Built as a submarine by Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California for the US Navy.
01 April 1942 laid down.
11 November 1942 launched as USS TULLIBEE (SS-284), named after one of several whitefishes of central and northern North America. She was the latest of the Gato Class when launched. Of this class 77 were built during World War II
Launching ceremony was performed by Mrs. Kennet C. Hurd.
Displacement 1.525 ton surfaced, 2.415 ton submerged, dim. 95.02 x 8.31 x 4.65m. (draught).
Powered by four 10-cyl Fairbank-Morse diesel engine, each 1.350 hp., two General Electro electric motors each 1.370hp. Twin shafts, speed, surface 20.25 knots, submerged 8.75 knots.
Range 11.000 mile by a speed of 10 mile, on the surface.
Test depth 90 meter, but during the war the class dived deeper.
Armament: 1 – 4 inch deck gun, 4 – MG, 10 – 21 inch torpedo tubes, six forward and four aft. Carried 24 torpedoes.
Crew 80.
15 February 1943 commissioned under command of Comdr. Charles F. Brindupke.
After the usual trials and shakedown, she arrived at Pearl Harbor’s submarine base on 15 May 1943.
Thereafter again training exercises in Hawaiian waters, were found that many fittings were leaking, and she had to go to dry-dock for repair twice. When this proved ineffective the submarine entered the navy yard until 11 July.
19 July 1943 she left Hawaii for her first war patrol, she headed for the Western Caroline Islands.
28 July she sighted a passenger-cargo vessel, accompanied by an escort and an aircraft that prevented an American attack
05 August she commenced patrolling the Saipan-Truk traffic lanes. Five days later she sighted smoke on the horizon, which proved to be three freighters and an escort. TULLIBEE closed the range to 2.700yards, fired one torpedo at the ship on the starboard and three at the vessel on the port. As the submarine fired the first torpedo, a ship rammed her and bent her number one periscope. She went deep and was depth charged by the escort as the enemy ships sped away.
As the torpedoes were set on a depth of 15 feet, which was too deep for the draught of the cargo vessels, not one torpedo exploded.
14 August, TULLIBEE sighted a convoy of three cargo vessels with an escort and began an end-around run to get in a good attack position. She fired a torpedo from a range of 3.000 yards, where after she dived deep. The torpedo missed and the submarine returned to periscope depth to fire three torpedoes at the last ship. It apparently saw their wake as it turned and combed them.
The TULLIBEE went deep again, and when she surfaced the target had escaped. On the 22d, TULLIBEE sighted a convoy of five ships escorted by two destroyers; closed to 2.000 yards and fired three torpedoes at the nearest freighter. Two minutes later she fired three more at another ship. As she went deep to avoid a destroyer heading her way, she heard one explosion. She soon heard the burst of two more torpedo explosions, followed by breaking up noises. When she surfaced, she sighted over 1.000 empty 30-gallon oil drums, but no ships. Postwar examination of Japanese records indicated that TULLIBEE had damaged one freighter and had sunk the passenger-cargo vessel KAISHO MARU (4.164 ton).
The patrol terminated when the submarine reached Midway Island on 6 September 1943.
28 September, TULLIBEE began her second war patrol. Her assigned area was the East China Sea between the Ryukyus and the China coast. On 4 October, she sighted a convoy of nine passenger-cargo ships with three destroyer’s escorts. The submarine pulled well ahead of the convoy and tracked them until the next morning. At 00.58 she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a large freighter with one hitting the target a minute later. Another spread of three from the bow tubes produced two hits on a heavily laden cargo ship. Minor explosions and breaking up noises began immediately as the 5.866 ton CHICAGO MARU sank. Twelve days later TULLIBEE contacted a convoy of seven ships with three escorts which later separated into two groups; one hugging the China coast and the other heading for Pescadores Channel. She attacked the largest ship in the last group with six torpedoes. One hit the target. The submarine began an end-around run and fired four torpedoes at another ship. Two torpedoes soon broached, and TULLIBEE broke off the attack. She went deep and rigged for silent running to evade the escorts. On 5 November, the submarine was running submerged near Okinoyerabu Shima when she sighted a large three story building on the island. She surfaced and fired 55 shells into the barracks before retiring at full speed.
She began the voyage back to Hawaii the next day and reached Pearl Harbor, via Medway on the 16t November 1943. Her official score for this patrol was one passenger-cargo vessel sunk, a tanker and a passenger-cargo vessel damaged.
TULLIBEE’s third war patrol was in a wolf pack with sister ships HALIBUT (SS-232) and HADDOCK (SS-231).
14 December 1943 the trio sailed from Pearl Harbor for the Marianas to intercept enemy shipping plying between Truk and Japan. On 2 January 1944. TULLIBEE sighted a Japanese I-class submarine on the surface and fired four torpedoes at a range of 3000 yards. The enemy saw the wakes and combed the four of them as TULLIBEE was forced deep by an enemy floatplane which dropped six bombs.
On 19 January, HADDOCK reported that she had damaged the Japanese escort carrier UNYO which limped to Saipan.
TULLIBEE sighted the carrier there on the 25th, close ashore and well protected by escorts and aircraft. The submarine remained on station for several days awaiting an opportunity to sink the carrier. However, when she surfaced on the 28th, she learned that the carrier had slipped away. Three days later, the submarine made radar contact with two targets. She fired three torpedoes at what appeared to be a freighter and swung to port to fire one at the escort. The first target, net tender HIRO MARU (549 ton) took two hits; disintegrated, and disappeared in about one minute. The torpedo fired at the escort missed, and the submarine went deep to evade.
TULLIBEE cleared the area the following day and returned to Pearl Harbour on 10 February.
On 5 March, TULLIBEE stood out of Pearl Harbor still under command of Comdr. C.F.Brindupke to begin her forth war patrol. Nine days later, she called at Midway to top off her fuel and then proceeded to her patrol area in the Palaus.
She was scheduled to support carrier strikes in “Operation Desecrate” at Palau on 30 and 31 March.
On 25 March, TULLIBEE arrived on station and began patrolling. The next day, she made radar contact on a convoy consisting of a large passenger-cargo vessel, two medium-sized freighters, a destroyer and two other escorts. The submarine made several surface runs on the transport but kept losing her in rain squalls. TULLIBEE finally closed to 3.000 yards and fired two torpedoes from her bow tubes at the target.
About two minutes later a tremendous explosion rocked TULLIBEE throwing all the submarine’s bridge party into the sea and the boat disappeared. However, back at Pearl Harbor none of this was known and TULLIBEE was reported “Overdue and presumed lost”.
29 July 1944 she was removed from the Navy List.
One of the crew the Gunner’s Mate C.W. Kuykendall of the TULLIBEE was rescued, and returned back to the United States after the war, here follows his story on the sinking.
As the explosion occurred Kuykendall who was on the bridge was hurled in the water together with other men on the bridge. He soon found himself struggling in the water and for about 10 minutes he heard other voices in the night but then all was silent.
He kept swimming till the next morning at 10.00 o’clock he was sighted by a Japanese escort ship and before he was rescued was used as a target practice before she picked them from the water, he did not see any other crewmember of the TULLIBEE on board of the escort.
Kuykendall suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese, he was beaten when he did not want to give any information than by international law required.
1944 Was he taken to Ofuna Naval Interrogation Camp, where he stayed till 30 September. From that date till rescued on 04 September 1945, he was forced to work in the copper mines of Ashio.
Then he told the loss of the TULLIBEE, was when she was hit by one of her one torpedoes which made a circular run and sank the boat. Range and bearing of the Japanese escorts were known, and it was not possible that the torpedo was fired from one of this escorts.
Palau 1994 29c sg 683, scott 325c
Source: downloaded from http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss284.txt http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/SubLoss ... libee.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tullibee_(SS-284) The Last Patrol by Harry Holmes.