Willis Lent Willis Ashford Lent ( January 5 , 1904 – August 28 , 1959 ) , nicknamed " Pilly " , was a rear admiral in the United States Navy . Serving as commanding officer of the " Tambor " class submarine USS " Triton " during the Second World War , Lent made the first torpedo attack against the Japanese of the war . Early life . Lent was born in West Roxbury , Massachusetts , and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1925 . On August 15 , 1940 , he assumed command of " Triton " ( SS - 201 ) as she was commissioned . First patrol . Upon the outbreak of World War II , Lieutenant Commander Lent and " Triton " were assigned to Submarine Division 62 . " Triton " made a training cruise to Midway from August 30 to September 15 , then participated in local and fleet operations in the Hawaiian area . On November 19 , Lent headed west to conduct a practice war patrol and arrived off Wake Island on November 26 . On December 8 , he saw columns of smoke rising over the island but assumed it was caused by construction work being done ashore . That night , when he surfaced to charge batteries , he was informed by radio Wake and Pearl Harbor had been bombed and was ordered to stay out of range of Wake ' s guns . The next morning , Lent observed the Japanese bombing the island . On the night of December 10 , he was surfaced , charging batteries , when flashes of light from Wake revealed a destroyer or light cruiser on a parallel course . The submarine was silhouetted against the moon , and the enemy ship turned towards . Lent went deep and began evasive action . When the Japanese ship slowed astern , Lent came to and fired four Mark XIV torpedo es – all his stern tube s , the first American submarine torpedo shots of World War II – on sonar bearings ( in keeping with prewar doctrine ) . He heard a dull explosion 58 seconds later and believed one torpedo had hit , then went to and cleared the area . ( No sinking was recorded , and Lent was not credited with one . ) After their initial repulse on December 11 , the Japanese returned with two aircraft carrier s , " Hiryū " and " Sōryū " ; thanks in part to the confusion at Peal Harbor , Lent was not informed , and " Triton " made no attacks on them , so any chance to delay or prevent the invasion was lost , as was a chance ( always exceedingly rare ) of sinking or damaging a Japanese aircraft carrier . Neither did he make any effort to evacuate the 350 Marines . On December 21 , he was ordered to return to Hawaii , arriving at Pearl Harbor on December 31 . Second patrol . Lent , with exec John Hollingsworth , was sent by Admiral Withers , , to the East China Sea in January 1942 , where he met filthy winter weather patrolling between Nagasaki , Shanghai , Dairen , and Korea . Lent made fourteen contacts , firing twelve torpedoes , earning credit for sinking two ships totalling 12 , 000 tons ( reduced to 5982 tons JANAC postwar ) Withers was praiseful , but nitpicked Lent ' s " squandering " torpedoes ( as critical as he had been with Joe Grenfell and Dave White before ) , because production from Newport Torpedo Station was running drastically behind use . He also criticised Lent ' s failure to follow up attacks and undue caution around Japanese aircraft . This was following prewar doctrine , however . Third patrol . After his return , Lent was transferred to command of the " Tambor " class submarine " Grenadier " ( SS - 210 ) , departing for the East China Sea in April 1942 . He found a convoy of seven ships , including the " magnificent passenger freighter " " Taiyo Maru " ( 14 , 500 tons ) . Lent fired four torpedoes , two for influence , two for contact ; the influence feature failed to function , but the other two sank " Taiyo Maru " , sending over a thousand oil field technicians with her . Lent then went to , where he suffered 36 depth charge s over the next four hours , so he did not observe the sinking , and on his return to Pearl Harbor , joined the chorus of complaints about the Mark XIV torpedo and its Mark VI exploder . He was echoed by his division commander , Marmaduke O ' Leary ; Admiral English , ( replacing Withers ) , " [ s ] tubbornly following the policy of his predecessors - and the Gun Club line " , instead blamed his skippers and crews . Lent ' s biggest opportunity was " Shōkaku " , which he was detailed to intercept in the Bungo Suido . Like " Gar " ( SS - 206 ) , Ed Hutchinson ' s " Grampus " ( SS - 207 ) , Chet Bruton ' s " Greenling " ( SS - 213 ) , Joe Willingham ' s " Tautog " ( SS - 199 ) , Spike Hottel ' s " Cuttlefish " ( SS - 171 ) , Bob Rice ' s " Drum " ( SS - 228 ) , Stan Moseley ' s " Pollack " ( SS - 180 ) , and " Triton " ( now under C . C . Kirkpatrick ) , Lent never sighted her . Battle of Midway . " En route " home , with the decryption of the Japanese plan to invade Midway , Lent was reassigned to the second of three submarine patrol lines defending the island . His was one of eighteen boats around the island , which ( except for " Nautilus " ) accomplished nothing of consequence during the battle . Operating south of " Nautilus " , Lent picked up an 06 . 15 contact report of a force already out of reach . At 08 . 37 , he surfaced and headed for Midway in hope of intercepting Japanese in retreat , but was forced to dive by American aircraft ( still likely to attack , as " Grayling " learned ) , and quickly surfaced again to continue . Subsequent wartime career . Lent went on to command the troubled HOR - engined " Haddo " ( SS - 255 ) with SubRon 12 in England ( which made dozens of patrols but did no recorded damage ) and then SubRon 16 , relieving Tex McLean , who went to the Submarine School . Lent ' s wartime score totalled 20 , 482 tons . Postwar . In 1955 , having been decorated with both two Navy Cross es and the Legion of Merit , Lent retired and under the tombstone promotion law was made rear admiral . He later worked with the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation .