The COB's Diary: Three Patrols with the U.S.S. Pompano in 1942

 

War Patrol Diary of Torpedoman First Class Robert S. Ferris, U.S.N.

U.S.S. Pompano (SS-181)

Torpedoman First Class Robert S. Ferris and his wife Ruth (Axner) Ferris in a prewar photo dating from around 1940. Ferris' wife and two daughters were living on Oahu during the Pearl Harbor attack and were shipped back to the mainland in April 1942. Ruth returned home to Wichita, Kansas to stay with Robert's family and took a job working at the Boeing aircraft factory in Wichita until Robert returned home on June 6, 1944. Robert stayed in the Navy until 1953 having served 25 years: two years with the Army (1927-29) and 23 with the Navy (1929-1953). His first assignment in the Navy had been aboard the Saratoga but when he re-upped his enlistment in 1933, he did so on the condition that he be allowed to transfer to the Submarine Force. He spent the rest of his career in the boats.
(Image courtesy of Jamie Laurie, their granddaughter)

 

    Robert Southard Ferris was born September 9, 1909 in Kansas. He joined the U.S. Army in 1927 and served two years before transferring to the U.S. Navy where he spent 23 years, most of that time aboard submarines. He attended sub school in 1933 and was part of the commissioning crew of the U.S.S. Pompano when it was launched in March 1937. Ferris would stay with the Pompano until January 1943 and when he left, he was the chief of the boat as well as the last remaining member of the commissioning crew. 

    The outbreak of war on December 7, 1941 found Ferris aboard the Pompano en route to Pearl Harbor from Mare Island near San Francisco. While his wife and daughters worried, Ferris and the Pompano sailed for safety at Lahaina but a few weeks later, the Pompano was off on her first war patrol. Ferris would serve through three war patrols on the Pompano, sailing as far east as Formosa and even attempted to enter Tokyo Bay on their third patrol. 

    After the Pompano received new engines during a major overhaul in late 1942, Ferris was assigned to the Fleet Torpedo School at Pearl Harbor and served there for more than a year. He learned later that fall that the Pompano was lost at sea with all hands during its seventh war patrol. He arrived home in Wichita, Kansas on June 6, 1944 and then spent the remainder of the war teaching at the sub school in Groton, Connecticut. Ferris stayed in the Navy until 1953; he went into teaching and eventually moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he died in 1965. 

    Below are words and images from an extraordinary diary that Ferris kept during his three war patrols aboard the Pompano. Interspersed with the text are cartoons that Ferris drew depicting life aboard the submarine as well as additional images, both from Ferris' family and from the U.S. Navy, that provide additional context to his descriptions of life on patrol. 

    I present Robert Ferris' war patrol diaries with a deep thanks to his daughter Betty Lou Nelson who lovingly preserved them, and to his grand daughter Jamie Laurie who remembered my great interest in her grandfather's WWII service. 

First War Patrol: December 18, 1941-January 31, 1942

Commanding Officer: Lieutenant Commander Lewis Smith Parks

Pearl Harbor to Wake Island to Wotje and Maloelap in the Marshall Islands, then return to Pearl Harbor; arrived off Wake Island on January 1, 1942 to gather intelligence, did the same off Bikar Island on January 8, 1942, then inspected other islands in the group. On January 24^th, the Pompano reconnoitered Maloelap then returned to Pearl Harbor.

 

January 15, 1942: In the Marshall Islands at the island of Wotje we picked up a large ship on the sound gear that we had been waiting two days for to come out of the harbor. Picked him up at about 1000 and maneuvered for firing position; fired four torpedoes from the forward tubes and there was no more ship left to see 15 minutes later. He was a 17,000-ton Maru ship. [ship was named the Yawata]

 

January 17, 1942: Picked on a gunboat today about 1600 as he was coming out of the harbor at Wotje. Fired two torpedoes and had one premature explosion. The gunboat came down the torpedo path throwing depth charges; we fired two more fish then went down to 200 feet and listened to ten depth charges explode awfully close. [first employment of the ‘down the throat’ attack by a U.S. submarine]

 

U.S.S. Pompano

Second War Patrol: April 20, 1942-June 18, 1942

Commanding Officer: Lieutenant Commander Lewis Smith Parks

Pearl Harbor to Midway Island to the Formosa Straights, through the Luchu Islands, then return to Midway then Pearl Harbor; boat carried a full load of Mk. 10 torpedoes on this patrol. The Pompano refueled at Midway and entered its patrol area in the sea lanes west of Okinawa in the East China Sea on May 7.

 

May 20, 1942: Sighted a small fishing boat about 200 yards off the port quarter at 0030. Mr. [Slade] Cutter jumped on the .50 caliber [machine gun] and we left him burning. No survivors. [The ship was named the Kotoku Maru and was sunk east of Formosa at 25 degrees 16 minutes North, 122 degrees 41 minutes East.]

 

May 25, 1942: Sighted ship about 0800, dove then surfaced and chased ship from about 0900 till 1430; dived ahead of the ship and waited for him. He was a tanker of between 6-7,000 tons. Sunk him with three torpedoes from forward tubes at 1515. Surfaced to take prisoners but was forced down by planes; also sighted plane during the chase. The ocean was sure covered with wreckage. [The ship was named the Tokyo Maru of 902 gross tons. She was sunk 70 miles west of Naha, Okinawa at 27 degrees 3 minutes North, 127 degrees 3 minutes East.]

 

May 30, 1942: Sighted ship about 1600, ran on the surface to intercept him then dove. When he came in sight, we found out he was a large transport loaded with troops and escorted by a destroyer. Maneuvered for firing position and let go with the two stern tubes. Went down to 330 feet in a hurry and waited for the music; 22 depth charges was the answer. Surfaced about 1900 and watched the can picking up survivors but the moon was too bright to try and tackle him. [The ship was named the Atsuta Maru of 7,983 gross tons; she was sunk east of Okinawa at 26 degrees 7 minutes North, 129 degrees 6 minutes East.]

 

June 3, 1942: Sighted large boat of about 200 tons at 1000 while on dive; made a battle surface and shelled him with the 3” gun and .50 caliber. Took one prisoner and left the boat burning then had to dive as a boat was headed for us from the shore. Guess he picked up the rest of the survivors, but we didn’t wait to see. [this was a small inter-island steamer]

 

June 6, 1942: Sighted large fishing boat of about 500 tons at 0500; maneuvered for position, surfaced, and sank him with the 3” gun. No survivors. Before we could use the 3” we had to blow out a projectile which had stick in the barrel and had to use a special sawed-off charge. Received word of the naval battle at Midway. Changed course from east to northeast to try and intercept the crippled ships returning to Japan.

 

June 13, 1942: Arrived at Midway without seeing any ships. Saw my first sunlight in 55 days.

 

June 18, 1942: Arrived at Pearl Harbor after 61 days at sea and having traveled over 11,000 miles.

 

Three officers aboard the Pompano on their third war patrol: Slade Cutter, David R. Connole, and Thomas P. McGrath. Note the rough condition of the conning tower showing it was sorely in need of a paint job. The way the men are dressed in a reflection of the hot, cramped conditions below decks during the patrol. 

Third War Patrol: July 19, 1942-September 12, 1942

Commanding Officer: Lieutenant Commander Willis Manning Thomas

Pearl Harbor to Midway Island to Nagoya Bay then Tokyo Bay, return to Midway then Pearl Harbor. Arrived in her patrol area off the eastern coast of Japan on August 3, 1942.

 

August 6, 1942: Heard screws on our port bow about 1530; Jap destroyer looking for us, kept us pretty worried for four hours but no depth charges.

 

August 7, 1942: Sighted large ship about 0000; maneuvered for firing position but he saw us, and we had to fire four fish in a hurry and missed. Got out of his way in a hurry as he tried to ram us. Sighted another ship about 0300 but he also saw us; tried to run ahead of him but he got away from us in a rain squall. Sighted by a plane at 1600 and he gave us two bombs.

 

August 9, 1942: Surfaced at 1930 and were sighted by a Jap cruiser; as we were diving, the turned on his search light and opened up with his deck guns. For the next six hours, it was bad. Four destroyers, sampans, and trawlers gave us the works with depth charges. Trawlers and sampans dragged with their grapnel hooks and about two minutes after one would hit the side, down would come the ash cans. Went aground in 290 feet of water and bent the sound gear shaft (really in the dark then); blew up to 150 feet and tried to run out again but went aground again. Tried to back down and rammed the rudder into something astern (sure thought we were goners then). Blew up to the surface and you could have hit the lighthouse with a spud from the stern. No sight of any ships so we really got out of there on all four engines. Went aground at Mikomoto Shinta Light in the mouth of Tokyo Bay. Time down: 20 hours 30 minutes. Greatest depth: 380 feet. Depth charges: 15

 

This cartoon drawn by Ferris depicts the Pompano's struggles after damaging its depth gauge on the bottom on Tokyo Bay evening of August 9-10, 1942. Several thousand miles east on this same night, the U.S. Navy was taking a shellacking at the Battle of Savo Island off the shores of Guadalcanal. 

August 10, 1942: Pretty quiet except from about 1500-1900 when we sighted a destroyer and heard him pinging for us.

 

August 12, 1942: Sighted large merchantman with a destroyer escort around 1145; by 1215, no ships were in sight. Fired two fish. The destroyer saw the first one and started down the torpedo path and didn’t see the second one until it got him.

 

Ferris was an original member of the commissioning crew of the U.S.S. Pompano. When she was launched in 1937, she suffered a complete failure of her engines and spent another year in port before making her shakedown cruise in 1938. Robert Ferris was the last remaining original member of the crew and when he left ship in January 1943, he was given the ship's commissioning plaque. 

August 21, 1942: From the 12^th till today we have been having a sort of rest cure and moving up north of Tokyo. Got caught short this morning in a convoy of merchant ships with a destroyer and sampan escort. We were in less than 100 feet of water so couldn’t do anything except run for deep water.

 

August 22, 1942: What a day. Sighted a Jap merchantman about 0630, fired three fish and missed. Got 18 rounds from his deck gun in return and they were really close. Started out for sea at 200 feet but the Japs were really on the job as we got bombed all day. Came up at 2000. Spotted by a Jap destroyer at 2115 and went down to 380 feet and took 14 depth charges, some of them too close for comfort. He went right over us once but missed his big chance as he was going too fast to spot us. Surfaced at 0430 and put in a half hour battery charge then went down for the day. Score: about 85 bombs, depth charges, and shells. Submerged 38 out of 40 hours.

 

Ferris added a series of cartoons at the end of his war diary capturing a humorous view of life on patrol. Here he recalls an incident when the soundman Neal was knocked out of his seat by a loud noise on the sound gear. The other soundman "Reed" may be G. Russell Reed who was lost with the Pompano in September 1943. 

August 24, 1942: Got a plane on the radar about 2100 eleven miles away. Went down to a hundred feet for an hour then came up, all clear.

 

August 25, 1942: Plane on the radar at 2030 at a distance of twelve miles. Submerged to 90 feet for an hour. Another plane at 0130, distance four to five miles, down another hour. No. 2 periscope is out of commission, so we are using No. 1 which is the short one; it is a bad feeling.

 

By late August, the Pompano was suffering from significant troubles with its No. 1 periscope as Ferris depicts in the above image. 

August 26, 1942: Sighted a plane close aboard by periscope at 0730. Submerged to 130 feet in a hurry.

 

August 28, 1942: Was up on the bridge last night for the first time; helped Mr. McGrath work on the No. 2 periscope. It was cloudy and raining but the fresh air smelled good.

 

Ferris' depiction of the repairs made on No. 1 periscope on the night of August 28, 1942; Ferris and Lieutenants Thomas McGrath and Slade Cutter worked on the periscope helped by another sailor named Farley. 

August 29-30, 1942: Operated two to three miles off the Jap coast but couldn’t do much on account of the rough seas and using only the short periscope. Really fixed No. 2 periscope the other night; its completely flooded now. Heading slowly out of our area tonight.

 

Robert Ferris posed for this photo with the Pompano's commissioning plaque when he returned home in June 1944. His daughter Betty Lou inherited the plaque from her father; upon her passing, her daughter Jamie obtained it and presented the plaque to me in May 2021. 

The U.S.S. Pompano commissioning plaque today. 

September 2, 1942: Completed our 31^st consecutive day of diving, averaging about 16-1/2 hours a day. Put on three main engines (14.3 knots) to leave the coast of Japan.

 

September 3, 1942: First day of running on the surface. Made a dive about 1045 to get away from a plane but only stayed down about half an hour. A mighty swell feeling to be heading home again.

 

September 4, 1942: Sighted large patrol ship of about 1,000 tons about 0530; submerged and started an approach, made a battle surface about 0930 and really had hold of something hot. He was armed with machine guns, 20mm cannon, and Y guns. Fired 97 rounds from the 3” gun; the gun crew was under a constant machine gun fire. Schultz got a scratch on the elbow and Calcaterra was hit in the upper left arm; the bullet followed the bone and lodged in his chest near the throat. He was hit about 1000 and died at 2230. Picked up one Jap prisoner, the only trouble was that he didn’t want to be taken and had to be chased down and hit over the head with a boat paddle to get him aboard. He was in the regular Jap navy. A great many of them were killed when their own depth charges went off. Left about a dozen still swimming around. [The ship was named the Naval Auxiliary 163 of 83 tons and was sunk at 35 degrees 22 minutes North, 151 degrees 40 minutes east. Tucked into the back of the diary is a uniform tag identified as belonging to this prisoner Sadao Nakagawa- Ferris clipped it from Nakagawa's uniform after he was aboard the Pompano.]

 

The captured Japanese prisoner stands sullenly aboard the deck on the Pompano on September 4, 1942. Later, Ferris clipped the sailor's uniform tag and stuffed it into his war diary. The tag identifies the sailor as Sadao Nakagawa. 

This is the uniform tag that Ferris clipped from Nakagawa's uniform. A rough translation of it is as follows: first column on right- his serial number ending in 37133, second column is his name Sadao Nakagawa, third column is issue or enlistment date of December 1940 (Showa 15), fourth column is size (size 2) and manufacture date (March 1940), fifth columns states Yokosuka Naval base as his home port along with a specific assignment that my translator could not figure out. 

September 5, 1942: Buried Calcaterra at sea this morning at 0430 just as it was getting daylight. It was a very nice little ceremony; the captain read from his record, the 23^rd Psalm, and then everyone repeated the Lord’s Prayer. He then went over the side with the colors. A better shipmate you couldn’t ask for.

 

September 8, 1942: Arrived at Midway at 0945; underway at 1400. Saw McLendon today; he’s finally made C.Q.M. [chief quartermaster]. He is spending his two weeks’ rest period at the P.A.A. (gooney bird) Hotel. Found fourteen letters waiting for me when we got in this morning.

 

September 9, 1942: Celebrated my 33^rd birthday today, one day out of Midway bound for Pearl Harbor. Sure some way to celebrate a birthday.

 

September 12, 1942: Arrived at Pearl Harbor at 1030 and what a good feeling; they even had the band out to meet us. Most of the fellows went to the Royal [Hawaiian Hotel] for a little rest. I stayed aboard tonight as I have some work to do early tomorrow. Sure will go ashore tomorrow afternoon though.

 

Pasted into the diary is a ticket stub for the Waikiki Theater for a 3:30 p.m. Sunday show for September 13, 1942. Above it is pasted a return pass for the Royal Hawaiian Hotel for September 13, 1942.

 

September 15, 1942: Left Pearl at 0930 heading for Frisco and home.

 

In an envelope at the back of the diary are items from his trip from Oakland back to Wichita, Kansas including a ticket envelope, his ticket, and a parcel claim. Ferris was staying at the Leamington Hotel Lobby and flew to Wichita aboard Transcontinental & Western Airlines #26 which departed Oakland on September 1942 at 6:58 a.m. and arrived in Wichita at 7:21 p.m. the same day. He sat in seat # 5 during his flight.

Ferris received the above Submarine Combat Insignia card on August 29, 1943 in recognition of the three patrols he took part of as a member of the crew of the Pompano. Within a month of Ferris receiving this card, the Pompano was lost off the coast of Japan with all hands. 

U.S.S. Pompano Memorial Marker in San Diego, California