Wrecks of USS Mindanao (PR-8) and USS Pigeon (ASR 6) | Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck

Located here are the wrecks of two members of the former US Asiatic Fleet, the River Gunboat USS Mindanao (PR-8) and Submarine Rescue Vessel USS Pigeon (ASR-6), sunk by American forces on May 5th, 1942.

USS Mindanao was laid down in 1926 as a River Gunboat for use in the shallow rivers and coastal waters of China, a role she served in from her July 1928 commissioning through December 1941. Departing China for a highly dangerous cross-ocean voyage to the Philippines on December 2nd, 1941 as Japanese forces closed on her berth in Canton, the Mindanao and her crew arrived in Manila on December 10th having engaged in some of the first ship-to-ship surface combat of any American forces in the war. Sinking a Japanese trawler and taking the first 10 prisoners of war, the Mindanao began her defensive operations patrolling east of Bataan with her fellow China River Gunboats USS Luzon (PR-7) and USS Oahu (PR-6) for the next several months.

USS Pigeon was built in 1918 as a Lapwing Class Minesweeper but was quickly converted for duty as a gunboat in 1922 and began service with the Yangtze River Patrol through 1929, protecting American civilans and intrestes in China. Shifting to the Philippines in 1930 the Pigeon was again converted to a Submarine Rescue Vessel and commenced operations out of the Cavite Navy Yard where she was moored when the Second World War broke out. Coming under attack two days later, the Pigeon and her crew earned the Presidential Unit Citation for their heroic actions in saving the Submarine USS Seadragon (SS-194) from almost certain destrution and under heavy fire as Japanese bombers destroyed the naval base. Shifting to Manila, the Pigeon continued intrepid service in increasingly dangerous circumstances to keep the US Submarine Fleet based at the Philippines supplied and operational until it's withdrawal for safer ports in late December 1941.

Operating with the remainder of the Asiatic Fleet based at Mariveles, both the Mindanao and Pigeon began a pitched battle of attrition against a vastly superior force of Japanese ships, aircraft and soldiers invading the Philippine Islands. By March 1942 fuel shortages had severely curtailed vessel operations, leaving both ships and the remainder of the US Asiatic Fleet limited to short sorties and duty as floating gun platforms. With the fall of Bataan and the loss of Mariveles in early April, both the Pigeon and Mindanao withdrew and began operations out of Corregidor but were subject to near-constant shelling and air attacks for the entire month, forcing their crews ashore during the day and engaging in limited operations at night.

As April gave way to May the situation grew steadily worse as fuel and supply shortages put both ships essentially out of action. Damaged by Japanese bombers on May 2nd, the Mindanao was stripped of usable materials alongside her pier and abandoned when further air attacks caused more damage to her hull. The Pigeon held out only days longer before she too was stuck by a Japanese bomb on her Starboard quarter and began taking on huge amounts of water. Both ships were deemed beyond repair by the remaining US forces then repulsing Japanese landing craft landing on Corregidor itself.

Before dawn on May 5th both the Mindanao and the Pigeon were cut from their moorings and pulled free of the dock into deep water where they were scuttled by their crews at this location. The crews of both ships then returned to Corregidor and continued their fight until the fortress fell on May 6th. For their actions in defense of the Philippines, the USS Mindanao and USS Pigeon each received one Battle Star for World War II service, and the USS Pigeon received two Presidential Unit Citations, the only ship so decorated in US Navy history.

USS Pigeon (ASR-6)
www.navsource.org/archives/11/02047.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASR-6

USS Mindanao (PR-8)
www.navsource.org/archives/12/1208.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mindanao_(PR-8)