USS ''Canopus'' (AS-9) was a
submarine tender
A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines.
Development
Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...
in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, named for the star
Canopus
Canopus is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina (constellation), Carina and the list of brightest stars, second-brightest star in the night sky. It is also Bayer designation, designated α Carinae, which is Lat ...
.
''Canopus'' was launched in 1919 by
New York Shipbuilding Company
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...
,
Camden, New Jersey
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...
, as the passenger liner SS ''Santa Leonora'' for
W. R. Grace and Company
W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...
, but taken over by the U.S. Navy upon completion in July 1919 and commissioned as USS ''Santa Leonora''. She was briefly employed as a trans-Atlantic troop transport before being decommissioned and transferred to the U.S. Army in September 1919.
The ship was reacquired by the Navy from the
Shipping Board
The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...
on 22 November 1921. The ship was converted to a submarine tender, and commissioned at Boston on 24 January 1922.
Service history
1922–1941
![USS Canopus (AS-9) with submarines at Guam in 1924](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/USS_Canopus_%28AS-9%29_with_submarines_at_Guam_in_1924.jpg)
''Canopus'' reported to Submarine Force,
Atlantic Fleet, and remained at Boston until 9 November 1922, when she sailed for further fitting out at
Coco Solo
Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base and naval air station, active from 1918 to the 1960s.
History
The submarine base at Coco Solo was established May 6, 1918. The site corresponds with modern-day Cativá in Panama. It was on the ...
,
Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terri ...
, and
San Pedro, California
San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...
, her base as tender to the submarines of Division 9 until 17 July 1923.
Sailing to Pearl Harbor, ''Canopus'' tended Submarine Division 17 of the
Battle Force
The United States Battle Fleet or Battle Force was part of the organization of the United States Navy from 1922 to 1941.
The General Order of 6 December 1922 organized the United States Fleet, with the Battle Fleet as the Pacific presence. This f ...
with whom she sailed for permanent duty with the
Asiatic Fleet
The United States Asiatic Fleet was a fleet of the United States Navy during much of the first half of the 20th century. Before World War II, the fleet patrolled the Philippine Islands. Much of the fleet was destroyed by the Japanese by Februar ...
in September 1924. ''Canopus'' with her squadron of submarines arrived in the Philippines on 4 November 1924. ''Canopus'' began her regular schedule of services in Manila Bay, and each summer based with the fleet at
Tsingtao
Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...
, China, with occasional training cruises to various Chinese and Japanese ports, and to the British and French colonies. Between 1927 and 1931, the tender was
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of submarine divisions, Asiatic Fleet, and later was attached to Submarine Division 10, and was flagship of Submarine Squadron 5.
''Canopus'' deployed to China three times in 1937, 1938 and 1939 respectively.
World War II, 1941–1942
On 7 December 1941, ''Canopus'', aging but able, lay at
Cavite Navy Yard
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest o ...
, as tender to Submarine Squadron 20. In the days that followed, her men worked day and night to repair ships damaged in the daily air raids as well as to keep her brood of submarines at sea. With the Army falling back on Manila, ''Canopus'' sailed to
Mariveles Bay at the tip of
Bataan
Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...
on Christmas Day. On 29 December 1941 she received her first direct bomb hit. A 500-pound armor-piercing bomb penetrated all decks and exploded on the propeller shaft housing. Six sailors were killed mostly from scalding and fires started in the engine rooms and magazines. The six men were buried at sea at 1735 hours in Mariveles Bay at the tip of Bataan. On 1 January 1942 she received a second direct bomb hit. This time a fragmentation bomb which exploded near the top of the smokestack, resulting in substantial damage to the ship and injuries to 16 men of the gun crews.
Disguised as a bombed out, listing, abandoned hulk, smoke pots were placed around the ship and gave the appearance of an abandoned hulk by day, while the ship was active at night. Her crew worked and repaired the smaller ships also left behind and keeping the submarines in action.
Just before the New Year, the last of the submarines left ''Canopus''. The crew continued to care for small craft and equipment of the Army and Navy, or were attached to the improvised naval battalion which fought on Bataan. The ship's launches were converted into miniature gunboats dubbed Mickey Mouse Battleships, and attacked the Japanese moving south near the shore. Upon the
surrender of Bataan on the night of 8–9 April 1942, ''Canopus'' was ordered scuttled in Mariveles Bay, Bataan, to deny her use to the enemy. On 9 April, she was backed off into deep water under her own power and the crew scuttled the ship and abandoned ship.
Of the ''Canopus crew, 221 were evacuated to Corregidor on 28 February 1942 and served with the Marines' 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions on beach defenses. The final 327 crewmen were also evacuated to Corregidor and served in the 4th Marine Regiment's 4th Battalion Reserves (Provisional) which fought during the final battle for the island fortress. Nearly all ''Canopus'' crewmen were captured at the fall of Corregidor and spent the rest of the war in Japanese
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
(POW) camps in the Philippines and the Asian mainland. Some of the captured crew were killed on 14 December 1944 in the
Palawan massacre.
A total of 212 crewmen were declared killed or
missing in action
Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...
. In 1944, Japanese salvage ships ''
Kamikaze Maru No. 7'' and ''
Kamikaze Maru No. 5'' unsuccessfully tried to raise her.
Awards
*
Combat Action Ribbon
The Combat Action Ribbon (CAR, ), is a high precedence United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States Marine Corps military decoration awarded to United States sea service members "who have actively participated in ground or sur ...
*
Yangtze Service Medal
The Yangtze Service Medal is a decoration of the United States military which was created in 1930 for presentation to members of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps (and to a lesser extent, members of the United States Army). Th ...
*
China Service Medal
The China Service Medal was a service medal awarded to U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel. The medal was instituted by Navy Department General Order No. 176 on 1 July 1942. The medal recognized service in and around China before a ...
*
American Defense Service Medal
The American Defense Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by , by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on June 28, 1941.
The medal was intended to recognize those military service members who had served ...
with "FLEET" clasp
*
Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal is a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was created ...
with one
battle star
A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...
*
World War II Victory Medal
The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945.
The Wor ...
*
Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation
The Philippine Presidential Unit citation BadgeThe AFP Adjutant General, ''Awards and Decorations Handbook'', 1997, OTAG, p. 65. is a unit decoration of the Republic of the Philippines. It has been awarded to certain units of the United States mil ...
*
Philippine Defense Medal
The Philippine Defense Medal is a military award and decoration of the Republic of the Philippines which is awarded to recognize the initial resistance against Japanese invasion between the dates of 8 December 1941 and 15 June 1942. The award was ...
References
*
External links
*
On Eternal Patrol USS ''Canopus'' Crew list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canopus
Submarine tenders of the United States Navy
World War II shipwrecks in the South China Sea
1918 ships
Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Maritime incidents in April 1942
Scuttled vessels
Shipwrecks of the Philippines
Shipwrecks in Manila Bay