THOMPSON-RAYMOND

A  TRAGIC  LOST  AT  SEA

USS EXTRACTOR (ARS-15) was a Anchor Class Rescue and Salvage Ship commissioned into US Navy service in March 1944.  In late May 1944 she began operating from Pearl Harbor, servicing the myriad of vessels operating in the island hopping campaigns against Japan.  In December 1944, EXTRACTOR reported to the recently recaptured island of Guam and resumed her much in-demand services.  As US Forces fought for both land and sea areas in the Philippine Islands, the ship was ordered to report to Leyte to assist with salvage and repair efforts.  She departed Guam on January 21, 1945, for an unescorted transit across the Philippine Sea.

Three days out of Guam, EXTRACTOR was steaming through choppy seas in the very early morning hours of the 24th when she crossed the path of USS GUARDFISH (SS-217), an American submarine returning to Guam at the end of an unsuccessful patrol. GUARDFISH established a radar target and after following the target for several hours, the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer both looked through the periscope and incorrectly thought the low-freeboard and superstructure was the silhouette of a Japanese I Class Submarine.  About ten minutes before sunrise the Captain made his last observations of the target and fired a torpedo into the path of the oncoming "Submarine."  Aboard EXTRACTOR, sonar operators picked up the unmistakable torpedo sound and sounded the General Quarters alarm but lookouts could not sight the torpedo in the darkness and rough seas until it was too late.  The torpedo struck EXTRACTOR on the starboard side by the engine room, killing or injuring every man in the compartment and knocking out power aboard the ship.  Her crew scrambled to their damage control stations and brought her auxiliary power online but within three minutes of being torpedoed, her Captain gave the order to abandon ship when it was apparent she was mortally wounded.  As the last of her surviving crew jumped clear of the ship, EXTRACTOR rolled onto her Starboard side and sank a scant five minutes after being torpedoed.

Within minutes of the sinking, GUARDFISH surface and the order was passed to pick up prisoners from the water.  The first couples of men to be recovered were coated with oil and in the darkness were easily mistaken for Japanese sailors.  However, when one of the first men to come aboard was seen with a “USN” tattoo on his arm and in perfect  English demanded, “What the hell is going on?” it quickly became apparent that a tragic case of mistaken identity had occurred.

GUARDFISH eventually saved all 73 of the men who survived the sinking but unfortunately six of EXTRACTOR’s crewmen were lost when she floundered.  Seaman Second Class Raymond Edward Thompson, who entered the Navy from Ohio, was unfortunately one of the crewmembers lost in the sinking.  Survivors reported Thompson was believed to be in the vicinity of the exploding torpedo when it struck the ship and was undoubtedly killed in the explosion.  His body was not recovered and his name has been inscribed in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)