USS Angler
![]() Angler underway after her SSK-conversion
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History | |
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Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut[1] |
Laid down | 9 November 1942[1] |
Launched | 4 July 1943[1] |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Patrick H. Drewry |
Commissioned | 1 October 1943[1] |
Decommissioned | 2 February 1947[1] |
Recommissioned | 2 April 1951[1] |
Decommissioned | 10 November 1952[1] |
Recommissioned | 10 September 1953[1] |
Decommissioned | 1 April 1968[1] |
Stricken | 15 December 1971[1] |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 1 February 1974[2] |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | |
Displacement | 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced,[2] 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged[2] |
Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2] |
Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum[2] |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced,[3] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged[3] |
Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)[3] |
Endurance | 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[3] 75 days on patrol |
Test depth | 300 ft (91 m)[3] |
Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted[3] |
Armament |
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USS Angler (SS-240), a
Construction and commissioning
Angler′s
Service history
World War II
Following shakedown in the New London and
Selected to be transferred from Pearl Harbor, Angler commenced her first war patrol on 10 January 1944, her patrol to terminate at
Angler began her second war patrol on 15 February, assigned the waters off the east coast of the
Angler sailed on 3 May for another patrol as one of eight submarines assigned to support the Operation Transom carrier strike scheduled to hit Surabaya, Java. Their job would be to sink retreating Japanese ships, to provide lifeguard services, and to guard the major passages from the Java Sea (the Sunda Strait and Lombok Strait) to the Indian Ocean lest the Japanese try to move into the Indian Ocean to attack the Allied strike force. Launched as scheduled on 17 May the strikes achieved complete surprise.[citation needed]
The only action of the patrol for Angler came on 20 May, when she torpedoed and sank Otori Maru. Japanese escort vessels administered a bad pounding[according to whom?] to Angler, but she escaped damage.
The next day, nausea again gripped everyone on board Angler. The situation was reported to Fremantle, and the submarine was ordered to return at once. Things onboard Angler continued to grow worse. On 22 May, Lieutenant Commander Olsen noted in the log: "Physical condition of officers and crew is so bad that it is difficult to maintain watch, either surface or submerged. Put crew on fruit juice alone, no water. Held thorough field day in case boat is contaminated. Exercised special supervision in cooking, dishwashing." On 23 May he wrote, "Decided to run submerged as we did not have enough able-bodied people to maintain proper surface watch."[citation needed]
Flasher and Childs were sent to intercept Angler and lend assistance. Crevalle also arrived and transferred a doctor to assist the ailing crewmembers. Angler finally arrived at Fremantle on 29 May. An investigation concluded that an electrician had taken a can of carbon tetrachloride on board as a cleaning agent, which was strictly forbidden. Although the illness was attributed the tetrachloride, some[who?] suspected that the fresh water tanks had not been cleaned as requested.
Angler began her fourth war patrol on 21 June. She paused to refuel alongside a barge in
On 18 September, the submarine departed on her next patrol, to operate with Bluegill in the Sulu Sea. On 14 October Angler torpedoed and sank Nanrei Maru.[citation needed]
At 0145 on 22 October, the men on watch on Angler's bridge were startled by voices calling out of the darkness. Repeated attempts to locate the source of the voices proved unsuccessful, but the dawn soon revealed "one of the most gruesome sights imaginable as far as you could see ..." the water literally covered with wreckage and dead Japanese, most clad in Army uniforms. Aircraft in the vicinity made it too risky to stop and investigate a lifeboat, but Angler returned at sunset. At 1806, she brought this boat alongside and counted 26 surviving men, both soldiers and naval ratings. Determining who was the senior officer of the group, the submarine retained three men for questioning, and after giving the men remaining in the boat some food, water, and a course to land, 80 nautical miles (150 km) away, released the lifeboat. The three prisoners retained on board –
At 1915 on 23 October, Angler made radar contact with the main Japanese force steaming to contest the Allied invasion of Leyte. Angler tracked the task force until 0240 the following morning, and her contact reports proved of inestimable value to the American forces off Leyte. Ironically, Angler had just made the only worthwhile contact with the only worthwhile convoy of her entire patrol. Although the maneuvers to clear the convoy took her 10 nmi (19 km) astern of the task force, Angler forsook the convoy of civilian ships for the military task force. On 1 November, Angler rendezvoused with Hardhead, and received onboard Commander Fred E. Bakutis, a pilot from Fighting Squadron 20 (VF-20) who had been rescued by Hardhead a short time before. Angler returned to Fremantle on 9 November.
On 4 December, Angler left on her sixth patrol, during which time she served a brief period of lifeguard duty. On 13 December, Bergall was fired on by a Japanese destroyer. A shell tore a large hole in Bergall's pressure hull and left the submarine unable to dive. Angler, operating in the Java Sea, received orders to proceed to Bergall's assistance, take off the crew and torpedo the ship. She found the crippled submarine on 15 December. Bergall's commanding officer, Commander John Hyde, had decided to remain in Bergall with a skeleton crew. Angler trailed Bergall to take everyone off if a Japanese attack threatened. The two submarines traveled nearly 2,000 nmi (3,700 km), through waters mostly controlled by the enemy, and reached Exmouth Gulf safely on 20 December without seeing any Japanese airplanes or ships.
Angler resumed her patrol, but contacted no enemy shipping. She put in at
Angler did, however, conduct three shore bombardment missions during this patrol. The first - on 26 July - found her making a careful reconnaissance to locate a Japanese installation on Kinkasan Island. From a range of about 3,000–4,000 yd (2,700–3,700 m), Angler hurled 25 5 in (130 mm) rounds at a target area containing closely bunched buildings, radio towers, and a lighthouse. Although she claimed at least 20 hits, the large clouds of smoke and dust made a closer assessment of damage impossible.[citation needed]
Five days later, on 31 July, after an all-day close-in observation, Angler surfaced at dusk in a thick fog, off
Post-War
Angler arrived at Midway on 9 August, and was there when hostilities ceased on 15 August. She sailed for Pearl Harbor on 26 August and paused there briefly before continuing on to the United States. The submarine transited the
Following her recommissioning on 2 April 1951, Angler held shakedown in the
Upon completion of overhaul, Angler was recommissioned in September 1953 and rejoined the
Angler spent the first eight months of 1957 participating in exercises along the East Coast. On 27 September, she was underway for Europe to take part in
From 24 February-23 March 1958, Angler participated in Operation "Springboard," held in the West Indies and Caribbean, following those evolutions with numerous training exercises. On 3 November, Angler once again entered the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for overhaul. Repairs were completed in March 1959, and the submarine resumed her schedule of operations and exercises along the East Coast. She also rendered services to the Submarine School, New London. In 1960, the ship reverted to her original designation, SS-240.
On 24 October 1962, Angler commenced her first deployment to the 6th Fleet and conducted operations in the Mediterranean Sea. In the course of her deployment, she visited ports in Spain, Italy, France, and Greece. She returned to New London on 6 February 1963 and resumed operations with the submarine school. In 1963, Angler was redesignated AGSS-240. For the remainder of her career, the submarine continued her pattern of periodic deployments to the Caribbean and West Indies, made midshipman and Naval Reserve training cruises, and operated in conjunction with the submarine school.
Angler was decommissioned on 1 April 1968 and was assigned to the Naval Reserve training program at
Awards
Angler won six
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.