USS Bonefish (SS-223)

History
United States
Builder	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down	25 June 1942[1]
Launched	7 March 1943[1]
Sponsored by	Mrs. F. A. Daubin
Commissioned	31 May 1943[1]
Fate	Sunk by Japanese vessels in Honshū, 18 June 1945[2]
General characteristics
Class and type	diesel-electric submarine[2]
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	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators[4][5] 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries[6] 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears[4] two propellers [4] 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[4] 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged[4]
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced[3] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged[3]
Range	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)[3]
Endurance	48 hours at 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged[3] 75 days on patrol
Test depth	300 ft (90 m)[3]
Complement	6 officers, 54 enlisted[3]
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Bonefish (SS-223) was a

The submarine conducted shakedown training out of New London, Conn., and Newport, R.I., until 23 July, when she set out for the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal on 4 August and arrived at Brisbane, Australia, on the 30th. Following a week of training out of that port, she again got underway for more days of drills in Moreton Bay. The submarine departed there on 16 September for her first war patrol.

First patrol, September – October 1943

After transiting

On 1 December, the boat sighted a convoy of three ships with two escorts hugging the Celebes coast. In two separate attacks, the submarine scored a hit on a large passenger/cargo ship Nichiryo Maru which later sank and another on a destroyer escort which apparently survived.

Bonefish conducted a submerged patrol of

Following refit and training, the submarine sailed from Fremantle on 12 January 1944 to conduct her third war patrol. While operating in the vicinity of Makassar Strait on 22 January, Bonefish encountered a large sailing vessel. The stranger's crew of seven acted suspiciously as the submarine approached, and despite repeated orders to do so, the crew refused to abandon ship. When Bonefish opened fire with her machine guns, the natives leaped overboard. As the vessel began to sink, Japanese troops emerged from below decks; Bonefish counted 39 men going over the side.

On 6 February, the submarine sighted a convoy composed of at least 17 ships. As she maneuvered into attack position, Bonefish selected a large

Underway again on 13 April, Bonefish headed for the Celebes Sea and her fourth war patrol. On 26 April, she intercepted a convoy of four ships steaming along the Mindanao coast. The submarine maneuvered into a position suitable to attack Tokiwa Maru, launched four torpedoes, and then turned to evade the escorts. Two torpedoes struck the 806 ton passenger/cargo ship amidships and aft, sinking her. The next day, Bonefish fired a spread of four torpedoes at a cargo ship headed for Davao Gulf but, in spite of three hits, failed to sink the target.

While in the Sulu Sea on 3 May, Bonefish approached a convoy but was forced to dive when an enemy plane dropped two depth bombs which exploded close aboard. The boat sustained minor damage and surfaced to make repairs, but two Japanese ships began to close in on her. Bonefish went deep once again and rigged for the depth charges, 25 in all. When her pursuers left the area, so did Bonefish. She moved to the northern approach to Basilan Strait. She attacked a convoy in those waters on 7 May, firing four torpedoes at an escort vessel, but could not observe the results.

On 14 May, Bonefish approached a convoy of three tankers and three escorting destroyers, steaming off

Under the command of Lt. Cmdr. Lawrence L. Edge, the submarine began her fifth war patrol on 25 June and headed again for the Celebes Sea. On 6 July, she surfaced to destroy a wooden-hulled schooner by gunfire. She then cleared the area and, the next day, engaged and destroyed another small ship with gunfire. Later that same day, the boat fired eight torpedoes at a small cargo ship, scoring several hits. On 8 July, she used her guns to touch off a blazing fire in a small, inter-island steamer and, two days later, sank a sampan with gunfire.

On 29 July, Bonefish commenced tracking a large, but empty, tanker with escorts and, early the next morning, gained a favorable attack position. She fired six torpedoes and scored four hits. The target, Kokuyo Maru, immediately settled by the stern, and Bonefish headed for the traffic lanes north of Sibutu and Tawitawi. On 3 August, she damaged a tanker with one torpedo hit. She set course for Fremantle the next day, ending her patrol there on 13 August.

Sixth patrol, September – October 1944

With her crew refreshed and her provisions and ammunition replenished, Bonefish got underway on 5 September for the Sibuyan Sea. After three days there without encountering any enemy ships, she departed those waters on 24 September. Four days later, while patrolling off Mindoro, the submarine sighted a large, heavily laden tanker escorted by two destroyers. She fired all of her bow torpedoes and heard and felt the hits on the 2,068 ton Japanese ship Anjo Maru. Bonefish tracked the target whose rapidly falling speed indicated her distress until the crippled tanker's escorts forced the boat to retire. A postwar examination of Japanese records confirmed that Anio Maru sank later that day.

During the later part of this patrol, Bonefish joined

Bonefish then set sail via Guam for the East China Sea and her seventh war patrol. Despite thorough coverage of the waters assigned her, she made few contacts and each of these was a small antisubmarine vessel. On Friday, 13 April, she attempted to sink a patrol vessel, but the target's radical maneuvers enabled it to escape. While on lifeguard duty off Korea's southern coast on 16 April, Bonefish rescued two Japanese aviators who had been shot down by a Navy plane. The USS Bonefish then completed a "special mission". On 7 May, the submarine returned to Apra Harbor, Guam, ending another successful war patrol.

Eighth patrol, May – June 1945

Upon completion of refit on 28 May, Bonefish got underway in company with

During a rendezvous with Tunny on 16 June, Bonefish reported sinking Oshikayama Maru, a 6,892 ton cargo ship. In a second rendezvous two days later, she requested and received permission to conduct a daylight submerged patrol of

Japanese records reveal that the 5,488 ton cargo ship Konzan Maru was torpedoed and sunk in Toyama Wan on 18 June and that an ensuing severe counterattack by Japanese escorts, the Okinawa, CD-63, CD-75, CD-158 and CD-207, brought debris and a major oil slick to the water's surface. There can be little doubt that Bonefish was sunk in this action. She was the second to last United States Submarine lost in the war, with Bullhead (SS-332) being lost in August 1945.

Awards

• 

  

  

  

  
  Navy Unit Commendation – five awards, for her first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth war patrols
• battle stars for World War II

  service
• World War II Victory Medal

See also

• List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II

References

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

USS Bonefish (SS-223)

• Photo gallery of Bonefish at NavSource Naval History
• On Eternal Patrol: USS Bonefish
• Kill record: USS Bonefish

37°18′N 137°55′E / 37.300°N 137.917°E / 37.300; 137.917