World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseCommissioned in Sep 1923, submarine S-39 was transferred to Submarine Division 17 of the US Navy Asiatic Fleet in late 1924, based in Manila, Philippine Islands with regular tours in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. On 8 Dec 1941, when Japan raided Pearl Harbor in the US Territory of Hawaii, she was on patrol out of Luzon in the Philippines, and was shifted to the San Bernardino Strait to counter Japanese minelayers, possibly sinking one transport during this first war patrol on 13 Dec 1941. Her second war patrol began in Manila and ended in Surabaya (Dutch: Soerabaja) in the Dutch East Indies in Jan 1942. Her third war patrol was spent in the Java Sea, the Karimata Strait, and the South China Sea, with one sinking, the oil tanker Erimo. Her fourth war patrol, out of Brisbane in Australia, had her patrolling waters near the Louisiade Archipelago at the southern border of the Solomon Sea and then moving on into the Solomon Islands. Her fifth and final war patrol, under the command of Lieutenant Francis Brown, saw her running aground on submerged rocks off Yela (French: Rossel) Island of Louisiade Archipelago. She immediately blew ballast tanks and jettisoned fuel in an attempt to lighten the load, but subsequent attempts at backing off the rock all resulted in failure. On the next day, ballast tanks and fuel tanks were flooded in order to keep the submarine steady on the rock while rough seas crashed into her; in the afternoon, she was informed that Australian minesweeper HMAS Katoomba was en route to rescue her crew. On the following day, 15 Aug 1942, her four remaining torpedoes were deactivated and fired off into the sea. Though previous attempts to back off of the rock had failed, Brown ordered one more try, but the submarine's screws were too high and failed to move the boat. By mid-morning, her list had increased from 30 degrees on the first day to 60 degrees. Fearing that the submarine might roll over and sink, Brown gave permission for crew members to escape to a nearby reef. Lieutenant C. N. G. Hendrix and Chief Petty Officer W. L. Schoenrock swam to the reef with mooring lines, and 32 crew members would use the lines to escape to the reef; meanwhile, 12 crew members including Brown remained on the submarine. At about noon on 15 Aug 1942, Katoomba arrived and took on the crew. It was agreed that S-39 would soon be destroyed by the waves, the submarine was left on the rocks without any attempt to destroyer her by Katoomba's guns. After his return to Australia, Brown was threatened with court martial, but he was ultimately spared of such fate by Admiral Ralph Christie; he would go on to command submarines S-43 and S-44 later in the war. The rescued crew members of S-39 were taken to Townsville in northeastern Australia and would later be assigned to other submarines.

Submarine S-39 (SS-144) Interactive Map

Photographs

S-39 Operational Timeline