USS Sterlet (SS-392) - Second War Patrol

Second War Patrol

The submarine remained at Midway for just over three weeks; then headed for its patrol area in the Nansei Shoto on 18 September. After sinking a small Japanese fishing boat on 9 October, Sterlet rescued six downed airmen off Okinawa. On 18 October, she made an unsuccessful attempt to close and attack one of six destroyers escorting three cruisers. Two days later, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a Japanese cargo ship, but all three missed. She made a third fruitless approach on 25 October and unleashed four torpedoes on small convoy. Results: four misses.

Not to be denied, Sterlet made another approach on the convoy. This time, four of the six fish she launched scored. Three hit a large gasoline tanker, and the fourth plowed into a freighter. The tanker, Jinei Maru, is known definitely to have gone down. Sterlet spent the remainder of the day evading the attacks of the escorts. That night, she allowed a hospital ship to pass unmolested. She attacked a small freighter with four torpedoes on 29 October, but had to surface and sink it with her deck gun. On 31 October, she made a night surface attack on a tanker previously damaged by Trigger (SS-237) and apparently sank it with a spread of six torpedoes. Sterlet then joined Trigger in escorting the damaged Salmon (SS-182) into Saipan.

From there, Sterlet put to sea on 10 November with six other submarines in a coordinated attack group. On the night of 15 November, she, Trigger, and Silversides (SS-236) engaged in a gun duel with an enemy sub chaser. Sterlet completely depleted her supply of five-inch (127 mm) shells in the battle and was forced to sink the enemy craft with torpedoes early the following morning. On 30 November, the submarine returned to the Submarine Base at Pearl Harbor.