- USS Triton (SS-201)
USS "Triton" (SS-201), a "Tambor"-class
submarine , was the first submarine and third ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for Triton. Herkeel was down on5 July 1939 by thePortsmouth Navy Yard . She was launched on25 March 1940 sponsored by Mrs. Ernest J. King, wife of Rear Admiral King, and commissioned on15 August 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Willis A. "Pilly" Lent (Class of 1925) [Blair, "Silent Victory" (J. B. Lippincott Company (1975), p.907.] in command.The new submarine held her shakedown training in the
Caribbean Sea from14 January 1941 to26 March and then conducted training and minelaying exercises in thePortsmouth, New Hampshire -New London, Connecticut area. "Triton" departed Portsmouth on1 July , transited thePanama Canal on12 July , and arrived atSan Diego, California , on20 July . Nine days later, she and sister ship USS|Trout|SS-202 headed forHawaii and arrived atPearl Harbor on4 August .First patrol
Assigned to Submarine Division 62, [Commanded by
Forrest M. O'Leary . Blair, p.83.] "Triton" made a training cruise to Midway from30 August to15 September , then participated in local and fleet operations in the Hawaiian area. On19 November , the submarine headed west to conduct a practice war patrol and arrived offWake Island on26 November . On8 December , she saw columns of smoke rising over the island but assumed it was caused by construction work being done ashore. That night, when she surfaced to charge her batteries, she was informed by radio Wake and Pearl Harbor had been bombed and was ordered to stay out of range of Wake's guns. The next morning, "Triton" observed theJapan ese bombing the island. On the night of10 December , she was surfaced, charging her batteries, when flashes of light from Wake revealed adestroyer or lightcruiser on a parallel course. The submarine was silhouetted against the moon, and the enemy ship turned towards her. "Triton" went deep and began evasive action. When the Japanese ship slowed astern, the submarine came to convert|120|ft and fired four stern torpedoes—the first American torpedoes shot duringWorld War II —onsonar bearings. [For which squadron commander Captain Al McCann was critical. Blair, p.120-1.] She heard a dull explosion 58 seconds later and believed one had hit the target, then went to convert|175|ft and cleared the area. (No sinking was recorded, and she was not credited with one.) [Blair, pp.120 and 901.] After their initial repulse on11 December , the Japanese returned with twoaircraft carrier , "Hiryū" and "Sōryū"; "Triton" was not informed, [Blair, p.123.] and made no attacks on them. Neither did she make any effort to evacuate the 350 Marines. [Blair, p.123.] On21 December , the submarine was ordered to return toHawaii , and she arrived back at Pearl Harbor on31 December .econd patrol
On
25 January 1942 , "Triton" got underway for theEast China Sea and her second war patrol, covering the sealanes toDairen ,Shanghai , andKorea . [Blair, p.208.] She was offKyūshū on17 February when she contacted a freighter. The submarine fired four torpedoes and scored one hit in the stern. The target stopped for a few minutes and then slowly got underway. That evening, "Triton" attacked another freighter with two torpedoes at a range of convert|1200|yd. One hit the Japanese cargo ship aft of her well deck, and the maru went dead in the water and began settling. Soon, several heavy explosions marked the end of "Shinyo Maru Number 5". Four days later, the submarine intercepted two cargo ships. She sank "Shokyu Maru" with two torpedoes but could not attack the second ship because of its speed and the appearance of a four-engine patrol plane. On the night of27 February , the submarine was on the surface for a battery charge when she sighted a ship approximately three miles away. She closed to attack and fired two torpedoes. One torpedo hit, but haze over the water and smoke from the damaged ship prohibited a second attack. "Triton" made no further contacts and returned to Pearl Harbor on17 March , where she was praised for an aggressive patrol, earning credit for two ships totalling 12,000 tons (reduced to 5,982 tons postwar), but criticized for excessive use of torpedoes, which were in extremely short supply. [Thanks to BuOrd's inadequate production. Blair, pp.69, 120-1, 208-9, and 907.]Third patrol
"Triton" (now in the hands of C.C. Kirkpatrick, Class of 1931) ["the youngest skipper yet to get a command at Pearl Harbor". Blair, p.224.] got underway on
13 April to return to theEast China Sea . Ten days later, the submarine contacted a 2,000-ton [Blair, p.225.] trawler nearMarcus , astonishingly stopped and not blacked out. [Blair, p.225.] After missing with two torpedoes (at point blank range), [Blair, p.225.] she surfaced to engage with her deck guns, firing 19 rounds of three-inch (76 mm) and "a hurricane of small-arms", [Blair, p.225.] leaving the trawler a sinking wreck, giving "Triton" the first confirmed sinking of an enemy vessel by deck gun fire by an American submarine.Amid shallow, glassy seas and poor sonar conditions, [Blair, p.225.] on
1 May , she sighted six freighters, in two columns, escorted by a single [Blair, p.225.]torpedo boat . She fired two torpedoes, and both hit the leading ship, "Taei Maru" (2,200 tons), which sank), [Blair, p.225.] then two more at the next freighter; both missed. She fired at a third cargoman but the torpedo ran deep; a second torpedo, set shallow and aimed at a different ship, [Blair, p.225.] broke the back of "Calcutta Maru" (5,300 tons), [Blair, p.225.] which promptly sank."Triton" contacted an escorted convoy on
6 May and fired two torpedoes at the trailing ship; one sank soon after leaving the tube, the other missed ahead. [Blair, p.225.] She next spotted a destroyer coming to the rear of the convoy, fired two more (both set shallow) at this same ship from convert|1200|yd, and went deep to elude. Her sonar heard two violent explosions; "Taigen Maru" (5,600 tons) had sunk. [Blair, p.225.] At that point, the submarine maneuvered around and ahead of the convoy to position for another attack. When she attained the desired position, she fired four torpedoes—two at the third ship and two at a fourth. "Triton" heard two explosions from the first spread (one in the third ship), none from the second (which had avoided), [Blair, p.225.] as she was forced to take evasive action from the escort. The submarine later returned to periscope depth, but no ships were in sight. The convoy had cleared the area. On15 May , she sank two deep-sea fishing boats with her deck guns.The next day, after monitoring orders to other boats attempting to intercept without success, "Triton" ran into position [Blair, pp.231 & 233.] and at 15.20 spotted the crippled "Shōkaku" and a destroyer, returning from Coral Sea. At convert|6700|yd, with the target making convert|16|kn|km/h, [Blair, p.225.] "Triton" could not close the range, despite surfacing and bending on 19½ knots (36 km/h). [Blair, p.225.] She sent a contact report, but it was not acknowledged.
Also that day, in "one of the luckiest finds of the war", [Blair, p.225.] "I 64" [Blair, p.225.] [Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare" (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 13, p.1410, "I61".] surfaced right in front of "Triton"; she fired her last bow torpedo from convert|6200|yd and parts of the target were blown convert|100|ft|-1 into the air. "I 164" (1,700 tons), [Fitzsimons, p.1410, "I61".] the fourth Japanese sub sunk by the Pacific Fleet Sub Force, [Blair, p.225.] went down by the stern. Four days later, "Triton" fired her last four torpedoes at another enemy submarine; all missed. The patrol earned her credit for five ships of 24,200 tons (reduced to 15,800 postwar), [Blair, p.908. It was a remarkable first effort for Kirkpatrick. ] terminating at Pearl Harbor on
4 June , as theBattle of Midway began.Fourth patrol
"Triton"'s fourth war patrol took her to
Alaska n waters and lasted from25 June to24 August . On4 July , she was patrolling in a heavy fog, in the vicinity ofCape Sabok , when the fog lifted enough to reveal a Japanese destroyer. The submarine trailed the enemy for ten hours, [Blair, p.270.] in and out of patches of fog, until she had closed the range to convert|3000|yd. "Triton" then fired two torpedoes, and one hit amidships. The Japanese destroyer "Nenohi" {right} (1,370 tons) [Fitzsimons, Volume 12, p.1247, "Hatsuharu".] capsized to port and slid under the waves in five minutes. [Blair, p.270.] "Triton" sighted a freighter on28 July , but lost it in a fog bank. The same thing happened the next day. On9 August , "Triton" saw an enemy submarine's periscope and prepared to attack. However, the Japanese sub struck first, forcing "Triton" to go deep as enemy torpedoes passed overhead. On15 August , "Triton" fired four torpedoes at a darkened ship from a range of convert|1500|yd. There were two consecutive explosions, and flames shot over convert|200|ft|-1 into the air. To "Triton", the enemy ship appeared to be larger than a destroyer. However, there is no official record of a sinking on that date. [Japanese records are notoriously chaotic, and theJANAC accounting equally unreliable as a result, however.] The submarine made no further contacts before returning to Pearl Harbor on7 September , and was credited with two ships for 3,100 tons (postwar, only "Nenohi", at 1,600 tons). [Blair, p.914.] She then enteredPearl Harbor Navy Yard for an overhaul until6 December .Fifth patrol
On
16 December , "Triton" got underway for a position 20 miles (30 km) east of Wake on the Midway–Wake route. She was one of three submarines stationed between the two islands to mark the way forUnited States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bombers in strikes on Wake and to rescue the crews of any planes forced down at sea. She made no rescues, but, on the night of23 December , she aided in guiding the Liberators in a night bombing attack on the island. On24 December , the submarine sighted the mast of a ship on the horizon, headed for Wake anchorage. "Triton" (alerted by ULTRA) [Blair, p.334.] closed to convert|1000|yd and fired two torpedoes. One hit under thestack , the other under the foremast. "Amakasu Maru Number 1" was obliterated in a cloud of smoke and steam as she went under. The submarine then set a course forBrisbane . On28 December , she sighted an enemy ship, closed to convert|7000|yd, and fired three torpedoes into the transport "Omi Maru". The ship sank almost immediately and, although there was much wreckage, no survivors were seen."Triton" was then ordered to patrol the
Truk –Rabaul –New Guinea shipping lanes, north and northwest of New Ireland, arriving on30 December 1942 . On10 January 1943 , "Triton" stalked an unidentified vessel but withheld her attack upon observing it was marked as a hospital ship. Three days later, she fired four torpedoes at a tanker and scored one hit. When the enemy began firing at her periscope, she went deep to begin an end around. About 20 minutes later, the submarine returned to periscope depth and launched a spread of four torpedoes. Two geysers of water rose amidships as high as the target's bridge, but no explosions followed. The next day, "Triton" attempted to attack a freighter, but an escort forced her down where she was subjected to a two-hourdepth charge attack. On16 January , she attacked two cargo ships, scoring two hits on the first and one on the second; but her victims forced her to submerge before she could evaluate the damage. Later that day, "Triton" fired her last three torpedoes at a large freighter but heard no explosions. She then headed forAustralia and reachedBrisbane on26 January , with a total of 6,500 tons for the trip. [Blair, p.334. On arrival, Kirkpatrick was detached to become an aid to King, yet another waste of a very productive skipper.]Final patrol
Falling under the strict tactical control of Admiral
James Fife, Jr. , [Blair, p.375.] "Triton" (now in the hands ofGeorge K. Mackenzie, Jr. ) [Blair, p.375.] on16 February began her sixth and final war patrol, hoping to destroy enemy shipping between theShortland Basin andRabaul . She reported smoke on22 February and a new Japaneseradar at Buka. On6 March , the submarine attacked a convoy of five destroyer-escorted ships, sinking the cargo ship "Kiriha Maru" and damaging another freighter. One of her torpedoes made a circular run, and "Triton" went deep to evade it. She attacked another convoy on the night of8 March and claimed that five of the eight torpedoes she had fired scored hits. She could not observe the results or make a follow-up attack because gunfire from the escorts forced her down. On11 March , "Triton" reported she was chasing two convoys, each made up of five or more ships. She was informed USS|Trigger|SS-237|3 was operating in an adjoining area and ordered to stay south of the equator. On13 March , "Triton" was warned three enemy destroyers in her area were either looking for a convoy or were hunting American submarines.On
15 March , "Trigger" reported she had attacked a convoy and had beendepth charge d. Even though attacks on her ceased, she could still hear distant depth charging for about an hour. No further messages from "Triton" were ever received. Post-war examination of Japanese records revealed on15 March 1943 , three Japanese destroyers attacked a submarine a little northwest of "Triton"'s assigned area and subsequently observed an oil slick, debris, and items with American markings. On10 April 1943 , "Triton" was reported overdue from patrol and presumed lost, one of three lost in a month.This gave her 6,500 tons for the trip toBrisbane . [Blair, p.375.]There are persistent rumors "Triton" was actually lost off
Moreton Island nearBrisbane , sunk either tofriendly fire from an Australian pilot or Japanese mines ortorpedo es. Her loss was allegedly covered up by the Australian military.Fact|date=September 2007 It is undisputed two weeks after "Triton" was supposed to have been sunk, a welcoming committee, complete with band, mail delivery, fresh fruit and ice-cream was waiting for her on the dock at New Farm on theBrisbane River ; since she could simply have suffered a radio casualty, this is unsurprising. The Australian Defence Department refers inquiries to theAustralian War Memorial inCanberra . The Memorial's position is, it was highly unlikely Australian fire had sunk the submarine, and if there had been a cover-up during the war, the truth would have come out in the intervening years."Triton" received five
battle star s forWorld War II service.Notes
References
*Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory". Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975.
*Lenton, H.T. "American Submarines". New York: Doubleday & Co., 1973>
*Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th century Weapons and Warfare" (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 13, p.1409-10, "I61", and Volume 12, p.1246-7, "Hatsuharu".The rumors about "Triton"'s loss to friendly fire are laid out at http://ozatwar.com/ozatwar/usstriton.htm
External links
* [http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-triton-201.htm On Eternal Patrol: USS "Triton"]
*cite web | url= http://www.combinedfleet.com/triton.htm
title= Who Sank the Triton?
last= Nevitt | first= Allyn D.
year= 1998 |month= | work= Long Lancers | publisher= Combinedfleet.com
accessdate= 2008-05-26
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