Fremantles

Submarines

Fremantles
Submarines
How Allied Submariners and Western Australians
Helped to Win the War in the Pacific

Michael Sturma

Naval Institute Press

Annapolis, Maryland

This book has been brought to publication with the generous assistance
of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest.

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402

2015 by Michael Sturma

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sturma, Michael, 1950Fremantles submarines : how Allied submariners and Western Australians helped win the war in the Pacific / Michael Sturma.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61251-860-2 (alk. paper)
1. World War, 1939-1945Naval operationsSubmarine. 2. World
War, 1939-1945AustraliaFremantle (W.A.) 3. World War, 19391945CampaignsPacific Ocean. 4. Fremantle (W.A.)History, Military. I. Title. II. Title: How Allied submariners and Western Australians
helped win the war in the Pacific.
D780.S77 2015
940.54516dc23
2015014404
Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
Printed in the United States of America.
23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15
First printing

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgmentsix
Introduction1
1.

On the Edge 5

2. Like Heaven16
3. Wilkes20
4. Lockwood27
5.

Torpedoes and Tragedies 37

6. Christie 45
7. Traveling North53
8. Sailors Women60
9.

Hunter and Hunted 65

10. Trouble in Paradise 76

11. War of Attrition 83
12. Support and Supply 93
13. Cruel Months97
14. The British Arrive 105
15. Adjustments and Special Missions 114
16. Battle of Leyte Gulf 120
17. Transitions126
18. Tribulations135
19. Cooperation at Sea 141
20. Wars End149
Epilogue156
Notes163
Bibliography203
Index227

Illustrations
Map
Pacific Theaterx

Photos
American submarines with the USS Pelias9
John Wilkes21
USS Searaven23
Charles A. Lockwood Jr. 30
John Mosby32
Ralph W. Christie 46
USS Puffer71
Crewmen on the USS Cabrilla72
Anthony Miers74
USS Harder85
Alistair Mars111
James Fife Jr. 129
Survivors from the Rakuyo Maru131
USS Athedon139
USS Cavalla142
USS Cabrilla ships party 151
Ernest Zeke Zellmer and Babs Miller 157

Figure
Ships sunk by U.S. submarines based at
Fremantle, 194245123

vii

Acknowledgments

And so you people of the land ere you lay

your heads to dream,
Just pass a fleeting thought for the men
who serve in a submarine.
A. B. Bristowe, A Visit to a Submarine

Over the years I have spared more than a fleeting thought for the men
who served in submarines. In this endeavor I have accumulated a considerable debt, most of all to the submariners who have left oral histories
and personal memoirs. I am also grateful for the assistance of numerous
archivists and colleagues. Sally May, head of the Department of Maritime
History, generously provided access to the recollections of Dutch, British,
and American submariners held by the Western Australian Maritime
Museum. Charles R. Hinman at the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum at
Pearl Harbor has helped guide me through the museums resources over
several visits. I thank George Malcolmson for his help in locating relevant
material at the Royal Submarine Museum in Gosport, England. Thanks
to Caitlin MacNeil for her assistance at the Victorian Archives Centre
(Melbourne). Bob Price assisted by going through a selection of Boat
Books held at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut.
Craig McDonald generously shared information about some World War
II submarine veterans from USS Puffer. Ernest Zeke Zellmer not only
recorded his detailed memories as a submariner but put me in touch with
some of his former crewmates from USS Cavalla. Thanks to Peter Nunan
for sharing ephemera from the papers of Les Cottman.
At Murdoch University, Dr. Ian Chambers has afforded valuable
technical and editorial assistance. Pam Mathews and Yolie Masnada
have assisted in the ordering of research materials. As in the past, my
longtime friend Professor Mike Durey provided a valued sounding board.
My wife, Ying, is a continuous source of support. To all of these people
my heartfelt gratitude.

ix

Pacific Theater

Introduction

he submarine base at Fremantle, Western Australia, evolved from

unpromising circumstances. Faced with the onslaught of the Japanese in World War II, U.S. submariners retreated to Fremantle as
a port of last resort. While the American submarine base at Pearl Harbor
was largely undamaged by the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, the
base in the Philippines with the main contingent of U.S. submarines was
devastated by an attack on December 10. A bomb sank USS Sealion as it
underwent repairs at the Cavite Naval Yard, while the remaining twentyeight American submarines stationed at Manila hurried out to sea in an
attempt to both stem the Japanese invasion and avoid destruction.
With their base lost in the Philippines, the American submariners
moved to the Netherlands East Indies, where for nearly two months
Allied patrols were made from Surabaya and Tjilatjap on the island of
Java. Soon, however, those bases too were overrun by the Japanese. Darwin, on the northern coast of Australia, was briefly considered as an
alternative base, but, apart from the physical limitations of its harbor,
any base there would be within striking distance of Japanese aircraft
operating from recently captured islands to the north. From March 1942
on, Fremantle became Americas main submarine base in the Southwest
Pacific through default. The port had the advantages of a good harbor
and of being outside the range of land-based Japanese aircraft, but it also
had disadvantages; it was far away from the areas where submarines carried out their patrols, and it was difficult to reinforce should the enemy
launch a naval assault.
Despite the ports shortcomings, Fremantle became the most significant Allied submarine base in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. During the
war 127 American submarines made 353 war patrols from Fremantle,
roughly a quarter of all U.S. patrols in the Pacific. Early in the war a
small number of Dutch submarines were sent to Western Australia, and
a total of ten Dutch boats made patrols from Fremantle. From August
1944 Royal Navy submarines established a substantial presence there,
and thirty-one made patrols from Fremantle. Taken together, Fremantle
1

2 Introduction

submarines made a total of 416 war patrols and took a huge toll on enemy
shipping.1
In relating the story of Fremantle submarines during the Second
World War, three major themes emerge: courage, cooperation, and community. Submariners certainly had no monopoly on courage during the
war, but as naval historian Malcolm Murfett observes, Even so, it is
difficult not to see submariners as a special breed of seamen.2 Shared
danger and shared responsibility for the groups survival was a key factor
that contributed to the special status of submariners. Comradeship and
loyalty to the group helps explain the willingness of men to face the hazards of submarine patrols again and again. Some of the most spectacular
submarine patrols of the war were made from Fremantle under the command of such legends as Reuben Whitaker, Walt Griffith, and Sam Dealey. Allied submariners took enormous risks not only sinking enemy ships
but conducting covert operations and rescuing beleaguered comrades
from behind enemy lines. Eight U.S. submarines (Barbel, Bullhead, Flier,
Grayling, Grenadier, Growler, Harder, and Robalo) were lost on patrols
from Fremantle, remaining on eternal patrol, as the sailors phrased it.
Another ten American submarines previously based at Fremantle (Bonefish, Grampus, Grayback, Gudgeon, Pickerel, S-39, Seawolf, Sculpin,
Swordfish, and Trout) subsequently perished on patrols from other bases.
The Dutch submarine O-19 was also lost on patrol from Western Australia, and HMS Porpoise, which carried out missions from Fremantle and
was lost with all hands on a patrol from Trincomalee, became the last
British submarine of the war lost to enemy action.
The courage of submariners may appear self-evident, but the degree
of cooperation between allies is not always so clear. In an early effort
at combined operations, the British general Sir Archibald Wavell was
appointed head of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) command on January 15, 1942. The combined naval forces included a total
of forty submarines: twenty-eight U.S., three British, and nine Dutch.3
British submarine commander William King, however, believed that the
grand name ABDA amounted to damn-all since in practice elements of
the fleet mainly operated independently.4 The first joint action by ABDA
confirmed Kings skepticism, when the Battle of the Java Sea, fought on
February 27, 1942, resulted in the loss of the Dutch cruisers De Ruyter
and Java. Without adequate air cover, common training, shared methods
of fire control, or common codes or flag signals, the Allies were hopelessly
disadvantaged. Given the Dutch-English language barrier, one captain of
an American destroyer described the communications as farcical.5 The

Introduction 3

Japanese Fifth Cruiser Squadron, on the other hand, had trained together
for years.
The light cruiser HMAS Perth and heavy cruiser USS Houston survived the Battle of the Java Sea, but after encountering an enemy landing
force in Sunda Strait a few days later, they again found themselves outnumbered and outgunned by the Japanese. At the Battle of Sunda Strait
Perth was sunk shortly after midnight on March 1, 1942, a particularly
bad omen for Western Australians not only because the ship was named
after their capital city but because many on board had been purposely
recruited from the state. Of the 681 men on Perth, only 218 would survive
the war to return to Australia. USS Houston went down forty minutes
later; less than a third of its crew survived. The British cruiser Exeter was
also lost in the battle when an enemy shell exploded in its boiler room.
The same day, March 1, the ABDA fleet was dissolved; the combined
command established on January 15 had lasted a mere six weeks.6
Despite such spectacular early failures and disappointment with the
ABDA command, the success of the Fremantle base depended largely
on cooperation between allies at many levels. At the national level, collaboration between America and Australia was paramount. Dwight D.
Eisenhower, at the time newly appointed to the War Plans Division of
General George Marshalls staff, initially recommended the primacy of
Australia as a base in the Pacific.7 Once Gen. Douglas MacArthur was
appointed supreme commander in the Southwest Pacific, he developed a
strong personal and working relationship with Australias prime minister,
John Curtin. More locally, the Australians, with no submarines of their
own, supported the base at Fremantle largely through the mobilization of
workers and resources. Militarily, Australian commandos who traveled
on U.S. submarines to be inserted behind enemy lines and later routinely
accompanied war patrols epitomized the trust that developed between
allies at an individual level. Australias minister for external affairs,
H. V. Evatt, concluded in 1945 that seldom, if ever, has history evidenced a better example of military cooperation between a greater power
and a lesser power.8
Cooperation at Fremantle also extended from early in the war to a
small number of Dutch submarines that made patrols under American
operational control. The degree of cross-national support became much
more evident once British submarines began making patrols from Fremantle in August 1944. Despite a suspicion of Royal Navy participation in the
Pacific by some senior U.S. naval staff, most notably Adm. Ernest King, it
is clear that American and British submariners worked well together. Significantly, Anglo-American cooperation between submariners predated

4 Introduction

agreement by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Franklin

Roosevelt at the Octagon summit in September 1944 over participation
of the British Pacific Fleet in the war against Japan.9 While not without
friction, the Allies developed a reciprocity that far outstripped the Axis
powers.
Still within the realm of cooperation, the most striking feature that
emerges from the story of Fremantle submarines is the close bonds of community that developed between Western Australian civilians and Allied
submariners. The submariners initially stationed in Western Australia
had every reason to feel demoralized; continually on the retreat, they had
achieved few successes against the enemy. Quickly, however, Fremantle
gained an enviable reputation as a port of leave for submariners. The hospitality and sense of belonging offered to visiting submariners by Western
Australians far exceeded anything in their previous experience. Among
those submariners assigned to Fremantle during the Second World War,
there was virtual unanimity that the port, along with the nearby city of
Perth, was the best leave center in the Pacific. From the standpoint of
morale, the submarine base at Fremantle was arguably the most successful
military outpost of World War II.