USS SEAWOLF SS 197

USS SEAWOLF SS 197 Sargo Class

October 3, 1944. Sunk by friendly forces. 83 crew members and 17 Army personnel lost.

From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Seawolf
An ocean fish also known as the wolf fish or the sea cat.

(SS-197: dp. 1,450 (surf.), 2,350 (subm.), l. 310'6" b. 27'1", dr. 13'8"; s. 20 k. (surf.), 8.75 k. (subm.); cpl. 55; a. 1 3", 8 21" tt.; cl. Sargo)

Seawolf left Brisbane on September 21, 1944, beginning her 15th and final patrol. She arrived at Manus on September 29th, and left the same day to carry certain stores and Army personnel to the east coast of Samar.

On October 3rd Seawolf and Narwhal exchanged SJ radar recognition signals at 0756. Later the same day an enemy submarine attack was made, which resulted in the sinking of USS Shelton (DE 407). Since there were four friendly submarines in the vicinity of this attack, they were directed to give their positions and the other three did, but Seawolf was not heard from. On October 4th, Seawolf again was directed to report her position, and again she failed to.

USS Rowell (DE 403) and an aircraft attacked a submarine in the vicinity of the attack on Shelton, having at that time no knowledge of any friendly submarines in the area, and it was thought that Seawolf must have been held down by these antisubmarine activities. It is also possible that Seawolf was the submarine attacked.

The report from Rowell indicates that an apparently lethal attack was conducted in conjunction with a plane which marked the spot with dye. Rowell established sound contact on the submarine, which then sent long dashes and dots which Rowell stated bore no resemblance to the existing recognition signals. After one of the several hedgehog attacks a small amount of debris and a large air bubble were seen. It has been established that the Japanese submarine RO-41 sank Shelton on October 3, and was able to return to Japan.

In view of the above facts, and the fact that there is no attack listed in the Japanese report of antisubmarine attacks which could account for the loss of Seawolf, it is possible that Seawolf was sunk by friendly forces in an antisubmarine attack on October 3, 1944. It is also possible that she was lost due to an operational casualty or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack.

Seawolf received 13 battle stars for World War II service. She ranked fourteenth in confirmed tonnage sunk (71,609 tons) and tied for seventh in confirmed ships sunk (with Rasher and Trigger), according to the JANAC postwar accounting.