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Kete (SS 369)


Departing Guam on 1 March 1945, Kete (Lieutenant Commander Edward Ackerman) headed for her second patrol in the vicinity of the Nansei Shoto (island chain). In addition to performing a normal patrol, Kete had orders to submit special weather reports, and to carry out rescue service during an air strike by carrier based planes.

On the night of 10 March 1945, Kete reported having sunk three medium sized freighters on the previous night. She reported on the night of 14 March that she had fired four torpedoes which missed a small enemy cable laying vessel, and that she had only three torpedoes remaining aboard. In view of the small number of torpedoes left, Kete was directed to depart her area on 20 March, and proceed to Pearl Harbor for refit, stopping at Midway enroute for fuel. On 19 March, she acknowledged receipt of these orders. On 20 March she sent in a special weather report from position latitude 29°-38'N, longitude 130°-02'E. This was the last message received from her. At normal cruising speed she should have arrived at Midway about 31 March 1945. When she was neither sighted nor heard from by 16 April 1945, she was reported as presumed lost.

Japanese information concerning antisubmarine attacks gained since the end of the war gives no positive evidence to what happened to Kete; none of the attacks on U.S. submarines occurring within the period from 20 March to 31 March 1945, was made in a position in which Kete was likely to be.

There were a few minelines in the Nansei Shoto Chain, but since Kete was already east of the islands at the time of her last message on 20 March and was heading home, loss through a mine is considered highly improbable. It is now known that a number of enemy submarines were in the area through which Kete was required to pass enroute to Midway. RO-41 was sunk east of Okinawa by a U.S. destroyer on 23 March 1945, and two other Japanese submarines were sunk southeast of Okinawa near this date. Conditions attendant to Kete's loss suggest the likelihood that one of these submarines might have torpedoed and sunk her and been unable to report the attack before being sunk. Thus, Kete must be considered probably a loss due to an unreported enemy attack. She is credited with sending three medium freighters, totaling 12,000 tons, to the bottom on this last patrol. During her first patrol, conducted in the East China Sea, Kete encountered no enemy targets.



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Submarine insignia.


U.S.S. Kete (SS-369)
Name Rate   Name Rate

Abts, Le Roy A.
Ackerman, E.
Adams, John C., Jr.
Apking, John D.
Bergadine, Donald L.
Blodgett, Leonard E.
Braniger, Francis W.
Brooks, Carl
Burnside, W.H., Jr.
Callahan, Perry C.
Cobrin, Bernard
Cole, Hugh M.
Cooper, Edward
Crowley, Robert W.
Crutchfield, C.R., Jr.
Dawson, William H.
Deininger, Frederick R.
Derrah, Harold W.
Deitrich, Helmut O.
Dortche, Calvin F.
Drake, K.L.
Dul, Willis
Efferson, Manuel L.
Egen, Donald P.
Fenton, D.G.
French, Hugh
Friesen, Ben
Fuller, Robert S.
Glynn, John F., Jr.
Griswold, Fred J.
Gunzinger, Joseph H.
Gwinn, Elmer E., Jr.
Haag, Bernard H.
Hart, Robert A.
Hartbank, Glenn E.
Hayden, Paul O.
Henderson, Earl
Hines, James L.
Holshouser, James R.
Hooper, Stanton L.
Katz, Abraham J.
Kelly, Norbert W.
Kensler, Elmer N.
Kotelman, Walter, E.

EM1
LCDR
LTJG
FC3
MoMM3
S1
CMoMM
QM2
LTJG
F1
EM3
RM3
EM2
RM2
LTJG
Ck3
F1
Y1
CCS
StM1
LT
TM3
S1
S1
LTJG
CMoMM
CMoMM
F1
S1
S1
RT1
EM3
ENS
S1
MoMM3
TM1
Cox
TM2
CTM
RM3
EM2
EM3
TM3
RM3

   

Kraut, Richard P.
Lasiter, Jack L.
Litzenburger, Frank Jr.
Logsdon, Earl
Lowery, Billie B.
Lynn, Charles W., Jr.
Malko, Glenn R.
Marisco, Anthony T.
Martini, Frank
McLendon, Bernard E.
Messenger, Grant R.
Moccabee, Samual A.
Moore, Charlton L.
Morrison, Henry F.
Newton, Archie V.
O'Brien, Joseph A.
O'Connor, Mark A.
Page, George T.
Peterson, Clair, Jr.
Piper, I. Victor
Price, Glenn O.
Pushee, Donald C.
Racer, Robert R.
Reimers, F.F.
Richards, Francis A.
Schemm, George J.
Schenavar, Maxium D.
Schumacher, Paul F.
Simpson, Oliver H.
Snyder, James I.
Spikes, R.H.
Starr, Jacob G., Jr.
Thomas, French L., Jr.
Thompson, Gordon R.
Thorn, Keith
Van Dam, Peter C.
Villalba, Salomon H.
Waggoner, James S.
Wallick, Russell A.
Walling, Floyd Stewart
Westphall, J.A.
Wilson, Gordon W.
Woodward, Galen I.

EM2
MoMM3
GM3
Bkr1
MoMM3
MoMM2
S1
F1
CSM
MoMM2
S1
SC2
S1
MoMM1
MoMM1
CBM
EM3
MoMM1
S1
MoMM3
MoMM2
QM3
S1
LT
GM1
QM3
MoMM2
EM1
CPhM
EM2
LT-XO
MoMM1
CRM
S1
GM3
TM2
F1
CEM
TM2
TM2
LT
TM1
RT2

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Published: Thu Feb 02 10:16:16 EST 2017