Quote:
.....a multi-hour combined sea and air attack involving depth charges and aerial bombs finally sunk Wahoo.
I've spent some time wondering what their final moments must have been like.
The last known photo of the U.S.S. WAHOO's crew.
Brave Men
A Poem By John C. Carcioppolo
As you take her down, and take her deep
And level off at 400 feet.
Remember well those who went before
who rest in peace on the ocean floor.
Their boats rust in silence, and yearn to tell their story
of how the crew died defending Old Glory.
It's up to us to always remember
how you fought the war after 7 December
"The Submarines are all we have left" it was told
As boats departed on war patrols.
“It was to the Submarine Force that we turned”
after the Pacific Fleet was sunk and burned.
While the fleet rebuilt you held the lines.
and kept sinking targets time after time.
From Pearl out to Midway and the Sea of Japan
you all were committed down to a man.
Slowly but surely and one by one.
You sank the ships with the Rising Sun.
All enemy ships you did attack
Sadly one in five boats did not come back.
You cleared the seas of enemy shipping.
And their mighty warships were also slipping
beneath the waves to the ocean floor
to attack Americans never more.
You did great things in that long war.
as you filled the history books with your lore.
If things went well a broom you’d fly.
But if things went wrong shipmates would wait and cry.
You won this war with nerves of steel and veins of ice.
But our Submarine Force paid a heavy price.
It started with SEA LION in late forty one
And ended with BULLHEAD before it was done.
PERCH, TRITON and KETE to name a few
And don’t forget others like TROUT and WAHOO.
Names like Morton and Dealey were some of the best.
But just as important are all the rest.
Lockwood said "they went down fighting"
to depth charge attacks that were always frightening.
We lost 52 boats during World War Two.
Over 3600 men, but none of you.
You are the ones who did survive.
And have always kept their memories alive.
For 60 years you have tolled the bell
For all your shipmates who fought like hell.
And now as you all turn gray and old
We will tell the stories that we’ve been told.
We have the watch and will always remember
The Submariners who served after 7 December.
We will toll the boats and tell the story.
Of our Brothers of the Phin who went down in glory.
Today as our Submarines put out to sea
we reflect on your impact on history.
On every boat and on every day
We’ll always remember you paved the way
For you are our heroes and there is no doubt
Living up to your standards is what it’s about.
When we wear our dolphins with pride on our chest
it’s because of you that we are the best.
Like the Marines you are the Proud and the Few
Who served your country in a Submarine Crew
You are shining examples of our great Nation
And reverently called the Greatest Generation.
This poem is my humble tribute to you
My heroes . . . The Submarine Veterans of World War Two.
Lest We Forget:
The following is a listing of submarines on Eternal Patrol with their entire crews:
USS SHARK I (SS-174) 11FEB42 58 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack, Makassar Strait, Celebes Island
USS GRUNION (SS-216) 30JUL42 70 LOST
Unknown causes off Kiska Island, Aleutians
USS ARGONAUT I (SS-166) 10JAN43 105 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Java Sea
USS AMBERJACK I (SS-219) 16FEB43 74 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Solomon Sea
USS GRAMPUS I (SS-207) 5MAR43 71 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack, Solomon Islands
USS TRITON I (SS-201) 15MAR43 74 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off New Guinea
USS PICKEREL I (SS-177) 3APR43 74 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan
USS RUNNER I (SS-275) JUN43 78 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine between Midway Island and Japan
USS POMPANO I (SS-181) SEP43 76 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine off Honshu, Japan
USS GRAYLING I (SS-209) 12SEP43 76 LOST
Unknown causes along approaches to Manila, P.I.
USS CISCO (SS-290) 28SEP43 76 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Sulu Sea
USS DORADO I (SS-248) 12OCT43 76 LOST
Air Attack in S.W. Atlantic
USS WAHOO I (SS-238) 11OCT43 80 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in La Perouse Strait off Japan
USS CORVINA (SS-226) 16NOV43 82 LOST
Japanese Submarine Attack off Truk
USS CAPELIN (SS-289) 2DEC43 78 LOST
Unconfirmed Japanese Surface Attack in Celebes Sea
USS SCORPION I (SS-278) 5JAN44 76 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine in Yellow Sea off China
USS GRAYBACK I (SS-208) 27FEB44 80 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack off Okinawa
USS TROUT I (SS-202) 29FEB44 81 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Philippine Sea
USS GUDGEON I (SS-211) 12MAY44 78 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Northern Marianas
USS HERRING (SS-233) 1JUN44 84 LOST
Japanese Shore Battery off Matsuwa Island, Kuriles
USS S-28 (SS-133) 4JUN44 50 LOST
Foundered off Hawaiian Islands
USS GOLET (SS-361) 14JUN44 82 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan
USS ROBALO (SS-273) 26JUL44 78 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine off Palawan 4 POWs
USS HARDER I (SS-257) 24AUG44 79 LOST
Japanese Depth Charge Attack off Luzon, P.I.
USS SEAWOLF II (SS-197) 30OCT44 99 LOST
USS ROWELL off Morotai Island
USS ESCOLAR (SS-294) 17OCT44 82 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine in Yellow Sea off China
USS SHARK II (SS-314) 24OCT44 87 LOST
Japanese Depth Charge Attack off Formosa
USS ALBACORE I (SS-218) 7NOV44 86 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine between Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan
USS GROWLER I (SS-215) 8NOV44 85 LOST
Possible Japanese Surface Attack in South China Sea
USS SCAMP I (SS-277) 11NOV44 83 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Tokyo Bay area
USS SWORDFISH I (SS-193) 12JAN45 89 LOST
Possible Japanese Surface Attack or Mine off Okinawa
USS BARBEL I (SS-316) 4FEB45 81 LOST
Japanese Air Attack off entrance to Palawan Passage
USS KETE (SS-369) MAR45 87 LOST
Unknown causes between Okinawa and Midway
USS TRIGGER I (SS-237) 28MAR45 89 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in East China Sea
USS SNOOK I (SS-279) 8APR 45 84 LOST
Unknown causes off Formosa
USS LAGARTO (SS-371) 4MAY45 85 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Gulf of Siam
USS BONEFISH I (SS-223) 18JUN45 85 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan
USS BULLHEAD (SS-332) 6AUG45 84 LOST
Japanese Air Attack off Bali Coast
USS THRESHER II (SSN-593) 10APR63 129 LOST
Operational off New England Coast
USS SCORPION II (SSN-589) 22MAY68 99 LOST
Possible Torpedo Detonation off Azores
The following is a listing of boats lost taking portions of their crews on Eternal Patrol:
USS F4 (SS-23) 25MAR15 21 LOST
Battery Explosion off Honolulu
USS F1 (SS-20) 16DEC17 19 LOST
Rammed off Honolulu
USS G2 (SS-27) 30JUL19 3 LOST
Foundered in Long Island Sound
USS H1 (SS-28 ) 12MAR20 4 LOST
Foundered off Santa Margarita Island, CA
USS O5 (SS-66) 20OCT23 3 LOST
Rammed in Limon Bay, Canal Zone
USS S51 (SS-162) 25SEP25 33 LOST
Rammed off Block Island, Rhode Island
USS SQUALUS (SS-192) 23MAY39 26 LOST
Foundered off Portsmouth, New Hampshire (boat salvaged and recommissioned under a new name)
USS O9 (SS-70) 20JUN41 33 LOST
Foundered off Isle of Shoals
USS SEALION I (SS-195) 10DEC41 4 LOST
Japanese Air Attack, Cavite Navy Yard, P.I.
USS S26 (SS-131) 24JAN42 46 LOST
Collision in Gulf of Panama
USS R12 (SS-89) 12JUN43 42 LOST
Foundered off Key West, Florida
USS S44 (SS-155) 7OCT43 55 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack is Sea of Okhotsk
USS SCULPHIN I (SS-191) 19NOV43 12 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Truk 51 POWs
USS TULLIBEE I (SS-284) 26MAR44 79 LOST
Circular run of own Torpedo off Palau Islands
USS FLIER (SS-250) 13AUG44 78 LOST
Japanese Mine in Balabac Strait
USS TANG I (SS-306) 24OCT44 78 LOST
Circular run of own Torpedo in Formosa Strait
USS COCHINO (SS-345) 26AUG49 1 LOST
Battery Explosion off Norway
Shay
____________
Semper Fortis
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