Marcus Island & WW2 – Third US Carrier Attack of 19 -20 May 1944

8 Apr 1944 – The USS STURGEON (SS-187), a Salmon class US Navy fleet submarine left Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on her tenth war patrol. Her assigned patrol area would be the Bonin Islands.

10 Apr 1944 – The US Navy submarine arrived at Johnston Island for fueling before her planned patrol in the Bonin Islands.

18 Apr 1944 – As they were proceeding to their war patrol area, about 1564 miles east of MARCUS ISLAND, the USS STURGEON sights the mast of a small trawler. They went to Battle Stations Surface and proceeded to close on the ship to attack it. Soon they discovered it had already been attacked , appeared to be abandoned, and was sinking. They then sighted a small rowboat a mile north of the wreck where they found two Japanese aboard. They were taken aboard the submarine under guard. One prisoner said there were four more men aboard the sinking trawler. The submarine had two men swim over to the sinking ship and explore it. It was half under water with swells breaking over the deck house so much of the ship could not be searched. They did find a heavy caliber machine gun which they brought back to the USS STURGEON. The USS STURGEON then turned around and proceeded to Midway to offload their prisoners and for engine repairs.

22 Apr 1944 – Moored at Submarine Base , Midway. They delivered the two Japanese prisoners and the one machine gun to the Commandant, Naval Operating Base, Midway.

26 Apr 1944 – The USS STURGEON, with their repaired oil seals and brush rigging on #2, 3 and 4 main engines, got underway to proceed to their war patrol area off the BONIN ISLANDS.

10 May 1944 – After arriving in their assigned war patrol area of the BONIN ISLANDS on 5 May 1944, the USS STURGEON finally sighted a convoy heading to the northwest about 10 miles off of the northern BONIN ISLAND of MUKO ISLAND. The convoy consisted of three medium sized freighters , two small coasters, and two escorts. At 1122 I they fired four bow torpedoes at one of the freighters and subsequently heard three muffled explosions. They were forced deep by the escorts and depth charges. The depth charging continued for about an hour and half but they were able to surface 1603 I.

11 May 1944 – After several close calls with enemy aircraft and several emergency dives as they followed the convoy, they were able to catch up with the convoy. At 0230I they dived and commenced their attack approach underwater. At 0334 I four torpedoes were fired from the stern tubes at a 5,700 ton freighter at about 800 yards range. They heard three explosions and in 2 minutes the target had completely disappeared from their periscope view. They immediately swung right and fired four more torpedoes at a 4,000 ton freighter, range 600 yards. By this time the trailing Japanese escorts closed to the area rapidly and began depth charging the USS STURGEON. The sub went deep and waited out the depth charge attack. The depth charging lasted only about 10 minutes but one “lifted us off our feet”. They departed the area quickly and were able to surface at 0803 I. Nothing in sight.

14 May 1944 – At 2145 India, the USS STURGEON received ComSubPac Serial Two and their orders to set course for a special job. (Lifeguard station off Marcus Island for the scheduled carrier attacks)

15 May 1944 – Task Group 58.6 got underway at 0745 from Majuro Island for a planned two day airstrike on Marcus Island (Minami Torishima). Under the command of RAdm AE MONTGOMERY aboard the USS ESSEX, one of three carriers dedicated for the mission. The other two carriers were the USS WASP and USS SAN JACINTO. Additional ships included the 4 cruisers USS BALTIMORE, CANBERRA, SAN DIEGO, and RENO; the 8 destroyers USS OWEN, MILLER, THE SULLIVANS, STEPHEN POTTER, TINGEY, HICKOX, HUNT, and LEWIS HANCOCK; and the 4 destroyer escorts USS MARSHALL, BRADFORD, BROWN, and COWELL. A much larger force than the single carrier attack of March 1942 with two cruisers escorting it.

The USS SAN JACINTO launched a four ship TBM anti-submarine patrol at 1258 to cover the task force. Three recovered at 1603 but the fourth one was never heard from again. It had disappeared from the ship’s radar screen at 1500 heading 190 degrees but disappeared for some unknown reason. Search planes from Majuro Island conducted a search with negative results.

17 May 1944 – At 1700, the Task Force was joined by additional ships, the 2 fleet oilers USS SCHUYLKILL and SARANAC; and their 3 escorts, Destroyer Escorts USS GREINER, LOVERING, and STEELE. A replacement TBM landed on the SAN JANCINTO from the ESSEX.

18 May 1944 – As the task force prepared for tomorrow’s attack on Marcus Island, the entire group refueled from the two fleet oilers approximately 450 miles southeast of Marcus Island. The fueling was completed at 1345 L and the USS SCHUYLKILL, SARANAC, GREINER, LOVERING, and STEELE LEFT the task force and retired to the south.

At 1724, the carrier USS SAN JACINTO with the USS SAN DIEGO, HUNT, HICKOX, LEWIS HANCOCK, and MARSHALL left the Task Group enroute to a point 400 miles north of Marcus Island to search for and destroy enemy picket surface ships. They became Task Unit 58.6.4 under R Admiral LJ WILTSE in the USS SAN DIEGO.

The carrier striking group made its run-in at 20 knots to the initial launching point 110 miles southeast of Marcus Island.

19-20 May 1944 – Planes from a three-carrier task force (USS WASP, ESSEXX,SAN JACINTO) under the command of Rear Admiral A. E. Montgomery hit Marcus with a predawn fighter sweep and strafed and bombed the island for two consecutive days.

19 May 1944 – A flight of four night fighters launched at 0500 from the USS WASP on an intruder mission over Marcus Island. The ESSEX cancelled its flight of night fighters.

Initial launch of each carrier’s attack force was at 0800L

20 May 1944 – The US Navy submarine USS STURGEON arrives on Lifeguard station thirty miles southwest of Marcus Island at 0400 Kilo time.

0452 (K) – The USS STURGEON makes their first SD radar (Airborne) contact coming in fast so they dove as they were unidentified aircraft. They surfaced at 0639 but were again forced to dive four minutes later as they sighted two planes coming in out of the sun which they identified as Japanese VALS s they appeared to have landing gear rigged out. At 0807 Kilo they surfaced again and continued toward Marcus Island. Five minutes later they sighted two F6F HELLCATS with belly tanks. They thought that maybe they had mistaken the belly tanks for landing gear on the previous VAL sighting. The two fighters were assumed to be their fighter escort as they began to circle the surfaced submarine. No radio contact could be established between the sub and aircraft so the sub attempted to communicated with them by flashing light. The aircraft appeared to have received the subs Morse code message but did not reply. By Morse code light signals, the USS STURGEON asked the two HELLCATS to circle to the left if any planes went down and then to lead the sub to the downed aviators. A short time later, the two F4F escorts changed their circling to the left then proceeded east.

0939 (K) The USS STURGEON lifeguard submarine makes radar contact with MARCUS ISLAND bearing 035T at a distance of nine miles. The island was completely obscured in rain squalls. The sub continued to follow the fighters and began circling the island 8 miles out.

1030 (K) – The submarine USS STURGEON continues its patrol around Marcus Island, staying out of the coastal guns range. They come out of a rain squall and can now see the island clearly. All of the airplanes have left, including her two escorts. Sea is flat calm, no whitecaps, and conditions ideal for hunting downed aviators. They continue circling the island on the surface at max speed. Still no radio contact.

Meanwhile, to the north of Marcus Island, the carrier USS SAN JANCINTO and Task Unit 58.6.4 continued its search for Japanese picket ships. At 0728L a TBM of VT-9 and a F6F of VF-9 found and attacked an enemy trawler 475 miles north of Marcus Island. They dropped their bombs and strafed it with machine gun fire. No direct bomb hits were obtained but the target was well covered with machine gun fire. The Japanese trawler was left dead in the water and down by the stearn, with a 1/4 miles oil slick and debris behind it. No personnel were visible on the boat. At 0810, the ship was again attacked by a different TBM and F6F. They left the ship further down by the stern but still afloat. All other search sectors reported negative contacts.

1114 (K) – The submarine USS STURGEON makes radar contact with bogeys at 30 miles, heading toward Marcus Island. Shortly thereafter, another air attack commences. Diving planes, antiaircraft burst, bomb blasts all over the island. At one time the entire island is completely smothered by smoke and dust, but the AAA fire continues undiminished. After the planes left, explosions and fires continued on Marcus Island for some time.

1153 (K) – The USS STURGEON sights two men in a rubber raft five miles from the northwest corner of Marcus Island. At the same time, received the first radio report giving bearing. As the USS STURGEON maneuvered to pick up the two men, Anti aircraft guns on Marcus Island opened fire on them. The bursts were over about 300 yards and the men on the conning tower heard them whistling over them.

1204 (K) – As the two aviators came aboard, a lookout reported two planes taking off from Marcus Island. The USS STURGEON immediately turned away from the island and submerged. As they went under, they heard shrapnel or bullets hitting the water around them. The two aviators, of VB 15, Ensign Altus WOODS and ARM2C Archie MCPHERSON, Jr. were very happy to join the sub crew.

1207 (K) – The sub noted three distant water explosions and immediately thought enemy planes had come after them. However, none were seen and they decided the explosions were from our planes and anti aircraft fire.

1349 (K) – The Lifeguard sub surfaced again and continued around the island at full speed at 8 miles distance from Marcus Island.

1421 (K) – Fighter escort turned up again and began circling the USS STURGEON. Nine minutes later, another attack began on Marcus Island by the planes of the two carriers USS ESSEX and USS WASP. The Navy planes were coming out of their attack very close to the surfaced submarine, west of the island. They saw none in trouble but several jettisoned their bombs in the subs vicinity. But, the explosions may have been shell fire from Marcus Island.

1527 (K) – The USS STURGEON receives a message reporting a pilot is down, 12 miles east of Marcus Island. They immediately set course toward to downed pilot at max speed. Their 2 F6F escorts are still with them and remained with them until near sunset. Rain squalls were noted heavy to the east of the island. On the way to the east of of Marcus Island, they received messages reporting three rubber boats, one 12 miles east, one four miles northeast, and one twelve miles northeast of Marcus Island.

1639(K) – Reached the area 12 miles east of Marcus Island, with the visibility very low due to rain squalls. After 15 minutes of searching, they headed toward the raft 4 miles from Marcus Island as they thought they would have a better chance before dark.

1743 (K) – The sub sighted the life raft. They stated the visibility was still very poor because of the rain squalls, and that they would have never found the raft without the help of the two planes escorting them. Five minutes later, they picked up ARM2C Eastwood Howard Boardman of VT-14. There was some firing from Marcus during the pickup, but the escort airplanes appeared to be drawing it away from the sub. The submarine USS STURGEON then sailed to a point 12 miles northeast from Marcus Island to search for the other aviator. Nothing was sighted so they commenced patrolling on a line 12 miles out from the north to the east.

21 May 1943 – The USS SAN JACINTO and her group rejoined Task Force 58.6 at 0830 as they were underway to strike WAKE Island.