On the 9th of October 1944, the “O’Toole” departed Pearl Harbor on her first war patrol in company with Pintado (SS-387) and Jallao. Under the command of Comdr. B. A. Clarey in Pintado, the three boats formed a “wolf pack” (known as Clarey’s Crushers) a coordinated attack group whose mission was to destroy or otherwise impede enemy shipping. Atule trained with Jallao and Pintado as they traveled westward. On 11 October, Atule picked up two radar contacts, tracked them, and maneuvered around them before identifying the contacts as Plaice (SS-390) and Thresher (SS-200). The pack arrived at Tanapag Harbor Saipan, on 21 October, refueled, made minor repairs, and departed early the next day. On 25 Oct ober, the wolf pack made its first score when Jallao hit light cruiser Tama and sent her to the bottom. That Japanese warship already had been damaged in the Battle off Cape Engano and was part of the broken Japanese carrier-centered fleet retiring to the north. The wolf pack then spent two more days vainly searching for enemy vessels crippled during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The boats then set course for their patrol sectors in Luzon Strait and the South China Sea.
Over the next few days, Atule made but lost several ship contacts. Shortly after midnight on 1 November, she established surface radar contact on a fast-moving escorted transport and moved in for the kill. Despite rain squalls and heavy seas, Atule was able to close the transport and fire six torpedoes. The first hit caused a terrific explosion which threw flaming material high in the air. When one of the transport’s escorts began to close the submarine, she began a crash dive but still managed to hear a second explosion as she submerged. Nine depth charges exploded in the vicinity, but none were close enough to damage Atule. The crew in the submarine heard loud breaking up noises and upon surfacing, found a large oil slick and much debris. Atule was later credited with sinking Asama Maru, a 16,975-ton Japanese transport.
Atule continued her patrol, covering the Hong Kong-Manila traffic lane in the South China Sea and occasionally breaking off to investigate a contact report or to take special scouting dispositions by order of the pack commander. On 3 November, Jallao reported a five-ship force heading south, and the wolf pack moved to intercept. The contacts were moving at 20 knots, and Atule was never able to come within range for attack. However Pintado had better luck. That submarine’s target was a large escorted oiler, but, before her torpedoes could strike the oiler the destroyer Akikaze crossed their path and disintegrated in a tremendous explosion which was seen and heard on board Atule. The smoke screen provided by the ensuing fires protected the target, and Pintado was forced to withdraw.
During the next 10 days, the wolf pack occasionally sighted ships or aircraft, but was unable to attack. On 13 November Jallao reported an enemy ship. Pintado and Atule altered course to intercept the contact; and, at 0850, Atule sighted what appeared to be the foretop of a battleship. At 1000, the enemy contact was established as a carrier, a heavy cruiser, and one destroyer. Atule maneuvered to approach the force as closely as possible, hoping that the enemy ships would initiate a “zig-zag” course which would bring them within range of her torpedoes. The Japanese force indeed did begin to “zig-zag”, but, instead of making them vulnerable, the maneuver took the force out of range. At 1115, contact was lost.
Later that day and throughout the next, the submarine played a game of hide and seek with Japanese planes equipped with radar and magnetic detection devices. During this hunt, the Japanese covered all of the wolf pack’s radio frequencies and intruded in Japanese as well as English, asking the Americans to “come in, please” in their best imitations of American aviators. Atule was forced to dive, zigzag, and run to evade these planes which dropped 14 depth charges. None came close to Atule, but another submarine in the area, Halibut (SS-232), was severely damaged. After a circuitous route to avoid Japanese planes, Atule began patrolling her assigned scouting station west of Formosa.
There, until after midnight on 20 November, she made only aircraft contacts. The submarine then sighted a slow moving surface vessel and moved in to attack. The night was dark, and the sky, clear. The enemy, identified later as Minesweeper No. 88, was protected by a squall during the early phase of Atule’s approach, but was perfectly silhouetted against a clear horizon when the submarine fired four torpedoes. The third torpedo hit at the forward stack with a terrific explosion. The target was down by the bow, and, less than three minutes after the hit, its stern reared up as the ship slid under, depth charges exploding as she went down.
On 24 November, Atule sighted by periscope one transport with three escorts heading northeast toward Sabtang Island. The submarine surfaced at dark and set course to intercept the transport shortly after midnight. As she set her sights on the target, one of the escorts also moved into view. Atule fired six bow tubes and two stern tubes at the overlapping targets, scoring two hits on each. The escort, later identified as Patrol Boat No. 88, disintegrated; and the transport, a 26 6-ton cargo ship named Santos Maru, went dead in the water. Atule moved out of range of the other two escorts which were wildly searching the area. The transport disappeared from view and from radar and the submarine returned to patrol.
On 27 November, a radar contact and subsequent visual sighting of a ship at anchor between Dequey and Ibuhos Islands gave Atule another chance for action. Approaching from the north of Dequey Island, Atule closed the transport to 2,000 yards and fired four torpedoes. The four hits spread the length of the ship; and, in the ensuing fire, the port side was seen to be blown almost completely away. The ship was racked by violent oil and ammunition explosions, and the flames were visible 15 miles away. One hour and eight minutes after the first hit, the ship blew apart. However, Atule was never officially credited with this sinking, because a postwar study of Japanese records did not substantiate the loss.
On 28 November, the submarine left her patrol station and headed for Majuro Atoll for refit alongside Bushnell (AS-15). Arriving 11 December 1944, Atule ended a highly productive first patrol in which she accounted for almost 27,000 tons of enemy shipping destroyed.
