Turn 22: Barriers and milestones

16—24 May 1942

A straightforward, and reasonably successful week.

Higher command {i.e., the War Event table} directed the force to execute a barrier mission in and around the Straits of Makassar and Malacca—choke points on trade routes extremely vital to the Empire. Four boats were in position to take up this duty: USS Tambor (SS-198) and Shark (SS-174) came in from the east, while USS Sargo (SS-188) and Pickerel (SS-177) moved from their previously assigned patrol areas to the west. The combination of operations in restricted waters and the region’s high importance made the subs’ mission unusually dangerous. Three of the four boats were spotted at some point in the process, but all avoided significant mishap. Only Sargo conducted a successful hunt. On the night of the 21st, she brought down a 5,000 ton oiler, and weathered a vicious depth charging in return. She escaped unharmed, and is en route back to base to re-arm.

Elsewhere in the fleet, two other boats each sank 5,000 ton cargo ships. USS Flying Fish (SS-229) continued her excellent maiden patrol; after only three weeks, she is tied for seventh place on the tonnage leader board. The third boat to score this week, USS Seadragon (SS-194), is one of the subs with whom the Fish is tied.

Only one boat was damaged this week, and that did not come in combat. Early in her patrol in the Solomons, USS Seal (SS-183) suffered a major engineering casualty—her third bout of significant engine distress thus far in the war. (Somewhat paradoxically, she holds the record for longest war patrol.) Ops staff is urging that Seal replace one of the boats scheduled for major refit later this year.

Three kills for 15,000 brought the wartime total to 224,000 tons. That is enough to meet the end-of-May career longevity milestone—with a whole week to spare! [/sarcasm] The next is 360,000, due three months hence.

Turn 21: Average (finally)

8—15 May 1942

Finally, for the first time since the end of March, we’ve had a non-lousy week. Hooray mediocrity!

In fairness, it would be difficult to
incorporate a torpedo into the design
and have it not look phallic.

USS Sculpin (SS-191) scored again. Patrolling in the Marshall Islands on the 13th, she encountered a moderately-sized task force. Carefully avoiding the escorts, she set up a difficult attack on what she believed to be a small carrier. She missed it, and that main target escaped—but one of the fish in the spread wandered on to find the side of a 3,000 ton transport nearby. It detonated, sinking the non-target target. It was the second “accidental” kill of the war, and the fourth enemy ship sunk by Sculpin. She now sits atop the tonnage leader board, with a total of 26,000.

Also of note, two days before Sculpin’s encounter and not far away, USS Flying Fish (SS-229) brought down a 5,000 ton oiler. Objectively, it was a modest score; but given our performance of late, 5k felt like a gigantic victory. It was also heartening to see a Drum-class boat with an early success—the Fish only entered the theater at the beginning of this month.

Two other boats sank small targets, bringing the total for the week to 13,000 tons. Again: hooray mediocrity! Having finally passed the 200k milestone, we are standing at 209,000 for the war. We need 11k more by the end of the month. Eleven thousand in two turns seems like a small enough matter—but (again) given our recent performance, I presume nothing.