A powerful Japanese force of four fleet carriers screened by fast battleships, cruisers, and destroyers launched 107 planes early on 4 June 1942, its commander believing that surprise had been assured. The U.S. Navy, however, knew of the Kido Butai's objective: Midway, the vital mid-Pacific base the Japanese deemed "the sentry for Hawaii." Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Pacific Fleet's commander-in-chief, wanted to give the enemy a warm reception. As part of his strategy, Rear Admiral Robert H. English, Commander Submarines, Pacific, deployed 12 subs to defend Midway, among them the Nautilus (SS-168).
Although unschooled in the conduct of war patrols, Lieutenant Commander William H. Brockman Jr., the Nautilus' commanding officer, had on his own volition instructed his radiomen to monitor the aircraft search frequency that morning earlier than the time directed in his operations orders. The Nautilus submerged at 0425 and at 0544 intercepted a PBY's report of "many planes heading Midway" from along the northern boundary of the sub's patrol area. Maintaining a continuous periscope sweep of the horizon, the biggest, slowest, and least maneuverable boat deployed to stop the Kido Butai headed for the Japanese.
The Nautilus—also the oldest of the Pacific Fleet's submarines at Midway—had been laid down as the unnamed cruiser submarine V-6 (SC-2) on 10 May 1927 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California. Launched on 15 March 1930 and christened by Miss Joan Keesling, the V-6 was commissioned at her builders on 1 July 1930, with Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Doyle Jr. in command. Named the Nautilus on 19 February 1931, she was redesignated as SS-168 on 1 July 1931.
Early operations took her from New London, Connecticut, to San Diego and Pearl Harbor. Beginning in July 1941, the big boat underwent modernization at Mare Island that lasted through the United States' entry into the war in December 1941. Having been tapped for prospective commanding officer a little less than a fortnight after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Brockman assumed command of the submarine on 10 February 1942. After completing her overhaul, the sub sailed for Pearl Harbor and proceeded on to Midway, arriving on 28 May.
At 0658 on 4 June, Brockman spotted what was likely the Midway-based Torpedo Squadron Eight detachment approaching the enemy to begin its attack run at 0710. After ordering battle stations submerged, he spotted masts on the horizon at 0755. At that moment, a Japanese plane strafed the periscope. Descending to 100 feet, the Nautilus heard echo-ranging for the first time, on the Japanese western flank.
After regaining periscope depth at 0800, the captain spotted the fast battleship Kirishima and three destroyers, but again a Japanese plane attacked, this time with bombs. The light cruiser Nagara further frustrated his designs by dropping 11 depth charges in the sub's vicinity between 0810 and 0817. Nine more depth charges from the Nagara and her consorts exploded 1,000 yards away soon thereafter. The captain brought the Nautilus back up at 0824 to have a look, despite one of her torpedoes running "hot" in an external casing topside.
"The picture presented on raising the periscope," Brockman later wrote, "was one never experienced in peacetime practices. Ships were on all sides moving across the field at high speed and circling away to avoid the submarine's position." He saw the Nagara astern. The Kirishima, on the Nautilus' port bow, fired her starboard secondary battery of seven 6-inch guns at the periscope. With one of her own torpedoes making a noise "like a garbage grinder," Brockman, with some understatement, surmised, "the exact position of the Nautilus may have been known to the enemy at this time."
After an unsuccessful attack on the Kirishima at 0825, the sub again drew continuous and accurate echo-ranging and another depth-charging from the Nagara. She dove to 150 feet as yet another depth-charge attack ensued. Back at periscope depth 21 minutes later, Brockman could see the Kirishima and accompanying ships well out of range. At 0900 he saw what looked like an undamaged Soryu-class carrier about 16,000 yards away, steaming evasively on a converging course.
A torpedo fired at the tenacious Nagara, however, probably attracted the destroyer Arashi's attention at 0918. Six depth charges "more accurately placed than previous" exploded nearby as the Nautilus, at 200 feet, continued to close on the carrier. The Arashi pushed the attack, dropping two depth charges close aboard at 0933. Once back at periscope depth 22 minutes later, Brockman saw only empty ocean.
The Arashi, her captain satisfied that Brockman's boat had been neutralized, hurried to rejoin the Kido Butai. Her haste proved the undoing of the ships she was to protect. Having not found the enemy at his projected point of interception, Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky Jr., commanding the Enterprise Air Group, spotted the destroyer moving at high speed and followed her. The providential arrival of the Enterprise (CV-6) dive bombers and the Yorktown's (CV-5) coordinated attack soon knocked the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu out of the fight.
Brockman caught up with the doomed Kaga, with the destroyers Hagikaze and Maikaze nearby, at 1145. The Nautilus launched three torpedoes at the stationary flattop between 1359 and 1405, prompting a prolonged depth charge attack from the Hagikaze that forced Brockman to take the boat down to 300 feet. Sadly, only one of his fish hit, but it disintegrated on impact, the warhead plummeting to the bottom while the afterbody remained afloat. Some surviving Japanese sailors clung to what remained of the "fish," pummeling it in frustration.
Two hours later, with the Nautilus back at periscope depth, Brockman saw only the burning carrier. Later, heavy subsurface explosions—most likely the Kaga's death throes—sent the crew to depth-charge stations. At 1941, Brockman ordered the Nautilus, her batteries exhausted, to the surface and set course back to her assigned patrol area. She had expended five torpedoes and logged the explosion of 42 depth charges.
In the wake of the battle, the sub returned to Midway and then resumed her war patrol. Later, operating within sight of Fujiyama, the Nautilus sank the destroyer Yamakaze on 25 June. A photograph of her sinking emerged as one of the most famous images of the war. "The sinking of a ship," Brockman noted later, "increases morale and thereby increases [the crew's] endurance." Three days later, however, the Nautilus took a pounding in "the worst [depth charging] ever experienced by this vessel." She returned to Pearl on 11 July.
The Nautilus went on to garner more laurels, taking Marine Raiders to Makin Atoll, and participating in Operation Galvanic. Her tremendous size and capacity led her to be used in the Philippines for clandestine transport and evacuation duties. At Philadelphia on 30 June 1945, the Nautilus was decommissioned with the smashing of a bottle of champagne over her forward 6-inch gun. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 July, she was sold for scrap on 16 November to the North American Smelting Company of Philadelphia.
Awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for each of her first three war patrols-and 13 battle stars-the Nautilus helped change the very complexion of the conflict.