Американская подводная лодка класса "Сарго" в Тихом океане

American Sargo class submarine

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2 × 126 cell Sargo batteries), the fourth ship in line, went down, depriving the Japanese occupation force of a number of the reinforcement troops and the equipment she carried. After the sinking, Seadragon patrolled southward. On 4 February, she arrived off Luzon Point; and, that night, she moved into Manila Bay. Mooring at 22:03, she completed loading torpedoes, radio equipment, and submarine spare parts at 03:00 on 5 February. Shortly thereafter, she moved out; rested on the bottom until after dark, then surfaced to take on twenty five passengers at Corregidor. Among them were seventeen members of the crew at CAST (cryptanalysts and traffic analysts), including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Rudolph Fabian. At 19:46, Seadragon got underway for the Netherlands East Indies.

She arrived at Soerabaja on 13 February. On 21 February, she left for Tjilatjap, whence she was ordered on to Australia. She reached Fremantle on 4 March and two weeks later, again headed for the Indochina coast for her second war patrol. At the end of the month, she was diverted to Cebu to take on fuel and food for Corregidor. She unloaded ten torpedoes and 250 rounds of ammunition, and took on thirty tons of food. At 20:53 on 8 April, she moored alongside Pigeon, to which she transferred fuel; offloaded seven tons of food (of the thirty she had taken aboard just for the besieged defenders); took on 23 passengers (including the last seventeen members of the crew at CAST, among them "Honest John" Leitweiler and Rufus Taylor, who as a Japanese language specialist was worth his weight in gold); and, at 21:29, got underway to resume her patrol. She remained in the waters off southwestern Luzon and recommenced her patrol off the entrance to Subic Bay. On 11 April, she sighted several targets but was able to attack only one, a patrolling destroyer. At 17:20, she launched three torpedoes. Twenty nine seconds later the first torpedo exploded halfway to the target. The second broached and circled abeam of the target. The destroyer avoided the third. Seadragon changed course and went to 200 feet (61 m) to avoid the circular and the expected depth charging. None of the depth charges were close, but a second destroyer soon joined the first, spotted the submarine as she came up for a periscope observation, and turned on her. Seadragon again went deep, then cleared the area. On 12 April, the submarine started south. On 20 April, she cleared Lombok Strait; and, on 26 April, she returned to Fremantle.

On her third patrol, 11 June to 2 August 1942, Seadragon returned to the South China Sea. Arriving in her assigned area on 27 June, she patrolled along the Singapore Hong Kong routes to the end of the month; then shifted to the Cape Varella area. On the morning of 4 July, she launched a torpedo at the leader of a three ship formation. The torpedo missed ahead, all three ships changed course toward Seadragon with the leader proceeding down the torpedo track firing her bow gun. Depth charges were dropped indiscriminately. Ten minutes later, the three had turned toward shore. Seadragon then shifted southward to intercept enemy traffic off Hon Lon Light. A few hours later, she sighted two freighters and fired tubes 1 and 2 at the lead ship. Her No. 1 tube did not fire, and her No. 2 torpedo missed astern. Two more torpedoes were fired at the ships, but both missed. Enemy planes arrived on the scene soon afterward and for over two hours aerial depth charges in salvos of two and three were dropped. Despite water depth of , submarines were visible at any depth against the light colored bottom. Seadragon survived the close bombing and continued her patrol. During the next week, she attempted to close several ships, but was unable to attain attack positions. On the night of 11 July, her losing streak ended. Just prior to midnight, she sighted smoke and opened out to the westward to overtake the target. At 01:56 on 12 July, she began her approach; and, 14 minutes later, she launched three torpedoes. Two hit, but the third missed astern. A merchantman, Hiyama Maru, began settling. By 02:19, she had been abandoned. Seadragon submerged and resumed her patrol eight miles (14.8 km) northeast of Cape Varella. On the morning of 13 July, Seadragon torpedoed and sank her second victim of the patrol. Shinyo Maru was hit approximately 50 feet (15 m) abaft the beam and settled immediately. Seadragon moved out of the area and hunted along the Haina Varella routes for a few days. On 16 July, she was back off Cape Varella; and, soon after 10:30, she fired on a four ship convoy. Five minutes later, the torpedoes exploded on the beach. The four ships turned toward Seadragon and commenced firing their guns. Seadragon fired two more torpedoes and went deep. A few minutes later, she came to periscope depth. Only three ships remained on the surface. Hakodate Maru had been sunk. On 20 July, Seadragon departed the South China Sea and made her way south to Australia. On 4 August, she damaged the 6,816 ton at .

On 26 August, she departed her Australian base for her fourth war patrol and again set a course for the coast of Indochina. On 10 September, she moved through Apo East Pass. On 11 September, her progress into the South China Sea was delayed by an emergency appendectomy performed successfully on Seaman Darrell Rector by Pharmacist's Mate Wheeler B. Lipes, the first such performed on a submarine. This incident was the subject of a Pulitzer Prize winning account by Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller. In 2005, retired Lt. Cmdr. Lipes was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for saving a fellow crewman's life. On 12 September, Seadragon arrived on station and commenced patrolling the steamer lanes west of Macclesfield Bank. At dusk on 16 September, she headed for Cape Varella. Not until 22 September, however, while off Cam Ranh Bay was she able to gain a firing position on a suitable target. On that morning, she launched four torpedoes at a cruiser escorted by two destroyers. No explosions were heard, but her torpedoes were seen, and the enemy ships turned on Seadragon and delivered a "well executed depth charge attack." A week later, on the night of 29 September, the submarine tracked a five ship convoy; and, at 0122 on 30 September conducted a surface torpedo attack which damaged one ship. She then ran eastward to attain a position ahead of the convoy but was spotlighted by an escort which had shifted stations. Seadragon went deep; the escort dropped six depth charges and then rejoined the convoy. The submarine surfaced and attempted to make up for lost time. Three hours later, she had overheated her main motor cables and was forced to give up the chase. On the evening of 3 October, Seadragon departed the South China Sea and, five days later, commenced patrolling the approaches to Balikpapan. On 10 October, she attained a position for a stern tube shot on Shigure Maru. The cargoman disappeared 47 seconds after the first explosion. On 11 October, the submarine patrolled off Cape William and Cape Mandar. On 12 October, she was off Makassar City. On 14 October, she transited Lombok Strait; and, on 20 October, she returned to Fremantle.

Re engined at Mare Island during the summer, Seadragon returned to Pearl Harbor on 7 September and departed on her 11th war patrol, a coordinated patrol ("wolfpack") with submarines Shark and Blackfish, on 23 September. She arrived at Saipan to top off on 3 October. On 4 October, Shark and Blackfish continued on to the wolfpack's assigned area in the northern China Sea. Seadragon, delayed by the need for repairs, did not depart until 5 October. On 9 October, she arrived off Batan Island, established contact with Shark and Blackfish, and took position in a scouting line in the pack's assigned area. On the night of 21 October and the morning of 22 October, the group went after an enemy warship formation led by an aircraft carrier. At 06:15 on 24 October, Shark reported a contact, and Seadragon headed for the scene. At 07:30, the contact was sighted through the high periscope, but it proved too distant. At 09:20, Seadragon sighted three enemy merchantmen in a loose column with a torpedo boat destroyer and an airplane as escorts. At 10:55, she launched four torpedoes at the lead freighter. The first torpedo broached and ran erratic, alerting the escort which started for Seadragon. Seadragon rigged for depth charging. Soon thereafter, two torpedo explosions were heard, and, at 11:01, the first of eight depth charges was dropped. At 11:54, Seadragon went to periscope depth. The escort was milling around picking up survivors four miles (6 km) astern. The remaining merchant ships were ahead of the submarine and making only two or three knots. As Seadragon prepared to fire again, the destroyer rejoined the formation. At 11:14, Seadragon fired four more torpedoes. Three hits were observed. The submarine's second target of the day sank in less than two minutes. Seadragon went deep. Fifteen depth charges followed. At 13:10, the submarine returned to periscope depth. The deck of the sole remaining freighter was crowded. The freighter was smoking heavily and moving slowly. The escort circled the freighter. At 14:04, Seadragon fired. The first torpedo tore off the freighter's bow. The rest of the ship went under quickly. At 14:05, the first of 25 depth charges was dropped. Postwar examination of Japanese records identified the sunken ships as the cargo ship, Eiko Maru, and the passenger cargomen Taiten Maru and Kokuryu Maru. At 18:58, Seadragon tried unsuccessfully to raise Shark. She had been sunk after attacking the contact of her 06:15 transmission. On 26 October, Seadragon headed toward Luzon. On 27 and 28 October, she searched for downed aviators; and, on 29 October, she was ordered to return to Midway.

Arriving at her destination on 8 November, she commenced refit; and, on 3 December, she headed west for her 12th war patrol. The patrol took her back into Japanese waters where she hunted enemy shipping and searched for downed aviators into January 1945. On 10 January, she moved into the Bonin Islands, where she continued those two roles. On 19 January, she set a southerly course; and, on 22 January, she arrived at Guam to complete her last war patrol. The next day, Seadragon continued on to Pearl Harbor, and, after refit, returned to California to provide training services to naval air units. In May, she was transferred back to the Atlantic Fleet and for the final months of the war, provided training services at Guantanamo Bay and Key West, Florida. In September, she moved north to New London, Connecticut, thence to Boston, Massachusetts, where she was decommissioned on 15 November 1945. Less than four months later, on 8 February 1946, she was recommissioned to assist in the inactivation and preservation of submarines, including U boats, at Hingham, Massachusetts. On 29 October 1946, she was again decommissioned and berthed as a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet where she remained until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 30 April 1948.