USS Halibut (SS-232)

USS ''Halibut'' (SS-232), a submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the halibut, a large species of flatfish.

Construction and commissioning

''Halibut''′s keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine on 16 May 1941. She was launched on 3 December 1941, sponsored by Mrs. P. T. Blackburn, and commissioned on 10 April 1942 with Commander Philip H. Ross in command.

War patrols

First and second patrols

''Halibut'' completed her outfitting and shakedown cruise 23 June 1942 and departed for the Pacific, arriving Pearl Harbor on 27 June. She departed Hawaii 9 August for the Aleutian Islands area for her first patrol. After searching Chichagof Harbor and the waters off Kiska Island, the submarine engaged in an indecisive gunnery duel with a freighter on 23 August. Finding few targets, she terminated her patrol at Dutch Harbor on 23 September.

Her second patrol was also off the Aleutians. She departed Dutch Harbor on 2 October 1942 and surfaced for a torpedo attack on what appeared to be a large freighter on 11 October. The ship, a decoy (Q-ship) equipped with concealed guns and torpedo tubes, attacked ''Halibut'' with high-explosive shells and a torpedo as the submarine took radical evasive action to escape the trap. After eluding her assailant she returned to Dutch Harbor on 23 October and Pearl Harbor on 31 October 1942.

Third and fourth patrols

''Halibut'' departed Pearl Harbor 22 November 1942 for her third war patrol, off the northeast coast of Japan. She began stalking a convoy the night of 9 December and early the next morning closed for the attack. A hit amidships damaged the Japanese troop transport ''Uyo Maru'' (6,376 tons); ''Halibut'' put two torpedoes squarely into the cargo ship ''Gyokusan Maru'' (1,970 tons), sinking her on 12 December. On 16 December ''Halibut'' made two more attacks sinking the cargo ship ''Shingo Maru'' (4,740 tons) and running the cargo ship ''Genzan Maru'' (5,708 tons) aground, wrecking her and forcing her abandonment. Each ship was fully laden with war materials destined for Japan. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 January 1943.

The submarine sailed from Pearl Harbor again on 8 February 1943 on her fourth war patrol. Heading for the Japan-Kwajalein shipping lanes, she tracked a freighter the morning of 20 February and closed to sink troop transport ''Shinkoku Maru'' (3,991 tons) that night. While northeast of Truk on 3 March, she detected the naval auxiliary ''Nichiyu Maru'' (6,818 tons) and attacked, but was driven off by the fire of deck guns. (''Nichiyu Maru'' reached Apra harbor under tow, but was deemed beyond repair and was consequently broken up.) ''Halibut'' terminated this patrol in Pearl Harbor 30 March.

Fifth patrol

''Halibut'' began her fifth war patrol 10 June and made for the waters around Truk. She made her first attack 23 June. No hits were scored and the submarine was forced to wait out a severe depth charge attack. Halibut detected, tracked, and attacked a convoy bound for Truk from Kisarazu, Japan, putting a single torpedo (out of a spread of six) into the side of IJN troop transport ''Aikoku Maru'' (10,437 tons). ''Aikoku Maru'' was transporting ground personnel and equipment of the 201st NAG and suffered among its casualties 21 men. ''Halibut'' also attacked the escort carrier on 10 July while escorting the same convoy, and finally returned to Midway Island on 28 July 1943. No tonnage credit was given in the contemporaneous record or the postwar JANAC accounting, however. (Credit for the damage to the carrier was awarded to attacking later that same day.)

Sixth patrol

Ignatius J. "Pete" Galantin assumed command 11 August, and ''Halibut'' set out on her sixth patrol on 20 August. Together with and , she cruised towards her assigned patrol zone off the east coasts of Honshū and Hokkaido, including the Tsugaru Strait. On 29 August, she sighted a freighter with a '' Shigure''-class escort; two torpedo attacks on the destroyer failed and ''Halibut'' was forced deep for eight hours to avoid the 43 depth charges expended by the destroyer and a second vessel. The attackers lost contact with ''Halibut'' in the early evening, allowing her to move away and resurface. The following day the sub headed into Iburi Wan; she sighted one convoy but was unable to close, but later sank the 6,581-ton freighter ''Taibun Maru'', with three bow shots. Two small patrol boats saw the sinking and dropped 24 depth charges after ''Halibut'', which escaped by unintentionally passing through a minefield.

After some days of poor weather, ''Halibut'' entered the approaches to the Tsugaru Strait. Firing on a freighter found by radar in foggy conditions, she expended six torpedoes with no results. Returning to the coast between Erimo Saki and Muroran, she closed on a radar contact around dawn on 6 September. The contact, the heavily loaded freighter ''Shogen Maru'' (3,362 tons), was sighted and sunk with four torpedoes. That night ''Halibut'' made radar contact with a vessel identified as a destroyer but later found to be the light cruiser , firing the submarine's remaining aft torpedoes in a rough sea for no hits. (One torpedo actually hit but was a dud.) With only one torpedo remaining, she began her return trip to Midway on 7 September after eleven days in enemy waters. That night she traced radio transmissions to a small sampan she sank with her deck guns. ''Halibut'' stopped briefly at Midway for fuel and food before sailing to a full refit at Pearl Harbor, arriving on 16 September.

During her time refitting, ''Halibut'' was used for torpedo testing, firing torpedoes from her stern tubes into the cliffs at Kahoolawe — stern firing was a precaution against erratic or circular running torpedoes. Earlier tests had shown that one in three Mark 14 torpedoes failed to explode on impact; the crushing deformed the contact exploder before it could detonate the firing caps. The modified versions, made from Japanese aircraft propellers, that were tested by ''Halibut'' were almost three times better in testing (6 out of 7 detonations) and even more efficient in action. A short time later, while performing underwater training, ''Halibut'' was accidentally struck by a destroyer; the glancing blow damaged both periscopes (an incident which in peacetime would warrant a board of inquiry). The damage was repaired in hours, and there were no other repercussions.

Seventh patrol

''Halibut'' sailed from Pearl Harbor on her seventh war patrol on 10 October 1943, headed for the approaches to the Bungo Suido. She reached Midway after four days travel and stopped briefly to top up her fuel tanks (having consumed 14,000 gallons already) and to repair a defective motor-generator for her new SJ radar. She reached Okinoshima on 25 October and quickly found her daylight activities constrained by a heavy fishing sampan presence. Over the early morning of 29 October she detected, tracked, and closed on a freighter and small anti-submarine warfare escort. ''Halibut'' was detected and the escort drove her off and held her at bay with fifteen depth charge attacks as the freighter fled. Resurfacing, a lookout noticed the smoke of a distant convoy. The submarine closed as the daylight faded, coming close enough to submerge for periscope observation on the morning of 1 November. The convoy consisted of seven freighters and three -type torpedo boats as escorts. ''Halibut'' launched three torpedoes from at 06:52 and made no hits; the freighters turned away and two torpedo boats closed but were ineffective in locating the submarine. Around midday, ''Halibut'' headed south after the convoy, surfacing as night fell. She was detecting curious 'friendly' radar interference as, unknown to her, and were also chasing the convoy (sinking two ships each from the convoy as ''Halibut'' closed).

On the morning of 2 November ''Halibut'' caught up with two straggling freighters from the convoy. She launched three torpedoes at (4,653 tons) at 28-18N, 134-48E. Two torpedoes hit, but the sinking vessel bravely turned towards the submarine, forcing her to evade and lose range on the second freighter. (She would later sink taking her entire crew of 84 souls with her.) ''Halibut'' launched three torpedoes at long range but made no hits. She surfaced to increase her speed, but the freighter revealed she was armed with some accurate firing, forcing ''Halibut'' back under. The submarine shadowed the freighter and positioned herself for an attack using her stern tubes, firing six torpedoes in rough seas for no hits.

She went on to patrol the approaches to Van Diemen Strait just south of Kagoshima, before returning north when she received an Ultra message indicating a Japanese task force, including an aircraft carrier, near the Bungo Suido. A high-speed race put ''Halibut'' into position on the morning of 5 November, and she fired six torpedoes at the carrier (identified at the time as so as to conceal the source of the information; later properly identified as ). A single torpedo hit near the ship's rudders, leaving the carrier unable to manoeuvre. When ''Halibut'' tried to fire her single remaining stern torpedo, it activated but failed to leave the tube. ''Halibut'' dove to more than to avoid attacks from three destroyer escorts; in the event, only thirteen depth charges were dropped. The submarine resurfaced after dark and set course for home, running seven days to Midway and then reaching Pearl Harbor on 17 November after thirty-eight days on patrol, a round trip of , of which only were actually 'on station'.

Eighth patrol

On her eighth war patrol (beginning at Pearl Harbor on 14 December) ''Halibut'' formed a coordinated attack group, or "wolf pack", with and . All three commanders were intensively trained for the patrol at 'Convoy College' at Pearl Harbor. The very first USN wolf pack had left Midway on 1 October 1943 - , , and claimed five ships sunk and eight damaged (post-war analysis indicated only three sinkings). ''Halibut'' was part of the third wolf pack.

The group's journey to the patrol area around the Mariana Islands was marked by very rough seas and gale

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