History of Sea Devil

A complete summary of the life and times of the USS SEA DEVIL SS400 from cradle to grave.

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships of the
NAVAL HISTORY DIVISION,
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY,
WASHINGTON: 1976.

Manta birostria, the largest of all rays, noted for power and endurance.

Launching 18 November 1943

The first SEA DEVIL (SS-400) was laid down on 18 November 1943 at the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard; launched on 28 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Sherman K. Kennedy

Mrs. S. S. KENNEDY, sponsor of the USS Sea Devil, is shown at the left of the above photo taken yesterday afternoon in the Launching stand at the Portsmouth navy yard. With Mrs. Kennedy are Rear Adm. Thomas Withers, USN, Mrs. H. H. Lupinski and Rear Admiral Kennedy, USN. (Portsmouth Herald photo)

On Sponsor's Stand
Among those on the sponsor's stand were . . . Mrs. R. E. Styles and young daughter, . . .

Commissioning 28 February 1944

When the navy yard people have completed construction and the testing and performance of the new boat has met the requirements of the Bureau of Ships, she is accepted and given a commission to perform as designed for the fleet. The crew has been assembled and trained and are ready to take possession and put to sea under orders to put out for her home port at Pearl Harbor, HI.

She was completed and after testing was commissioned on 24 May 1944, Lt. Comdr. Ralph E. Styles in command.

Now isn't that reason enough for a party?

You bet

Most of the enlisted crew was assigned to the new-construction-Sea Devil. During completion of construction and attendance at schools connected with the boat and with submarining. The following picture is of a class of enlisted men, most of whom were to become commissioning crews of boats being built at Portsmouth Navy Yard

These pictures speak for themselves: part of the party celebrating the commissioning of Sea Devil

And now it's Anchors Aweigh!

After Completing shakedown training at New London, SEA DEVIL departed that port on 11 July 1944 and arrived at her home port, Pearl Harbor, on 9 August to join Submarine Division (SubDiv) 281 and prepare for her first war patrol.

On the way down the coast, we put in at New London for shakedown operations; While liberty in New London, some of the crew were captured on film at the Victory Restaurant 195 Bank Street, New London.

The Panama Canal was a big treat for those of us who were still in our teens. Captain Styles gave us a break by making a pause in the Gatun Lake in mid-canal for a swim over the side.

The greater buoyancy of the fresh water of the lake made it a challenge
getting back up onto the bow planes.

First Patrol

3 Sept 1944 to 25 Oct. 1944

Patrol One was started upon leaving Midway Island where she had stopped to top-off the fuel and stores. By the 15th she was 500 miles off Honshu, and, during the early morning darkness, made contact with her first enemy ships-two sampan type patrol vessels. Rough seas, however, precluded an attack, and she continued on to patrol in the shipping lanes to Japan's major ports: Yokohama, Kobe, and Osaka.

On the 16th, at 0432, SEA DEVIL made her second contact; submerged; and commenced closing the target. At 0538, the enemy, a cargo submarine, was sighted. At 0545, SEA DEVIL made her first attack. Four torpedoes were fired. Two exploded against the target. SEA DEVIL lost depth control. A minute later, periscope depth was regained. Brown smoke marked the enemy's previous location. Seven underwater explosions followed. By 0553, a large oil slick covered the site where I-364 had gone down.

SEA DEVIL reloaded and continued to move closer to Japan. On the 17th and 18th, mountainous seas inhibited hunting. On the 21st, the submarine commenced running along the 100 fathom curve, but the strong Kuroshio Current there caused her to lose ground and forced her to shift her course.

On the morning of the 22d, she made several contacts, but all were too small. During the early afternoon, she sighted a small convoy and fired on a freighter. The target turned toward the submarine. SEA DEVIL went deep. An hour later, the surface ships had gone and the hunted submarine again became a hunter.

During her remaining 22 days on station, SEA DEVIL attacked several targets, but scored on none. In mid-October, she headed for Majuro Atoll for refit alongside USS Gilmore

Second Patrol

19 Nov 1944 to

At the end of the month, SEA DEVIL entered the East China Sea and turned toward the Kyushu coast. On 1 December, just prior to midnight, she made radar contact with a distant convoy and commenced running with the state-five sea on four engines to gain position. At 0239 on the 2d, she changed course to close the convoy. A minute later, she took a wave over the bridge which knocked the starboard lookout onto the bridge deck; flooded the main induction and both engine rooms to the lower deck plates; and sent water through the supply line into the after battery compartment, the crew's mess, and the radio shack. A solid stream came into the control room via the conning tower. But, other than numerous electrical grounds, no damage was sustained.

By 0320, SEA DEVIL was 1,200 yards ahead and 3,000 yards off the port track of the convoy. The radar showed 11 definite targets and indicated the presence of others. Weather and visibility, however, worked against a night surface attack. At 0322, a floating mine was sighted less than 100 yards off the port how. SEA DEVIL swung right with full rudder. Ten minutes later, she submerged and commenced her approach, heading for the port flank of the convoy. By 0400, the moon had clouded over. Periscope observations became progressively more difficult.

At 0413, an escort, pinging, passed SEA DEVIL close aboard. Sound conditions were also poor. At 0414 SEA DEVIL commenced firing. Four Mark 18 torpedoes headed for a medium-sized freighter, but all missed.
At 0424, she fired No. 5 and No. 6 tubes at a large ship 600 yards away. Forty seconds later, the torpedoes hit, throwing a huge column of debris into the air. At 0425, SEA DEVIL swung right to avoid an escort ahead of the ships in the center column.

By 0427, water was over the deck of the stricken merchant ship. At 0428, another escort passed SEA DEVIL. A minute later, SEA DEVIL fired four torpedoes from her stern tubes at a large passenger/cargo Maru 1,300 yards away. A look around through the periscope then revealed a larger freighter in the center column less than 150 yards away and headed directly for the submarine.

SEA DEVIL went deep. At 0430, she was jolted by a tremendous explosion. Her torpedoes had hit, and from the concussion it appeared that the ship had been carrying ammunition. Breaking up noises quickly followed the explosion. SEA DEVIL leveled off at 500 feet and rigged for depth charging. Twelve were counted; none was close. Escorts milled about overhead for the next 40 minutes; then the sound of screws faded out. Pinging was heard for a while longer, and distant depth charges were heard for several hours.

After sinking AKIGAWA MARU and HAWAII MARU, SEA DEVIL continued to patrol the sea lanes to Kyushu. On the 4th, she received a positive ship contact report from a China-based B-29, but the position was too distant. On the 5th, she sighted only two small fishing trawlers. Then, on the evening of the 8th, she made radar contact with four distant targets zigging on various courses toward Nagasaki. SEA DEVIL went to full power on four engines and began gaining slowly. At 16,000 yards, the radar pips were estimated to be one BB or CV, two CL's, and four DD's. Darkness and intermittent rain squalls interfered with visibility.

By 0000, 9 December, SEA DEVIL had gained a good position 10,000 yards ahead of the nearest escort and 3,000 yards off the port track of the largest pip. At 0005, she began a submerged radar approach.

At 0017, she began tracking by sound, and, ten minutes later she fired four Mark 23 torpedoes at the target.Two hit. Poor visibility precluded a damage assessment. SEA DEVIL went deep and rigged for depth charging but, by 0050, the sounds of searching surface ships faded out

At 0107, the submarine surfaced and headed up the target's track. An hour later, she reversed her course and headed back to her patrol area. That evening sister ship PLAICE (SS-390) confirmed SEA DEVIL's hits, but was unable to provide a damage estimate. Later reports identified the damaged ship as the aircraft carrier JUNYO, which was subsequently damaged further by submarine REDFISH (SS-395). JUNYO remained in the repair yard through the end of the war.

Third Patrol

7 February 1945 - 20 April 1945

On 7 February 1945, SEA DEVIL cleared Pearl Harbor for her 3d war patrol. On the 19th, she arrived at Saipan for training in wolfpack tactics, and, on the 27th, she sailed for the Yellow Sea in company with submarines TENCH (SS-417), GUARDFISH (SS-217), and BALAO (SS-285).

At the end of the month, she was diverted to search for downed aviators; and, on 3 March, she continued on to her patrol area to further decrease the declining traffic between China and Manchuria, and the Japanese home islands.

For over a week, fishing junks, sailing junks, and floating mines provided the only contacts. On the 24th, she sighted a large tanker with four escorts but lost the convoy. On the 25th, she sighted and evaded a Japanese hunter-killer group. On the 29th, she sank or exploded four mines and attempted to do& the same to two others. Fog shrouded her area during the last days of the month. On 2 April, visibility was still poor, less than 1,000 yards.

At 0710, she made radar contact with an enemy convoy-four merchantmen and three escorts.

At 0915, she commenced firing at the lead merchant ship. Forty seconds later, she fired at the next ship. She then swung around to bring her stern tubes to bear on a third merchant ship; found herself well inside the escort on the convoy's starboard quarter; continued swinging and fired three stern shots at the escort.

Between 0819 and 0822, seven hits were heard and felt. SEA DEVIL then left the formation and opened range to reload. The radar screen now showed only three small pips. The 3d torpedo of the 1st salvo had apparently missed its target and run on to hit the third Maru. After reloading, the submarine tracked the remaining units of the convoy. Shortly after 1000, she fired on and damaged one of the escorts.

Forty minutes later, she fired on the remaining merchantman and observed it suddenly disappear from the radar screen. After 1100, she made her way through the wreckage to pick up survivors. Only four allowed themselves to be picked up; and, of these, one died of his wounds. Of the seven ships, SEA DEVIL had sunk three, cargo ships TAIJO MARU, EDOGAWA MARU, and MISSHAN MARU, and had damaged the fourth Maru and at least one of the escorts.

The submarine remained in her Yellow Sea patrol area for another three days, then headed for Midway.

On the 6th, however, she received orders to patrol south of Kyushu, and, on the 8th, she was ordered closer to Okinawa in search of four downed Marine Corps pilots. The pilots, from aircraft carrier ESSEX (CV-9), had been covering the movements of battleship YAMATO and, on running low on fuel, had ditched in a location they thought to be near Okinawa. Prior to midnight, on the 8th, SEA DEVIL located three of the pilots 200 miles northeast of Okinawa. The search for the fourth continued through the night.

With dawn on the 9th, friendly planes joined in the search. But they, too, were unsuccessful; and, in the late afternoon the submarine continued southeastward. On 13 April, SEA DEVIL arrived at Saipan. On the 20th, she completed her patrol, for which she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, at Midway.

Fourth Patrol

20 May 1945 to 10 July 1945

On 28 May, she was back at Saipan; and, on the 3Oth, she, with Ronquil (SS-896) and Paddle (SS-263), got underway for the East China and Yellow. Seas. On 6 June, she entered the East China Sea via Tokara Kaikyo and headed northward to the Yellow Sea. On the 7th, she made her way through the islands of southwestern Korea; and, on the 8th, she commenced patrolling between the Shantung peninsula and Korea.

On the afternoon of the 14th, a cargo ship, with an escort on either side, was sighted through the high periscope. Sea Devil submerged; maneuvered into position- fired four torpedoes down-the-throat; then changed course radically to avoid a collision with the target. Twenty-three seconds after firing, two of the torpedoes hit the target. Wakamiyasan Maru went under. Her escorts dropped depth charges. Five were fairly close. Sea Devil dropped below a 20° temperature gradient and worked her way out.

On the morning of the 21st, she sighted three armed trawlers, one under tow, headed from Shantung toward Korea. At 0943, she surfaced and, three minutes later, commenced firing with her 5-inch gun, 40 millimeter, and 20 millimeter guns. The 40 millimeter soon jammed, but fire from the 5-inch gun and 20 millimeter guns sank the trawler being towed and left a second burning and settling:. The third, the towing~ vessel, cast loose and headed west under full steam. Sea Devil picked up three survivors and moved south to patrol in another area.

Poor weather impaired hunting during the next six days. On the 27th, however, she was able to take photographs of Saishu To and Chiri To; and, on the 29th, she was diverted to search and rescue operations. Assisted by a Coronado and a PBM. she picked up a PBM crew from Rescue Squadron 4, Kerama Retto, on the evening of the 30th; then located the pilot of an Army P-47 based at le Shima. Another man, who had become separated, was located by accompanying aircraft the following morning and was picked up before noon.

Sea Devil remained on life guard duty in the northern Ryukus and southern Kyushu area until 10 July, then headed east to Guam for refit and the installation of Loran equipment and a radio direction finder.

Fifth Patrol

9 August 1945 to 3 Sept 1945

On 9 August, she headed back to the Yellow Sea. On the 14th, she transited the Nansei Shoto, passing south of Akuseki Shima; and, on the 15th, after entering her patrol area, she received word of Japan's acceptance of Allied surrender terms. For another two weeks, Sea Devil remained in the area, looking for and sinking mines. On the 27th, she sighted a fishing vessel near a mine. Closer inspection showed that the fisherman was using the mine as a buoy and had secured his net to the mine horns. On the 28th, the submarine was ordered to Guam; then diverted to Subic Bay, where she arrived on 3 September.

Post War operations of Sea Devil SS400

Emblem of the SS400 as designated in this incarnation as AGSS400
Plaque found by Charlie Petit at a garage sale in San Diego in 1980.

The above inscription is on the backing of the
picture signed by the man in charge of the exercise, Bob Thompson

The following links take you to other items of interest about the Sea Devil during WWII

The History of Sea Devil SS400

History Of SS400