USS Wahoo - tribute to all the Boats

[drgondog]

I just saw a post on Warbirds about USS WAhoo found between Japan and Russia - may be old news to some but Cmdr Mush Morton was a hero as I grew up (I was a strange Air Force Brat).. what tore me up was the poem below - here's too Dan who may be the only one on this forum to identify


A Poem By John C. Carcioppolo



As you take her down, and take her deep
And level off at 400 feet.

Remember well those who went before
who rest in peace on the ocean floor.

Their boats rust in silence, and yearn to tell their story
of how the crew died defending Old Glory.

It's up to us to always remember
how you fought the war after 7 December

"The Submarines are all we have left" it was told
As boats departed on war patrols.

“It was to the Submarine Force that we turned”
after the Pacific Fleet was sunk and burned.

While the fleet rebuilt you held the lines.
and kept sinking targets time after time.

From Pearl out to Midway and the Sea of Japan
you all were committed down to a man.

Slowly but surely and one by one.
You sank the ships with the Rising Sun.

All enemy ships you did attack
Sadly one in five boats did not come back.

You cleared the seas of enemy shipping.
And their mighty warships were also slipping

beneath the waves to the ocean floor
to attack Americans never more.

You did great things in that long war.
as you filled the history books with your lore.

If things went well a broom you’d fly.
But if things went wrong shipmates would wait and cry.

You won this war with nerves of steel and veins of ice.
But our Submarine Force paid a heavy price.

It started with SEA LION in late forty one
And ended with BULLHEAD before it was done.

PERCH, TRITON and KETE to name a few
And don’t forget others like TROUT and WAHOO.

Names like Morton and Dealey were some of the best.
But just as important are all the rest.

Lockwood said "they went down fighting"
to depth charge attacks that were always frightening.

We lost 52 boats during World War Two.
Over 3600 men, but none of you.

You are the ones who did survive.
And have always kept their memories alive.

For 60 years you have tolled the bell
For all your shipmates who fought like heck.

And now as you all turn gray and old
We will tell the stories that we’ve been told.

We have the watch and will always remember
The Submariners who served after 7 December.

We will toll the boats and tell the story.
Of our Brothers of the Phin who went down in glory.

Today as our Submarines put out to sea
we reflect on your impact on history.

On every boat and on every day
We’ll always remember you paved the way

For you are our heroes and there is no doubt
Living up to your standards is what it’s about.

When we wear our dolphins with pride on our chest
it’s because of you that we are the best.

Like the Marines you are the Proud and the Few
Who served your country in a Submarine Crew

You are shining examples of our great Nation
And reverently called the Greatest Generation.

This poem is my humble tribute to you
My heroes . . . The Submarine Veterans of World War Two.


Lest We Forget:

The following is a listing of submarines on Eternal Patrol with their entire crews:

USS SHARK I (SS-174) 11FEB42 58 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack, Makassar Strait, Celebes Island

USS GRUNION (SS-216) 30JUL42 70 LOST
Unknown causes off Kiska Island, Aleutians

USS ARGONAUT I (SS-166) 10JAN43 105 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Java Sea

USS AMBERJACK I (SS-219) 16FEB43 74 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Solomon Sea

USS GRAMPUS I (SS-207) 5MAR43 71 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack, Solomon Islands

USS TRITON I (SS-201) 15MAR43 74 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off New Guinea

USS PICKEREL I (SS-177) 3APR43 74 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan

USS RUNNER I (SS-275) JUN43 78 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine between Midway Island and Japan

USS POMPANO I (SS-181) SEP43 76 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine off Honshu, Japan

USS GRAYLING I (SS-209) 12SEP43 76 LOST
Unknown causes along approaches to Manila, P.I.

USS CISCO (SS-290) 28SEP43 76 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Sulu Sea

USS DORADO I (SS-24 12OCT43 76 LOST
Air Attack in S.W. Atlantic

USS WAHOO I (SS-23 11OCT43 80 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in La Perouse Strait off Japan

USS CORVINA (SS-226) 16NOV43 82 LOST
Japanese Submarine Attack off Truk

USS CAPELIN (SS-289) 2DEC43 78 LOST
Unconfirmed Japanese Surface Attack in Celebes Sea

USS SCORPION I (SS-27 5JAN44 76 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine in Yellow Sea off China

USS GRAYBACK I (SS-20 27FEB44 80 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack off Okinawa

USS TROUT I (SS-202) 29FEB44 81 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Philippine Sea

USS GUDGEON I (SS-211) 12MAY44 78 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in Northern Marianas

USS HERRING (SS-233) 1JUN44 84 LOST
Japanese Shore Battery off Matsuwa Island, Kuriles

USS S-28 (SS-133) 4JUN44 50 LOST
Foundered off Hawaiian Islands

USS GOLET (SS-361) 14JUN44 82 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan

USS ROBALO (SS-273) 26JUL44 78 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine off Palawan 4 POWs

USS HARDER I (SS-257) 24AUG44 79 LOST
Japanese Depth Charge Attack off Luzon, P.I.

USS SEAWOLF II (SS-197) 30OCT44 99 LOST
USS ROWELL off Morotai Island

USS ESCOLAR (SS-294) 17OCT44 82 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine in Yellow Sea off China

USS SHARK II (SS-314) 24OCT44 87 LOST
Japanese Depth Charge Attack off Formosa

USS ALBACORE I (SS-21 7NOV44 86 LOST
Possible Japanese Mine between Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan

USS GROWLER I (SS-215) 8NOV44 85 LOST
Possible Japanese Surface Attack in South China Sea

USS SCAMP I (SS-277) 11NOV44 83 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Tokyo Bay area

USS SWORDFISH I (SS-193) 12JAN45 89 LOST
Possible Japanese Surface Attack or Mine off Okinawa

USS BARBEL I (SS-316) 4FEB45 81 LOST
Japanese Air Attack off entrance to Palawan Passage

USS KETE (SS-369) MAR45 87 LOST
Unknown causes between Okinawa and Midway

USS TRIGGER I (SS-237) 28MAR45 89 LOST
Japanese Air/Surface Attack in East China Sea

USS SNOOK I (SS-279) 8APR 45 84 LOST
Unknown causes off Formosa

USS LAGARTO (SS-371) 4MAY45 85 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack in Gulf of Siam

USS BONEFISH I (SS-223) 18JUN45 85 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Honshu, Japan

USS BULLHEAD (SS-332) 6AUG45 84 LOST
Japanese Air Attack off Bali Coast

USS THRESHER II (SSN-593) 10APR63 129 LOST
Operational off New England Coast

USS SCORPION II (SSN-589) 22MAY68 99 LOST
Possible Torpedo Detonation off Azores

The following is a listing of boats lost taking portions of their crews on Eternal Patrol:

USS F4 (SS-23) 25MAR15 21 LOST
Battery Explosion off Honolulu

USS F1 (SS-20) 16DEC17 19 LOST
Rammed off Honolulu

USS G2 (SS-27) 30JUL19 3 LOST
Foundered in Long Island Sound

USS H1 (SS-28 ) 12MAR20 4 LOST
Foundered off Santa Margarita Island, CA

USS O5 (SS-66) 20OCT23 3 LOST
Rammed in Limon Bay, Canal Zone

USS S51 (SS-162) 25SEP25 33 LOST
Rammed off Block Island, Rhode Island

USS SQUALUS (SS-192) 23MAY39 26 LOST
Foundered off Portsmouth, New Hampshire (boat salvaged and recommissioned under a new name)

USS O9 (SS-70) 20JUN41 33 LOST
Foundered off Isle of Shoals

USS SEALION I (SS-195) 10DEC41 4 LOST
Japanese Air Attack, Cavite Navy Yard, P.I.

USS S26 (SS-131) 24JAN42 46 LOST
Collision in Gulf of Panama

USS R12 (SS-89) 12JUN43 42 LOST
Foundered off Key West, Florida

USS S44 (SS-155) 7OCT43 55 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack is Sea of Okhotsk

USS SCULPHIN I (SS-191) 19NOV43 12 LOST
Japanese Surface Attack off Truk 51 POWs

USS TULLIBEE I (SS-284) 26MAR44 79 LOST
Circular run of own Torpedo off Palau Islands

USS FLIER (SS-250) 13AUG44 78 LOST
Japanese Mine in Balabac Strait

USS TANG I (SS-306) 24OCT44 78 LOST
Circular run of own Torpedo in Formosa Strait

USS COCHINO (SS-345) 26AUG49 1 LOST
Battery Explosion off Norway


Shay