VENTING SANITARY INBOARD Issue 254, September 2015 OUR CREED: FORWARD BATTERY “To perpetuate the BASE COMMANDER memory of our shipmates George Hudson who gave their lives in 503.843.2082 pursuit of their duties [email protected] while serving their country. That their VICE COMMANDER dedication, deeds, and Jay Agler supreme sacrifice be a 503.771.1774 constant source of motivation toward greater accomplishments. SECRETARY Pledge loyalty and Dennis Smith patriotism to the United 503.981.4051 States of America and TREASURER its Constitution.” Mike Worden 503.708.8714 COMMANDER’S LOG CHAPLAIN/NOMINATION COMMITTEE CHAIR Scott Duncan 503.667.0728 CHIEF OF THE BOAT Arlo Gatchel 503.771.0540 WAYS & MEANS CHAIR Vacant MEMBERSHIP CHAIR/SMALL STORES BOSS Dave Vrooman 503.466.0379 PUBLICITY & SOCIAL CHAIR Gary Schultz, Jr. 503.666.6125 BYLAWS CHAIR/PAST BASE COMMANDER Ray Lough 360.573.4274 TRUSTEE Gary Webb 503.632.6259 We had a great turnout this August at the Blueback Annual Picnic in Clackamette Park. About SANITARY EDITOR twenty-five members showed up with their wives, girlfriends and guests. Clive Waite and Ray Alan Brodie Lough cooked corn on the cob which was imported from Medford. Ron Bell cooked the finest 360.247.6640 pulled pork west of the Mississippi. Our beautiful ladies provided scrumptious side-dishes fit for a HISTORIAN/POC/ALL- king! Fun was had by all and after we ate our fill we all waddled away like ducks – Oregon Ducks! AROUND GOOD GUY Bob Walters (See “Commander’s Log,” Page 8) 503.284.8693 ON ETERNAL PATROL: BOATS LOST IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER USS S-5 (SS-110) On 27 August 1943, Japanese ships witnessed a torpedo Class: S Class attack, and the next day a surfaced submarine was seen in Launched: 10 Nov 1919 the Tablas Strait area. Following this sighting, on 9 September Commissioned: 6 Mar 1920 a surfaced American submarine was seen inside Lingayen Builder: Portsmouth Navy Gulf. These sightings correspond with Grayling's orders to Yard, Kittery, Maine patrol the approaches to Manila. Length: 231’ 0” Beam: 21’ 10” No recorded Japanese attacks could have sunk Grayling. Her Lost on 1 September 1920 loss may have been operational or caused by an unrecorded No Loss of Life attack. It is generally accepted that Grayling was lost between 9 September and 12 September 1943, either in Following builder's trials, outfitting, and crew training, S-5 Lingayen Gulf or along the approaches to Manila. departed Boston Navy Yard on 30 August 1920 to undergo full- power trials 55 miles (89 km) off the Delaware Capes. At 1300 Grayling was credited with five major kills totaling 20,575 tons. on 1 September, she commenced a dive for a submerged test She received six battle stars for her World War II service. run. Water unexpectedly entered the submarine through the main air induction system, pouring into the control room, USS Pompano (SS-181) engine room, torpedo room, and the motor room. Class: Porpoise Class Launched: 11 Mar 1937 The entire crew was rescued the next day, escaping through a Commissioned: 12 Jun 1937 small hole cut into the ship’s stern. Amazingly, the ship suffered Builder: Mare Island Navy neither any loss of life nor serious injury. Later that same Yard, Mare Island, California morning, the battleship Ohio secured a towline to the stern of Length: 298’ 0” S-5 and proceeded to tow her to more shallow water. The Beam: 25’ 1” towline, however, parted and the submarine bobbed briefly, Lost on 17 September 1943 then plunged to the bottom. 77 Men Lost A long but ultimately unsuccessful attempt was made to raise On August 20, 1943, USS Pompano, commanded by Lt. Cmdr. S-5, and she was finally struck from the Naval Vessel Register in Willis M. Thomas, left Midway Island on her seventh and final 1921. war patrol. She was headed for the northeast coast of Honshu, where she had been ordered to patrol from August The portion of S-5 's hull plating that was removed to permit her 29th until sunset on September 27th. Pompano was never crew to escape from the sunken submarine is on permanent heard from again after departing Midway. She did not return display in the Navy Memorial Museum at the Navy Yard in to Midway on the scheduled date, nor did she respond to Washington, D.C. numerous radio transmissions. On October 15, 1943, SubPac headquarters reported her as presumed lost in enemy waters. USS Grayling (SS-209) Class: Tambor Class There was no immediate evidence of any enemy Launched: 29 Nov 1940 antisubmarine attacks during this period in Pompano's Commissioned: 1 Mar 1941 assigned patrol areas. SubPac headquarters reckoned she Builder: Portsmouth Navy may have struck a mine, experienced a fatal operational Yard, Kittery, Maine failure, or underwent an unrecorded enemy attack. All that Length: 307’ 2” can be said with certainty is that she disappeared sometime Beam: 27’ 3” after she damaged the Japanese cargo ship Nanking Maru on Lost on 9 September 1943 September 9, 1943, east of Kuji Bay, at the geographic position 76 Men Lost 40° 12′ N, 141° 55′ E. It is her last known location. Under the command of Lt. Cdr. Robert M. Brinker, Grayling Another possibility is that she was sunk on September 17, 1943, began her eighth and last war patrol in July 1943 from by a bomb and depth-charge attack in the sea off Cape Fremantle. Cruising in the Philippines area, Grayling recorded Shiriyazaki, the northeastern-most point of Honshu, in her last kill, the passenger-cargo Meizan Maru, on 27 August in Higashidōri, Aomori Prefecture, by a Japanese seaplane and the Tablas Strait but was not heard from again after 9 surface vessels. September. She was scheduled to make a radio report on 12 September, which she did not, and all attempts to contact her failed. Grayling was officially reported "lost with all hands" on 30 September 1943. (See “Boats Lost in the Month of September,” Page 3) Venting Sanitary Inboard – Page 2 BOATS LOST IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER (Continued From Page 2) On September 17, at 0735 hours, a Japanese floatplane spotted a S-51 was raised on 5 July 1926 by a team led by then-Lieutenant moving oil slick in the Tsugaru Strait. As the oil slick grew larger, it Commander (later Rear Admiral) Edward Ellsberg. The entire was concluded that an enemy submarine was probably resting on salvage operation was commanded by Captain (later Fleet the seabed in an area bearing 318° from and about three miles off Admiral) Ernest J. King. S-51 was struck from the Naval Vessel the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse. It is generally believed that Pompano Register on 27 January 1930 and sold for scrap to the Borough was the submarine in question and that she had lost motive Metal Company of Brooklyn, New York. power. Although there is no conclusive proof of what happened to Pompano, it is likely that the numerous depth charges dropped USS Cisco (SS-290) during the antisubmarine action on September 17, 1943 inflicted Class: Balao Class sufficient catastrophic damage and resulted in her loss. Launched: 24 Dec 1942 Commissioned: 10 May 1943 Pompano was awarded seven battle stars for her service in World Builder: Portsmouth Navy Yard, War II. Kittery, Maine Length: 311’ 9” USS S-51 (SS-162) Beam: 27’ 3” Class: S Class Lost on 28 September 1943 Launched: 20 Aug 1921 76 Men Lost Commissioned: 24 Jun 1922 Builder: Lake Torpedo Boat USS Cisco (SS-290), a Balao-class submarine, was commissioned on Co., Bridgeport, Connecticut 10 May 1943 with Cmdr. James W. Coe in command. She Length: 240’ 0” reported to the Pacific Fleet. Beam: 21’ 10” Lost on 25 September 1925 Cisco sailed from Panama on 7 August 1943 for Brisbane, Australia, 33 Men Lost arriving on 1 September to assume local patrol duties until 18 September, when she docked at Darwin. She put out on her first On the night of 25 September 1925, S-51 was operating on the war patrol on 20 September, but never returned. surface near Block Island, Rhode Island with her running lights on. The merchant steamer SS City of Rome spotted a single white Japanese records tell of sighting a submarine leaking oil on 28 masthead light but was unable to determine its course, speed, or September in an area where Cisco is known to have been the only intentions. The ship altered her course away from the unknown submarine then operating. Japanese records state this submarine light to give whatever it might be greater leeway. Meanwhile, S-51 was sunk by bombs and depth charges. Cisco is thus presumed to spotted the ship's masthead and green sidelights and held her have been lost in action on 28 September 1943. The only survivor course as she was required to do by the Rules of the Road then in from the crew was Chief Radioman Howell B. Rice (USN Ret.), who effect. was taken sick in Darwin and sent ashore to the Navy hospital prior to Cisco's final voyage. Shortly after altering course, City of Rome spotted the submarine's red sidelight and realized that the ships were on a collision course. Japanese records state that the submarine was attacked by Type She turned and backed her engines, but it was too late. Twenty- 97 "Kate" attack bombers of the 954th Naval Air Squadron and the two minutes after first spotting the submarine's masthead light, the riverboat Karatsu, originally the U.S. Navy gunboat USS Luzon (PR- steamer rammed her at the position 41° 14′ N, 71° 16′ W.