U.S.S. -SS-313 PERCH (SS-176) — war patrol report SS-176_-SS-313_PERCH.pdf

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START OF REEL
JOB NO. [HANDWRITTEN: H-108]
[HANDWRITTEN: AR-63-80]

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OPERATOR [HANDWRITTEN: M. Monroe]
DATE [HANDWRITTEN: May 16, 1980]

THIS MICROFILM IS
THE PROPERTY OF
THE UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT

[Image of Department of Defense seal with text: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA]

MICROFILMED BY
NPPSO-NAVAL DISTRICT WASHINGTON
MICROFILM SECTION

REEL TARGET - START AND END
NDW-NPPSO-5210/1 (6-78)

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[HANDWRITTEN: PERCH (SS-176 AND SS-313)
WORLD WAR II
PATROL FILE
ACTION REPORTS

ALL MATERIAL ON THIS REEL IS DECLASSIFIED

CONSULT NATIONAL ARCHIVES FOR DECK LOGS
OF THESE TWO SUBMARINES

J.A. KOONTZ]

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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE U.S.S. PERCH (SS-176)

In November of 1936, The Electric Boat Company celebrated the
commissioning of their latest submarine. The U.S.S. PERCH, commanded
by Lieutenant Commander G. C. Crawford, U. S. Navy, began her inter-
esting career that was to end in disaster in far off Asia some six
years later. Though the PERCH had a short life, it was a full one.
After her shakedown in the East, she became a member of the Pacific
Fleet when she joined SubRonSIX in November of 1937. The following
spring she was engaged in the annual fleet problem and did some fine
work on a survey of the Aleutian Islands. On this cruise she had her
first taste of arctic waters when she entered the Bering Sea on the
twenty-eighth day of February. During the next year, the PERCH
constantly demonstrated her worth as a fleet submarine, operating
with the fleet on their cruise to the East coast in the spring of
1939.

In October of 1939, the PERCH "went Asiatic" and headed west
from San Diego, enroute to Manila. In this area she soon became one
of the best liked of the Asiatic boats. She was appointed as a
division flag ship and made the interesting summer cruise to Tsingtao
and Shanghai. The year preceeding the war was spent in operations in
waters around the Philippines, gleaning knowledge that was soon to be
used in a struggle to the death against the invading Japs. A week
before the war, she rendezvoused with two transports off Shanghai and
safely convoyed the Fourth Marines from China to the Philippines.

The outbreak of hostilities found the PERCH in Cavite Navy Yard
with only half of her two weeks overhaul complete. She felt her
first excitement in the rush to clear the Navy Yard on the tenth of
December and had the opportunity of watching, at close range, the
complete destruction of Cavite by enemy bombers. In spite of the
confusion of those days, she was underway for her first war patrol on
this day when the Japs struck at Cavite. Under the expert hand of
her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander D. A. Hurt, U. S. Navy,
she successfully avoided damage during these attacks and cleared the
Corregidor minefields on the night of the tenth of December, scouting
the northwest coast of Luzon to Formosa, in search of enemy targets.
As hunting proved to be poor, she was shifted to an area off Hong Kong,
and on Christmas night, she sent her first greeting to the Japs in the
form of four torpedoes fired at a large Merchantman. Her bad luck
began here with three of the torpedoes passing under the target and one
of them running erratically and circling back to head for the PERCH.
Fate was not ready to take the PERCH yet and the torpedo exploded just
before hitting near the conning tower, showering the decks with frag-
ments as she started her dive. This unlucky attack was avenged a few
days later when an eight thousand ton Jap Merchantman felt the sting
of one of the PERCH's torpedoes. The persistence of the enemy escorts

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prevented the PERCH from observing the kill, but expert evasion got
her clear of the attackers after a few well-placed depth charges had
given her a taste of the evening's efforts to be rid of one of the
many underwater raiders that were to take such a heavy toll during
the years to come.

Damage to her high periscope interrupted this patrol, and the
PERCH skillfully made her way south to Port Darwin, Australia, making
several unsuccessful attacks enroute. Two weeks overhaul put her in
fighting shape again for a patrol to Kendari in Celebes where she
scouted the harbor and made several daring attempts to get through the
narrow entrance to an attack position.

After a week of close contact with the enemy, obtaining valuable
information for our forces, the PERCH headed South searching for
targets. In a night attack on a large Merchantman off the eastern
coast of Celebes, the PERCH was hit in the superstructure, forward of
the pressure proof hull of the conning tower by a high explosive
projectile which blew away the bridge deck, punctured the antenna
trunk and temporarily put her radio out of commission. Through the
valiant efforts of her crew who made repairs on deck at night in
waters heavily patrolled by the enemy, the damage was soon repaired
and the PERCH headed to her final area, the Java Sea, where she was
to be lost in a vain attempt to stop the enemy's advance into Java.

On the evening of 1 March 1942, the PERCH surfaced thirty miles
northwest of Soerabaia, Java, N.E.I., and started in for an attack on
the enemy convoy that was landing troops to the west of Soerabaia.
Two enemy destroyers attacked and drove her down with a string of
depth charges which caused her to bottom at 135 feet in water believed
to be 180 feet deep. Several more depth charge attacks caused extensive
damage, putting the starboard motors out of commission and causing
extensive flooding throughout the boat. Repairs were made and at two
o'clock in the morning, the PERCH surfaced only to be again driven down
by the enemy destroyers. Little was left for the crew, now fighting
for their lives, to do except to lie on the bottom and try to make
repairs which would permit the old PERCH to surface once more. Here
fate willed that the crew should again see the light of day. The loss
of oil and air from the damaged ballast tanks convinced the enemy that
the old PERCH was breaking up and they went on to look for other kills,
leaving the PERCH to lick her wounds in peace.

After a day of constant work, on the night of 2 March 1942, the
PERCH used the last of her air in a final attempt to get clear of the
bottom and managed to reach the surface. With decks awash and only
one engine in commission, damage was checked and all possible repairs
made. During the early morning of the third of March, a test dive was
made with almost fatal results as the PERCH could no longer hold her
own beneath the surface. Only expert handling and good luck enabled
her to surface from that dive, and when, on surfacing, the PERCH was

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attacked by two enemy cruisers and three destroyers, there was no
possible means of defense. When the enemy shells commenced to straddle,
the Commanding Officer ordered all hands on deck, and with all possible
hull openings open, the PERCH made her last dive, now alone, but out of
the enemy's grasp.

The entire crew was captured by a Japanese destroyer and of the
fifty-four men and five officers, only six, who died of malnutrition in
Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, were unable to return to their country
to enjoy the victory for which they had fought so valiantly.