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.jpg) USSSnook (SS-279) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSSnook |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,Kittery, Maine[1] |
| Laid down | 17 April 1942[1] |
| Launched | 15 August 1942[1] |
| Commissioned | 24 October 1942[1] |
| Fate | Missing since 8 April 1945 east ofTaiwan[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Gato-classdiesel-electricsubmarine[2] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
| Draft | 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 300 ft (90 m)[6] |
| Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted[6] |
| Armament |
|
USSSnook (SS-279), aGato-classsubmarine, was the first ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for thecommon snook, an Atlanticmarine fish that is bluish-gray above and silvery below a black lateral line.
Snook'skeel waslaid down by thePortsmouth Navy Yard inKittery,Maine, on 17 April 1942. She waslaunched on 15 August 1942,sponsored by Mrs. Audrey Emanuel Dempsey, wife ofLieutenant James C. Dempsey, who had been awarded theNavy Cross for heroism ascommanding officer of the submarineUSS S-27 (SS-132).Snook wascommissioned on 24 October 1942.
After shakedown training off theNew England coast,Snook departed New London on 3 March 1943 and set sail for the Pacific. Following a 12-day stopover atPearl Harbor, the submarine put to sea on 11 April and headed for theYellow Sea andEast China Sea for her first war patrol. Upon completion ofmine planting in theShanghai area,Snook continued on up the coast ofChina to theYellow Sea. On the afternoon of 5 May, she sighted two freighters standing out ofDairen and took up the chase. She trailed both until after nightfall, then fired a spread of threetorpedoes that quickly sankKinko Maru. The lead freighter continued, unaware of the attack, until someone on the sinking ship sounded a whistle. At that point, the freighter began a series of frantic maneuvers to dodge two ofSnook's torpedoes, then opened fire with her guns, forcing the submarine to withdraw out of range, returning shortly after and firing three torpedoes, one of which hitDaifuku Maru amidships and sank her.Snook then resumed patrol.
Early on the morning of 7 May,Snook began quickly closing in on a convoy. Upon overtaking the enemy cargo ships, she launched four torpedoes, followed by three others five minutes later. The 4,363-ton cargo shipHosei Maru was destroyed and several other ships possibly damaged. After destroying twoarmed trawlers in actions on 13 May and 16 May,Snook terminated her first patrol atMidway Island on 23 May.
Snook set sail fromMidway Island for her second war patrol on 9 June and headed for the waters off theRyukyu Islands. In the morning twilight of 24 June, the submarine closed on a six-shipconvoy escorted by twodestroyers, launched two torpedoes at a largetanker, and heard two hits as she went deep and rigged forsilent running to avoid the patrolling escorts. Coming back up to periscope depth, she found adestroyer guarding the crippled ship and was prevented from a second try by overhead aircraft.
Shortly before midnight on 3 JulySnook maderadar contact with another enemy convoy. Early the following morning, she fired a spread of sixtorpedoes, sinking cargo shipsKoki Maru andLiverpool Maru and severely damagingAtlantic Maru.Snook returned toPearl Harbor from her second patrol on 18 July.
Snook leftPearl Harbor for her third war patrol on 18 August and arrived offMarcus Island on 30 August to take reconnaissance photographs and stand lifeguard duty for the carrier air strikes of 1 September. Following the air strikes, the submarine resumed patrol and headed for theEast China Sea where, in the early morning darkness of 13 September, she torpedoed and sank the 9,650-ton transportYamato Maru. On 22 September,Snook intercepted and sank 715-ton Japanese cargo shipKatsurahama Maru departing fromDairen. On 29 September, the submarine conducted a surface attack on a 500 ton vessel. The vessel was damaged and as the submarine moved closer to finish it off, returned fire was received. Four of the submarine's crew members were injured. The submarine turned away at high speed and the vessel was last seen settling in the water. The submarine terminated her third patrol atPearl Harbor on 8 October.
Snook spent her fourth war patrol in acoordinated attack group with sister shipsPargo (SS-264) andHarder (SS-257) in the waters off theMariana Islands. On 29 November, the submarine sank the passenger-cargo shipYamafuku Maru with four torpedo hits, and the cargo shipShiganoura Maru, as well as damaging an escort ship.Snook returned toMidway Island on 7 December and was routed on toPearl Harbor.
On 6 January 1944,Snook clearedPearl Harbor and headed for the western coast ofKyūshū and her fifth war patrol. While off theBonin Islands on 23 January, the submarine torpedoed and sank the 3,120-ton converted gunboatMagane Maru. On 8 February, she attacked a 13-ship convoy, firing a spread of four torpedoes for three hits before diving to evade the escort ships. In this action, she sank the troopshipLima Maru, with the massive loss of life of 2,765 dead,[7](the 11th worst loss of life byship sunk by a submarine in history), and heavily damaged the freighterShiranesan Maru. On 14 February, she quickly sank freighterNittoku Maru, with onetorpedo hit amidships and, on the following day, sank cargo shipHoshi Maru Number Two. On 23 February, while returning toMidway Island, she spotted an enemy convoy eight miles away, made a daring approach through a screen of 11 enemy escort ships, and fired five torpedoes, with two hits which sank the passenger-cargo ship,Koyo Maru. The submarine terminated her fifth patrol atPearl Harbor on 6 March and continued toHunters Point Navy Yard for a major overhaul.
On her sixth patrolSnook attacked and missed two freighters on 12 July, but found no other worthwhile targets, and returned toMidway Island on 14 August.
Snook's seventh war patrol was conducted inLuzon Strait and theSouth China Sea. After stopping atSaipan for repairs from 25 September to 4 October the submarine continued her patrol and contacted an enemy convoy on 23 October. She sank passenger-cargo shipShinsei Maru Number 1, then evaded two escorts and resumed the chase, sinking the tankerKikusui Maru with a torpedo which disintegrated the entire aft end. After again escaping the escorts,Snook returned and fired five bow torpedoes, sinking cargo ship, or "hell ship",Arisan Maru,[citation needed][8][9] killing about 1,773 American prisoners of war (the 23rd worst loss of life byship sunk by a submarine in history).[10] After rescuing a downed airman on 3 November, the submarine returned toPearl Harbor on 18 November.
Snook's eighth war patrol was conducted off theKuril Islands from 25 December 1944 to 17 February 1945. Her only sightings during this patrol were two friendlySoviet vessels and a momentary contact with a small patrol craft.
Snook was lost while conducting her ninth war patrol, in theSouth China Sea andLuzon Strait. On 8 April, she reported her position to submarineTigrone and when she did not acknowledge messages sent fromTigrone the next day, it was presumed that she had headed toward Luzon Strait. On 12 April, she was ordered to take lifeguard station in the vicinity ofSakishima Gunto in support of British carrier air strikes. On 20 April, the commander of the British carrier task force reported that he had a plane down inSnook's assigned area, and that he could not contact the submarine by radio.Snook was ordered to search the area and to acknowledge the order. When she failed to make a transmission, submarineBang was sent to make the search and rendezvous withSnook. AlthoughBang arrived and rescued the downed aviators, she saw no sign of the missing submarine; on 16 May,Snook was presumed lost due to unknown causes. It is believed that she was sunk bykaibokansOkinawa,CD-8, CD-32 andCD-52. It has also been suggested thatSnook may have been lost in combat with one of five Japanese submarines which were also lost in April–May 1945.[11] One candidate is the JapaneseType B3 submarineI-56,[12] however it remains a hypothesis due to it not being confirmed by a single Japanese source.
Snook was credited with sinking 17 enemy vessels in her two and one-half years of active service. She earned sevenbattle stars forWorld War II service.
The actual whereabouts ofSnook may have been discovered during a deep-sea dive in 1995. The possibility exists that a U.S. submarine lies in about 1,148 feet (350 m) of water off the coast ofIriomote Island, the far southwest island in theOkinawa chain. During operations with an Okinawan company using a U.S. made "SCORPIO" ROV in 1995, a group of divers encountered a sonar contact with what appeared to be a metal structure, about 20 feet (6.1 m) in girth and about 115 feet (35 m) in length (exposed) at roughly an angle of 20-30 degrees. The SONAR image of a large unexpected obstruction to the operations prompted the divers to command evasive maneuvers and avoid the area for the safety of the ROV.[13]
The divers, thinking they would have another opportunity to work in the area at a later date, left the area and never returned to that site. Their ROV was lost in 1997 offYonaguni Island, the last island belonging to the Okinawa chain off the east coast of Taiwan. They were fairly certain that the object was a submarine, and quite possibly theSnook. No further dives in the area were ever attempted.[13]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
Read the book about the USS Snook submarine "Final Dive" by Rick ClineISBN 0-9663235-3-X
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