Deep in the dramatic marine battlefield of
World War 2's Pacific theater, the American submarine USS Batfish embarked on her sixth
patrol, poised for yet another confrontation with her Japanese counterparts roaming beneath
the waves of the South China Sea. With tension building as the days unfolded,
the intrepid Batfish silently prowled further and further into hostile waters, her crew
remaining vigilant and ready for battle at any moment. The steel-nerved sailors sprang into action
as the subma
rine's radar began blipping with ominous signals. It was the moment they had been waiting for. Spotting a Japanese submarine ahead, courageous
Captain Jake Fyfe, alone on the bridge, deftly guided Batfish towards her prey. With the enemy in his sights, he strategically
maneuvered his ship into the perfect position. As soon as he gave the order to fire, the
crew unleashed four Mark 18 torpedoes on their unsuspecting victim. Seconds later, a fiery red explosion and the
unmistakable sound of a subm
arine breaking into pieces as it succumbed to the depths
let them know they had hit their target. Without a moment’s pause, the sleek predator
continued her hunt. There were more enemy submarines in the area,
and she was not about to let them go… As war raged across the Pacific, the role
of submarines underwent a profound transformation. Initially relegated to reconnaissance and
interdiction missions, submarines soon started being used in a more aggressive fashion. With Japan dominating the seas
in the early
years of the war, the need for a powerful underwater presence became increasingly apparent
to the US Navy, who ramped up production to meet demand. Among the new submarines planned for 1942
was a Balao-class ship tentatively called USS Acoupa, in reference to a small fish commonly
known as a gray snapper. However, on September 24 of that year, it
was rechristened USS Batfish after a wily deep-sea predator that uses stealth and cunning
to lure and catch its prey. It would soon becom
e clear just how appropriate
the new name would be. As construction began on December 27, 1942,
at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, it was clear that Batfish was designed to
embody the cutting edge of submarine technology. The 311-foot-long Balao boasted an advanced
JT sonar system, a passive listening device that used underwater microphones called hydrophones
mounted on the hull of the submarine to locate enemy vessels using sound waves. With her streamlined hull and hydrodynamic
des
ign, Batfish could dive to depths of up to 400 feet, around a hundred feet deeper
than her Gato-class predecessors, enabling her to avoid discovery by the enemy while
conducting covert operations. Her potent arsenal included ten 21-inch torpedo
tubes, with six in the bow and four in the stern, and her Mark 14 torpedoes each had
a 643-pound Torpex warhead and was capable of a range of approximately 4,500 yards at
a speed of 46 knots. In addition, Batfish possessed a powerful
5-inch/25-caliber dec
k gun, which could deliver a punishing blow to any surface target foolish
enough to come within range. This allowed her to participate in shore bombardment
during special operations missions. If that weren’t enough, she also came with
40mm Bofors and 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons to fend off the aerial onslaught of
enemy bombers. Once construction was completed, USS Batfish
was launched on May 5, 1943, and commissioned on August 21 under Lieutenant Commander Wayne
R. Merrill. After an exte
nsive shakedown period, her crew
received essential training in diving, attacking, evading, and damage control. After a brief stop to witness the power of
their Mark 14s first-hand on the torpedo range in Newport, Rhode Island, they continued on
to New London, Connecticut, to make voyage repairs and receive additional training in
submarine combat routine. Satisfied that his men were ready to take
on the fearsome Japanese Imperial war machine, Lieutenant Commander Merrill sailed Batfish
out of Ne
w London on October 15, bound for the tumultuous warzone engulfing the Pacific. Out of the blue, as Batfish steadily neared
the Panama Canal, her eager crew caught sight of another submarine patrolling the dark Atlantic
waters. Believing it to be a German U-boat, they frantically
fired off a torpedo. Narrowly evading the hit, the enigmatic submarine
disappeared without a trace, her identity remaining a mystery to this day. It would be Batfish’s first brush with danger
but certainly not her last.
Just days later, with the canal now in sight,
the crew was given another reminder of the perils of war, this time from an unexpected
source. Mistaking Batfish for an enemy submarine,
a US Navy bomber rapidly approached before dropping its payload. By a stroke of luck, the bomber failed to
make a direct hit, and damage from the friendly fire was minimal. After minor repairs, Batfish pushed on to
Pearl Harbor and, from there, to her first war patrol in an open-sea zone south of Honshu,
Japan. Whi
le her first attempts at attack were prevented
by typhoons, and a sighting of the Yamato, one of the two largest warships in the world,
ended with Batfish being unable to keep up, it wouldn’t be long before she had her chance
to prove her worth as an underwater assassin. Just after midday on January 19, 1943, she
came across an unwitting convoy of four Japanese ships on the horizon. It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass
up. With the cloak of night descending, Batfish
unleashed a barrage of tor
pedoes, their thunderous roar echoing through the darkness as they
found their targets, sending one vessel plunging into the depths while leaving another in critical
condition before finishing it off the next morning. With Lieutenant Commander John K. Fyfe, nicknamed
“Jake,” taking over command from Merrill in May, Batfish would continue adding to her
tally, dodging vicious depth-charge attacks from Japanese planes and patrol boats to take
out one enemy vessel after another. On June 22, 1944, Ba
tfish successfully sank
a large cargo ship called Nagaragawa Maru, provoking a nearby Japanese patrol boat to
come seeking revenge. Forced to dive to avoid depth charges, Batfish
would soon learn the hard way that her nautical charts were inaccurate. While the charts showed depths of 400 feet
in the area, she came in for a nasty surprise when she found herself grounded on an underwater
volcanic peak at just 240 feet as more than fifty depth charges rained down around her
in a tense eight-hour or
deal before she was able to surface and assess her damage. When she finally made it back to the safety
of Midway Atoll for repair, she was equipped with brand new Mark 18 electric torpedoes,
which, unlike the Mark 14, didn’t produce a wake of bubbles or turbine exhaust trailing
back to the submarine that fired it, giving it less chance of being detected by the enemy. By August, she was back out on patrol, this
time near the Palau Islands, looking for a chance to test out her new arsenal. So when
intelligence came through of a Japanese
destroyer run aground at nearby Velasco Reef, Batfish didn’t hesitate in going to investigate. Arriving on the scene, she encountered two
Japanese vessels, a minelayer, and a transport, stranded on the reef, with the ill-fated destroyer
Samidare beached across the atoll. Meanwhile, a Japanese floatplane, two tugs,
two patrol boats, and a minesweeper that Batfish believed to be a second destroyer were also
roaming the area. Struggling to locate the transpo
rt through
heavy rain and rough seas, Batfish unexpectedly found the minesweeper in her path, launching
a devastating barrage of torpedoes and obliterating the warship in a deafening explosion. She then turned her sights on Samidare, leaving
it damaged beyond repair with two successful torpedo strikes before later watching the
Japanese put the destroyer out of her misery with demolition charges. In her first year of service, USS Batfish
had already seen plenty of action, but her most dramatic co
nfrontation was yet to come. On her sixth patrol, she was sent to Luzon,
the largest island of the Philippines, which the Allies were in the process of liberating. With the Japanese unable to defend the island,
Vice Admiral Shigeyoshi Miwa, commander of the 6th Fleet, directed submarines Ro-46,
Ro-112, Ro-113, and Ro-115 to halt their patrols and instead head to Takao on Formosa to unload
torpedoes and ammunition before proceeding to the Aparri area of northern Luzon to embark
evacuees. Having a
lready been warned of the Japanese
evacuation plans, Batfish was on the lookout. At 10:50pm on February 9, with the sea plunged
into darkness, her SJ radar sprang to life, detecting a blip cutting through the ocean
at a steady 12 knots, its course set at 310 degrees, steering away from Aparri and toward
Formosa. Suspicion arose – could it be a Japanese
submarine lurking beneath the waves? Captain Fyfe frantically radioed through to
friendly ships in the area to ask for their positions. After cro
ssing them off his list one by one,
it seemed only one possibility remained. Analyzing the target’s course and speed
with radar and sonar technology, she got closer and closer. At 10:31pm, she shot four Mark 18s from her
bow tubes, poised to strike their elusive prey. Yet, fate intervened as all four torpedoes
veered off course, detonating harmlessly at the end of their paths. Undeterred, Batfish readied itself for a second
assault. By the stroke of midnight on February 10,
her crew realized the
y had a Japanese submarine at a mere 1,020 yards. Once more, they unleashed four torpedoes. The first malfunctioned, running hot in the
tube, but the second struck true, engulfing the enemy submarine in a blaze. A tense moment followed as the third torpedo
traversed the aftermath of the explosion, while the fourth missed its mark and exploded
at the end of its run. However, the breaking-up noises heard by Batfish’s
crew let them know that one torpedo had been enough to seal their opponents’ fate
. It is still not clear exactly which submarine
Batfish sank that day, though some suggest it may have been Ro-115. At 7:51pm on February 11, the radar onboard
Batfish once again indicated the presence of an enemy presence nearby. Drawing closer, the silhouette materialized
into the form of another Japanese submarine. Batfish was preparing to strike when, all
of a sudden, her target dived, disappearing from view. Yet Batfish was determined not to let her
victim escape. At 9:05pm, the passive son
ar picked up the
subtle sounds of the Japanese submarine adjusting her ballast tanks, a telltale sign of her
presence. Swiftly, the vessel resurfaced, resuming her
course, oblivious to the imminent threat lurking beneath the waves. By 10:05pm, Batfish was in position and let
rip a ferocious flurry of Mark 18s. The first torpedo struck home, tearing through
submarine number two with devastating force and sinking her almost immediately. The identity of the victim would later be
revealed as Ro-112.
The relentless Batfish remained on the prowl,
and around 2:15am on February 13, she gained radar contact on a target at 10,700 yards. In hot pursuit of her prey, she got to a range
of 7,150 yards before the contact disappeared from radar. Just as before, the submarine had dived, eluding
Batfish – for now. Half an hour later, at 3:10am, the submarine
resurfaced, and Batfish was able to regain radar contact at a range of 9,800 yards. Submerging to radar depth, she closed in on
submarine number th
ree until she got to a distance of 1,500 yards, this time attacking
with just three torpedoes. In a burst of searing light, the Mark 18 blew
the Japanese submarine apart, sending her to the depths so fast the other two torpedoes
didn’t even have time to reach their mark. This third submarine was later identified
as Ro-113. There were no survivors from any of the three. By taking out three Japanese submarines in
just 76 hours, USS Batfish became, along with the British HMS Upholder, one of only t
wo
Allied submarines to earn the distinction of sinking three Axis counterparts and the
only one to do so in such a short space of time. As she sailed towards Guam, accompanied by
the valiant Blackfish, whispers of her legendary exploits spread like wildfire across the waves. Pulling into Apra Harbor on February 21, 1945,
Batfish was greeted with cheers and accolades from US Navy photographers, hailed as the
triumphant "sub killer." On March 3, 1945, she made her triumphant
return to Pearl Harbo
r, her heroic deeds earning her the prestigious Presidential Unit Citation,
a testament to her remarkable achievement. Yet, instead of resting on her laurels, Batfish
would soon be back out on her next mission. Her seventh patrol saw her bombarding the
village of Nagata from the ocean’s surface and then conducting a daring rescue of three
survivors from a ditched American B-25 Mitchell bomber and taking them to safety in Iwo Jima,
just days before the Japanese surrender would end her wartime act
ivities. After spending the rest of her career in training
operations in the Atlantic and Caribbean, since 1973, she has had a permanent home at
the Muskogee War Memorial Park in Oklahoma.
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