USS Albacore (SS-218)

USS ''Albacore'' (SS-218) was a ''Gato''-class submarine which served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, winning the Presidential Unit Citation and nine battle stars for her service. During the war, she was credited with sinking 13 Japanese ships (including two destroyers, the light cruiser and the aircraft carrier ) and damaging another five; not all of these credits were confirmed by postwar Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) accounting. She also holds the distinction of sinking the highest warship tonnage of any U.S. submarine. She was lost in 1944, probably sunk by a mine on November 7th, near the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese main islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō.

''Albacore'' was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the albacore.

Construction and commissioning

''Albacore''′s keel was laid on 21 April 1941 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 17 February 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Elise Riles Cutts, and commissioned on 1 June 1942.

Service history

World War II

1942

Following shakedown, the submarine proceeded via the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor and, from that base on 28 August 1942, began her first war patrol, to waters of the north and northeast pass through the coral reef which surrounds Truk. On 13 September, ''Albacore'' sighted two cargo vessels in column and prepared for her first combat action. She made a submerged approach and fired three torpedoes at the leading ship and two at the second. One or two torpedoes hit on the first ship; none struck the second. ''Albacore'' claimed to have damaged the leading vessel.

Her next enemy contact came on 1 October when she made a night surface attack on a Japanese tanker. She expended seven torpedoes and scored two hits. Although the tanker appeared to be low in the water, she was still able to leave the scene under her own power. On 9 October, ''Albacore'' spotted a ''Shōkaku''-class aircraft carrier escorted by a heavy cruiser and a destroyer, but the submarine was depth charged by the escorts and forced to break off her pursuit. The next day, she attacked a freighter. One torpedo hit the mark, and 12 minutes after firing, the sound of two heavy explosions caused the submarine's crew to presume they had downed the vessel.

Beginning on the mid-morning of 11 October, ''Albacore'' was depth charged numerous times. At 1548, the conning officer finally spotted the Japanese attackers, two submarine chasers and an airplane. A third ship equipped with sound gear joined the group and continued the hunt. The ships crisscrossed over ''Albacore'', close enough for propeller noise to reverberate throughout her hull and compelled her to proceed at silent running, with her ventilator fans shut down. After a chase of nearly seven hours, the Japanese ships disappeared astern, and ''Albacore'' then surfaced to clear the immediate area. The next day, ''Albacore'' headed for Midway Island. Although she had had several opportunities to score during the patrol, ''Albacore'' was not credited with any damage to Japanese shipping. The submarine arrived at Midway Island on 20 October and commenced a refit.

With her refurbishing completed and a new Oerlikon 20 mm cannon installed, ''Albacore'' sailed on 11 November for her second patrol. Her assigned areas were the St. George's Channel, New Britain, along the east coast of New Guinea to Vitiaz Strait, and the Dallman Pass off Madang harbor. On 24 November, the submarine spotted a convoy of two cargo vessels. ''Albacore'' maneuvered into position and fired two stern tubes, but neither torpedo found its target. Two days later, on 26 November, ''Albacore'' herself became the quarry. Two Japanese destroyers depth charged her and the explosions caused numerous small leaks around the cable packing glands in the pressure hull. After a two-hour chase, the Japanese retired, and ''Albacore'' shifted her patrol area to Vitiaz Strait. Another golden opportunity arose on 13 December, when ''Albacore'' found three Japanese destroyers. She released a three-torpedo spread but again was unsuccessful. On 18 December, ''Albacore'' was stationed off Madang. The submarine discovered what seemed to be a transport and a destroyer.

''Albacore'' torpedoed the "transport," and it exploded in a mass of flames and sank. ''Albacore'' had in fact downed the light cruiser , the second Japanese cruiser sunk by an American submarine in World War II. ''Albacore'' put into port at Brisbane, Australia, on 30 December.

1943

After an overhaul of her engines, ''Albacore'' got underway on 20 January 1943 to begin her third patrol. Off the north coast of New Guinea, she spotted 11 targets in as many days. The first group, encountered on 20 February, consisted of a destroyer and a frigate escorting a minelayer. ''Albacore'' fired ten torpedoes and believed she had sunk the destroyer, ''Oshio'' and damaged the frigate. In the following days, ''Albacore'' attacked one tanker, several freighters, and another destroyer. Of eight torpedoes expended during these actions, all missed their targets. When ''Albacore'' ended her patrol at Brisbane on 11 March, she was credited with sinking one destroyer and a frigate for a total of 2,250 tons.

''Albacore'' was briefly dry-docked for repairs and underwent refresher training before sailing for a fourth patrol on 6 April. This time, her area was around the Solomon Islands and Bismarck Islands and off the north coast of New Guinea. While she sighted several convoys, she recorded no hits. ''Albacore'' returned to Brisbane on 26 May. While ''Albacore'' was being refitted at that port, Lieutenant Commander Oscar Hagberg took command of the submarine.

On 16 June, ''Albacore'' was underway for her fifth patrol in waters surrounding the Bismarcks and the Solomons. During this patrol, she sighted three separate convoys and attacked two. ''Albacore'' claimed to have damaged a transport on 19 July but the submarine failed to sink any vessels. ''Albacore'' arrived back at Brisbane and began a refit alongside .

On 23 August, ''Albacore'' left to patrol roughly the same area as on her previous assignment. She spotted a Japanese submarine on 31 August but was unable to press home an attack. On 4 September, she encountered a two-ship convoy protected by two escorts and sank one of the ships, the auxiliary gunboat '' Heijo Maru'', with three torpedo hits made shortly after the initial contact. The submarine then pursued the other vessel for the next two days but was able to inflict only minor hull damage on her target. She terminated her patrol at Brisbane on 26 September.

''Albacore''s seventh patrol began on 12 October 1943. She fired six torpedoes at a large merchant ship on 25 October but recorded no hits. On 6 November, she received a report of a convoy which had been spotted by , and began to search for it. On 8 November, the submarine found the convoy and started to track it. However, a plane from the United States Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force bombed and strafed her north-northwest of Mussau Island at Hinman & Campbell, p. 2. and caused her to lose contact with the Japanese ships. Four bombs landed close alongside ''Albacore'' as she submerged to escape the attack, but she sustained no damage.

''Albacore'' was again bombed by an American Fifth Air Force aircraft on 10 November in the northeastern portion of the St. George's Channel southwest of Kavieng, New Ireland at .Hinman & Campbell, pp. 2–3. This time, a four-engine bomber dropped a string of bombs which straddled ''Albacore'', and the submarine suffered considerable damage. All auxiliary power was knocked out, and the submarine was plunged into total darkness. The main induction valve went under water before it was shut, and it began filling up with water. ''Albacore'' plunged to a depth of before her dive was checked. For the next two and one-half hours, she bounced between and while at various attitudes. She finally managed to return to the surface with her trim almost restored. The submarine re-submerged, and it was decided to continue the patrol while simultaneously making necessary repairs.

Following this ordeal, ''Albacore'' received orders to locate and attack the light cruiser , which had been hit and damaged by the submarine . ''Albacore'' found ''Agano'' on 12 November and tried to attack, but Japanese destroyers subjected the submarine to a four-hour depth-charge barrage.

On 25 November, ''Albacore'' sank the Japanese army transport ''Kenzan Maru''.

On her return to Brisbane on 5 December, Lieutenant Commander James W. Blanchard replaced Hagberg in command.

''Albacore'' departed Australia on 26 December to patrol north of the Bismarck Islands. On 12 January 1944, she sank ''Choko Maru'' with two separate torpedo attacks. Two days later, in company with and , she blew up (flushed by ''Guardfish'') with four torpedoes from her stern tubes. Another destroyer attacked ''Albacore'' with fifty-nine depth charges, leaving ''Scamp'' and ''Guardfish'' free to pursue the three tankers; they succeeded in sinking one each. Following more than a fortnight of uneventful patrolling, the submarine headed home. She made brief fuel stops at Tulagi and Midway Island before reaching Pearl Harbor on 22 February. After three days of repairs to get her ready for the voyage, ''Albacore'' continued on to the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California for overhaul.

1944

''Albacore'' left Mare Island on 5 May 1944 and held training exercises with USS ''Shad'' ''en route'' to Hawaii. ''Albacore'' reached Pearl Harbor on 13 May and spent the next two weeks on final repairs and training. ''Albacore'' began her ninth patrol on 29 May, and was assigned waters west of the Mariana Islands and around the Palau Islands. In the next few days, she made only one contact, a Japanese convoy on 11 June. Before the submarine could maneuver into attack position, a Japanese aircraft forced her to dive and lose contact.

Sinking of ''Taihō''

On the morning of 18 June, two days after American forces began landing on Saipan, ''Albacore'' shifted from her position west of the Mariana Islands to further south. Admiral Charles A. Lockwood (ComSubPac) ordered this move in the hope of enabling the submarine to intercept a Japanese task force (under command of Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa) reportedly steaming from Tawi Tawi toward Saipan. At about 0800 the next morning, ''Albacore'' raised her periscope and found herself in the midst of Ozawa's main carrier group. Blanchard allowed one Japanese carrier to pass by and selected a second one for his target. Once inside , the submarine's Torpedo Data Computer started giving false information. To maximize the odds of a hit, Blanchard fired all six bow tubes. The carrier was in the process of launching an air strike, and one of the pilots (Sakio Komatsu) intentionally dove his plane into a torpedo, setting it off early. Three Japanese destroyers immediately charged ''Albacore''. While the submarine was diving to escape, her crew heard one solid torpedo explosion. About that same time, 25 depth charges began raining down on the submarine. Then Blanchard heard "a distant and persistent explosion of great force" followed by another.

No one on ''Albacore'' thought ''Taihō'' had sunk, and her skipper was angry for "missing a golden opportunity." After this action, ''Albacore'' was assigned lifeguard duty for planes striking Yap and Ulithi. On 2 July, ''Albacore'' shifted over to intercept traffic between Yap and the Palau Islands. The submarine spotted a wooden inter-island steamer loaded with Japanese civilians. ''Albacore'' decided to stage a surface gun attack. After ensuring the ship was afire, ''Albacore'' dived to avoid an airplane. The submarine surfaced soon thereafter and picked up five survivors. The sunken vessel was the ''Taimei Maru'' from Yap to Palau.

''Albacore'' put into Majuro on 15 July. She was praised for an aggressive patrol and received credit for damaging a Shōkaku class aircraft carrier, ''Shōkaku''-class carrier. American codebreakers had lost track of ''Taihō'' after the Battle of the Philippine Sea and, while puzzled, did not realize she had gone down. Only months later did a prisoner of war reveal her sinking.

After a refit alongside , the submarine began her tenth patrol on 8 August. Her assignment was the Bungo Suido-Kii Suido area. During this period, ''Albacore'' was credited with sinking two Japanese vessels, an 880-ton cargo ship ''Shingetau Maru'' on 5 September and the 170-ton ''Submarine Chaser #165'' on 11 September. The patrol ended at Pearl Harbor on 25 September.

Loss

''Albacore'' left Pearl Harbor on 24 October 1944, topped up her fuel tanks at Midway Island on 28 October, and was never heard from again. On 21 December, ''Albacore'' was presumed lost with all hands. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 March 1945.

According to Japanese records obtained after the war, a submarine (presumed to be ''Albacore'') struck a naval mine very close to the southeastern shore of Oshima Peninsula on 7 November 1944. A Japanese patrol boat witnessed the explosion of a submerged submarine and saw a great deal of heavy oil, cork, bedding, and food supplies rise to the surface.

Discovery of wreck

On 25 May 2022, a Japanese team led by Dr. Tamaki Ura of the University of Tokyo began a search for the wreck of ''Albacore'' off Hokkaidō in waters about east of Hakodate.Anonymous, "函館沖で太平洋戦争中に沈没の米潜水艦発見か 船体を撮影" ("Discovered a US submarine sunk during the Pacific War off Hakodate"), NHK News Web/Hokkaido News Web, May 26, 2022 (in Japanese) Accessed 3 October 2022
/ref> During the day, the team's sonar detected what appeared to be a submarine Hull (watercraft), hull in length on the seabed at a depth of . On 26 May 2022, the team used a remotely operated underwater vehicle to photograph the wreck, capturing an image of what appeared to be the Bridge (nautical), bridge and periscope of a submarine. The team concluded that the wreck very likely was that of ''Albacore'', based on its position and the shape of its hull. The team planned to conduct a more detailed survey of the wreck in August 2022. On 16 February 2023, the Naval History and Heritage Command confirmed the identity of the wreck as ''Albacore'', based on documented modifications made to her prior to her last patrol.

Honors and awards

* Presidential Unit Citation for her second, third, eighth, and ninth war patrols
* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars for World War II service

See also

* List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II
* List of lost United States submarines

Notes and references

Notes

References

*Blair, Clay Jr. ''Silent Victory''. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975.
*

Hinman, Charles R., and Douglas E. Campbell. ''The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II''. Syneca Research Group, Inc., 2019.
.

Further reading

*

External links

Video: USS Albacore Discovery - Japan TV (in Japanese) on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albacore (Ss-218)
Gato-class submarines
Ships built in Groton, Connecticut
1942 ships
World War II submarines of the United States
Friendly fire incidents of World War II
Maritime incidents in November 1943
Maritime incidents in November 1944
Lost submarines of the United States
Ships sunk by mines
Shipwrecks of Japan
World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean