TALKED LITTLE

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXI, Issue 8837, 28 October 1942, Page 1

TALKED LITTLE

THEY GO DOWN TO THE SEA

WORK OF THE SUBMARINES OPERATIONS IN THE PACIFIC Through the streets of Honolulu these days walk a special group of sailors. Many of them have long beards grown during weeks at sea. They tend to be aloof from other sailors, to talk little, to he furtive when questioned about their part in the Pacific War. They arc the submarine sailors (writes John Field in the Magazine Life).

The work of the submarines is among the most secret operations of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Sinister and sombre in their cigarsljaped sleekness, the submarines put out from U.S. bases, disappear in the vast water wastes of the Pacific. They know no friends, only foes. Being virtually indistinguishable from Japanese or German subs., they must even guard against being spotted by U.S. destroyers or patrol planes. To remain hidden, they travel submerged during the day, rise to the surface only at night to charge their battles and look for a few brief minutes at the stars. Only part of their great work of hampering and cutting Jap. supply lines has yet been revealed. But it is known that American submarines have operated in the Java Sea, have penetrated right into Tokyo Bay, have sunk hundreds of thousands of tons of Jap. shipping in the mandated islands. Other Great Task But this is only part of their work. Their other great task is to act as Fleet scouts and information gatherers. For days at a time they lie outside Jap. ports, watch Jap. warships and shipping go in and out. When their reports are correlated, the U.S. has a good idea of the location of many Jap. ships. Recently I talked with Lieut.-Commander Willard A. Saunders, commanding officer of a submarine just returned from enemy waters.

Commander Saunders is neither the nor the least of sub. captains. Medium-built, with dark hair and clean-cut features, he' was slightly pallid from months at sea. His hands were nervous and he smoked cigarettes constantly. He saw nothing unusual in the trip he had just completed. “We did a little work, not too much. Everything was routine. Submarine men do not think their work is dangerous. They have a deep, inner feeling, not always shared by their officers, that everything by Grace of God will turn out all right. They feel this even when ash cans are dropping around them. “Living conditions aboard a sub-

marine are not as bad as most people think. Tha food is good. We carry frozen meats, including turkey

and steak. For breakfast, we have fruit juice, cereal and coffee. Sometimes we even have oranges which is more than they, do in Honolulu. “Then we have shower-baths, with hot and cold running fresh water. Also a Bendix washing-machine. The ship is entirely air-conditioned and the sickness rate is phenomenally low. On this trip we had only one boy get sick, and all he had was tonsillitis. “Of course, when we come to port, sometimes after three months at sea, we are white and dehydrated, weighing 81b. to 201 b. less than when we went out. “On this-trip we had been out a considerable time before we sighted our first victim. It was only a little unloaded freighter and after we had sunk it the men did not stay satisfied very long. They kept saying, ‘By God, I hope the next time we get something worthwhile.’ All of the men like to- hear our fish go off. “ A few days later we got a lucky break We were lying off a Jap.controlled harbour waiting for a Jap ship to turn up. It was early morning and I was below getting breakfast. “ Suddenly the general alarm sounded and I knew we had spotted something. Description of the enemy ship spread through the sub.: ‘She’s big and she’s loaded full.’ ‘“I quickly left breakfast and went up to the conning tower. There I saw that the Jap ship was in excellent position for an attack, “The crew went calmly about the work they had been trained to do. The torpedo personnel was ready. Carefully the torpedoes were aimed and fired. They cut a white wake swishing through the water toward j the doomed Jap ship. “Suddenly they hit. The explosion

was terrific. The debris shot hundreds of yards. In fact, the explosion was so great we figured the ship must have been carrying ammunition. In less than half-an-houd she had disappeared. All this happened in full sight of the enemy harbour. “As the Jap freighter blew up, everybody aboard our ship cheered like mad. It was the same kind of exultation you have when you’ve been fishing for days and suddenly land a giant tuna. One enlisted man rushed up with two boxes of cigars. ' “‘Take one, captain,’ he said; ‘this is greater news than when my baby was born.’ “ A couple of days later we got another kind of excitement. We were still in enemy waters when three small Jap patrol vessels spotted us. I - tried to evade them and dived. At the bottom we lay quiet and waited. For a long time we waited, feeling blind and bewildered, wondering when they would attack. “At last it came—the dull thud and roar of depth charges. They started a long way off, then rolled closer and closer and closer. We could do nothing but sit and wait. Twenty-two such depth charges went off in all, lasting more than two hours. “Through it all I’ll admit I had the jitters. But the crew—you should have seen them. They were perfectly confident that everything would be O.K. They were sure that Jesus Christ or I or somebody would get them out. Some of them were even matching dollars to see which side of the ship the next can would drop .on. “ At length it got dark and I knew we would have a chance to get away. ! So in the darkness I made an’ emerg- ! cncy surface and raced away at full speed. They never found us again.”