Dealey, Samuel David, Jr., CDR

HARDER departed for her fifth patrol in the Celebes Sea on 26 May 1944. She picked up coast watchers from northeastern Borneo, and gave a very valuable contact report on a major task force leaving Tawi Tawi anchorage, Sulu Archipelago, preparing to engage in the first Battle of the Philippine Sea. On 6 June HARDER entered the heavily patrolled Sibutu Passage between Tawi-Tawi and North Borneo and encountered a convoy of three tankers and two destroyers. She gave chase on the surface but was illuminated by the moon. As one of the destroyers turned to attack, HARDER submerged, turned her stern to the charging destroyer, and fired three torpedoes at range of 1,100 yards. Two struck MINATSUKI and exploded; the destroyer sank within 5 minutes. She sank this destroyer on June 6, 1944; the same day allied forces were struggling desperately to hold the Normandy beachhead half a world away. After attacking the second escort without success, HARDER was held down by a depth charge attack while the convoy escaped.

Early next morning an enemy plane spotted HARDER. The submarine soon sighted another destroyer searching the area for her. As before, the enemy closed the range once again, HARDER took the initiative. She fired three torpedoes at short range, and two of them struck amidships, one detonating the ship's magazine with a tremendous explosion. HAYANAMI fell victim to HARDER?s torpedoes, and sank tail first, a minute later. Following the inevitable depth charge attack, HARDER transited the Sibutu Passage after dark and steamed to the northeast coast of Borneo. There on the night of 8 June she picked up six British coast-watchers, and early next day she headed once more for Sibutu Passage.

That evening HARDER sighted two enemy destroyers patrolling the narrowest part of the passage, just a miles from Tawi-Tawi. After submerging, she made an undetected approach and at 1,000 yards fired four torpedoes at the overlapping targets. The second and third torpedoes blasted destroyer TANIKAZE; she sank almost immediately, her boilers erupting with a terrific explosion. The fourth shot hit the second ship and exploded with a blinding flash. Within minutes HARDER surfaced to survey the results, but both ships had disappeared. Soon afterward, she underwent the inevitable depth charge attack by enemy planes, then she set course for a point south of Tawi-Tawi to reconnoiter.

On the afternoon of 10 June HARDER sighted a large Japanese task force, including three battleships and four cruisers with screening destroyers. An overhead plane spotted the submarine at periscope depth and a screening escort promptly steamed at 35 knots toward her position. Once again, HARDER became the aggressive adversary. As the range closed to 1,500 yards, she fired three torpedoes on a "down the throat" shot, then went deep to escape the
onrushing destroyer and certain depth charge attack. Within a minute two torpedoes blasted
the ship with violent force just as HARDER passed under her some 80 feet below. The deafening explosions shook the submarine far worse than the depth charges and aerial bombs which the infuriated enemy dropped during the next 2 hours. When she surfaced, HARDER saw only a lighted buoy marking the spot where the unidentified destroyer either sank or was heavily damaged.

HARDER reconnoitered Tawi-Tawi anchorage 11 June and sighted additional enemy cruisers and destroyers. At 1600 she headed for the open sea and that night transmitted her observations which were of vital importance to Admiral Spruance's fleet prior to the decisive Battle of the Philippine Sea. HARDER steamed to Darwin 21 June for additional torpedoes, and, after patrolling the Flores Sea south of the Celebes, she ended the patrol at Darwin 3 July. By the time HARDER returned from this patrol, her reputation as ?Destroyer Killer? was renown.

The important results of HARDER's fifth war patrol have caused some to call it the most
brilliant of the war. Not only did HARDER further deplete the critical supply of destroyers by sinking three of them and heavily damaging or destroying two others in 4 days, but her frequent attacks and a rash of enemy contact reports on this fleeting marauder so frightened Admiral Toyoda that he believed Tawi-Tawi surrounded by submarines. As a result, Admiral Ozawa's Mobile Fleet departed Tawi-Tawi a day ahead of schedule. The premature departure upset the Japanese battle plans, and forced Ozawa to delay his carrier force in the Philippine Sea, thus contributing to the stunning defeat suffered by the Japanese in the ensuing battle.


The resolute and resourceful Commander Dealey "a submariner's submariner," was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his outstanding contribution to the war effort on HARDER's fifth patrol.