Last mission of E18

E18 in port of Reval, before her final mission



On the calm spring evening of 1916 submarine E18 left the port of Reval. little did Lieutenant-Commander R.C. Halahan know that this will be his last mission.

The patrol of Gulf of Riga had started well. Only days after leaving the port, E18 torpedoed German destroyer V100, blowing off her bow. Had it not been for the calm seas, it is likely she would have sank from the damage. Two days later submarine E18 arrived near Klaipeda were she was seen by a German aircraft. After several days patrolling the area they were well known to German navy who had started hunt for the submarine. On the 1 June 1916 at 1500 hrs German U-boat UB-30 sighted E 18 sailing north by northwest of Steinort, but soon lost the contact. Having being on sea for eleven days and running low on food Lieutenant-Commander Halahan decided to return home. Running west of island Osel he gave order to surface the vessel for recharge batteries. Only to discover that they were middle of minefield…

Atsuta Maru

As Pompano shifted her patrol area to the main route between Japan and the East Indies, a large transport ship escorted by one destroyer caught her eye on 30 May 1942. Running to a position ahead of the convoy, she waited until her victim was only 690m away, scoring solid hits with two Mark 10 torpedoes which sank Atsuta Maru two and a half hours later.

The Pompano itself did not survive the war. She left Midway on 20 August, bound for Hokkaidō and Honshū and was never heard from again. Pompano was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 January 1944.

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