USS Luzon (PG-47)(PR-7): Not the One I Was Looking For

Probably not a ship from World War II that you have ever heard of before.  I know I hadn't.

This ship's history intersected with that of the submarine USS Sealion (SS-195) which was sunk when the Japanese attacked the Philippines in December 1941.

But, the Sealion was not the reason I came across the Luzon.  That all started in my Not So Forgotten:  War of 1812 blog.  I was looking for the Gunboat No. 47 that Richard Hill served on board in the New York Flotilla during that war.  As of now, I still haven't found anything about it, but came across this ship because of the PG-47 ship's number.

It has an interesting and not well-known history so I am going to write about it here.  In addition, it was a sister ship of the USS Panay as in the Panay Incident.

You can find the blog entries about Richard Hill in my February and March Not So Forgotten blog.  Go to the right of this and click that blog to go directly to it.

By the way, Richard Hill was a black sailor.

--GreGe

USS Sealion (SS-195)-- Part 3: Sunk and Then Destroyed to Prevent Capture

The Sealion flooded immediately and settled down by the stern  with 40% of her main deck underwater and a 15 degree list to the starboard.  The destruction of the Navy Yard made repairs impossible, and she was ordered to be destroyed.    All salvageable equipment was taken  off, depth charges  placed inside and on  25 December, the explosives were set off to prevent her being useful to the enemy.

Eli Thomas  Reich, who was executive officer and engineer on the Sealion when it sank, assumed command of the second Sealion (SS-315) when in March 1944.  Four of the torpedoes that Sealion II fired to sink the Japanese battleship Kongo carried the names Foster, O'Connell, Paul and Oglivie-- the men who had died in the attack on the first Sealion three years earlier.

The sinking of the Sealion (SS-195) was incorporated into the plot of the 1959 Cary Grant film "Operation  Petticoat" where the fictional  submarine Sea Tiger was stationed at Cavite, suffers a similar fate, although in the film, she is re-floated and ordered to Cebu for a complete refit, thereby setting the stage for the film's storyline.

--GreGen

The First USS Sealion (SS-195)-- Part 2: Struck By Bombs in the Japanese Attack on the Philippines

In the spring of 1940, the Sealion (SS-195) and the rest of her  division sailed for the Philippines.  Arriving there in the fall, she commenced activities as a unit of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet  Into October 1941, she ranged from Luzon to the  Sulu Archipelago.

Then with her sister ship, the USS Seadragon (SS-194), she returned to Cavite Navy Yard for a regular overhaul.  Unfortunately, the Sealion was there when the Japanese attacked at the beginning of the war.  She took two direct hits as the Japanese destroyed the base.

She was tied up next to the Seadragon.  The first bomb struck the aft end of her  conning tower and exploded  outside the hull over the control room.  The second smashed through a main ballast tank and caused the pressure hull to explode in the aft engine room, killing four men:  Sterling Cecil Foster, Melvin Donald O'Connell, Ernest Ephrom Ogilvie and Vallentyne Lester Paul, then working there.  In addition, one seaman, Howard Firth, died while a POW.

--GreGen

The First Sealion Submarine (SS-195)

The Sealion (SS315) that sank the Japanese battleship Kongo was the second submarine by that name.  It replaced this one.

From Wikipedia.

It was a Sargo-class submarine.  Her keel was laid down 20 June 1938 by the Electric Boat Co. of Groton, Connecticut.  Launched on 25 May 1939 and commissioned  27 November 1939.

GEBERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:   310' 6"

BEAM:  26 feet 10 inches

SPEED:  21 knots surfaced, 8.75 submerged

TEST DEPTH:  250 feet

COMPLEMENT:  5 officers, 54 enlisted

ARMAMENT:

Eight 21-inch torpedo tubes:  four forward, four aft

24 torpedoes

One 3-inch deck gun

four machine guns

--GreGen

USS Sealion (SS-315)-- Part 8: Four Torpedoes Named Foster, O'Connell, Paul and Ogilvie

After firing off its torpedoes, the Japanese escorts came after the Sealion. but they searched east and the Sealion had gone west.  By 3:10, the Sealion had reloaded her torpedoes and began tracking the Japanese ships again.  The thought on board was that they had just dented the battleship's armor belt.

By now, the enemy formation was zigzagging and the sea and wind had increased.  They split into two groups and the Sealion began tracking the slower of the two which consisted of the Kongo, Isokaze and Hamakaze.  

At 5:24, a huge explosion lit the area and the battleship Kongo disappeared.

It was customary for American submarines to write a name on then head of each torpedo as it was loaded  into the tube.  They usually bore the names of  the torpedo crews' wives or girl friends.  Some would carry the name of a factory worker who had sold the most war bonds.  

That night, however, four of the Sealions fish (torpedoes)  carried the names Foster, O'Connell, Paul and Ogilvie.  These were four men who had been killed on the first Sealion three years earlier.  (I will do posts about that submarine soon.)

--GreGen