“Johnny” Moore
12 JANUARY 1910
“JOHNNY” MOORE
John Anderson “Johnny” Moore was born on 12 January 1910 in central Texas. By age 18 he was living near Memphis, from whence he was appointed to the US Naval Academy. Here, his thundering right hook earned him boxing prowess and a reputation for action. The 1932 “Lucky Bag” describes, “Wherever Johnny is, there will be something going on. He is never lacking in enthusiasm, energy or ideas.” After junior officer tours aboard USS Arizona (BB-39), several submarines and the destroyer Sands (DD-243), Moore transferred to the Bureau of Navigation, Personnel Command, at whose desk he sat during the Pearl Harbor raid. Then on 19 July 1943 the demand for submarine officers in the Pacific led to Moore’s selection to command the Tambor-class submarine Grayback (SS-208).
Moore’s first war patrol was Grayback’s eighth in September 1943. It tested a new tactic SUBRON TWO’s commander, CAPT Charles “Swede” Momsen, borrowed from German U-boats. Rendezvousing off Midway with Shad (SS-235) and Cero (SS-225), the three cruised the East China Sea as a “wolfpack.” They searched independently, but when one spotted target she would radio the others and converge as a group. These tactics allowed Moore to sink the transport Konron Maru in early October, followed by the freighter Kozui Maru and the auxiliary cruiser Atawa Maru weeks later. The three subs returned in November, out of torpedoes, to a rousing welcome home that included the Navy Cross for Moore.
Grayback’s ninth patrol was even more successful, if short. Moore sank seven enemy freighters, an armed trawler, and an escorting sub-chaser. Out of torpedoes after only a month on patrol, he returned for his second Navy Cross.
On 28 January 1944 Grayback began her tenth patrol off the Bonin Islands. Two more freighters, Taikei Maru and Tonshin Maru, succumbed to Moore’s torpedoes. Moore then spotted Japanese convoy Hi-40, and on 25 February the tanker Nanho Maru became his next victim. Moore surfaced later that day to message SUBPAC. He was ordered to return. It was final word from Moore. Grayback’s estimated arrival day of 7 March came and passed with no sign of the submarine.
Japanese records revealed Grayback’s fate after the war. Her sinking of the freighter Ceylon Maru while in transit with her last two torpedoes alerted a nearby carrier. Enemy aircraft from that carrier caught Grayback on the surface. In a phenomenal stroke, one of their #500 bombs struck the submarine directly behind the sail. She snapped in half and sank. Follow-up aircraft found only an oil slick to mark the spot.
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Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, Vol 2. New York, NY: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1975, pp. 511-13.
Hall of Valor Project website. AT: https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/20707, retrieved 29 December 2021.
Heslar Naval Armory. AT: https://indyencyclopedia.org/heslar-naval-armory/, retrieved 26 December 2021.
Holmes, Harry. The Last Patrol. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing, Ltd., 1994, pp. 91-93.
Naval History and Heritage Command. Lucky Bag 1932 “John A Moore, CDR, USN.” AT: https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/ john_a._moore,_cdr,_usn, retrieved 29 December 2021.
Naval History and Heritage Command. “Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During WWII by All Causes.” AT: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/j/japanese-naval-merchant-shipping-losses-wwii.html, retrieved 29 December 2021.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: In a strange twist, American interpreters at the end of the war mistranslated the Japanese records by one digit. The position of the sinking was thus recorded as 100 miles in error. Grayback lay undisturbed until 2019 when the translation error was discovered and corrected by researchers from the Lost 52 Project. She was subsequently found, sitting upright in 1400 feet of water about 100 miles off Okinawa. Moore and 79 Grayback crewmen remain on board today.
For this final mission, Moore was posthumously awarded his third Navy Cross. An empty grave in the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines remembers CDR Moore, as does the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate John A. Moore (FFG-19). Grayback is honored with a memorial at the Heslar Naval Armory in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Hesler Armory was decommissioned in 2015 and the Grayback Memorial was removed to government storage.
