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Casualty Info
Home Town Ensley, AL
Last Address Birmingham, AL
Casualty Date Sep 17, 1943
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Elmwood Cemetery - Birmingham, Alabama
Wall/Plot Coordinates (memorial marker)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
USS Pompano (SS-181) left for her patrol on 20 August 1943, heading towards the Japanese coast. She was never heard from again and is presumed to have been lost to enemy mines. Fire Controlman, Third Class Christian was listed as Missing in Action and later declared dead 4 January 1946.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 6041001
Submarine war patrols:
USS Plunger (SS-179) - 1st through 6th
USS Pompano (SS-181) - 6th and 7th
THe information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
New Guinea Campaign (1943-44)/Sinking of the USS Pompano (SS-181)
From Month/Year
September / 1943
To Month/Year
September / 1943
Description
USS Pompano (SS-181), a United States Porpoise-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pompano.
Her keel was laid down on 14 January 1936 by the Mare Island Navy Yard in California. She was launched on 11 March 1937, sponsored by Mrs. Isaac I. Yates, and commissioned on 12 June 1937, Lieutenant Commander Lewis S. Parks in command.
Although the fate of the Pompano has been unknown for years, new evidence from Japan suggests it may have been hit by depth charges from members of the Japanese Navy following an oil slick on top of the water — which they took as an indication there was a submarine below. A possibility is that she was sunk on September 17, 1943, by a bomb and depth-charge attack in the Shiriyasaki Sea, off Aomori Prefecture, at northeast Honshu Island, by a Japanese seaplane and surface vessels. The seaplane spotted and attacked a surfaced submarine, which returned gunfire. Oil rose to the surface after the attack. Consecutive depth-charge attacks were then made by five surface vessels on the submerged submarine, which was stopped and possibly sunk. A Tabular Record of Movement for one of the Japanese surface vessels indicates the submarine was possibly the Pompano.
