USS Pompon (SS-267)
History of the USS Pompon Submarine
The USS Pompon (SS-267) was ordered for the U.S. Navy before the United States entered World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Wisconsin on November 26, 1941. She was launched on August 15, 1942 and commissioned on March 17, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander E.C. Hawk.
The USS Pompon was transported down the Mississippi River from Manitowoc to New Orleans, Louisiana on a floating dry dock. She began her first war patrol out of Brisbane on July 10 in the waters near Truk. On July 25, her torpedoes sank the Japanese army cargo ship Thames Maru and damaged the troop transport Kinsen Maru. This patrol ended on August 22 back at Brisbane.
Her second war patrol commenced on September 12, and the USS Pompon headed for the South China Sea. While cruising toward her patrol area, she was nearly the victim of friendly fire when she was fired upon by a Liberty ship, but the range of the attack was too great to cause damage. The submarine made several failed attacks before putting in at Fremantle on November 5.
On November 29, the USS Pompon got underway for her third war patrol along the coast of French Indochina. She sank two Japanese sampans on December 11 with her gunfire. Two days later, she laid mines off Poulo Condore. Her patrol ended at Darwin on January 28, 1944.
The USS Pompon sailed for her fourth war patrol on February 22 off Halmahera Island. She fired four torpedoes at a small Japanese convoy, but each torpedo missed its mark. The submarine allowed a hospital ship to pass unharmed before she ended her patrol on April 10 at Pearl Harbor.
After refitting at Pearl Harbor, the USS Pompon headed out for her fifth war patrol on May 6 in the Japanese home waters. On May 30, her torpedoes sank the Japanese merchant passenger/cargo ship Shiga Maru. She moved on to cover the Tokyo Bay approached during the Battle of Saipan before returning to Midway on June 25.
The USS Pompon began her sixth war patrol off Honshu and Hokkaido and in the Sea of Okhotsk. Eight days later, she sank a Japanese trawler with her gunfire. On August 12, she sank the merchant cargo ship Mayachi Maru. During this encounter, she was nearly sunk by one of her own torpedoes, and she was forced to dive to escape enemy depth charges. She ended her patrol on September 3 at Pearl Harbor, from which she was ordered to Mare Island Navy Yard in California for overhaul and modernization.
Once her overhaul was complete, the USS Pompon got underway for the battle zone on December 13. On her way to Majuro, she rescued a Filipino who had been adrift for 45 days. In the company of a wolf pack, she departed Majuro for her seventh war patrol in the Yellow Sea on January 6, 1945. She witnessed the sinking of several enemy ships by her fellow submarines on January 28, but she made no kills of her own. The following day, her conning tower hatch failed while she was making a dive, and her pump room was completely flooded. Although disabled, she was forced to dive when she encountered a Japanese convoy. She managed to surface again, unharmed, and she put in at Midway on February 11 for repairs.
On March 30, the USS Pompon headed out for her eighth war patrol off the coast of China and Formosa. Though she scored no hits against the enemy during this time, she was forced to dive several times. The submarine helped to transport 10 survivors from a downed PBM when she finished her patrol at Guam on May 24.
The USS Pompon began her ninth and final war patrol on June 18, providing lifeguard service near Truk. She made no enemy surface contacts during this time, and she returned to Guam on July 22. The submarine was in Guam when the hostilities ended.
After World War II, the USS Pompon was decommissioned on May 11, 1946 at New London, Connecticut. She was converted to a radar picket submarine, SSR-267, and recommissioned on June 15, 1953. Her homeport shifted to Norfolk, and she headed out for a Mediterranean deployment with the Sixth Fleet from November until February 4, 1954. The submarine spent the next several years operating in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean, participating in exercises such as NATO Operation Strikeback.
The USS Pompon was decommissioned for the last time and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on April 1, 1960. She was sold for scrap on December 22, 1960. The submarine received four battle stars for her service in World War II.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
