Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 22:46:51 +0000
From: tientsin, R. E. Sullivan, Colonel, USMC ('43/'67) (Ret.)
To: Bert Kortegaard
Subject: The Sub (?) That Probably Never Was... The Wantuck....And OtherThings That Go Bump In The Night.....

Bert, I wonder if you know anything about Wantuck's depth charge drop on asubmarine (?) in the Outer Harbor at Kodiak in January, 1950?

I have fond memories of Wantuck unlike many other ships that I rode thatbelonged to the US Navy. Another of my favorites was the USS Perch, (SSP313), a submarine converted to troop carrying. Both Wantuck and Perchconsidered their mission to aid the troops that utilized them fortransportation. There was never a feeling of "Us" and "Them." Wish Icould say as much for the many APAs and AKAs that I rode over a long careerin the Marine Corps.

There was a truism during WW II that went like this: After a MarineInfantryman spends thirty days in an APA riding to battle, when he gets offhe just has to kill someone." Lo, the plight of the poor Japanese whohappened to be on an island where that Infantryman disembarked.

I recall that the Wantuck's First Lieutenant, Gunnery Officer, Navigator,and Lord knows what else was Lt. Jerry Stoddard. Jerry was a particularfriend of mine, and I was delighted to serve as his Assistant GunneryOfficer. Lt. Young was the ship's XO, and a good one. Very businesslike asa good XO is, but very approachable if there was a problem to solve. TheCaptain, LtCmdr Throe was a pro of the old school. A quiet man who had noneed to bluster for a very simple reason: Captain Throe was so well likedby All Hands that we all would have busted our collective humps to make himhappy. As we'll see a little later, he could also be decisive and couldquietly make command decisions with far reaching implications. I've alwaysgrieved that Captain Throe was not on the Quarterdeck of the Pueblo. Had hebeen I'd bet there would have been quite a different outcome. Thatgentleman, unless I miss my guess, just wasn't the surrendering kind.

As stated above, I was Jerry's Assistant Gunnery Officer. Jerry was anotherof those born leaders you so infrequently come across. With Jerry's and theCaptain's permission the Marines were allowed to man all ordnance positionsexcept the single 5" 38 forward, and the depth charge racks aft. Thismeant the 20mm and 40mm tubs belonged, at least temporarily, to the Marines,and they enjoyed the hell out of maintaining the guns and gun drills. TheWantuck was one happy ship while we were aboard, at least so far as theMarine contingent was concerned. One of our Corporals had been aQuartermaster on a destroyer during WW II and he stood regular watches withthe crew. The junior Marine Officers stood Junior Officer of the Deckunder the Navy OOD, and were being schooled in the skills necessary tobecome OODs themselves. We had a number of Marines, including one officer,who had been sea-going during WW II and knew secondary batteries like thebacks of their hands. Marines at the time prided themselves on the slogan:"Everything a Soldier can be, and half a Sailor to boot." Back in the dayswhen we rode Navy ships for months at a time the slogan was true.

Caveat: The following was written from memory and without the aid of notesor references to maps or other source documents or participants. Many ofthe spellings of place names and individuals will undoubtedly be incorrect,but they are as close as I can come at this distance from the events.

A/1/7 embarked in Perch for the journey. Also in the convoy was to be anAMTRAC (LVT) contingent, embarked on an LST and the Gunston Hall, LSD 5. The Eastwind, a Coast Guard Icebreaker, would lead the convoy. A CommodoreSharp would be in overall command, and the Marine Contingent would becommanded by Major Frank Stewart, a tank officer with Major Mike Mosteller,an Engineer Officer his XO. Our orders were to sail to Kodiak, and from therethrough Unimak Pass then northeast to the Cape Sinajaven Peninsula some 200 milesnortheast of Unimak.

This was arguably the strangest collection of cats and dogs which ever putto sea in one convoy. The exercise was to be called MICOWEX(Minor Cold Weather Exercise) 50A attached to it. Our mission was todiscover a maneuver area on the north coast of the Alaskan Peninsula that would besuitable for the entire 1st Marine Division to conduct landing operationsand field exercises later that year. These forthcoming exercises had already beendubbed MACOWEX (Major Cold Weather Exercise) 50B. It was to take place inDecember, 1950/January, 1951. For those of you who know a little about theKorean War, you realize that the 1st Marine Division did, in fact,participate in a Major Cold Weather Exercise in November and December of 1950. However, themaneuver ground was the Chosin Reservoir rather than the coast of Alaska.The Chinese were even good enough to provide the Maneuver Enemy(Aggressors). But that's another story.

[Are there two islands by those names in the Outer Harbor at Kodiak? Thenames sound like they came out of Treasure Island. But that's what Iremember, and I' going to stick with them.]

[I need to add here that somewhere along the line we had been made aware ofthe fact that Kodiak was a hotbed of pro-Russian activity. I really can'trecall much more than that, and I have no idea if this was given to us inwritten form or whether it was part of a classified briefing. And I'm notsure whether this information was given to us before or after the incidentdiscussed below. Sorry for being so imprecise, but I'm giving you as muchas I can remember, and that part of the factoid has vanished from the harddisk attached to my brain.]

So Jerry did whatever he had to do (lit off the boilers, cut the galleykettles into the steam line, or whatever--all that was beyond a Jarhead whohad no clue as to how one started up a boat) to get under way. As I recallit would take about an hour to raise enough steam to cast off from the dock.In the meantime a call had been put out over the Kodiak Radio Station forall crew to immediately return to Wantuck. Most, but not all the crew madeit, and we were singled up with the gangway lifted when Captain Throe, theSkipper scrambled aboard with Lt. Young, the XO. By that time it wasrather late in the afternoon and getting dark, and we had that dog-legchannel to navigate to get out to the outer harbor. As soon as we wereunderway the skipper ordered that the crew be fed, and called for the firstsitting in the officer's mess. Whom Captain Throe had talked to, or if hehad talked to anyone, or whether he had additional orders via radio or othermeans I haven't a clue. But at dinner one of the officers asked, in effect:"OK, we're going out to investigate the sighting of a sub in the outerharbor, but what are we going to do if we find him?"

What follows I'll never forget: The Captain turned very slowly and said:"If he's submerged, we'll sink him." Not I have orders to sink him, oranything like that, just "....We'll sink him."

Nothing was mentioned about notifying higher authority, or a committee inthe White House or anyone else. What had begun, as many of us thought, as alark in the dark, had now turned deadly serious.

By the time we cleared the last bit of dog leg and debouched into the outerharbor it was dark. The ship was at modified battle stations, and condition(what was it X-Ray, or Yoke or something like that) was set. The only armamentthat was manned were the depth charge racks, although the Marines, who hadbeen snapped in, were chomping at the bit to break out the 20s and 40s. Mymemory is that just as dinner was breaking up in the wardroom the Captainwas called to the bridge because Sonar had a contact.

Then a game of apparent cat and mouse ensued where the contact would makea run for one of the exits from the bay, only to be turned back by Wantuck.Wantuck varied her speed, but occasionally would make a high speed run onthe (?), then come about and reacquire contact.

Were we sending sonar signals for (?) to surface? I don't know, but if thatsonar crew is around I'll bet they know.

The depth of the harbor varied as I recall, but in many places a fleet typesub could barely submerge, so we began to speculate that we must be dealingwith some kind of a midget. While all the maneuvering was going on Jerryand I were aft with the depth charge crew freezing our patoots off.

Finally, at about 2300, word came down from the bridge that we'd drop onour next high speed (on an APD--you've got to be kidding!) run. And so wewere ordered to set the depth charges for 50' and I'm told made the run at15 knots.

I'd seen a thousand depth charges dropped while I was sailing peacefully ina convoy and you could hear the booms and see the pretty flowers. Butthis is the first time I'd ever been aboard a ship that dropped one. And Ican't recall how many we dropped, but it must have been half a dozen or so.After the first one I was numb anyway. Whatever. When the first chargewent off I was sure we'd been torpedoed. The stern lifted, it seemed, 10feet in the air, and looking from the stern, the ship had taken on theappearance of a banana.

(There was a troop officer's cabin aft, and when the first depth charge wentoff only one officer was down there, and he was asleep. Wakened by thefirst depth charge, before he could get out of his bunk the others went offand rolled him around which kept him from getting out of his bunk. He, likeI, was sure we'd been torpedoed. When he finally was able to put one footon the deck he froze....My God, he was ankle deep in freezing water! Whathad happened is that the toilet in that compartment had sheared off at thebase, probably when the first depth charge went off, and salt water waspouring in. There was a vertical ladder in the passageway outside thequarters,and a hatch cover which debouched onto the fantail.Anyway, this poor guyboiledout of that hatch wild-eyed, in his skivvies, life jacket and helmet andlooking asthough he'd just escaped from the nearest cracker factory. Took him awhiletolive that down. It took even longer to convince him that he shouldn't bunkinthe wardroom. He definitely didn't want to go back to his former quarters,andunderstandably so.)

About that time Lt. Stoddard, I guess, was called to the Bridge, and Itagged along. As we opened the hatch on the port side of the ship (theMarine Troop's quarters) you couldn't see two feet in front of you. Everyspeckof dust that the ship had acquired since commissioning, and God knows whatelse, was suspended in the air. The Marines were spitting and coughing, andwondering what in the blue-eyed world was going on. They were wide eyedand somewhat distressed as were the sailors we encountered, including thoseon the depth charge detail who had been complicit in making all that racketandshaking around to begin with. Anyway, when we got to the bridge we weretoldthat the contact had disappeared, and after another hour or so racing abouttheouter harbor trying to make contact, the Captain simply let the ship driftuntil daylight.

That night, however, looking back toward the mountains above the harbor Isaw what I considered astounding then and still do to this day. There werelights, green lights, which appeared to be sending code. And there was onelong burst of tracer fire--green tracer fire. There was no accompanyingsound of a machine gun which meant that the source was a great distanceaway.I had seen a great deal of tracer fire in my life, but never green tracerfire. However, within eight months, on the Pusan Perimeter, I'd see agreat deal of it, courtesy of the People's Army of North Korea.

Come daybreak Sunday morning and the outer harbor was as still as a mountainlake, absolutely glassy without the hint of a swell. And there was an oilslick, a pretty good sized one, I guess, as oil slicks go and we moved overto get a better look. But among other things I'm not expert in is oilslicks. Did anyone get an oil sample? In hindsight that would have been asmart thing to do.

Then we got underway, negotiated the channel, and tied up back at our usualspot. I don't recall that any Higher Authority met us dockside, or theCaptain going ashore and reporting to anyone. But something like that hadto occur, I guess. Sunday afternoon there seemed to be great activity onone of the barges across the harbor and Monday a tug moved her down thechannel and out of sight. And that was the end of the incident so far asWantuck was concerned.

When we left the harbor for Unimak Pass a few days later we did see a bargeanchored roughly in the middle of the outer harbor and she seemed to beworking.

Sequel 2: A news article appeared in San Diego saying that a Navy Destroyer[Ahem] had been ordered to sea in great haste from Kodiak, and that loudexplosions had been heard later that night. The entire article was onlysome4 inches long and speculated on what all this had been about. Anyresearcherwilling to spend the time to find this article can do so I'd bet. Theclipping hadbeen forwarded by someone's wife or sweetheart, and I first saw it when wereturned to Kodiak as detailed in Sequel 1 above.

Sequel 3: In 1952 I was stationed at Quantico and living in housing on basewith my family. Our neighbor was a CWO _______ and his wife. Turned outthat the Gunner had been stationed at MB Kodiak during the time Wantuck hadvisited. I said not a word to anyone concerning the (?). Again, I thoughtthat I was dealing with something classified. One evening Mrs. ________wasdescribing a most unusual incident that had occurred to them while stationedin Kodiak. They lived offbase in a house that overlooked the sea which wasat a distance of a hundred yards or so. Whatever, on a Sunday morning shehad been looking to sea when she saw what appeared to be a nun buoy. No bigdeal, that, but this buoy was slowly proceeding east off shore at a distanceof maybe 500 meters from the beach, and was obviously smoking. She calledthis to the attention of her husband who put the binocs on the object andimmediately identified it as a conning tower, but shaped more like atrianglethan those on US subs. His reaction was to notify the Coast Guard of whathe had seen. Within a few minutes the object disappeared, and that was theend of that. No one ever questioned them about what they had seen and thematter died there so far as he knew. [I know the name that was omittedabove, but without permission to use it here, will not do so.]

Now, what do I make of all the foregoing? I haven't a clue. But it sure isinteresting. I saw nothing myself except green lights, that could have beensending code, and one burst of green tracers without the sound of the gunthat fired it indicating that the source was probably miles away. I couldseeit because the backdrop was a snow covered mountain although the nightitself, in my memory, was rather brightly lit by a moon at least part of thenight. (I'd guess that someone with an almanac could check my memoryfor the light conditions that night.) And that much I'll swear by. Therest is mystery.

The kind of life I've lead I really don't have to invent stuff. And I amtheantithesis of those who compound or believe conspiracy theories.

And before some wiseacre asks: No, I saw no Little Green Men associatedwith the Little Green Lights.

When we returned to Camp Pendleton we never mentioned the incident toanyone. Nor, so far as I know, was it ever reported to anyone officiallyor unofficially. We did discuss it among ourselves and argued the case froma number of angles with no conclusion. We were never debriefed by anyone.No one ever got us together and told us to keep our mouths shut about theincident, as I know had happened in similar circumstances.

For nearly fifty years I've wondered about the incident, and came to Bert,a man who had been a member of the crew of the Wantuck, although ata slightly later date, to see if any kind of institutional memory wasresidualamong crew members whom had been there. If anyone out there has ananswer, I'd really like to hear it. If you weren't aboard Wantuck at thetime,and joined later, have you any recollection of hearing the incidentdiscussedamong crew members who were there?

A very personal note. One of the reasons that I'm so fascinated by thisincident is that I was at Hsin Ho, North China on 5/6 April, 1947. The 1stBattalion of the 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division was charged with guardingthe Division Ammunition Supply Point (ASP). Mao's 8th Route Army hadreconned the ASP the previous October, and a few rounds were exchanged.When they came back in April they were loaded for bear and pretty decentfirefight left some 5 Marines dead and over 20 wounded. This was somethingof a mile marker at the time and considered somewhat unusual because of thepotential sizes of the forces engaged. Chairman Mao must really have neededthe ammunition that he managed to steal. The next time an engagement withthe enemy was fought by Marines was on 7 August, 1950. My company, D/2/5,was one of the first to make contact with elements of the 4th and 6th NKADivisions. And damned good soldiers they were. Their employment of heavymachine guns, specifically the 1904 Maxim w/shield that laid down indirectfire at a range where the sound of the gun frequently could not be heard wasclassic. Suddenly the air would be filled with whistling, men would go downfaceless, headless, or clutching their throat, and you had no idea where thefire was coming from. And the PAK could put a 120 MM mortar round in yourback pocket without first firing sensing rounds nine times out of ten. Ihave a Purple Heart from that afternoon to prove it. This incident inJanuary '50 then becomes even more personally interesting. Was theresomething in the Outer Harbor at Kodiak? If so, what was there? Was it asub, or could there have possibly been two? You could build a case for thelatter scenario if you accept Sequel 1 and 3 above as gospel. Was I awitness, and, in a very limited way, a participant, to yet anotherprecursor of what would be the Korean War, as the Hsin Ho incident could beconsidered? Any one with any information bearing on this now nearly fiftyyear old incident, pile on.

Semper Fidelis, Sully

Causes of the Korean Tragedy ... Failure of Leadership, Intelligence and Preparation

The Foundations of Freedom are the Courage of Ordinary People and Quality of our Arms

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