USS Gudgeon (SS-211) - Seventh and Eighth War Patrols

Seventh and Eighth War Patrols

Gudgeon's seventh war patrol, from 13 March into April 1943, netted her two more Japanese ships before she ran out of torpedoes and had to return to Australia. On 22 March she sank the 5434-ton transport Meigen Maru as well as seriously damaging two other ships in the Java Sea convoy some 30 miles north of Surabaya, Java, Netherlands East Indies. Five days later Gudgeon took on 9987-ton tanker Tōhō Maru in a night surface attack in the Makassar Strait punctuated by bursts of gunfire as the Japanese ships spotted and fired on the submarine. It took five torpedoes to sink Toko Maru, and most of Gudgeon's crew enjoyed the rare treat of watching her slide into the depths. Another attack later the same day damaged the 1192-ton tanker Kyoei Maru.

On her eighth war patrol, conducted as she sailed from Australia to Pearl Harbor on 15 April to 25 May 1943, Gudgeon chalked up three more kills. Her first came 28 April as she sank Kamakura Maru, a former ocean liner, southwest of Naso Point, Panay, Philippines. The 17,526-ton transport was the largest Japanese transport, and one of the largest enemy ships sunk by an American submarine. Special operations interrupted Gudgeon's patrol as she landed six trained guerrilla fighters and three tons of equipment for the guerrilla movement on Panay on 30 April. After sinking the 500-ton trawler Naku Maru with her deck guns west of Panay 4 May, Gudgeon battle-surfaced again that same day and left a coastal steamer burning and settling. Eight days later, on 12 May, she torpedoed and sank the 5861-ton freighter Sumatra Maru off Bulusan, Luzon, Philippines. Returning to Pearl Harbor, the veteran submarine was sent to San Francisco, California, for badly needed overhaul, her first since commissioning two years earlier.