USS Wahoo (SS-238)

Wahoo was a Gato class submarine completed by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, CA in May of 1942.

Wahoo departed Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii (TH.) for her seventh patrol on 9 September 1943. LCDR Morton had specifically requested the patrol area in the Sea of Japan. He had been frustrated on Wahoo’s sixth patrol by a lack of success primarily due to poor torpedo performance. Dick O’Kane, who was Wahoo’s executive officer since commissioning, had been detached and assumed command of the Tang (SS-306). O’Kane and Morton had made a formidable team with O’Kane generally functioning as the approach officer. O’Kane was aggressive but was still thought to be a moderating influence on Morton.

After a fuel stop at Midway, Wahoo was not heard from again. She did not report that she had entered the Sea of Japan as expected. However, four ships were sunk in the Sea of Japan at that time, and Wahoo was the only submarine in the area. Records reviewed after the war indicate that a coastal defense battery had spotted a submarine on the surface and scored some hits on it. Aircraft were dispatched to the area. They dropped bombs on the shadow of the Conning Tower of a submerged submarine. Japanese surface forces arrived later and dropped depth charges. These attacks were determined to be the end of the Wahoo.

Wahoo’s first two patrols, under another captain, were much less successful. She sank a single maru on her first war patrol. Her second patrol consisted of missed opportunities and a lack of aggression by the captain.

Morton, who was riding as a Prospective Commanding Officer, or PCO, and O’Kane, the executive officer, both recommended that the first captain be replaced. In a somewhat unusual decision, Morton was given command of the Wahoo. The previous captain went on to serve with distinction in command of a destroyer.

On Wahoo’s third patrol, she did a reconnaissance run into a bay for which we had no charts, providing the requested intelligence and severely damaging an enemy destroyer. This patrol also resulted in the sinking of three ships and damage to a tanker.

One of the sunken ships had been carrying Japanese troops and became the source of controversy. While charging the battery, Morton decided to return to the area where the troops were in small boats. Wahoo proceeded to destroy the small boats. This resulted in claims that the submarine was trying to kill helpless soldiers already in the water. Morton stated that they were just trying to sink the small boats, not kill the soldiers. The admiral agreed with Morton. However, the controversy was never truly settled.

For her fourth war patrol, Wahoo was credited with nine ships sunk for 20,000 tons. Two of these ships were sunk by gunfire due to torpedo problems. This was the second highest number of sinkings for a single U.S. submarine patrol during the war. It would only be exceeded later by Dick O’Kane, XO on the Wahoo for this patrol, when he was in command of USS Tang (SS-306).

For her fifth patrol, she was credited with three more ships for another 10,000 tons. Wahoo was frustrated on both the fifth and sixth war patrols by recurring torpedo problems. She found numerous targets on her sixth patrol in the Sea of Japan and conducted many attacks. However, the torpedoes were all misses or duds. That is why, after an overhaul at Mare Island, Morton requested to return to the Sea of Japan for what would be her final patrol.

Wahoo was lost on her seventh war patrol. JANAC credited her with 20 sinkings for 60,038 tons total for her WW2 service.

Wahoo was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for patrol 3. The Presidential Unit Citation was the highest combat decoration for extraordinary heroism against an armed enemy by a ship or other military unit.