American submarines have been overshadowed by German u-boats in the history of submarines in WWII, but America’s “silent service” had a devastating effect on Japanese shipping. This was despite the embarrassing performance of American torpedoes for a long period of time. By 1944, this problem had been mostly corrected and the subs went on a sinking spree that left many Japanese warships and cargo vessels on the bottom of the ocean. The USS Batfish was only able to sink nine ships in its seven patrols, but it did manage to accomplish a feat that is unmatched in the history of submarines.
The Batfish was a Balao-class sub commissioned in December, 1943. Ironically, in a shake-down cruise in the Atlantic, two torpedoes fired by a u-boat missed it. This was rare good luck for a boat that had its share of bad luck for most of its career. On its first patrol in the Pacific, its commander declined the chance to attack the battleship Yamato for fear of a Japanese counterattack. That skipper was removed after the second patrol as the Navy demanded more aggression from its commanders. Commander John Fyfe took over. The next three patrols saw little success, some due to faulty torpedoes.
On Jan. 10, 1945, the Batfish left Guam for its seventh patrol. It was sent to the Gulf of Tonkin, but had no success. Pickings were slim. But that was about to change as it got a message sending it to the waters north of Luzon. Ultra had decoded Japanese plans to send submarines to Luzon to evacuate pilots to Formosa. The Japanese had too many pilots for the increasingly lower aircraft numbers in the Philippines. It was determined that they could be used better at bases that still had plenty of planes. Batfish’s mission was to keep those pilots from reaching their destinations.
On the night of Feb. 10, the Batfish’s radar detection picked up radar emissions from a Japanese ship. The Batfish used its radar to locate the ship, which turned out to be a Japanese sub headed for Formosa, probably carrying a boat full of potential kamikaze pilots. Closing in on the unsuspecting boat, Fyfe fired four torpedoes at 1,850 yards away. All of them missed. This was infuriating! However, the Japanese crew sailed on blissfully unaware that they had been attacked. The Batfish moved in for another attempt from 800 yards and this time one of the “fish” hit and blew the sub apart. There were no survivors.
The next day, the Batfish almost met the same fate when an American aircraft attacked it. American aviators often took the attitude of “shoot first, ask questions later” when it came to spotting ships on the surface. During the war, several American subs were sunk by friendly fire. Fortunately, the Batfish was able to dive to safety. Later that night, the Batfish picked up Japanese radar. But before the Batfish could launch an attack, the Japanese boat suddenly submerged. The American persisted and about an hour later sonar picked up ballast tanks blowing, signaling that the Japanese sub was surfacing. The Batfish closed to 800 yards and blew the enemy up with a torpedo.
On Feb. 13, the Batfish once again picked up Japanese radar. This sub also dove, but not long after resurfaced. Fyfe moved in for the kill and fired three torpedoes from his aft tubes from 1,500 yards. One of the fish ran true and destroyed the Japanese vessel. In all three sinkings, the Japanese had no warning they were about to die. Not one Japanese submariner survived.
The Batfish had sunk three subs in 76 hours. The total equaled that of the HMS Upholder which sank three Axis subs in the Mediterranean, but the Batfish did it in just three days. The sub was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Fyfe and his crew survived the war (unlike the Upholder). The Batfish is now on display at the WWII Museum in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Batfish_(SS-310)
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/famous-navy-ships-the-triumph-of-the-uss-batfish/
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