USS Gunnel (SS-253)

USS "Gunnel" (SS-253) was launched 17 May 1942 by the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut; sponsored by Mrs. Ben Morell, wife of the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks; and commissioned 20 August 1942, Lt. Cmdr. J. S. McCain, Jr. in command. A gunnel is a blennoid fish of the north Atlantic ranging south as far as Cape Cod.

"Gunnel"s first war patrol (19 October – 7 December 1942) covered a passage from the United States to the United Kingdom, during which she participated in Operation "Torch", the Allied invasion of North Africa. One of six submarines assigned to Admiral Henry K. Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force, "Gunnel" did reconnaissance off Fedhala 6 November 1942, 2 days before the invasion, and on D-day (8 November) made infrared signals to guide the approaching fleet to the beachheads. Missions well accomplished, the submarine departed for Rosneath, Scotland, 7 December to terminate her first patrol. "En route" home, the drive gears of her HOR engines failed, forcing her to complete the final 1800 km (1000 nm) on her auxiliary diesel, leading to a major overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Subsequently assigned to the Pacific Fleet, "Gunnel" sailed to Pearl Harbor, then to her second patrol (28 May – 3 July 1943) in waters west of Kyūshū Island in the East China Sea. Success crowned her efforts when cargo ship "Kayo Maru" (6,300 tons) was sunk 15 June, "Gunnel"s first kill, and 4 days later when another cargo ship, "Tokiwa Maru" (7,000 tons), was sent under. (Both were confirmed by JANAC postwar.)

After overhaul at Mare Island, California, the submarine accomplished a third war patrol (17 November 1943-7 January 1944) in home waters of Japan off Honshū. This, too, was successful; on 4 December "Gunnel" sent passenger-cargo ship "Hiyoshi Maru" to the bottom.

The fourth war patrol (5 February – 6 April) took the boat from Midway to Fremantle and in the South China, Sulu, and Celebes Seas. Bad luck dogged "Gunnel" and she was forced to return to port having made no further kills. Her fifth and sixth patrols, (3 May – 4 July) and (29 July – 22 September 1944) found her again in the southern approaches of the Sunda Straits and cruising in the Sulu Sea-Manila area but failed to add sunken ships to "Gunnel"s score. During her seventh patrol (21 October – 28 December) in the South China and Sulu Seas, she sank the motor torpedo boat "Sagi" (600 tons); passenger-cargo ship "Shunten Maru" (5,600 tons); and torpedo boat "Hiyodori" (600 tons). On this same patrol "Gunnel" evacuated 11 naval aviators at Palawan 1 December to 2 December after the fliers had been protected by friendly guerrilla forces for some 2 months. She conducted her eighth patrol (13 June – 24 July 1945) in the Bungo Suido area. She attacked an unescorted Japanese submarine 9 July. The great range and speed of the enemy, however, caused "Gunnel"'s torpedoes to miss. She returned from the patrol after duty as a lifeguard ship for B-29s flying toward Japan on bombing missions.

"Gunnel" was refitting at Pearl Harbor and at war's end she was ordered to New London, Connecticut, where she decommissioned 18 May 1946. Her name was struck from the Navy List 1 September 1958 and she was sold for scrapping in August 1959.

"Gunnel" received five battle stars for World War II service. Her first, second, third, and seventh war patrols were designated successful. In the (unreliable) JANAC accounting postwar, she was credited with six ships sunk for 24,624 tons. [valoratsea.com]

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