Strike of the Sailfish: Two Sister Submarines and the Sinking of a Japanese Aircraft Carrier

Historian Moore (Patton’s Payback) details a tragic twist of fate in this riveting dual chronicle of two submarines, the USS Sailfish and the USS Sculpin. In May 1939, the Sculpin raced to save the Sailfish, known at the time as the USS Squalus, when it sank 240 feet and landed on the ocean floor during a test dive in the Atlantic. Out of the 58-member crew, only 32 men survived the 39 hours it took before rescue divers brought them back to the surface. The Squalus was raised from the bottom, repaired, and renamed the USS Sailfish in 1940, and went on to serve with distinction in the Pacific during WWII, becoming one of the few U.S. submarines to sink a Japanese aircraft carrier during the war. However, unbeknownst to the crew of the Sailfish, the carrier it torpedoed in December 1943, the Chuyo, was transporting 21 sailors from its former rescue ship, the Sculpin, to a prisoner of war camp in Japan. The Sculpin had been sunk during combat a few weeks earlier, and the surviving crew captured. Moore’s narrative aptly weaves together the stories of the two fatefully connected vessels and their crews, highlighting the bond between wartime comrades and the details of daily life in the submarines’ cramped quarters. This is a treat for WWII history buffs. (Dec.)