USS Tigrone (SS-419) - First Patrol

First Patrol

On 9 March, she departed Oahu and steamed westward, arriving at Guam on 19 March. After a three-day pause to repair a main engine, she got underway on 21 March in company with submarines Bullhead and Blackfish, members of a combined attack group, led by her own commanding officer, Commander Hiram Cassedy. Joined by Seahorse, the submarines set their course for the South China Sea where they formed a scouting line in hopes of intercepting Japanese shipping.

Seahorse was mistakenly strafed and bombed by a B-24 Liberator on 24 March. Tigrone’s first brush with the enemy came on 29 March in the South China Sea when she dove to avoid an enemy "Oscar" and, at 60 ft (18 m), felt the jolt of a small explosion over the forward battery compartment, apparently the concussion of a small bomb dropped by the enemy plane. The new submarine emerged from this encounter without damage and continued her patrol of the sea lanes off the China coast.

In the days that followed, she made an unsuccessful attempt to intercept a convoy spotted by American planes. Then, on 3 April, she began lifeguard duties off the eastern shore of Hainan. On 5 April, Tigrone again managed to evade a bomb dropped by a high-flying Japanese plane. On 8 April, she assumed a lifeguard station off Kuannan and began steering five mile (8 km) legs to maintain her station, when the ship's commanding officer noted a wake which he took to be one of the ship's own. Two minutes later, the appearance of a torpedo 500 yards (500 m) away on the port bow gave startling proof that the wake was that of an enemy submarine. As Tigrone swung left, the torpedo passed her abeam, less than 60 yards (50 m) away. She then submerged and rigged for silent running, remaining below for over two hours.

On 9 April, she took up a lifeguard station off Mofu Point and continued patrols off Hainan until 15 April when she departed the area late in the day. She bombarded Pratas Reef with five-inch (127 mm) gunfire on 16 April and joined submarine Rock three days later to fire on targets including towns and docks on Batan Island. She ended her first war patrol at Guam on 24 April 1945.