Gato-class submarine.
L/B/D:
311.8 × 27.2 × 15.3 (95m × 8.3m × 4.6m). Tons:
1,526/2,424 disp. Hull:
steel; 300dd. Comp:
60-80. Arm:
10 × 21TT; 1 × 3. Mach:
diesel/electric, 5,400/2,740 shp, 2 screws; 20/8.5 kts. Built:
Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; 1942.
Named for a species of South Atlantic mullet, USS Harder had one of the most brilliant careers of any American submarine in World War II. Her first two patrols were in Japanese home waters where, operating alone, she sank four cargo ships. On her third departure from Pearl Harbor, she sailed in company with her sister ships USS Pargo and Snook for the Mariana Islands. She sank an escort trawler on November 12, 1943, and a week later she accounted for three cargo ships in one night, whereupon she returned to Mare Island, California.
After several weeks of repairs, Harder was dispatched to the Caroline Islands with the task of rescuing downed American airmen. On April 1, 1944, she nosed into a reef off Woleai Island, and several of her crew took a raft onto the beach to rescue an injured pilot. Twelve days later, she sank the destroyer Ikazuchi in an action summarized by Commander Samuel D. Dealey: "Expended four torpedoes and one Jap destroyer." Following a three-week layover at Fremantle, on May 26 Harder sailed with USS Redfin in search of Japanese destroyers in the Celebes Sea north of Borneo. On the night of June 6, she attacked a convoy and sank the destroyer Minatsuki; the next day Hayanami suffered a similar fate. On the night of June 8, still in the same waters, she sank the destroyer Tanikaze and probably one other. Two days later, while investigating a Japanese force including three battleships and four cruisers, Harder torpedoed an unidentified destroyer in another one-on-one engagement. This rash of activity by one submarine is credited with upsetting the Japanese battle plan for what became the Battle of the Philippine Sea: Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's First Mobile Fleet was forced to sail from the anchorage at Tawi Tawi earlier than intended.
On her sixth patrol, "Hit 'em" Harder sailed on August 5 in a wolf pack with USS Hake and Haddo for the South China Sea. There they joined USS Ray for an attack that cost a Japanese convoy four cargo ships. Harder's trio followed up the next day with the sinking of three frigates, and on August 23 sank the destroyer Asakazi. The following morning, while reconnoitering off Dasol Bay, Luzon, Harder was depth-charged by a minesweeper and sank with all hands.
Roscoe, U.S. Submarine Operations in World War II. U.S. Navy, DANFS.
