Lancetfish Sunk By Accidental Improper Operation Of Torpedo Tube Doors

THU 15 MAR 1945
Pacific
On Iwo Jima, Pharmacist's Mate Second Class Francis J. Pierce, assigned to a marine rifle battalion, is leading a stretcher party to a forward aid station when the group comes under heavy Japanese rifle and machine gun fire that wounds the other corpsman and two of eight stretcher bearers. Pierce takes charge, carries the newly wounded men to shelter and treats them before he draws his pistol and engages the enemy, covering the litter bearers while they carry three wounded leathernecks fo safety. After treating a hemorrhaging casualty who is hit again while the corpsman is taking care of him, Pierce expends the last of his ammunition and kills the enemy soldier who fired on them. Pierce, although exhausted and out of ammunition, makes two trips carrying wounded marines 200 yards over fire-swept terrain (see 16 March).

TF 92 (Rear Admiral John L. McCrea), consisting of light cruisers Richmond (CL-9), Concord (CL-10) and Trenton (CL-11) and seven destroyers, bombards Japanese installations on Matsuwa, Kurils.

Submarine Bream (SS-243) is damaged by depth charges off North Borneo, 05°36'N, 114°33'E, and is forced to terminate her patrol.

USAAF B-24s bomb Japanese convoy YUMO-01, which had departed Hong Kong the day before, but while the attack upon cargo ship Tatsumiya Maru proves unsuccessful, the Liberators damage one of the escorts, Coast Defense Vessel No.36, 23°03'N, 116°52'E.

USAAF B-24 sinks Japanese auxiliary powered sailing vessel Hoseki Maru in Tonkin Gulf, 18°34'N, 108°37'E.

Japanese submarine chaser Ch 21 is damaged by marine casualty off the south end of Namoa Island.

Japanese netlayer Wakamiya Maru is damaged by marine casualty off Keelung, Formosa.

Mediterranean
Destroyer Parker (DD-604) and three British destroyers carry out anti-shipping sweep in the Gulf of Genoa, but encounter no enemy vessels.

Atlantic
Submarine Lancetfish (SS-296) is sunk by accidental improper operation of torpedo tube doors, Boston (Massachusetts) Navy Yard.

Quoth the Wiki:

While tied up alongside Pier 8, Lancetfish flooded through an aft torpedo tube and sank 15 March 1945. She was raised eight days later and decommissioned 24 March. Assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in uncompleted condition, she was transferred to the First Naval District 27 February 1947 and was assigned to the New London Group 9 December 1952. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 9 June 1958 and sold for scrap for $57,189 on 20 August 1959 having never gone to sea on patrol, to Yale Waste Co., Boston, Mass.

Although Lancetfish was commissioned at the time of her sinking, she never saw active service, and she is not counted among the 52 American submarines lost during World War II.

More salvaging at NavSource.