Wreck of USS Canopus (AS-9)

 Second World War 1939-1945, shipwreck, United States Navy

Laid down in 1918 as the commercial passenger steamer SS Santa Leonora for the W. R. Grace Co at Camden, NJ in 1919, the USS Canopus was acquired by the US Navy for conversion to a Submarine Tender in November 1921. Commissioned in January 1922 the Canopus joined the US Atlantic Fleet where she and her crew operated briefly out of Boston before sailing for the Panama Canal and thence Pearl Harbor where she began tender operations with Submarine Division 17 in mid-1923.

Receiving orders to report for duty with SubDiv 17 in the Asiatic Fleet, the Canopus weighed anchor in Hawaii and made for the Philippines where she began her tender operations in Manila Bay in November 1924. Making yearly deployments to Tsingtao, China each summer, the Canopus assumed the role of Flagship for submarine divisions assigned for duty with the Asiatic Fleet through the 1920's and 1930's. Continuing her role as Flagship to Submarine Squadron 20 when word reached her of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the men aboard Canopus prepared for the fight they knew would soon be on their doorstep.

Commencing with air raids on December 9th, the Canopus and her crew toiled to maintain their fleet of Submarines as they were repeatedly attacked and damaged by marauding Japanese bombers day after day. With the destruction of the Cavite Navy Yard on December 10th, she began operations in Manila Bay once again as the region's sole repair ship. Anchoring at Mariveles Bay on Christmas Day 1941, the Canopus received word that all the submarines of the Asiatic Fleet were being called back to rear-area bases in response to the overwhelming Japanese advance in the Philippines. Sending her last boat away on December 31st, the Canopus' crew retooled for a new mission; supporting the myriad of small craft and forces now constituting the remnants of the US Asiatic Fleet.

Heavily damaged on two occasions by Japanese bombers and nearly suffering a magazine detonation on January 1st, 1942, the battered but defiant ship continued to conduct repairs and replenishment of the American sea and land forces fighting the Japanese assault by night, her crew cleverly disguising the damaged and listing ship with smoke canisters and a disheveled appearance to make her appear to be an abandoned hulk in Mariveles Bay by day.

Despite the best efforts of her men, the Canopus alone could not sustain the entire American force for long in the face of the far superior numbers of the Japanese Army and Navy steadily advancing towards Manila. After the fall of Bataan on April 9th and the subsequent American retreat to the island fortress of Corregidor, the damaged, depleted and elderly Canopus was ordered scuttled to prevent her falling into enemy hands. After removing all of her guns for re-use and stripping her of all stores and supplies for the men on Corregidor, the Canopus was abandoned by all but a skeleton crew who took her to this location over deep water at the mouth of Mariveles Bay and scuttled her during the evening of April 10th, 1942.

For her actions in defense of the Philippine Islands, USS Canopus received one Battle Star for World War II service.


www.navsource.org/archives/09/36/3609.htm