James W. Blanchard

James William Blanchard was an American submarine commander during the Pacific War.

Blanchard graduated the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland with the Class of 1927. [Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory" (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975), p.935.] He was at the Submarine School in New London, Connecticut until, on 5 December 1943, now a Lieutenant Commander, he took command of the submarine "Albacore" in Brisbane, Australia, replacing Oscar Hagberg. [Blair, pp.477 and 484.]

On 26 December 1943, Blanchard departed Australia to patrol north of the Bismarck Islands. Directed by Ultra to intercept a Japanese I-boat, he made no contact when the I-boat failed to arrive. [Blair, p.484fn.] He spotted his first target on 12 January 1944 and sank ammunition ship [Blair, p.484fn.] "Choko Maru" (about 2750 tons) [Blair, p.935, and Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare" (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 10, p.1041, "Sazanami".] with two separate torpedo attacks. Two days later, he worked in concert with Wally Ebert in "Scamp" and "Bub" Ward in "Guardfish". Ward, unable to get a shot, flushed the destroyer "Sazanami" (1750 tons); [Fitzsimons, p.1041.] Blanchard sank her with a spread of four shots from his stern torpedo tubes, while Ward stood by taking periscope pictures. [Blair, p.484.] Another destroyer pinned him down and delivered fifty-nine depth charges, leaving Ebert and Ward free to pursue the three tankers. Following more than a fortnight of uneventful patrolling, he headed home, with fuel stops at Tulagi and Midway Island before reaching Pearl Harbor on 22 February. After three days of repairs, he went on to Mare Island for overhaul.

While there, John Crowley, newly assigned to command "Flier", got in a heated dispute with his exec, Ben Adams, who nearly went to surface forces; instead, he was transferred to Blanchard's boat, replacing Ralph De Loach, who was already scheduled to new construction. [Blair, p.592.]

econd Patrol

Blanchard, with new exec Adams, left Mare Island on 5 May 1944 and held training exercises with USS|Shad|SS-235|3 "en route" to Hawaii. He reached Pearl Harbor on 13 May and spent the next two weeks on final repairs and training. "Albacore" began her ninth patrol on 29 May and was assigned waters west of the Mariana Islands and around the Palau Islands. During the next few days, he made only one contact a Japanese convoy which she encountered on 11 June. However before he could gain a firing position, a Japanese aircraft forced him to dive and he lost contact.

On the morning of 18 June, two days after American forces began landing on Saipan, Admiral Lockwood (COMSUBPAC) [Blair, p.654.] moved four boats (Anton Gallaher's "Bang", Sam Loomis' "Stingray", James Jordan's "Finback", and Blanchard in "Albacore") [Blair, p.654 and 951.] in the hope of intercepting a Japanese task force under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa Ultra reported bound from from Tawi Tawi to Saipan. Blanchard shifted from west of the Mariana Islands to a new location 100 miles (185 km) further south.

At about 0800 on 19 June, he raised his periscope and found himself in the midst of Ozawa's main body. Blanchard, with astounding aplomb considering how juicy the target was, allowed one Japanese carrier to pass unharmed and selected a second one for his target at 9,000 yards (8200 m). Waiting while a destroyer passed before his sights, [Blair, p.655.] he saw his TDC had gone awry, [Blair, p.655.] so at 5,300 yards (4850 m) he fired six bow tubes by eye. [Blair, p.655.] Three Japanese destroyers immediately charged "Albacore", and Blanchard pulled the plug. While on the way down, he heard (and felt) [Blair, p.655.] one solid hi9t, correctly timed for his last torpedo. About the same time, 25 depth charges began raining down on the submarine, some so close the cork insulation was shaken loose. [Blair, p.655.] Then Blanchard heard "a distant and persistent explosion of great force", followed by another; Blanchard believed this, too was a hit, but was mistaken. [Blair, p.655.]

The Sinking of "Taihō"

One of the torpedoes had hit Ozawa's flagship, the 31,000-ton aircraft carrier "Taihō", the newest and largest in the Japanese fleet. The explosion jammed the enemy ship's forward aircraft elevator, and filled its pit with gasoline, water, and aviation fuel. However, no fire erupted, and the flight deck was unharmed. Ozawa was unconcerned by the hit and launched two more waves of aircraft. Meanwhile, a novice took over the damage control responsibilities. He believed the best way to handle gasoline fumes was to open up the ship's ventilation system and let them disperse throughout the ship. This action turned the ship into a floating time bomb. At 1530, a tremendous explosion jolted "Taihō" and blew out the sides of the carrier. "Taihō" began to settle in the water and was clearly doomed. Although Admiral Ozawa wanted to go down with the ship, his staff persuaded him to transfer to the cruiser "Haguro". After Ozawa shifted his, a second explosion ripped through "Taihō" and she sank by the stern, taking 1650 officers and men with her.

None of the men in "Albacore" thought "Taihō" had sunk, and Lockwood did, neither. Blanchard was angry for "missing a golden opportunity." [quoted by Blair, p.658.]

After this, Blanchard was detailed to lifeguard duty for planes striking Yap and Ulithi. Amid a 29 June strike, he was strafed by a Japanese aircraft, which did not major damage. [Blair, p.658.] On 2 July, he shifted to intercept traffic between Yap and the Palau Islands. Just after 08.00, he spotted a 900 ton wooden inter-island steamer "Taimei Maru" [Blair, p.658.] loaded with Japanese civilians and battle surfaced for gun attack. After setting the ship fire, Blanchard dived again to avoid another airplane. The submarine surfaced soon thereafter and picked up five survivors, then later discovered a half-sunken lifeboat with a child in it. [Blair, p.658.] When the survivors reached Japan, they claimed Blanchard had mistreated them, and Emperor Hirohito filed a formal protest, very rare for the war. [Blair, p.658.]

Blanchard put in to Majuro, the Admiralty Islands, on 15 July. He was praised for an aggressive patrol and received credit for damaging (not sinking) a "Shōkaku"'-class carrier. American codebreakers from HYPO had lost track of "Taihō" after the Battle of the Philippine Sea and, while puzzled, did not realize she had gone down. Only months later did a POW reveal her sinking. "Months and months went by," Blanchard recalled. "Then they picked up a POW someplace who said "Taihō" went down in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Even then intelligence was doubtful. So I said, 'Keep him alive until he convinces them.'" After confirmation was finally obtained, Lockwood upgraded Blanchard's Navy Commendation Medal to a Navy Cross. [Blair, p.659.]

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