USS Caiman (SS-323) Operational Reports
Last Update: 2/7/2011
From 1944 to 1954 the USS Caiman (SS323) was involved in World War II and the Korean War. In this section you will find copies of the War Patrol reports from WWII and Korea and several other reports inbetween and after the wars were over.
WWII War Patrols
During WWII, the USS Caiman (SS-323) went on four War Patrols. The official War Patrol Reports were declassified many years ago and are available to the public. Our fellow submariners from the USS Sealion (SS-315) started a project several years ago to make electronic copies from microfiche of WWII War Patrol reports available for 255 submarines. This was a very tedious work and we all owe them a great deal of gratitude for putting in the effort to make these valuable historical documents available. In 2007, the USS Caiman Association, purchased copies of the four USS Caiman (SS-323) War Patrol Reports and they are listed below for you to download. The original files were quite large so they were split into several files for each report to make it a little more practical to download them. As it is, the file sizes range from 20MB to 40MB, so be prepared to wait a little depending on the speed of your Internet connection. If you have a dial up connection, send me an email and I will see about getting you a copy on a CD.
War Patrol #1: WWII - Nov 13, 1944 to Jan 22, 1945 - 69 Days
War Patrol #2: WWII - Feb 18, 1945 to Apr 6, 1945 - 48 Days
War Patrol #3: WWII - Apr 28, 1945 to Jun 27, 1945 - 59 Days
War Patrol #4: WWII - Jul 22, 1945 to Aug 19, 1945 - 27 Days
Post WWII and Korean War Reports
Thanks to Bob Bowlin we have several reports from 1947 to 1954. While visiting the New London Submarine Museum a few years ago, Bob copied several CAIMAN Operational Reports from their library so we could have them here on our web site. The reports were digitally scanned from copies of copies so the quality is not all that great but they are readable. There may be more of these reports available. If anyone comes across one, please let us know about it.
The first one is a report dated February 1947 titled 'Report of First Simulated War Patrol'. At first, without reading it, you might think this was a training simulatiion while CAIMAN was tied up to a pier, but that's not the case. She was underway. It's no simulation. This 70 page report is full of detail that includes the various endorsements of the report, a daily narrative, ship and aircraft contacts, equipment and personnel performance and a sailing list.
Next, you will find the second report which is from September 1950 titled 'Standard Operational Report' details a training operation from 21 Jun to 1 Sept that took CAIMAN from Pearl Harbor to the Puget Sound in Washington. CAIMAN participated in two full months of extensive ASW excercise after excercise with short visits to various ports in Puget Sound, such as Neah Bay, Port Angeles, Victoria and Seattle and made one round trip to Astoria, Oregon before returning to Pearl.
The third report dated 4 June 1952, is titled 'Report of First War Patrol'. This report was durring the Korean War and it describes CAIMAN's transit from Yokosuka, Japan through the Tsugaru Strait Pearl where it made a 'short diversionary feint toward Vladivostok' and then proceeded to the patrol area to the north. This report is nearly 50 pages long and includes a detailed daily narrative, list of ship and aircraft contacts and very detailed information of how the various systems and equipment performed as well as a sailing list.
The fourth report dated 24 July 1954 is titled 'Report of Third Special Patrol. Take note of the word Special in the Subject line on page one. This report has CAIMAN departing Yokosuka, Japan on 25 June transiting Tsugaru Strait and patroling an area about 400 miles NE of Vladivostok, Russia. This report is 70 pages long and includes the same level of detail as the other reports and a sailing list.
Report of First Simulated War Patrol, February 1947
Standard Operational Report, September 1950
Report of First War Patrol, June 1952
Report of Third Special Patrol, July 1954
|
