USS Rasher

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Rasher (SS-269), c. post 1953.
USS Rasher sometime after her 1953 recommissioning.
History
United States
NamesakeRasher (Sebastes miniatus)
BuilderManitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin[1]
Laid down4 May 1942[1]
Launched20 December 1942[1]
Sponsored byMrs. G. C. Weaver
Commissioned8 June 1943[1]
Decommissioned22 June 1946[1]
Recommissioned14 December 1951[1]
Decommissioned28 May 1952[1]
Recommissioned22 July 1953[1]
Decommissioned27 May 1967[1]
Stricken20 December 1971[1]
FateSold for scrap 7 August 1974[1]
General characteristics
Class and type
diesel-electric submarine[3]
Displacement
  • 1,525 tons (1,549 t) surfaced[3]
  • 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged[3]
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[3]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3]
Draft17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced[2]
  • 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged[2]
Range11,000 NM (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[2]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged[2]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth300 ft (90 m)[2]
Complement6 officers, 54 enlisted[2]
Armament

USS Rasher (SS/SSR/AGSS/IXSS-269), a

vermilion rockfish, a fish found along the California
coast.

Construction and commissioning

Rasher, a

laid down on 4 May 1942 by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin; launched 20 December 1942, sponsored by Mrs. G. C. Weaver; and commissioned 8 June 1943, Commander E. S. Hutchinson in command. Admiral Charles A. Lockwood had earlier relieved Hutchinson of command of the submarine USS Grampus (SS-207) for lacking aggressiveness.[8]

Service history

Following builder's trials in

Brisbane, Australia
, on 11 September.

First war patrol, September – November 1943

On her first war patrol, 24 September through 24 November 1943, Rasher operated in the Makassar Strait–Celebes Sea area, and sank the passenger-cargo ship Kogane Maru in a submerged attack at dawn on 9 October. Four days later, off Ambon Harbor, she spotted a convoy of four merchantmen escorted by two destroyers and a "Pete" seaplane. She fired two salvoes of three torpedoes each, then crash dived to avoid the destroyers and bombs from the scout plane. Freighter Kenkoku Maru broke up and sank, while the escorts struck back in a vigorous but vain counterattack.

On the afternoon of 31 October, while patrolling the shipping lanes off the Borneo coast, Rasher commenced trailing tanker Koryo Maru, but because of a patrolling float plane, was unable to attack until night. Rasher then surfaced, attacked and sent the tanker to the bottom after a thunderous explosion of exploding torpedoes and gasoline.

The submarine's next victim was tanker Tango Maru which lost her stern to a spread of three torpedoes on the afternoon of 8 November. Rasher escaped the escorts by diving deep and silently slipping away. A midnight attack on a second

patrol bomber mistakenly attacked her in the Indian Ocean 310 nautical miles (574 km; 357 mi) north-northeast of Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia at 17°44′S 115°39′E / 17.733°S 115.650°E / -17.733; 115.650 on 20 November 1943, dropping a depth charge as Rasher was submerging and passing a depth of 47 feet (14 m).[9] Rasher sustained no damage,[9]
and arrived at Fremantle on 24 November 1943.

Hutchinson had cleared his record on Grampus with the sinkings and was promoted to command a submarine division.[8]

Second war patrol, December 1943 – January 1944

Command of Rasher was given to

Saigon
harbor. Prematurely exploding torpedoes and vigilant escorts frustrated her attacks on convoys on 11 January and 17 January. A week later she returned to Fremantle.

Third and fourth war patrols, February – June 1944

Rasher's third war patrol from 19 February to 4 April 1944, was conducted in the

Ryusei Maru, killing up to 5,000 of her complement of Japanese Army soldiers, Indian prisoners of war
, and rōmusha forced labourers. Then, after transiting Makassar Strait into the Celebes Sea, she destroyed the cargo ship Nattai Maru on 3 March.

On 19 March 1944, Rasher sighted the Japanese submarine Ro-112 as Ro-112 was surfacing in the Java Sea north of Bali off Cape Bungkulan at 08°02′S 115°25′E / 8.033°S 115.417°E / -8.033; 115.417.[10] Rasher′s watch officer described Ro-112 as a black submarine of the "Ro-51 class."[10] At 11:49, Rasher fired four Mark 14 Mod 3 torpedoes at Ro-112, but Ro-112 turned to port and evaded them.[10] En route home, however, Rasher met the 2,750-ton freighter Nichinan Maru on 27 March and sank her.

Rasher returned to the Makassar Strait-Celebes Sea area for her fourth patrol, from 30 April to 23 June 1944. On 11 May, she torpedoed and sank the freighter Choi Maru. Next to go down were the converted

capsizing
.

Fifth war patrol, 22 July – 3 September 1944

Commander Henry G. Munson relieved Commander Laughon as commanding officer of Rasher.[11] Rasher's fifth patrol was spent largely with Bluefish in the South China Sea west of Luzon.

Thirty miles south of Scarborough Shoal at 2255 5 August, Rasher launched a spread of six bow torpedoes[11] at the largest ship in a three-ship convoy. Diving to avoid being rammed, Rasher's crew counted five hits and heard the sounds of a ship breaking up as the army cargo ship Shiroganesan Maru went down.[12]

Rasher observed nine successive aircraft contacts to the north on the afternoon of 18 August and deduced these were air patrols for an important convoy.

Teia Maru, killing 2,665 Japanese soldiers,[13] and a fourth torpedo was heard exploding at a timed range of 3900 yards.[11] Rasher swung hard to port to launch four stern torpedoes at 2214. Three torpedoes hit and sank the 20,000 ton carrier Taiyō,[13] which was escorting the convoy, and the fourth torpedo was heard exploding on a more distant ship.[11]

Rasher pulled away to reload

wolfpack
and scored hits on two of the surviving transports.

Rasher counted sixteen detonations from the eighteen torpedoes fired on 18 August and five detonations for the six fired on 5 August.

Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard on 11 September. She was given a new 5-inch deck gun, ST radar, and many other upgrades.[7]

Sixth, seventh, and eighth war patrols, January – August 1945

Benjamin Ernest Adams Jr. replaced Munson for the sixth war patrol. Rasher departed San Francisco on 20 December 1944, arriving at Midway via Pearl Harbor in early January 1945. Her sixth patrol, as a unit of a wolfpack with Pilotfish and Finback, commenced on 29 January, and was conducted in the southern sector of the East China Sea. Rasher attacked a pair of ships on 15 February but missed, and approached a convoy the next day but was unable to get in position to attack. A later attack on another convoy also ended in misses.[7] No other suitable targets were found, only small patrol craft, hospital ships, and ubiquitous patrol aircraft. The patrol ended on 16 March 1945 at Guam.

Battleflag of the Rasher (SS-269), 1945.

Charles Derick Nace replaced Adams for the seventh and eighth patrols. Rasher's seventh patrol, 17 April to 29 May 1945, was little more rewarding than the sixth. On lifeguard station off

Honshū
, she riddled two small craft with gunfire. No aircraft came down in her area, and she returned to Midway on 29 May.

Rasher departed Midway 23 June 1945 to take lifeguard station off southern

Atlantic Reserve Fleet at New London, Connecticut
.

Rasher was credited with sinking 99,901 tons of Japanese shipping, the third highest total for US submarines in World War II. However, a Japanese destroyer credited as sunk by sister ship USS Flasher (SS-249) is given a name that never existed and may have been a case of mistaken identity. If the tonnage credited for this ship is removed from the record of Flasher, then Rasher becomes the second highest-scoring US submarine for tonnage.[15]

Service as radar picket submarine, 1953–1960

She was placed in commission in reserve at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 14 December 1951, Lt. V. D. Ely in command. After being reclassified as a radar picket submarine, SSR-269, she commenced conversion which continued after she decommissioned 28 May 1952. After extensive hull and interior alterations at Philadelphia Navy Yard, she was recommissioned 22 July 1953, Lt. Comdr. R. W. Stecher in command. She departed New London on 12 November, arriving San Diego 17 December via Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal.

The following two years were spent off the west coast in operations from

SEATO naval units. She returned to San Diego 3 July 1956. Prior to and following a second WestPac deployment from 4 March to 4 September 1958, SSR-269 served in Fleet exercises as an early warning ship, and in ASW
training operations.

On 28 December 1959, Rasher departed the continental United States for the Far East. While attached to the 7th Fleet, she participated in exercise "Blue Star", a large-scale American-Nationalist Chinese amphibious exercise. In May 1960, she took part in the

Black Ship Festival at Shimoda, Japan, commemorating Commodore Matthew C. Perry
's landing. She returned to San Diego on 20 June 1960.

Vietnam War service

USS Rasher (AGSS 269) ship's logo.

Rasher was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine, AGSS-269, on 1 July 1960, with conversion being accomplished at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. Involved in maintaining fleet readiness until mid-August 1962 when she deployed to WestPac, Rasher continued to exhibit her usual high standards of performance. She returned to San Diego on 15 February 1963, and was overhauled that summer.

During the next year, AGSS-269 was engaged in strike exercises involving other American and Canadian ships. Her next deployment, beginning on 3 August 1964, involved support of 7th Fleet operations off Vietnam, as well as ASW exercises with SEATO allies.

After returning to San Diego on 5 February 1965, she had ASW and amphibious training. Her next WestPac deployment, from 3 January to 17 July 1966, included amphibious and ASW training support for

Republic of Korea, Nationalist Chinese, and Thai
units, as well as operations with the 7th Fleet off Vietnam.

Rasher spent the remainder of her commissioned career providing training services off the coast of California to

UDT and ASW
units.

Decommissioning and disposal

Rasher was decommissioned 27 May 1967, and later was reclassified "unclassified miscellaneous submarine" IXSS-269, was towed to Portland, Oregon, where she served as a training submarine for Naval reservists until struck from the Navy List, 20 December 1971.

Honors and awards

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-263-3
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26202-0
    .
  4. ^
    OCLC 24010356
    .
  5. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
  6. ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  7. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-404-0
    .
  8. ^ a b c Blair, Clay Jr. (1975). Silent Victory Volume 1. Philadelphia and New York: J.B.Lippincott Company. p. 463.
  9. ^ a b Hinman & Campbell, p. 174.
  10. ^ a b c Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2017). "IJN Submarine RO-112: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Ruhe, W.J., CAPT USN (September 1983). "The Rasher's Fifth". Proceedings. United States Naval Institute: 78–81.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ISBN 1-55750-149-1
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-149-1
    .
  14. ^ Blair, Clay Jr. (1975). Silent Victory Volume 1. Philadelphia and New York: J.B.Lippincott Company. p. 964.
  15. ISBN 978-0553010503
    .

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Rasher (SS-269).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Rasher&oldid=1192835270"