GRADUATION NIGHT AT "CONVOY CAMPUS"

In early 1944, a new operational plan for American submarines in the Pacific was devised by Adm. Charles Lockwood and Capt. Richard Voge. The submarines were divided into wolfpacks and sent out to designated patrol areas to disrupt Japanese
shipping.  The chief Tactical Officer of one of the packs was Cmdr. T. B. “Ben” Oakley aboard the Growler (SS-215). Two other submarines were in Oakley’s group - the Sealion II (SS-315) captained by Cmdr. Eli T. Reich, and the Pampanito (SS-383)
skippered by L/Cmdr. P. E. Summers.

The wolfpack was given the nickname of “Ben’s Busters” and assigned to Japanese shipping lanes in the South China Sea, code name Convoy College.  On 6 Septembr 1944, a Japanese convoy consisting of six ships and five escort vessels departed Singapore, bound for Japan. Two transport ships among the group
were crammed with Australian and British prisoners of war. The Rakuyo Maru was packed with 1300 POWs, while the Kachidoki Maru carried an additional 900 prisoners - including survivors from the Prince of Wales and Repulse. Tankers loaded with crude oil made up the balance of the convoy. On the night of September, two cargo vessels from Manila joined the flotilla and the convoy headed north.

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WW II'S GREATEST UNSOLVED MYSTERY

Why Was There Not A Single Survivor from the Doomed Cruiser 

HMAS SYDNEY?

In one of the strangest sea fight of all time, both combatants managed to sink each other.  Yet while many of the German sailors survived, not one Australian officer or crewman lived to tell what happened in HMAS Sydney's last tragic moments.

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PERRY AND HIS BLACK SHIPS

At a time when most men were contemplating a leisurely well-earned retirement, American Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, accepted the most challenging assignment of his long and successful Naval career.  Ordered to the Capitol by President Millard Fillmore, Perry was politely informed that a board of fellow Naval officers had nominated him to lead a provocative expedition to the barbarian land of Japan. Once there, Perry was to find a way to open trade with the mysteriously aloof Japanese. A younger brother of the famed hero of the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry, Matthew well knew that the Japanese had refused to allow any significant commerce with their island nation for well over 250-yrs. Foreigners were simply unwelcome in this land of Lotus blossoms and bombastic samurai warriors. Even accidentally shipwrecked sailors were met with unwanted cruelty and hatred that saw them tortured and imprisoned with absolutely no provocation.

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USS YORKTOWN "THE FIGHTING LADY"

As the United States was drawn into World War II,  it had only five attack carriers - Lexington, Saratoga,
Yorktown, Enterprise, and Wasp. The Navy’s first carrier, the Langley, had been converted to a seaplane tender. The Ranger was not fast enough to be considered for action in the broad Pacific, and the newest, the Hornet, had not yet undergone her shakedown cruise. With these carriers the U.S. Admirals had to fight the Japanese until some of the new Essex-class carriers were built.

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THE PRIDE OF BALTIMORE SAILS AGAIN

During the War of 1812, President James Madison tried to overcome the small size of the American Navy in regard to that of England’s mighty Royal Navy by issuing what were known as Letters of Marque and Reprisal to private shipowners. This legal document allowed the owners of these private vessels to arm them to act as privateers, or, essentially, as legal pirates, representing the young American Republic at sea.

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