Verne Leslie Skjonsby – On Eternal Patrol Aboard the Submarine USS Wahoo

Verne Skjonsby was born in Hickson, North Dakota on November 3, 1910. From the 1920 US Census we learn that Verne’s father, Johnny, 32, was born in Norway and owned a farm. His mother, Jessie, 28, had three sons living at home at this time; Verne, then 9 years old, Joseph, 6, and Owen, 1. They lived on a farm in Walcott, Richland County, North Dakota.

According to the 1940 US Census, Vern and his wife Dorothy, 26, lived with her mother, Mary Andrade, 58. Wallace Andrade, 15, Mary’s grandson also lived with the family at 2335 Liloa Rise, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Skjonsby was listed as a Lieutenant, Junior Grade on this document.

Skjonsby was appointed to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1930. After graduating, he was commissioned as an Ensign. Verne’s first recorded duty was to muster aboard the cruiser USS Astoria (CA-34) in 1934.

Here is a list of his Navy assignments:

1930-34 US Naval Academy

1934-1936, USS Astoria (CA-34)

1936-1938, USS Shaw (DD-373)

1938-1938, NAVSUBASE New London/Groton

1938-1939, USS S-27 (SS-132)

1939-1941, USS Dolphin (SS-169)

1941-1942, US Naval Academy Annapolis (Faculty Staff)

1942-1943, USS Wahoo (SS-238)

Skjonsby mustered aboard the submarine USS Wahoo (SS-238) beginning in 1942. As a line officer, he participated in many war patrols into the South Pacific, including the seventh, ill-fated, war patrol. He attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander and after the Wahoo’s fifth war patrol, he was named as the Executive Officer, serving with CO Morton. His Navy service number was O-073308.

Verne Skjonsby, along with 79 other sailors, was tragically lost on October 11, 1943, when a Japanese antisubmarine air and sea force holed the Wahoo and she sank with all hands on board. A memorial to the men of the Wahoo is called Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii. Verne was awarded a Purple Hear, Silver Star and World War II Victory Medal posthumously.

Wreck site found: Beginning in 1995, the Wahoo Project Group started the search for her location based on available evidence. In 2005 electronic surveys showed what turned out to be a US Gato class submarine in the strait. On October 31, 2006 the US Navy confirmed the wreckage of the Wahoo in 213 feet of water in the La Perouse Strait.

On July 8, 2007, the US Navy held a wreath laying ceremony at the confirmed site of the sinking of the Wahoo. On October 11, 2007, the US Navy held an official remembrance ceremony for the crew of the Wahoo. The ceremony was conducted at the USS Bowfin Museum and Submarine Park at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

**Details of Wahoo’s amazing war history and final patrol (see **https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-022/h-022-4.html for more details) are given below:

Sixth war patrol, August 1943 - On 13 August, Wahoo entered the Sea of Okhotsk, having completed the passage through the Etorofu Strait. She arrived in the Sea of Japan the following day and sighted three medium freighters headed south. The submarine launched one torpedo at the trailing ship; it missed. The next day (15 August), while still on the trail of those three freighters, Wahoo sighted a large freighter on a northerly course. Deciding to attack the larger, single target, the submarine broke off the pursuit of the three freighters, surfaced, and commenced tracking the new target, diving to make a submerged approach. Wahoo launched one torpedo; it hit at the point of aim but was a dud. She fired two more torpedoes. Both missed. Wahoo then swung around to bring her stern torpedo tubes to bear and headed directly for the target. The submarine fired another torpedo which missed and must have broached and exploded before the end of the run. Wahoo soon sighted an Otori-class torpedo boat and commenced evasive action, letting the large freighter escape. She decided to move over on the Hokkaidō-Korea shipping route and spend the night and the following day transiting to that area.

On 16 August, Wahoo sighted a freighter headed south, but made another contact in a better position for attack. Shifting targets, she launched one torpedo at a medium-sized freighter. It missed. The next day, the scene was repeated with the same results. No pursuit was undertaken, in hopes of a loaded target heading south. However, Wahoo sighted a freighter heading north in ballast and commenced a submerged approach. Morton launched one torpedo which missed. Just as the torpedo left its tube, a southbound freighter passed close aboard this target, but the torpedo missed. Wahoo then surfaced and chased the southbound freighter. While pursuing this ship, the submarine sighted another target well ahead and away from the coast, so she again shifted targets. While tracking this new target, she passed two small northbound ships – one looked like a tug and the other resembled a tanker. Wahoo made a submerged approach and launched a torpedo at the medium-sized freighter. It was a miss. She fired again; still a miss, but this torpedo, probably broaching, exploded. The submarine surfaced and headed further out to sea.

Within four days, twelve Japanese vessels were sighted; nine were hunted down and attacked to no avail. Ten torpedoes broached, made erratic runs, or were duds. In light of the poor torpedo performance, ComSubPac ordered Wahoo to return to base.

On 19 August, the submarine sighted a ship and commenced tracking, but she withheld her fire when her crew recognized the flag as Soviet (an ally of the United States at the time). Wahoo made for La Perouse Strait. The next day, she sighted a sampan and fired warning shots across the bow. When the sampan failed to stop, the submarine opened up on it with her 20 mm and four-inch guns. The sampan was soon a wreck. Six Japanese fishermen surrendered and were taken on board as prisoners of war. Eight hours later, Wahoo opened fire on two more sampans, enveloping them in flames. Members of the crews jumped overboard but showed no desire to be rescued. Wahoo completed the passage of Etorofu Strait, and then arrived at Midway on 25 August. She immediately got underway for Pearl Harbor, and she arrived there on 29 August.

** Seventh and final war patrol, September–October 1943 – **Captain Morton, smarting from that last luckless patrol, asked to return to the Sea of Japan, and permission was granted. He elected to take a full load of the newly arrived Mark 18 electric torpedo rather than take the risk that further production runs of the Mark 14 steam torpedoes might still be defective. Wahoo got underway from Pearl Harbor, topped off fuel and supplies at Midway on 13 September, and headed for La Perouse Strait. The plan was to enter the Sea of Japan first, on or about 20 September, with Sawfish following by a few days. At sunset on 21 October, Wahoo was supposed to leave her assigned area, south of the 43rd parallel, and head for home. She was instructed to report by radio after she passed through the Kurils. Nothing further was ever heard from Wahoo.

On 25 September 1943 the Taiko Maru was torpedoed in the Sea of Japan; mistakenly credited to the USS Pompano (SS-181), it was apparently sunk by Wahoo.[25]

Wahoo - On 5 October, the Japanese news agency Domei announced to the world that a steamer, the 8,000 long tons (8,100 t) Konron Maru, was sunk by an American submarine off the west coast of Honshū near Tsushima Strait, with the loss of 544 lives. The victims included two Japanese congressmen of House of Representatives, Choichi Kato and Keishiro Sukekawa. Postwar reckoning by JANAC showed Wahoo sank three other ships for 5,300 tons, making a patrol total of four ships of about 13,000 long tons. The sinking of Konron Maru enraged the Japanese navy, and the Maizuru Naval District ordered a 'search and destroy' operation for US submarines.

Japanese records also reported that on 11 October, the date Wahoo was due to exit through La Pérouse Strait in the morning, Wahoo was bombarded from Cape Sōya. An antisubmarine aircraft (likely an Aichi Jake float plane) sighted a wake and an apparent oil slick from a submerged submarine. The Japanese initiated a combined air and sea attack with numerous bombs and depth charges throughout the day. Sawfish had been depth-charged by a patrol boat while transiting the strait two days before, and the enemy's antisubmarine forces were on the alert; their attacks fatally holed Wahoo, and she sank with all hands. She was declared overdue on 2 December 1943 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 December 1943.

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This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Resources:

Special thanks to all of those who provided information about this sailor in order for me to have the privilege of compiling this story.

https://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=502012&source=fold3

https://www.ancestry.com/search/?name=Verne+Leslie+_Skjonsby&event=_north+dakota-usa_37&birth=1910&death=1944_japan_5000&gender=m&keyword=Army&priority=usa&race=White

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Skjonsby, Verne Leslie, LCDR