke rising over the island but assumed it was caused by construction work being done ashore. That night, when she surfaced to charge her batteries, she was informed by radio Wake and Pearl Harbor had been bombed and was ordered to stay out of range of Wake's guns. The next morning, Triton observed the 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...
ese bombing the island. On the night of 10 December, she was surfaced, charging her batteries, when flashes of light from Wake revealed 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...
or light 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...
on a parallel course. The submarine was silhouetted against the moon, and the enemy ship turned towards her. Triton went deep and began evasive action. When the Japanese ship slowed astern, the submarine came to 120 feet (36.6 m) and fired four stern torpedoes—the first American torpedoes shot during 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...
—on sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
bearings. She heard a dull explosion 58 seconds later and believed one had hit the target, then went to 175 feet (53.3 m) and cleared the area. (No sinking was recorded, and she was not credited with one.) After their initial repulse on 11 December, the Japanese returned with two aircraft carriers
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...
, Hiryū
Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu
was a modified Sōryū-class aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was one of the carriers that began the Pacific War with the attack on Pearl Harbor...
and Sōryū
Japanese aircraft carrier Soryu
was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy. During the Second World War, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Port Darwin and raids in the Indian Ocean before being sunk at the Battle of Midway.-Design:...
; Triton was not informed, and made no attacks on them. Neither did she make any effort to evacuate the 350 Marines. On 21 December, the submarine was ordered to return 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...
, and she arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 31 December.
Second patrol
On 25 January 1942, Triton 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 second war patrol, covering the sealanes to Dairen, 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...
, and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. She was off Kyūshū
Kyushu
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....
on 17 February when she contacted a freighter. The submarine launched four torpedoes and scored one hit in the stern. The target stopped for a few minutes and then slowly got underway. That evening, Triton attacked another freighter with two torpedoes at a range of 1200 yards (1,097.3 m). One hit the Japanese cargo ship aft of her well deck, and the maru went dead in the water and began settling. Soon, several heavy explosions marked the end of Shinyo Maru Number 5. Four days later, the submarine intercepted two cargo ships. She sank Shokyu Maru with two torpedoes but could not attack the second ship because of its speed and the appearance of a four-engine patrol plane. On the night of 27 February, the submarine was on the surface for a battery charge when she sighted a ship approximately three miles away. She closed to attack and launched two torpedoes. One torpedo hit, but haze over the water and smoke from the damaged ship prohibited a second attack. Triton made no further contacts and returned to Pearl Harbor on 17 March, where she was praised for an aggressive patrol, earning credit for two ships totalling 12,000 tons (reduced to 5,982 tons postwar), but criticized for excessive use of torpedoes, which were in extremely short supply.
Third patrol
Triton (now in the hands of C.C. Kirkpatrick, Class of 1931) got underway on 13 April to return to 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:...
. Ten days later, the submarine contacted a 2,000-ton trawler near Marcus
Marcus
Marcus, Markus, or Márkus is a common given name and a family name. See Marcus .Marcus may also refer to:In places* Marcus, Iowa, United States* Marcus, Washington, United States...
, astonishingly stopped and not blacked out. After missing with two torpedoes (at point blank range), she surfaced to engage with her deck guns, firing 19 rounds of three-inch (76 mm) and "a hurricane of small-arms", leaving the trawler a sinking wreck, giving Triton the first confirmed sinking of an enemy vessel by deck gun fire by an American submarine.
Amid shallow, glassy seas and poor sonar conditions, on 1 May, she sighted six freighters, in two columns, escorted by a single torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
. She launched two torpedoes, and both hit the leading ship, Taei Maru (2,200 tons), which sank, then two more at the next freighter; both missed. She fired at a third cargoman but the torpedo ran deep; a second torpedo, set shallow and aimed at a different ship, broke the back of Calcutta Maru (5,300 tons), which promptly sank.
Triton contacted an escorted convoy on 6 May and launched two torpedoes at the trailing ship; one sank soon after leaving the tube, the other missed ahead. She next spotted a destroyer coming to the rear of the convoy, fired two more (both set shallow) at this same ship from 1200 yards (1,097.3 m), and went deep to elude. Her sonar heard two violent explosions; Taigen Maru (5,600 tons) had sunk. At that point, the submarine maneuvered around and ahead of the convoy to position for another attack. When she attained the desired position, she launched four torpedoes—two at the third ship and two at a fourth. Triton heard two explosions from the first spread (one in the third ship), none from the second (which had avoided), as she was forced to take evasive action from the escort. The submarine later returned to periscope depth, but no ships were in sight. The convoy had cleared the area. On 15 May, she sank two deep-sea fishing boats with her deck guns.
The next day, after monitoring orders to other boats attempting to intercept without success, Triton ran into position and at 15.20 spotted the crippled Shōkaku
Japanese aircraft carrier Shokaku
Shōkaku was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. Along with her sister ship , she took part in several key naval battles during the Pacific War, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands...
and a destroyer, returning from the Battle of Coral Sea. At 6700 yards (6,126.5 m), with the target making 16 knots (31.4 km/h), Triton could not close the range, despite surfacing and bending on 19½ knots (36 km/h). She sent a contact report, but it was not acknowledged.
One day later, 17 May, in "one of the luckiest finds of the war", I 64 surfaced right in front of Triton; she fired her last bow torpedo from 6200 yards (5,669.3 m) and parts of the target were blown 100 foot into the air. I 64 (1,700 tons), the fourth Japanese sub sunk by the Pacific Fleet Sub Force, went down by the stern. Four days later, Triton fired her last four torpedoes at another enemy submarine; all missed. The patrol earned her credit for five ships of 24,200 tons (reduced to 15,800 postwar), terminating at Pearl Harbor on 4 June, as the Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
began.
Fourth patrol
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
n waters and lasted from 25 June to 24 August. On 4 July, she was patrolling in a heavy fog, in the vicinity of Cape Sabok, when the fog lifted enough to reveal a Japanese destroyer. The submarine trailed the enemy for ten hours, in and out of patches of fog, until she had closed the range to 3000 yards (2,743.2 m). Triton then launched two torpedoes, and one hit amidships. The Japanese destroyer Nenohi
Japanese destroyer Nenohi
was the second of six destroyers, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy under the Circle One Program . Three were laid down in JFY 1931 and the next three in JFY 1933...
{right} (1,370 tons) capsized to port and slid under the waves in five minutes. Triton sighted a freighter on 28 July, but lost it in a fog bank. The same thing happened the next day. On 9 August, Triton saw an enemy submarine's periscope and prepared to attack. However, the Japanese sub struck first, forcing Triton to go deep as enemy torpedoes passed overhead. On 15 August, Triton launched four torpedoes at a darkened ship from a range of 1500 yards (1,371.6 m). There were two consecutive explosions, and flames shot over 200 foot into the air. To Triton, the enemy ship appeared to be larger than a destroyer. However, there is no official record of a sinking on that date. The submarine made no further contacts before returning to Pearl Harbor on 7 September, and was credited with two ships for 3,100 tons (postwar, only Nenohi, at 1,600 tons). She then entered Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for an overhaul until 6 December.
Fifth patrol
On 16 December, Triton got underway for a position 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Wake on the Midway–Wake route. She was one of three submarines stationed between the two islands to mark the way for United States Army Air ForcesUnited 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....
B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
bombers in strikes on Wake and to rescue the crews of any planes forced down at sea. She made no rescues, but, on the night of 23 December, she aided in guiding the Liberators in a night bombing attack on the island. On 24 December, the submarine sighted the mast of a ship on the horizon, headed for Wake anchorage. Triton (alerted by 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...
) closed to 1000 yards (914.4 m) and launched two torpedoes. One hit under the stack
Stack
-Mathematics:* Stack , general category-theoretical concept to formalise "pull-back" operations in geometry and algebra* Algebraic stack, a generalisation of scheme and algebraic space in algebraic geometry; a specific type of the above-Computers:...
, the other under the foremast. Amakasu Maru Number 1 was obliterated in a cloud of smoke and steam as she went under. The submarine then set a course for Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. On 28 December, she sighted an enemy ship, closed to 7000 yards (6,400.8 m), and launched three torpedoes into the transport Omi Maru. The ship sank almost immediately and, although there was much wreckage, no survivors were seen.
Triton was then ordered to patrol the Truk–Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
–New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
shipping lanes, north and northwest of New Ireland
New Ireland (island)
New Ireland is a large island in Papua New Guinea, approximately 7,404 km² in area. It is the largest island of the New Ireland Province, lying northeast of the island of New Britain. Both islands are part of the Bismarck Archipelago, named after Otto von Bismarck, and they are separated by...
, arriving on 30 December 1942. On 10 January 1943, Triton stalked an unidentified vessel but withheld her attack upon observing it was marked as a hospital ship. Three days later, she launched four torpedoes at a tanker and scored one hit. When the enemy began firing at her periscope, she went deep to begin an end around. About 20 minutes later, the submarine returned to periscope depth and launched a spread of four torpedoes. Two geysers of water rose amidships as high as the target's bridge, but no explosions followed. The next day, Triton attempted to attack a freighter, but an escort forced her down where she was subjected to a two-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...
attack. On 16 January, she attacked two cargo ships, scoring two hits on the first and one on the second; but her victims forced her to submerge before she could evaluate the damage. Later that day, Triton fired her last three torpedoes at a large freighter but heard no explosions. She then headed for 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...
and reached Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
on 26 January, with a total of 6,500 tons for the trip.
Final patrol
Falling under the strict tactical control of Admiral James Fife, Jr.James Fife, Jr.
Admiral James Fife, Jr. was a United States Navy admiral who was promoted to four star rank after retirement as a "tombstone admiral".-Biography:...
, Triton (now in the hands of George K. MacKenzie
George K. MacKenzie
George K. MacKenzie, born 30 May 1910 in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1931.MacKenzie attended the Submarine School and Deep Sea Diving School and the advanced course in the Submarine Officers' School in addition to serving in Raleigh , Bonita , and Plunger and...
) on 16 February began her sixth and final war patrol, hoping to destroy enemy shipping between the Shortland Basin and Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
. She reported smoke on 22 February and a new Japanese 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...
at Buka
Buka Island
Buka Island is the second largest island in the Papua New Guinean province of Bougainville.- History :Buka was first occupied by humans in paleolithic times, some 30,000 years ago...
. On 6 March, the submarine attacked a convoy of five destroyer-escorted ships, sinking the cargo ship Kiriha Maru and damaging another freighter. One of her torpedoes made a circular run, and Triton went deep to evade it. She attacked another convoy on the night of 8 March and claimed that five of the eight torpedoes she had fired scored hits. She could not observe the results or make a follow-up attack because gunfire from the escorts forced her down. On 11 March, Triton reported she was chasing two convoys, each made up of five or more ships. She was informed was operating in an adjoining area and ordered to stay south of the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
. On 13 March, Triton was warned that three enemy destroyers, including the Akikaze
Japanese destroyer Akikaze
was a destroyer, built for the Imperial Japanese Navy immediately following the end of World War I. The Minekaze class of destroyer were considered advanced for their time; these ships served as first-line destroyers through the 1930s...
were in her area either looking for a convoy or hunting American submarines.
On 15 March, Trigger reported she had attacked a convoy and had been 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...
d. Even though attacks on her ceased, she could still hear distant depth charging for about an hour. No further messages from Triton were ever received. Post-war examination of Japanese records revealed on 15 March 1943, three Japanese destroyers attacked a submarine a little northwest of Tritons assigned area and subsequently observed an oil slick, debris, and items with American markings. On 10 April 1943, Triton was reported overdue from patrol and presumed lost, one of three lost in a month. This gave her 6,500 tons for the trip to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
.
There are persistent rumors Triton was actually lost off Moreton Island
Moreton Island
Moreton Island is a large sand island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay, on the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia. Moreton Island lies 58 kilometres northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. The island is 95% National Park and a popular destination for four wheel driving, camping,...
near Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, sunk either to friendly fire
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
from an Australian pilot or Japanese mines or torpedoes. Her loss was allegedly covered up by the Australian military. It is undisputed two weeks after Triton was supposed to have been sunk, a welcoming committee, complete with band, mail delivery, fresh fruit and ice-cream was waiting for her on the dock at New Farm
New Farm, Queensland
New Farm is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia, located 2 km east of the Brisbane CBD on a large bend of the Brisbane River. New Farm is partly surrounded by the Brisbane River, with land access from the north west through Fortitude Valley and from the north through...
on the Brisbane River
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in south east Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay. John Oxley was the first European to explore the river who named it after the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane in 1823...
; since she could simply have suffered a radio casualty, this is unsurprising. The Australian Defence Department refers inquiries to the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. The Memorial's position is, it was highly unlikely Australian fire had sunk the submarine, and if there had been a cover-up during the war, the truth would have come out in the intervening years.
Triton 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.
The Triton is the subject of an episode of the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
anthology series, The Silent Service
The Silent Service (TV series)
The Silent Service was a 1957–1958 syndicated anthology television series based on actual events in the submarine section of the United States Navy. The Silent Service was narrated by Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, who retired from the Navy in 1949 after twenty-two years of service...
, which aired during the 1957-1958 season.
The bell for the USS Triton, which has been missing since around 1967 has been located and steps are being taken for it to be returned to Master Chief Harold Weston of the USS Triton SSRN-586. It will then be available for reunions, ceremonies and display.