Hellcats (17 page)

Lockwood noted in a letter to another friend, Captain Frank C. Watkins,
²
head of the submarine desk at Main Navy, that there had been so many of these projects that he couldn't keep them all straight. “We continue to hear about ER Sonar which you say is ‘not in this war.' I want something which will take me through Tsushima Straits
yesterday
—and I don't want to send a boat through there without a mine detector. We can lose boats fast enough without doing that.”

In another letter to Styer, Lockwood reported, “The third FM Sonar came in on Bowfin, and while the mine detection was very excellent, the range was only two or three hundred yards.... Fourth set arrived on Tunny this week, and I will see what she can do.... I know that various bureau and east coast experts say FM Sonar is no good, but after all it is the best we have got and I would appreciate very much if these adverse experts could get the lead out of their pants and produce something better. We don't care what it is called provided it does the job.”
³

Lockwood expressed his concern to Furer that diminishing resources allocated by the Navy for the development of technologies designed to enhance the effectiveness and survivability of submarines would hamper their missions, which had become more dangerous than ever, given the growing effectiveness of Japanese antisubmarine countermeasures. Lockwood topped his priority list of needed equipment with FM sonar and, possibly to impress Furer with the urgency of the matter, divulged his plan to use it to penetrate the Tsushima Strait into the Sea of Japan.

Though not fully satisfied with the
Bowfin
's FMS performance, Lockwood sent her on patrol but not into mined waters. He wanted Tyree to have a crack at using FMS, if not to detect mines, then to detect Japanese patrol boats to see if FMS could work in conjunction with “cuties,” the new Mk 27 electric homing torpedoes slowly coming into service, several of which had been put aboard the
Bowfin
for testing on real targets. Apparently BuOrd had learned a lesson from the Mk 14 fiasco. The USS
Sea Owl
(SS-405) had recently nailed two patrol boats with cuties, a performance that had convinced Lockwood that more were needed and fast. He may have hoped that if Tyree could improve on the
Sea Owl
's score, more cuties would enter production.

In fact Tyree didn't use his FM sonar at all and didn't fire any cuties during the
Bowfin
's fifty-seven-day patrol. Using Mk 14s and Mk 18s he sank only a destroyer. Tyree went on to exchange gunfire with two antisubmarine picket boats and rescue two downed Navy fliers. That Tyree didn't use his cuties had nettled Lockwood. Typically he refrained from criticizing skippers for actions taken or not taken during war patrols; he understood that circumstances dictated what actions a CO took, and Lockwood didn't like to second-guess his skippers. Even so it seemed a waste of an opportunity to acquire more data on torpedo performance.

Meanwhile another setback arrived with the
Tunny
from Mare Island. Her FMS was only marginally better than the
Bowfin
's. The unit could detect mines out to 350 to 400 yards, but it had a mysterious blind spot beyond the sub's bow.

Lockwood wrote Watkins, “As you will remember, I have been trying to boost this FM Sonar since December 1943, when I saw the first model at San Diego. I thought it held promise as a mine detector and hoped for big improvements with succeeding installations, but I must say that Bowfin and Tunny have been a sad blow to me. . . . Sorry my last two letters have been sobs, but sometimes I get a bit discouraged.”
⁴
Watkins wrote back that everything that could be done to speed up debugging and production of FMS was being done.

As Lockwood's entreaties began to move through the Navy's bureaucracy he took matters into his own hands to find solutions to the myriad problems afflicting FMS. Typically it had always been up to submariners to solve the problems that bedeviled the force—diesel engines and faulty torpedoes, for instance—and this time it wasn't any different. Lockwood and his submariners would have to work the bugs out of FMS that hadn't been worked out at UCDWR. To do this he initiated a robust training program that went beyond the training program at UCDWR: specifically, how to use FMS but also how to tune and properly maintain it aboard ship. Somehow the sub force would have to find the skilled electronics technicians needed for this work, even if Lockwood had to shanghai them from the surface Navy into the submarine Navy.

 

 

Released from FMS training at
Pearl, the
Tunny
sailed for Saipan, where she was met by Malcolm Henderson and two technicians from UCDWR. At Lockwood's request the men, aware of Lockwood's personal training initiative and its growing importance, had flown on ahead to meet the
Tunny
to try to straighten out her FMS electronics. Lockwood had shifted FMS training to Guam, where he could take an active hand. He not only went to sea aboard the
Tunny
with Henderson and the UCDWR technicians; he also operated the gear himself, twiddling the knobs and dials on the PPI in the conning tower as she eased through dummy minefields off Guam.

His presence and hands-on approach instilled confidence in the men that the mine detector wasn't their enemy but their protector. He explained that it would allow them to operate safely in formerly restricted areas in the course of their regular war patrols. Lockwood, always the big-picture man, knew that as U.S. forces moved closer and closer to Japan, force commanders would need accurate information on the location of minefields in waters stretching from southern Japan to Formosa in which invasion fleets would have to operate. Who else but his submariners with their magic mine gear would be capable of mapping those fields? Lockwood also understood that this work that the force might be called upon to provide could possibly scuttle his plans for the Japan Sea raid. He had to resolve the problems inherent in FMS so he could launch the mission as soon as possible, before his subs were relegated to a minor supporting role while Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet and Admiral Raymond A. Spruance's Fifth Fleet crushed the Japanese and got all the credit.

Lockwood was under no illusions about how hard it was going to be to sell FMS. The difficulty he faced was amply demonstrated by the incredibly poor performance turned in by the
Tunny
's FMS, primarily its inability to consistently detect mines and, when they were detected, its feeble visual display and strangled bell tones. The
Tunny
's crew were not only restless and unsettled by what they saw, but, within earshot of Lockwood, they openly voiced their feelings of mistrust and doubt, even questioning the sanity of officers who would fob off such a device on the sub force. Even Pierce, the
Tunny
's CO, had his doubts, though he was willing to suspend final judgment until Lockwood and Henderson had had a crack at improving the gear's performance. In all it was a failure that might have defeated even the most ardent supporter of FMS technology. Yet Lockwood's enthusiasm for its potential never flagged, not in public and never at sea. Not even when faced with the seemingly insoluble problems that bedeviled even Harnwell and his experts, who often worked until dawn tearing apart the gadget's innards to diagnose why its tubes and circuits overheated, shorted out, or just plain refused to operate.

Lockwood's faith in FMS, as well as Henderson's and his technicians' dedication, finally paid off when another test aboard the
Tunny
got the results Lockwood knew it was capable of. Now, instead of seeing mushy greenish blobs and hearing muffled tolling, Lockwood and Henderson saw luminous green pears and those icy, clear bell tones submariners loved to hate. And with those improved results there was a change of attitude by the
Tunny
's crew. Maybe, just maybe, this goddamned thing would work after all!

 

 

Before the
Tunny
departed on
her next war patrol, shipfitters installed a set of clearing lines around her many hull appendages and topside fixtures—diving planes, cleats, stanchions, etc. Made from lengths of thick cable welded to the submarine's hull, the lines were there to prevent mine cables from snagging and being dragged down into contact with the sub and detonating. It was a crude fix that would prove troublesome later when it was least expected.

Confident that the
Tunny
was as ready as she could be, Lockwood gave Pierce sealed orders to find, plot, and penetrate a minefield fringing the East China Sea near Kyushu. Could Pierce do it? Lockwood believed he could, and so did Pierce. At some point the attempt had to be made if the invasion of the Sea of Japan were to get off the ground. Lockwood was so confident that he requested permission from Admiral Nimitz to accompany Pierce to prove how much faith he had in FMS and to see it in action against the real thing. He reasoned that if he, Uncle Charlie, had the balls to risk his neck on such a mission, it would bolster the men's confidence in FMS.

“Sorry that the answer must be negative,” Nimitz replied.
⁵

 

 

In San Diego, the USS
Flying Fish
(SS-229) and the USS
Redfin
(SS-272) were being prepped to conduct the comparison tests of the other sonar devices under consideration by the Navy. In San Francisco in late February, the
Bonefish
, after shakedown and testing at sea, participated in an antisubmarine exercise with Navy pilots off Monterey, California, after which she returned to Hunters Point. On her arrival, Lawrence received his departure orders.

Sarah and Boo had train tickets for their return to Atlanta, where they would wait for Lawrence's final homecoming from the war. He bade his family a tender, tearful, and agonizing good-bye. His concern over Sarah's pregnancy during the long train trip home was eased somewhat by the fact that she'd be accompanied by several Navy wives, some of them pregnant, also returning home. To sustain him during the long, arduous days of patrolling in the months to come, Lawrence would draw on his memories of the days and nights he had spent with Sarah and Boo in Atlanta and San Francisco. He was still excited about having “Junior,” due in August, waiting for him when he returned home. Sad as the separation was, a letter from his parents lifted his spirits. He quickly wrote back, saying:

The
Bonefish
sailed for Pearl Harbor at the end of February. During the voyage Lawrence began writing a long letter to Sarah.