Some 80 years ago today, the Balao-class fleet submarine USS Redfish (SS-395), on only her Second War Patrol, under the command of T/CDR Louis Darby McGregor, Jr., torpedoed and sank the brand spanking new 20,000-ton Japanese carrier Unryu while about 200 miles south-east of Shanghai. The carrier was loaded with 30 spooky Kugisho MXY7 Ohka (Cherry Blossom) kamikaze rocket bombs and Kokusai Ku-8s of the 1st Glider Squadron (Kakkūhikō dai ichi sentai), ready to ruin the day of American ships operating in the Philippines.
Periscope shot of the newly-built IJN aircraft carrier Unryū 雲龍, (Cloud Dragon) sunk by the submarine USS Redfish on 19 December 1944.
Notably, Redfish, in conjunction with the submarines USS Sea Devil (SS-400) and Plaice (SS-390), just 10 days earlier, had pumped the 30,000-ton Japanese aircraft carrier Jun’yō full of torpedoes but the flattop had survived.
Japanese aircraft carrier Jun’yō after hits by torpedoes from submarines Sea Devil, Plaice, and Redfish early in the morning of 9 December 1944
McGregor, who had sent several Japanese transports and tankers to the bottom as skipper of USS Pike (SS-173) and on Redfish’s first war patrol, was determined to scratch a carrier all the way off the Emperor’s naval list.
Redfish’s report on Unryu:
As detailed by Combined Fleet:
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1635: The torpedo hit abreast the forward generator room on the Hold Deck and the Main Control Center on No.2 platform deck, approximately frame 98 close to the bulkhead aft. As a result, No.1 boiler room flooded, and because the bulkhead dividing them failed, so did No.2 boiler room to port. All boilers except No.8 lose pressure. A main steam line was fractured and UNRYU temporarily lost power and went dead in the water. A fire broke out in No.2 ready room, but is put out by closing firewalls. REDFISH – having expended stern tubes at 1642 trying to hit HINOKI – hastily re-loaded a stern tube while UNRYU Chief Engineer Capt. Saga Tetsuo’s engineers extinguished fires, brought online No.s 5, 6, and 7 boilers, and successfully replaced damaged pipes and restored power.
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1650: The carrier was just getting back underway when hit by second torpedo at starboard side, forward of the bridge. This was abreast the bomb and torpedo magazines. Induced explosions from them and the volatile cargo of Ohkas on the lower hangar deck exploded, devastating vessel. The bow began to settle rapidly and UNRYU list steeply to starboard. Captain Kaname ordered Abandon Ship. Carrier sank very quickly – about ten minutes or less.
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1657-1701: (Times vary slightly) UNRYU sank sharply upended with stern raised and nearly on her starboard side – with the loss of her captain Konishi Kaname, XO Capt. Aoki Tamon, Navigator LtCdr. Shinbori Masao, sixty officers and 1,172 petty officers and men and six known civilians. Only one officer, Assistant Navigator Morino Hiroshi (was also injured) and eighty-seven petty officers and men (7 injured); fifty-seven passengers, and one civilian employee survived for a total of only 146 saved. Among these survivors of the passengers there are only twelve of the 1st Glider cadre. MOMI moves in immediately to rescue while HINOKI and SHIGURE depth-charge REDFISH.
20 December 1944
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0938: With no more survivors in sight, all three destroyers are still hunting and occasionally depth charging the submarine. After this, MOMI and HINOKI leave the scene and SHIGURE remains still hunting REDFISH. The two-Matsu class proceed to Takao to off-load survivors. (MOMI rescued senior survivor Morino)
McGregor would be awarded his second of two Navy Crosses in command of Redfish for the sinking of Unryu, along with a previous Silver Star in command of Pike, and would retire as a rear admiral.
Redfish finished the war with 123,000 tons listed on her tally sheet after just two patrols and earned two battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.
She later had a distinguished movie career as the fictional Nautilus in Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1954 and as Nerka in Run Silent, Run Deep in 1958, along with several appearances in the TV series The Silent Service. Her final reel, recorded by an S-2 in 1970, was a snuff film.
USS Redfish attending the Rose Festival in Portland, postwar.