Lost subs - USS Albacore (SS-218)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Compiled June 30, 2008, by David Barth.
USS Albacore (SS-218) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, winning
four Presidential Unit Citations and nine battle stars for her service. She sank a total of 13 Japanese ships and
damaged five by wartime credit (not all confirmed by the postwar JANAC accounting), including two destroyers, a light
cruiser, and the aircraft carrier Taiho.
Operational history
Albacore was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the albacore. Her keel was laid on 21 April
1941 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 17 February 1942, two months after Pearl
Harbor. She was sponsored by Mrs. Elwin F. Cutts, the wife of Captain Cutts, and commissioned on 1 June 1942, Lieutenant
Commander Richard C. Lake (Class of 1929) in command.
First Patrol
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, 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 the submarine 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 Zuikaku-class carrier escorted by a heavy
cruiser and a destroyer but 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. On 12 October, 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.
Second Patrol
With her refurbishing completed and a new 20 millimeter gun installed, Albacore sailed on 11 November 1942 for her
second patrol. Her assigned areas were the Roger 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 Tenryu (3300 tons), and the second Japanese cruiser sunk by an American submarine in World War II. Albacore put
into port at Brisbane, Australia, on 30 December 1942.
Third Patrol
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 downed the
destroyer 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 2250
tons.
Fourth Patrol
Albacore was briefly dry-docked for repairs and underwent refresher training before sailing for a fourth patrol on 6
April 1943. 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 E. Hagberg relieved Lieutenant Commander Lake in command of
the submarine.
Fifth & Sixth Combat Patrols
On 16 June 1943, Albacore was underway for her fifth patrol and waters surrounding the Bismarcks and 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 Fulton
(AS-11).
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, 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 only to inflict minor hull
damage on her target. She terminated her patrol at Brisbane on 26 September.
Seventh Patrol
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 Steelhead (SS-280), and
began to search for it. On 8 November, the submarine found the convoy and started to track it. However, a plane from the
Fifth Army Air Force bombed her and caused her to lose contact with the Japanese ships. The submarine sustained no
damage.
Albacore was again bombed by American aircraft on 10 November. This time, 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 before it was shut and began filling up with water. Albacore plunged to a depth of 450 feet (140 m) before her
dive was checked. For the next two and one-half hours, she bounced between 30 feet (10 m) and 400 feet (120 m) 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.
Eighth Patrol
Following this ordeal, Albacore received orders to locate and attack light cruiser Agano, which had been hit and
damaged by Scamp (SS-277). Albacore found Agano on 12 November 1943 and tried to attack, but Japanese destroyers
held the submarine down with a four-hour depth charge barrage. On 25 November Albacore sank 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 1943 to patrol north of the Bismarck Islands. She spotted her first target
on 12 January 1944 and sank cargo vessel Choko Maru with two separate torpedo attacks. Two days later, in company with
Walter Ebert's Scamp and "Bub" Ward's Guardfish, she blew up the destroyer Sazanami (flushed by Guardfish) with four
shots from her stern tubes. Another destroyer pinned Albacore down and delivered 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 voyage repairs, Albacore continued on to the Mare Island
Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, for overhaul.
Ninth Patrol
Albacore left Mare Island on 5 May 1944 and held training exercises with Shad (SS-235) en route to Hawaii. The
submarine 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. During
the next few days, she made only one contact a Japanese convoy which she encountered on 11 June. However before the
submarine could maneuver into attack position, a Japanese aircraft forced her to dive and lose contact.
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 a new location 100 miles further south. Admiral Lockwood (COMSUBPAC) ordered this
move in the hope of enabling the submarine to intercept a Japanese task force under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa reportedly
steaming from Tawi Tawi toward Saipan. At about 0800 the next morning, 19 June, Albacore raised her periscope and found
herself in the midst of Ozawa's main carrier group. Blanchard allowed one Japanese carrier to pass unharmed and selected
a second one for his target. He fired six bow tubes. 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.
The Sinking of Taiho
One of the torpedoes had hit Ozawa's flagship, the 31,000-ton aircraft carrier Taiho, the newest and largest in the
Japanese fleet. The explosion jammed the enemy ship's forward aircraft elevator, and filled its pit with gasoline,
water, and aviation fuel. However, no fire erupted, and the flight deck was unharmed. Ozawa was unconcerned by the hit
and launched two more waves of aircraft. Meanwhile, a novice took over the damage control responsibilities. He believed
the best way to handle gasoline fumes was to open up the ship's ventilation system and let them disperse throughout the
ship. This action turned the ship into a floating time bomb. At around 1530, a tremendous explosion jolted Taiho and
blew out the sides of the carrier. Taiho began to settle in the water and was clearly doomed. Although Admiral Ozawa
wanted to go down with the ship, his staff persuaded him to transfer to the cruiser Haguro. After Ozawa left, Taiho was
torn by a second explosion and sank stern first, carrying down 1650 officers and men.
No one on Albacore thought Taiho 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 insuring the ship was afire, Albacore dived
to avoid an airplane. The submarine surfaced soon thereafter and picked up five survivors.
Albacore put in to Majuro on 15 July. She was praised for an aggressive patrol and received credit for damaging a
Shokaku-class carrier. American codebreakers lost track of Taiho after the Battle of the Philippine Sea and, while
puzzled, did not realize she had gone down. Only months later did a POW reveal her sinking.
Tenth Patrol
After a refit alongside Bushnell (AS-15), the submarine began her tenth patrol on 8 August 1944. Her assignment was the
Bungo Suido-Kii Suido area, and, during this period, Albacore was credited with sinking two Japanese vessels, a cargo
ship and a submarine chaser. The patrol ended at Pearl Harbor on 25 September.
The Loss of Albacore
Albacore left Pearl Harbor on 24 October 1944 (with Hugh Rimmer, Class of 1937, at
the helm), topped off her fuel tanks at Midway Island on 28 October, and was never heard from again. According to
Japanese records captured after the war, a submarine (presumed to be Albacore) struck a naval mine very close to
the shore off northeastern Hokkaido 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. On 21 December,
Albacore was presumed lost. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 March 1945.
Albacore won nine battle stars for her service and the Presidential Unit Citation for her second, third, eighth, and
ninth patrols during World War II.