Last Transmission from KETE
20 MARCH 1945
LAST TRANSMISSION FROM KETE
The fleet submarine KETE (SS-369) was launched 9 April 1944, one of the prolific Balao-class submarines that proved so successful in WWII. Like most, she was named for a fish, in this case a northern Pacific salmon species. She stood out from Pearl Harbor on Halloween, 1944, for her first war patrol, to report weather conditions off Okinawa and recover downed American flyers who were “softening up” that island in preparation for the coming invasion. This mission she pursued until 27 January, when problems with her bow planes forced a diversion to Guam. Shortly repaired, on 1 March 1945, under new skipper LCDR Edward Ackerman, she resumed weather reporting and “lifeguarding” off Nansei Shoto (Ryukyu Islands). The anticipated Okinawa D-Day, 1 April, was fast approaching.
KETE arrived west of Tokara Retto on 9 March to discover a submariner’s dream, an enemy convoy plodding slowly in the distance. She lined up on her first target, the 2116-ton transport Keizan Maru, who sank after a giant explosion. Avoiding any escorting destroyers, KETE positioned twice more that night, granting similar fates to the transports Sanka Maru and Dokan Maru. Having sent 6881 tons of enemy shipping to Davy Jones and having successfully dodged the enemy escorts, KETE’s crew was ecstatic. She lingered in the area a few more days, spotting a cable-laying ship on 14 March. But her attack that night was not successful. KETE remained on station for five more days. Then, with only three torpedoes left, on 19 March Ackerman was ordered back to Pearl Harbor for refit–with a fuel stop at Midway.
Ackerman acknowledged his orders and upon reaching the Colnett Strait north of Okinawa on this day sent another weather report to PacFleet Headquarters. But on 31 March, the submarine failed to show for her scheduled arrival at Midway. No word from her had been received after today’s transmission. Japanese records failed to mention any actions in the presumed area of her loss, and none of her crew was liberated from enemy POW camps. Perhaps she succumbed to an operational casualty. Perhaps she struck a Japanese mine. It is a truism of naval theory that the most effective weapon against a submarine is another submarine, and several enemy submarines had been sent into the area around Okinawa in anticipation of the Allied invasion. That is indeed the most accepted theory today–that she was sunk by an enemy submarine that was, herself, subsequently destroyed before word could be radioed back to Tokyo. Indeed, four enemy subs were sunk in this area at about this time. But from whatever cause, the fate of KETE and her final resting place remain a mystery today.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 24 MAR 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, Vol 2. New York, NY: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1975, p. 803.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, pp. 636-37.
Holmes, Harry. The Last Patrol. Shrewsbury, England: Airlife Publishing, Ltd., 1994, pp. 163-64.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol XIV Victory in the Pacific. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1960, p. 289.
