© 2007 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
1920:
Tokyo. Laid down at Uraga Dock Co. as a MOMI-class destroyer.
9 May 1921:
Launched and named HISHI.
23 March 1922:
Completed and registered in the Sasebo Naval District.
1 December 1924:
LtCdr (later Vice Admiral) Goto Eiji (37) assumes command.
1 December 1925:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Itagaki Sakan (39) assumes command.
1 November 1927:
An unknown officer assumes command.
1 February 1928:
Lt (Vice Admiral, posthumously) Shinoda Katsukiyo (44) assumes command.
10 December 1928:
Lt Shinoda is promoted LtCdr.
30 November 1929:
LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Kobe Yuji (45) assumes command.
21 November 1930:
An unknown officer assumes command.
1939:
One of three Kampon boilers is removed reducing speed to 18 knots. Additionally, her torpedo tubes, aft 4.7-inch/45 cal main gun and minesweeping gear are removed. 25mm AA guns and depth charge racks and throwers
are fitted. Extra ballast is added to compensate for the loss of topside weight and to increase stability. The changes increase her displacement to 935-tons.
1 April 1940:
Reclassified as a patrol boat and renumbered 37.
1941:
PB-37 undergoes reconstruction. Her aft funnel is removed and her stem is cut down to form a ramp. She is fitted to carry and launch two 46-ft Daihatsu landing craft. Her forward interior spaces are modified to accommodate up to 150 troops. The 25mm AA suite is increased.
7 January 1942: The Invasion of Dutch Borneo:
The 21st Air Flotilla’s tenders SANYO and SANUKI MARUs provide air cover for Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Hirose Sueto's (former CO of AOBA) Tarakan Occupation Force that departs Davao that day carrying MajGen Sakaguchi Shizuo’s 56th Mixed Infantry Group (Sakaguchi Brigade) and the Kure No. 2 SNLF includes Army transports TSURUGA, LIVERPOOL, HAVANA, KURETAKE, NICHIAI, HITERU, TEIRYU, HANKOW and EHIME MARUs and Navy transports KUNIKAWA, KANO, KAGU and RAKUTO MARUs and tanker KOKUYU MARU.
Hirose’s No. 2 Base Force includes patrol boats PB-37, PB-36 and PB-38, Minesweeper Division 11’s W-13, W-14, W-15, W-16, 30th Minesweeper Division’s W-17, W-18 and Subchaser Div 31’s CH-10, CH-11 and CH-12 and other auxiliary ships.
The convoy’s escort is provided by Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Nishimura Shoji’s DesRon 4’s light cruiser NAKA with DesDiv 2’s HARUSAME, SAMIDARE, YUDACHI and MURUSAME, DesDiv 9’s ASAGUMO and MINEGUMO, NATSUGUMO and DesDiv 24’s UMIKAZE, KAWAKAZE, YAMAKAZE and SUZUKAZE. The 21st Air Flotilla’s tenders SANYO and SANUKI MARUs provide air cover.
8 January 1942:
PB-37, PB-38 and SANYO MARU rendezvous with units of No. 2 Base Force (Central Force) and proceed to Tarakan, Borneo.
11 January 1942:
Rear Admiral Hirose's Occupation Force invades Tarakan.
21 January 1942:
PB-37 departs Tarakan with PB-36 and PB-38, minesweepers W-16, W-17 and W-18 and subchasers CH-10, CH-11 and CH-12 escorting the Balikpapan invasion convoy carrying the Sakaguchi Brigade and the Kure No. 2 SNLF escorted by DesRon 4 and Rear-Admiral Hirose’s No. 2 Base Force. The convoy includes transports TATSUGAMI, NANA, SUMANOURA, TSURUGA, KURETAKE, KUMAGAWA, LIVERPOOL, HITERU, EHIME, HAVANA, HANKOW, TEIRYU, ASAHISAN, NITTEI, KANAYAMASAN and TOEI MARUs. Light cruiser NAKA provides cover with DesDiv 2's YUDACHI, SAMIDARE, HARUSAME, DesDiv 9's ASAGUMO, MURASAME, MINEGUMO, NATSUGUMO and DesDiv 24's KAWAKAZE, YAMAKAZE and UMIKAZE.
ABDA (American-British-Dutch-Australian) forces air reconnaissance is hampered by poor weather, but ABDA Air locates the IJN invasion force. ABDA deploys submarines USS S-40, PORPOISE (SS-172), PICKEREL (SS-177), STURGEON (SS-187), SAURY (SS-189) and SPEARFISH (SS-190) and Dutch submarines K-XIV and
K-XVIII to intercept the IJN force.
Timor, Kupang Bay. Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) William A. Glassford's Task Force 5's light cruisers USS MARBLEHEAD (CL-12), BOISE (CL-47) and Cdr Paul H. Talbot's DesDiv 59's old destroyers PARROTT (DD-218), POPE (DD-225), JOHN D. FORD (DD-228) and PAUL JONES (DD-230) are ordered by ADBA
Command to stop the IJN invasion force before it reaches Balikpapan.
Glassford heads north to find the IJN invasion force, but BOISE runs aground on an uncharted reef in the Sape Strait. She is forced to retire for repairs. Then MARBLEHEAD develops engine trouble and can make no more than 15 knots. DesDiv 59 is detached and increases speed to 27 knots so as to arrive at Balikpapan at midnight on January 23rd.
23 January 1942: The Invasion of Balikpapan, Borneo:
Storms protect the invasion force until it is almost to Balikpapan, Borneo. At 1525, nine Dutch Martin Model 166 (B-10) bombers from Samarinda attack and hit transports TATSUGAMI and NANA MARU that has to be abandoned and later sinks. TATSUGAMI MARU continues on to Balikpapan. At 2130, the transports begin disembarking their troops.
24 January 1942:
Dutch Navy LtCdr C. A. J. van Well Groeneveld's (former CO of K-XIV) submarine K-XVIII, operating on the surface due to the weather, fires four bow torpedoes at NAKA, but they all miss. At 0045, Groeneveld attacks and sinks transport TSURAGA MARU at 00-10N, 118-0E. Nishimura moves his covering force eastwards to carry out antisubmarine sweeps.
Cdr Talbot's DesDiv 59 arrives from the south. Since Nishimura's covering forces are now to the east searching for submarines, the four destroyers are virtually unopposed. At 0316, they begin their first attack firing their 4-inch guns and launching ten torpedoes at the anchored transports, but all the torpedoes miss.
Talbot orders another attack. At 0330, POPE hits and sinks transport SUMANOURA MARU. At 0335, PARROTT and PAUL JONES sink already damaged transport TATSUGAMI MARU with torpedoes. At 0345, FORD sinks transport KURETAKE MARU with gunfire and torpedoes. Two other transports suffer damage from gunfire and torpedoes but remain afloat.
USS POPE and PARROTT sink PB-37 with torpedoes and gunfire at 01-24S, 117-02E. [1]
10 May 1942:
Removed from the Navy List.
194? :
Raised and broken up.
Authors’ Notes:
[1] British sources claim PB-37 was torpedoed and sunk by Groeneveld’s Dutch submarine K-XVIII.
-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall
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