Lost Subs - USS Tullibee (SS-284)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Compiled July 2, 2008, by David Barth.
USS Tullibee (SS-284), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the
tullibee, a whitefish of central and northern North America. Her keel was laid down on 1 April 1942 at Mare Island,
California, by the Mare Island Navy Yard. She was launched on 11 November 1942 sponsored by Mrs. Kenneth C. Hurd,
and commissioned on 15 February 1943, Commander Charles F. Brindupke in command.
Tullibee held shakedown training from 8 April to 30 April 1943 and departed for Hawaii on 8 May. She arrived
at Pearl Harbor on 15 May and held further training exercises in Hawaiian waters. Numerous air fitting leaks
developed, and she was docked for repairs twice. When this proved ineffective, the submarine entered the navy
yard until 11 July.
On 19 July, Tullibee got underway for the Western Caroline Islands and her first war patrol. On 28 July, she
sighted a passenger-cargo ship, accompanied by an escort and an aircraft that prevented her attack. On 5 August,
the submarine began patrolling the Saipan-Truk traffic lanes. Five days later, she sighted smoke on the horizon
that proved to be three freighters with an escort. Tullibee closed the range to 2,700 yards (2,500 m); fired one
torpedo at the ship on the right and three at the vessel on the left. As the submarine fired the first torpedo, a
ship rammed her and bent her number one periscope. She went deep and was depth charged by the escort as the ships
sped away. As they had been set to run at a depth of 15 feet (5 m)-too deep for the draft of the largest target-none
of the torpedoes exploded.
On 14 August 1943, Tullibee sighted a convoy of three freighters with an escort and began an end-around run to get into
good attack position. She fired a torpedo from a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m) and went deep. It missed, and she
returned to periscope depth to fire three torpedoes at the last ship. It apparently saw their wakes, and it turned
to avoid them. The submarine again went deep. When she surfaced, the targets had escaped. On 22 August,
Tullibee sighted a convoy of five ships escorted by two destroyers. She closed to 2,000 yards (1,800 m), and fired
three torpedoes at the nearest freighter. Two minutes later, she fired three more at another ship. As she went
deep to avoid a destroyer heading her way, she heard one explosion. She soon heard the bursts of two more torpedo
explosions, followed by breaking up noises. When she surfaced, she sighted over 1000 empty 50-gallon oil drums,
but no ships. Postwar examination of Japanese records indicated that Tullibee had damaged one freighter and had
sunk the passenger-cargo ship Kaisho Maru. The patrol terminated when the submarine reached Midway Island on 6
September.
On 28 September 1943, Tullibee began her second war patrol. Her assigned area was in the East China Sea between the
Ryukyu Islands and the China coast. On 4 October, she sighted a convoy of nine passenger-cargo ships with three
destroyer escorts. The submarine pulled well ahead of the convoy and tracked them until the next morning. At 0058,
she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a large freighter with one hitting the target a minute later. Another
spread of three from the bow tubes produced two hits on a heavily laden cargo ship. Minor explosions and breaking
up noises began immediately as Chicago Maru sank. Twelve days later, Tullibee contacted a convoy of seven ships
with three escorts that later separated into two groups. One group hugged the China coast and the other headed for
Pescadores Channel. She attacked the largest ship in the last group with six torpedoes. One hit the target. The
submarine began an end-around run and fired four torpedoes at another ship. Two torpedoes soon broached, and
Tullibee broke off the attack. She went deep and rigged for silent running to evade the escorts. On 5 November,
the submarine was running submerged near Okinoyerabu Shima when she sighted a large, three-story building on the
island. She surfaced and fired 55 shells into the barracks before retiring at full speed. She began the voyage
back to Hawaii the next day and reached Pearl Harbor, via Midway Island, on 16 November. Her official score for
this patrol was one passenger-cargo ship sunk, a tanker damaged, and a passenger-cargo ship damaged.
Tullibee’s third patrol was in a wolf pack with sister ships Halibut (SS-232) and Haddock (SS-231). The trio
sortied from Pearl Harbor on 14 December 1943 for the Mariana Islands to intercept enemy shipping plying between
Truk and Japan. On 2 January 1944, Tullibee sighted a Japanese I class submarine on the surface and fired four
torpedoes at a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m). The enemy saw the wakes and avoided the four of them as Tullibee
was forced deep by an enemy floatplane that dropped six bombs.
On 19 January 1944, Haddock reported that she had damaged the Japanese escort carrier Unyo, which limped to Saipan.
Tullibee sighted the carrier there on 25 January, close ashore and well protected by escorts and aircraft.
The submarine remained on station for several days awaiting an opportunity to sink the aircraft carrier. However,
when she surfaced on 28 January, she learned that the carrier had slipped away. Three days later, the submarine
made radar contact with two targets. She fired three torpedoes at what appeared to be a freighter and swung left
to fire one at the escort. The first target, net tender Hiro Maru, took two hits and disintegrated in about one
minute. The torpedo fired at the escort missed, and the submarine went deep to evade. Tullibee cleared the area
the following day and returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 February.
On 5 March 1944, Tullibee stood out of Pearl Harbor to begin her fourth war patrol. Nine days later, she called at
Midway Island to top off her fuel and then proceeded to her patrol area in the Palau Islands. She was scheduled
to support aircraft carrier strikes against those islands on 30 March and 31 March. On 25 March 1944, Tullibee
arrived on station and began patrolling. The next day, she made radar contact on a convoy consisting of a large
passenger-cargo ship, two medium-sized freighters, a destroyer, and two other escorts. The submarine made several
surface runs on the transport but kept losing her in rain squalls. Tullibee finally closed to 3,000 yards (2,700 m)
and fired two torpedoes from her bow tubes at the target. About two minutes later, the submarine was rocked by a
violent explosion. Apparently, one of Tullibee’s own torpedoes ran a circular course and sank the submarine that
had launched it.
Gunner's Mate C.W. Kuykendall, on the bridge at the time, was knocked unconscious and thrown into the water. When
he regained consciousness, the submarine was gone. He heard voices in the water for about ten minutes, then they
stopped. The next day, he was picked up by a Japanese escort.
Tullibee was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 July 1944. Kuykendall survived as a prisoner of war and
was released after V-J Day.
Tullibee received three battle stars for World War II service.