Eleventh War Patrol
Gudgeon's 11th war patrol saw a few successful sinkings of Japanese vessels, the first on 11 February. Before this sinking the submarine had a spell of bad luck where, on 2 February 1944, she had sighted a damaged aircraft carrier with two escorts. Gudgeon had closed for attack, but the escorts spotted her and attacked. A down-the-throat shot with four torpedoes temporarily discouraged the destroyers and allowed Gudgeon to seek deep water and safety, but when she surfaced the Japanese men-of-war were gone. Later in the same patrol Gudgeon was forced to try another down-the-throat shot at an enemy escort, but no hits. Success came only on 11 February. This date saw her torpedoing and sinking the already damaged (by Chinese air attack) 3091-ton merchant Satsuma Maru off Wenchow, China. On 17 February Gudgeon sank a Japanese sampan with gunfire in the East China Sea, another sampan being damaged in the attack. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 March 1944.
Read more about this topic: USS Gudgeon (SS-211)
Famous quotes containing the words eleventh and/or war:
“The eleventh day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Eleven ladies dancing,”
—Unknown. The Twelve Days of Christmas (l. 76–78)
“We had won. Pimps got out of their polished cars and walked the streets of San Francisco only a little uneasy at the unusual exercise. Gamblers, ignoring their sensitive fingers, shook hands with shoeshine boys.... Beauticians spoke to the shipyard workers, who in turn spoke to the easy ladies.... I thought if war did not include killing, I’d like to see one every year. Something like a festival.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)