Please take a few moments and pray for the 326 souls lost during the month of June of the forgotten men of our silent service during WW II. These gallant men are now lying entombed inside sunken submarines across the Pacific Ocean and are On The Eternal Patrol. Their faces can be viewed by linking to the following website
www.oneternalpatrol.com
June 1, 1944 USS Herring (ss-233) After refueling at Midway Island on May 21st, Herring commenced her 8th patrol, heading for the Kurile Islands patrol area. 10 days later she met up with the USS Barb (ss-220). She was never heard or seen again. Post war Japanese records revealed she torpedoed and sunk 2 anchored Japanese merchant ships off Matsuwa Island on the morning of June 1st. Japanese shore batteries opened up on her scoring 2 direct hits on the conning tower. The sub sank and heavy oil flowed for 15 miles. 84 souls lost. Herring had received 5 battle stars for her WW 2 service.
June 12, 1943, USS R-12 (ss-89). First commissioned in 1919, she met her fate training submariners off the coast of Key West Florida. On this date, shortly after noon she was conducting torpedo practice and sounded her last dive. The forward battery compartment began to flood and before her crew could act, she sunk in 15 seconds. 42 souls were lost. 6 men were rescued..*Update* Sometime before May 25, 2011, an exploration team led by Tim Taylor aboard the expedition vessel "RV Tiburon", located and documented the wreck of the WW2 Submarine USS R-12, found in 600 feet of water off the coast of Key West Florida. In the spring of 2012, the "RV Tiburon" and the US Navy will return to further investigate possible causes of the sinking.
June 14, 1944, USS Golet (ss-361). Commencing her 2nd patrol, Golet departed Midway island on May 28th and headed for northern Honshu, Japan. She was never heard from again. Post war Japanese records revealed she was probably sunk by antisubmarine vessels northwest of Honshu. 82 souls lost.
June 18, 1945, USS Bonefish (ss-223). On her 8th and final patrol, Bonefish was assigned with 8 other submarines, in a group called "Hydemans Hellcats", of "Operation Barney" , under the control of Commander Earl Hydeman. The 9 subs were broken up into 3 groups of 3, "Hydeman?s Hepcats", (Hydeman overall command), "Pierce?s Polecats" (Commander Pierce in command) and "Risser?s Bobcats" (Commander Risser in command). USS Bonefish was part of "Pierce?s Pole Cats", commanded by USS Tunny?s skipper, Commander George E Pierce. All 9 submarines were equipped with a new mine-detecting FM Sonar device and were ordered to penetrate the Sea of Japan. They all successfully threaded there way through the minefields by Tsushima Islands and the Korea Strait to enter the Sea of Japan for an offensive patrol off the west central coast of Honshu. They all waited to attack at the same time and subsequently sunk 28 Jap vessels over 57,000 tons. On June 16th, Bonefish requested and received permission from Commander Pierce, to conduct a last minute patrol of Toyama Wan, a bay farther up the Honshu Coast. She was never heard from again. Post war Japanese records revealed Bonefish torpedoed and sunk a cargo ship in Toyama Wan and subsequent counterattack by Jap escorts, Bonefish was sunk by depth charges leaving a large area of oil and debris. 85 souls lost. Bonefish earned Navy Unit commendations for her 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th war patrols and 7 battle stars for her WW 2 service. Note: Whole story can be read in the book "Hellcats", the epic story of WW2's most daring submarine raid, by Peter Sasgen.
June 20, 1941 USS 0-9 (ss-70). After protecting the North Atlantic during WW1, the O-9 was recalled as a training submarine in April 1941, due to the escalating events leading to a possible WW2 outbreak. On the morning of June 20th, the 0-9, along with 2 sister 0 class training subs, left Portsmouth New Hampshire for practice dives. All 3 dived, but the 0-9 never surfaced. The depth was 450 feet and considered too risky at the time to continue any rescue. 33 souls lost. On September 20, 1997, the 0-9 was located on the bottom at 450 feet, the hull crushed from the conning tower back to the stern. The bow was intact. There are no plans to salvage 0-9 and remains a Naval burial ground.
..........NEVER FORGET !