After two months patrolling the Pacific,
the Gato-class USS Wahoo submarine had exhibited an underwhelming performance. She had missed an
opportunity to engage a Japanese seaplane tender and an aircraft carrier, both precious targets,
and had also missed every single torpedo shot she fired. Even fishing boats had escaped her grasp!
Wahoo's commander was eventually relieved of his post, and the new one, Lieutenant Commander
Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton, was determined to turn the tables on the submarine’s legacy.
For the following months, USS Wahoo became one of the most aggressive and formidable
American submarines serving in World War 2. Her fearless assaults, unrelenting pursuits,
and ruthless approach to combat soon became the subject of much fear within the Japanese Navy.
However, Morton and his crew would soon deliver a blow so devastating that it would enrage the
enemy to the point of no return. At the height of her run, Wahoo's success would become her undoing…
Gato-Class
The first Gato-class submarine, USS Drum, was commissioned in 1941, and by the time
the US entered World War 2, she was the only vessel of her sort in the American Navy ranks.
Still, the class became the most advanced mass-produced submarine in the war.
They were enormous vessels, armed with up to 24 torpedoes
and with a comfortable range of over 20,000 kilometers. As they left American ports for
the first time, they were much more powerful than anything the enemy could throw at them.
In contrast to the hundreds of type VII German U-boats being constructed by the Wehrmacht,
Gato-class submarines were limited in numbers, with only 77 being built throughout the war.
But what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in formidable performance and raw power.
Launched in February of 1942 and commissioned three months later
under the command of Lieutenant Commander Marvin G. "Pinky" Kennedy,
USS Wahoo would be one of the first Gato-class submarines to be tested in the Pacific Theater.
As a remarkable feat of American engineering, the US Navy expected much from Wahoo and her crew.
She and other submarines of her kind had the critical task of strangling the Japanese Islands
and depriving them of strategic supplies.
As such, Wahoo departed Mare Island on August 12
after a training phase along the California coast, arriving at Pearl Harbor on August 18.
Three days later, she was ready to sail for war.
Nothing To Be Proud Of
The first two patrols conducted by Wahoo and her crew were highly disappointing,
but her lackluster performance was blamed on the poor leadership of Commander Kennedy
and the abysmal performance of the Mark 14 torpedoes she was armed with.
Wahoo's first encounter happened west of Truk. On September 6, 1942, she spotted a lone freighter
and fired three torpedoes at her, but all of them missed. The Japanese ship swiftly turned
to face the submarine, but she increased her speed to attempt to ram the American submarine,
and Wahoo quickly dove. She then withdrew from the area, fearing an air attack.
Then, on September 20, Wahoo sighted a freighter and her escort.
She fired three torpedoes, but again, none hit their mark.
A fourth projectile finally hit the target, but Wahoo was immediately pursued by the escort,
only managing to escape after drastically changing course in a rain squall and losing her attacker.
During those days, Wahoo was credited with sinking a 6,500-ton freighter, but postwar
analysis of Japanese shipping records revealed that no ship sank at such a place and time.
In the first week of October, Wahoo encountered the seaplane tender Chiyoda
and a sizable Japanese aircraft carrier. Sinking any of those two vessels
would have been a monumental victory for the American submarine; however,
a lack of decisiveness and a tactically deficient approach led to both ships escaping unharmed.
Two months later, during a second patrol commanded by Kennedy,
Wahoo ran across a convoy of three loaded cargo ships escorted by a destroyer.
The submarine was not able to get into a firing position, and as a result, Kennedy decided to
target the largest tanker instead, unleashing four torpedoes from a range of 700 yards.
Three of the projectiles hit their target, but none of the strikes caused the desired damage,
taking the Japanese ship over two hours to sink.
New Management
After returning from her second patrol and assessing the poor results the Wahoo had achieved,
Kennedy was relieved from command,
and his post was given to Lieutenant Commander Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton.
Morton had a very different philosophy to submarine warfare,
and he had no intentions of displaying hesitance when engaging enemy ships.
His first action was to assemble the crew, and in a brief but legendary address,
he told them that from now on, Wahoo was expendable, and they would battle
under that assumption. If anyone wanted to stay behind, they could do so without consequences.
Following the speech, everyone stayed on board.
Proving His Worth
On January 26, Morton spotted a large tanker ship and a freighter,
immediately firing four torpedoes. The tanker began to sink, but the freighter
then rushed toward Wahoo in an attempt to ram her as she fired her deck gun.
Morton ignored the incoming ship; instead, he targeted two recently spotted cargo vessels that
were part of the convoy, managing to strike one of the tankers as she attempted to flee.
Soon, the damaged freighter was practically on top of the American submarine,
and Wahoo immediately launched two torpedoes. The first one missed,
but the second one hit the target. However, the freighter kept charging at Wahoo
and forcing Morton to turn hard at the last minute to avoid being rammed.
Not willing to waste a second,
Morton then turned back and targeted the damaged tanker that had been hit first.
One of the two fire torpedoes exploded in the ship's midsection, and the vessel quickly sank.
The damaged freighter and the other surviving tanker then met at a distance and began
withdrawing together. Meanwhile, the sailors from the other sunken ships began to deploy lifeboats.
In a controversial move, Morton then ordered his crew to attack the Japanese sailors aboard
their lifeboats. Morton claimed some of them were using machine-gun fire against Wahoo
and that he only wanted to sink the boats. It was later revealed that most of the people on
the lifeboats were Indian prisoners of war of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Punjab Regiment.
After forcing the POWs and the Japanese sailors off their lifeboats,
Morton dashed towards the fleeing and ravaged ships.
The commander only had four torpedoes left, and he had to make them count.
Wahoo engaged the tanker first, firing two torpedoes at her;
the first missed, while the second carved a hole just aft of midships,
obliterating her rear and sinking her almost instantly.
To completely destroy the convoy, Wahoo targeted the damaged freighter
and fired her last two projectiles at the fleeing ship, with both of them reaching their mark.
Fifteen minutes later, after having sustained four torpedo strikes, the freighter finally sank.
Last Missions
Despite the ruthlessness of his approach, Morton would continue to show impressive
results while commanding Wahoo. On January 27, 1943, the crew spotted a convoy of eight ships,
including two freighters and a tanker.
With not a single torpedo left, Morton employed a creative strategy to assault the ships.
Seeing that the tanker was unarmed and appeared to be having a mechanical malfunction,
Morton opted to surface behind her to send the convoy into a panic.
The idea was to use her deck gun to sink the tanker after the convoy broke up.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan when a Japanese destroyer escort
suddenly charged out of a rain squall, forcing Morton to retreat.
Still, the commander and his aggressive crew would continue to strike terror into the hearts
of Japanese sailors, often engaging them with their deck guns when they ran out of torpedoes.
Moreover, Wahoo was the only US submarine to venture into the
Sea of Japan before the final months of the war,
and she broke a US Navy record by sinking a total of 94,778 tons in only 25 patrol days.
A Final Twist
In a cruel twist of fate, Wahoo's unparalleled success would lead to her demise.
On October 5, 1943, Morton and his crew ambushed the Army Transport steamer
Kontron Maru and swiftly destroyed her. Only 72 of the 616 passengers survived.
The attack enraged the Imperial Japanese high command,
especially because two Japanese congressmen of the House of Representatives were among the victims.
In response, the Japanese government unleashed a devastating campaign
to hunt down every US submarine close to their main Island.
On October 11, when Wahoo was supposed to leave her patrol area, an Aichi Jake float
plane sighted a wake and an apparent oil slick from a submerged submarine. A massive
Japanese anti-submarine operation was immediately concocted, and the submarine was now engaged by
sea and air, with the Japanese forces dropping hundreds of depth charges for several hours.
Wahoo would never make it home,
and she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on December 6, 1943.
It would not be until 2006 that it was discovered
that Wahoo was sunk by an aerial bomb near the conning tower. A year later,
the US Navy held a wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen crew at the wreck’s exact location.
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