Originally Posted by Ludwig van Hursh
Ok so as I stated before I have been killed in S-27 more than once though this time was not completely my fault. I started playing SH4 again a few months ago, with more knowledge on how real US subs performed and all that an with more realism settings turned on, not to the extent of Mr Bubblehead of course lol. I play with FotRS installed with limited resources but the color coded updating map contacts and the free camera and easy targeting for torpedoes. Some additional flavor text has been added to the story to make it not seem like so dry I guess.
Loss of S-27
December 29, 1941
With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other US, British, Dutch, etc possessions USS S-27 was dispatched to begin immediate patrols off the western coast of Luzon in the Philippines. Commanding her was recently promoted Lieutenant Commander John Hawkins, who had been preparing to return to the States to take command of a newer Fleet Boat, but this was put on hold so he could be put out to sea at once. The first half of the patrol was of relatively little note, no Japanese ships encountered. When the Japanese invasion force was sighted approaching the Lingayen Gulf, S-27 was rushed from her more southerly station to intercept and sink all it could, but by the time she reached the Gulf it was too late and she encountered only Japanese destroyers on patrol. She managed to sink one but expended four torpedoes in the process, three of them being duds. The next day she encountered a large Japanese task force consisting of two Kongo class battleships as well as heavy cruisers, destroyers, oilers, and other support ships but their speed was too quick to intercept them submerged and the daylight meant a surface attack was out of the question.
With the Battle of the Philippines in full swing S-27 was ordered north to patrol and sink ships off of Formosa. On the 28th of December, S-27 encountered a loan Japanese merchant in the perfect position to intercept, achieving a near text book firing angle she launched a submerged attack with two torpedoes, both of which hit and were not duds, the merchant sank and S-27 proceeded on its patrol. Hawkins ordered the boat to surface just after dusk to charge the batteries and then went to bed rousing just before dawn and took over the conn from his XO Lieutenant Allen. Preparations then began for diving for the day but these were done at a rather leisurely pace, this ultimately would spell doom for the boat. As dawn broke and only minutes from diving a Japanese attack aircraft appeared, no doubt alerted by the sinking of the merchant, and attacked S-27. Hawkins ordered an emergency dive and the helm hard to port into the direction of the aircraft to perhaps throw off its aim. The Japanese pilot was no rookie through and dropped his bomb near perfect on S-27 who had just about got away, her very stern being all that was out of the water.
The bomb exploded in the water on the starboard side a few yards away from the sub, incapacitating the crew and opening up seams in the hull to allow water to pour into the engine compartment. Chief Petty Officer Wilson was the only one not injured and informed the control room of the flooding. Hawkins ordered the boat to hold at its current depth of 80 feet but in the span of a minute too much water had filled the aft compartment and S-27 started going down by the stern. To compound this her electric engines were damaged and the aft dive planes jammed full down. Soon the boat began to dive out of control, with no engines to ascend, Hawkins ordered all ballast be blown as the boat sunk quickly past 150 feet. Finally At about 200 feet the boat slowed and then rose quickly to the surface. But no safety was found there either as the damage was assessed it was found the diesel engines were also damaged but could be fixed.
The crew scrambled to repair the leak and pump out the water which was proceeding successfully if glacially slow. The full account of the damage was the hull leak, damage to the servo for the aft dive plane, both electric motors, both diesel engines, and the air compressor. The deck gun had also suffered some minor shrapnel damage from a second bomb but it was not considered priority. By Noon the water had been pumped out and the leak repaired, work began on the engines, but no sooner had this started than three more Japanese aircraft appeared. Hawkins ordered a shallow dive, not wanting to put too much pressure on the leak repairs, and hope the Japanese hadn't spotted them. In the end though it did not matter as the boat reached periscope depth the patches failed and the engine compartment filled with water quickly and once again the boat sank by the stern and dove rapidly out of control. Not wasting any time on ceremony Hawkins ordered ballast be blown again but nothing happened the boat continued to dive, the crew frantically trying to coax the valves to open but before too long it became impossible as the boat was now nearly vertical and electric lighting was gone. But this didn't stop the crew from trying everything they could to save their boat, ultimately time ran out as the S-27 reached 357 feet the pressure became too great and she imploded taking all on board.
S-27 was declared missing in January 1942 by 1943 she was presumed lost and struck from the Naval Register. 1945 and the end of the War confirmed that all hands had been lost and post war Japanese records confirmed she had been sunk by aircraft, though no one would ever know how close the crew came to making it back.
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So the meta reasons as to why S-27 was lost in my game were that I had to step away from my PC to make some coffee so didn't dive right before dawn like I usually do. And as for the ballast not blowing on the second disasterous dive was because in the hectic moment when I realized it wasn't going to level out I hit the wrong key for Emergency Blow since FotRS changed the key from the default game but at the time I assumed I didn't have enough air to surface. Only after I died was I like "$#!* I hit the wrong key!!!!".
This Silent Hunter death stuck out to me though since unlike my usual ones like running into an island, diving too deep, getting rammed by a destroyer, it probably was close to a lot of real boat losses among all countries who have lost subs.
Hope you enjoyed the story, though tragic, I did reload an earlier save and S-27 went on to have a very successful career and now Captain Hawkins commands the USS Gar.
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