Monthly Meeting

They were members of America's Finest Generation and true American Heroes.

They were iron men who took iron ships to sea and left an unparalleled record of courage and duty, faithfully performed. Less than 2% of U.S. Sailors served in submarines, yet submarines would sink 55% of all Japanese ships lost in World War II. More than the U.S. Navy's surface ships, its carrier planes, and the Army's Air Force combined! Yet, for its many vital achievements, the Submarine Force would pay a terrible price. Fifty-two boats and 3,617 submariners, one out of every five, would never return, staying out on eternal patrol.

On December 7th, 1941, the U.S. Navy's battleships were bludgeoned by a Japanese air raid sneak attack. America turned to its submarine forces as its first line of defense. Just two years later, submarine attacks were so numerous on the Japanese Singapore-to-Empire trade routes that a common saying in Singapore was "one could walk from Singapore to Tokyo on American periscopes."

MTS-San Diego honors these lions of the sea, the submariners of WWII, by dedicating a newly constructed 52-inch Fleet Type submarine model to the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II, in honor of Capt. Charles Bishop, (USN, ret), a well known member of MTS-San Diego. The model will be christened the evening of the event by Alnora Bishop, wife of Capt. Bishop, and given to the San Diego Maritime Museum. Captain Bishop served aboard the USS Piranha (SS-389) for five war patrols in World War II, and was its last commanding officer when she was decommissioned in 1946. Capt Bishop will share firsthand accounts of pulling into Pearl Harbor in January 1942 with a thick layer of bunker fuel on the surface of the harbor, submarine operations off the coast of Imperial Japan, torpedo attacks, and evading depth charges.

Doug Smay, a member of the U.S. Submarine Veterans of World War II, will also join us to tell of the recent progress on the 52 Boats Memorial now being incorporated into a plaza at the 40-acre NTC Park at Liberty Station. The 52 Lost Boat Memorial commemorates the 3,617 U.S. Submariners lost in World War II.

We invite our friends from U.S. Submarine Veterans Association of San Diego, DSPA, and SNAME to join us, and thank the San Diego Maritime Museum for their generous accommodation of this special event.

Mt. Fuji, as seen in late December 1941 through the periscope of a US submarine. "I feel all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant," said Adm. Yamamoto, who planned the bloody attack on Pearl Harbor.

US Submarine USS Balao SS-285

Submarine model to be presented

Submarine model to be presented (bridge close up)