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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.

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

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.

On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on May 09:
1265 Dante Alighieri Italian poet (Divina Commedia)
1740 Giovanni Paisiello Italian composer (Barber of Seville)
1783 Alexander Ross Canada, pioneer/fur trader
1785 James Pollard Espy Pennsylvania, meteorologist (Philosphy of Storms)
1800 John Brown abolitionist; led attack on Harpers Ferry
1824 William Edmonson "Grumble" Jones Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1837 Adam Opel German manufacturer (cycling, motorcars)
1843 Belle Boyd spy (Confederate)/actress/lecturer
1860 Sir James Matthew Barrie Scotland, novelist (Margaret Ogilvy, Peter Pan, The Little Minister)
1865 August de Boeck composer
1873 Howard Carter British archaeologist/Egyptologist (found King Tutankhamen's tomb)
1882 Henry J Kaiser builder (Liberty Ships, Jeeps, Boulder Dam)
1901 Fuzzy Knight Fairmont WV, actor (Oklahoma Annie, Cowboy & the Lady)
1910 Barbara Woodhouse dog training expert
1913 John Hayes Admiral
1914 Hank Snow Nova Scotia Canada, country singer ((Now And Then, There's) A Fool Such As I)
1918 Mike Wallace Brookline MA, newscaster (Biography, 60 Minutes)
1918 Orville Freeman Minneapolis MN, (Senator-D-MN)/Secretary of Agriculture (1961-69)
1927 Manfred Eigen German physicist/chemist (Nobel 1967)
1928 Richard A "Pancho" Gonzalez Los Angeles CA, tennis star (US 1948-49)
1931 Vance DeVoe Brand Longmont CO, astronaut (Apollo 18, STS-5, 41B, 35)
1936 Albert Finney Salford UK, actor (Dresser, Under the Volcano)
1936 Floyd Robinson baseball player (White Sox, Reds, A's)
1937 Dave Prater Ocilla GA, R/B vocalist (Sam & Dave)
1937 Sonny Curtis Meadow TX, guitarist (Crickets)
1944 Richard [Richie] Furay Yellow Springs OH, rock vocalist (Buffalo Springfield, Poco)
1946 Candice Bergen Beverly Hills, actress (Carnal Knowledge, Murphy Brown)
1949 Billy Joel Hicksville Long Island NY, singer/songwriter/piano player (Pianoman, Captain Jack, Bridge)
1949 Oleg Yuriyevich Atkov Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz T-10)
1950 Tom Petersson Rockford IL, rock bassist (Cheap Trick)
1962 John Corbett actor (Chris-Northern Exposure)
1980 Tatewin Means Miss South Dakota Teen USA (1996)

Deaths which occurred on May 09:
1079 Stanislaus Polish bishop of Cracow, murdered
1280 Magnus VI Lagaboeter King of Norway (1263-80), dies at 42
1443 Niccoló d'Albergati Italian cardinal, dies
1474 Peter van Hagenbach Elzasser knight/land guardian, beheaded

1657 William Bradford Governor (Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts), dies

1667 Marie Louise de Gonzague-Nevers French Queen of Poland (1645-48)
1688 Frederick William Great Elector of Brandenburg, dies at 68
1791 Francis Hopkinson US writer/music/lawyer, dies at 53
1864 "Uncle" John Sedgwick US Union general-major, dies in battle at 50
1864 Thomas Donnely Doubleday US Union Colonel, dies in an accident
1937 Walter Mittelholzer Swiss aviation pioneer, dies in crash at 43
1958 Bill Goodwin TV announcer (Burns & Allen), dies at 47
1965 Leopold Figl premier Austria, dies at 62
1968 Harold Gray US comic strip artist (Little Orphan Annie), dies at 74
1970 Walter Reuther UAW union leader/president (CIO), dies in a jet crash
1977 James Jones US writer (Bad Blood, From Here to Eternity), dies at 55
1981 Nelson Algren US writer (Man with the Golden Arm), dies at 72
1985 Edmond O'Brien actor (Sam Benedict, Johnny Midnight), dies at 69
1986 Tenzing Norgay Tibetan climber (Mount Everest 1953), dies at 71
1990 Pauline Frederick 1st woman to moderate Presidential debate, dies at 84
1992 Mike Tyrell [Red Baron] British air acrobat, dies in an accident

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 KARDELL DAVID A.---SONOMA CA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 7/31/89, ID 11/08/89]
1965 WISTRAND ROBERT C.---NEW YORK NY.
[CRASH NO PARA BEEPER SEARCH NEG]
1966 DEXTER BENNIE L.---BEND OR.
[CAPTURE WITNESSED JEEP FOUND]
1967 TODD ROBERT JACY---NORTH EASTON MA.
1968 LEOPOLD STEPHEN R.---OKLAHOMA CITY OK.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 VAN ARTSDALEN CLIFFORD V.---PLUMSTEADVILLE PA.
1970 HAIGHT STEPHEN H.---CAZENOVIA NY.
1972 REEDER WILLIAM S.---LAKE ARROWHEAD CA.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
1092 Lincoln Cathedral consecrated
1336 Italian poet Francesco Petrarca climbs Mont Ventoux
1502 Columbus left Spain on his 4th & final trip to New World
1573 Polish Parliament selects duke of Anjou as king
1671 Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels
1689 English King William III declares war on France
1753 King Louis XV disbands French parliament
1754 1st newspaper cartoon in America-divided snake "Join or die"
1785 Joseph Bramah receives British patent for beer pump handles
1788 English parliament accepts abolishing of slave trade
1837 "Sherrod" burns in Mississippi River below Natchez MS; 175 dies
1846 Battle of Resaca de la Palma-US sends México back to Rio Grande
1862 Battle of Farmington MS
1862 Battle of Fort Pickens FL (Pensacola), evacuated by CS
1862 US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis MD to Newport RI
1864 Battle of Cloyd's Mount & Swift Creek VA (Drewery's Bluff, Fort Darling)
1864 Battle of Dalton GA
1864 Ship battle at Helgoland, Austria-Denmark
1864 Skirmish at Ware Bottom Church VA
1889 15th Kentucky Derby: Thomas Kiley aboard Spokane wins in 2:34½
1896 1st horseless carriage show in London (featured 10 models)
1899 Lawn mower patented
1901 Australia opens its 1st parliament in Melbourne
1913 17th amendment provides for election of senators by popular vote
1914 40th Kentucky Derby: John McCabe aboard Old Rosebud wins in 2:03.4
1914 President Wilson proclaims Mother's Day
1916 British-France Sykes-Picot meet over division of Turkey
1925 Cornerstone for Hebrew University, Jerusalem laid
1926 Richard Byrd & Floyd Bennett make 1st flight over North Pole
1932 Piccadilly Circus, 1st lit by electricity
1933 Spanish anarchists call for general strike
1936 Italy takes Addis Ababa, annexing Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1939 Catholic church beatified the 1st Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha
1941 English Army breaks German spy codes
1943 5th German Panzer army surrenders in Tunisia
1944 Country singer Jimmie Davis becomes Governor of Louisiana
1944 Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol
1945 Czechoslovakia liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day)
1945 Jersey liberated from Nazis
1945 New balata ball used in baseball, 50% livilier
1945 Norwegian Nazi collaborators Vidkun Quisling arrested
1945 Victory celebration at Red Square
1946 King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicates, replaced by Umberto
1949 Prince Rainier III becomes leader of Monaco
1950 French Foreign minister Robert Schuman announces the Schuman Plan for European integration
1951 Air raid on Chinese positions at Yalu River
1955 German Federal Republic joins NATO
1958 Botvinnik recaptures world chess championship
1960 US is 1st country to use the birth control pill legally
1960 US send U-2 over USSR
1961 Baltimore Oriole Jim Gentile hits 2 grand slams (9 RBIs) vs Minnesota Twins
1961 FCC Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a "vast wasteland"
1962 Beatles sign their 1st contract with EMI Parlophone
1962 Laser beam successfully bounced off Moon for 1st time
1964 Peter & Gordon release "World Without Love"
1965 Beatles attend a Bob Dylan concert
1965 Luna 5 launched (USSR) 1st attempt to soft land on Moon (fails)
1966 1st black member of Federal Reserve Board (A F Brimmer)
1966 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Rebublic of China
1970 100,000s demonstrate against Vietnam War
1971 Friends of Earth return 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes
1977 Patty Hearst let out of jail
1978 Corpse of kidnapped ex-premier Aldo Moro found
1979 US & USSR sign Salt 2 treaty, limiting nuclear weapons
1980 35 motorists die as a Liberian freighter rams a Tampa Bay Bridge
1981 Kazimiroff Blvd in the Bronx named for a Bronx historian
1984 Chicago White Sox beat Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings (started 5/8, 8 hour 6 minute game-longest timed baseball game)
1987 Oriole Eddie Murray is 1st to switch hit homeruns in 2 consecutive games
1989 Journalists petition Chinese Government for freedom of press
1989 New York Mets Kevin Elster, errors after 88 errorless games at shortstop
1990 New York Newsday reporter Jimmy Breslin suspended for a racial slur
1991 Michael Landon appears on Tonight Show to talk about his cancer
1992 Michelle McLean, 19, of Namibia, crowned 41st Miss Universe
1993 Landslide in Nambija Ecuador, kills 300
1993 Paraguay holds its 1st presidential & parliamentary elections in 50 years
1995 Kinshasa, Zaire under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus
1997 1st US ambassador since Saigon fell arrives in Vietnam
2000 Former four-term Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was convicted of extortion schemes to manipulate the licensing of riverboat casinos.

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Channel Island : Liberation Day
Poland, USSR : Victory Day [in World War II]
World : North Pole Flight Day (1926)
US : Mother's Day, give her a call today (Sunday)
Ireland : Feis Ceoil music festival (1897) (Monday)
National Turn Off Your TV Week Ends
Let's Go Fishing Day
National Salvation Army Week Begins
National Police Week Begins
National Egg Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Joan
old Roman Catholic, Anglican : Commemoration of St Gregory Nazianzen, bp of Constantinople/doctor
Jewish : Lag B'Omer (love for Holy Land Day) (Iyar 18, 5753 AM)

Religious History
1619 In Holland, the six month long Synod of Dort ended. Confirming the authority of the "Heidelberg Catechism," the decisions of the Synod led to some 200 Arminian clergy being afterward deprived of their offices.
1828 Birth of Andrew Murray, South African Dutch Reformed clergyman and devotional writer. His most famous writing was "Abide in Christ" (1864).
1905 Birth of Merrill Dunlop, American sacred chorister and hymnwriter. He directed the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle for many years, and is author of the hymn, "My Sins Are Blotted Out, I Know."
1961 English apologist C.S. Lewis, offering an evaluation of English Bible translations, wrote in a letter: 'A modern translation is for most purposes far more useful than the Authorized [i.e., King James] Version.'
1983 John Paul II announced the reversal of the Catholic Church's 1633 condemnation of Galileo Galilei, the scientist who first espoused the Copernican (i.e., heliocentric) view of our solar system.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
To Mom:
"If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd walk through a garden forever."

Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

Stocks To Watch In 2004 Watch for these consolidations in 2004 and make yourself a bundle...
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Guide to REAL driving...
Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or
even someone changing a tire.