John Clear EMC(SS) USN Ret.
April 24, 2007
Much has been written over the years
regarding the USS Sealion SS-195 and her ill-fated trip into destiny’s pages,
she being our first submarine casualty in World War II. The Sealion was effectively sunk at Sangley
Point, Republic of the
One immediate omission of that morning
was the fact that even though we were now “officially” at war with
Next on the list of what actually
happened was the scuttling of the submarine by our own forces to prevent her
use in any way by the Japanese. By most
correct accounts, the boat was down hard by the stern in mud and debris,
listing toward starboard. Over the next
two weeks, when possible, various gear was removed from the wreck such as the
TDC from the conning tower, the Mark 19 gyro, and even the health records
aboard. The after half of the boat was
inaccessible and the bodies of the four crew members remained there (another
fact not commonly known). It was on
Christmas Day 1941 that charges were placed in the forward end of the sub and
she was scuttled, in place where she had been first hit outboard of the USS
Seadragon who was tied to the sea wall at that time. (another previous point of
difference).
There the story goes on hold for about four years
until war’s end. The
The above pictures of the Sealion were
taken at war’s end. In the 2nd
the conning tower is clearly seen in place, even providing a perch for a local
fisherman. The starboard list is still
apparent.
It was about at this point that I had
thought I knew where the Sealion could
be located “until” I found the following two pictures posted on the internet as
donated by Rich Crank ENCS USN Ret.
At this point I located Rich Crank in
This original location was also
confirmed by Joe Jordon who had been stationed there aboard a tug boat that
tied up nose to wreck many a time. Joe
said that the wreck would be covered in about 10 to 15 feet of water at high
tide.
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(The following are the questions
asked and answers provided by Rich Crank ENCS USN Ret. regarding the 1959 salvage
of the USS Sealion)
Q: Some of the submarine historians say the remains of the
four killed on the USS Sealion when initially bombed in 1941 were removed
(prior to the 1959 salvage.
A: The skeletal remains we
found were found scattered throughout the boat. We simply gathered all of them,
bagged them up and they were shipped off to someplace unknown to me. I assume
they were shipped to
Q: I have read the first person report of the engineering
officer, Eli Reich who just passes by the whole subject saying the stern was
deep in the mud.
A: The entire boat was
buried in mud except for portions of the superstructure. That inlet
between
Q: and the crew had set charges in the forward torpedo room
to scuttle her on Christmas day 1941.
A: There was evidence of
internal explosions.
Q: Was there a Navy salvage directive to reference the
salvage?
A: There was no salvage
directive issued that I am aware of outside the local command. During my time
there the
This was a case where the
small diving unit there didn't really have a job to do. I wasn't attached to
the diving unit even though I was a qualified Salvage Diver having attended the
Salvage Diving school at the old Naval Gun Factory at Washington, D. C.
three years previously. I was attached to the staff of COMNAVFORPHIL in charge
of the staff boat pool. I had 16 men and four boats so I didn't have much of a
job either.
I believe what they did (
this is not fact) was simply get permission from the Commander Naval Forces
Bare in mind that the
majority of enlisted personal work force stationed there were left over WWII
sailors. They were known as the Insular Force. American sailors
were in the minority.
Q: What happened to any personal effects?
A: All personal effects
that could be identified as belonging to a crew member by name were boxed and
shipped to surviving family members. Here again, I was just told this and
don't know for fact that it was shipped off to where they said it would
go. There were two good conduct medals that were supposedly boxed and
shipped off to family members.
Many of the personnel
stationed there gathered one or more souvenirs, either something of a
personal nature or a part of the Sub. I never kept anything for myself. I only
wanted the photographs I took. The Filipino sailors took about all that was not
permanently attached.
During and after the
salvage of the boat there was no historical value placed or discussed about the
vessel other than the Japs had wiped out the repair facility and bombed
the sub. The general attitude of the wheels in power was, "It's a
piece of junk, let’s get it up and get it the hell out of the way." The
officer in charge of the repair facility was a LCDR Barr. He was also the
diving officer but was not a qualified diver.
The boat was still afloat
when I was transferred back to the states. Before I left there was talk of
either cutting it up for scrap or towing it out to deep water and sinking
again. My guess is that it was taken out and sank in deep water at some
location off of
I wish I could remember
names of the personnel I worked with over there but the only one I remember is
the O in C which I mentioned previously. It's odd that I remember 95 percent of
the names of shipmates from the first ship I was on and don't remember a hand
full of names from all the other ships and duty stations except ones who
became a close friend.
Q: Did this LCDR Barr get his orders from ComNavForPhil directly?
A: I am going to state the
following but please do not accept it as fact because I am relying solely on
memory which is not my best asset these days.
I seem to recall that LCDR Barr and the repair officer who was a W-3
Warrant Officer and I do not recall his name, along with the divers pestering
the both of them for lack of anything else to do, they wanted to salvage the
sub just to move it from alongside the dock claiming it was a hazard to the
small craft docking there. That was BS because there were 25 feet of water and
nothing ever docked there with a draft greater than 15 feet.
LCDR Barr's boss was the
CO of Naval Air Station, Sangley Point, P. I. Captain McCallister and of course
McCallister's boss was COMNAVFORPHIL. I don't recall that Rear Admiral's name.
The way it seemed to me at the time LCDR Barr simply requested permission
through the chain of command up to COMNAVFORPHIL and the Admiral gave the go
ahead. I doubt very seriously if the request went any higher up the chain of
command than COMNAVFORPHIL. Again, please understand that I am just assuming
this based on what little I was aware of during the planning stage. I realize
how important facts are to you vs. "Ole granny tales" or
"Sea Stories" in cases like this. I don't want to be found guilty of
distorting historical facts in any way or fashion.
All high ranking officers
attached to COMNAVFORPHIL and the Naval Air Station were aviators. The majority
of American enlisted men were also aviators. I am sure you are aware of the
attitude aviators had towards surface and sub sailors back then.
I’ve copied the photo
(sent) and marked the X's of the subs location. The bow of the sub was pointed
towards the end of the peninsula (seaward). Evidently the sub had been tied at
the sea wall there.
That dock where that
vessel is tied up to alongside the X's was not there then. The old
dock had been dismantled and removed and a new one built in its place to serve
as the enlisted men’s boat loading dock. The smaller
dock to the left was there during my time.
There was a ramp at that
end of the runway where the P5M planes were launched. It looks as though a
seawall has replaced it. The circle structures were fuel storage tanks. The
large building with the blue roof near the left was the NX and commissary.
Q: I hadn't realized based on some pictures from 1945 that
so much water was "over" the hull when it was raised. What else
can you add to that portion? was it brought up in pieces, whole?
A: The boat was brought to
the surface in one piece. There was just barely enough hull damage to sink
the vessel in the beginning. Two 100 ton cranes and air bags were used
to bring it to the surface after the hull was patched up.
Q: Was it placed on barges?
A: No.
Q: Is there anyway to find out if it was cut up or towed
out to be sunk in deeper water?
A: I am guessing it was
towed out to the open sea by a tug brought down from
I am going to list several
factors and you can draw your own conclusions from that.
Even with the use of two
100 ton cranes it would be impossible to lift the sub to land or placed on a
barge. Bare in mind decreasing the angle of crane booms decreases the lifting
capacity. The cranes could not be placed too close to the sea wall for fear of
caving in and the cranes falling into the water. When two cranes are lifting
the same object their swing is very limited.
Larger cranes were
available at the Subic shipyard but that would have meant the shipyard would
have been without cranes for at least two months considering the time it would
have taken to disassemble, load on barges, tow to Sangley, reassemble, lift the
sub, disassemble, load back on barges, ship back to Subic and reassemble
again. I don't think so.
Cutting the steel away
above the water line and gutting the insides to reduce weight while the sub was
in the water would have been too hazardous.
The workers would have
been Filipino Insular Force personnel and those were the slowest and laziest
group of individuals I ever encountered in my entire life. When you gave one a
job to do you had to explain it down to the minor details then even stand over
him to make sure it was done correctly. Chief Balandra was the only one I ever
had any respect for and even he wasn't the most ambitious person I knew. At
their pace it would have taken 1-1/2 to 2 years for them to cut it up. The sub
had been gone long before I left there sometime early 1961.
I do not believe any man
in his right mind would have ordered the sub cut up by inexperienced personnel.
I even believe LCDR Barr had more sense than that. Cutting into an empty
fuel tank is far more hazardous than cutting into a full one.
What other options are
left?. Your guess is as good as mine.
I did hear with my own
ears during a group discussion, the option of towing the sub out to deep
waters and sinking it.
All this is based on my
civilian experience with cranes and all other construction equipment. I was the
southeastern district maintenance supt. for Kiewit Corp. for many years before
I retired in 1994. Equipment we have today was unheard of back then.
Q: Between what dates would you estimate the Sealion went
"missing"?
A: Near as I could
estimate would be first part of 1960.
Q: What tug(s) were around at that time that could have
taken the 30 mile or so journey with her to deeper water?
A tug would have had to
come from
Q: Was there any official name to the dive group other than
just being a diving locker per se?
A: No, two divers were
assigned there in case one of the P5M patrol planes should crash while landing
on the water. VP 40 had a squadron of P5M's assigned to Sangley to keep track
of the Russian Trawlers sailing around in the
Q: Did you personally see those human remains (the 2
skulls and bones et al)?
A: The only bones I
personally laid eyes on was a rib cage and some other bones. The BM2 diver told
me about the other.
Q: If so, how were they treated?
A: Casually I would
say.
Q: Was the Sealion's full pressure hull (other
than the bomb damage aft and the scuttle breaches forward) intact (the
full circle)?
A: Yes.
Q: You have previously said that they had her afloat and
the photos seem to confirm that... Was the interior pumped out pretty much and
washed down where one could walk around inside to some degree? (it seems
that it would almost have to be so in order to locate souvenirs et
al).
A: It had been pumped out
but the sub was full of mud and silt. It got cleaned to the point where only
water and sludge were present. P-500's were used to pump the water out. 8 or 10
were used; I don't recall the exact number. Two days after the sub was on the
surface I had to go back to my regular job at the staff boat pool. I spent
quite a bit of time away from Sangley after that serving as a go-fer for the
Admiral and some of the staff officers.
Q: With the two attached pictures and the google earth
locater we have used previously; the two photos show a (big, white) pier
between the Sealion and the end of the point (open bay), does that still
conform with your check marks or would they be better placed to the left of
that pier?
A: The sub had sunk on the
opposite side of that pier you see in the photo. When it was raised it was
immediately moved to the opposite side which was more convenient to get at.
When I first submitted
those photos of the Sea Lion I received a simple thank you note from a Rear
Admiral and that was it. No questions nor comments from him. I expected
hundreds of questions and was better prepared to answer them then than now. Oh
well, I guess he had other priorities.
That pier you see in the
photo was the enlisted men's boat landing. Boats traveled from there to
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The following is an email received
from
I have looked at the last two photos of
195. Black and white do you know from what position it was taken.
It looks like it could be from off the port bow.
The periscopes would be aft and the
after part of conning tower was destroyed by bomb hit. However unless
demolition charges forward also removed forward bulkhead of conning tower I
don’t see a hatch opening from bridge to conning tower.
Have been looking at other pics of
Sealion taken from off starboard quarter but cant make out spacing of scopes,
some of the prewar subs had a yardarm for call sign flags don’t know what
Sealion had.
The HM was able to salvage our health
records from the after battery, I had mine when I reported on board Sailfish a
week later. Have no idea where the deceased crew members records may have
ended.
Do you know if the B&W picture is at
the location Sealion was hit on Dec 10th.
I will keep digging around my stuff and
scratch my noodle and see what might pop up.
As far as I know all of the Sealion crew
got out of manila on the boats that came, Sailfish picked up three or four in
Tjilijap Java in Fed 42, UTZ the COB of 315 was one of them. He died in
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In conclusion to this gathering of
information regarding the fate of the USS Sealion SS-195, I seem to have come
up with more questions than I had originally started with, the most glaring I
offer the reader are;
(1)
How could any local (aviation) command authorize the
salvage, removal of remains and disposal of this submarine? This was a
(2)
What happened to the wreck of the Sealion, where is her
final resting place?