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Snook (SS 279)


Snook (Commander J.F. Walling) departed Guam on 25 March 1945 in company with Burrfish (SS-312) and Bang (SS-385) to carry out a coordinated patrol with Commander Walling commanding the group. They were to patrol Luzon Strait, the south coast of China, and the east coast of Hainan, and to perform lifeguard duties if so directed by dispatch. Snook returned to Guam for emergency repairs on 27 March, and departed on 28 March to rejoin her group. The patrol was Snook's ninth.

In accordance with her orders, weather reports were received daily fromSnook as she proceeded westward until 1 April, when she was told to discontinue making them. On the same date, Snook was directed to proceed westward to join a coordinated attack group under Commander Cassedy inTigrone. Bang and Burrfish already had been assigned life-guard stations, and were not available for the attack group as originally planned.

Although the last message received from Snook by shore bases was on 1 April, Tigrone was in contact with her until 8 April, at which time Snook'sposition was 18°-40'N, 111°-39'E. On 9 April Tigrone was unable to raise her by radio, nor was she ever able to afterwards. Tigrone being unable to raise her may be explained by the fact that on 10 April Snook was directed to move eastward toward Luzon Strait, and on 12 April she was ordered to lifeguard duty for British carrier based air strikes. Her position for this duty was in the vicinity of Sakeshima Gunto, about 200 miles east of northern Formosa. No acknowledgment for these orders was required. On 20 April the Commander of a British carrier task force reported he had a plane down in Snook'svicinity, but could not contact her by radio. Snook was ordered to search the area and to acknowledge these orders. When she failed to make a transmission, Bang was sent to make the search and to rendezvous withSnook. Although Bang arrived on the scene and rescued three aviators, she saw nothing of Snook.

When Snook had not appeared or been heard from by 16 May, she was reported as presumed lost on her ninth patrol.



--146--

Japanese antisubmarine attack reports available at this time give no indication of an attack which might have been on Snook. There were mines in the vicinity of Sakeshima Gunto, but Snook had information on these which had been gained from captured enemy documents. It is improbable that she would have gone into the minefields unless intentionally to rescue a downed aviator. She was not asked to penetrate any minefield in effecting any rescue.

A number of enemy submarine contacts were reported in the vicinity of Snook's lifeguard station during the period in which her loss occurred. During April and May 1945, five Japanese submarines were sunk in the Nansei Shoto chain. The circumstances surroundingSnook's loss suggest the possibility that one of these lost submarines may have torpedoed her while she was surfaced during her lifeguard duties and it was not reported. It is known that such tactics were suggested to Japanese submarine commanders by their superiors.

No attacks had been reported by Snook prior to her loss on this patrol. She was, however, responsible for sinking 22 enemy ships, totaling 123,600 tons and damaging 10 ships, for 63,200 tons, on her eight patrols prior to her loss. Her first patrol was from mid-April to the latter part of May 1943, along the China Coast from Formosa to the Empire. She sank four freighters, a patrol craft, a sampan and a trawler. In her second patrol, Snook covered the East China Sea area. She sank two freighters and damaged two tankers, one of the latter being a very large ship. During her third patrol, Snook covered areas in both the Yellow and East China Seas, and sank a transport and freighter, and damaged a sub chaser. Her fourth patrol was along the Empire trade routes to the south. Here she sank two freighters and damaged three more.

Snook went to the East China Sea again on her fifth patrol, and sank four freighters and a freighter-transport, while she damaged a fifth freighter. In the same area on her sixth patrol, Snook damaged one freighter. Her seventh patrol was in the Luzon Strait area and the northern South China Sea. She sank three freighters and damaged a fourth freighter and an unidentified vessel. Snookpatrolled the Kurile region north of Japan on her eighth patrol, but contacted only three ships. Two were Russian and the other could not be attacked.



--147--


Submarine insignia.


U.S.S. Snook (SS-279)
Name Rate   Name Rate
Adams, Robert B.
Bagby, Erven E.J.
Baum, Russell L.
Billingsley, R.S., Jr.
Bolger, Kenneth P.
Branum, Ben A., Jr.
Browning, Ned E.
Brownstein, Sidney
Burdick, Robert K.
Burger, Leo
Busby, Claude R.
Byron, Danford A.
Cave, John E.
Cesare, Benedict A.
Choate, James D.
Clark, E.P., II
Crawford, Delmer L.
Crawford, George L.
Cross, James A.
Dolph, William L.
Eckenrode, Charles J.
Edmunds, Clarence F.
Ellis, Warren P.
Etkin, Harry R., Jr.
Farrell, William S.
Felabom, John C.
Fry, Donald W.
Gambardella, Anthony
Gardner, Stephen P.
Glass, Jack J.
Gregorini, Victor
Grindzak, Andrew
Groat, Jack E.
Grupp, Paul H.
Guthrie, Andrew T.
Hughes, Raymond L.
Hurley, David J.
Ingram, Robert R.
Johnson, Harold M.
Johnston, Joseph, Jr.
Julian, Harry F.
Keiser, Paul F., II
CMoMM
TM2
RT2
MoMM3
F1
RM3
MoMM3
EM3
RT1
PhM1
LTJG
F1
F1
EM2
QM1
LTJG
GM1
F1
F1
RM1
S1
S1
EM2
EM2
LT-XO
MoMM3
EM3
S1
LT
F1
Bkr2
F1
MoMM1
MoMM1
TM3
Y2
CEM
S1
CMoMM
SC2
TM3
S2
    Kellogg, William E.
Klosterman, Francis J.
Kramer, Norman T.
Lamont, Thomas W., II
Lang, William T.
Lundgren, Lawrence W.
Lunken, Isadore I.
Maney, Francis R.
Manley, John G.
McEntyer, Ones W.
McGahan, James E.
McGuire, Ralph M., Jr.
McNeill, Donald J.
Mlynek, Vincent P.
Morgan, Charles
Morgan, John L.
Olson, George C.
Page, Glen C.
Parker, John S.
Phillips, Norman
Regan, John B.
Register, Martin L.
Rehbit, Walter J.
Rodney, William J.
Russell, Arthur M., Jr.
Schoen, Richard L.
Schramm, William C.
Schwendemann, Rona L.
Scully, John F.
Shelton, William E.
Silvia, Ben
Sloan, Joan C.
Spence, Ernest L.
Sukola, Robert R.
Toulson, Howard T.
Wagner, Harold K.
Walling, John F.
Welch, Andrew W., Jr.
Will, James A.
Wood, Robert Emmett, Jr.
Wood, Robert Eugene
Wright, John N.
TM1
F1
TM3
S1
MoMM1
S1
MoMM2
F2
EM3
S1
QM3
F1
LTJG
QM3
MoMM2
GM3
S1
TM1
RM3
S1
F1
EM1
MoMM2
StM1
TM2
EM3
FC3
LTJG
TM3
St3
SC1
S1
S1
RT3
F1
EM2
CDR-CO
LTJG
MoMM1
FC2
F1
ENS

--148--

Published: Tue Jan 31 07:07:09 EST 2017