Подводная лодка «Гринлинг»: История службы

United States Navy Gato class submarine

Greenling, a Gato class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the greenling.

Greenling was laid down by Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut, on 12 November 1940, launched on 20 September 1941, sponsored by Mrs. R. S. Holmes, and commissioned at Naval Submarine Base New London in New London, Connecticut, on 21 January 1942. While she was conducting shakedown training from New London, she suffered damage on 28 February 1942 when a PBY 5A Catalina amphibian of U. S. Navy Patrol Squadron 73 (VP 73) mistook her for a German U boat and bombed her.

After completing shakedown training, Greenling departed New London on 7 March 1942 for the Pacific. She arrived Pearl Harbor 3 April and sailed 20 April for her first war patrol, in the Marshall Islands and Caroline Islands. The submarine attacked the cargo ship Seia Maru four times 30 April – 1 May off Eniwetok, but due to faulty torpedoes was not able to sink her. The tenacious submarine even closed for a night gunfire attack in an attempt to cripple her adversary. Finally forced by Japanese aircraft to break off the attack, Greenling turned her attention to the huge Japanese base at Truk. As the Japanese converged on the Solomon Islands, Truk became a busy shipping point and a fertile ground for submarine operations. The submarine recorded her first kill 4 May when she hit cargo ship Kinjosan Maru amidships, breaking her in two. As the Japanese were turned back in the important Battle of the Coral Sea (history's first carrier air battle), Greenling attempted to intercept the retiring enemy units, but her speed was no match for the fast Japanese heavy units. The submarine departed the Truk area 4 June, the day of Japan's first great naval defeat at the Battle of Midway, and arrived at Pearl Harbor 16 June.

Greenling departed on her second war patrol 10 July 1942. One of the first submarines to operate in the Truk area, she now joined in the undersea blockade of that important base, in an attempt to cut its supply lines to Japan. After damaging ships on 26 and 29 July, Greenling sank the transport Brasil Maru off Truk on the 5th of August, and just after midnight the same night torpedoed and sank the cargo ship Palau Maru. Next morning the submarine took periscope photographs of Truk, and steamed to the New Ireland area, attempting to intercept Japanese fleet units retiring from the Solomons. The submarine encountered surface opposition in the area, but evaded a destroyer attack 20 August and set course back to Midway. En route on 26 August she used her deck gun to destroy a large Japanese sampan of from 50 to 100 tons at 5°13'N, 160° 17'E; she arrived Midway 1 September 1942.