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USS TRIGGER I (SS-237)
dp. 1870
(surf.), 2424 (subm.); l. 312'; b. 27'; dr. 15'3" (mean);
s. 20.25 k. (surf.), 8.75 k. (subm.); td. 300'; a. 1-3"/50; 6-
21" tt. fwd, 4-21" tt. aft.;
cpl. 6 officers - 54 enlisted men; cl. GATO
Keel laid by
the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, CA 1 February 1941;
Launched 2 March 1942; Sponsored by Mrs. Walter N. Vernon;
Commissioned 30 January 1942; Lieutenant Comander Jack H. Lewis in
command
Departing Guam on 11 March 1945, USS TRIGGER I (SS-237), under the
command of Cdr. D.R. Connole, headed for the Nansei Shoto area to conduct
her twelfth war patrol during WWII. She was to provide rescue services for
carrier based aircraft, as well as to carry out a normal offensive patrol.
After having sent
several routine messages enroute to her area, TRIGGER reported her
first action on 18 March. She stated that she had made a seven-hour end
around on a convoy she had previously reported, and had attacked. She sank
one freighter and damaged another. The other two merchantmen of the convoy
and four escorts proceeded west.
For some time,
Allied forces had been aware of a large Japanese restricted area west of
the Nansei Shoto in the East China Sea. The area had been marked
"restricted" in captured enemy notices to mariners, and Allied
forces were obliged to accept that the area was mined, and to keep out of
it. Submarines had been warned of its presence and given its position, and
were in the habit of proceeding around it to the north when patrolling the
Formosa Strait and the adjacent China coast. The convoy which had been
attacked by TRIGGER was heading for this restricted area. It had
always been strongly suspected that there were gaps in the minelines,
since the area was too big to be at once completely and effectively mined.
Immediately after
receipt of TRIGGER's report of the attack she had made, ComSubPac
told her to give as much information as possible concerning the subsequent
movements of the convoy, in order to help establish the existence of a
safe passage through the restricted area. On 20 March TRIGGER reported
that the attack she had made on the convoy had taken place at
28!-15'N;126!-44'E, and that she had been held down for three hours by
escorts following the attack. When last seen or heard the convoy was
heading for the restricted area, but TRIGGER had been unable to
regain contact when she was able to surface.
On 24 March, TRIGGER
was given further orders. On 25 March she was to move west and patrol
between 29!N and 31!N west of the Nansei Shoto chain, remaining clear of
restricted areas and outside the 100 fathom curve.
On 26 March TRIGGER
was told to proceed at best speed to 31!N;132!E, to form a coordinated
attack group, known as "Earl's Eliminators," with USS SEA DOG
(SS-401) and USS THREADFIN (SS-410). The group was to be commanded
by Cdr. E.T. Hydeman in SEA DOG. This message to TRIGGER required
an acknowledgment, but on the same day she sent a weather report which did
not contain an acknowledgment, and she was never heard from again. On 28
March, SEA DOG reported that she had been unable to communicate
with TRIGGER since the formation of the wolfpack. To clarify the
situation for the other submarines, TRIGGER was given another
assignment and told to acknowledge, and the wolfpack was disbanded on 30
March.
After many
attempts to contact her by radio had failed, TRIGGER was ordered on
4 April to proceed to Midway. When she failed to arrive by 1 May 1945, she
was reported as presumed lost
in enemy waters on her twelfth patrol, after a long and illustrious
career.
Since she knew the
position of the enemy restricted area containing mines, and had been told
to keep clear of it, it is extremely doubtful that TRIGGER's loss
was due to a mine. On the afternoon of 28 March a two-hour long depth
charge attack was conducted by Japanese planes in cooperation with ships
in 32!-66'N;132-05'E. USS SILVERSIDES I (SS-236), USS HACKLEBACK
(SS-295), SEA DOG and THREADFIN, all near the area, heard
the attack. THREADFIN obtained two torpedo hits on a DE in
31!-49.5'N;131!-44'E, and she was depth charged by accompanying escort
vessels. Eighteen charges were dropped on her, none particularly close,
but she reported that the charges were set for 450 feet, which made them
much more dangerous that the usual run of depth charges. An hour later, THREADFIN
reports, "Many distant strings of depth charges and several
heavy explosions heard from what was believed to be the eastward. (In the
opposite direction from the location of our attacks). It sounded as though
someone was getting quite a drubbing." No other submarine in the
vicinity reported having been attacked, although all reported hearing many
explosions.
The Japanese
report of the above attack states, "Detected a submarine over
eight times and bombed it. Ships also detected it --- depth charged. Found
oil pool an 1 x 5 miles in size the following day." Since it is
extremely doubtful that THREADFIN received sufficient damage to
have left the oil pool described by the Japanese, it must be presumed that
TRIGGER was lost in this action. That it occurred two days after TRIGGER
had been told to acknowledge a message, and none was ever received is
not considered unusual. Conditions ofter force submarines to delay
transmissions for considerable periods of time.
TRIGGER is
credited with one freighter sunk and another damaged on her final patrol
This makes a total of 27 ships sunk, for 180,800 tons, and 13 ships
damaged, for 102,900 tons, during the boat's entire career. Her first
patrol was in the Aleutians, but no attacks were made, since no worthy
targets were contacted. Going to the Empire in the area south of Honshu
for her second patrol, TRIGGER sent a freighter to the bottom, and
damaged two large tankers and a freighter. TRIGGER's third patrol
was a mining mission as well as an offensive patrol; it, too, was in the
Empire. She saw a large freighter blow up and sink when it hit a mine she
had laid, and also sank two freighters by torpedo attacks. Also on 10
January 1943, TRIGGER torpedoed and sank the Japanese destroyer OKIKAZE
near Honshu. TRIGGER covered the Palau-Wewak (New Guinea)
traffic lanes on her fourth patrol and succeeded in sinking one freighter
and damagin two more. Again in the area south of Honshu, TRIGGER on
her fifth patrol sank a large freigther and damaged an aircrat carrier and
a tanker.
Her sixth and
seventh patrols were in the East China Sea. On her sixth she sank three
good sized tankers and a freighter. Her seventh resulted in the sinking of
four good sized freighters, one tanker, and one large transport. The
eighth patrol of this boat was made in the Carolines on the Truk-Guam
route, and she sank a large freighter-transport and an escort vessel. She
sank four freighter-transports as well as a patrol vessel near Palau on
her ninth patrol; she also damaged a large tanker, two freighters and a
sampan. TRIGGER's tenth patrol, as her last did, covered the
northern Nansei Shoto area. She received partial credit for sinking a
small tanker, withch was sunk cooperatively with USS SALMON II (SS-182).
TRIGGER's eleventh patrol was in the Empire, but resulted in
disappointingly few enemy contacts and no attack opportunities. TRIGGER I
was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her fifth, sixth and
seventh patrols. |
