USS Scorpion (SS-278)

The USS "Scorpion" (SS-278), a "Gato"-class submarine, was the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the scorpion, an arachnid having an elongated body and a narrow segmented tail bearing a venomous sting at the tip.

Her keel was laid down by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of Kittery, Maine, on 20 March 1942. She was launched on 20 July 1942 sponsored by Miss Elizabeth T. Monagle, and commissioned on 1 October 1942 with Lieutenant Commander William N. Wylie in command.

Following further yard work and fitting out, "Scorpion" conducted shakedown operations off the southern New England coast during January 1943 and sailed for Panama in late February. In mid-March, she transited the Panama canal, and, on 24 February, she arrived at Pearl Harbor. There, she underwent modifications which included the installation of a bathythermograph, a then new oceanographic instrument to enable her to locate and hide in thermal layers that minimized the effectiveness of SONAR equipment.

On 5 April, "Scorpion" departed Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol, a hunting and mining mission off the east coast of Honshū. On 19 April, she reached the mining area near Nakaminato. During the afternoon, she reconnoitered the coast; and, in the evening, she planted her naval mines; then retired to deep water. On 20 April, she sank her first enemy ship, a 1934-ton converted gunboat. On 21 April, prior to 01:00, she fired on and destroyed her first sampan in surface action, then moved up the coast to observe the fishing grounds, shipping lanes, and coastline of the Shioya Saki area. On the night of 22 April, she destroyed three more sampans with gunfire and continued north, toward Kinkasan To.

With the absence of shipping along the coastal lanes, she moved seaward and, on 27 April, sighted a convoy of four freighters escorted by a destroyer. At 04:59, she fired four torpedoes at the first and largest merchantman; two at the second; then dived and rigged for depth charging. At 05:05, the destroyer dropped her first depth charges. A half-hour later, the Japanese warship broke off her search for "Scorpion" to aid the stricken passenger-cargo ship. While "Scorpion" escaped with slight damage, the 6380-ton merchant vessel sank.

On 28 April, "Scorpion" received orders home. En route on 29 April, she sighted and engaged a 100-ton patrol vessel, which she left burning to the waterline. On the morning of 30 April, she stalked, fired on, and finally torpedoed and sank a 600-ton patrol ship. During the hour and three-quarters fight, however, "Scorpion" received her first casualty. Lieutenant Commander R.M. Raymond, on board as prospective commanding officer, was hit and killed by gunfire.

Soon after the patrol vessel went down, an enemy plane appeared. "Scorpion" submerged; survived the plane's depth charges and continued toward Midway Island and Pearl Harbor, arriving on 8 May.

With a four inch (102 mm) gun in place of her three inch (76 mm) gun, "Scorpion" set out on her second war patrol on 29 May. On 2 June, she refueled at Midway Island and, on 21 June, she arrived off Takara Jima in the Tokara Gunto. For the next week, she searched for targets in that archipelago in an effort to disrupt shipping on the Formosa-Nagasaki routes. On 28 June, she shifted her hunt to the Yellow Sea and, by 30 June, was off the Shantung Peninsula. On 3 July, she sighted a five-freighter convoy with one escort making its way through the eastern waters of that sea. By 09:55, she had sent torpedoes toward the convoy and dived. As the depth charging began, she struck bottom at 25 fathoms (46 m). Two charges exploded close by. Between 10:02 and 10:06, five more shook her hull. Fearing that she was stirring up a mud trail, her screws were stopped and she settled on the bottom at 29 fathoms (53 m). At 10:08, a chain or cable was dragged over her hull. Four minutes later, her hull was scraped a second time. Immediately underway again, she began evasive course changes and escaped further exploding charges. The hunt continued for over an hour; and, at 11:49, "Scorpion" came to periscope depth; spied the destroyer 7,000 yards (6.4 km) off; and cleared the area. Postwar examination of Japanese records show that "Scorpion" scored five hits and sank a 3,890-ton freighter, and a 6,112-ton passenger-cargo ship.

Because of damage received during the depth charging, "Scorpion" retraced her route through Tokara Gunto; underwent a bomber attack east of Akuseki Jima; and continued on to Midway Island. On 26 July, she arrived back at Pearl Harbor; underwent repairs, conducted training exercises, and, on 13 October, departed Pearl Harbor for her third war patrol. After touching at Midway Island on 17 October, she headed for the Mariana Islands, where she reconnoitered Pagan Island and Agrihan Island on 25 October and 26 October, and Farallon de Pajoras on 1 November and 2 November. On the last date, she struck an uncharted pinnacle; but suffering no apparent damage, continued her patrol. On 3 November, she was off Maug; and, two days later, she sighted her first target, a Mogami class cruiser. Squalls interfered, however, and she abandoned the target after a four-hour chase. On 7 November, she was back off Agrihan; and, on 8 November, she closed with a freighter, which turned and gave chase. The freighter was a Q-ship, a warship disguised as a merchantman. Unable to regain the advantage, "Scorpion" retired.

Poor weather continued to plague the submarine's hunting until, on 13 November, she sighted a freighter and a tanker escorted by three warships. Firing her torpedoes, she scored on the oiler, which went dead in the water. One of the escorts dropped depth charges, then rejoined the formation. On 14 November, "Scorpion" patrolled near Rota; and, on 15 November, she watched for targets off Saipan.

For the next week, the submarine continued to work the shipping lanes of the Mariana Islands without success. Heavy seas and squalls continued to shelter enemy traffic. On 22 November, she sighted a transport accompanied by two destroyers and a corvette. She stalked the formation for 16 hours but was unable to fire. A few hours later, low on fuel, she headed home.

Departing Pearl Harbor on 29 December 1943, "Scorpion" stopped at Midway Island to top off with fuel, and left that place on 3 January 1944, to conduct her fourth war patrol. Her assigned area was in the northern East China Sea and Yellow Sea.

On the morning of 5 January, "Scorpion" reported that one of her crew had sustained a fracture of the upper arm and requested a rendezvous with USS|Herring|SS-233|3 which was returning from patrol and was near her. The rendezvous was accomplished on that afternoon but heavy seas prevented the transfer. "Scorpion" reports case under control." "Scorpion" was never seen or heard from again after her departure from that rendezvous. On 16 February 1944, USS|Steelhead|SS-280|3 and "Scorpion" were warned that they were close together, and that an enemy submarine was in the vicinity.

No Japanese information indicates that the loss of the "Scorpion" was the result of enemy anti-submarine tactics. There were, however, several naval mine lines across the entrance to the Yellow Sea. The presence of these mine lines and the "restricted area" bounding them was discovered from captured Japanese Notices to Mariners at a much later date. In the meantime several submarines had made patrols in this area, crossing and recrossing the mine lines without incident, and coming safely home. It is probable that these mine lines were very thin, offering only about a 10 percent threat to submarines at maximum, and steadily decreasing in effectiveness with the passage of time. "Scorpion" was lost soon after these mines were laid, at a time when they were the greatest threat. She could have been an operational casualty, but her area consisted of water shallow enough so that it might be expected that some men would have survived. Since there are no known survivors, the most reasonable assumption is that she hit a mine.

"Scorpion" earned three battle stars for her World War II service.

See USS|Scorpion for other ships of the same name.

References

External links

* [http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-scorpion-278.htm On Eternal Patrol: USS "Scorpion"]