In submarines there is no billet more crucial to the discipline, morale and performance of the crew than that of Chief of the Boat. It is the highest enlisted rank aboard. During Wahoo's commissioning and heyday, that position was held by a man who helped shape the crew and contributed significantly to the boat's spirit and success. His name was Chief Torpedoman's Mate Russell Herman Rau.
Born in Swoope, VA on April 13, 1901, the son of Laura Bruce and Rev. William S. Rau of Shenandoah, VA, Russell Rau joined the Navy in 1919 at the age of 18. Following his indoctrination at the Training Station, Norfolk, Virginia, Rau was assigned to a tug boat. However, a year later he was posted to the type of craft he was destined to serve aboard for the next 25 years, submarines.
Rau's first submarine was USS K-4, a training boat stationed on the east coast. Already antiquated, K-4’s job was to patiently reveal the mysteries of underwater operations to her complement of 2 officers and 24 enlisted men.
The young torpedoman's next assignment was USS S-32. While aboard her, Rau began to see the world. During the summer of 1923, she participated in cold weather exercises in the Aleutians, visiting Seward, Alaska. In the fall, she resumed local operations off southern California and that winter, she made her way to the Canal Zone in Panama.
Following S-32, Rau served aboard a succession of boats throughout the twenties and thirties including, USS 0-8, 0-6, S-7, S-15, S-14, R-10 and R-14. By 1939 he was back in New London, CT in USS S-20. While stationed there he met and married Lucille May Page of Groton, CT.
In June, 1940 he received orders to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for the new construction boat USS TRITON (SS-201). Triton was a vast improvement over the cramped, unairconditioned boats Rau had previously served in. Under Captain Willis Lent, Triton assisted in the search efforts for O-9, reported missing off Portsmouth.
On June 20, 1940, O-9 was conducting tests with two other O boats off the Isle of Shoals. At 0738 she submerged to conduct deep submergence tests. The sub failed to resurface. Her hull had been crushed by the pressure of the water 402 feet below.
Divers from USS Falcon went to record depths in efforts to salvage O-9 but could stay on the bottom only a brief time. Salvage operations were soon canceled to prevent further loss of life.
On June 22, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox conducted memorial services for the 34 officers and men lost on O-9. The ceremony was a grim foreshadowing of Triton's own future. She would be lost to enemy action on March 15, 1943. Fortunately for Chief Rau, on October 31, 1941, he was transferred to USS Tambor (SS-198).
As the clouds of war began to roll in from the east, Pacific submarines began to make simulated war patrols. In November 1941, Tambor set sail for Wake Island loaded with torpedoes in case hostilities should break out with Japan.
On December 7, 1941 Tambor received a message from ComSubPac, "Conduct unrestricted submarine warfare against the empire of Japan." Thus began her, and Rau's, first war patrol. However, before she could engage the enemy, Tambor was forced to return to Pearl Harbor with one engine out of commission. Routed back to Mare Island, CA where the damage was repaired, Rau left Tambor for the new construction boat USS Wahoo (SS-238) building there at the shipyard.
USS Wahoo
With his years of submarine experience, Rau was a natural choice for the top enlisted billet, Chief of the Boat. As such, he quickly set about the task of training the newly formed crew. In August, Wahoo set sail for Pearl Harbor.
Following their first war patrol, Captain Marvin Kennedy singled Rau out for a letter of commendation for his contributions. It was the first in a series of awards he would receive while serving aboard the boat. Under Captain Morton, Rau was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device and became entitled to wear the Presidential Unit Citation for USS Wahoo. He was also presented with a small certificate, signed by King Neptune himself, signifying his initiation as a shellback following a crossing-the-line ceremony held on January 25, 1943.
Following four exhausting war patrols in Wahoo, Chief Rau was transferred briefly to Silversides in April, 1943. From there he went back to the states, serving for a time in New London, then moving back to Mare Island, CA where he served until the end of the war.
After twenty-five years of active duty, CTM Russell Rau was honorably discharged on September 17, 1945. He returned to the east coast to his wife and their daughter Lois. Shortly thereafter a son was born to them, William Russell Rau. In his retirement Chief Rau remained active in the reserves, working as an ordnanceman on the sub base exchange.
In June, 1951 CTM Russell H. Rau died of a heart attack just one day before he was to be installed as President of Branch 20, Fleet Reserve Association. His death ended thirty years of service to his country and the Navy. It also brought grief to a wife who had waited years for the chance to have her husband home with their two young children.