АҚШ Суасты қайығының тарихы

Submarine of the United States

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Departing Cavite on the night of 8–9 December 1941, Sculpin – commanded by Lucius H. Chappell – Seawolf escorted Langley and Pecos as far as San Bernardino Strait. She then took station off Lamon Bay in the Philippine Sea north of Luzon on 10 December. "The weather was foul, the visibility abysmal." When Frederick W. Warder's Seawolf was moved, Sculpin took up her station off Aparri, departing 21 December. Three days later, a Japanese task force came ashore at the unguarded Lamon Bay. at Surabaya, Java, on 22 January.

Her second patrol, from 30 January 28 February, was in the Molucca Sea, east of Sulawesi. On 4 February off Kendari, Java, she fired three torpedoes at a Japanese destroyer. Two hits and she was forced to dive. During the ensuing depth charge attack, she sustained damage to her starboard main controller and starboard shaft. On 28 February, after 28 days at sea, she arrived at Fremantle for refit, falling under the command of Admiral Charles A. Lockwood.

Her third patrol, from 13 March 27 April out of Fremantle, was in the Banda Sea, again off Kendari. but did fire three torpedoes at a freighter, all of which missed. she was credited with three ships for 24,100 tons; postwar, only two for 6,652 tons were confirmed. she closed to 9 mile (14 km). One illuminated Sculpin with a searchlight as both commenced heavy fire with deck guns. The submarine went deep as the enemy depth charge attack and prolonged sonar search continued. The following night, she scored two hits on a tanker, with no sinking credited, and none confirmed postwar. For her 52 day patrol, Sculpin had nothing to show.

Sculpin arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 January 1943, and sailed east to San Francisco, California, spending three months in overhaul at Mare Island. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 9 May, she departed Hawaii for her seventh war patrol on 24 May and operated off the northwest coast of Honshū. Around midnight on 9 June, three days after arriving on station off Sofu Gan (also called Lot's Wife), she detected a Japanese task force consisting of two aircraft carriers with a cruiser escort. Sculpin rang up flank speed to close, but was outdistanced. She made a desperate

Sculpins eighth war patrol, from 25 July–17 September, was off the Chinese coast, in the East China Sea and Formosa Strait. On 9 August, she torpedoed and sank Sekko Maru off the coast of Formosa. She evaded ASW patrol craft in the Taiwan Strait on 16–17 August. On 21 August, she intercepted an armed cargo ship and fired a spread of three torpedoes which ran "hot, straight, and normal" but did not explode. Sculpin was immediately pounced upon by escorting destroyers and was forced to dive. The cargo ship escaped in the ensuing depth charge attack. A similar torpedo malfunction occurred on 1 September, when the splash of water resulting from the torpedo striking the target's hull could be seen, but no detonation occurred. The submarine escaped the immediate counterattack of the escorts, and after reconnaissance of Marcus Island, she returned to Midway Atoll after 54 days on patrol, earning credit for one ship of 4,500 tons (reduced to 3,183 tons postwar).

Following a brief overhaul period at Pearl Harbor, Sculpin – commanded by Fred Connaway – departed Hawaii on 5 November 1943. Ordered to patrol north of Truk, she was to intercept and attack Japanese forces leaving Truk to oppose the forthcoming invasion of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Sculpin and two other submarines were to form a wolf pack to make coordinated attacks on the enemy, with either Searaven or Apogon. Captain John P. Cromwell, who had been fully briefed on the Tarawa operation and was in the picture on ULTRA,

Forty two of Sculpins crew were picked up by Yamagumo. One badly wounded sailor (William Henry Welsh) was thrown back in the sea because of his condition. The survivors were questioned for about ten days at the Japanese naval base at Truk, then were embarked on two aircraft carriers returning to Japan. Japanese aircraft carrier Chūyō carried 21 of the survivors in her hold. On 4 December, the carrier was torpedoed and sunk by Sailfish and twenty of the American prisoners perished; one man, George Rocek, was saved when he was able to grab hold of a ladder on the side of a passing Japanese destroyer and hauled himself on board. (Ironically, Sailfish – at the time named Squalus – was the same submarine Sculpin had helped to locate and raise some four and a half years before.) The other 21 survivors arrived at Ōfuna Camp, Japan, on 5 December and, after further questioning, were sent to the Ashio copper mines for the duration of the war.

Sculpin is the subject of an episode of the syndicated television anthology series, The Silent Service, which aired during the 1957–1958 season.