USS Tullibee (SS-284) - Third War Patrol

Third War Patrol

Tullibee's third patrol was in a "wolfpack" with sister ships Halibut and Haddock. The trio sortied from Pearl Harbor on December 14 1943 for the Mariana Islands to intercept enemy shipping plying between Truk and Japan. On January 2, 1944, Tullibee sighted a Japanese I-class submarine submarine on the surface and launched four torpedoes at a range of 3,000 yards (2,700 m). The enemy saw the wakes and combed the four of them as Tullibee was forced deep by an enemy floatplane that dropped six bombs.

On January 19, Haddock reported that she had damaged the Japanese escort carrier Unyō, which limped to Saipan. Tullibee sighted the carrier there on January 25, close ashore and well protected by escorts and aircraft. The submarine remained on station for several days awaiting an opportunity to sink the aircraft carrier. However, when she surfaced on January 28, she learned that the carrier had slipped away. Three days later, the submarine made radar contact with two targets. She launched three torpedoes at what appeared to be a freighter and swung left to fire one at the escort. The first target, net tender Hiro Maru, took two hits and disintegrated in about one minute. The torpedo fired at the escort missed, and the submarine went deep to evade. Tullibee cleared the area the following day and returned to Pearl Harbor on February 10.