22 July 1943Bristlemouth enters Pearl Harbor with three pennants flying, her crew lined up on deck, an empty AA mount, and obvious hull damage.
Standard Report Format
Boat ID: USS Bristlemouth
Successful Patrol: Yes
Number of Freighters or Tankers Sank: 2
Number of Non-Capital Warships Sank: 1
Capital Ships Sank: 0
Total Tonnage Destroyed: 9,600
Special Assignment Completed: NA
Refit Time: 2 Months, ready Oct 43, to Hull damage
Awards Requested:
7th Battle Star for Sub
6th Gold Star to Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia for crew
Purple Heart for Wounded Crew
Bronze Star for Cdr Kyle Robinson
Narrative:
After an extended repair period Bristlemouth was once more on her way to the empire of Japan, leaving Pearl Harbor the morning of 1 June. Transit was uneventful other than hearing about the Japanese evacuation of the Aleutians and the Allied invasion of New Georgia.
Reaching the Japanese Home Islands the night of the 22nd, we encountered an Akikaze Class DD exiting the Bungo Suido. I conducted a submerged attack from medium range, firing four torpedoes. One missed, two others were duds, but the fourth torpedo hit and broke the DD’s back. We evaded the 13-GO MS travelling in the DD’s company.
On the afternoon of the 27th while patrolling of Yokohama the lookouts spotted smoke on the horizon. The smoke belonged to a troop ship (6,400 tons) under escort by a No. 4 Class SC. Moving into position, I attacked from medium range with a 4 torpedo spread. Gain the results were one miss, two duds, and a hit. However, the damage was not enough to sink the transport. We again avoided detection and were soon in pursuit. We caught up to the damaged transport shortly after nightfall. By now the transport had lost its escort and Bristlemouth’s deck gun made short work of her.
Midday on 3 July in the North Pacific we crossed paths with a small freighter (2,000 tons) escorted by an Otori Class TB. Four of the six torpedoes fired hit and the Maru broke apart. Though small, the captain and crew of the Otori knew their business, holding Bristlemouth down for several hours (3 rounds of depth charging). By the time we were able to surface again two crewmen were injured (1 Crew LW), one of our new AA guns were out of operation, diesel 4 was offline, and the hull was damaged.
Heading for home, the crew came down with food poisoning near Midway Island (Random Event). We heard about the Battle of Kolombangara, including the damage to three CLs, over the night of 12-13 July.
Nothing further of note transpired, with Bristlemouth entering Pearl Harbor on 22 July. Due to the Hull damage, Bristlemouth will require an extra month’s repair, being ready for patrol again in October.
Respectfully submitted,
Kyle Robinson, Cdr, USN, commanding
USS Bristlemouth