USS ''S-44'' (SS-155) was a third-group (''S-42'')
S-class submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
of 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 ...
.
Construction and commissioning
''S-44''′s
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
on 19 February 1921 by the
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co ...
's
Fore River Shipyard
Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901 ...
in
Quincy,
. She was
launched on 27 October 1923, sponsored by Mrs. H. E. Grieshaber, and was
commissioned on 16 February 1925.
Service history
1924–1941
''S-44'' operated off the New England coast into the summer of 1925. In late August, she departed
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...
, for
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
and on 5 September arrived 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 ...
to join Submarine Division (SubDiv) 19. With the division, she conducted training exercises, participated in fleet exercises and joint Army-Navy maneuvers, and made good will visits to various Caribbean and Pacific, Latin American ports until the spring of 1927. From that time to December 1930, she operated out of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
with her division, interrupting exercises off southern California twice for fleet problems in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
an waters.
In December 1930, the S-boat was transferred to Hawaii where her division, now SubDiv 11, was home ported for four years. The boats then returned to San Diego, California and in 1937 were shifted back to Coco Solo.
World War II
In the spring of 1941, as American involvement in World War II increased, the Panama S-boats were ordered back to the east coast for overhaul. With
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
s and , ''S-44'' proceeded to
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...
, and in November went to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, where the work was completed.
Trials took ''S-44'' into the new year, and on 7 January 1942, she got underway for Panama. Arriving on 16 January, she departed
Balboa on 24 January with , , and , to conduct a security patrol in the western approaches to the canal. Within a few hours, however, she was engaged in rescue operations for ''S-26'', which had been rammed and sunk by submarine chaser
''PC-460''.
First patrol, March 1942
From Panama, the division (now SubDiv 53) was ordered to the southwest Pacific. Starting across the Pacific in early March, the boats reached
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
in mid-April, and within ten days, ''S-44'' was on her first war patrol. She cleared
Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
on 24 April. Three days later, her port engine went out of commission, but 36 hours of hard work and ingenuity put it back in operation. On 29 April, she began running submerged during the day and surfacing at night to recharge batteries and allow fresh air into the non-air-conditioned boat. By 2 May, she was in her patrol area,
New Britain
New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...
-
New Ireland waters. Six days later, she sighted a ship through a haze of rain and launched two torpedoes which missed. She attempted to close the range. However the surface ship easily outdistanced her. The next afternoon, she attempted to close on a Japanese
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
, east of
Adler Bay, but again was easily outrun. On 10 May, off
Cape St. George, she closed on another target but was sighted and attacked.
In late afternoon of 12 May, from the cape, she encountered a merchantman and a
trawler escort. For the first time, the weather, her position, and the target's course were all in her favor. She launched four torpedoes while surfaced and hit with two. She then submerged. ''Shoei Maru'', a salvage vessel of over 5,000 tons was sunk. The Japanese escort attacked ''S-44'' and dropped sixteen or more
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s, none of which was close. On 14 May, ''S-44'' headed home, arriving at Brisbane on 23 May.
2nd patrol, June 1942
Another overhaul followed, and on 7 June she left of Moreton Bay on a course for the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...
. Within the week, she was on patrol off
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...
, operating from there to
Savo
Savo may refer to:
Languages
* Savo dialect, forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia
* Savo language, an endangered language spoken on Savo
People
* Savo (given name), a masculine given name from southern Europe (includes a list of people ...
and
Florida Island
The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state (since 1978) in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
The chain is composed of four larger islands and about ...
. A few days later, she shifted south of Guadalcanal and on 21 June sank the converted
gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.
History Pre-steam ...
''
Keijo Maru''. At 14:15, ''S-44'' fired her torpedoes. Just three minutes later the enemy aircraft dropped a bomb which exploded close to the submarine, bending the holding latch to the
conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
and allowing in 30 gallons of sea water. This damaged the depth gauges, the
gyrocompass
A gyrocompass is a type of non-magnetic compass which is based on a fast-spinning disc and the rotation of the Earth (or another planetary body if used elsewhere in the universe) to find geographical direction automatically. The use of a gyroc ...
, and the ice machine, besides causing leaks. The number-one periscope was thought to be damaged; but when the submarine surfaced a Japanese seaman's coat was found wrapped around its head.
Three days later, ''S-44'' was in
Lunga Roads. On 26 June, poor weather set in and blanketed the area until she turned for home. She departed her patrol area on 29 June and arrived at Moreton Bay on 5 July.
3rd patrol, July 1942
''S-44'' departed Brisbane on 24 July. Cloudy weather with squalls set in. On 31 July, she commenced patrolling the
Rabaul
Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...
-
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...
shipping lanes. The next day, she sighted a convoy off Cape St. George, but heavy swells hindered depth control and speed, and prevented her from attacking. From Cape St. George, ''S-44'' moved up the east coast of
New Ireland to
North Cape and
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248.
Kavi ...
, where she waited.
On 7 August, the American offensive opened with landing of the
1st Marine Division on the beaches of the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. On 9 August, off Savo Island, Cruiser Division 6 of the
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
had inflicted one of the
worst defeats of the war on American and Australian surface ships.
The next morning, the victorious enemy
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
s neared Kavieng, bound for home. At 07:50, ''S-44'' sighted the formation of four heavy cruisers at less than . At 08:06, she fired four
Mark 10 torpedo
The Mark 10 torpedo was a torpedo put into use by the United States in 1915. It was derived from the Mark 9 aircraft torpedo converted to submarine use. It was used as the primary torpedo in the R- and S-class submarines. (Seven of the R-class, ...
es at the rear ship, only away. By 08:08, three torpedoes had exploded and the
heavy cruiser ''Kako'' was sinking. ''S-44'' had claimed the largest Japanese
man-of-war
The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed wi ...
in the Pacific War to date.
Three days later, ''S-44'' was again fighting heavy swells. Her damaged bow planes required three hours to rig out, where they were left. On 23 August, she moored at Brisbane. With one ship sunk on each patrol so far, she set a record no other S-boat would match.
4th patrol, September 1942
On 17 September, now in the hands of
Reuben Whitaker, ''S-44'' began her fourth war patrol. The following day, a
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
fire blazed in her forward battery compartment, but was extinguished in three minutes. On 22 September, she began surfacing only at night, and, two days later, took patrol station off
New Georgia
New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the 200th-largest island in the world.
Geography
New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of ...
to interdict Japan's Faisi-Guadalcanal supply line. During the patrol, her hunting was hindered by Japanese aerial and surface antisubmarine patrols and her own operational capabilities, which were further limited by material defects and damage inflicted during depth chargings.
On the morning of 4 October, she attacked a destroyer, then survived an intensive depth charge attack with seemingly minor damage. When she submerged the next day, however, the submarine began taking water. She surfaced, made repairs, then submerged to . Leaks were found in her motor room and torpedo room
flapper
Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptab ...
s. The latter were jacked shut, but the former continued spraying water onto both motors. Within an hour, four Japanese destroyers had moved into the area. ''S-44'' went to . The leak worsened. The motors were covered in canvas and sheet rubber and the crew waited for the destroyers to pass over her position. As they disappeared, ''S-44'' moved up to and repairs were made on the flapper. That night, further repairs were made while the ship was surfaced off
Santa Isabel Island
Santa Isabel Island (also known as Isabel, Ysabel and Mahaga) is the longest in Solomon Islands, the third largest in terms of surface area, and the largest in the group of islands in Isabel Province.
Location and geographic data
Choiseul lies t ...
; and, by midnight, the S-boat was en route back to her patrol area. On 7 October, bad weather set in; and, on 8 October, she departed the area, arriving in Moreton Bay on 14 October.
Overhaul
A month later, ''S-44'' departed Brisbane and headed back to the United States. In early January 1943, she transited the Panama Canal, then moved across the Caribbean Sea and up the Atlantic seaboard to Philadelphia. There, from April to June, she underwent overhaul; and, in July, she retransited the Canal en route to San Diego and the
Aleutian Islands
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...
.
Fifth patrol, September 1943
She arrived at
Dutch Harbor
Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during Worl ...
on 16 September. On 26 September, she departed
Attu on her last war patrol. One day out, while en route to her operating area in the northern
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...
, she was spotted and attacked by a Japanese patrol plane. Suffering no damage, she continued west. On the night of 7 October, she made radar contact with what she thought was a "small merchantman" and closed for a surface attack. Several hundred yards from the target, her deck gun fired and was answered by a salvo. The "small merchantman" in fact was the escort . An emergency dive was ordered, but the submarine failed to submerge. She then took several hits in the control room, below the waterline in the after battery room,
[Blair, p.420.] and elsewhere.
Reluctantly, ''S-44'' was ordered abandoned. A pillow case was raised from the forward battery room hatch as a flag of surrender, but the Japanese shelling continued. Only two men escaped the sinking vessel. They were taken first to
Paramushiro
Paramushir (russian: Парамушир, Paramushir, ja, 幌筵島, Paramushiru-tō, ain, パラムシㇼ, translit=Para=mu=sir) is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Oc ...
, then to the Naval Interrogation Camp at
Ōfuna. The two men spent the last year of World War II working in the
Ashio copper mine
The was a copper mine located in the town of Ashio, Tochigi (now part of the city of Nikkō, Tochigi), in the northern Kantō region of Japan. It was the site of Japan's first major pollution disaster in the 1880s and the scene of the 1907 min ...
s and survived to be repatriated by the Allies at the end of the war.
Awards
*
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 ...
*
American Campaign Medal
The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perfo ...
*
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two
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 ...
s
*
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 ...
References
External links
On Eternal Patrol: USS S-44
{{DEFAULTSORT:S-44
United States S-class submarines
World War II submarines of the United States
S-44, USS
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean
Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts
1923 ships
Ships of the Aleutian Islands campaign
Maritime incidents in October 1943
Submarines sunk by Japanese warships