Dairen and took up the chase. She trailed both until after nightfall, then fired a spread of three torpedoes
that quickly sank Kinko Maru. The lead freighter continued, unaware of the attack, until someone on the sinking ship sounded a whistle. At that point, the freighter began a series of frantic maneuvers to dodge two of Snook's torpedoes, then opened fire with her guns, forcing the submarine to withdraw out of range, returning shortly after and firing three torpedoes, one of which hit Daifuku Maru amidships and sank her. Snook then resumed patrol.
Early on the morning of 7 May, Snook began quickly closing in on a convoy. Upon overtaking the enemy cargo ships, she launched four torpedoes, followed by three others five minutes later. The 4,363-ton cargo ship Hosei Maru was destroyed and several other ships possibly damaged. After destroying two
Midway Island
on 23 May.
Second patrol
Snook set sail from
Midway Island for her second war patrol on 9 June and headed for the waters off the Ryukyu Islands. In the morning twilight of 24 June, the submarine closed on a six-ship convoy escorted by two destroyers, launched two torpedoes at a large tanker, and heard two hits as she went deep and rigged for silent running to avoid the patrolling escorts. Coming back up to periscope depth, she found a destroyer
guarding the crippled ship and was prevented from a second try by overhead aircraft.
Shortly before midnight on 3 July Snook made radar contact with another enemy convoy. Early the following morning, she fired a spread of six torpedoes, sinking cargo ships Koki Maru and Liverpool Maru and severely damaging Atlantic Maru. Snook returned to Pearl Harbor from her second patrol on 18 July.
Third patrol
Snook left
Dairen. On September 29, the submarine conducted a surface attack on a 500 ton vessel. The vessel was damaged and as the submarine moved closer to finish it off, returned fire was received. Four of the submarine's crew members were injured. The submarine turned away at high speed and the vessel was last seen settling in the water. The submarine terminated her third patrol at Pearl Harbor
on 8 October.
Fourth patrol
Snook spent her fourth war patrol in a
Midway Island on 7 December and was routed on to Pearl Harbor
.
Fifth patrol
On 6 January 1944, Snook cleared
Hunters Point Navy Yard
for a major overhaul.
Sixth patrol
On her sixth patrol Snook attacked and missed two freighters on 12 July, but found no other worthwhile targets, and returned to
Midway Island
on 14 August.
Seventh patrol
Snook's seventh war patrol was conducted in
ship sunk by a submarine in history), one of the greatest losses of life in American maritime history.[10] After rescuing a downed airman on 3 November, the submarine returned to Pearl Harbor
on 18 November.
Eighth patrol
Snook's eighth war patrol was conducted off the Kuril Islands from 25 December 1944 to 17 February 1945. Her only sightings during this patrol were two friendly Soviet vessels and a momentary contact with a small patrol craft.
Final patrol
Snook was lost while conducting her ninth war patrol, in the
Sakishima Gunto in support of British carrier air strikes. On 20 April, the commander of the British carrier task force reported that he had a plane down in Snook's assigned area, and that he could not contact the submarine by radio. Snook was ordered to search the area and to acknowledge the order. When she failed to make a transmission, submarine Bang was sent to make the search and rendezvous with Snook. Although Bang arrived and rescued the downed aviators, she saw no sign of the missing submarine; on 16 May, Snook was presumed lost due to unknown causes. It is believed that she was sunk by kaibokans Okinawa, CD-8, CD-32 and CD-52. It has also been suggested that Snook may have been lost in combat with one of five Japanese submarines which were also lost in April–May 1945.[11] One candidate is the Japanese Type B3 submarine I-56,[12]
however it remains a hypothesis due to it not being confirmed by a single Japanese source.
Snook was credited with sinking 17 enemy vessels in her two and one-half years of active service. She earned seven
The actual whereabouts of Snook may have been discovered during a deep-sea dive in 1995. The possibility exists that a U.S. submarine lies in about 1,148 feet (350 m) of water off the coast of
Okinawa chain. During operations with an Okinawan company using a U.S. made "SCORPIO" ROV in 1995, a group of divers encountered a sonar contact with what appeared to be a metal structure, about 20 feet (6.1 m) in girth and about 115 feet (35 m) in length (exposed) at roughly an angle of 20-30 degrees. The SONAR image of a large unexpected obstruction to the operations prompted the divers to command evasive maneuvers and avoid the area for the safety of the ROV.[13]
The divers, thinking they would have another opportunity to work in the area at a later date, left the area and never returned to that site. Their ROV was lost in 1997 off Yonaguni Island, the last island belonging to the Okinawa chain off the east coast of Taiwan. They were fairly certain that the object was a submarine, and quite possibly the Snook. No further dives in the area were ever attempted.[13]
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United States
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
