Fifth, Sixth and Seventh War Patrols
Although both the fifth and sixth war patrols were also unproductive, during the seventh, conducted in the vicinity of Guam, Snapper sank her initial victim of the war. According to her war diary, she sighted two vessels moored in the extreme northeast corner of Apra Harbor, Guam, and decided to patrol submerged off the harbor until they departed. Seven days later, on 27 August, she headed to the north of the harbor, firing three torpedoes at the first target and one at the second. As she quickly departed the vicinity, Snapper observed one hit on the first target, sinking the passenger-cargo ship Tokai Maru, stern first.
On 2 September, Snapper closed a convoy of five cargo ships and two escorts. The primary targets, the cargo ships, zigged away; and, when the port escort came into view "head on," the submarine fired a "down-the-throat" shot at the escort, Japanese frigate Mutsure, that blew the enemy's bow completely off and enveloped her in flames as she sank. The submarine quickly cleared the locality as the other escort commenced a depth charge attack. On 6 September, Snapper intercepted another convoy and fired three torpedoes; but all were misses. On 17 September, she terminated her seventh patrol at Pearl Harbor.
Read more about this topic: USS Snapper (SS-185)
Famous quotes containing the words sixth, seventh and/or war:
“Thou shalt not kill.”
—Bible: Hebrew Exodus, 20:13.
The sixth commandment.
“When my face turned toward his,
I averted it
and looked at my feet.
When my ears clamored
to hear his talk,
I stopped them.
When my cheeks broke out
in sweat and goosebumps,
I covered them with my hands.
But Friends,
when the seams of my bodice
burst in a hundred places,
what could I do?”
—Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)
“Every country we conquer feeds us. And these are just a few of the good things we’ll have when this war is over.... Slaves working for us everywhere while we sit back with a fork in our hands and a whip on our knees.”
—Curtis Siodmak (1902–1988)