After completing a simulated war patrol off of Midway from 31 October 1941 to 4 December 1941, USS Thresher SS 200 was returning to Pearl Harbor. While on the return transit, heavy weather had set in with high
winds and waves. It was no place for
Thresher or any other submarine on the surface, but on the surface she
was. As the bow plunged into the angry
seas, water came over the periscope shears and conning tower. One such wave hit with such force that it
washed William D. Grover off the lookout platform onto the after
"cigarette deck". Grover was
taken below and placed in the Captain’s cabin.
Ralph A. Millis PhM1, "Doc", stayed with Grover almost
constantly and did all he could to make him comfortable. Unknown to all at the time, Grover had
sustained a skull fracture in the fall.
Thresher was some 50 nautical miles northwest of Pearl
Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941 and had been picked up by her escort Destroyer USS
Litchfield (DD 336) when they both were notified that Pearl Harbor had been
attacked by the Japanese. As they neared
the island of Oahu, a US Task Force was outbound and Litchfield left to join
the task force. LCDR Anderson notified Pearl Harbor that the Litchfield had
left and that there was a severely injured man aboard Thresher. Anderson planned to submerge and then surface
at sunset and then proceed into port at that time. As Thresher was submerging she received a
message not to leave her escort, which unfortunately had already occurred. A message was sent to Litchfield to return to
the area where they had separated to escort Thresher into port. Shortly thereafter a destroyer was seen
through the periscope at the designated location and Thresher surfaced.
To Thresher’s surprise it was not the Litchfield, but the
USS Gamble (DD 123).
From the Deck Log of the USS Gamble (DD 123):
"7 – Dec 1941 - 1632 hours - sighted submarine
surfacing - began attack"
The Gamble, a destroyer/ minelayer, thinking she had found a
Japanese submarine turned bow on and commenced firing her forward deck gun and
machine guns. Fortunately for Thresher
only two rounds from the deck gun were fired but the hostile conditions caused
Thresher to take evasive action and dive to 250 feet. As she was diving, Thresher sent out
recognition signals which were evidently picked up by Gamble as she continued
on her way without further attack.
Anderson advised Pearl Harbor of the attack and again of the
urgency of getting into port because of Grover’s dire condition. At that time there was of course mass
confusion in Pearl Harbor. The Base tried
to set up an escort for Thresher but ships were obviously at a premium at that
time. Thresher spent the night avoiding
any kind of surface vessel as to avoid a repeat of the Gamble incident earlier
that day. As one junior officer said, “We
had no friends".
Grover died during the night of 7 December 1941. Arguably making him the first US Submarine Service
casualty of World War II.
William D. Grover S2
Enlisted 7 December 1940 at
Portland, Oregon, attached to Thresher 4 August 1941 at Pearl Harbor.
On the morning of 8 December 1941, Pearl Harbor advised that
the entrance net would be open at a certain time and to proceed into port at
that time. Each time Thresher attempted
to enter she was driven down by "friendly" forces. After Pearl Harbor was notified of the
attacks, Thresher was directed to a sanctuary and to remain submerged. Even at the “sanctuary” Thresher was driven
deep many times by “friendly” aircraft.
Finally an escort was sent, the destroyer USS Thornton (DD
270), and Thresher was escorted to the entrance and arrived at the Sub Base
around noon, 8 December 1941, mooring to the USS Pelias (AS 14).