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 (730 m) and opened fire. The enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to ram. No one manned the Japanese 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.
He was the guy carrying the demolition charges - they were never used since the ship sank under the boarding party. The men in that party all received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. Apparently the maps they retrieved from that ship were of strategic importance. Dad thought they included the location of mines in the Yellow Sea protecting Japan from US submarines.
I don't see him in any of the photos on that site, but he was a newly commission Lt(jg) and was serving as commissary officer so he would not have been very likely to be in any featured photo. I do have some of him with other officers and crew , but they are not yet posted on my web site.
After his first two patrols, he had to take one off and was a harbor pilot out of Pearl Harbor. He helped bring in a new sub, the USS Menhaden. The executive officer had to return to the mainland and Dad was asked to take the post. This was after the end of the war, so they didn't have much to do, but when someone came up with the idea of giving the Navy Nurses sub rides, Dad met Mom and the rest is history!
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