After the Battle of Midway, eight of the newer fleet submarines moved north and proved more successful against the enemy than the aging S-boats had been. The USS Triton sank a Japanese destroyer, the Nenohi, on 4 July 1942. The following day the USS Growler caught three destroyers at anchor, sinking one and severely damaging the others. The USS Grunion, making its first war patrol, sank two Japanese submarine chasers on 15 July but then disappeared while patrolling in close proximity to the S-28. Crowley reportedly heard no depth charges or explosions to explain the Grunion’s loss—a stark reminder of the fragility of life on a submarine even without an attacking enemy.8
The Aleutian Islands and Midway
Crowley's main battles on the S-28 were against the weather and the mechanical deficiencies of his submarine. The Aleutian Islands, strung out like vertebrae between the northern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, are infamous for their extreme weather. Crowley and his crew faced a daily round of freezing temperatures, raging storms, gale-force winds, and impenetrable fogs. On the submarine's bridge, icy winds could freeze a man's hands to his binoculars. Inside, the dank environment of the S-boat after forty days on patrol was a hazard in itself. Condensation—so-called hull sweating—saturated the crew's bedding along with everything else. On his first patrol Crowley noted that the “air was always cold and damp.”9 To conserve battery power, they rarely turned on the heaters.
Because of the prolonged daylight hours in the northern latitudes, the S-28 remained submerged an average of eighteen hours a day. Such lengthy dives wreaked havoc with the air quality inside the hull. Once carbon dioxide levels reached 3 percent, the atmosphere posed a serious threat to the crew, but even at lower levels it could cause headaches and other side effects.10 The main methods of countering high carbon dioxide levels were to bleed stored oxygen into the submarine or to distribute carbon dioxide absorbent, but the S-28 faced shortages of both.
The relatively brief periods on the surface also meant that the availability of fresh water was severely limited. Apart from what could be carried in storage tanks, the submarine's water supply depended on evaporators that ran off the heat of the diesel engine exhaust—and the S-28 used diesel power only when it was on the surface (running on battery power when underwater). Besides the shortage of drinking water, what little water the crew did have was apparently tainted, causing many of the men to suffer from nausea and headaches. In addition, an outbreak of scabies, a contagious skin disease caused by parasitic mites, affected about a third of the men and was almost certainly exacerbated by the system of “hot bunking,” in which crewmen shared the same beds as they rotated watches. To cap it off, there was a fire in the main port motor during the first patrol.
The S-28 departed from Dutch Harbor for its second war patrol on 15 July 1942. Milder weather meant that the crew's health improved, and shorter daylight hours meant that they could spend more time on the surface. The submarine was stationed in the area off Kiska and received a number of directives to intercept enemy ships. Although some enemy contacts were made, the submarine never undertook an attack. The physical condition of the S-28 remained a constant drawback. Among other things, the periscopes tended to fog up due to the differential between the water and air temperatures.11
The S-28’s third war patrol proved equally disappointing in terms of results, with only one enemy contact. In the late afternoon of 4 October 1942 the S-28 sighted an enemy patrol vessel estimated to be 130 to 150 feet long. The submarine lost the initiative, however, and failed to make an attack. In fact, the only torpedo fired was launched by accident when a firing circuit malfunctioned.12
Throughout its three patrols, the S-28, like most S-boats, was handicapped by a lack of navigational equipment. Without radar, a Fathometer, or proper sound equipment, navigation was dangerous. Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison once claimed that “navigating an S-boat was accomplished more by smell and feel than through science.”13 During the war, S-boats became notorious for running aground. For instance, on 20 January 1942 the S-36 struck Taka Bakang Reef in Makassar Strait. With coral penetrating the hull, the submarine had to be abandoned. The crew was picked up by a Dutch merchantman and transported to Surabaya, Java. On 14 August 1942 the S-39, sailing out of Brisbane, Australia, ran aground in the Louisiade Archipelago off New Guinea. Again, the crew was lucky to survive, being rescued this time by the Australian corvette HMAS Katoomba.14
The navigational hazards in the Aleutians were potentially as lethal as those in the South Pacific. The often overcast conditions provided little opportunity to take visual bearings to determine a submarine's position, and unpredictable currents could sweep a craft far off course. Pinnacles of rock dotted the harbors and waters off the coast, and the presence of magnetic ores affected compass needles. Added to this was the inaccuracy of many of the charts supplied; on some maps, islands might be as much as five miles out of position, and there was no indication of depth soundings for many areas.15
While carrying out reconnaissance off Amchitka Island in June 1942, the S-27 was swept onto rocks 400 yards from the coast. Fortunately, all forty-nine crewmen were able to reach shore safely. Even the Japanese were not immune to the weather conditions: the Japanese submarine I-157 ran aground in the perpetual fog and was able to extricate itself only after firing all its torpedoes and throwing overboard a large number of the battery cells needed for underwater propulsion.16
After its third war patrol, the S-28 left Dutch Harbor and arrived in San Diego on 23 October 1942 to undergo dry-dock maintenance and the installation of some additional equipment, including the newly developed SJ radar system. This surfacesearching radar, which sent out a rotating directional beam, would allow the submarine to track targets in the dark or in the poor visibility so prevalent in the Aleutians. It could detect a large ship 7,000 yards away and land up to 20,000 yards away. The S-28 would thus be able to contact a greater number of enemy ships, but the downside was that the new radar equipment required a lot of the S-28’s scarcest resource—space—taking up a large part of the conning tower area and necessitating the removal of several crew bunks.17 The S-28 also received a Fathometer, permitting accurate depth soundings, and a new Kleinschmidt distilling unit. The Kleinschmidt vapor-compression still could produce 750 gallons of fresh water a day, suitable for drinking as well as for use in storage batteries. Some considered the Kleinschmidt still one of the most important technical innovations of the submarine war.18
Departing San Diego on 9 December 1942, the S-28 commenced its fourth war patrol, terminating at Dutch Harbor on 21 January 1943. With the aid of radar, the submarine was able to make six enemy contacts, all during the hours of darkness. On two occasions the S-28 fired multiple torpedoes at targets but scored no hits. In what was becoming a recurring pattern, the patrol report endorsement by Crowley's superior officer read: “It is regretted that the USS S-28 was unable to complete its attacks with success.”19
During the S-28’s fifth war patrol in February 1943, the weather continued to be a major concern. Before going topside to man the bridge, crewmen had to dress in multiple layers of woolen underwear, shirts, sweaters, trousers, and socks. Crowley noted in his patrol report that the rubber-lined trousers and hooded jackets distributed to the crew generally provided good protection against the cold. Gloves, however, quickly filled with water, and whenever