My Daily Musing

USS Shark

USS Shark (SS-314), a Balao-class submarine, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the shark.

USS Shark’s keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on 28 January 1943. She was launched on 17 October 1943. USS Shark commissioned on 14 February 1944 with Commander Edward Noe Blakely in command.

Following shakedown off New London, Connecticut, USS Shark transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 24 April 1944 for final training in the Hawaiian area. Her first war patrol commenced on 16 May 1944. USS Shark was conducted in waters west of the Mariana Islands as part of a coordinated attack group with submarines USS Pintado (SS-387) and USS Pilotfish (SS-386). Early on the morning of 2 June, USS Shark submerged ahead of an enemy convoy and fired a spread of torpedoes at a Japanese tanker. Although all missed the original target, the torpedoes continued on to hit and sink another enemy vessel, the 4,700-ton cargo ship, IJN Chiyo Maru. After evading an ensuing depth charge attack, the submarine continued her patrol.

On 4 June, USS Shark began tracking another heavily escorted convoy, and maneuvered for attack. She encountered a patrolling destroyer dead ahead. Upon failing in a maneuver for a "down-the-throat" shot, the submarine passed down the port side of the enemy at 180 yards and launched four torpedoes toward a heavily laden cargo ship. USS Shark was rewarded with four solid hits that quickly sent IJN Katsukawa Maru to the bottom. After escaping from the aroused escort ships, USS Shark surfaced and continued the chase. She caught up with the convoy on the afternoon of 5 June, and after nightfall, let go a spread of six torpedoes which sank the 3,080-ton freighter, IJN Tamahime Maru, and the 7,006-ton passenger-cargo ship, IJN Takoka Maru. USS Shark again evaded the escort ships, then surfaced near midnight, but was unable to catch up with the convoy. The remainder of the patrol was unproductive, and the submarine returned to Midway Island for refit on 17 June.

USS Shark put to sea on 10 July for her second war patrol, this time in the waters off the Volcano Islands and Bonin Islands. On 19 July, USS Shark launched four torpedoes at an enemy convoy, but they missed their mark as the convoy made a sharp "zig" away. On 1 August, USS Shark was again frustrated in an attack on a Japanese convoy when, while moving into firing position, three escorts forced her to take evasive action, allowing the convoy to escape. The following afternoon, the submarine set course for Iwo Jima where she took up lifeguard station in support of carrier airstrikes.

On the afternoon of 4 August, USS Shark rescued two airmen from a crashed Lexington (CV-16) [SB2C Helldiver from AG19 piloted by William S. Emerson]]. She terminated her lifeguard duties on 19 August and touched at Midway Island before arriving at Pearl Harbor ten days later.

USS Shark was lost during her third war patrol, probably in the vicinity of Luzon Strait, while participating in a coordinated attack group with submarines USS Seadragon (SS-194) and USS Blackfish (SS-221).

On 24 October, USS Seadragon received a message from USS Shark stating that she had made radar contact with a single freighter, and she was going in to attack. This was the last message received from the submarine. She was reported as presumed lost on 27 November.

After making radar contact, the USS Shark was in pursuit of a single freighter. Approximately 5:00 pm 24 October 1944 in the Bashi Straits, South China Sea Latitude 20°46'N, Longitude 118°18' E, the 6886 ton Japanese freighter IJN Arisan Maru was sunk. The IJN Arisan Maru carried no markings or flag to indicate that it was carrying Allied prisoners. The Americans had no way of recognizing the Arisan was a prison ship. The torpedo launched from the Shark, hit aft of midships causing the IJN Arisan Maru to split in two. Naval records indicate that the USS Shark (SS-314) was lost with all 87 hands in the same battle after having torpedoed the IJN Arisan Maru. "Regardless of the final count, the sinking of the IJN Arisan Maru still represents the greatest loss of American life in a single military sinking." – excerpt: The Arisan Maru Tragedy –

USS Shark received one battle star for World War II service.

Japanese records examined after the war indicate that on 24 October 1944, in Luzon Strait, Japanese destroyer IJN Harukaze made contact with a submerged submarine and dropped depth charges. After losing and regaining the contact, the destroyer dropped another 17 depth charges which resulted in “bubbles, heavy oil, clothes and cork” coming to the surface.

Shipwreck Monday-HMS Hood

HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. HMS Hood was commissioned in 1920 and she was named after the 18th-century Admiral Samuel Hood. HMS Hood operated in World War II. She was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck in 1941.

HMS Hood of four Admiral-class battlecruisers ordered in mid-1916. Her design still had serious limitations. For this reason HMS Hood was the only ship of her class to be completed. HMS Hood was involved in a number of showing the flag exercises between her commissioning in 1920 and the outbreak of war in 1939. HMS Hood duties included training exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and a circumnavigation of the globe with the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924. She was attached to the Mediterranean Fleet following the outbreak of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, HMS Hood was officially assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet until she had to return to England in 1939 for an overhaul. By this time, advances in naval gunnery had reduced HMS Hood’s usefulness. She was scheduled to undergo a major rebuild in 1941 to correct these issues, but the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 forced the ship into service without the upgrades.

When war with Germany was declared HMS Hood was operating in the area around Iceland. She spent the next several months hunting between Iceland and the Norwegian Sea for German commerce raiders and blockade runners. After a brief overhaul of her propulsion system, she sailed as the flagship of Force H, and participated in the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Relieved as flagship of Force H, HMS Hood was dispatched to Scapa Flow, and operated in the area as a convoy escort and later as a defense against a potential German invasion fleet. In May 1941, HMS Hood and the battleship HMS Prince of Wales were ordered to intercept the German battleship Bismarck which was en route to the Atlantic where she was to attack convoys. On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the Denmark Strait, Hood was struck by several German shells and exploded; the loss had a profound effect on the British people. Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the Royal Navy to "sink the Bismarck", and they fulfilled his command on 26–27 May.

The Royal Navy conducted two inquiries into the reasons for the ship's quick demise. The first, held very quickly after the ship's loss, concluded that HMS Hood‘s aft magazine had exploded after one of Bismarck's shells penetrated the ship's armour. A second inquiry was held after complaints were received that the first board had failed to consider alternative explanations, such as an explosion of the ship's torpedoes. While much more thorough than the first board, it concurred with the first board's conclusion. Despite the official explanation, some historians continued to believe that the torpedoes caused the ship's loss while others proposed an accidental explosion inside one of the ship's gun turrets that reached down into the magazine. Other historians have focused on the cause of the magazine explosion. The discovery of the ship's wreck in 2001 confirmed the conclusion of both boards, although the exact reason why the magazines detonated will forever be a mystery as that area of the ship was thoroughly destroyed in the explosion.

The World According To Joe Biden

Good old Joe Biden keeps us entertain every time he speaks. You just have to laugh some of the stuff he says. I know, I know we also wonder about his brain functioning right too.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

DNC scrambles to deflate Obama video before Daily Caller story published; another Obama video released

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

This video is from the Journal and Courier.