USS Trepang (SS-412)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see USS Trepang.

Mare Island Navy Yard, California
, on 12 July 1944.
History
United States
Builder
Mare Island Navy Yard[1] Vallejo, California
Laid down25 June 1943[1]
Launched23 March 1944[1]
Commissioned22 May 1944[1]
Decommissioned27 June 1946[1]
Stricken30 June 1967[1]
FateSunk as a target off southern California, 16 September 1969[2]
General characteristics
Class and type
diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement
  • 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced[2]
  • 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged[2]
Length311 ft 10 in (95.05 m)[2]
Beam27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[2]
Draft16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced[6]
  • 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[6]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged[6]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth400 ft (120 m)[6]
Complement10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6]
Armament

The first USS Trepang (SS/AGSS-412) was a Balao-class submarine in the United States Navy. She was named after the trepang (or trīpang), an Indonesian name for a marine animal called a "sea slug" or a "sea cucumber," having a long, tough, muscular body and found in the coral reefs of the East Indies.

Construction and commissioning

When the contract to build Trepang was awarded to

Navy Cross
winner — in command.

Service history

World War II

May–September 1944

Following shakedown at San Diego, California, Trepang departed San Diego on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat.

First war patrol: September – October 1944

Setting out from Pearl Harbor on 13 September 1944 for her first war patrol, Trepang prowled the waters south of

Honshū, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of 30 September, Trepang spotted a fast convoy departing Tokyo Bay. The submarine gave chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tankers
, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.

On 10 October, Trepang attacked her second convoy, which consisted of a pair of tankers and a single escort. Although the submarine claimed a "kill", a postwar assessment of the action did not credit her with a sinking. The following day, the error was reversed. The submarine launched four torpedoes at another Japanese ship, and her commanding officer recorded that all of the "fish" had missed. This time, however, postwar accounting credited Trepang with the destruction of the 1,000-ton Transport Number 105.

On 12 October, the submarine cruised some 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the entrance to Tokyo Bay. Soon after she came to the surface, and her radar swept the surrounding seas, four pips showed themselves on the phosphorescent screen—two large and two small—which were identified as two battleships and two destroyers.

Despite the fact that the phosphorescent waters would make his submarine stand out starkly in the night, Davenport closed at flank speed and fired a full spread of six torpedoes. The "fish" sped through the water toward their targets. He claimed success when explosions rumbled across the water, and flames lit up the night. Davenport turned the submarine to present her stern tubes to the enemy and loosed four more torpedoes. These all missed.

Davenport's gallant and skillfully pressed attacks earned him his fourth

Navy Cross. He felt that he had damaged a Fusō-class battleship and had sunk a destroyer, but a study of Japanese records after the war did not verify either claim. [In fact the Trepang had damaged the Japanese destroyer Fuyutsuki off Omaesuki][7]

Her supply of torpedoes exhausted, Trepang cleared the area and headed for the Marshall Islands. She reached Majuro on 23 October for voyage repairs alongside submarine tender USS Bushnell (AS-15) and brief training.

Second war patrol: November – December 1944

On 16 November, Trepang got underway for the

Philippine Islands leading a "wolfpack" which also included sister ships USS Segundo (SS-398) and USS Razorback (SS-394)
. The wolfpack's nickname was "ROY'S RANGERS" as Trepang's own commanding officer, Roy M Davenport, was the officer in charge of the pack.

The weather was dark, windy, and rough on 6 December as Trepang's conning tower broke the surface after a day's submerged inshore patrol off Luzon. While shifting course toward deeper water, she detected a group of ships approaching from the northward. Upon closing to investigate, Trepang counted seven large ships and three escorts in the convoy which slowly approached the Philippines.

Trepang radioed news of her "find" to her packmaster and then submerged. The submarine shot straight and true, sending freighter Banshu Maru Number 31 and cargo ship Jinyo Maru to the bottom in quick succession and damaging a third vessel, Fukuyo Maru. However, as Trepang came about to administer the coup de grace to Fukuyo Maru, the third cargo ship obligingly blew up and sank. Meanwhile, as Segundo and Razorback arrived on the scene, Trepang fired all of her remaining torpedoes at a fourth ship which, she reported, blew up and sank soon thereafter. However, this fourth sinking was not confirmed by Japanese records. In the meantime, the other two American submarines were trying to finish off the fleeing remnants of the shattered convoy and managed to sink two ships, one with the aid of American naval aircraft. Trepang, now out of torpedoes, sped back to Pearl Harbor, arriving before Christmas.

Following this war patrol, Davenport, one of the most highly decorated submariners of the war, left Trepang for shore duty as an instructor at the United States Naval Academy.

Third war patrol: January – March 1945

Again sailing for Honshū, Trepang—now under Cmdr. Allen R. Faust—teamed up with submarines

fishing boat) off Torishima.[9]

Fourth war patrol: April – May 1945

Following her return to

B-29 Superfortress
raids on Tokyo, before she returned to Guam.

Fifth war patrol: June – July 1945

Trepang's fifth war patrol was divided into two parts—the first saw the ship operating in a lifeguard capacity while the second gave her a more offensive role off northeastern Honshū and eastern

bow and two landing 2,000 yards (1,800 m) off her starboard quarter. She suffered no damage or casualties.[11]

Having experienced two previous tours of lifeguarding, Trepang's men otherwise expected a series of long dull days, spent moving in circles, squares, or triangles to break the monotony. However, shortly before 12:00 on 24 June 1945, her first day of lifeguard duty, lookouts spotted a blossoming parachute overhead and soon saw the splash of a crashed

First Lieutenant
Frank Ayres, USAAF, radioed that it, too, was in trouble; and the pilot requested permission to bail out. Trepang replied telling Ayres to "be patient" until the first rescue was complete. Ayres circled the submarine until Christian was safely on board the submarine. Ayres then executed a perfect jump and landed some 400 yards (370 m) away from Trepang and was soon hauled on board.

On 27 June 1945, Trepang turned the two airmen over to the submarine

504th Bomb Group,[citation needed] downed on 26 June 1945, was floating a mere 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) from the Japanese seaport of Nagoya. Accompanied by her sister ship USS Springer (SS-414)
which had also been discharging passengers to Tigrone, Trepang surged ahead.

The two submarines raced to save the Superfortress's crew. Trepang put on full speed and arrived on the scene first. She found eight survivors in four groups of rafts, spread over about 4 nautical miles (7.4 km; 4.6 mi) of ocean. By the time Springer arrived on the scene, Trepang had picked up seven of the fliers. Springer picked up the last man.[12] Four other members of the Superfortress crew did not survive, either having been either trapped in the plane, killed when their burning parachutes failed, or gone missing.[citation needed]

On 30 June 1945

gross register ton cargo ship, in either case armed with two 37-millimeter guns — and sank the ship with her deck guns. A dozen or so Japanese soldiers from the flaming vessel refused to be picked up and taken prisoner and so were left to drown.[14]

Subsequently patrolling off the eastern coast of

Honshū
, Trepang went scoreless until 7 July 1945 when she spotted a coastal convoy of three ships. She torpedoed and sank the lead ship—Koun Maru Number Two—but the other vessels conducted evasive action and sped away from the scene at full speed. Heading to seaward, Trepang suddenly shuddered under the impact of two depth-charge explosions. A solitary Japanese plane had spotted Trepang's shadow in the shallow waters and had attacked her with depth charges. All missed their mark.

Given another lifeguarding assignment, Trepang stood on the alert to pick up possible downed airmen from British and American

shore bombardment conducted by three battleships and a heavy cruiser against Kamaishi, Japan, during which, reportedly, Trepang sank a 100-gross register ton Lugger with her deck gun.[15]

By now, the war was moving fast, and Trepang returned to Pearl Harbor for a refit. There, she watched the tumbling succession of staggering headlines—first the

Nagasaki, the Soviet Union
's entry into the Far Eastern War, Japan's tentative acceptance of surrender terms, and finally, on 15 August, peace at last.

Post-World War II

After completion of her refit, Trepang departed Pearl Harbor and arrived at San Diego on 3 September 1945.

Decommissioned on 27 June 1946 and placed in reserve at Vallejo, California, at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Trepang remained in reserve until 1967. She was redesignated as an auxiliary submarine and given the hull classification symbol
AGSS-412 on 11 June 1962.

Disposal

Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 June 1967[1] Trepang was authorized for disposal on 22 December 1967. She was sunk as a target in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California during Exercise "Strike Ex 4-69" on 16 September 1969 by the combined gunfire of the destroyers USS Henderson (DD-785) and USS Fechteler (DD-870).[2]

Honors and awards

Trepang received five

battle stars for World War II service and a Navy Unit Commendation
.

In media

While in reserve, Trepang appeared in "Dennis at Boot Camp," the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American

situation comedy Dennis the Menace, first broadcast in the United States on 25 November 1962.[16]

References

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-263-3
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26202-0
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9
    .
  4. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
  5. ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  6. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  7. ^ Official Naval Chronology 12 October 1944
  8. ^ Official Navy Chronology 14 March 1945
  9. ^ The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No. 53, "Japanese support vessels", "Ushio Shobō". (1981), p. 62
  10. ^ The official summary reports that the submarine just destroyed his lumber cargo but not his barely seaworthy vessel
  11. ^ Hinman & Campbell, p. 305.
  12. ^ Summary of Ships History
  13. ^ Combined Fleet Summary USS Trepang
  14. ^ Official summary of ships history pp. 3 and 9 at Navsource.org
  15. ^ Combined Fleet
  16. ^ ""Dennis the Menace" Dennis at Boot Camp (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb". IMDb.

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

Bibliography

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