Author: FTB1(SS)

A Submarine’s View of Carlson’s Raiders, August 1942

 

In August of 1942 the USS Argonaut left Pearl Harbor on a mission unlike any she had ever undertaken. Built as a mine-laying submarine, she was slow, heavy, and awkward in comparison to the fleet boats that now carried the war westward. But her broad hull and ample internal space made her a fit for something no one had tried before. Along with USS Nautilus, Argonaut carried Carlson’s Raiders, two hundred twenty-one Marines with orders to strike Makin Atoll, inflict damage, confuse the enemy, and get back out alive. It was the first time the Navy would send a submarine into battle not just as a hunter of ships, but as a troop transport. For Argonaut’s crew, used to torpedoes and patrols, this felt like stepping into a different kind of war.

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The Last War Shot: USS Spikefish SS-404

In the summer of 1945, USS Spikefish (SS-404) was a young boat in a veteran’s war. A Balao-class submarine commissioned only months earlier, she was part of the U.S. Navy’s relentless undersea campaign that had, by then, strangled Japan’s maritime lifelines. Built for endurance and stealth, the Balao class represented the peak of American submarine design in World War II, long-ranged, heavily armed, and capable of diving deeper than their predecessors. Spikefish was on her second war patrol in August 1945, operating in the waters south of Japan, where danger still lingered in every sonar ping and radar contact.

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Torpedoman’s Mate

The base commander’s voice carried over the assembled crew on the warm August day. “Torpedoman’s Mate First Class James H. Howard.” He stepped forward, eyes straight ahead, as the medal was pinned to his dress blues. The citation spoke of meritorious service on war patrols. The words were official, clipped, and neat, but they could never match the reality of the months spent in the torpedo room of a fighting boat. He had already been to sea before the war, qualifying on USS Pollack in 1938, but the first three patrols aboard USS Halibut had been his real test.

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