.gif)
USS Spot (SS-413)
Encyclopedia
USS Spot (SS-413) was a Balao-class
submarine
of the United States Navy
, named for the spot, a small sciaenoid food fish of the Atlantic coast, with a black spot behind its shoulders.
Spot was laid down on 24 August 1943 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif.
; launched
on 19 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. A. A. Gieselmann; and commissioned
on 3 August 1944, Commander William S. Post, Jr., in command.
and arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 14 November. Accompanied by , she got underway for the Marianas
on 4 December. They were joined by en route, and the trio arrived at Saipan
on 15 December 1944.
Two days later, the hunter-killer group headed for the Yellow Sea
. On 7 January 1945, Spot sank two small trawlers with her deck gun. Four days later, she destroyed a small freighter by gunfire. On 13 January off Shanghai
, the submarine sank two trawlers by shellfire, and she repeated the feat the next day. In a night sweep through the Elliott Islands on 18 January and 19 January, Spot torpedoed a cargo ship and a tanker
.
As Spot came down the west coast of Korea
, she sighted a small ship and fired her last three torpedoes. All ran shallow and missed. With only 1,300 rounds of 20 mm ammunition remaining, the submarine closed to 800 yards (731.5 m) and opened fire. The enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to ram. No one manned the Japan
ese ship's machine gun atop her pilot house; her top deck was in shambles; and the ship was dead in the water but not sinking.
Spot waited for an hour and then sent over a boarding party of seven men to plant demolition charges and search for intelligence material. After about ten minutes on board, the party had to abandon as the ship listed to port and sank by the stern. The boarding party was recovered and one Japanese prisoner taken. The submarine returned to Midway
on 30 January for a refit and training period.
. On the second night in her assigned patrol area, Spot expended all torpedoes attacking a Japanese convoy
. They sank the passenger-cargo ship, Nanking Maru, and damaged a freighter. The attack was made in heavy weather and shallow water. Spot was surfaced and heading for deeper water but could not elude one of the escorts which closed to 4200 yards (3,840.5 m) and opened fire. Spot manned her guns and returned the fire even though she was wallowing heavily in the rough seas. A lucky hit by her 5 inches (127 mm) gun knocked out the escort's forward gun and saved the submarine from almost certain disaster. Spot secured her guns, cleared the bridge, and submerged. The escort dropped a few depth charge
patterns which caused no damage, and the submarine returned to Saipan
on 23 March to reload.
Four days later, she resumed her patrol. On 31 March, she sighted a destroyer
that offered no recognition signals. The submarine maneuvered to close when the destroyer turned towards her and increased its speed. When the range was approximately 5500 yards (5,029.2 m), the destroyer opened fire. Spot fired a recognition flare that was answered by a second salvo. As Spot submerged, another salvo straddled her conning tower. The destroyer was later identified as . Spot suffered no damage in this incident which could have been a disaster.
sank battleship
Yamato
, a cruiser
, and four destroyers in the East China Sea on 7 April, the submarine patrolled in that area. She hunted off the China coast and then conducted a reconnaissance of Kokuzan To, off Korea and decided to shell a radio station on the northwest tip of the island. On the evening of 25 April, she surfaced and began the bombardment which hit an oil storage area, several barracks, and set the radio station on fire. Spot returned to the Mariana Islands
on 4 May for refit.
Spot began her last war patrol on 2 June and performed lifeguard services off the coast of Honshū
until 23 June. She then patrolled in the East China
and Yellow Sea
s, sinking two junks by gunfire before returning to Saipan on 18 July. The submarine sailed for Hawaii
the next day.
Spot arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 July for an extended overhaul and was still there when hostilities ceased. She sailed for San Diego on 27 August and provided services for antisubmarine warfare units there from 3 September 1945 to 2 March 1946. The ship then sailed to San Francisco to prepare for inactivation. She was decommissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard
on 19 June and attached to the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Spot received four battle stars for World War II
service.
. The Chilean crew reported on board later in the year for training and on 12 January 1962, Spot was loaned to that government under the Military Assistance Loan Program. She was renamed CNS Simpson (SS-21), in honor of Chilean admiral Robert Winthrop Simpson
(1799–1877). The submarine arrived at Chile 23 April 1962.
On 1 August 1975 the submarine was sold outright to Chile, and struck from the US Naval Register. In 1980, the Simpson was used extensively by director Kinji Fukasaku
in the disaster film Fukkatsu no hi
. She was deleted by the Chile
an Navy in 1982.
Balao class submarine
The Balao class was a successful design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 122 units built, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, the boats had slight internal differences...
submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, named for the spot, a small sciaenoid food fish of the Atlantic coast, with a black spot behind its shoulders.
Spot was laid down on 24 August 1943 by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif.
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
; launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 19 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. A. A. Gieselmann; and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 3 August 1944, Commander William S. Post, Jr., in command.
First patrol, December 1944 – January 1945
Spot completed fitting out at Mare Island on 18 September and moved to San Diego for shakedown. After a yard period, the submarine sailed for HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and arrived at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 14 November. Accompanied by , she got underway for the Marianas
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
on 4 December. They were joined by en route, and the trio arrived at Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
on 15 December 1944.
Two days later, the hunter-killer group headed for the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
. On 7 January 1945, Spot sank two small trawlers with her deck gun. Four days later, she destroyed a small freighter by gunfire. On 13 January off Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, the submarine sank two trawlers by shellfire, and she repeated the feat the next day. In a night sweep through the Elliott Islands on 18 January and 19 January, Spot torpedoed a cargo ship and a tanker
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
.
As Spot came down the west coast of Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, she sighted a small ship and fired her last three torpedoes. All ran shallow and missed. With only 1,300 rounds of 20 mm ammunition remaining, the submarine closed to 800 yards (731.5 m) and opened fire. The enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to ram. No one manned the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese ship's machine gun atop her pilot house; her top deck was in shambles; and the ship was dead in the water but not sinking.
Spot waited for an hour and then sent over a boarding party of seven men to plant demolition charges and search for intelligence material. After about ten minutes on board, the party had to abandon as the ship listed to port and sank by the stern. The boarding party was recovered and one Japanese prisoner taken. The submarine returned to Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
on 30 January for a refit and training period.
Second patrol, February – March 1945
On 24 February, Spot began her second war patrol which took her, , and into the East China SeaEast China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. On the second night in her assigned patrol area, Spot expended all torpedoes attacking a Japanese convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
. They sank the passenger-cargo ship, Nanking Maru, and damaged a freighter. The attack was made in heavy weather and shallow water. Spot was surfaced and heading for deeper water but could not elude one of the escorts which closed to 4200 yards (3,840.5 m) and opened fire. Spot manned her guns and returned the fire even though she was wallowing heavily in the rough seas. A lucky hit by her 5 inches (127 mm) gun knocked out the escort's forward gun and saved the submarine from almost certain disaster. Spot secured her guns, cleared the bridge, and submerged. The escort dropped a few depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
patterns which caused no damage, and the submarine returned to Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
on 23 March to reload.
Four days later, she resumed her patrol. On 31 March, she sighted a destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
that offered no recognition signals. The submarine maneuvered to close when the destroyer turned towards her and increased its speed. When the range was approximately 5500 yards (5,029.2 m), the destroyer opened fire. Spot fired a recognition flare that was answered by a second salvo. As Spot submerged, another salvo straddled her conning tower. The destroyer was later identified as . Spot suffered no damage in this incident which could have been a disaster.
Third and fourth patrols, April – July 1945
During the first week of April, Spot guarded the approaches to Kii Suido. After aircraft from the Fast Carrier Task ForceFast Carrier Task Force
The Fast Carrier Task Force was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II.The Fast Carrier Task Force was known under two designations. The Navy made use of two sets of upper command structures for planning the upcoming operations...
sank battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
Yamato
Japanese battleship Yamato
, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing...
, a cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
, and four destroyers in the East China Sea on 7 April, the submarine patrolled in that area. She hunted off the China coast and then conducted a reconnaissance of Kokuzan To, off Korea and decided to shell a radio station on the northwest tip of the island. On the evening of 25 April, she surfaced and began the bombardment which hit an oil storage area, several barracks, and set the radio station on fire. Spot returned to the Mariana Islands
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
on 4 May for refit.
Spot began her last war patrol on 2 June and performed lifeguard services off the coast of Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
until 23 June. She then patrolled in the East China
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
and Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
s, sinking two junks by gunfire before returning to Saipan on 18 July. The submarine sailed for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
the next day.
Spot arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 July for an extended overhaul and was still there when hostilities ceased. She sailed for San Diego on 27 August and provided services for antisubmarine warfare units there from 3 September 1945 to 2 March 1946. The ship then sailed to San Francisco to prepare for inactivation. She was decommissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...
on 19 June and attached to the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Spot received four battle stars for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service.
CNS Simpson (SS-21)
In January 1961, Spot was towed to Pearl Harbor for modernization in preparation for transfer to ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. The Chilean crew reported on board later in the year for training and on 12 January 1962, Spot was loaned to that government under the Military Assistance Loan Program. She was renamed CNS Simpson (SS-21), in honor of Chilean admiral Robert Winthrop Simpson
Robert Winthrop Simpson
Robert Winthrop Simpson was a Rear-Admiral of the Chilean navy and a hero of the War of the Confederation.-Early life:...
(1799–1877). The submarine arrived at Chile 23 April 1962.
On 1 August 1975 the submarine was sold outright to Chile, and struck from the US Naval Register. In 1980, the Simpson was used extensively by director Kinji Fukasaku
Kinji Fukasaku
was a Japanese film actor, screenwriter, and best known as a celebrated and innovative filmmaker. He was born in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, and died in Tokyo, from prostate cancer...
in the disaster film Fukkatsu no hi
Fukkatsu no hi
, literally Day of Resurrection is a 1980 post-apocalyptic science fiction movie directed by Kinji Fukasaku and based on a novel written by Sakyo Komatsu. The movie starred Masao Kusakari, George Kennedy, Robert Vaughn, Chuck Connors, Olivia Hussey, Edward James Olmos, Ken Ogata, Glenn Ford and...
. She was deleted by the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an Navy in 1982.