World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

ww2dbaseThe Gato-class submarine Tinosa was laid down on 21 Feb 1942 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, United States. The boat was launched on 7 Oct 1942 sponsored by Mrs. Katharine Malloy, wife of Captain William Molloy. She was commissioned 15 Jan 1943 with the very capable Lieutenant Commander Lawrence Randall "Dan" Daspit in command.

ww2dbaseAfter preliminary operations, the submarine proceeded to Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 16 Apr 1943. On 3 May 1943, Tinosa left on her first war patrol southeast of Japan at the approaches to the Bungo Channel, the entrance into Japan's Inland Sea. She damaged three Japanese merchant ships and sustained some minor depth-charge damage herself before returning to Midway 19 Jun 1943.

ww2dbaseTinosa's second war patrol took her to the Japanese shipping lanes south of Guam where she endured what may be the most frustrating event in the entire United States World War II submarine experience. Commander Daspit received top-secret codebreaking intercepts alerting him that Japanese tanker Tonan Maru No. 3 would be transiting through Tinosa's patrol area. Tonan Maru was built in 1938 as a whaling factory ship but was converted to an oil tanker in 1942. At 42,000-tons fully loaded, she was the largest tanker the Japanese had during the war and would make quite a prize for any submarine commander. On 24 Jul 1943 at dawn, Tinosa spotted the Tonan Maru and fired four torpedoes. Two of them hit the ship but did not explode. Two more torpedoes were fired that hit the ship near the engine room. Both torpedoes exploded and Tonan Maru went dead in the water. The ship settled by the stern slightly but showed no signs of sinking. Daspit set up for a broadside torpedo shot to finish off the stricken ship. A seventh torpedo was fired that was seen to hit the ship but did not explode. An eighth torpedo was fired that was both seen and heard to hit the ship but did not explode. A ninth torpedo hit the vessel but did not explode. Daspit moved Tinosa around the ship checking for nets or any other torpedo countermeasures but observed none. A tenth torpedo was fired that clearly hit the ship but did not explode. Daspit fired an eleventh torpedo and described the results in his patrol report this way, "This torpedo hit well aft on the port side, made a splash at the side of the ship, and was then observed to have taken a right turn and to jump clear of the water about one hundred feet from the stern of the tanker. I find it hard to convince myself that I saw this." Daspit decided he would fire as many torpedoes as it took to sink this large ship except that he would save one for analysis back the base. He then fired four more torpedoes, one at a time, and all of them hit the ship but did not explode. By this time, a destroyer had arrived and began an attack on Tinosa that the submarine evaded.

ww2dbaseLtCdr Daspit had fired a total fifteen torpedoes at Tonan Maru. Two may have missed but more likely hit without exploding. Two exploded as designed. Eleven torpedoes were fired at point-blank range from a textbook firing position that were confirmed to have hit the ship but failed to explode. In the end, Tonan Maru made necessary repairs and Daspit had to watch through his periscope as the biggest tanker in the Japanese fleet continued on her way. Tinosa set a course for Hawaii.

ww2dbaseTinosa arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 Aug 1943 and LtCdr Daspit went straight to the overall submarine commander, Rear Admiral Charles Lockwood. Years later, Lockwood would write in his book that during Daspit's description of the failed attack, the submarine commander was almost speechless with rage. The Navy's response to the defects of the Mark XIV torpedo is a story in and of itself that had nothing more to do with Tinosa; but suffice it to say, the manner of the Navy's response was not their finest moment. Following Tinosa's experience and similar reports from almost every other submarine commander, the Mark XIV was ultimately found to have not only one fatal design flaw but three, one in each of its critical components. Bureaucratic infighting delayed substantive analysis or improvements and the United States Navy did not have a reliable torpedo for their submarines until Oct 1943, when the war was half over. Most ironically for LtCdr Daspit, once the problem was identified it turned out the contact exploders had a defect that made them prone to fail in broadside attacks, like the failures seen against Tonan Maru, but the exploders performed better in oblique attacks, like the two that actually did explode against Tonan Maru. This ran contrary to everything submarine commanders had been taught about the "perfect" set up for a torpedo attack.

ww2dbaseMeanwhile, Tinosa received a thorough tender refit at Pearl Harbor and Daspit received a promotion to full Commander. Tinosa set out on her third war patrol to waters south of Guam, but still armed with the Mark XIV torpedo for there was nothing else. Tinosa made two torpedo attacks with one ship sunk and one damaged. Tinosa shelled a radio station with an antenna tower on Alet Island 180 miles west of Truk. For his performance on this patrol, Cdr Daspit was awarded the Navy Cross.

ww2dbaseTinosa sailed on her fourth war patrol back to the same area south of Guam. She sank four ships and possibly a fifth. During one attack, a torpedo failed to run from one of the stern tubes and the outer doors would not close. Before she could withdraw and make an inspection, Tinosa withstood a barrage of 34 depth charges, some of them quite close. Just after dark, Tinosa surfaced and came to a stop. Two officers volunteered to go over the side to make the examination and found one torpedo stuck in the tube but half ejected. A wedge was place in the impeller of the arming wheel and the swimmers returned aboard. Tinosa reversed at about eight knots and fired that tube again. The torpedo left the tube and sank.

ww2dbaseTinosa was drydocked at Fremantle, Australia for repairs and also had a routine change of command: Commander Donald Weiss relieved Commander Daspit. Tinosa boarded a group from Australia's Special Force Z as part of Operation Python II along with 5,000 pounds of their stores and equipment. The submarine then departed on her fifth war patrol bound for the South China Sea. On the northeast coast of Borneo near Labian Point, Tinosa surfaced at sunset off Turtle Beach and prepared to disembark the Force Z commandos. The members of Python I had been inserted into the same area three months earlier to set up a coast-watching operation and those men paddled out to meet the newcomers. After living in the jungle for three months, the coast-watchers spent two hours aboard Tinosa enjoying steak and ice cream while Tinosa's crew readied their supplies for transfer to the beach. The transfer took all night but just as the darkness began to lift, Tinosa shoved off to resume her patrol where she sank four ships and damaged another. Commander Weiss was awarded the Navy Cross for his performance on this patrol.

ww2dbaseTinosa was drydocked at Pearl Harbor and received many repairs and improvements, including replacing her 3-inch deck gun with a 4-inch gun. She left on her sixth war patrol in company with submarines USS Parche and Bang as a three-submarine wolfpack operating between Okinawa and Taiwan. Tinosa sank two ships and damaged another two before expending all of her torpedoes and withdrawing to Majuro Lagoon. For their performance on this patrol, Commander Weiss received his second Navy Cross and assistant approach officer Lieutenant Commander James Hunnicutt received the Silver Star. For Tinosa's performance on her last three patrols combined, she received the Presidential Unit Citation.

ww2dbaseTinosa departed Majuro for her seventh war patrol to the East China Sea. Part of her duties included lifeguard duty for the many B-29 Superfortress raids being made on Japan. Tinosa operated briefly with submarines USS Tang and Sealion before resuming her independent patrol. Tinosa sank four Japanese ships on this patrol. While heading for Midway, Tinosa came across a life raft containing the body of United States Navy aircrewman Jack Henry W. Cooper about 200 miles northeast of Chichi Jima. Tinosa prepared the airman for burial and committed his body to the deep.

ww2dbaseAfter short stops at Midway and Pearl Harbor, Tinosa sailed for San Francisco, California and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for an extensive overhaul. Again, her deck gun was upgraded, this time to a 5-inch/25 gun. She also got FM sonar designed specifically to pick up submerged objects close aboard, such as mines. Mid-way through the overhaul, Commander Weiss was relieved of command and replaced by Lieutenant Commander Richard Latham.

ww2dbaseTinosa sailed on her eighth war patrol and quickly encountered deteriorating weather and increasingly rough seas. She took green water over the bridge that poured down the open hatch. One lookout was washed off the upper lookout station and onto the main deck, washed away again, and finally pulled to safety uninjured. Tinosa arrived at her patrol area around the Nansei Shoto Islands but continued to be plagued by rough seas coupled with strong Japanese anti-submarine radar signals coming from nearly every island. She was not able to develop a single attack but throughout this patrol Tinosa used her FM sonar on a "special mission" to probe the channels and harbor entrances to identify and, if possible, map any mined areas. This would be valuable intelligence for the upcoming Okinawa offensive then being planned. Tinosa ended this patrol at Pearl Harbor where LtCdr Latham was promoted to full Commander.

ww2dbaseTinosa transited to Saipan where she departed for her ninth war patrol which was plagued with problems, first with her bow planes and then, when trying to repair her bow planes, she lost her anchor. Tinosa spent one entire morning running through an enormous oil slick filled with floating debris and many Japanese bodies, some in full Army equipment. It seemed that a transport ship had been sunk. By mid-afternoon, Tinosa came upon a lifeboat with seventeen Japanese soldiers in unform. Tinosa took as prisoners the two with the most stars on their tunics and left the others to make their own way. After six days in her assigned area looking for Japanese shipping but finding none, Tinosa left her patrol area bound for Guam. Even though Tinosa's patrol was cut short due to the problems with her bow planes, she did more probing of harbor entrances for mines.

ww2dbaseAt Guam, repairs were made and there was an exchange of Executive Officers. Tinosa sailed on her tenth war patrol where she spent two weeks around Truk reconnoitering and performing lifeguard duty for the near daily raids by Liberator bombers flying from Guam. On her way out of the area, Tinosa paused at the small Ulul Island 150 miles northwest of Truk where she shelled a radar and radio station.

ww2dbaseTinosa's eleventh war patrol would be groundbreaking in submarine warfare. Tinosa joined eight other submarines that had been similarly fitted with FM sonar. Together, these nine submarines were to implement a daring plan created by Commander William "Barney" Sieglaff and approved personally by overall Pacific Area submarine commander Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood. The plan involved the large wolfpack using the FM sonar to navigate through the heavily mined Tsushima Strait and into the previously inaccessible Sea of Japan. The operation would be known as Operation Barney and would be under the tactical command of Commander Earl Hydeman, captain of the submarine USS Sea Dog. The nine submarines involved would be known collectively as Hydeman's Hellcats but they were further subdivided into three sections of three boats each. Section One, commanded by Hydeman, was known as Heydeman's Hepcats and consisted of Sea Dog, Spadefish, and Crevalle. Section Two was known as Pierce's Polecats, after USS Tunny captain Commander George Pierce, and consisted of Tunny, Skate, and Bonefish. Section Three was known as Bob's Bobcats, after USS Flying Fish captain Commander Robert Risser, and consisted of Flying Fish, Tinosa, and Bowfin.

ww2dbaseFlying Fish, Tinosa, and Bowfin departed Guam bound for the Sea of Japan but were diverted to lifeguard duty about 150 miles north of Chichi Jima on a report of a downed B-29 Superfortress near their track. Heavy fog prevented an efficient search but 24-hours after the aircrew bailed out, Tinosa located them and took aboard ten uninjured airmen of the bomber "Sky-Scrapper" (serial number 42-65364). Two days later, Tinosa transferred the airmen to the submarine USS Scabbardfish. Tinosa and the other Bobcats transited the dangerously mined waters of Tsushima Strait on 6 Jun 1945 and entered the Sea of Japan, known as "the Emperor's Back Yard." No sooner had Tinosa transited the strait that the weather and seas deteriorated but Tinosa had no choice but to head straight into it. Before the waters were deep enough to submerge safely, the submarine was already taking green water over the bridge. The pounding sea also caused more trouble with the bow planes. During her eighteen days in the Sea of Japan, despite the seas being choked with small fishing vessels and their nets, Tinosa sank four ships. Tinosa then turned northward to rendezvous with Flying Fish and Bowfin. The three submarines made a daring dash through the dangerously well-patrolled, not to mention heavily mined, La Pérouse Strait at the northern end of the Japan between Japanese and Russian islands. Although only suspected at the time, these were also the waters where the submarine USS Wahoo was lost in 1943 and whose revenge Operation Barney was all about. Despite the risks, the three submarines made the transit into the vast Pacific and set their courses for Midway and then Pearl Harbor. At dawn on 4 Jul 1945 off the coast of Oahu, Tinosa met with Flying Fish, Spadefish, Bowfin, and Skate along with destroyer USS Pruitt as escort. Pruitt had embarked the photographic units of both the area submarine commander Admiral Lockwood and the fleet commander Admiral Nimitz to photograph the submarines on their triumphant return. By 1030 that morning, all five submarines were tied up side-by-side at the submarine base in Pearl Harbor. Of the nine Hydeman's Hellcats, only Bonefish did not return and was presumed lost (later records suggested Bonefish survived the transit of Tsushima Strait and was lost in a depth charge attack on 18 Jun 1945 in Toyama Wan on Honshu). So impressed was Admiral Lockwood with Operation Barney's success in penetrating the Sea of Japan that he awarded the Navy Cross, or gold star in lieu thereof, to all nine boat captains. That included a posthumous second gold star to Commander Lawrence Edge of Bonefish. Admiral Lockwood also created The Distinguished Order of the Mighty Mine Dodgers with suitable certificates issued to every officer and crewman who made this patrol.

ww2dbaseTinosa had a three-week refit at Pearl Harbor followed by a week of tests and training. She departed Pearl Harbor on 11 Aug 1945 on her twelfth war patrol in company with submarine USS Crevalle. On 14 Aug 1945, Tinosa and Crevalle were ordered to Midway as Japan had surrendered.

ww2dbaseOn 26 Aug 1945, Tinosa departed Midway for an overhaul at San Francisco. She operated off the west coast of the United States from Jan to Jun 1946. On 23 Jun 1949, Tinosa was placed out of commission at San Francisco and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Mare Island. During the Korean War, Tinosa was recommissioned 4 Jan 1952 but then decommissioned again on 2 Dec 1953 and laid up at Mare Island once again. Tinosa was struck from the Naval Register on 1 Sept 1958, used as a target ship, and then scuttled off Hawaii in Nov 1960.

ww2dbaseUSS Tinosa completed twelve war patrols in the Pacific covering 433 days on patrol. She earned nine battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. She was officially credited with sinking 16 enemy ships, totaling 64,655 tons, but her actual totals were almost certainly higher. Her battle flag, created by men who were there, claimed 22 merchant ships sunk and 12 damaged plus two islands shelled.

Submarine Tinosa (SS-283) Interactive Map

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Tinosa Operational Timeline

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