ON ETERNAL PATROL
The simple phrase – LOST AT SEA – appears on many Log pages of individuals honored by the Navy Memorial but the phrase tells little of the horrors of their death. TM1 Warren R. Berry is one of these individuals and his story was revealed by surviving members of the USS SCULPIN (SS-191) who were liberated from Japanese POW camps after V-J Day.
On the night of November 18, 1943, SCULPIN was operating on her 9th war patrol near the Japanese stronghold of Truk Island when she made radar contact with a large Japanese convoy. On the morning of November 19 she was in firing position but was forced to dive when the convoy and its escorts zigged toward her. When the convoy again changed course, SCULPIN surfaced to make another surface run but was discovered by the IJN YAMAGUMO which was only 600 yards away and had been left behind for just this eventuality. Diving quickly SCULPIN escaped the first salvo of depth charges. A second attack knocked out her depth gauge and caused other minor damage but she was able to evade YAMAGUMO in a rain squall. About 1200 SCULPIN attempted to come to periscope depth but the damaged depth gauge caused her to broach and she was quickly detected. She immediately submerged and YAMAGUMO attacked with a pattern of 18 depth charges. There was considerable damage, including temporary loss of depth control. As a result, SCULPIN ran beyond safe depth and many leaks developed in the hull. So much water entered that the submarine was forced to run at high speed to maintain depth. This made tracking easy for the Japanese sonar. A second depth charge attack knocked out SCULPIN's sonar and her Commanding Officer decided to surface and give the crew of his doomed vessel a chance for survival. With her desks awash, SCULPIN’s gunners manned the deck guns but were no match for the YAMAGUMO’s superior fire power. After several minutes of shelling during which all the men on the conning tower and gun crew were killed, YAMAGUMO ceased firing when it was obvious SCULPIN was doomed and sinking, and her crew was abandoning ship. After about ten minutes rescue boats were dispatched from YAMAGUMO and a reported forty-two of SCULPIN’s crew, including TM1 Berry, were rescued from the water. The survivors were taken to the Japanese naval base at Truk where they were questioned for ten days before being embarked in the holds of two Japanese aircraft carriers that were to take the POWs to Japan. Records report that TM1 Berry was one of twenty-one POWs embarked aboard IJN CHUYO.
Shortly before midnight on December 3-4, 1943, while approaching Japan during a period of high seas whipped up by typhoon winds, CHUYO was detected by the USS SAILFISH (SS-192) which launched a torpedo attack, scoring two hits. SAILFISH managed to escape the escorting destroyers and as dawn neared SAILFISH came to periscope depth, saw the carrier lying dead in the water, listing to port and down by the stern with obvious preparations to abandon ship in progress. Later in the morning SAILFISH fired additional torpedoes, scoring two final hits. Shortly afterwards CHUYO went to the bottom, the first Japanese aircraft carrier sunk by an American submarine in the war, and the only major Japanese man-of-war in 1943. SAILFISH had no knowledge that CHUYO had American POWs on board. TM1 Berry survived the sinking of SCULPIN but unfortunately he did not survive the sinking of CHUYO.
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)
