Hellcats (10 page)
Authors: Peter Sasgen
He found it on July 8, when the
Bonefish
picked up a convoy of four escorted ships making a sortie through an interisland channel off Cape Mangkalihat. Edge made a high-speed submerged end around to reach a position ahead of the convoy, a maneuver that required nearly five hours to complete. As the
Bonefish
's tracking party followed the convoy's movements, they input fire-control dataâthe convoy's range, bearing, speed, and other essentialsâinto the sub's Torpedo Data Computer (TDC). A mechanical analog computer, the TDC solved the complex mathematical equations associated with firing torpedoes from a moving submarine at a moving target and hitting it. The TDC didn't guarantee success; it just made the job easier.
Bonefish
picked up a convoy of four escorted ships making a sortie through an interisland channel off Cape Mangkalihat. Edge made a high-speed submerged end around to reach a position ahead of the convoy, a maneuver that required nearly five hours to complete. As the
Bonefish
's tracking party followed the convoy's movements, they input fire-control dataâthe convoy's range, bearing, speed, and other essentialsâinto the sub's Torpedo Data Computer (TDC). A mechanical analog computer, the TDC solved the complex mathematical equations associated with firing torpedoes from a moving submarine at a moving target and hitting it. The TDC didn't guarantee success; it just made the job easier.
After sidestepping a group of slow-moving single-masted luggers, Edge swung the
Bonefish
around to fire torpedoes from the stern tubes. If the attack proved successful and all hell broke loose in the convoy, it would cover the sub's withdrawal. If a follow-up attack was necessary to finish the job, he'd swing around to fire torpedoes from the bow tubes before the convoy broke up and fled.
Bonefish
around to fire torpedoes from the stern tubes. If the attack proved successful and all hell broke loose in the convoy, it would cover the sub's withdrawal. If a follow-up attack was necessary to finish the job, he'd swing around to fire torpedoes from the bow tubes before the convoy broke up and fled.
The TDC's angle solver and position keeper hummed and whirred as the
Bonefish
closed in. When the machine's “correct solution” light flashed green, the executive officer, in charge of fire control, bawled, “Shoot anytime, Captain!”
Bonefish
closed in. When the machine's “correct solution” light flashed green, the executive officer, in charge of fire control, bawled, “Shoot anytime, Captain!”
Edge motioned with both thumbs. “Up scope!” A quick look revealed that the ship he'd chosen to torpedo would cross the
Bonefish
's stern in about a minute. The TDC said that he had to shoot now or else lose it.
Bonefish
's stern in about a minute. The TDC said that he had to shoot now or else lose it.
“Fire . . . !”
The
Bonefish
lurched once, twice, three times as her torpedoes lunged for the target.
Bonefish
lurched once, twice, three times as her torpedoes lunged for the target.
Edge saw three streaking wakes emerge from the
Bonefish
's stern even as the soundman, headphones clamped to his ears, reported hearing the tin fish running hot, straight, and normal. Edge and his crew waited expectantly, if not patiently, for the torpedoes to reach their target.
Bonefish
's stern even as the soundman, headphones clamped to his ears, reported hearing the tin fish running hot, straight, and normal. Edge and his crew waited expectantly, if not patiently, for the torpedoes to reach their target.
“Captain, torpedo noises mingling with target screw noises.”
Edge looked at the passing parade of darkened ships and saw ... nothing. The
marus
and escorts continued merrily on their way, apparently unaware that they had escaped being torpedoed.
marus
and escorts continued merrily on their way, apparently unaware that they had escaped being torpedoed.
Edge didn't hesitate a beat. After a quick TDC setup he swung the
Bonefish
around, fired five torpedoes from the bow tubes at a second target, then, rudder hard over, veered away from the convoy. Five bubbling torpedo wakes spread like fingers, headed for the target. An escort spotted them, heeled around, and, stack belching black smoke, bow cutting water like a knife blade, barreled straight in after the
Bonefish
. It was time to dunk the scope and go deep!
What about those fish?
Still nothing. The escort's screws beat a steady inbound rhythm until her skipper veered away, wary of taking a sixth torpedo in his snout.
Bonefish
around, fired five torpedoes from the bow tubes at a second target, then, rudder hard over, veered away from the convoy. Five bubbling torpedo wakes spread like fingers, headed for the target. An escort spotted them, heeled around, and, stack belching black smoke, bow cutting water like a knife blade, barreled straight in after the
Bonefish
. It was time to dunk the scope and go deep!
What about those fish?
Still nothing. The escort's screws beat a steady inbound rhythm until her skipper veered away, wary of taking a sixth torpedo in his snout.
Running deep, the
Bonefish
evaded detection. Meanwhile, before Edge could regroup for another attack, the convoy hightailed it out of sight. All he could do was shake his head: eight torpedoes fired with nothing to show for it.
c
Edge reported that he and his men were “feeling mean enough ... to bite any Japs on sight.”
Bonefish
evaded detection. Meanwhile, before Edge could regroup for another attack, the convoy hightailed it out of sight. All he could do was shake his head: eight torpedoes fired with nothing to show for it.
c
Edge reported that he and his men were “feeling mean enough ... to bite any Japs on sight.”
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Ten days later, patrolling east
of Palawan at midnight,
radar contact!
The officer of the deck (OOD) reported the target's vitals: range, bearing, speed. “Station the tracking party,” Edge ordered.
of Palawan at midnight,
radar contact!
The officer of the deck (OOD) reported the target's vitals: range, bearing, speed. “Station the tracking party,” Edge ordered.
He started the pursuit on a course parallel to the target, then slowly closed in to identify it. A night dark as ink, with heavy overcast and fast-moving rain squalls, made a visual identification impossible, though the size and strength of the target's radar blip indicated it was worth a torpedo.
While the tracking party kept the TDC updated with radar ranges and bearings, the chase unfolded across miles of ocean. Time dragged. Two hours after the initial contact, the
Bonefish
arrived at a favorable firing position, though Edge still hadn't seen the target. No matter; he had the setup pictured in his mindâthe target's course, angle on the bow, distance to the track, all of it.
Bonefish
arrived at a favorable firing position, though Edge still hadn't seen the target. No matter; he had the setup pictured in his mindâthe target's course, angle on the bow, distance to the track, all of it.
Battle stations torpedo!
As the
Bonefish
closed in, Edge ordered: “Make ready all tubes! Open outer doors. Stand by forward! Stand by One.”
Bonefish
closed in, Edge ordered: “Make ready all tubes! Open outer doors. Stand by forward! Stand by One.”
The sailor facing the torpedo firing plungers numbered One through Six stood ready at Edge's order to slap them home.
Once again the exec at the TDC with its clicking machinery reported, “Shoot anytime, Captain.”
“Fire One!”
In quick succession three torpedoes howled out of their tubes. Two veered off on erratic runs.
Damn the tin fish!
There was no hope for them; they were long gone who knew where? A stopwatch thumbed by the exec timed the sixty-second run of the third straight-running fish. Sixty seconds dragged like sixty hours.
Damn the tin fish!
There was no hope for them; they were long gone who knew where? A stopwatch thumbed by the exec timed the sixty-second run of the third straight-running fish. Sixty seconds dragged like sixty hours.
Edge, on the bridge peering into a seemingly impenetrable curtain of ink, had almost given up hope for the third torpedo. Then a bright flash followed by a sharp boom signaled success. After ten straight misses Edge had the satisfaction of seeing and hearing a
Bonefish
torpedo blast a hole in the hull of an enemy ship. He watched it sink under an oil slick and a vast mat of floating wreckage.
Bonefish
torpedo blast a hole in the hull of an enemy ship. He watched it sink under an oil slick and a vast mat of floating wreckage.
After the attack the
Bonefish
maneuvered carefully through a sea covered with lumber, straw mattresses, capsized and wrecked lifeboats. In the middle of this mess she nosed alongside a group of twenty-five oil-soaked survivors clinging to debris. Somehow Edge coaxed aboard the sub one of the men too exhausted to swim away. Japanese rarely submitted to being taken prisoner at sea, preferring to drown themselves than undergo the dishonor of capture by the enemy. In passable English the man claimed he was the ship's boatswain and that she was bound from Negros to Manila with a crew of thirty-two plus 124 naval ratings and six officers, most of whom had drowned. Edge cleared the area, keeping the prisoner for interrogation by Navy intelligence back at Fremantle.
Bonefish
maneuvered carefully through a sea covered with lumber, straw mattresses, capsized and wrecked lifeboats. In the middle of this mess she nosed alongside a group of twenty-five oil-soaked survivors clinging to debris. Somehow Edge coaxed aboard the sub one of the men too exhausted to swim away. Japanese rarely submitted to being taken prisoner at sea, preferring to drown themselves than undergo the dishonor of capture by the enemy. In passable English the man claimed he was the ship's boatswain and that she was bound from Negros to Manila with a crew of thirty-two plus 124 naval ratings and six officers, most of whom had drowned. Edge cleared the area, keeping the prisoner for interrogation by Navy intelligence back at Fremantle.
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The night of July 30,
Edge attacked another convoy. This time the escorts,
Chidori
-type torpedo boats and a destroyer, detected the
Bonefish
and held her down long enough to allow the convoy to escape. If they thought Edge would slink away, they were wrong.
Edge attacked another convoy. This time the escorts,
Chidori
-type torpedo boats and a destroyer, detected the
Bonefish
and held her down long enough to allow the convoy to escape. If they thought Edge would slink away, they were wrong.
Edge chased the convoy and caught up with it. Working in from a parallel track, he allowed the leading starboard escort, the destroyer, to go on by. Then he cut in behind it to fire torpedoes at the main convoy body. On the bridge Edge saw four evenly spaced torpedoes explode against the hull of an oil tanker. “Four beautiful hits seen, heard, felt, and timed [Edge reported], with two equally forceful internal explosions likewise recorded.... Near perfect torpedo performance if ever we had seen it.”
Edge hauled out as the escorts began dropping depth charges on what they thought was the submerged
Bonefish
. “Felt sorry for any survivors in the water. Four more depth charges; they sound much better [when we're on the surface] than down below.”
4
Bonefish
. “Felt sorry for any survivors in the water. Four more depth charges; they sound much better [when we're on the surface] than down below.”
4
In between chasing and torpedoing ships, the
Bonefish
's gun crews shot up and sank five miscellaneous luggers and sailboats. Edge had orders to be on the lookout for any vessels doubling as submarine spotters. These were usually large twin-masted sailboats with radio antennas strung between their masts. Though these and other small craft often looked more like innocent fishing vessels than spotters, it was hard to tell from a distance. Overhauling and boarding them was risky work. The armed
Bonefish
boarding parties had no way to know whether their crews were friendly Filipinos, Malayans, or Chinese, or whether they were Japanese, armed and ready to put up a fight.
Bonefish
's gun crews shot up and sank five miscellaneous luggers and sailboats. Edge had orders to be on the lookout for any vessels doubling as submarine spotters. These were usually large twin-masted sailboats with radio antennas strung between their masts. Though these and other small craft often looked more like innocent fishing vessels than spotters, it was hard to tell from a distance. Overhauling and boarding them was risky work. The armed
Bonefish
boarding parties had no way to know whether their crews were friendly Filipinos, Malayans, or Chinese, or whether they were Japanese, armed and ready to put up a fight.
Typically the
Bonefish
, her deck guns manned, approached a suspect boat, circling it as the boat's crew doused sails in preparation for being boarded. Sometimes it took bursts from the sub's .50-caliber machine guns to convince them that Edge meant business. In a battle-surface encounter with a large, motorized two-masted schooner that refused to heave to for boarding, the
Bonefish
's gun crews laid down a barrage that splintered the boat's hull and deckhouses and blew up a load of fuel drums. Some boats fought back. A pair of small wooden cargo vessels returned fire with a machine gun, bullets zinging off the
Bonefish
's hull. Another vessel, though holed by four-inch rounds, tried to ram. The
Bonefish
's gunner's mates made short work of it, pumping in round after round until, with its topsides ablaze, the vessel drifted away to sink.
Bonefish
, her deck guns manned, approached a suspect boat, circling it as the boat's crew doused sails in preparation for being boarded. Sometimes it took bursts from the sub's .50-caliber machine guns to convince them that Edge meant business. In a battle-surface encounter with a large, motorized two-masted schooner that refused to heave to for boarding, the
Bonefish
's gun crews laid down a barrage that splintered the boat's hull and deckhouses and blew up a load of fuel drums. Some boats fought back. A pair of small wooden cargo vessels returned fire with a machine gun, bullets zinging off the
Bonefish
's hull. Another vessel, though holed by four-inch rounds, tried to ram. The
Bonefish
's gunner's mates made short work of it, pumping in round after round until, with its topsides ablaze, the vessel drifted away to sink.
Edge soon discovered that among all the small craft plying the waters south of the Philippines, few were spotters. Most were crewed by friendly Filipinos fleeing the Japanese. Those who spoke a little English were eager to provide Edge with information about Japanese ship movements in the area. In return, Edge, with little in the way of provisions to spare, gave them fresh water, packs of cigarettes, a little food, and in one case nine hand grenades from the
Bonefish
's armory.
Bonefish
's armory.
Edge reported that later in the patrol,
[O]ne of the vessels [we] stopped looked harmless at close quarters, with only brown-skinned crew showing. The complement consisted of eight men. Two women, and one baby (prominently displayed, age about eight months). They hailed as best as we could make out from Macassar, no English spoken. She carried no cargo other than own food and water, and a few boxes of Javanese cigarettes made at Soerabia. A check disclosed considerable money in the form of Japanese-issue guilders, and a ledger indicating that the boat had called at Macassar, Soerabia, Batavia, and Tarakan. Upon our approach the crew had not hidden, but lowered sail without any show of force on our part and willingly helped bring the boat alongside by tending lines. They appeared friendly in every way. Wished we had something to leave them as a parting gift, but [there was] nothing we could spare, whereas we were offered both cigarettes and money.
5
5
The
Bonefish
's crew and the Filipinos waved good-bye and departed friends.
Bonefish
's crew and the Filipinos waved good-bye and departed friends.
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Midday August 2, as the
submerged
Bonefish
eased south along the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao, the masts of three ships escorted by circling airplanes lumbered into view. They turned into a five-ship convoy consisting of one large empty tanker, a medium-to-large freighter, and three smaller ships providing escort.
Battle stations submerged!
submerged
Bonefish
eased south along the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao, the masts of three ships escorted by circling airplanes lumbered into view. They turned into a five-ship convoy consisting of one large empty tanker, a medium-to-large freighter, and three smaller ships providing escort.
Battle stations submerged!
Edge tracked the targets, careful to minimize periscope exposure to avoid detection by the circling planes. He bored in on the tanker's starboard flank, confident that her escorts and the circling planes hadn't spotted the stalking
Bonefish
. He swung right, fired three stern tubes from very long range, 1,700 yards, then swung left, ready for a bow shot if needed. Stopwatches timed the runs. Sonar reported hearing only two fish, not three. Edge just shook his head. But an explosion 1,600 yards into the run signaled successâor was it premature or a bomb dropped from one of those circling planes?
Bonefish
. He swung right, fired three stern tubes from very long range, 1,700 yards, then swung left, ready for a bow shot if needed. Stopwatches timed the runs. Sonar reported hearing only two fish, not three. Edge just shook his head. But an explosion 1,600 yards into the run signaled successâor was it premature or a bomb dropped from one of those circling planes?
“Up scope!” Edge reported a solo hit on the tanker. It had damaged her, but not enough to sink her. Once again erratic torpedo performance had marred a successful attack.
Edge spun the scope for a quick look around and saw the panicked escorts rushing to and fro, an indication that a hunt for the
Bonefish
was under way. But it proved a half hearted one that quickly ended as the scattered convoy cleared the area.
Bonefish
was under way. But it proved a half hearted one that quickly ended as the scattered convoy cleared the area.
Determined to finish off the tanker, Edge started an end around to get out in front of the convoy to attack as it plowed south. The end around chewed up almost thirteen hours and it wasn't until two the next morning that radar picked up the convoy disposed in a ragged column paralleling the Zamboanga coast near the Basilan Strait.
The tanker Edge had damaged earlier, her unmistakable silhouette masked somewhat by the dark land background, had two shepherding escorts stationed port and starboard. Edge waited until the moon set behind thick clouds; then, with the
Bonefish
flooded down, decks awash to minimize her silhouette, he came in fast on four roaring engines, wary that the
Bonefish
's bow wave glowing white in the phosphorescent sea might be spotted by an alert lookout on the outriding escort.
Bonefish
flooded down, decks awash to minimize her silhouette, he came in fast on four roaring engines, wary that the
Bonefish
's bow wave glowing white in the phosphorescent sea might be spotted by an alert lookout on the outriding escort.
Edge ran the
Bonefish
parallel to the target's track while he waited for the escort to go by. When it did, he swung the sub's nose toward the tanker.
Bonefish
parallel to the target's track while he waited for the escort to go by. When it did, he swung the sub's nose toward the tanker.
Edge directed the attack from the bridge, where he could see the ships, dark, blocky shapes darker than the Zamboanga peninsula behind them. He bawled orders into the bridge speaker to the attack team below in the conning tower. “Left full rudder!” The
Bonefish
heeled onto a new course. “Steady as she goes!” Arrow straight, bow pointed directly at the tanker's side looming up ahead, the
Bonefish
bored in.
Bonefish
heeled onto a new course. “Steady as she goes!” Arrow straight, bow pointed directly at the tanker's side looming up ahead, the
Bonefish
bored in.
“Fire One ...! Fire Two ...! Three ...! Four ...! Left full rudder! All ahead flank!”
Torpedoes fired, the partially awash
Bonefish
rose from the sea as her howling low-pressure blowers forced water out of flooded ballast tanks. Retrimmed for high-speed cruising on the surface, she wheeled around and pulled away. In her wake four white bubble trails converged on the tanker.
Bonefish
rose from the sea as her howling low-pressure blowers forced water out of flooded ballast tanks. Retrimmed for high-speed cruising on the surface, she wheeled around and pulled away. In her wake four white bubble trails converged on the tanker.
Looking aft, Edge counted down the seconds. The fish should be there by now.... A miss! Another miss! And another! ...
What about number four ...?
He saw a small flash erupt at the tanker's waterline, then a white geyser taller than her bow. A hit! A signal lamp on one of the ships began to flash an indecipherable message to the rest of the convoy. If it was a warning, it came too late.
What about number four ...?
He saw a small flash erupt at the tanker's waterline, then a white geyser taller than her bow. A hit! A signal lamp on one of the ships began to flash an indecipherable message to the rest of the convoy. If it was a warning, it came too late.
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