Eastern Connecticut news., 1946-09-02

found herself alone so she cleared the area,
 The DACE remained in her area but out of sight of land on a ship ping lane for the next few days. One small ship. possibly a @" ship and one CHIDORI were sighted at a distance but no worthwhile contacts appeared. Finally on December 4, the DACE was ordered back to Mid way for rest and refit.
 The combat insignia was not au- thorized for this patrol at this time.
 The patrol lasted for 5 days. War Patrol Number Two The reft for the second patrol was started on December 11th while the crew rested on Midway. On December 28, Lieutenant Commander J. F. Enright, U. s. N., was relieved as Commanding Of- fcer by Lieutenant Commander B. D. Claggett, U. s. Naval Academy Class of 1885. From December 29 through January 4, 1914, the new Commanding Officer trained his crew in and around Midway. Dur ing this time Vice Admiral C. A. Lockwood, Jr, U. s. N., spent day on the DACE observing the train- ing exercises. January 2, the ship was completely loaded and sent out on her second war patrol.
 From January to 18, daily drills and dives were held for training purposes. A few plane contacts were made but the submarine was evidently undetected. On the 18th, the DACE was transferred to the operational command of Task Force 72. On the 18th the DACE entered her assigned area located between the Bismarck Archipelago and the Caroline Islands.
 From the 18th to the 18th, the ship patrolled her area on the sur- face. Once a lot of wreckage and lifeboat were sighted, and once six Jap planes were seen. On the 23rd, Pulosuk Island was sighted about 30 miles away. On the 24th, the area off Manila Reef was pa- trolled on the Palau-Truk ship ping route.
 Contact was established the night of the 18th on large tanker with two escorts. For three hours the group was tracked in order to determine their course and speed. The DACE turned in to attack. Unfortunately, one of the escorts complicated the attack by inter posing itself between the sub and the main target. The sub passed successfully behind the escort and fired torpedoes at the tanker. A couple of minutes later two violent explosions shook the sub but no flashes were seen because of rain squall. The target fired two red rockets. Three more explosions were then heard. The DACE turned away with one escort, which appeared to be a destroyer, chasing her. For a long time the destroyer stayed about a mile and a half dead astern, then it seemed to give up the chase and left.
 The DACE then went back after the target which was still on the surface and making about 16 knots. The sub was unable to catch up with her before daylight, so the chase was abandoned and normal patrol routine resumed.
 On the 28th, the sub started working her way slowly to Tulagi for fuel. A couple of friendly subs were encountered and several air. craft were detected. On February 2, the DACE arrived in Tulagi and commenced fueling and minor voyage repairs. On the third, she got underway again for patrol south of the Caroline Islands near Truk. Three or four of the usual plane contacts were made but none noticed the DACE because she dived out of sight.
 From February 6 to II, the sub marine patrolled her area on the surface and dived two or three times a day to avoid the numerous aircraft in that particular area.
 On the 11th, convoy of five ships was contacted but because it was impossible to close them the DACE lost contact and tried to intercept them further along their possible track. Two hours later they were contacted again