Soon after the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the United States established a naval base at Cavite on the southwest tangent of Manila Bay. By 19o8 the Navy had twelve submarines based at Cavite. These were Holland class boats including the Porpoise, Shark, Adder and Moccasin. In 1921 the first S boats arrived forming divisions 12 and 18. They were tended by the USS Rainbow (AS-7).

In October of 1924 Submarine Divisions 12 and 18 returned to the United States to be replaced by Division 17 with six S-boats, S-36 through S-41. These were later joined by S-30 through S-35 of Submarine Division 16 with the USS Beaver (AS-5), but this division was recalled to Pearl Harbor in May of 1932. This left only the 6 S boats of Division 17 until Submarine Division 14 arrived from San Diego with its P-class submarines, Permit, Perch, Pickerel, Porpoise, Pike, Shark and Tarpon. By the end of the 1930s Cavite had 13 submarines. In 1940 four Fleet Type boats were added to the Asiatic submarine force. These were the Seadragon, Sealion, Searaven and Seawolf. By November 1940 the base had a total of 29 submarines in SubDivs 212, 201, 202, and 203. These boats were supported by Canopus, Holland (AS-3), and Otus (AS-20).

During this same time period the Asiatic Fleet also had facilities at Tsingtao and Chefoo on the north coast of China. During the 1920s American submarine operations consisted of training exercises in the South China Sea and waters to the north of Formosa. Although, by the early 1930s Japan's aggressive moves included not only Manchuko but China as well, the American presence along the China coast remained un-hindered. It was an uneasy awareness of growing tensions, but the Navy did not interfere with the comfortable life style of submariners in the Asiatic Fleet.

Boats typically were based in Cavite during the winter months and at Tsingtao during the summer. Wives moved back and forth on rickety old steamers, but lived lives of comfort with maids keeping furnished apartments. They spent their time shopping, sightseeing, and tea-drinking. The American community was isolated from the miserable living conditions of the Chinese. When the Japanese took over the administration of the area they were careful not to impose problems for the Americans who were neutral "guests". The dispensary was run by the German government which also was neutral during the early 1930s.

Bobette Gugliotta, wife of a junior officer aboard S-39 described her life as a submarine wife while living in Tsingtao, "The usual windup of China maneuvers for the 39 crew was a gala ship's party with dancing, drinking, and dinner at a restaurant called the Sea Pavilion. All personnel with their girlfriends and wives, enjoyed the early part of the evening together." When the officers left, the enlisted men got down to serious drinking and brawls were often the order of the night. The comfortable life was similar in the Philippines. Gugliotta wrote, "Whenever the 39 was anchored in Manila Bay, Subic or Mariveles, the 'laundry boats' would come rowing out to pick up dirty linens and clothes from officers and crew." (1) The captain paid the least and each officer paid on a sliding scale. No one seemed to know why this system worked as it did. It was custom. Of course, when tied up alongside the Canopus the tender did the laundry.

In October, 1940 the ports of Tsingtao and Chenfoo were abandoned due to increasing tensions between Japan and the United States.

The good life came to an end in November of 1941 when Admiral Hart, commanding the Asiatic fleet, ordered all wives home to the mainland. Most wives took it in stride, seeing that the war in Europe was about to spread to the Pacific. A few blustered that they were civilians and not under Hart's authority, but even the most resistant wives got out of Cavite before December 8, 1941. By that date American surface ships of the Asiatic Fleet had been recalled eastwards and so only the submarines were left at Cavite in the days before the December 8th.

As Clay Blair Jr. describes that eventful date,"Japanese bombers attacked Manila at will. The tenders Otus, Holland and Canopus plus the Cavite Naval Station would be sitting ducks. . . (On December 10)Japanese bombers appeared over Manila and prepared in a leisurely manner to carry out one of the most devastating air attacks of the war. The main target that day was the Cavite Naval Station. The first two salvos straddled Otus. . . Miraculously, she remained untouched. Sealion and Seadragon were at that moment in the Cavite shipyard in overhaul. Of the two, Sealion was less ready; her engines were still dismantled. . . .Two bombs fell on Sealion, one on the cigarette deck and one just over the after engine-room hatch. Fragments of the bomb and pieces of Sealion gashed three holes in the conning tower of Seadragon where half a dozen men were taking cover. . . Sealion, mortally wounded, listed to starboard, half sunk by the stern. Her crew, including three wounded ran up the hatches and onto shore.. . .Cavite was a burning shambles." (2)

While the Cavite base was lost, most of its boats were at sea and quickly began to score against Japanese shipping. Those boats continued south, eventually being dispersed to Fremantle, Brisbane, and Pearl Harbor.

Notes

1. Bobette Gugliotta, Pigboat 39, An American Sub Goes to War, Lexington, Kentucky, The University Press of Kentucky, 1984, P. 66 - 68

2. Clay Blair Jr., Silent Victory, Volume 1, New York, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1975, p. 108- 110