U.S. SUBMARINES

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 61, 10 September 1945, Page 4

U.S. SUBMARINES

STORY TOLD IN AUCKLAND

I PA. AUCKLAND, September 9. Three 1500-ton American submarines arrived this afternoon from Perth, the Cod, Cabrilla, and Bluefish, which are returning via Panama to an Atlantic Coast port after impressive records in the Pacific war. The senior captain is Lieutenant-Commander Edwin M. Westbrook, jun., of California. The submarines will refuel here, and the length of their stay is indefinite. Lieutenant-Commander W. R. De Loach, jun., of Georgia, is captain of the Cabrilla and Lieutenant-Com-mander G. W. Forbes, jun., of the Bluefish. The submarines, which are 300 ft long, were commissioned in '1943, and have completed seven or eight long patrols, ranging from 45 to 50 days each. Manned by young officers and crews, each has a complement of 88. but they normally carry only 69. Twenty-two large Japanese ships have been sunk by torpedoes from the Cod which, in surface action, also sank 25 junks with its 5-inch guns. On its last wartime patrol the Cod rescued the crew of a Netherlands submarine which had run aground on a reef in the South China Sea. Five warships sunk by the Cod included a cruiser, two destroyers ,a minelayer, and a tank-landing ship. . I "We played pirate with the junks i and put parties on them to see if they carried contraband," said Commander Westbrook, a short, tough, humourless officer, who has served in smaller submarines in the Aleutians. •'Some of our crews were on a junk when Japanese aircraft strafed us," said Commander Westbrook. "We had to dive and leave our men, but they were piebsd up two days later by another submarine." The unusual and difficult feat oi sinking an enemy submarine with »a torpedo was performed by the Bluefish on her last patrol. She has 23 ships to her credit. The gorilla in the insignia of the Cabrilla marked the time when the submarine landed guerrilla troops in enemy-occupied territory. She has sunk a seaplane tender, a converted aircraft-carrier, and two sailing vessels. The Cabrilla also rescued six of the crew of a Liberator forced down two miles off shore. "When the surrender was announced," said Commander Westbrook, "we could not have been further from our present destination —12,000 miles."