World War II Database

1. B. Pennell says:
4 Jun 2020 12:42:44 AM

My grandfather served on the Cero Submarine. He told me they were bombed by our own airplanes and not the enemy. Your report said attacked by Japanese. Was a friendly fire incident that, nearly, sunk their submarine.

2.  David Stubblebine says:
4 Jun 2020 03:08:02 PM

B. Pennell (above):
Thank you for sharing your grandfather’s story about serving aboard the Cero. I’m glad he came back so he could tell it. While I have no doubt that the belief among the crew at the time was that Cero suffered damage from friendly fire, the records do not support that. By her own War Diaries, Cero was damaged 18 Jul 1945 off the coast of Etorofu Jima (Iturup) in the Kurile Islands north of the principal islands of Japan. The War Diaries describe the attacking airplane only as a “gull-wing, single engine plane.” Upon sighting the airplane, the sub instantly went into an emergency dive so no better observation of the plane could be made. Any allied single engine plane attacking a submarine north of Japan would certainly have to be carrier-based. On this date, the US carrier force was over 800 miles away launching strikes on targets in and around Tokyo, making Cero well outside their patrol radius. Certainly the most familiar gull-wing plane was the American F4U Corsair, but there were others. The Corsair was also flown by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm but by this stage of the war, the British carriers were sailing with the American carrier task forces and were also south of Japan. A far more likely candidate for this airplane was the Japanese Aichi B7A Ryusei carrier-based torpedo/dive bomber (code named Grace). Grace’s gull-wing shape is not as pronounced as the Corsair but was still distinctive. The US Navy’s official history in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, which is not always as authoritative as the name suggests, also says Cero was damaged in an “enemy air attack.” Japanese records may or may not have something to say about this event but I do not have access to them. The fog of war being what it is, anything is possible but a friendly fire incident seems unlikely.

3. Ron Silverberg says:
11 Aug 2021 07:18:14 AM

Something is off with the dates in Detroit. I joined the reserve in 1955 at Brodhead & went to meeting there and on Cero until late 1956 when I was called for 2 years active duty. Graduated from sub in late 1956 and was assigned to the uSS Angler SSK- 240.