(Edited from U.S. SUBMARINE OPERATIONS, WW-II, U.S. NAVAL INSTITUTE)
By last summer 1942 the Japanese occupiers of Kiska and Attu were beginning to experience some pangs of malnutrition. Little food could be scavenged on these wind-blighted islands. The natives, themselves, had survived mainly on a thin, raw diet of fish. And now the fishing grounds were under fire. Practically all of the provisions for the occupying forces had to be imported from Japan. U.S. submarines were making importations increasingly difficult. Transports had to run into the harbors at dusk, unload under cover of night, and leave before dawn. Late in August, United States forces occupied Adak, and the Japanese supply situtation became critical.
While harrying the Kiska-Attu transport service, submarines engaged in special missions in conjunction with the U.S. Army's occupation of Adak. TUNA (LCDR A.H. Holtz) carried an Army colonel and a party of enlisted men from Dutch Harbor to Adak, puttng these troops ashore at Kuluk Bay on the night of August 25th. Two days later TRITON carried another party of Army personnel, plus 3,700 pounds of equipment, to the same beach-head. The Army's advance to Adak threatened the invader's base at Kiska, and air raids on incoming ship traffic reduced his supplies to driblets.
In the autumn the submarine forces applied more pressure. This in spite of the fact that GROWLER, TRIGGER, FINBACK and other fleet boats were moved south to patrol stations off Formosa and other Central Pacific areas. The remaining Aleutian patrollers kept the Jap ships on the run. On October 26, S-31 (LCDR R.F. Sellars) sank the 2,800-ton cargoman, KEIZAN MARU. This sinking, in the neighborhood of Paramushiru some 500 miles west of Attu, came as a storm warning to the fishermen down through Japan's Kuril Islands.
Throughout the following late autumn and winter months, submarines from Dutch Harbor were to keep the Kurile Island fishermen on tenterhooks. Striding down through the Aleutians and across the North Pacific to the Kuriles, the submarines were hacking at the enemy's supply line where it was rooted in his home waters. For the S-boats engaged in this operation it was rough going. LCDR Vincent A. Sisler, who made one of the later Aleutian-Paramushiru patrols in command of S-28, gave a vivid description of the rigorous submarining involved in these northern waters.
Hull-sweating he described as one of the worst plagues endured by the S-boaters.
"There were two ways to combat this. One way was to operate the air-conditioning unit, to evaporate the water and lower the boat temperature, which reduced sweating but forced everyone to wear more clothes. The other way was to rig canvas shields with funnel arrangements to keep the water from dripping on the bunks. But eventually, regarless of the precautions taken, the mattresses, blankets, sheets and everything became soggy, wet and damp. The habitability of S-boats in northern waters was terrible."
With winter's onset, the submariner dressed for bridge duty in heavy woolen underware, a woolen hunting shirt, two pairs of woolen submarine trousers, three pairs of heavy wool socks, aviator's fleece-lined boots, plus flexible rubber boots. He climbed into a pair of trousers lined with sponge rubber and put on more sweaters and a parka. Regular-issue rain gear might be added if the weather were particularly inclement. Two pairs of wool mittens were worn and sometimes covered with rubber surgical gloves. A diving suit could hardly have been more cumbersome than this garb. Sisler reported:
"It was necessary to lash lookouts, the officer of the deck and the quartermaster to the bridge to keep them from being bashed around by the waves that rolled over the boat. Amazing that all hands didn't have severe colds and pneumonia, but health in general was excellent. The big problem turned out to be teeth. They decayed quickly from lack of calcium. Calcium pills soon became standard issue as did sun lamps. Without them, men soon developed a green, washed-out appearance."
Submarining without regular artic clothing, calcium pills and sun lamps, the S-boaters who opened the Aleutian campaign will be remembered as rugged pioneers.