Iwo Jima and Okinawa -Submarine identification

Hello, again. I continue to try to piece together my father's experiences during the war. A very brief background is that he copied a code based on the Japanese Katakana. He did this on a submarine off of first, Iwo Jima and then Okinawa. My question is this; how can I find out what submarines were in the area at that time? He (a team of seven actually) was sent a week to ten days prior to each initial invasion. Thank you! ~K

 

Try asking here:
Japanese Ships & Navy Message Board

 

looks like a good and honest book! Kudos for sharing fathers' story!

 

Thank you. Now that I have been offered a contract, and have been working day and night on this, I am coming to the conclusion that it's possible that all the answers just may not be out there in the realm of public knowledge. My father was a part of a very small group of men who copied/deciphered/broke this code. His memory is sharp. And not all I do is for the book, in fact it is all driven by the desire to help my father. He wants to see records of the things he did...even little details like what sub he was on, in writing. I believe it will help him heal. Sorry, I'm rambling. Anyway--I guess what I'm saying is that this book is indeed a journey that I took with him, and a part of that journey is the frustration of not being able to just go to the library and check out a book on it to validate one's experiences. I wish that for him, but it may never come.

lwd-thanks for the link!

~Karen

 

What was the time frame for the missions. The USS Spearfish conducted a photo recon of Iwo Jima in November, 1944. The USS Swordfish did the same for Okinawa, but was sunk during the mission.

If your a real glutton for punishment and have a high speed internet connection, you can read through the submarine war patrol reports here.
Historic Naval Ships Association - Submarine War Patrol Reports

 

Oh boy. Talk about overwhelming. Just looked at the logs. I don't suppose there is a way to narrow it down any, like by date, or even year? It would have been some time between February 4th and February 25 of 1945 (Iwo Jima) and between March 18 and April 4, 1945 (Okinawa). My father was sent out a week or two before the initial invasions on February 19 and on April 1, 1945 respectively. I guess I am rather a glutton for punishment, even though my father and his team were told no records would be kept. I just keep thinking that maybe someone logged that this small group of 7 boarded their ship. Something like that. I can spend time looking, but it seems a needle in the ocean without the name of the ship or sub and some sort of list of what ships/subs were there during those two periods of time. What is a photo recon? Thanks! ~Karen

 

photo recon = photographic reconnaissance. Essentially the submarine would take photos through the periscope that were used to look for potential targets for pre-invasion bombardment as well as to develop visual aids for ship and boat commanders.

As a possible second angle of attack, does your Dad remember any crew members name? I actually would imagine not, but what you might try is to explore via the submarine reunion groups to see if any of those that you can find that were around Iwo/Okinawa have sailors that remember your dad's group. WHile they probably didn't know what they did, they would probably remember "Spooks" so to speak.

 

Whoops. Thought I responded to this. Thank you for the information. He does not remember any crew member names. He seems to have blanked out most of the names other than his friend, Mal. In all my research, the closest I've gotten to someone saying, "Hey, I remember you," is when we were at a Marine reunion and a guy said he remembered seeing a sub surface at night off of Iwo. He said it scared them half-to-death since they thought it might be the enemy. They all talked about it on the island and he said that when he got back and many years later, he had gotten in arguments about it, with others saying there were no subs there. He was very excited to meet my dad. It was fun for Dad too. They guy said something like, "Thanks a lot for keeping me from sleeping all those nights!" LOL Anyway--just a tidbit of info I've gathered. Wish it were more. ~Karen

 

Not sure if you've searched these yet, but just to make sure;

Keyword: iwo jima, Within: WWII Submarine Patrol Reports - Footnote Search

Keyword: okinawa, Within: WWII Submarine Patrol Reports - Footnote Search

hope it might help

 

Interesting. Thank you. Wish they didn't charge for the information, though.

 

thought maybe might narrow the names down a little at least

did you try the free 7-day trial - not sure if that gets you as far as you need to see anything

 

I did try but it kept wanting money to get further. But thank you. I appreciate any lead I can get! ~K

 

Dad mentioned this morning that his sub was in the same class as the Bowfin that is on display in Hawaii. Does that narrow it down any? ~K

 

Unfortunately there were 122 built of the same class

Balao class submarine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=147

you might be able to cut out a few from your possibles list though

 

Pretty certain is Balao - the two classes were similar so could be where the confusion comes from - could mean also Karen's father perhaps misidentified it as well?

 

100% certain the USS Bowfin is a member of the Balao class.

 

For clarification,

The last Gato class was USS Tullibee(SS-284) and the USS Balao was SS-285, with the USS Bowfin being SS-287.

The 71 Gato class(SS 212-282) were approved in the FY 1941 budget with two additional submarines(SS 284-84) being ordered during the end of April, 1941. The initial 23 submarines of the Balao class(SS 285-307) were approved January 1, 1942.