Samuel David Dealey

Perhaps smarting from his decision to allow Dealey to undertake a sixth war patrol at a time when several colleagues thought he was tired and overly fatigued, RADM Christie nominated Dealey for a posthumous Medal of Honor immediately after the loss was reported. This action became mired in a controversy. General Douglas MacArthur had previously awarded the Army Distinguished Service Cross to Dealey for his prior accomplishments in the theater. Thomas Kinkaid, COMSEVENTHFLT (MacArthur's naval commander) disapproved Dealey for the Medal of Honor on the grounds that he had already been honored adequately. This dispute was one of several that led to growing personal animosity between Christie and Kinkaid, culminating in Kinkaid's relieving Christie in December 1944. Christie then returned to Washington, finally receiving MacArthur's support for the Medal of Honor which was awarded posthumously to Dealey's wife, Edwina, on August 29, 1945.

Dealey brought Harder back to Pearl Harbor in late February 1944 and took her out for her fourth war patrol on March 16, 1944, accompanied by USS Seahorse (SS-304). Initially assigned lifeguard duty for downed U.S. aviators in the western Caroline Islands, Harder on April 1 was sent to rescue an injured navy pilot on a small enemy-held island just west of Woleai, which had been hit that day by an American aircraft carrier strike. Under an umbrella of friendly air cover, Dealey nosed Harder toward the beach until he could ground the bow up against the encircling reef and hold it there by working both screws. Then, in the face of Japanese sniper fire only partially suppressed by the circling aircraft, a rubber boat was sent in to retrieve the navy pilot, Ensign John Galvin, who was brought to safety in what soon became a legendary rescue. As Blair describes it:

Continuing his war patrol, Dealey next scored his first of four successes against the toughest target of all – an enemy Japanese destroyer. Spotted by an enemy aircraft north of the Western Carolines on April 13, 1944, Harder became the quarry of a patrolling enemy destroyer Ikazuchi, which closed to within 900 yd (820 m) before Dealey fired a spread of torpedoes. The destroyer sank within five minutes. Dealey's ensuing contact report quickly became famous: "Expended four torpedoes and one Jap destroyer". Four days later, Dealey also sank Matsue Maru (7,000 tons) near Woleai – then surfaced again near the island on April 20 to bombard the beleaguered Japanese garrison with his submarine's 4 in (100 mm) deck gun. Harder ended its fourth war patrol at Fremantle, Australia, on May 3, 1944.

Next, Dealey was ordered to take Harder on patrol on May 26, 1944 off the Japanese fleet anchorage at Tawi Tawi. Dealey was asked to pick up some friendly guerrilla fighters from nearby northeastern Borneo. Heading into the Sibutu Passage on the night of June 6/7 he came upon an enemy convoy of three tankers in ballast, escorted by two destroyers. One destroyer detected him and attacked. Again, Dealey let the enemy destroyer close to less than 1,100 yd (1,000 m) before firing three torpedoes, and Minatsuki became his second destroyer victim. Then Dealey pursued, executing an end around. Diving to radar depth, he was attacked by the second destroyer. He fired all six bow tubes from just 1,200 yd (1,100 m); all missed, and Harder plunged accidentally to 400 ft (120 m), losing contact. At 11.43 on 7 June, Dealey encountered another destroyer, Hayanami, south of Tawi Tawi, and attacked with three torpedoes from point blank range, 650 yd (590 m); all three hit. Hayanami blew up virtually overhead, and one of her sisters subjected Harder to a two-hour depth charge attack. By 17.30, there were eight hunting him. Dealey slipped away. Harder transited the Sibutu Passage to pick up the guerrilla force on the night of June 8/9 and headed back early the next day.

In the narrowest part of the Passage, Dealey spotted what appeared to be two more patrolling Japanese destroyers and made an undetected approach. Firing four torpedoes at the overlapping targets, he was rewarded with two hits in Tanikaze, which sank almost immediately. Dealey thought he had scored a hit and sunk another destroyer also, but (notoriously inaccurate) postwar records failed to confirm it. On June 10, 1944, Dealey sighted a large Japanese task force: three battleships, four cruisers, and their screening destroyers, but the submarine was spotted by an enemy airplane, and one of the enemy escorts pressed an attack on the sub. Dealey sent three torpedoes "down the throat", heard several explosions, and thought he had scored another kill, before diving to avoid two hours of relentless depth-charging. Postwar, Japanese records later showed the destroyer was able to avoid his torpedoes. Dealey returned to Darwin on June 21 after an outstanding patrol that firmly established his reputation as the "Destroyer Killer," with what was then thought to be a total of six to his credit. Of greater strategic importance was the ensuing decision by Japanese Admiral Soemu Toyoda to abandon Tawi Tawi anchorage as too exposed to enemy submarines, a sortie that then precipitated the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

In a curious incident that still raises eyebrows today, Rear Admiral Ralph Waldo Christie, who commanded U.S. submarines at Fremantle, ordered Harder back to sea on the day she arrived, ostensibly to seek out and attack a Japanese cargo ship that carried nickel ore from Celebes to the homeland once a month – but also to give Christie an opportunity to participate personally in a short war patrol. Assigned on June 27, 1944 to intercept a damaged Japanese cruiser returning from the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Dealey was unable to close for an attack and was similarly outmaneuvered by the "nickel ship" three days later, when Japanese patrol aircraft forced him down and kept him there. Harder returned to Darwin without further incident on July 3, and the whole episode was treated simply as an extension of the ship's fifth patrol.

After a two-week rest at "Bend of the Elbow", Dealey considered himself sufficiently rested. Lynch, who would have gotten Harder, disagreed. Dealey left Fremantle on August 5, 1944, commanding a three-sub wolfpack, joined by USS Haddo (SS-255) (Chester Nimitz, Jr.) and USS Hake (SS-256) (Frank E. Haylor, who replaced John Broach). Their objective was the destruction of Japanese shipping off the west coast of the Philippines, south of the Luzon Strait. After being informed (thanks to a contact report from William Kinsella's Ray, himself guided by Ultra) Japanese convoy HI-71 holed up in Paluan Bay in northern Mindoro, Harder and Haddo joined three other U.S. submarines (Guitarro, Raton, and Kinsella's Ray, with only four torpedoes remaining), all under Dealey's command (as senior officer present afloat). When the enemy convoy sortied at 05.45 on August 21, the resulting mêlée – punctuated by intense depth charge barrages by the Japanese – left four enemy merchantmen totaling 22,400 tons on the bottom, with all five U.S. submarines unscathed. Of the four victims, two were credited to Haddo, and one to Guitarro, while Dealey failed to score, after Kinsella's attack (the informal pack's first) caused the convoy to steer away from Harder.

At 05.54 on August 24, 1944, two ships emerged from Dasol Bay – a minesweeper, Kaibokan CD-22, and the ex-American destroyer USS Stewart (DD-224) (now operating as PB-102). Hake maneuvered to attack PB-102, but became suspicious and broke off when the destroyer turned back into the bay. Meanwhile, Kaibokan CD-22 continued out, pinging continually, and Hake moved off to evade. Haylor caught a last glimpse of Harder's periscope at 0647. At 0728, Haylor heard a string of 15 depth charge explosions in the distance; then nothing.

Harder left Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol on June 7, 1943, bound for the coast of southern Honshu. In Dealey's first attack on a two-ship enemy convoy late on the night of June 21, the submarine was driven down deep by an aggressive enemy escort and crashed into the muddy bottom – an inauspicious beginning, even though it now appears that one enemy target may have been damaged. Dealey backed the submarine out of the mud, and two nights later had his first real success in torpedoing the Japanese seaplane tender Sagara Maru (7,000 tons) and crippling the enemy ship so badly that it was beached on the Japanese mainland and abandoned as a total loss. Over the next four days, Dealey made seven attacks on three different enemy ship convoys, but post-war analysis credits him only with possible damage to one enemy ship.

Harder returned to Midway Island on July 7, 1943 with one of its four diesel engines completely broken down. The submarine was one of twelve Gatos boats fitted originally with the troublesome Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (HOR) engines, whose original design was licensed from the German firm Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (MAN) in the 1930s. After some hasty repairs and bearing a generous inventory of spare engine parts, Harder returned to sea for a second war patrol off Honshu in late August. In 14 days made nine attacks, which netted Dealey five enemy ships sunk for 15,000 tons in the postwar accounting. Once again, the submarine suffered engine problems throughout the patrol but returned safely to Pearl Harbor, via Midway, on October 7, 1943.

At the end of October 1943, COMSUBPAC, Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, ordered Harder, USS Snook (SS-279), and USS Pargo (SS-264) to the Marianas as a submarine wolfpack to attack Japanese shipping in preparation for the invasion of Tarawa. At that stage of the war, "coordinated operations" among submarines were still hampered by poor communications. Thus, after collaborating with Pargo in attacking an enemy freighter on October 12 – with results never clearly established – and sinking a small enemy minesweeper with gunfire that night, Dealey was soon separated from the rest and operating independently. On November 19, he picked up an enemy convoy of three large Japanese freighters with accompanying escorts north of the Marianas and positioned for an attack, altogether firing ten torpedoes in his first attempt, scoring hits on two enemy targets. Driven below by the enemy escort ships, Dealey surfaced later that night to chase the enemy freighter that had managed to escape undamaged. Eventually firing 11 more torpedoes at the fugitive ship for two hits and four circular runs – then driven off by defensive gunfire from the tenacious Japanese gunners – Dealey broke off the engagement and returned to Pearl Harbor because of lack of torpedoes. Later, it was established all three enemy ships had sunk, the third – Nikko Maru – late that night, giving Dealey and Harder a total of 4 enemy ships sunk (over 15,000 tons) for their third war patrol. Once again, however, one of Harder's HOR engines had failed completely, and the other three engines were kept running only by cannibalizing the fourth engine. Thus, shortly after the submarine arrived in Hawaii on November 30, Harder was sent back to Mare Island to be re-engined with General Motors diesel engines.

When war broke out, Dealey's practical qualifications led to assignment as commanding officer of the new-construction Gato-class submarine USS Harder (SS-257), which he commissioned on December 2, 1942, less than a year after Pearl Harbor. After a shakedown off the East Coast, Dealey survived a "blue-on-blue" attack by a Navy patrol bomber in the Caribbean to bring Harder to the Pacific in the spring of 1943.

In May 1937, he was assigned as aide to the executive officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida (NAS Pensacola). While there, in June 1938, he was promoted to Lieutenant. In Summer 1939, he was assigned as the executive officer (first officer) on board USS Reuben James (DD-245). In April 1941, he reported to Experimental Division One for duty as the Prospective Commanding Officer (PCO) of USS S-20 (SS-125) to support at-sea experiments off New London. He commanded S-20 for two years, serving aboard at the United States' entry into World War II.

Samuel David Dealey (September 13, 1906 – August 24, 1944) was the commanding officer of a United States Navy submarine killed in action with his crew during World War II. Among American service members, he is among the most decorated for valor during war, receiving the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross (4), the Army Distinguished Service Cross, and the Silver Star for his service on the submarine USS Harder (SS-257). He was the nephew of George B. Dealey, publisher of the Dallas News and for whom Dealey Plaza is named.

Sam Dealey was born on September 13, 1906 in Dallas, Texas. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, from Texas and graduated in June 1930. Dealey was commissioned an Ensign and reported for sea duty aboard USS Nevada (BB-36), where he was promoted in June 1933 to Lieutenant (junior grade). In March 1934, he briefly transferred to USS Rathburne (DD-113), then reported that summer for submarine training at the Submarine School, New London, Connecticut. After graduating, he served on board the submarines USS S-34 (SS-139) and USS S-24 (SS-129). Remaining on sea duty, he reported on board USS Nautilus (SS-168) then USS Bass (SS-164).

Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy. Born: September 13, 1906, Dallas, Tex. Appointed from: Texas. Other Navy awards: Navy Cross with 3 Gold 5/16 Inch Stars, Silver Star Medal.