USS Crevalle (SS-291)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USS Crevalle (SS-291), ca.1944
USS Crevalle (SS-291), ca.1944
Overview
Keel laying November 14, 1942
Launch February 22, 1943
1. Period of service flag
period of service

June 24, 1943-29. July 1946;
Sept. 6, 1951-19. August 1955
April 11, 1957-9. March 1962

Whereabouts sold March 17, 1971, scrapped
Technical specifications
displacement

1526  ts surfaced
2424 ts surfaced
length

95.0 meters

width

8.3 meters

Draft

5.1 meters (maximum)

Diving depth 120 meters
crew

10 officers ,
70 NCOs and
men

drive

4 × 1350 PS diesel engines
(total 5400 PS)
4 × electric motors
(total 2740 PS)

speed

Surfaced 20.25 knots surfaced
8.75 knots

Range

11,000  nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament

10 × 533 mm torpedo tubes
(6 in the bow; 4 in the stern)
1 × 102 mm (4 inch) gun
1 × 40 mm Bofors - FlaK
1 × 20 mm Oerlikon - MK

The USS Crevalle (SS-291) was a US Navy submarine . It belonged to the Balao class and, like all other boats in the class, was named after a fish. Crevalle is the English name for the horse mackerel ( Caranx hippos ), a fish from the family of jacks (Carangidae).

The submarine served in the Pacific theater of war during World War II and later in the Cold War .

Technology and armament

The Crevalle was a Balao-class diesel-electric patrol submarine. The Balao class was only slightly improved compared to the Gato class and, like those, was designed for long offensive patrols in the Pacific . In particular, the diving depth has been increased and the interior has been improved based on experiences during the war against Japan . Outwardly and in their dimensions, the boats of both classes were largely the same.

technology

The Crevalle was 95 meters long and 8.3 meters wide, the maximum draft was 5.1 meters. When surfaced it displaced 1526 ts , and when submerged it displaced  2424 ts. It was propelled by four 16-cylinder diesel engines from General Motors , model 16-278A, each with an output of 1000 kW. Under water, the submarine was powered by four electric motors with a total of 2740 hp, which obtained their energy from two 126-cell accumulators . The motors gave their power via a gearbox on two shafts with one screw each. The surface speed was a maximum of 20.25 knots , submerged the Crevalle still managed 8.75 knots. The possible diving time was 48 hours, the maximum construction diving depth was 120 meters. 440 cubic meters of diesel fuel could be stored in the fuel tanks , giving the boat a range of 11,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.

Armament

The main armament consisted of ten 533 mm torpedo tubes , six in the bow, four aft, for which 24 torpedoes were on board. A four-inch deck gun was installed in front of the turret . A 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannon and a 40 mm anti - aircraft gun were housed in the winter garden . For locating enemy ships, the USS possessed Crevalle a JK / QC - and a QB - sonar under the bow, on deck were JP - hydrophones installed. On extendable electronics mast was a SD - radar with 20 mile range reconnaissance to locate enemy aircraft attached, in addition the submarine possessed a SJ -Oberflächensuchradar with about twelve nautical miles range. When submerged, enemy ships could also be located using the ST radar attached to the periscope with a range of eight nautical miles.

history

The SS-291 was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine on November 14, 1942 . The launch took place on February 22, 1943. The christening in the name of USS Crevalle was carried out by Mrs. CW Fisher. On June 24, 1943, the US Navy put the Crevalle into service. First in command was Lieutenant Commander HG Munson.

Second World War

The USS Crevalle was part of the Pacific Fleet and completed seven patrols during the Second World War . She was awarded five Battle Stars for her successful missions .

After training trips in the Atlantic, the Crevalle moved via the Panama Canal into the Pacific with destination Australia , where it entered on October 11, 1943. From there it was used against Japanese shipping.

First mission (October 27, 1943 - December 7, 1943)

The first war mission of the Crevalle led via Darwin , where the supplies were again replenished, into the Sulu Sea and the South China Sea . After stopping a ship with Filipino refugees on the approach and exchanging supplies with them, the first contact with the enemy took place on November 10, 1943. The attack on a convoy of three transporters and an escort ship took place with ten torpedoes from all pipes. The crew claims one hit. There was no official confirmation of a sinking. Immediately after the attack, the escort vehicle attacked the submarine and forced it underwater. The counterattack, however, was ineffective.

On November 11th, Crevalle was more successful and was able to sink a 750 ts ship using artillery in another attack. For the evening of November 15, the crew claimed the sinking of an aircraft transporter, but this has not been officially confirmed. The same applies to the sinking, claimed by the crew, of a cargo ship of around 4,000 tons by two torpedo hits on November 25th.

The sinking of the Japanese freighter Tatukami Maru (6783 ts) on November 15th is undisputed . One of four torpedoes fired hit and destroyed the ship. The boat survived the subsequent counterattack by the escort with depth charges undamaged.

The mission, which was rated as a success, ended on December 7th at the submarine base in Fremantle . Crevalle received her first Battle Star for this .

Second patrol (December 30, 1943 - February 15, 1944)

Her second assignment included the order to lay a mine barrier in front of Saigon . On the approach, the Crevalle tracked down a Japanese submarine on January 7, 1944 and attacked it with two torpedoes. Both torpedoes exploded too early due to faulty detonators and the Japanese submarine escaped unscathed. A week later, the Crevalle laid its eleven mines in the target area near Saigon at night . On the subsequent march back through Japanese waters, she recorded further successes:

  • January 26th: The crew claims the sinking of a weakly guarded freighter by two torpedo hits.
  • February 11: Sinking of a small patrol boat (150 tons) by artillery hits.
  • February 15: All other torpedoes were fired on several ships of a Japanese convoy . Scored multiple hits. Hit effectiveness was only partially observed due to Japanese resistance.,

The crew claimed 19,000 ts of sunk tonnage and at least three major sinks on this patrol. Ultimately, according to Japanese sources after the war , the Crevalle was only officially counted for the sinking of a freighter (2552 ts) for this patrol. Following the voyage, the command of the submarine changed. Henry G. Munson was assigned.

The submarine was again awarded a Battle Star for its successful patrol.

Third patrol (April 4, 1944 - May 19, 1944)

On March 16, 1944, Commander FD Walker took over the Crevalle from his predecessor and under him she set sail again on April 4. The boat was previously overhauled and ammunitioned in Fremantle. In addition to the task of disrupting enemy shipping and sinking enemy transport and warships, the boat was commissioned to evacuate 40 refugees, including 28 women and children, from an island in the Philippines and bring them to Darwin, where they were on 19 May went ashore. Secret Japanese military documents carried by the Filipinos evacuated from the Crevalle contained important information about the Japanese strategy in the Southwest Pacific.

Achievements of the Crevalle on the third mission:

  • On April 25, near Brunei , a small, weakly secured convoy with six torpedoes was attacked and the largest cargo ship in the convoy was sunk by two torpedo hits. Then you dived from attacking enemy aircraft.
  • Attack on a convoy on May 3: In the first attempt, Crevalle scored two torpedo hits on a Japanese ship. A sink could not be observed due to bad weather, but an echo on the radar had subsequently disappeared. In the second attempt the boat fired four torpedoes again. A severe detonation was then observed. Again a radar echo disappeared afterwards. On the third attempt, the remaining Japanese ship could not be hit.
  • Attack on a convoy on May 6th: The convoy consisted of merchant ships and was secured by several destroyers and aircraft. The very large tanker Nisshin Maru drove a particularly rewarding destination in the convoy. Despite the strong security, the Wolfpack (submarine group) attacked for 30 hours. The Crevalle sank the capital Nisshin Maru (16.801 ts). It then narrowly escaped destruction after Japanese planes dropped several bombs on the descending Crevalle and then destroyers attacked the Crevalle massively with depth charges for over half an hour. The bombardment caused damage to valves and fittings. Water broke in. The boat was put aground in shallow water at around 60 meters. The water could only be pumped out with difficulty and the boat escaped with luck. On the march back to Australia, with the 40 evacuees on board, Crevalle escaped the attack of a Japanese warship on May 14, again only narrowly and severely damaged.

For the third patrol, the boat received another Battle Star .

Fourth patrol (June 21, 1944 - August 9, 1944)

Crevalle completed the fourth patrol as part of a Wolfpack under the tactical command of Lieutenant Commander Ruben Whitaker on USS Flasher (SS-249) . The group, which also included USS Angler (SS-240) , successfully attacked a Japanese convoy on July 25 and 26. The group known as Whittacker's Wolves due to their hitherto most successful use of a wolf pack, sank ten Japanese ships, including a light cruiser. The use is said to have a positive effect on the morale of the American submarine troops.

Crevalle successes on the fourth mission: 2.5 sunk merchant ships (July 25-26), 1 sunk armed support ship (July 28), 1 sampan shot down (June 29). After the war, 1.5 of these sinks were confirmed by Japanese documents. During her attacks against Japanese ships, the Crevalle was attacked several times by Japanese warships with depth charges and on-board guns and was moderately damaged.

Once again the boat was awarded a Battle Star after returning from the patrol . The successful operations of the boat also resulted in a Presidential Unit Citation .

Fifth patrol

The fifth patrol, the last under the command of Francis D. Walker, had to be canceled due to technical problems and a diving accident in which an officer fell victim. The boat was supposed to go to Pearl Harbor after the mission anyway and then to the west coast of the United States for overhaul , which Crevalle subsequently did.

Sixth patrol (March 13, 1945 - May 3, 1945)

Before the sixth patrol, Lieutenant Commander Everett H. Steinmetz took command of the Crevalle . The boat was also modernized. It received a special FM sonar that was able to locate mines so that the submarine could maneuver through minefields.

From Pearl Harbor the boat set sail for Guam on March 13th . On March 28, it went from Guam to the deployment area on the east coast of China . A wolfpack was temporarily formed with USS Seahorse (SS-304) and USS Bonefish (SS-223) . Between April 6 and 8, the boats took part in the fighting against a Japanese unit heading for Okinawa , where the Allies had landed a few days earlier. In Operation Ten-go , the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built, went down and with it the last operational capital ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy . None of the boats could actively intervene in the battle.

In the days that followed, the Crevalle scored two successes. A small Japanese warship was sunk on April 9, and a 1,000 ts mine-layer was sunk on April 10. On April 9, an armed trawler was also damaged by artillery hits.

From April 23 to 26, the boat operated together with two other submarines, also retrofitted with FM sonar, in the reconnaissance and mapping of Japanese minefields between Korea and Kyushu in the Tsushima Strait . After the war, the maps produced turned out to be very precise. The mission in Guam ended on May 3rd.

Seventh patrol (May 27, 1945 - July 5, 1945)

The USS Crevalle left for the Sea of ​​Japan in late May . A total of nine submarines were involved in the operation in the sea secured by mine locks. All were equipped with FM sonar for mine location. In doing so, she carried out several attacks on Japanese ships. The group, unofficially known as the Hellcats , achieved considerable success in their break into the Sea of ​​Japan, which had previously been largely spared from submarine attacks. On June 24, the remaining eight boats of Operation Barney united and broke together through the narrow and heavily guarded La Pérouse Strait into the Pacific and returned to the bases. Only one of the boats, the USS Bonefish (SS-223), did not return from the mission.

The successes of the USS Crevalle on this patrol:

  • June 9th: sinking of a freighter.
  • June 10th: sinking of a freighter.
  • June 11th: sinking of an auxiliary cannon boat.
  • June 22nd: Damage to a warship.

The successful mission ended on July 5th.

post war period

After the end of the war, the USS Crevalle first moved to the Atlantic, lay for some time in New York at the shipyard, and last sailed via the Virgin Islands and the Panama Canal to New London , where it was handed over to the reserve fleet on July 20, 1946.

On December 6, 1951, the submarine was put back into service and made training trips and participated in exercises along the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean. On August 19, 1955, the boat was decommissioned and handed over to the reserve. On April 11, 1957, the Crevalle was activated again. In 1960 she was classified as a support submarine. On March 9, 1962, her active service in the US Navy ended. It remained in reserve for another six years before being removed from the fleet register on April 15, 1968.

Whereabouts

On March 17, 1971, the submarine was sold for scrapping and then scrapped.

Trivia

On the first patrol, a live chicken came on board the Crevalle while swapping provisions with a Filipino boat . It was baptized with the name Henriette based on the first name of the commandant Henry Munson. The chicken was given its own uniform and ended up serving as an unofficial crew member.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Norman Friedman: US Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland 1995, ISBN 1-55750-263-3 , pp. 285-304.
    K. Jack Bauer, Stephen S. Roberts: Register of Ships of the US Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 1991, ISBN 0-313-26202-0 , pp. 275-280.
  2. ↑ The Balao class at FleetSubmarine.com
  3. ^ SS-290, USS Cisco
  4. ↑ cf. u. a. First patrol of the SS-291 ( memento from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) and USS Crevalle ( memento from January 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at DANFS .
  5. ↑ According to another source ( Memento of February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) 7065 ts.
  6. ↑ a b c d Second patrol of the SS-291 ( Memento from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ↑ USS Crevalle ( memento from January 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at DANFS .
  8. ↑ a b c d USS Crevalle at FleetSubmarine.com .
  9. ^ Z-plan on board the Crevalle .
  10. ↑ a b c Third patrol of the SS-291 ( Memento of February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).
  11. ↑ Fourth patrol of the SS-291 ( Memento from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ^ Fifth patrol of the SS-291 ( Memento from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Sixth patrol of the SS-291 ( memento from February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) and chronicle of the naval war. April 1945 .
  14. ↑ USS Crevalle ( memorial from January 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at DANFS ; Revised list of sinkings of the Bowfin ( Memento from May 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); USS Bowfin: ninth deployment ( October 21, 2013 memento on the Internet Archive )
  15. ↑ Seventh war voyage of the SS-291 ( memento of February 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) and Chronicle of the Naval War, June 1945 .