USS Spearfish (SS-190) - Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth War Patrols

Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth War Patrols

Spearfish’s tenth war patrol was made south of Formosa from 17 January to 29 February 1944. On 30 January, she made two torpedo attacks on a convoy of three merchantmen and two escorts. She sank an escort and the passenger-cargo ship, Tomashima Maru. On 10 February, her attack on a convoy of four ships and their escorts damaged a freighter and sank a transport. The next day, she damaged another freighter in an 11-ship convoy. On 12 February, she crippled another freighter.

Spearfish sailed from Pearl Harbor on 31 March for the East China Sea and the area north of Nansei Shoto. On 5 May, she sank a freighter; and, the following day, she sank the cargo ship, Toyoura Maru. When the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor on 27 May, she was routed to the West Coast for a major overhaul. After spending the period from 6 June to 3 October at the Mare Island Navy Yard, the ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 10 October and held training exercises for a month.

Spearfish’s last war patrol took place from 12 November 1944 to 24 January 1945. On the first part of the patrol, she made photographic reconnaissance surveys of Iwo Jima and of Minami Jima. The submarine spent the second part in the Nanpō Islands area on lifeguard duties and offensive patrols. On 19 December 1944, she rescued seven survivors (CPT Linden O. Bricker, 2LT Kenneth R. Chidester, 2LT Jay L. Meikle, 2LT Clifford B. Smith, SSG Richard J. Grinstead, SGT Edmund G. Smith, and CPL Stephen J. Darienzo) from a ditched B-29 Superfortress, Z-1 "Pee Wee." Four airmen were killed during the ditching (2LT Jack O. Mueller, CPL Emory A. Forrest, CPL John C. Estes, and CPL William F. Frank). This marked the first submarine rescue of downed B-29 airmen in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.

On 11 January 1945, Spearfish's guns sank a sampan. She took three Japanese on board as prisoners, but one died several days later. LCDR C.C. Cole, commanding officer of the Spearfish, noted in the ships' log at Tanapag Harbor, Saipan on 13 January that he returned the seven airmen to their quarters under jubilant escort from their squadron.