U.S.S. POMPANO (SS-181) - Seawolf Park - Galveston, TX
Posted by: 
jhuoni
N 29° 20.043 W 094° 46.737
15R E 327275 N 3246310
This memorial is located between the USS Cavalla and the USS Stewart at the Galveston Naval Museum. A large Compass Rose, 35 foot in diameter, is outlined with the names and information of the 52 submarines lost during World War II.
Waymark Code: WM128BK
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/27/2020
Views: 0
U.S.S. POMPANO
(SS-181)
SEPTEMBER 1943
ALL HANDS LOST
HONSHU, JAPAN
On Eternal Patrol- The Loss of USS Pompano (SS-181)
Pompano (SS-181)
Compiled by Paul W. Wittmer and Charles R. Hinman, originally from:
U.S. Submarine Losses World War II, NAVPERS 15,784, 1949 ISSUE
After leaving Midway on 20 August 1943 to start her seventh war patrol, POMPANO, with LCDR Willis M. Thomas in command, was never heard from again. Her orders were to patrol off the east coast of Honshu from about 29 August to sunset of 27 September 1943, and then to return to Pearl Harbor for refit, stopping at Midway enroute for fuel.
When no transmission was received from her, especially just prior to her expected arrival at Midway on 5 October, word was sent from Pearl to keep a sharp lookout for her. By 15 October, all hope was abandoned, and POMPANO was reported as presumed lost in enemy waters.
Japanese information available now shows no attack which could conceivably have been on POMPANO. On 6 September POMPANO was informed by dispatch that the area to the north of her own was open. Since that area was considered more productive of sinkings than the one she was in, it is quite possible that she moved into it. Both the one between Honshu and Hokkaido, and the one east of northern Honshu are known to have been mined by the enemy, with the greatest concentration of mines in the northern area. In view of the evidence given, it is considered probable that POMPANO met her end by an enemy mine. Operational loss or loss by an unreported attack are alternate possibilities.
In the six patrols completed before her loss, POMPANO sank ten enemy ships for a total of 42,000 tons, and damaged four, totaling 55,300 tons. In the first month of the war, POMPANO patrolled near Wake Island, and sank a large freighter-transport of 16,500 tons. On her second patrol, conducted east of Formosa, she sank a large transport, a tanker, a small freighter, and two patrol boats. POMPANO went to the Empire for her third patrol, from mid-August to mid-September 1942, and sank a freighter and a patrol boat. In the Marshalls area on her fourth patrol, she damaged two tankers. Going to the Empire again for her fifth patrol, POMPANO damaged an aircraft carrier. She went to Japan a third time for her sixth patrol, this time along the coast south of Honshu. There she sank a sampan and damaged a freighter.
The following men were lost while serving on USS Pompano (SS-181).
Don Earl Allen
Leonard McGuire Anstine
Jesse Leo Appel
John Joseph Bennett
Robert Dudley Bissell
Carl Blum
George Savage Brooks, Jr.
James Joseph Buckley
Herbert Andrew Calcaterra*
Robert William Carlson
Robert Fulton Case
Leo Earnest Caskey
William Omer Christian
Huston Quinn Cravens
Chester Alonza Delbridge
William Woodrow Wilson Dennis
George Edward Eaves
Charles Frederick Feazelle
George Albert Gaffney, Jr.
Edward Joseph Galloway
Sherman Ganious
Veldean Gipson
John Felix Graeflin
Lowell Keith Gray
Robert Richard Gross
Hiram Paul Guess
Donald Sidney Hanson
John Walter Hanson
William Wilson Hastings
Theo Phillis Helms
Robert Buchanan Jenckes
John David Jenkins
George Alfred Jennings
Otis Peyton Johnigan
Stanley Ford Johnson
Martin Luther Keesee
Fred Joseph Kirschbaum
John Henry Lassiter
Eugene George Laux
Wesley Lewis Leonard
Robert Lorenz
Charles Arthur Madden
Raymond Lorne Mansfield
Donald Paul Masucci
Cleo Locke Matthews
Thomas Patrick McGrath
William George Messerschmidt
Robert Gene Meyer
William Alfred Mikkelson
Arthur Martin Moitz
Raymond Dale Morgan
Bernard Joseph O'Connell
Jay S. Owen
Howard Shuler Page
Phillip Douglas Parady
Chester Robert Phillips
Chester Phipps
Claire Cornwell Poole
Wayne Clifford Proctor
Walter Pyzow
Cleo Thomas Rafferty
Giles Russell Reed
Peter Revotskie
Robert Leo Rice
Vincent Paul Ritzenhein
Arthur Dallas Rodgers
William Hervey Rogers
Stanley Frank Rokosz
Joseph Rubscha, Jr.
Frank Blagg Scott
Joseph Narciss Shedloski
Irvin Gerald Slinden
Vernon LeRoy Swanson
Willis Manning Thomas
Jean Edward Wagner
Michael James Warwick
David Whitford White
Charlie Albert Wilson
*H. A. Calcaterra was killed while manning the boat's deck gun on September 4, 1942.
Pompano crew members George Alfred Jennings and Claire Cornwell Poole are mistakenly omitted in some sources.
Pompano crew member Ronald Heister was ashore for some dental work and was not with his shipmates when their boat was lost. He lives for the memory of the men he served with.