USS Skipjack (SS-184) - First, Second and Third War Patrols

First, Second and Third War Patrols

On 9 December, Skipjack (under the command of Charles L. Freeman) departed Manila on her first war patrol, with all unfinished repair work completed by her crew en route to the patrol area off the east coast of Samar. The submarine conducted two torpedo attacks during this patrol. On 25 December, in the first attack of its kind by a U.S. submarine, Skipjack attacked an enemy aircraft carrier and a destroyer. She followed prewar doctrine and fired three torpedoes on sonar bearings from a depth of 100 feet (30 m), without success. On 3 January 1942, three torpedoes were fired at an enemy submarine, resulting in two explosions, but a sinking could not be confirmed. She refueled at Balikpapan, Borneo, on 4 January and arrived at Port Darwin, Australia, for refit on 14 January.

Skipjack’s second war patrol, conducted in the Celebes Sea, was uneventful with the exception of an unsuccessful attack on a Japanese aircraft carrier. She returned to Fremantle, Western Australia, on 10 March 1942. On 14 April, Skipjack got underway under the command of James W. Coe for her third war patrol, conducted in the Celebes Sea, Sulu Sea, and South China Sea. On 6 May, contact was made with a Japanese cargo ship, and the submarine moved in for the kill. Finding herself almost dead ahead, Skipjack fired a "down the throat" spread of three torpedoes that sank the Kanan Maru (Japanese: 河南丸). Two days later, the submarine intercepted a three-ship convoy escorted by a destroyer and she fired two torpedoes that severely damaged the merchant ship, Taiyu Maru (Japanese: 大有丸). Then she let go with four more that quickly sank the cargo ship, Bujun Maru (Japanese: 撫順丸). On 17 May, Skipjack sank the passenger-cargo ship Tazan Maru (Japanese: 太山丸) off Indochina before heading back to Fremantle.