Built by: Mare Island Naval Shipyard

USS PAMPANO departs on war patrol
Design: EB 200A
Keel laid: 14 January 1936
Launched: 11 March 1937
Sponsor: Mrs. Isaac 1. Yates
Commissioned: 12 June 1937
First Skipper: Lt. Ralph E. Hanson

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, USS POMPANO was one of the boats en route to Hawaii from San Francisco and so missed the devastation. On 18 December, under command of LCDR L. S. 'Lew' Parks, POMPANO departed Pearl Harbor for an Intel gathering mission - she was to proceed to the Marshall Islands and to investigate the Japanese defenses in that area. Actually, her primary mission was to sink Japanese ships and her secondary mission was to scout out the Japanese defenses.

These were the islands of the Japanese Mandate - the Marshalls, the Marianas and the Carolines, and they had been cloaked in secrecy for twenty years. Now it was time to see what they had. USS POMPANO was ordered to scout out Wake, Ujeland, Ponape, Rongelap and Bikini islands.

Getting close to these islands was tough enough, but first Parks had to have an adapter so he could shoot photographs through the periscope. Parks himself, finally tested the focal point of the lenses of the camera and the periscope and had the adapter ready.

POMPANO almost got sunk on 20 December in American waters! A US Navy CATALINA spotted POMPANO and dropped bombs on her - fortunately missing the submarine. Three dive bombers from the carrier USS ENTERPRISE soon appeared and they too, dropped bombs on the submarine but with much better results than the PBY Some rivets were loosened, and from then on, POMPANO left a trail of oil on the Pacific. But she pressed on in her mission.

One of the things most remembered was seeing the Rising Sun flag flying over the Pan-Am Airways building on Wake Island. They fired four torpedoes at a Japanese minelaying destroyer with horrible results. Two fish detonated prematurely and the other two missed, and the destroyer 'welcomed' them to Wake Island with a series of depth charges. Despite Japanese patrols and constantly leaking oil, POMPANO complete her mission and headed for home.

These recon photos and those from other submarines gave Admiral 'Bull' Halsey the Intel he needed for the carrier attacks against the Japanese facilities in these Mandates. POMPANO proved the old adage that 'Time spent in recon is never wasted.'

It was during the patrol in the Marshall Islands that Parks tried the new and untested 'Down the throat' shot at the minelaying tin can, and although he was not successful, the seeds had been planted for this new kind of submarine attack tactic.

As the US Navy was building up for the Battle of Midway, POMPANO, now under LCDR W. S. Thomas, was headed east after her patrol in Japanese waters. She and other submarines who were also returning from their patrols, were given all available information and told to be on the lookout for Japanese naval units.

On 20 August 1943, POMPANO departed Midway on her seventh, and final, war patrol. Her patrol area was to be the eastern coast of Honshu from her anticipated arrival date of 29 August until she was to depart at sunset on 27 September and head directly for Pearl and a complete refit. The US Navy never heard from her again.

The reason for her loss is not known, although the intense mine fields along the Honshu coast could be greatly suspected. There is also the possibility of an unrecorded attack by Japanese units, but this is not likely. Whatever the cause, USS POMPANO was lost with all hands.

WAR PATROLS of USS POMPANO
WP	From	To	Duration
1	PH Marshalls	PH	44 days (18/12/41 - 31/12/41)
2	PH Empire	PH	59 days (20/4/42 - 18/6/42)
3	PH Empire	MI	50 days (19/7/42 - 8/9/42)
4	PH Marshalls	MI	43 days (16/1/43 - 28/2/43)
5	MI Empire	MI	47 days (19/3/43 - 5/5/43)
6	PH Empire	MI	52 days (6/6/43 - 28/7/43)
7	MI Empire	??	on patrol since 20 August 1943

POMPANO had only two Skippers. They were L. S. Parks for patrols #1 and #2 and W. S. Thomas for patrols #3 onward.

The sinking record of USS PAMPANO will be found further in this issue. She was awarded 7 Battle Stars during her time in the war.

Victories of USS POMPANO

Ships attacked on War Patrol #1 - None.

Ships attacked on War Patrol #2:
TOKYO MARU 902 ton tanker, sunk
ATUSTA MARU 7,983 ton transport, sunk
KOTOKU MARU unknown tonnage, fishing ship

Ships attacked on War Patrol #3:
Unknown 4,000 ton cargo ship, sunk
NANSHIN MARU #27 unknown tonnage, oiler

Ships attacked on War Patrol #4 - None.

Ships attacked on War Patrol #5 - None.

Ships attacked on War Patrol #6:
SAGARA MARU 7,189 ton tender, sunk
Unnamed 100 ton sampan, sunk

Ships attacked on War Patrol #7:
AKAMA MARU 5,600 ton cargo ship, sunk
TAIKO MARU 2,958 ton cargo ship, sunk