The USS Flier: Death and Survival on a World War II Submarine

15. USS Redfin

111 15 USS Redfin The USS Redfin (SS-272) was one of twenty-eight submarines constructed at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, under license from the Electric Boat Company. At one stage the Redfin had lain side by side with the USS Robalo, which was also being built there. The Manitowoc yard’s most distinctive engineering feat was the manner in which the submarines were launched: they were dropped sideways into Lake Michigan instead of the traditional stern-first launch into the water. From Manitowoc the submarines were floated more than 1,000 miles down the Illinois and Mississippi rivers until they reached New Orleans.1 After being commissioned on 31 August 1943, the Redfin left New Orleans for Fremantle on 15 October 1943. This was unusual , since most new submarines made their way to Pearl Harbor for their initial patrols. Only after operating out of Fremantle for a year did the Redfin head for Pearl Harbor as part of a wolf pack with the USS Barbero and the USS Haddo. The Redfin made its first war patrol out of Fremantle on 4 January 1944, skippered by Robert Donovan King. After this patrol , on 2 March 1944, King was replaced by Lieutenant Commander Marshall Harlan “Cy” Austin. The thirty-three-year-old Austin was from Eldorado, Oklahoma, and had graduated from the Naval Academy with the class of 1935. At the academy, Austin was remembered as an avid rower and for his habit of taking 112 The USS Flier a cold shower every morning. He entered the submarine service in 1940 and had been deployed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. At the time, his wife was back in Honolulu, only weeks away from giving birth to their first child.2 Under Cy Austin, the Redfin departed for its second war patrol on 19 March. During this patrol the Redfin sank two Japanese freighters as well as the destroyer Akigumo. The highly mobile Akigumo had been an escort for the Japanese forces attacking Pearl Harbor, participated in the Battle of Midway, and later helped evacuate Japanese troops from Kiska in the Aleutians. On 11 April 1944 the Redfin torpedoed the destroyer some thirty miles southeast of Zamboanga in the Philippines. The ship went down with 137 men, including its captain, Lieutenant Commander Atsuo Iritono .3 This was an impressive debut for Austin’s first command. The Redfin received credit for sinking an estimated 10,000 tons of enemy shipping, making it the most successful Fremantle-based patrol of the month.4 The Redfin began its third patrol on 26 May 1944 in the company of the USS Harder, commanded by Sam Dealey. The two submarines already shared an impressive history: on the same day the Redfin sank the Akigumo, the Harder sank the Ikazuchi, another Japanese destroyer. As they left Fremantle for their fifth war patrol , the Harder and Dealey were about to enter the realm of submarine legend. Carrying two Australian commandos, the Harder was headed for Borneo to rescue a group of secret operatives being pursued by the Japanese. In addition to rescuing the operatives, the Harder claimed the sinking of five Japanese destroyers along the way. It would be proclaimed one of the most brilliant submarine patrols of the war. The Redfin’s patrol would prove highly successful as well. On their way north, the Redfin and the Harder stopped at Exmouth Gulf to refuel. In addition to its regular crew, the Redfin carried a small intelligence party bound for Balabac Strait—Sergeant Amando Corpus and five enlisted men, the same group that would later radio Australia and inform headquarters of the Flier’s fate. The commandos on board both submarines took the opportunity to 113 USS Redfin train at Exmouth. Corpus and his men practiced handling their rubber boats and borrowed a manila line from the Harder that would later be used to help land their equipment. Having landed Corpus and his coast watchers on Ramos Island on 8 June, the Redfin proceeded to carry out reconnaissance off the Japanese anchorage at Tawi Tawi. On the morning of 13 June, Austin watched as a vanguard of destroyers and two heavy cruisers departed Tawi Tawi. A couple of hours later a fleet of at least six aircraft carriers, four battleships, five heavy cruisers, and their escorts emerged from the anchorage. The submarine was unable to close on the Japanese ships or to keep up with...