Dark is the Harbor

What would motivate men to seek out what may have been the most dangerous branch of the service? By the end of the war over 3,500 submariners, over to 23 percent of the force, never returned from their missions; fifty-two World War II submarines are “still on patrol”. The enlisted men had even fewer benefits from this choice of military service. But they sought out a place on the boats out of desire to perform a meaningful, useful, military task in a front-line position where there was a very high likelihood that would not come back. Jeweldeen “Deen” Brown was one of these men that started out his career as a battleship sailor who became captivated by submarines after visiting the “S” boats stationed at San Diego as he waited for transport to Pearl Harbor and his first assignment onboard the battleship USS Nevada. When he arrived days after the Japanese attack one of his first sight was of the Nevada, decks awash, sunk in the harbor by Japanese torpedo bombers. Unable to report to his assigned duty station, Brown convinced a harried personnel officer to reassign him to the submarine base where his skills as a radioman were immediately put to use. From the Subase radio shack to submarine relief crew, then he eventually made it onboard the USS Trout (SS 202) where he served as one of the radiomen for eight war patrols. Brown’s first war patrol on the Trout was in support of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo where two submarines provided weather and logistics information to the attacking fleet. After that the Trout participated in the Battle of Midway, numerous battles, and several special missions to Japanese occupied Philippines landing men and materials and rescuing escaped P.O.W.s. Brown was on scene for surface attacks against enemy coastal shipping and torpedo attacks against ships as large as aircraft carriers and as rare as an enemy submarine. His tales contain scenes of both hostile aggression against Japanese warships as well as exceptional humanity towards rescued Japanese shipwrecked sailors. He related these experiences with the energy, detail, and authenticity that only an on-scene observer could. Stephen Leal Jackson was privileged to work with Mr. Brown to edit, research, and source verify his stories. A skilled researcher, Jackson’s doctoral dissertation was on the characterization of African American sailors in submarine themed American films. A veteran of the United States Navy, Jackson spent eight years in the submarine force serving on the USS Los Angeles (SSN 688) and the USS Florida (SSBN 728). This shared experience along with Jackson’s training as an historical researcher facilitated understanding and explaining the enlisted man’s experiences in the World War II American submarine service.