Sinking of the USAT Royal T. Frank

The USAT Royal T. Frank was a U.S. Army transport vessel that was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine on January 28, 1942, in the Alenuihāhā Channel between Maui and Hawaiʻi island. The attack occurred less than two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

On board were 26 soldiers of the Hawaiʻi National Guard, then serving on federal active duty with the U.S. Army, who were en route to Hilo for assignment with elements of the 299th Infantry Regiment. Seventeen soldiers were killed in the sinking; nine survived. The survivors later became known as the “Torpedo Gang.”

Background

Group that sailed on USAT Royal T. Frank (January 26, 1942) [Photo courtesy: Debbie Shigehara]
The Royal T. Frank was a 200-ton U.S. Army transport ship. On January 27, 1942, it departed Honolulu Harbor as part of a three-ship convoy that included a destroyer and an ammunition barge, which the transport was towing to Hilo. The 26 soldiers on board were returning from basic training at Schofield Barracks on Oʻahu — their training period had been disrupted and shortened due to the emergency mobilization that followed the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

On January 26, 1942, one of the soldiers, Shigeru Ushijima, photographed the group at Schofield Barracks shortly before departure. The image became the last known photograph of the full group.

Shigeru Ushijima [Photo courtesy: Debbie Shigehara]
The photograph survived because Ushijima had given the undeveloped film to a man returning to Hawaiʻi island for processing before boarding the USAT Royal T. Frank, and although his camera was lost when the ship sank, the film was safely developed.

The Attack

On the morning of January 28, 1942, while transiting the Alenuihāhā Channel in foggy and rainy conditions, personnel aboard the transport reported sighting a torpedo passing near the vessel. A second torpedo scraped the side of the ship. Shortly thereafter, a third torpedo struck the stern directly.

According to reports, the ship sank in less than one minute. Personnel below deck were unable to escape. The ship’s captain was killed, along with 17 of the 26 Hawaiʻi soldiers.

A total of 36 individuals survived the sinking: nine soldiers and 27 crew members. Survivors remained in the water for approximately two to three hours, holding onto floating debris and waterproof mailbags, before being rescued by the ammunition barge they had been towing. They were transported to Hāna, Maui, where the local gymnasium had been converted into a first aid station.

The wreck of the Royal T. Frank was not recovered, and the remains of those killed were never located.

Secrecy

Torpedo Gang” survivors of the USAT Royal T. Frank, who would continue to serve in World War II following the attack. Front Row (L-R): Shizuo Toma (Pahoa), Haruo Yamashita (Olaa), Tokimaru Larry Takamoto (Kona), Yoshio Ogomori (Papaikou); Back Row (L-R): George Taketa (Hilo), Susumu Yoshioka (Papaikou), John Souza (Pepeekeo), Shigeru Ushijima (Hilo), Tsutomu Wakimoto (Hilo) [Photo courtesy: Debbie Shigehara]

Following the incident, surviving soldiers were ordered by military authorities not to discuss the attack. The sinking was treated as a wartime military secret. The nine surviving soldiers were returned to Schofield Barracks on Oʻahu to serve in the 298th Infantry Regiment. On June 5, 1942, eight of them had been reassigned to serve as original members of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), and deployed to the continental United States for training.

According to survivor accounts, families of the deceased did not receive full details of the circumstances until after World War II. A detailed account by a member of the “Torpedo Gang,” Shigeru Ushijima (who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion HQ Co.) was later published in a 1986 Hawaiʻi Herald article by Karleen Chinen, daughter of Wallace Seiko Chinen (Dog Co.).

Casualties

Of the 17 soldiers killed in the sinking of the USAT Royal T. Frank, there were 14 from Hawaiʻi island, and three from O‘ahu.

 

From Hawaiʻi island (14):

  • Iwao Nakamura
  • Yoshito Nii
  • Muneo Larry Oku
  • Reginald M. Osato
  • John Perreira
  • John S. Rodrigues
  • Raymond H. Shirakawa
  • Allen Yeishun Soken
  • Bushichi Tani
  • Pernal C. Torrijos
  • Alfred Veriato
  • Torao Yamamizu
  • Albert H. Yano
  • Yonezo Yonemura

From O‘ahu (3):

  • Shoji Okido
  • Shinichi Shiigi
  • Hook Yuen Young

Survivors (“Torpedo Gang”)

The nine (9) surviving soldiers were:

  • Yoshio Ogomori (HQ Co., 100th Inf Bn)
  • John Souza (298th IR)
  • Tokimaru Takamoto (HQ Co., 100th Inf Bn)
  • George Taketa, (Medics, 100th Inf Bn)
  • Shizuo Toma (HQ Co., 100th Inf Bn)
  • Shigeru Ushijima (HQ Co., 100th Inf Bn)
  • Tsutomu Wakimoto (HQ Co., 100th Inf Bn / MIS)
  • Haruo Yamashita (Charlie Co., 100th Inf Bn)
  • Susumu Yoshioka (Easy Co. / Able Co., 100th Inf Bn)

John Souza would continue to serve in the 298th Infantry Regiment in Hawaiʻi.

Eight of the survivors would serve as original members of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) from June 1942.

One of these men, Tsutomu Wakimoto, was transferred in December 1942 to the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage and subsequently served in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS).

100th Infantry Battalion soldier Susumu Yoshioka was captured as a German POW while on patrol during the assault on the Gustav Line on January 22, 1944, and was held at Stalag VII in Moosburg, Germany, until his liberation on July 25, 1945.

Related Articles:

The USAT Royal T. Frank Torpedoed In Hawaiian Waters!
https://www.100thbattalion.org/archives/puka-puka-parades/wartime-hawaii/the-usat-royal-t-frank-torpedoed-in-hawaiian-waters/

Susumu Yoshioka
https://www.100thbattalion.org/archives/photos/t-z/susumu-yoshioka/

The Legend of ‘The Torpedo Gang’ (The Hawaii Herald – Friday, June 20, 1986; p.19)
By Karleen Chinen