The Fourth Patrol

      Departure took place on 21 June 1944, from Fremantle with once again, Lieutenant Commander Frank Walker in command and Lieutenant William J. Ruhe as his Executive Officer. CREVALLE returned to the South China Sea, cruising off the northern cost of the Philippines between 21 June 1944 and 9 August 1944. CREVALLE was for most of this patrol in company and a part of a three-sub wolf pack with the USS Flasher (SS 249) and the now healthy USS Angler (SS 240). They were known as "Whitaker's Wolves" because the skipper of the USS FLASHER (SS 2490 , Lieutenant Commander Ruben Whitaker, was senior. This was, in compliance with the Navy's accepted chain of command, designated the Tactical Commander.

After clearing Lombok Strait on 29 June 1944, a sampan was engaged by gunfire using both the 4-inch and 20 mm guns. The 4-inch gun failed to return fully to battery position after the 18th shot but numerous hits had already been made and the enemy vessel was left thoroughly well holed and listing badly. 

The Fourth War Patrol Ward Room

Back Row - Lt. Howard Blind; Lt (jg) R. A. Loveland; Lt (jg) Richard Bowe; Ens C. D. G. King

Front Row - LCdr Bill Ruhe; LCdr Frank Walker; Lt George Morin; Lt (jg) Walt Mazzone

    At 0600 on the 25th of July, word was received from ANGLER that she was in contact with a ten-ship convoy off the coast of Indochina at about the location of Cam Ranh Bay (later so famous in our Vietnam involvement). Considerable difficulty was experienced, in gaining contact with this large group of ships, due to the presence of both land and ship based enemy aircraft. A position ahead of the convoy was finally attained and CREVALLE dove for a submerged attack at 1340-when the weather began to interfere. A driving downpour cut the visibility but never the less, the approach was continued. A quick snap set up was obtained on a large merchantman and four stern tubes were fired. Only one firing solution was available and the range guess was unfortunately bad. All the torpedoes were wide and unfortunately missed their mark.

    At the time of firing, the poppet valve on #10 torpedo tube stuck open and seawater began pouring into the After Torpedo Room in large quantities.

Note: The spring shut poppet valve is used to vent the air employed to fire a torpedo back into the torpedo room to prevent a large air bubble rising to the surface and giving the subs position away to the enemy. It is suppose to be shut by the Torpedoman upon observing seawater verses air coming through the torpedo tube vent.

    At the same time, an escort carrier was seen close aboard in company with some destroyers. Due to the uncertainty of the poppet casualty and the fact that the boat started to broach because she was getting heavy aft with the water in the after room, deep submergence was ordered. The Japanese destroyers alerted by the attack on the merchant ship began an ineffective depth charge attack, dropping a total of 32 ash cans. A second attack of 20 charges was much closer to the boat but it did not cause any significant damage and the submarine eluded the attackers. The crew used both the drain pump and the trim pump to clear the after room of water. The water gone and minor repairs completed the boat was ready to fight again.
Upon surfacing that evening, contact reports from the other members of the wolf pack aided CREVALLE in regaining contact with the convoy. A night surface attack was made just prior to dawn on two of the vessels with a concentration of five bow tubes and four stern tubes. Two of the torpedoes were observed to hit one of the targets and one visually confirmed hit and two timed hits were scored on the second target. Both vessels were visually confirmed as sunk. Again the Japanese escorts closed, forcing CREVALLE to escape with a deep submergence. The escorts remained in the area for a couple of hours, but they could not get a bearing on the boat and therefore no depth charges were dropped.

    After avoiding the escorts, a large cargo ship was seen lying dead in the water. FLASHER had crippled this ship in a previous attack. The approach was started, the timing being planed to launch torpedoes while two circling escorts were on the far side of the crippled freighter. Four bow tubes were fired: two observed and two timed hits being obtained. Pictures were snapped of the sinking ship and during this process several shells landed close aboard but they did no damage. The escorts raced over to CREVALLE'S location and proceeded to give the boat a fairly strong working over with many depth charges exploding close aboard.

    As each sub maneuvered among the convoy, the anti submarine warfare (ASW) effort towards one sub allowed the others to attack the convoy. It was an excellent attack that lasted for about 30 hours with FLASHER and CREVALLE both scoring big, while ANGLER was drawing away the ASW ships.

    As the boats surfaced, FLASHER reported that she had used all of her torpedoes and was returned to Fremantle leaving CREVALLE and ANGLER as a two-sub wolf pack. Lieutenant Commander Whitaker directed Lieutenant Commander Frank Walker to take charge of the wolf pack, as he was the next senior officer.

CREVALLE and ANGLER later met up with eight merchant ships and four escorts. They were overtaken on the 28th of July 1944 but the attack was foiled by a last minute zigzagging by the convoy. However CREVALLE promptly sank a naval auxiliary ship that was at the end of the convoy. The vessel was dispatched using the last of CREVALLE'S torpedoes by firing six bow tubes down the throat.

Note: Down the throat shots were performed by the submarine going bow to bow with the ship under attack then firing her torpedo spread straight at the other vessels bow. No matter which way the vessel turned, one or more of the fish would under a successfully timed firing hit it.

    CREVALLE was once again subjected to a massive depth charging as the counter-charge was accurate and persistent but she survived after sustaining extensive damage to her superstructure and hull fittings. As ANGLER still had some fish left, Captain Walker made turns for Australia with a good by, to its partner with the statement "now the ANGLER is a wolf pack of one."

    CREVALLE on route to Australia encountered a CHIDORI class of torpedo boat while making a submerged transit of Lombok Strait. However no attack was made and CREVALLE passed on her way unscathed arriving at Fremantle on 9 August 1944, ending this fourth war patrol. The patrol had lasted for 50 days. Significantly the CREVALLE'S torpedoes functioned well, FINALLY! Eleven devastating hits out of twenty-three torpedoes fired had bottomed 25,500 tons of Japanese shipping. CREVALLE was credited, for the sinking of 3.5 enemy freighters. Half credit for one of the sinkings went to FLASHER. Captain Walker received a gold star in Lieu of a second Navy Cross as a result of this successful action.

The FLASHER and ANGLER sank additionally six ships between them including a Japanese cruiser. This made " Whitaker's Wolves" the most productive of all US wolf packs, up until that time and gave a great boost to the United States Submarine war effort.