The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Commander Howard W. Gilmore - May 9th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Howard W. Gilmore – American Hero



by JOCS(SW/AW) Darrell D. Ames

Pearl Harbor, HI -- One of the most inspiring legends of the submarine force to emerge from World War II was a selfless act of heroism by submarine commander Howard W. Gilmore. The Selma, Alabama native immortalized the phrase “take her down” as he courageously gave his life to save his ship.

Gilmore took command of the USS Growler (SS 215) in March, 1942 and sailed her into the Pacific theater. The ship, the fourth boat of the 81-ship Gato (SS 212) class, left Brisbane, Australia January 1, 1943 on her sixth war patrol. On January 16, Growler sank a 6,000-ton Japanese passenger-cargo ship and, on the final day of the month, attacked a 2,500-ton converted gunboat without success.


Japanese patrol vessel burning after being attacked by Growler (SS-215)

On the night of February 7, while charging batteries, CDR Gilmore saw what he believed to be the converted gunboat he had failed to sink just a week before. It was, however, a 900-ton provision ship, but Growler had already gone to battle stations and was in pursuit. The enemy ship spotted Growler from a mile away and turned towards the sub to ram it head on. Growler’s crew was slow to detect the target’s change in course.

Gilmore’s family believed he had been born under an “unlucky star.” It was now shining brightly. The small ship suddenly emerged out of the darkness dead ahead while Gilmore, on the bridge, sounded the collision alarm and shouted, “left full rudder!” Gilmore intended to avoid both ramming and being rammed. However, the swing of the ship left put Growler on collision course and she struck the enemy boat amidships while traveling at 17 knots.

The massive impact sent Growler heeling 50 degrees and threw everyone below decks off their feet. The crew of the gunboat immediately manned their machine guns and let out with a deadly spray of bullets across Growler’s bridge. The assistant officer of the deck, Ensign William Williams, and lookout, Fireman Kelley, were killed instantly. Gilmore, wounded, was clinging to the bridge frame while the enemy machine guns roared. Amid the chaos several other crewmembers on the bridge could hear Gilmore give the order, “Clear the bridge!”



The officer of the deck, the quartermaster, and two wounded lookouts hurried down the hatch into the conning tower. The executive officer, LCDR Arnold Schade, stood at the foot of the ladder waiting for Gilmore to come down. Realizing that he could not get below in time if the ship were to be saved, Gilmore chose to make the supreme sacrifice for his shipmates. Then came the final command from the skipper – one that would become submarine legend.

“Take her down!”

“Do I save the ship or save the captain,” his mind raced. The XO decided to follow his captain’s final order and save the ship. He gave orders to dive and Growler disappeared below the waves, leaving Howard Gilmore, along with the bodies of Williams and Kelley, topside. No one knows how long Gilmore lived in the water and the Japanese apparently made no effort to capture him. It is believed he drifted off into the darkness, carried off by the winds and current into immortality.


Radio Call Sign: November - Charlie - Bravo - Papa

Beneath the waves, LCDR Schade, dazed and bruised from a fall from the conning tower to the control room, turned his focus to the battle at hand. The impact of the collision had bent 18 feet of Growler’s bow, rendering her forward torpedo tubes useless. Saltwater poured through bullet holes in the conning tower. Schade gave orders to surface and sink the enemy boat, but realized the seas were empty when she came up. It was initially believed the enemy had gone down following the collision and subsequent machine gun attack, but the ship had simply departed the area, living to fight on, as did Growler.


USS Growler (SS-215) at Brisbane, Australia, for repairs to her bow, after she rammed a Japanese patrol vessel in the Bismarck Islands on 7 February 1943.

The XO was able to get the leaks repaired and limped slowly back to Brisbane. Upon returning Growler received an endorsement from RADM James J. Fife, task force commander. “The performance of the officers and crew in effecting repairs and bringing the ship safely back to base is one of the outstanding submarine feats of the war to date,” said Fife. “Growler will be repaired and will fight again,” he added.

Growler did fight again, sinking four more enemy vessels before sadly going down herself with all hands in November, 1944 under the command of CDR Thomas B. Oakley.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

http://www.csp.navy.mil/centennial/gilmore.htm
http://www.submarinesailor.com/Boats/SS215Growler/default.asp
http://www.mississippi.net/~comcents/tendertale.com/tenders/116/116.html
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_4/sub_herohoward.html

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USS Howard W. Gilmore from a 1950 photograph

Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16), originally Neptune but renamed before launching, was launched by Mare Island Navy Yard, Mare Island, Calif., 16 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. H. W. Gilmore, widow of Commander Gilmore; and commissioned 24 May 1944, Captain D. N. Cone in command.

For her first 2 months, Howard W. Gilmore conducted shakedown training out of San Diego. After loading parts and supplies she sailed 12 August for Pearl Harbor, arriving 18 August. Howard W. Gilmore arrived Majuro Atoll 19 September 1944, and began her vital tending duties. In the 4 months that followed she made voyage repairs on submarines, replenished them, and helped in training both crewmen and repairmen. She thus did much to maintain the high-intensity attack on Japanese shipping which hastened the end of the war. The ship also provided repairs and parts to surface ships when necessary.

Returning to Pearl for Harbor 29 January 1945, she took on replacement crews for Australia-based submarines and sailed for Brisbane, arriving 23 February. But the busy tender was soon underway again, this time sailing via Humboldt Bay to Subic Bay, Philippines, with supplies for an advanced base. Howard W. Gilmore arrived 13 March and immediately started refitting 7th Fleet subs and setting up a recuperation area for their crews. She continued this duty through the climactic days of the Pacific war, sailing for the East Coast, via Pearl Harbor and Panama 31 August 1945.



Arriving New York 17 October, Howard W. Gilmore took part in the joyous Navy Day celebrations in New York Harbor, where the fleet was reviewed by President Truman. After a short stay in New London, Conn., Howard W. Gilmore steamed to Portsmouth, NH, to load torpedoes and then sailed to her new home port, Key West, where she arrived 25 January 1946. Serving Submarine Squadron 4, the ship was to stay in Florida for the greater part of the next 13 years, serving submarines on their far-flung training and readiness duties. The ship occasionally tended submarines at Norfolk, and deployed to the Caribbean twice during this period, notably for Operation Springboard, a giant fleet exercise in the Caribbean in 1958.

Howard W. Gilmore sailed into storied Charleston harbor 30 July 1959 to take up her tending duties from this new base. In addition to servicing submarines during the next 18 months, the ship rode out Hurricane Donna in September 1960 off Charleston. During 1961 she operated off the Florida coast before entering Charleston Naval Shipyard in November for a major overhaul. During this repair period Howard W. Gilmore was fitted with facilities for servicing nuclear submarines, increasing her versatility and usefulness for today's nuclear Navy. With this important Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization Overhaul (FRAM) completed the ship returned to the Caribbean for refresher training before resuming tender duties at Charleston.

In October 1962 the introduction of offensive missiles into Cuba brought strong response from the American President and people - a naval quarantine of the island. Howard W. Gilmore's crew worked `round the clock servicing two squadrons of submarines for Caribbean operations. American naval power forced the removal of the Communist threat to the Western Hemisphere.

From 1963 into 1969, the veteran tender continued to serve submarines from her home port, Charleston, making short cruises for training off the South Carolina coast and in the Caribbean.

Howard W. Gilmore and her sister tenders fulfill the goal expressed In the slogan: "Service for the silent service.

History from the Dictionary of American Fighting Ships.


USS Howard W. Gilmore AS 16 in 1971

In 1970, The Howard W. Gilmore relieved the Bushnell (AS 15) at Key West, then after some yard time on the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast, Howard W. Gilmore departed for her new homeport of La Maddalena, Sardinia, Italy - where she provided service and support from mid 1973 until just before her decommissioning in 1980.

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[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy.

[snippy_about_it]

:-)

Good night Sam.

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

Happy Mother's Day
to our Military Mom's

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for remembering Mother's Day. Mind you I'm not one but I do have one and shouldn't have forgot!

[SAMWolf]

You didn't forgot, you knew I had it covered. :-)

[snippy_about_it]

you knew I had it covered

It was nice of you. I've never been real big on "Hallmark" holidays. One of my pet peeves. Too much consumerism. Is that even a word? LOL.

Time to hit the hay. Goodnight.

[Iris7]

A little known statistic is that 25% of all of the Navy men who took a submarine war cruise against the Japanese were killed by enemy action. This is an especially large number since the Navy made a great effort to relieve submarine sailors of combat duty before they were lost. The men would insist on going out with their ship, knowing the odds against them, and not come back.

I don't believe that even the 8th Air Force bomber crew had anything like this death rate. I could be wrong.

The English night bombing crewmen had a worse death rate, by the way. They had something like a one in thirty loss per mission on the average, two or three missions a week, and a thirty mission tour. Then a ten week stint in Training Command, and then another tour of bombers. Do three tours and you were done. Some made it, nerve a little shaken. This was in '43 and the first half of '44.

[E.G.C.]

Happy Mother's Day from E.G.C.

[The Mayor]

I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. —2 Timothy 1:5

No man is poor who has had a godly mother. —Abraham Lincoln

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

[tomball]

Good Morning Foxhole,

Another Great Post, and another Great Day.
May this Mother's Day be warm and sunny to all.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning PE. Great Flag-o-gram today.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Iris7. You were first one in today!!!

I didn't know that the figures of loss were so high on WWII submarines. I do know that the B-17 bombers we were flying in Europe had high odds of loss. They needed to complete 25 missions yet odds were against them. Sam and I just watched the History Channels Heavy Metal show on B-17's. I know he will know more about the 8th Air Force than I do. This is what I found.

"Some interesting facts about the 8th Air Force. The average life of a B-17 bomber and crew was 15 missions. From August 17, 1942 to May 8, 1945, the 8th Air Force had the following statistics:

Personnel missing in action: 39,007; personnel killed in action: 2,818; B-17s lost: 4,754; B-24s lost: 2,112."

[snippy_about_it]

I plan on a relaxing day, hope yours is too.