Lost Subs - USS Growler (SS-215)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Compiled July 2, 2008, by David Barth.
USS Growler (SS-215) a Gato-class submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy named for the growler, a
large-mouth black bass. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on
2 November 1941 sponsored by Mrs. Robert L. Ghormley, and commissioned on 20 March 1942 with Lieutenant Commander Howard
W. Gilmore in command.
First Patrol
Growler's first war patrol began 29 June 1942 as she cleared Pearl Harbor for her assigned patrol area around Dutch
Harbor, Alaska; topping off at Midway Island on 24 June she entered her area on 30 June. Five days later she saw her
first action; sighting three destroyers, Growler closed them for a submerged torpedo attack and then surfaced. Her
torpedoes struck the first two targets amidships putting them out of action, and hit the third in the bow but not
before she had fired two torpedoes at Growler. As the Japanese torpedoes "swished down each side", Growler dived deep,
but no depth charges followed. The Japanese destroyer Arare was sunk, and the other two were severely damaged. Growler
completed her patrol without finding any more targets, and on 17 July berthed at Pearl Harbor.
Second Patrol
On 5 August Growler began her second and most successful war patrol, entering her area near Taiwan on 21 August. Two
days later she conducted a submerged night attack on a freighter, surfacing to give chase when both torpedoes ran under
the target and failed to explode; the freighter's quick exit into shallow waters prevented Growler from gun attack.
Patrolling amidst a large fishing fleet on 25 August, Growler sighted and fired at a large passenger freighter but all
three torpedoes missed; after a three-hour depth charge attack, in which some 53 ash cans were dropped, Growler
surfaced and almost immediately spotted a convoy. After two hours of maneuvering, she failed to catch up with the main
body of the convoy but did fire at and sink an ex-gunboat, Senyo Maru. No more ships appeared in this immediate area
for three days so Growler shifted to the east side of the island. First to fall victim was Eifuku Maru, a 5866-ton
cargo ship Growler sank within 40 minutes after first sighting her 31 August. On 4 September Growler sank by gunfire
Kashino, a 4000-ton supply ship; three days later she sent two torpedoes into the 2204-ton cargo ship Taika Maru, which
broke in half and sank in two minutes. On 15 September Growler cleared her patrol area, and arrived back at Pearl 30
September.
Third Patrol
During refitting, new surface radar was installed, as well as a new 20 mm gun; thus equipped, Growler sailed from
Hawaii for her new patrol area, her third patrol, in the Solomon Islands across the key Truk-Rabaul shipping lanes. Her
patrol area in these days of bitter fighting over Guadalcanal was almost continually covered by enemy planes and only
eight enemy ships were sighted with no chance for attack. Growler cleared the area 3 December and arrived in Brisbane,
Australia, on 10 December.
1 January 1943 saw Growler sail from Brisbane for what was to prove one of the most gallant actions in naval history.
Entering her patrol area, again athwart the Truk-Rabaul shipping lanes, on 11 January, she waited only five days before
sighting an enemy convoy. Maneuvering inside the escorts, Growler fired two torpedoes and saw them hit; then, as her war
diary reports, she was in the unfortunate predicament of being about 400 yards from the destroyer and had to dive without
being able to continue the attack. She was credited with sinking Chifuku Maru, a passenger-cargo ship.
The patrol continued as normal with two further attacks, but no sinkings until shortly after 0100 7 February when Growler
stealthily approached a gunboat for a night surface attack. The small fast ship suddenly turned to ram. Unable to avoid
the collision, Gilmore ordered left full rudder and all ahead flank, and rammed the enemy amidships at 17 knots
(31 km/h).
As machine gun fire raked them at point-blank range, Commander Gilmore ordered the bridge cleared. As the commanding
officer, Gilmore was the last to leave the bridge, and was grievously wounded before he could get below. Realizing that
he was jeopardizing his boat's escape, he ordered "Take her down!" and shut the hatch, remaining on the bridge while his
boat dived. By saving his command at the expense of his own life, Commander Gilmore became one of the six submariners to
earn the Medal of Honor. A seaman and another officer also lost their lives in this incident.
Severely damaged but still under control, Growler returned to Brisbane under command of her executive officer,
Lieutenant Commander Arnold F. Schade. She docked 17 February for extensive repairs. Following the refit, the submarine
was nicknamed the Kangaroo Express, as the refabricated bow had two nickel kangaroos as decorations.
Fifth and Sixth Patrols
Growler's fifth, sixth, and seventh patrols, out of Brisbane to the Bismarck-Solomons area, were relatively uneventful,
heavy enemy air cover and a lack of targets resulted in her coming home empty-handed from all but the fifth, on which
she sank the passenger-cargo ship Miyadono Maru.
Seventh Patrol
The seventh patrol was marred by trouble with the storage battery and
generators, and on 27 October 1943, only 11 days out of Brisbane, she was ordered to Pearl Harbor, arriving 7 November,
and from there to the Navy Yard at Hunter's Point, California, for an extensive overhaul and refitting.
Eighth Patrol
Returning to the Pacific, on 21 February 1944, Growler departed Pearl Harbor, and after refueling at Midway Island,
headed for her patrol area for the eighth patrol. However, a week out of Midway Island a typhoon's high seas and wind
delayed her arrival to the patrol area. Once there, Growler was again plagued by violent weather which made even
periscope observation almost impossible.
Ninth Patrol
Growler returned to Majuro on 16 April, and departed there 14 May to take up her ninth patrol in the Mariana
Islands-Eastern Philippine Islands-Luzon area, where the first stages of the attack on the Mariana Islands and the
Battle of the Philippine Sea were getting underway. Rendezvousing with Bang (SS-385) and Seahorse (SS-304) to form a
wolfpack, she continued the patrol closing several targets but achieving firing position only once, when she sank the
cargo vessel Katori Maru.
Tenth Patrol
Her tenth patrol, from Pearl Harbor on 11 August, found her in a new wolfpack, nicknamed "Ben's Busters" after
Growler's skipper Commander T.B. Oakley; in company with Sealion (SS-195) and Pampanito (SS-383), she headed for the
Formosa Straits area. Aided greatly by reconnaissance and guidance from planes, the wolfpack closed a convoy for night
surface action 31 August; their torpedoes plunged the Japanese into chaos, with their own ships shooting at each other
in the dark, but no sinkings were reported. Two weeks later, 12 September, the wolfpack sighted a second convoy and
closed for torpedo action. A destroyer spotted Growler and attacked her, but the sub calmly fired a spread at the
destroyer. Heavily damaged by the torpedoes, the flaming destroyer bore down on Growler and only adroit maneuvering
took her out of the enemy's way; paint on the bridge was seared by the heat of the passing destroyer. Meantime
Growler's other torpedoes and those of Sealion and Pampanito were hitting the convoy, and when Ben's Busters returned
to Fremantle on 26 September, they were credited with a total of six enemy ships. Growler had sunk the destroyer
Shikinami and the Japanese frigate Hirado; and her companions had racked up two each. The submarines had also
rescued over 150 Allied prisoners from one of the torpedoed ships which had served the Japanese as a prison ship.
This difficult operation had been carried out despite rough seas caused by an approaching typhoon.
Eleventh Patrol
Growler's 11th and final war patrol began out of Fremantle on 20 October in a wolfpack with Hake (SS-256) and
Hardhead (SS-365). On 8 November the wolfpack, headed by Growler, closed a convoy for attack, with Growler on
the opposite side of the enemy from Hake and Hardhead. The order to commence attacking was the last communication
ever received from Growler. After the attack was underway, Hake and Hardhead heard what sounded like a torpedo
explosion and then a series of depth charges on Growler's side of the convoy, and then nothing. All efforts to
contact Growler for the next three days proved futile, and the gallant submarine, veteran of seven successful
war patrols, was listed as lost in action against the enemy, cause unknown. Possibly she was sunk by one of her
own torpedoes, but it is probable that the convoy's escort, destroyer Shigure, and Kaibokan (frigates) Chiburi
and CD-19 sank her.
Growler received eight battle stars for her service in World War II.