USS Nautilus (SS-168)

USS ''Nautilus'' (SF-9/SS-168), a and one of the "V-boats", was the third ship of the United States Navy to bear the name.

Construction and commissioning

''Nautilus'' was originally named and designated ''V-6'' (SF-9), but was redesignated and given hull classification symbol SC-2 on 11 February 1925. Her keel was laid on 10 May 1927 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California. She was launched on 15 March 1930 sponsored by Miss Joan Keesling, and commissioned on 1 July 1930. It was the first of many submarines built at Mare Island CA.

Design

The configuration of ''V-4'', ''V-5'', and ''V-6'' resulted from an evolving strategic concept that increasingly emphasized the possibility of a naval war with Japan in the far western Pacific. This factor, and the implications of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, suggested the need for long-range submarine "cruisers", or "strategic scouts", as well as long-range minelayers, for which long endurance, not high speed, was most important. The design was possibly influenced by the German "U-cruisers" of the Type U-139 and Type U-151 U-boat classes, although ''V-4'', ''V-5'', and ''V-6'' were all larger than these. A raised gun platform was provided around the conning tower, and deck stowage for spare torpedoes was included under the platform and in the superstructure. ''V-6'' and her near-sisters ''V-4'' () and ''V-5'' () were initially designed with larger and more powerful MAN-designed diesel engines than the Busch-Sulzer engines that propelled earlier V-boats, which were failures. Unfortunately, the specially-built engines failed to produce their design power, and some developed dangerous crankcase explosions. The engineering plant was replaced in 1941-42.

The as-built engine specifications were two BuEng-built, MAN-designed direct-drive 10-cylinder 4-cycle main diesel engines, each, with two BuEng MANAlden, p.210. 4-cycle 6-cylinder auxiliary diesel engines, each, driving electrical generators. The auxiliary engines were for charging batteries or for increased surface speed via a diesel-electric system providing power to the main electric motors.

Similar to her sister built at Portsmouth, V-6 was built to a partial welded/partial riveted construction method. Welding was used to join the vertical keel plates, and also in other non-critical areas like the superstructure, piping brackets, and support framing. The inner and outer hulls were still entirely riveted.

Inter-war period

''V-6'' operated out of New London, conducting special submergence tests, until March 1931. She was renamed ''Nautilus'' on 19 February and given hull number SS-168 on 1 July. She proceeded to Pearl Harbor where she became flagship of Submarine Division 12 (SubDiv 12). Reassigned to SubDiv 13 at San Diego, California, 1935–1938, then re-homeported at Pearl Harbor, she maintained a regular schedule of training activities and fleet exercises and problems throughout the decade. In July 1941, she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for modernization – radio equipment, external torpedo tubes (two bow and two stern-firing in the gun deck), re-engining (with four Winton diesels),''U.S. Submarines Through 1945'' pp. 261 and air conditioning – until the following spring.

First patrol – the Battle of Midway

She departed San Francisco, California, on 21 April 1942, reaching Pearl Harbor on 28 April. On 24 May, ''Nautilus'' (commanded by Lieutenant Commander William H. Brockman Jr.) got underway for her first war patrol, to Midway Island to help repel the expected attack by the Japanese fleet.

At 07:55, 4 June, while approaching the northern boundary of her patrol area near Midway Island, she sighted masts on the horizon. Japanese planes sighted the submarine at the same time and began strafing. After diving to , she continued observation. At 08:00, a formation of four enemy ships was sighted: the battleship , the cruiser , and two destroyers (misidentified, as they often were early in the war, as cruisers) in company. Within minutes the submarine was again sighted from the air and was bombed. Two of the "cruisers" closed for a kill and nine depth charges were dropped at a distance of about .

When the attack ceased, ''Nautilus'' rose to periscope depth. Ships surrounded her. Sighting on ''Kirishima'', she fired two bow tubes; one misfired, one missed. At 08:30, a destroyer immediately headed for the boat, which dived to to wait out the depth charge attack. At 08:46, periscope depth was again ordered. The cruiser and two of the destroyers were now out of range; echo ranging by the third appeared too accurate for comfort. At 09:00, the periscope was raised again and an aircraft carrier was sighted. ''Nautilus'' changed course to close for an attack. The enemy destroyer followed suit and at 09:18 attacked with six depth charges.

By 09:55 echo ranging ceased and ''Nautilus'' raised her periscope. The carrier, her escorts, and the attacking destroyer had disappeared. (Unbeknownst to her skipper at the time, the counter-attacking , in her rush to rejoin the carrier, was tracked by 's VB-6, led by Wade McClusky, back to the Japanese task force.) At 12:53, a damaged aircraft carrier with two escorts was sighted. The carrier was identified as , but later research suggests it was probably . An hour later, ''Nautilus'' had moved into attack position. Between 13:59 and 14:05, after the battle was largely over, ''Nautilus'' launched four torpedoes at the carrier from less than . One failed to run, two ran erratically, and the fourth was a dud (a familiar problem for the Mark XIV), impacting amidships and breaking in half. ''Nautilus'' reported flames appeared along the length of the ship as the first hit, and the skeleton crew which had been aboard (survivors of which reported no torpedo hit) began going over the side, with the air flask of the dud torpedo acting as a life preserver for Japanese sailors.

''Nautilus'' went to as a prolonged depth charge attack commenced. At 16:10, the submarine rose to periscope depth. The carrier, burning along her entire length, had been abandoned. At 19:41, ''Nautilus'' resumed her patrol, having expended five torpedoes and survived 42 depth charges, but accomplished little of substance. (Not until much later was the importance of her attack on the battleship, and its connection to McClusky, recognized.)Lord, ''Incredible Victory'' p. 213; Parshall & Tully, ''Shattered Sword'', pp.302–303. Brockman was awarded a Navy Cross for his actions.

Between 7 June and 9 June, ''Nautilus'' replenished at Midway Island and then resumed her patrol to the west. By 20 June, she was operating off Honshū at the northern end of the Tokyo-Marshall Islands supply route. On 22 June, she damaged a destroyer guarding the entrance to the Sagami Sea off Ōshima. Three days later, she sank the destroyer and damaged an oil tanker. On 27 June, she sent a sampan to the bottom and on 28 June, after damaging a merchantman, underwent her severest depth charging, which forced her back to Pearl Harbor for repairs, 11 July to 7 August.

Second patrol – the Makin Raid

''Nautilus'' departed Hawaiian waters for her second war patrol, a special troop transport mission of three weeks duration, 8 August. Sailing with submarine and carrying the Second Raider Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson (the Marine Raiders, or "Carlson's Raiders") she arrived off Makin Atoll on 16 August to stage a raid to divert Japanese attention from the Solomon Islands. Early the following morning, she sent the Raiders ashore on Butaritari Island in rubber boats rigged with outboard motors. At 07:03, she provided gunfire support against enemy positions at Ukiangong Point on Butaritari and shelled enemy ships in the lagoon, sinking two, a troop barge and a patrol boat. At 10:39, an enemy plane appeared and ''Nautilus'' dove. Two aerial attacks followed at 11:30 and at 12:55. The latter flight was made up of 12 planes, two of which landed in the lagoon to discharge troops. About 35 of the reinforcements made it to shore to fire on the Americans.

The Marines began to withdraw at 17:00. At 19:00, they launched their boats. Many were unable to clear the breakers without the aid of their damaged outboards. Only seven boats and less than 100 men returned that night. The remainder, less nine who were later captured and executed, discovered there were no Japanese left to fight and crossed to the lagoon side, whence they headed for the submarine after nightfall on 18 August. Thinking all surviving marines were on board, ''Nautilus'' and ''Argonaut'' set course for Pearl Harbor, arriving 25 August.

3rd–5th patrols, September 1942 – April 1943

On her third war patrol, from 15 September to 5 November, ''Nautilus'' returned to Japanese waters to join the submarine blockade chain stretched from the Kurile Islands to the Nansei Shoto. Despite heavy seas, which precluded periscope use and torpedo firing during much of the patrol, and mechanical breakdowns, which impeded approaches to targets, she torpedoed and sank three ''maru''s (Japanese merchant ships) and, in surface action, destroyed three sampans to add over 12,000 tons to her score. On 12 October, however, the patrol became one of her more perilous, as she took a heavy depth charging. Two days later, her crew noticed a slight oil slick in her wake. The hindering seas now protected by breaking up the trace. By 19 October, the leak had enlarged considerably and on 20 October, the first relatively calm day since the depth charging, air leaks were discovered. ''Nautilus'' was leaving a trail for Japanese defense patrols. Moving to a quieter area, with less aerial activity, she continued her patrol until 24 October when she sank ''Kenun Maru'', then headed for home without sighting enemy planes. She reached Midway Island 31 October, performed temporary repairs, and continued on to Pearl Harbor.

During her fourth patrol, conducted in the Solomon Islands from on 13 December 1942 to on 4 February 1943, ''Nautilus'' rescued 26 adults and three children from Teop Harbor on 31 December and 1 January, then added the cargo ship ''Yosinogawa Maru'' to her kills and damaged a tanker, a freighter, and a destroyer. On 4 February, she arrived at Brisbane, debarked her passengers, and sailed for Pearl Harbor. Arriving 15 April, she departed five days later heading north. On 27 April, she put into Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and commenced instructing the 7th Infantry Division Provisional Scout Battalion in amphibious landings. She then embarked 109 Scouts (including Alaskan Native scouts of the Alaska Territorial Guard) and on 1 May, headed for Attu. There, on 11 May, she landed her "passengers" five hours before the main assault.

6th–8th patrols, September 1943 – April 1944

Overhaul at Mare Island occupied most of the summer and on 16 September ''Nautilus'' left Pearl Harbor to spend her sixth war patrol conducting photo-reconnaissance of the Gilbert Islands, concentrating on Tarawa