USS Darter (SS-227)

The Darter submarine was laid down on October 20, 1942 at the Electric Boat Company shipyard in Groton , Connecticut . The launch took place on June 6, 1943. The sponsor was the wife of Edwin Wheeler, one of the leaders of the Electric Boat. "Darter" was commissioned on September 7, 1943 under the command of William Stovall Jr.

After completing the tests, the Darter left New London on October 31, 1943, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on November 26.

On December 21, 1943, the Darter set out on its first military campaign — patrolling shipping routes south and west of Truk . The campaign was interrupted twice for repairs - in Pearl Harbor from December 29, 1943 to January 3, 1944 and in Tulagi , and then in the Gulf of Milne from January 30 to February 8. On January 12, the submarine conducted reconnaissance near the Envetok Atoll, and the next day it managed to hit one torpedo on a large vessel. It was not possible to continue the attack due to the opposition of the escort ships. Patrolling continued during attacks from aircraft carriers on Truk February 16-17. After refueling at Milne Bay, the Darter went to Brisbane , where one of the crew members, assistant engineer Richard Goode, died as a result of the refitting as a result of electric shock.

The task of the second campaign was to patrol the area north of western New Guinea and south of Davao . Having replenished the fuel supply in Milne Bay on March 21-22, the Darter went to the patrol area and sunk a cargo ship on March 30, then moved closer to the coast of New Guinea, where the Allied troops landed. After refueling in Darwin on April 29-30, the submarine returned to patrolling again. Unable to find suitable targets, Darter completed a campaign on Manus Island on May 23.

After re-equipment, the submarine set out on the third campaign on June 21 to the islands of Halmahera and Mindanao . On June 29, after the sinking of the Tsugaru mine layer near the Morotai island, the Darter was attacked by depth charges.

After returning to Brisbane on August 8, 1944, the Darter went on their fourth campaign, the last for the submarine. After patrolling in the Celebes and South China Seas, the submarine replenished its fuel supplies and underwent minor repairs in Darwin on September 10, then returned to the Celebes Sea. After refueling on September 27 at the Mios Voendi base (atoll located southeast of the Biak Islands) on October 1, the Darter went off with the USS Dace (SS-247) to patrol the South China Sea in preparation for the operation in Leyte Bay .

On October 12, Darter attacked a convoy of several tankers; on October 21, together with the Day, it headed to the Balabak Strait to observe Japanese ships heading to strengthen the defense of the Philippines and attack the Allied landing forces. On October 23, “Darter” and “Day” made radar contact with the central formation of the Japanese fleet, approaching the Palawan passage. The report of this contact had a great influence on the course of the battle in Leyte Gulf, since the coordinates of this connection of Japanese forces remained unknown over the past few days. Submarines went closer to the enemy and attacked the Japanese cruiser, starting the first phase of the battle. The Darter fired six torpedoes from the nasal vehicles at the Atago heavy cruiser, five torpedoes hit the target ^[3] , and the cruiser, the former flagship of Admiral Kurita , caught fire and sank. Immediately after the first salvo, four torpedoes were fired from the stern vehicles - the cruiser Takao "Received severe damage. "Day" at this time sank the cruiser " May ". Then the submarines went into the depths, dodging the attack with depth charges ^[4] .

After surfacing to the depths of the submarine, the Takao remained afloat guarded by three destroyers, which did not allow the submarines to finish off the cruiser all day. After dark, the Tacao went under its own power, the Day and the Darter began to maneuver for the attack. At 00:05 on October 25, the “Darter” Bombay reef at

For some time, the Japanese destroyer approached the Darter, but then changed course. The submarine commander gave the order to destroy secret documents and the torpedo fire control device, and take artillery calculation to take a place at the gun. At 1:40, the Day approached the reef, but her attempts to take the Darter aground even after the onset of the tide were unsuccessful. Then the commander decided to destroy the boat. The entire crew was moved to the "Day", in the compartments of the "Darter" laid subversive charges that were ineffective, since their operation did not lead to detonation of the torpedoes. Then the "Darter" was fired by shells from the 76-mm deck guns "Day", having achieved 21 hits. Torpedo shooting did not bring success - due to the shallow depth of all 10 torpedoes fired by the USS Rock submarine exploded on impact on the reef. Finally, on December 31, the submarine USS Nautilus (SS-168) arrived and fired 55 shells from 150 mm guns on the Darter. The Japanese made no attempt to raise the submarine's hull. In 1952, a team of sappers laid subversive charges in the aft compartment to neutralize six torpedoes remaining on board. A strong explosion destroyed the bow of the submarine. The core of "Darter" as of 1998 remained on the reef ^[5] .

The Day safely delivered the Darter crew to Fremantle on November 6th. To maintain high morale, the full crew was assigned to the USS Menhaden (SS-377) submarine of the Balao type under construction in Manitowoc . For successful operations in the Palawan Pass, the Darter submarine was awarded the Gratitude of the Navy , and Commander David McClintock was awarded the Navy Cross .

• Peter F. Stevens. Fatal Dive: Solving the World War II Mystery of the USS Grunion . - Regnery History, 2012 .-- 352 p. - ISBN 978-1596987678 .

• Norman Friedman US Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History . - Naval Institute Press, 1995 .-- 379 p. - (Illustrated Design Histories Series). - ISBN 9781557502636 .

• Karl Jack Bauer, Stephen S. Roberts. Register of Ships of the US Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants . - Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991 .-- 350 p. - ISBN 9780313262029 .

• Charles Lockwood . Swamp them all. - Military Publishing House, 1960 .-- 400 p.

USS Darter on navsource.org