IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

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PF
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IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

#1

Post by PF » 20 Feb 2014, 00:51

Postscript
In March 1944 US Tug YTM 467 was apparently lost in either Marshall or Gilbert Islands.
http://www.pacificwrecks.com/forum/view ... 660#p13660
Any sinkings claimed by IJN Submarines in this vincity at this time?

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Wellgunde
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Re: IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

#2

Post by Wellgunde » 20 Feb 2014, 21:09

I can't find any Japanese claims regarding the sinking of the YTM-467. I can't find out much about YTM-467 itself either. This tug was classified as a yard craft. These types of vessels were small and typically seldom ventured out into the open ocean. So it is unlikely that it was even in a position to be sunk by a Japanese submarine. I also doubt that in 1944 any Japanese submarine would have risked possible exposure to U.S. anti-submarine efforts by sinking such an insignificant target. That's based on my personal submarine experience; the Japanese could have looked at it differently.

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PF
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Re: IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

#3

Post by PF » 20 Feb 2014, 23:28

Postscript

Thanks

cstunts
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Re: IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

#4

Post by cstunts » 25 Oct 2014, 00:57

Hello,

1.) The yard tug YTM-467 shows up in the July 1945 deck logs of USS ARNEB (AKA 56) in San Francisco Bay/Oakland...

2.) However, there were certainly IJN submarines operating in the central Pacific in March 1944.

HTH

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Wellgunde
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Re: IJN submarine claims in Marshal?Gilbert islands 1944?

#5

Post by Wellgunde » 30 Oct 2014, 03:51

About the YTM-467
YTM-467 was built at the George S. Lawley & Sons shipyard in Neponset, MA in 1943. It was built for and acquired by the Defense Plant Corporation who delivered it the same year to the U.S. Army as DPC-17. It was later transferred (date unknown) to the U.S. Navy who put it into service as YTM-467. It was an 89 foot medium harbor tug. It was not a commissioned ship and was not capable of open ocean operations. Various Navy records state that the YTM-467 was lost in the Marshall or Gilbert Islands sometime during March 1944 and stricken from the Navy List on 9 June 1944. The cause of the loss was not specified. Loss can refer to both combat and non-combat causes. The most common cause of tugboat losses in the Navy has been collisions. As pointed out, the deck log of USS Arneb (AKA-56) for July 3, 1945 states that Arneb was assisted into its berth at the Alameda Naval Air Station by YTM-467. This is probably a typo for YTM-476. YTM-476 was operating in the Alameda-Oakland area at that time. There seems to be a lot of interest in YTM-467 as a possible diving wreck although it seems likely that it was salvaged and scrapped ashore. The Navy had advanced bases at Ebeye, Tarawa, Makin, Apamama, Majuro, Eniwetok, Kwajalein and Roi. YTM-467 could have been at any of them. Anyone interested in exactly what happened to YTM-467 and its final location will have to go to NARA and research the activity summaries for those facilities.

Japanese Submarine Claims
The Japanese claimed no submarine attacks anywhere in the Pacific during March 1944.
The closest report to the time frame in question was RO-39 (Lcdr Tachigami) which claimed sinking a cruiser (false) in the Gilberts on February 1, 1944. RO-39 was herself sunk the same day.
(source: Axis Submarine Successes of World War II)
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