USS Harder
 

Watched a docu-drama today about the USS Harder and her brilliant crew headed by Cdr Dealey. One of the main advantages had by the subs in the Pacific war was that the japs though they could not dive more than 150 feet, so dropped charges accordingly. US subs went underneath the depth charges and got away.

Then some stupid idiot of a Congressman (Andrew May) hope he got tried for this) told a Press Conference that the subs could get away from the japs because 'they were setting their depth charges too low. Needless to say the USN were furious. That senator cost many lives and I hope he got his comeuppance. He was a traitor.

The Harder after many brave and successful mission went a depth too far and got sunk. All crew lost. The Japs refloated her and she became a jap sub and all its secrets and renamed her PB102. The Harder took 54002 tons in her career.

in 1943, Rep. Andrew May bragged to reporters that the Japanese were setting their depth charges too shallow because they didn't know how deep U.S. subs could dive. VADM Charles Lockwood said the revelation caused the Japanese to adjust their depth charges, costing the Navy 10 submarines and the lives of 800 sailors.

http://www.ww2pacific.com/congmay.html

as an editor on Wiki, I have added to this (incorrect, see above)

PB-102 was actually an old Clemson 4-stacker USS Stewart:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/PB-102_t.htm

thats what it said in the history which I will try and find again.

quote: The Japanese Navy discovered the wreck, and raised, repaired, and recommissioned it into Japanese service in 1943 as Patrol Boat 102.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Harder_(SS-257)

I can only assume wiki contributor got it wrong as the PB 102 is also in Wiki.

Having done some more checks she is listed on one site as an Applejack type sub; and correctly in Uboat.net as a Gato.

The man who killed 800 submariners in WW2. Congressman May, traitor, not punished.

Well, your link goes to a "mostly dead" page, but has a link on it to the 'correct' page for the boat, but man, that is one messed-up wikipedia series of pages. Slightly confusing. It looks like someone sneezed in the middle of editing that page... The 2nd page does have this:

"Before dawn 24 August two ships were spotted which they initially identified as a Japanese minesweeper and the three-stack Siamese destroyer Phra Ruang. The two ships were later discovered to be the Japanese Type D escort ship CD-22 and the very unusual destroyer: PB-102 flying the Japanese flag. The latter was built in America and commissioned as USS Stewart (DD-224), a Clemson-class destroyer, but she was damaged by Japanese fire during the Battle of Badung Strait. While under repair in drydock at Surabaya in February 1942, the Japanese captured the airfield at Bali, thus threatening the naval base and so the ship was scuttled at the docks early in World War II. The Japanese Navy discovered the wreck, and raised, repaired, and recommissioned it into Japanese service in 1943 as Patrol Boat 102."

The link for that 2nd page is
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Harder_(SS-257)
which does the same thing, and you might note is the SAME page you linked to, yet does properly forward you when you click on the other link... ?? I don't understand what they did to the site, nor the article... :doh: :hmmm:

Character Counts - bio of Congressman Andrew May.

• . . . elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and to the seven succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1931-January 3, 1947); chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Seventy-sixth through Seventy-ninth Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946 to the Eightieth Congress; convicted on July 3, 1947, on charges of accepting bribes for his influence in the award of munitions contracts during the Second World War; served nine months in prison during 1950 and received a full pardon from President Truman in 1952. . . .
  
  
  No for treason, but yes for being in the D party and yes to taking bribes. Typical.
  

prop I changed the link. How that one came up is a mystery known only to Wiki.

Still at it today, democrats I mean.

Yeah, I don't know what they did at wikipedia, but nothing goes to the correct place there right now, and why they used confusing wording in that article is beyond me... bable got confused, or something... Here is what they "know" about the USS Harder (SS-257) at the time (1949) of the writing:

On Eternal Patrol - The Loss of USS Harder (SS-257)

- OR -

history.navy.mil USS Harder

both say essentially the same thing... :salute:

The Eternal Patrol, I trust that site, used it before.