First Story for Mrs. by GJ

Thanks to reader “Mrs.” for helping me to recall some of my stories, here is the first recollection of WWII that comes to mind.

It was late summer, 1945 and we hadn’t been in the South Pacific very long. We were sailing in a convoy of other LSMs and approaching an island…one of the outer islands of the Philippines, as I recall.

We were last in line and the line was curving, snake-like ( in an S ) around some reefs or sandbars, or something. I was on duty on the “conn” and watching for any signals that might concern us, personally, or us, as part of the convoy, meaning all ships.

Suddenly I saw a message being sent by the lead (command) ship and it was meant for us, specifically. As I recall, it said, “LSM 435, alert…there is a submarine reported off your starboard side.” I yelled to the captain who was up on the conn, also, where he was always on duty when nearing port or uncertain terrain. He got on the intercom and alerted the crew to our danger. Since we were already at “battle stations,” it was easy and natural for everybody to look at our starboard (right hand side) and start scanning the water to see if we could spot a periscope, or something signifying submarine. Soon someone called out, “torpedo, four o’clock! We looked a little to our right and sure enough, there were bubbles heading straight for us. Seconds later, the bubbles passed underneath us, and came out on the other side and gradually trailed off, out of sight…probably to sink to the bottom?

We always believed that there were two possible reasons why the torpedo passed beneath us. One, that because we were in relatively shallow water, we had probably dumped our ‘ballast,’ which is sea water that is taken on or pumped off, or two, that the submarine captain misjudged our depth, and had set the torpedo’s depth deeper than it should have been. (Remember that, this late in the war, it is possible that sub officers were lacking in experience.)

Our depth (the amount of ship below the water line) was usually five or six feet, as I recall, but when approaching a beach (similar to how we were proceeding) our depth was supposed to be only three or four feet. IF the Japanese Captain knew we were supposed to be at six feet, let’s say, and set the torpedo for four or five, and we were really at three or less, it would explain the “near miss.” Some might say that a third possibility existed…that so late in the war, the torpedo was faulty or, even a “dud.

Whatever the truth, we were stunned and relieved and incredulous! I somehow recall that there was a seemingly lengthy period of speechlessness, followed by several audible “whews!” It is easy to think that, if we had been a larger vessel, our families as we know them would not be here…us included. A torpedo vs. an LSM would mean certain and absolute demolition. “Poof…into orbit you go.”