USS Bowfin (SS-287)
16 August 1943 to 10 October 1943
USS Bowfin traveled from Brisbane to Darwin to Liaugan Bay (northern Mindanao, east of Iligan Bay) to the South China Sea to Liaugan Bay to Fremantle, Western Australia for refit by USS Pelias (AS-14). USS Bowfin and USS Billfish (SS-286), commanded by CDR Frederick C. Lucas, Jr., made a coordinated, submerged attack on a large convoy on 25 September. Of the five ships assigned to her, Bowfin sank a cargo ship and a tanker, and set another tanker on fire. Bowfin's attack on 27 September on an inter-island steamer failed due to approaching darkness and radical target maneuvers. Two small vessels (one carrying about 100 enemy soldiers) were sunk on 30 September and a 2-masted schooner was sunk on 2 October, all by 4" 50-caliber gunfire during the end-of-patrol return voyage through the Celebes Sea. Two secret missions were accomplished during this first patrol. The first secret mission involved delivering medical supplies, radio transmitters, ammunition, money, etc., to Philippine guerrilla fighters after rendezvousing with them close offshore in Liaugan Bay, Mindanao. The second secret mission occurred on a return voyage from the South China Sea at the same Liaugan Bay location. Bowfin took aboard nine guerrillas, selected by their superior officers, to be transported to Australia. One of the guerrillas was Edward M. Kuder, a well-known superintendent of schools on Mindanao. Another was Samuel C. Grashio, a U.S. Army Air Corps fighter pilot prior to his capture on Bataan. Grashio had survived the infamous "Death March" to be confined in three different Japanese prison camps before finally escaping from the Davao Penal Colony with a group of 10 P.O.W.s and two Philippine convicts and then joining the guerrillas.
USS Bowfin was underway for 14,430 miles during her first patrol. Commanding Officer Willingham and higher authorities believed USS Bowfin sank 23,753 tons (three large vessels plus two small craft). The post-war Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) credited USS Bowfin with sinking only 8,120 tons (one large vessel of that tonnage plus two small craft). For this patrol, CDR Willingham was awarded a gold star in lieu of his third Navy Cross.
Change of Command - 26 October 1943
CDR Willingham was relieved by LCDR Walter Thomas Griffith, USNA class of '34. Griffith had previously served on USS Porpoise (SS-177) and USS Gar (SS-206). Willingham continued his submarine force service, first as a division commander, and, in the closing months of the war, as Commander, Submarine Squadron 28.
Commanding
Officer: CDR Joseph Harris Willingham, USN
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