The wreck of a US Navy submarine, the USS harder, was found about 1.000 meters deep in the South China Sea, about 80 years after its last mission.
The USS harder (SS-257), belonging to the class Cat, became one of the most famous boats of the Second World War, receiving the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary successes in combat under the command of Samuel D. Dealey (1906-1944), who posthumously received the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses for sinking 16 enemy ships with a total tonnage of more than 54.000 tons.
The submarine was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on December 1, 1941 and entered U.S. Navy service on December 2, 1942. After initial tests off the east coast of the United States, she was destined for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii , but during the transfer he risked ending his service prematurely due to friendly fire. On May 2, 1943, while she was surface crossing the Caribbean Sea she was spotted by a PBY seaplane Catalina of the Navy, at a distance of about 5000 yards who, not recognizing him, opened fire, hitting him on the starboard side. While the boat was submerged in emergency, the PBY dropped two bombs which fortunately did not damage the boat.
After a brief stay at Pearl Harbor, on 7 June 1943 the USS harder set off on its first war mission off the coast of Japan, attacking a Japanese convoy. During the action the USS harder fired four torpedoes, hitting the transport ship Sagara Maru and managing to return to Midway unscathed on July 7. It was its first successful mission which was followed by five more during which the submarine covered itself in glory. A characteristic of her was the aggressiveness with which she attacked the enemy even when subjected to counterattack by escorting fighters.
On April 13, 1944, enemy aircraft sighted the USS harder north of the western Carolinas and reported his position to the Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi (photo). As the enemy ship approached within 900 yards, theharder he did not try to escape but launched a series of torpedoes that sank the attacker in just five minutes.
His motto “Hit them Harder” was reproduced on a pennant of the boat (following photo), making it famous throughout the US Navy.
Four days later she spotted a merchant ship escorted by destroyers and fired four torpedoes, sinking the 7.000-ton merchantman Matsue Maru and damaging one of the escorts.
During her fifth mission on 6 June she entered the Sibutu Passage, between Tawi-Tawi and North Borneo, and attacked a convoy of three tankers and two destroyers. Although discovered by the destroyer minazuki, after the rapid dive, instead of saving himself, he attacked it with three torpedoes at a distance of 1.100 yards, sinking it.
In the morning an enemy plane sighted the USS harder and another destroyer, theHayanami, headed towards him. Once again the submarine took the initiative and fired three torpedoes at a short distance and two of them hit the center of the ship, causing the ship's ammunition depot to explode.
After escaping subsequent depth charge attacks, the USS harder passed through the Sibutu Passage and headed for the north-eastern coast of Borneo, sighting two enemy destroyers patrolling the narrowest part of the passage, a few miles from Tawi-Tawi, which she attacked closing at 1.000 yards with four torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit the Tanikaze, which sank almost immediately, while the last one hit the second ship which exploded with a blinding flash.
In the afternoon of June 10rd harder sighted a Japanese task force, including three battleships and four destroyer cruisers. A scout spotted the submarine at periscope level and an escort vessel headed at 35 knots towards her position. Once again, harder she reacted by launching three torpedoes and dived deep to escape the depth charge attack. Within a minute two torpedoes blew up the Japanese ship just as the boat passed it about 80 feet below. The deafening explosions shook the submarine far more than the depth charges and aerial bombs that the enraged enemy dropped over the next two hours.
The information collected byharder on the movements of the Japanese task force were of vital importance to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's fleet before the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea.
The USS harder and the USS Chin (SS-256) and Haddo (SS-255) left Fremantle on 5 August 1944 for what would have been her sixth and, for theharder, last war mission. Located in the South China Sea off Luzon, the boats headed north.
The 21 August harder e Haddo they joined the submarines Ray (SS-271), guitarró (SS-363) and Mouse (SS-270) to make a coordinated attack on a Japanese convoy off Palawan Bay, Mindoro, sinking four cargo ships.
The following morning, harder and Haddo attacked and destroyed three Japanese ships off Bataan, and theharder sank the frigates Matsuwa (following photo) e Hiburi.
Insatiable, theharder he reunited with the submarine Chin off Dasol Bay, searching for new targets but, before dawn, on the night of 24 August, two ships were sighted which they initially identified as a Japanese minesweeper and the Siamese destroyer Phra ruang. While the USS Chin was approaching to attack, the destroyer turned towards Dasol Bay and theChin he had to interrupt the approach, turning sharply towards the north. At the end of the turn, however, he spotted the periscope of harder about 600 to 700 yards ahead and had to maneuver to avoid the collision. At the same time a Japanese escort unit appeared about 2.000 yards away and was moving steadily towards them. To escape the attack they dived deep. At 07:28 the explosions of 15 depth charges were heard in the distance towards the stern... then nothing more.
Shortly after midday theChin he returned to the area to find only a ring of marker buoys covering a half-mile radius.
According to the Japanese Navy report, the depth charge attack had sunk a submarine and “lots of oil, wood chips and cork were floating nearby”. The US Navy, having lost all contact, declared the U.S.S harder missing on 2 January 1945.
The discovery
On May 22, 2024, Tim Taylor, CEO of Tiburon Subsea, and the project Lost 52 announced that they had discovered the wreck of theharder in the South China Sea near the northern island of Luzon, Philippines. Taylor's discovery was later confirmed by the US Navy based on analysis of video footage of the wreck.
The USS harder it sits upright at a depth of 3.750 feet (1.140 m) and has a large opening on the port side abaft the conning tower, probably caused by a depth charge.
After 80 years the glorious American submarine was then found and declared by the US Navy war shrine.
Photo: US Navy / web
(article originally published on https://www.ocean4future.org)
