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Note: On the night of 11-12 September 1944, a wolfpack known as Ben's Busters consisting of the US Submarines Growler, Pampanito and Sealion intercepted
a convoy of six ships and five escorts that had departed Singapore on 6
September 1944 bound for Japan. The submariners had ULTRA (codebreaker)
intelligence regarding the course and makeup of the convoy, and that it was
carrying war supplies including raw materials and oil, but they were
unaware that one ship, the Rakuyo Maru, was carrying was carrying 1,350
British and Australian POWs and another ship in the convoy was carrying
750. They were part of the slave labourers who had worked on the Burma
Railway, and were bound for Japan to work in the factories and mines. At
Manila three more ships joined the convoy, making a total of 12 ships.
Growler began the attack, sinking the lead escort, a frigate, Hirado, and
a destroyer, Shikinami. Sealion then sank two transports, the Rakuyo Maru
and the Nankai Maru. Pampanito tracked the fleeing convoy and sank a
tanker and another transport, the Kachidoki Maru. Thus half of the convoy
went down. The Japanese rescued many of their own survivors but the POWs
were left to fend for themselves.
Around 4pm on 15 September, Pampanito reentered the area and found it
littered with debris and dead bodies. They then found live British and
Australian survivors. Pampanito picked up 73 of them. A call for assistance
brought Sealion to the scene, and it collected 54 survivors. By 10pm
neither submarine could carry any more and they were forced to leave others
behind.
Back in Pearl Harbour, COMSUBPAC, Vice Admiral Lockwood ordered the US
Submarines Barb and Queenfish to the scene -- 450 miles away. They moved
at full speed (19 knots) but were delayed by running into another Japanese
convoy. Ace submariner Eugene Fluckey led the attack in Barb, and sank an
aircraft carrier, the Unyo, and a tanker, the Asuza, with one salvo. By the
time they arrived at the scene at dawn on 18 September, the survivors had
been in the sea for six days and a Typhoon was closing in. Nonetheless,
Barb picked up 14 men and Queenfish 18 before they were forced to break off
the search that evening.
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