On Gato out of Pearl October 1943. Tasked to patrol Area 11-B off SE coast of Formosa.
October 13, 1943 in patrol area at about 122-17E, 25-01N at 0940, met and torpedoed Akasisan Maru. Used two torpedoes out of stern tubes, but it turns out one would have done it.
She experienced multiple large explosions that obviously ripped out her bottom. She sank by the bow in less than 2 minutes. Just as she was going under, a large lifeboat astern of her suddenly erupted in a HUGE explosion! I don't know what it was carrying that might have caused it to blow up, but I'm glad I wasn't in it, for sure.
I'm only reporting this because I've never seen a lifeboat destroyed in any size explosion, let alone the massive one that tore it up. Perhaps they were carrying something special, but we'll never know. Suffice to say there were no survivors.
