USS GRENADIER  (SS 210)
 

Since 09-08-05

The following information on the USS Grenadier (SS 210) was presented in Sharkhunters, International eKTB187, the electronic version of their fine newsletter.  The KTB Magazine is named after the log book carried by each U-Boat during WW II, the Kriegs Tage Buch, and is kept as a reference in many archives. 

By Harry Cooper, (1-LIFE-1983), http://sharkhunters.com

Built by:   Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Design:   Govt.

Keel laid:  2 April 1940

Launched:  20 November 1940

Sponsor:   Mrs. W. S. Anderson

Commissioned:  1 May 1941

First Skipper:  LCDR Allen R. Joyce

The Mark 14 torpedo was not the best friend of any American submarine, but it was really bad for GRENADIER.  LCDR “Pilley” Lent departed in May 1942 on the second war patrol of GRENADIER.  At 1852 hours on the 8^th of May, she encountered a convoy of six freighters and the 14,457 ton passenger ship TAIYO MARU.  GRENADIER had been patrolling submerged but as s on as Lent determined that the convoy was southbound, he came to the normal approach course. 

They saw no escorts, but did assume that they were in the area.  Lent was also concerned with air cover, but light was fading and any aircraft would soon depart.

Lent wasn’t interested in the six smaller ships but he wanted the big liner.  At 1931 hours, he fired the four from the bow tubes.  He heard two explosions, but at the wrong time. 

Something about the torpedoes wasn’t right, and Lent was thinking about them.  The submarine was going deeper at the moment.

Only a moment later, Lent was brought harshly back to reality as a stick of bombs went off overhead and depth charges began to come down.  Some detonations were quite close, but GRENADIER shook them off and Lent brought his ship and crew home and the big liner was indeed sunk and her passengers included Japanese scientists, economists and industrial experts who were going to plan how to use the resources of the conquered territories.

GRENADIER took part in the historic Battle of Midway and later, under LCDR B. L. Carr, took part in the August blockade of Truk.  29 October, GRENADIER laid a minefield in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Patrolling in Lem Voalan Strait in the northeast Indian Ocean on her sixth war patrol, now under LCDR J. A. Fitzgerald, GRENADIER met her end of 22 April 1943.  The following account is taken from statements by her Skipper and five of her men after they had been rescued from Japanese prison camps.

On the night of 20 April 1943, having had poor hunting from two or three days in the Lem Voalan Strait (NW of Penang on the Malay Peninsula) GRENADIER ventured out ten miles west to see what she could find.  She found two ships but before she could attack, they turned away. 

Figuring that they would return to their original course in an hour and a half, Fitzgerald planned an attack to meet them on their course at that time.  About fifteen minutes before time to dive and prepare for the attack, a plane came in on GRENADIER and she dived. 

As she was passing 120 feet, a violent explosion shook the boat – all lights and power were lost.  The boat came to rest on the sea bottom at about 270 feet.  The hull and hatches were leaking badly aft and a fire in the control cubicle kept the boat without propulsion. 

A bucket brigade kept the motors dry and later a jury rigged pump took over while the electricians worked all day to restore propulsion.  Several men were overcome by the heat and exertion, but the work continued.

At dusk, GRENADIER surfaced and the crew continued with the work of saving the boat, but it was for nothing.  Only one shaft would turn, and that very slowly.  They did everything they could, but the boat just could not make any speed.

Around dawn, they spotted what they thought was a destroyer with a smaller escort and a plane came at them, but it was driven off by the boat’s guns.  The Skipper ordered the ship to be scuttled and the entire crew made into the water safely.

The ship they saw was actually an 1,800 ton merchant ship with an escort, and the freighter took them aboard as prisoners.  Once back in American hands after the war ended, the crewmen talked about the brutal treatment they received – four of them died in the camp.

Although GRENADIER claimed sinking several ships, damaging others – the official record only confirms the TAIYO MARU.