Built by: Electric Boat
Design: EB 230A
Keel laid: 1 March 1939
Launched: 27 January 1940
Sponsor: Mrs. R. S. Edwards
Commissioned: 3 July 1940
Decommissioned: 10 December 1945
First Skipper: Lt. Joseph H. Willingham

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, TAUTOG was one of the five American submarines in port for refit and the crew had liberty ashore. These boats had been going through extensive exercises and patrols. TAUTOG herself, along with THRESHER, had been out since 21 October, simulating a real war patrol and so, both carried full torpedo loads. They had been operating off Midway for these exercises. Her men were bone tired and her gear in need of refit on that fateful morning.

Lt. W. B. Sieglaff, duty officer aboard TAUTOG that morning, was impressed with the realism of the “drill” going on with seemingly real explosions that Sunday morning. Then he, like everyone else, realized that this was no drill and those planes meant business!

GENERAL QUARTERS was sounded throughout TAUTOG as her crew poured up from below to man the AA guns. As her three inch gun and the 20mm guns opened up, nearby NARWHAL joined in with her guns. As a Japanese torpedo plane came over Merry Point, the guns of TAUTOG, NARWHAL and a nearby destroyer blasted it out of the sky in a ball of fire. This was the first American combat success in World War II.

Now the long days of submerged patrol time came back to haunt TAUTOG. Her three inch gun froze and would not elevate, and so was no longer of any use. Gunner’s Mates worked to free her while other crewmen opened up with an improvised .50 cal machine gun and as onlookers watched, the tracers from this machine gun ran stitches along the fuselage of another Japanese plane, which began to smoke, then plunged into the water. This was the first Japanese aircraft destroyed single-handedly by an American submarine in the war. TAUTOG was letting all know that she was in this fight, and in a big way.

Shortly after Christmas, TAUTOG, still under command of her first Skipper J. H. Willingham, now a Lt. Cdr., departed for the Marshall Islands. She followed USS POMPANO and USS DOLPHIN. One day they fired at a ship entering a lagoon, which brought a swift response from a Japanese destroyer. No real damage to the boat.

While in the Marshalls, TAUTOG spotted two Japanese submarines proceeding slowly on the surface, possibly talking to one another with their megaphones, and Willingham maneuvered TAUGOG in for an attack. It was not to be, as she was spotted and both subs quickly dived and escaped.

On 26 April 1942 during her second patrol, the Officer of the Deck spotted a flash on the water. Was it a flying fish? No, it was the tip of a Japanese periscope breaking the water dead ahead. They went hard over with the rudder, presented their stern to the target, and fired one torpedo. Quickly there was a huge explosion and a geyser of water – and no more periscope.

After sinking the Japanese submarine, Willingham thought there may be others in the area, so he moved off for safety. When he saw there were no other Japanese submarines in the area, he came to the surface and called for air backup. The plane confirmed a large oil slick and debris field where the target had been. Ro-30 was listed as sunk by USS TAUTOG.

On 16 May, they spotted a large freighter near a tiny island, and fired two. One torpedo hit and the ship was ablaze, but the Japanese Skipper wasn’t going to lose his ship that easily and at full speed, he ran his blazing ship aground on the beach.

After moving off and riding out a heavy squall in which they saw many Japanese ships but were unable to launch an attack, but when the storm cleared he spotted another Japanese submarine off their bow. TAUTOG headed for this boat at speed on the surface and fired two torpedoes at it. The first missed, but Willingham heard a hit with the second torpedo – no confirmation.

Not two hours later, TAUTOG spotted yet another Japanese sub and fired three torpedoes. Two huge explosions marked the end of I.J.N. submarine I-28.

By October of 1942, the American submarines were facing a shortage of torpedoes, so to make good use of the time, many boats including TAUTOG, were used as minelayers. She placed her minefield at Cape Padaran, French Indo-China on 2 November. On 25 February 1943, the submarine USS BECUNA spotted a Japanese tanker in flames right at this minefield.

The anticipated charges never came, and soon TAUTOG was on the surface and her radar picked up the convoy again at 10,000 yards. They were running a bit faster, still zigzagging. There were only three torpedoes left in the forward torpedo room, seven in the after room. They rapidly closed the convoy’s starboard flank.

At 2,700 yards, Sieglaff fired the three bow torpedoes, then swung the submarine around hard right. When the stern tubes were bearing, they were fired at a range of 2,850 yards. Explosions were heard, and sinkings were certain. The escort again came after TAUTOG, but she remained on the surface and at 17 knots, was putting a lot of ocean between herself and the remains of the convoy. Many depth charges were heard far astern, but the only victims were countless fish – as well as the freighter NICHIREN MARU and the destroyer SHIRAKUMO.

In the final year of the war, TAUTOG still wasn’t finished and on 17 January 1945, she sank a small torpedoboat tender.

Sinkings by USS TAUTOG
Under J. H. Willingham
25.04.42	Ro-30	submarine	965 GRT
17.05.42	I-28	submarine	2,212 GRT
25.05.42	SHOKA MARU	freighter	4,467 GRT
06.08.42	OHIO MARU	passenger	5,872 GRT
27.10.42	unknown	passenger	4,000 GRT
Under W. B. Sieglaff
25.12.42	BANSHU MARU #2	freighter	1,000 GRT
22.01.43	HASSHU MARU	passenger	1,873 GRT
09.04.43	ISONAMI	destroyer	1,950 GRT
09.04.43	PENANG MARU	freighter	5,214 GRT
06.06.43	SHINEI MARU	freighter	973 GRT
20.06.43	MEITEN MARU	freighter	4,174 GRT
04.11.43	Sub Chaser #30	sub chaser	100 GRT
03.01.44	SAISHU MARU	freighter	2,082 GRT
04.01.44	USA MARU	freighter	3,943 GRT
13.03.44	RYUA MARU	freighter	1,925 GRT
13.03.44	SHOJIN MARU	freighter	1,942 GRT
16.03.44	SHIRAKUMO	destroyer	1,950 GRT
16.03.44	NICHIREN MARU	passenger	5,460 GRT
Under T. S. Baskett
02.05.44	RYOYO MARU	passenger	5,973 GRT
03.05.44	FUSHIMI MARU	passenger	4,935 GRT
08.05.44	MIYAZAKI MARU	passenger	3,944 GRT
12.05.44	BANEI MARU #2	freighter	1,186 GRT
08.07.44	MATSU MARU	freighter	887 GRT
02.08.44	KONEI MARU	freighter	1,922 GRT
17.01.45	Transport #15	landing craft	1,500 GRT
20.01.45	SHURI MARU	MTB tender	1,857 GRT

USS TAUTOG earned 14 Battle Stars and sank more ships than any other American submarine. After her last patrol, she was used for training and experimental work. Used as a reserve training vessel in Milwaukee, WI 1947-1951. Stricken from the Navy List 1 September 1959. 7 January 1960, sold to Bultema Dock & Dredge for $45,107 to be broken up for scrap.

When TAUTOG fought back the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Lt. ‘Barney, Sieglaff was the duty officer. Now, Christmas Eve of 1942, only a year later, he was Lt. Cdr. and in command of TAUTOG in the area of the Dutch East Indies. He spotted a ship heading towards the port of Dili and TAUTOG took up the chase. The strait got narrower and there was a chance of being spotted from shore, but they kept after the ship surfaced and full speed. In a twist of fate, the new surface search radar that was installed just recently – failed! They had to dive to evade a plane, but were back up and on the hunt within the hour.

It was pitch dark and Sieglaff dived the boat in attack position, but it was impossible to see the ship against the mountains and both the freighter and her escort were blacked out. But in a strange twist of fate, Sieglaff saw a faint light ahead – the freighter was flashing a signal message to her escort!

He put on full speed ahead to intercept the freighter and at 3,000 yards, sound bearings were coming in. Finally they could see their quarry – a single stack freighter. With a quick ‘ping’ from Sound, they plotted their target at just 1,900 yards and three torpedoes set out from TAUTOG, headed straight for BANSHU MARU #2. Two hit, and the freighter went down.

TAUTOG was in a narrow strait and had to break for the open sea. Some explosions and ‘pinging’ left no doubt that the escort was looking to payback the American submarine. Westward they ran and after ten hours, Sound confirmed that there was no pursuit any longer. It was Christmas Day.

As dusk, Sieglaff brought TAUTOG rounded Alors Island, passed Ombai Strait and into Alors Strait to the east of Dili. Even though this port was in the Portuguese part of Timor, he was sure that he’d find Japanese shipping at anchor there. He didn’t have long to wait as a faint silhouette was spotted headed west in the Alors Strait the following night. It was an easy target – or was it?

While this strange-looking little freighter was being watched through the periscope on TAUTOG, her escort which appeared to be a PC or similar, dashed astern of the freighter. They made a turn and headed right at the submarine. TAUTOG dived to set up a torpedo attack, but they were being ‘pinged’ by the PC. They had stumbled into an anti-submarine trap. The dumpy little freighter was actually an ASW vessel, loaded with guns and various other ASW technology for hunting American submarines.

The Japanese sub-hunters misjudged the range to TAUTOG, and the boat went deep to take advantage of a 5º temperature gradient. They silently listened, and the Japanese ASW team passed astern. Sieglaff moved TAUTOG slowly away from the ‘hot’ area and an hour after midnight, he brought his boat to the surface. It was a cloudy night with rain showers – but no Japanese ASW in the area.

In early January, shortly after the brush with the Japanese ASW craft, TAUTOG spotted a sail and headed over to investigate. In those waters, too many small sailing luggers carried radios and even worse – some had guns aboard. All the machine guns were manned as TAUTOG came near, and using hand signals, Sieglaff ordered the boat to lower their sail and steer near the submarine.

As the little craft complied, they also sent a Japanese flag to the top of their mast! Rather than being quick on the trigger, Sieglaff took a look at the scene below him. He fully intended to take the people aboard the submarine, sink the sailing lugger, then put them ashore in a safe place. He ordered them aboard.

Then they discovered, in addition to the dozen men, there were four women, some babied and an infant only a month old. A live rooster was tied to the bowsprit while chickens and goats roamed the boat. Sieglaff ordered the man back aboard their boat and while keeping the boat’s ‘papers’ for possible use by USN Intelligence, he sent them on their way after determining it was merely a seagoing home for an extended family. He couldn’t bring himself to harm them.

Four days later, Sound picked up heavy screws and about 3,000 yards away, they spotted a NATORI Class cruiser. TAUTOG had nine feet of periscope exposed, due to heavy seas. They quickly fired and in two minutes, they heard a detonation. Immediately, the cruiser stopped dead in the water. Then she regained headway and turned to port, moving off at reduced speed.

Two more torpedoes were fired, twenty five seconds apart. A few seconds more than two minutes later, another detonation was heard but the cruiser continued to move away – but now, only on two of her four screws and with her speed reduced to about ten knots. It didn’t take long before Sound picked up more detonations, possibly depth charges at a distance. Sieglaff also knew that this Class of cruiser carried a floatplane and he didn’t want to be running on the surface if it came looking for him.

While running at 80 feet, they had the time to do a torpedo check and a reload. Sound kept tabs on the cruiser and even though she could not be located later, TAUTOG was credited with a definitely damaged Japanese cruiser.

A few more days passed, and they spotted a freighter on 22 January and in a submerged torpedo attack, scored two hits on a freighter carrying drums of aviation gasoline. She went down quickly.

On the very next morning, they spotted another NATORI Class cruiser and an escort headed in their direction. The sun was bright, the sea glass-smooth and the cruiser had her scout plane up. They didn’t dare to keep the ‘scope up very long, or they would have been easily spotted. The pair or warships moved faster than anticipated and quickly passed TAUTOG and the ideal firing position was missed, but they were going to try it anyway.

The torpedo wakes alerted the Japanese gunners on the cruiser, and they opened up at the torpedoes. The plane spotted the sub, so they pulled the plug and headed deep. After what amounted to a half-hearted effort, the ships moved away, leaving TAUTOG alone.

All torpedoes expended and observing a clear horizon, TAUTOG surfaced and set her course for Fremantle. And not more than five hours later, she ran into a submariner’s dream – a large task force with an aircraft carrier, headed right at them…..but TAUTOG had no more torpedoes!

That didn’t matter to the Japanese destroyers that picked up the American submarine, and headed right at her with flank speed. For the first time on this patrol, they found no temperature gradients in the water under which to hide. For ninety minutes, the Japanese tin cans pounded TAUTOG but after another ninety minutes, she gained the open sea and departed the area.

9 April 1943, TAUTOG chased down and sank the Japanese destroyer ISONAMI off Boston Island in the Celebes with three torpedoes and soon after, sank the freighter PENANG MARU.

EDITOR NOTE – USS TAUTOG was the highest scoring American submarine of World War II, sinking 26 ships.

Submarines performed a number of functions in addition to attacking Japanese ships, and on 25 May 1943, TAUTOG landed two Mohammedan agents on Kabaena Island.

In June, TAUTOG sank the freighter MEITEN MARU.

30 October 1943, TAUTOG bombards Fais Island.

3 January 1944, TAUTOG sank two Japanese freighters and a day later, sank two more. She was rolling up a score.

13 March, she added two more Japanese freighters to her tally.

16 March, TAUTOG was running surfaced, charging her low batteries. At 1843, she made a radar contact with a slow moving target at some 19,000 yards. They closed and still had time to put a charge on the batteries. The lookouts scanned through a cold haze for sight of the target. With her small silhouette, a favorite technique of OTTO KRETSCHMER (122-+-1985) and learned by most submarine Skippers, TAUTOG moved steadily forward in the direction her radar indicated. It was apparent that the Japanese ships were not using radar. It soon became apparent that this was a seven ship convoy with at least one escort.

With their slow speed of 9 knots and on a zigzag course, TAUTOG had ample time to pick and choose her target and her attack. Making use of the ‘radar-visual’ night attack, she selected a ship on the starboard flank of the convoy. At 3,000 yards, lookouts got a visual sighting. As they closed to 1,500 yards, they spotted a second ship in line with the first, and they set up the shot.

Four torpedoes were fired – the first hit and blew her target to bits. Immediately, the escort turned and raced for TAUTOG, which went down rapidly. Two more explosions were heard in the sub, and they were certain that the second ship was hit. Aboard the submarine, they readied themselves for the depth charges they knew would be coming momentarily.