Hull Number: SS-361
Last Captain: LCDR James Clark
Date Lost: 14 June 1944
Location: Off northern Honshu
Fatalities: 82
Cause: ASW forces
Construction
Golet was a Gato class submarine completed by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, WI in September of 1943.
Loss Narrative
Golet departed Midway on 28 May 1944 on her second patrol. She was never heard from again. Postwar records indicate that she was lost off Honshu, Japan on 14 June due to depth charging.
Prior History
Golet’s first patrol began from Pearl Harbor on 18 March 1944. She patrolled near the Kurile Islands, as well as Hokkaido and Honshu. However, the severe weather hampered operations so badly that Golet ended the patrol at Midway with all her torpedoes on 3 May.
There were many unusual things about Golet’s history. The fact that she was built in Manitowoc may have been one of the least unusual. We built 28 submarines at Manitowoc Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. Since Golet was the 11th boat built in that yard, the differences there had become almost routine. Those differences included the launching of the boats sideways, the lower density of fresh water in calculating diving trim, sea trials in Lake Michigan even in winter, and the process of taking the boats down the Mississippi River on a floating drydock to the Gulf of Mexico. These had all been addressed ten times before Golet was completed.
The next unusual thing was that Golet was intended to be a Balao class boat. However, the Electric Boat Company – the supervising yard for the Manitowoc contracts – was backed up and wasn’t ready to provide the plans for the Balao class boats when Manitowoc was ready to build them. As a result, the first four boats in Manitowoc’s second contract were built as Gato boats. There is probably no way of knowing whether the thinner Gato hull was a factor in Golet’s loss.
The last unusual thing is that Golet had three different commanding officers in her short history. The commissioning captain was relieved after training at Pearl Harbor. According to Clay Blair Jr. in “Silent Victory” (page 667), the inspection cruise for the new boat found the wardroom to be “ill-trained and ill-led”. There was discussion about replacing all the officers, but the decision was to replace just the commanding and executive officers. The new CO was on loan from the training command. The new XO was the prospective commanding officer (PCO) who would assume command for the ill-fated second patrol. This third and last CO, LCDR Clark, had recommended that four more officers and two chief petty officers be sent ashore, but this was not done.
Golet was lost on her second war patrol and JANAC credited her with no sinkings.
There were many unusual things about Golet’s history. The fact that she was built in Manitowoc may have been one of the least unusual. We built 28 submarines at Manitowoc Wisconsin on Lake Michigan. Since Golet was the 11th boat built in that yard, the differences there had become almost routine. Those differences included the launching of the boats sideways, the lower density of fresh water in calculating diving trim, sea trials in Lake Michigan even in winter, and the process of taking the boats down the Mississippi River on a floating drydock to the Gulf of Mexico. These had all been addressed ten times before Golet was completed.
The next unusual thing was that Golet was intended to be a Balao class boat. However, the Electric Boat Company – the supervising yard for the Manitowoc contracts – was backed up and wasn’t ready to provide the plans for the Balao class boats when Manitowoc was ready to build them. As a result, the first four boats in Manitowoc’s second contract were built as Gato boats. There is probably no way of knowing whether the thinner Gato hull was a factor in Golet’s loss.
The last unusual thing is that Golet had three different commanding officers in her short history. The commissioning captain was relieved after training at Pearl Harbor. According to Clay Blair Jr. in “Silent Victory” (page 667), the inspection cruise for the new boat found the wardroom to be “ill-trained and ill-led”. There was discussion about replacing all the officers, but the decision was to replace just the commanding and executive officers. The new CO was on loan from the training command. The new XO was the prospective commanding officer (PCO) who would assume command for the ill-fated second patrol. This third and last CO, LCDR Clark, had recommended that four more officers and two chief petty officers be sent ashore, but this was not done.
Golet was lost on her second war patrol and JANAC credited her with no sinkings.
Submarine Photo
Captain Photo
LCDR James Clark