1944 — Oct 29, US freighter John A Johnson torpedoed by Japanese sub, Pacific; survivors shot-10

–10 American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
–4 US Merchant Marine Crew
–5 US Naval Armed Guard
–1 US Army Officer – [escorting cargo]
–10 Commandant Twelfth Naval District. Memo. “S.S. John A. Johnson, Sinking of.” 9 Nov 1944.
–10 Hackett/Kingsepp. “IJN Submarine I-12: Tabular Record of Movement.” Sensuikan! (Rev. 3) 2019.
–4 crew
–5 Armed Guards
–1 security officer
–10 Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com.
–10 Ziogaite, Varvounis and Baird. “I-12 (Kameo Kudo).” Submarine Atrocities (website).
— 9 Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter VI 1944.
–4 merchant marine sailors
–4 Armed Guard
–1 Army security officer

Narrative Information

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of U.S. Ships Sunk or Damaged…
“Date Ship Type Cause Result Location Deaths
“10/30/44 John A. Johnson Liberty Torpedo Sunk Pacific Crew 4; AG 5; Army 1 (Killed by Japanese).

Clancey. HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in [WW] II, Chapter VI 1944:
“29 October, Sun. –
“Pacific….
“U.S. freighter John A. Johnson is torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-12 1,000 miles northeast of Oahu, 29°36’30″N, 141°43’W, and is abandoned when she breaks in two. I-12 surfaces, shells the wreck, setting both halves ablaze, before bearing down on the lifeboats and rafts and firing on them with machine guns and pistols. These brutal actions result in the death of 4 of the 41 merchant sailors, the Army security officer and 4 of the 28-man Armed Guard….

“30 October, Mon. –
“Pacific….
“Yacht Argus (PY-14) rescues survivors of U.S. freighter John A. Johnson, which had been sunk by Japanese submarine I-12 the previous day….

“13 November, Mon. –
“Pacific….
“Minesweeper Ardent (AM-340) and frigate Rockford (PF-48) sink Japanese submarine I-12 (that had sunk freighter John A. Johnson on 29 October 1944) 100 miles west-southwest of Los Angeles, California, 31°55’N, 139°45’W.”

Commandant Twelfth Naval District. Memo. “S.S. John A. Johnson, Sinking of.” 9 Nov 1944:
“1. Pursuant to the provisions of Reference (a), Form NNI-142…and Summary of Statements are forwarded herewith as Enclosure (A). Sworn statements of thirteen selected survivors relating instances of Japanese atrocities….

“5. The U.S.S. Argus took all known survivors aboard within 17 hours of the torpedoing and proceeded to Treasure Island, San Francisco, arriving at 1415 (P.W.T.) 3 November 1944. Of the total complement of 70 officers and men, sixty survived, and ten are missing and presumed dead. Five of the survivors were hospitalized upon arrival at San Francisco for injuries sustained as a result of enemy machine gun fire and efforts of the attacking submarine to ram their life boats and raft….[The names and ranks of the ten fatalities are noted here.] ….

“Summary of Statements by Survivors S.S. John A. Johnson, U.S. EC-2 Cargo Vessel…

“1. The S.S. John A, Johnson was torpedoed without warning at 2105 (Zone +9), 29 October 1944, in Lat. 29⁰36’30’N., Long. 141⁰43′., while on route from San Francisco to Honolulu with 7,000 tons of provisions stored in all holds and ‘tween decks….The vessel broke in two and both sections were subsequently shelled and ignited by the submarine. The forward section exploded at approximately 0130 (zone +9), 30 October 1944, after burning a considerable period, and the after section was still burning when last seen by members of the ship’s complement….

“3…within 3 minutes after the torpedo struck the ship commenced to split in two forward of the bridge, and broke completely in two in about 10 minutes….

“4. At 2120 (Zone +9), the Master sounded abandon ship on the vessel’s whistle. Ship’s crew and armed guard abandoned ship immediately in three lifeboats and one life raft and deployed in the vicinity of the ship. All hands were on the after section when the ship broke in two as lookouts forward had been stationed on the bridge due to heavy seas breaking over the bow. Approximately thirty minutes later the submarine surfaced to ram one of the life boats, firing a machine gun at the occupants at the same time. The submarine continued attempts to ram lifeboats for approximately forty-five minutes, meanwhile firing with machine gun and pistol at men in the water and in one of the boats. The submarine then commenced shelling the two halves of the ship and succeeded in obtaining hits and setting both sections afire.

“The submarine then ran back through the lifeboats, the occupants of which were all in the water by this time, and was lost to sight in the darkness. Survivors were picked up by the U.S.S. Argus (YP 14), on patrol approximately 100 miles distant, which arrived at the scene at 1235 (Zone +9), 30 October 1944. Sixty survivors were landed at San Francisco at 1415 (Zone +7) on 3 November 1944. Total ship’s crew, 70, including 41 Merchant Marine, 28 Armed Guard, and one U.S. Army cargo security officer. Ten are missing and presumed dead, 3 hospitalized for gunshot wounds, and 2 hospitalized for other injuries. Entire complement abandoned ship without injury and all deaths and injuries were the result of ramming and gunfire….”

Moore. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking. 1983. Table extracted by armed-guard.com:
“S.S. John A. Johnson…Torpedoed 10-30/44…Liberty Ship…Crew 4, Army 1, AG 5 (Slain by Japanese).”

Ziogaite, Varvounis and Baird. “I-12 (Kameo Kudo).” Submarine Atrocities (website).
“I-12 (Kameo Kudo)
“28 October 1944
“US Liberty Ship ‘John A. Johnson’ (7176frt)
“29’55N,141’25W
“Torpedoed en route from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor with war supplies, including explosives.
The ship broke in two, and was abandoned. Both sections were shelled by the submarine. The forward section blew up and sunk. The after section was set on fire before it sank.
Ten of the “Johnson`s” 70 crew were killed when their lifeboat was machine-gunned by the I-12.”

Sources

American Merchant Marine at War. Chronological List of Ships Sunk or Damaged during 1944. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: http://www.usmm.org/sunk44.html#anchor412649

Clancey, Patrick (transcriber and formatter for HTML). HyperWar: The Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II, Chapter VI: 1944. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-Chron/USN-Chron-1944.html

Commandant Twelfth Naval District. Memorandum to Chief of Naval Operations, Subject: “S.S. John A. Johnson, Sinking of.” 9 November 1944. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/cbdm.html

Hackett, Bob & Sander Kingsepp. “IJN Submarine I-12: Tabular Record of Movement.” Sensuikan! (Revision 3) 2019. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-12.htm

Moore, Captain Arthur R. A Careless Word, A Needless Sinking: A History of the Staggering Losses Suffered By the U.S. Merchant Marine, Both in Ships and Personnel, During World War II. American Merchant Marine Museum 1983 (1st edition), 1990. Table extracted by armed-guard.com. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: https://www.armed-guard.com/sunk.html

Ziogaite, Saiva, Miltiades Varvounis and Bob Baird. Submarine Atrocities (website). Accessed 6-4-2021 at: https://web.archive.org/web/20091027051402/http://geocities.com/Pentagon/Camp/3166/

Additional Reading

EyeWitness to History. “Sunk By Submarine, 1944.” 1999. Accessed 6-4-2021 at: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sunk.htm