USS Tullibee (SS-284)

Tullibee was a Gato class submarine completed by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo, CA in February of 1943.

Tullibee departed for her fourth patrol on 5 March 1944. She was to take part in “Operation Desecrate”, a carrier air strike at Palau scheduled for 30 March. On 26 March, Tullibee found a convoy of three good-sized marus and attacked. She fired two torpedoes at the largest maru. However, one of the two made a circular run and sank Tullibee. The bridge party was thrown into the sea. One man, gunner’s mate C. W. Kuykendall was able to swim long enough to be rescued the next day. He endured many interrogations at the Ofuna prison camp before winding up in the Ashio mines for the duration.

Tullibee first arrived at Pearl Harbor on 15 May 1943 but didn’t begin her first patrol until 19 July. She was assigned to an area around the Caroline Islands. She made a few attacks without results. On 10 August, she was rammed by an enemy ship which damaged a periscope. On 22 August, she sank a passenger/cargo ship and damaged a freighter. She ended the patrol at Midway on 6 September.

Her second patrol began on 28 September 1943 when she headed to the East China Sea. On 15 October, she sank a transport and damaged another. Two torpedoes aimed at the larger target exploded prematurely. Tullibee also claimed the sinking of a large tanker on 25 October, but that could not be verified. On 5 November, she used her deck gun to shell the army barracks at Okino Erabu Island, north of Okinawa. She returned to Pearl Harbor via Midway on 16 November.

Tullibee departed Pearl Harbor on 14 December 1943 for her third patrol, near the Marianas. For this patrol she was part of a wolfpack with USS Halibut (SS-232) and USS Haddock (SS-231). CDR Brindupke was the senior officer and in command of the pack. On 2 January, Tullibee fired four torpedoes at a Japanese submarine but missed. A Japanese float plane then dropped four bombs at Tullibee but caused no damage. During the patrol Tullibee tried to transfer fuel to Halibut, but was not successful. Tullibee sank a net-tender on this patrol and Halibut damaged the IJN Unyo, a carrier. Overall, the results of this wolfpack were disappointing.

Tullibee was lost on her fourth war patrol. JANAC credited her with three sinkings for 10,579 tons total for her WW2 service.