 Show Sculpin left Pearl Harbor for her ninth war patrol on November 5, 1943 with Captain John Cromwell aboard. Two weeks later she would be lost, a loss that went unrecognized for 10 days and the truth of which would not be discovered until years after the fact. At the beginning of World War II, John Cromwell was on the staff of Commander, Submarines Pacific, running Submarine Divisions 203 and 44. He had served in a number of ships at that point in his career and was an experienced officer. Following promotion to captain, he went to sea in Sculpin as prospective commander of a mid-Pacific submarine wolf pack (a small group of submarines all hunting enemy ships together). After refueling at Johnston Island on November 7, she headed to her assigned station northeast of Truk. On November 29 Cromwell was ordered to activate his wolfpack. No acknowledgement came from Sculpin. She was, correctly, assumed to have been lost, but the story about what had happened to her would only come out years later from American POWs who had been picked up by the Japanese destroyer that sank her. It was while heading to their duty station near the Imperial Japanese stronghold of Truk that Sculpin was seen by the destroyer Yamagumo. The destroyer pounded the sub with depth charges. Despite Sculpin’s valiant efforts to escape, and then to engage the destroyer in a gunfight, the sub was fatally damaged. The gunfight killed the Sculpin’s commanding officer and a number of the crew. The ship’s senior surviving officer, Lieutenant George E. Brown, gave the abandon ship order and ordered Sculpin scuttled. Cromwell now faced a serious dilemma. In the Autumn of 1943, the United States had completed its invasion of the Solomon Islands and was preparing to invade the Gilbert Islands in the Central Pacific. As a senior officer of his task force Cromwell alone knew of the Navy’s plans. More importantly, Cromwell possessed vital knowledge about the Navy’s success in deciphering Japanese codes. Capturing him would have been an unimageable intelligence coup for the enemy. Knowing this, Cromwell made up his mind: he would go down with the ship. He “stoically remained aboard the mortally wounded vessel as she plunged to her death. Preserving the security of his mission.” Cromwell was awarded the Medal of Honor for this series of events that all took place on November 19, 1943. He was the most senior submariner awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II and one of the three submarine officers who received the Medal posthumously. Cromwell had been born in Henry, Illinois, on September 11, 1901 and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the class of 1924. Commander Howard W. Gilmore is being hailed as a hero after giving up his life to save his crew form Japanese fire. He was credited by the United States Navy with successfully attacking three Japanese ships. Gilmore rode the bridge of his vessel, the U.S.S. Growler, as it was diving away from a Japanese gunboat’s attack in the distant Pacific. He preferred to ride the conning tower of his submerging submarine to his death rather than expose the craft or crew to enemy gunfire. The Commander’s raft was on the surface as the Japanese gunboat was trying to ram it. After Gilmore’s boat skillfully evaded this attack, he preceded to ram into the enemy boat and successfully sink it. As the boat was going down, the U.S. crew kept the machinegun fire going. The commander was heavily wounded. “Members of the submarine’s crew sought to carry him below,” the Navy relates. “But, realizing delay might cost the submarine and the lives of men in exposed positions topside, Commander Gilmore ordered all hands below. In his final living moments, he gave his last order to the officer of the deck: ‘Take her down!’” Any delay in going underwater would have been a great danger to the crew. At the Commander’s last orders, the submarine went down with its leader floating above. Lieutenant Commander Arnold F. Schade of San Diego, California, was the 31-year-old executive officer who brought the boat back to safety. A native of Selma, Alabama, Gilmore was already a decorated officer before his death. He won the Navy Cross medal for boldly entering an enemy harbor and sinking two 1700-ton Japanese destroyers and damaging a third. He also received a Gold Star medal for sinking 26,000 tons of merchant shipping. Finally, President Roosevelt awarded the hero the Medal of Honor posthumously. The U.S.S. Growler, Commander Gilmore’s ship. U.S. Navy photo via Wikimedia Commons. Gilmore was a 1926 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. His last mission was sinking one medium-sized cargo ship, damaging and probably sinking a gunboat, as well as damaging a medium-sized merchant ship. Some of the Annapolis classmates who knew him said that, “he was one of the quietest, most unpretentious fellows who ever lived.” Even more classmates wanted to come forward and pay their respects, describing the freckled, pale Gilmore as someone “who would never stand out in a crowd, but [someone who] you’d like the second you see him.” Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox also praised the hero at his press conference by saying that his bravery “was one of the most gallant things that has come under my observation during this war.” Sources:
How many ships did Richard o Kane sink?O'Kane claimed eight ships sunk; post-war analysis increased this to 10 ships. During one attack, he fired six torpedoes at two large ships. Japanese records showed the torpedoes actually hit four ships.
How many Japanese ships were sunk by US submarines?Overall, U.S. Navy submarines sank around 1,300 Japanese merchant ships, as well as roughly 200 warships.
Who said take her down?For sacrificing his own life to save his ship, Commander Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. In September 1943, the submarine tender USS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16) was named for him and sponsored by his widow. Even today, “Take her down!” remains one of the legendary phrases of the U.S. Submarine Force.
Who was the captain of the Tang?Richard H. O'Kane is congratulated by President Harry S. Truman after he was presented the Medal of Honor at the White House on March 27, 1946. O'Kane received the high honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as the commanding officer of the USS Tang during combat in October 1944.
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