Jan 5, 1945 - Left Pearl Harbor on some mission.  Destination unknown to crew members.  I am standing 12 to 4 watches.

Jan 6, 1945 - Underway as before. Been thinking about Dot and Carolyn a lot lately.  Miss them an awful lot.
Took a trim dive late this afternoon.  It was almost a last one.  Boat took a 31 deg down angle and started diving fast.  Blew bow bouyancy at 150 feet, nothing happened - backed down emergency and blew all main ballast.   Air finally took hold and she came out of it.  We were all pretty scared for awhile.

Jan 7, 1945 - Underway as before - Ran into rough weather today, about 1/2 the crew is sick.  So far I feel alright.  Had swell turkey dinner today, with all the trimmings.

Jan 8, 1945 - Underway as before -
1030 General Alarm - Battle stations submerged.  Spotted airplanes and went deep 500'   Stayed down 1/2 hour, surfaced, all clear.  Had battle surface drill this afternoon - Fired deck guns & 40 mills.   We sure are curious as to what our mission is.

Jan 9, 1945 - 0010 Underway as before.  Just came on watch.  We are not running engines forward and looks like it might be a nice peaceful watch.
1130 - Sighted Midway - Are pulling in to top off with lube and fuel oil.
1400 - Went ashore and had 3 bottles of beer - compliments of the base.  We are going to lay in tonight and leave early in the morning.

Jan 10, 1945 - 0830 Left Midway and are heading north toward Japan.   Still in the dark as to what our mission is.  I am now standing 4 to 8 watches.

Jan 11, 1945 - 1030 Took a trim dive and while at battle stations submerged the exec spoke over the 1 MC and gave us the dope.  We are headed for the Bonin Islands.  They are 325 miles off the Japanese mainland.  We are to operate against the spit-kits which are reporting the B 29 bombers on their way to Japan.  We are to take pictures of them.  Also to battle surface on a few to see how much fire power they have and how they react to attack.   The old man put out an order forbidding anyone to shave until we sink our first ship.  He also offered a quart of bourbon to the lookout who spots the first ship we do sink.  After we get the pictures we are going to hang around and sink anything and everything we see.

Jan 12, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.  Weather getting bad.  Sea is pretty rough.

Jan 13, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   Weather very bad - Barometer falling rapidly.  Quite a few of the fellows are sick.

Jan 14, 1945 - Weather is awful.  We have run into a typhoon.   Wind is 110 miles an hour.  Seas are mountainous and we sure are being knocked around.  Almost impossible to stand on your feet while on watch.

Jan 15, 1945 - 0800 Just came off watch and am going to hit the sack.   We are almost out of the storm area.  Seas are a little high and rough but nothing like before.  We are sure glad it has calmed down.

Jan 16, 1945 - Underway as before.  Regular sea routine.
0550 Had radar contact at 7 miles.  Went to flank speed and battle stations.   Tried to intercept target but could not make contact again.  We are in Japanese waters now and should contact something soon.
2000 Just came off watch am going to eat and than read awhile before going to bed.

Jan 17, 1945 - Underway as before - Still haven't sighted anything to attack.   Nothing eventful today.  Just another long day at sea.

Jan 19, 1945 - Underway as before - The officers have thought up a good trick which we are going to try out soon if we do not run across any enemy ships.   The chief Elec has rigged up a floating light out of two flashlight batteries and a 5" shell case.  We are going in near shore some dark night and put it over the side and then submerge.   We expect the Japs to send a ship out to investigate this light.  When they do the rest is up to us.  We hope it works.

Jan 20, 1945 - 2005 We have contacted two small ships and are going to attack I guess.  We are laying dead in the water.  They are dead ahead of us about 1300 yards.  We are standing by to go to battle stations.

Jan 21, 1945 - Sunday a day of rest (HA-HA)  It is now 2100 Sunday night and it is all over for awhile.  This has been one hell of a day and I'll try to recall the events that happened to us.  The two ships that we were tracking last night was joined by a large tanker and an escorting tin can.  All four started for Tokyo and at 0330 AM we went to battle stations and moved in for a night radar run on the tanker.  At 0340 we fired a spread of four fish fwd and went deep.  We caught two depth charges that helped us down.  We layed at 500 feet.  The fish missed and the can and escorts started looking for us.  They pinged and made runs on us till 8 o'clock.   We lay down there silent and sweating till they left.  I and everybody else were sure scared.  When they left we surfaced and making all possible speed we got in front of them again.  We made another submerged run on the tanker and fired our last two fish at 1700 yards.  We were close enough to see the bastards running around the decks.  These fish also missed and they really tried to get us this time.  We caught two more depth charges immediately and went to 580 feet.  They kept working us over until 3 o'clock this afternoon and it sure was hell.  We finally made a run right under two of them and got away.  We surfaced and there was the can setting dead in the water waiting for us.  We really pulled the cork that time to get down.   He kept pinging and trying for us and then finally gave up and went after the other 3 ships.  We were real careful coming up this time and it was all clear.  While I have been writing this we have picked up another contact and I'm wondering what will happen next.

Jan 22, 1945 - It is now 2300 and it has been another tough day.   The two contacts we picked up last night is a radar boat and a gunboat.   We tracked them all last night and this morning early we submerged and went to battle stations.  We made countless approaches on them with doodle bugs and they were all misses.  We have fired 8 doodle bugs today.   We are going to surface now and charge batteries and follow them tonight and try again tomorrow.

Jan 23, 1945 - 1220 Well we did it at last.  At 1014 this morning while submerged we fired two doodles at them and four minutes later at 1018 he exploded like a fire cracker.  We surfaced just in time to see him go under.   It was the gunboat.  A 750 tonner.  We are going to chase the radar boat and try for him.
It is now 2030 and we still haven't got him.  We battle surfaced on him at 1810 tonight and got a couple of hits on him.  The seas were high and rough and we found it hard to do accurate firing.  He was pretty steady in the water and mounted two 3" guns and one 5" besides 40 mills and machine guns.   He started to get our range and when the shells started falling around us the old man secured and we submerged.  We fired 51 rounds.  We are going to follow him again tonight and try again in the morning.

Jan 24, 1945 - 0900 Well it looks like we lost him.  During the night a heavy fog came up and he got away in it.
1030 Boy we just had another close one.  A plane dived out of the clouds on us at 1004 and we just got under the water when he let go with two large bombs.  When they went off they sounded like they were right on the deck.   Boy if my hair isn't gray by the time we get back to port it won't be gray ever.  We've been depth charged, shot at, and bombed.  I wonder what's next.
1800 We have just picked up a contact on SD radar and we are making a run on it.  There goes the alarm for battle stations.
2130 The target is another radar boat and we are going to track it all night and see if we can doodle bug it tomorrow.

Jan 25, 1945 - We have spent all day submerged making runs on the target but he is just laying dead in the water and we need screw beats to fire a doodle bug at.  It is 2100 and we are still submerged.  I have just taken a shower and am going to bed.  We are going to track him tonight and try again tomorrow.  If the seas calm down a bit we will probably battle surface on him if we can't get any screw beats.

Jan 26, 1945 - 0800 Well we lost the target.  During the night a bad storm came up and he hauled tail for the mainland.

Jan 27, 1945 - Underway as before.  Regular sea routine.  Nothing doing today.

Jan 28, 1945 - Underway as before.  Regular sea routine.  Received orders to come into port.  Don't know where yet but we are all glad this is over.

Jan 29, 1945 - Underway as before.  Regular sea routine.

Jan 30, 1945 - Underway as before.  Regular sea routine.

Jan 31, 1945 - 1407 Tied up alongside the sub tender Fulton at Saipan in the Marianas.  We are getting 5 days rest and recreation ashore here.

Feb 1, 1945 to Feb 7, 1945 - Here at Saipan the Japs are still back in the hills.   We have played ball and drank beer and explored the island.

Feb 7, 1945 - Started war patrol # 2 along with Lagardo and Haddock.   We are going back to the Bonin's.   I am standing 8 to 12 watches.

Feb 8, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   Nothing doing today.

Feb 9, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   We had a movies in the forward room.   Today saw "Above Suspicion" - with Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford.   Very good picture.

Feb 10, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   We had another movie this afternoon.   It was "Ball of Fire" with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.   It was a swell picture.   Nothing doing at sea yet.

Feb 11, 1945 - The Haddock spotted a periscope at 2000 yards and we went to flank speed and hauled tail.   We don't know whose sub it was and we didn't wait to find out.   No more movies.   We are almost to the area and the gunners mates are up topside greasing the guns and getting them in perfect working order.

Feb 12, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   Chased down a couple of times by planes today.   Nothing else doing.
2300 Picked up two radar boats and have started in pursuit.

Feb 13, 1945 - 0610 - General Alarm - Standing by to go to stations for battle surface.
0620 - Here we go - ! !
1400 - It was a cold gray morning when we went up, misty and overcast.   A fine morning for death and death held a field day.   It was not yet light enough for shooting and we stood around the guns, waiting for the targets to show up.   The range finders kept calling out ranges and the sight setters kept calling for deflection angles.   At 0720 it was light enough and we opened fire on the radar boat.   The first four shells bracketed him and the range and deflection was corrected.   We began rapid firing and we were getting plenty hits.   At 0740 he blew up and sank.   We went after the gun boat next and in about 15 minutes we had silenced his guns and the captain ordered the 50 caliber machine guns manned and we were going in close.   The Japs abandoned ship when we moved in.   We went in to 150 yards and with 4 shells from the 5" guns we sank her.

Feb 14, 1945 - 0100 We are on the surface now charging batteries and have picked up two more of these radar boats.   We are going to battle surface on them again in the morning.
1000 - At 0700 this morning we battle surfaced and opened fire.   They returned the fire at once and Forsythe, a gunners mate on the forward 5" gun was hit in the back by shrapnel.   We got some hits on them and we were moving in when we were attacked by planes.   We are only 120 miles off the coast of Japan and they radioed in for help.   We submerged and have been down all day.
2200 - We have received orders to leave this area and proceed to a new area off Kobe.   We are on the way there now.

Feb 15, 1945 - 1100 - We are submerged 12 miles off the mouth of the entrance to Kobe harbor waiting to see what we can pick up in the way of boats going out of the harbor.   This ought to be a lot of fun here for somebody.   We can easily see the coast of Japan through the periscopes.

Feb 16, 1945 - 12 Midnight - Today was a very tough day.   At 2 AM last night while on the surface charging batteries we detected a tin can tracking us.   We went to battle stations and let him follow us, keeping close watch on him.   At 0620 we submerged to periscope depth and made ready all torpedo tubes.   At 0700 he was 27000 yards away and started for us making all possible speed.   Our captain sure outsmarted that son of a nip.   Instead of going deep we changed course and with our stern to him waited.   When he closed to 1800 yards we fired 3 fish at him.   This is the hardest target of all to hit, just a knife edge bow and we thank God we were lucky.   Two fish caught him dead on and he stopped dead and with one big explosion blew up and disappeared.   We were lucky.   If we had missed him we sure would have taken some beating.   At the same time he attacked we were being attacked by a plane which we knew nothing about.   At the moment we sent the fish on their way he dropped two aerial bombs on us.   We were at 60 feet and they must have went off right on deck.   They hit just as we were starting down and helped us go down faster.   We have been up and down all day trying to get away from here.   Every time we surface we get attacked by a plane and chased down.   Our air banks are low and the batteries are lower.   If we don't get left alone soon to charge we are going to have some fun tomorrow.   I've never been very religious but since going on patrol in these boats I've sure become acquainted with God.   I'm praying now for a break.   The diving alarm just went off again.   Here we go down.   That makes 7 times today we have been chased down.   Well I'm going to bed now and try to sleep.   God I'm tired.

Feb 17, 1945 - Well here it is another midnight.   After that last dive last night the planes must have went back to Tokyo.   We were not bothered again all night and got in a air and battery charge.   Bright and early this morning they were out again and we were caught on the surface and driven down.   We are only 70 miles from Kobe, the Japanese mainland and the planes are shuttling back and forth with no strain.   When we dove the old man said the hell with them today.   We're all tried and need some rest so keep the boat at 300 feet.   We will stay down all day and surface tonight.   That is what we did and we all got some much needed sleep.   Right now we are on the surface charging batteries.   We are 20 miles from Japan.   Tomorrow we are going to start hunting again.   Well I'm off to bed now.

Feb 18, 1945 - 0710 - Submerged this morning and stayed down all day.   Come up to periscope depth and take a look around every half hour.   We are patrolling up and down in front of the mouth of a narrow strait on the southern end of Japan.   We are between 500 and 1000 yards off the shore and the captain says he could see people on the beaches when we would come up and look.   Still haven't spotted any targets.   We have surfaced late tonight and have run out to sea to charge batteries.

Feb 19, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.

Feb 20, 1945 - Underway as before - Still patrolling off Japan.

Feb 21, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.

Feb 22, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   Chased down by planes a few times today.   No ships as yet.

Feb 23, 1945 - Underway as before.   Sneaked into Kobe harbor today and took pictures thru the periscope of ships and shore installations here.   Went out again tonight.

Feb 24, 1945 - Ran into a convoy of 2 tankers and 3 escorts.   Could not get near enough to fire at them.

Feb 25, 1945 - Received orders today to go to Iwo Jima to support the marines in their landing there and to keep the Japs from running in more troops.

Feb 26, 1945 - Underway as before - Regular sea routine.   Picked up two B-29 fliers in a rubber boat this afternoon.   They were shot down over Tokyo and went out to sea to keep from being captured.

Feb 28 to Mar 5, 1945 - Patrolled off Iwo and supported invasion.   Shelled shore installations.   No shipping encountered.

Mar 5, 1945 - Underway for Guam and refit and rest.

Mar 8, 1945 - Tied up alongside tender Apollo at Guam.

Mar 9, 1945 - Sent to rest camp.

Mar 24, 1945 - Back aboard ship.   Loading stores and ammunition.

Apr 3, 1945 - 3 PM - Underway on war patrol #3.

Apr 4, 1945 - Underway for area off Kui Suidi.

Apr 5, 1945 - Ordered to change course.   Heading for Okinawa in the Ryukyus.   There is a task force of Japs consisting of 1 Battleship, two cruisers, and 10 cans which are heading for Okinawa also.   We are trying to intercept them.

Apr 6, 1945 - Underway as before. - No sign of the Nips yet.

Apr 7, 1945 - The zoom boys beat us to the Nips.   350 American planes spotted the task force, and when they got thru the battleship was sunk, both cruisers sunk, and 6 of the cans were sunk.   We received a message that the four cans are running our way.   Maybe we'll get a shot at them.

Apr 8, 1945 - Spotted the cans late this evening and made a run on the last one.   We fired four fish at him and got 3 hits.   He sank in about 3 minutes.   We dove, and the other 3 cans made runs on us for about three hours.   They sure gave us hell.   Finally we lost them and surfaced to charge batteries.   At 2 AM we received a message that a flight of fighters from Iwo Jima ran across the 3 cans we had after us and sank all three.

Apr 9, 1945 - Underway as before.   Proceeding to our designated area.

Apr 10, 1945 - Underway as before.
Had four torpedoes fired at us today.   The O.D. hollered for right full rudder, and we had two pass on either side.   Lucky thing the lookouts spotted them.   We bent on 4 engines and made knots out of there.

Apr 11, 1945 - Underway as before.   Nothing doing today.

Apr 12, 1945 - Sighted small trawler today and submerged under him.   Fired a doodle at him and missed.   He scrammed.

Apr 13, 1945 - Heard the news of the President's death late this evening.   Wonder how much it will effect (sic) us.

Apr 14, 1945 - Underway as before.   Regular sea routine.   Ran into another small trawler this morning.   Their (sic) too small to fire a fish at - don't draw enough water.   We are too damn close to the Japanese mainland to battle surface (only three miles) so we fired another doodle at this one.   Just as before - missed.   I don't think these doodles are much good.   Their (sic) mostly experimental anyway.

Apr 15, 1945 - Underway as before.   Regular sea routine.   Gee, these all day dives are getting monotonous.   For the last 5 days we have dove every morning at 5 o'clock and surfaced at 8 o'clock at night.   We have to due to being so near the main land.

Apr 16, 1945 - Underway as before.   Submerged off Bungo Suido.

Apr 17, 1945 - I guess there's a God up there somewhere that looks out for us.   He sure looked out for us tonight, although we are not out of this mess yet.   At 2300 last night we contacted a large Jap task force on the radar at 31,000 yds and went in pursuit.   At 2330 the O.D. on deck and the lookouts spotted the wakes of two torpedoes fired at us.   One crossed our bow at about 200' ahead of us, and the other just did miss us.   As it went past we crossed over its wake.   That's how close it was.   We dove and waited 1/2 hour, and figuring it to be a Nip submarine, we decided to surface and get out of there.   We surfaced at 12 o'clock and run 10 minutes and had two more torpedoes fired at us.   With hard right rudder we dove, and they ran right alongside of us just missing us again.   This time we stayed down 1 hour and listened on the sound gear.   Not hearing anything, the Captain decided to try again.   We surfaced and ran 7 minutes when the lookouts spotted 4 torpedo boats closing in on us from all sides.   Before they could fire any fish, we dove again.   Right now they are running back and forth over us waiting for us to surface.   I guess we will stay down all night and all day tomorrow too.   Thank God they don't carry any depth charges, or we would sure be having a bad time right now.

Apr 18, 1945 - Underway as before -
0300 - We sure have had a bad time lately.   Last night those PT boats followed us all night and we had to stay submerged.   All day today we were down too, and when we did not surface by late afternoon they finally left.   We started a battery charge and just got it in at 11 o'clock this evening when a plane dove out of the night right at us.   We submerged and waited 1/2 hour and surfaced again.   We figured he had kept going.   What a surprise.   We just got on the surface when two of them dove at us.   The first one dropped a small bomb that just missed our stern, and the second one strafed us from bow to stern with 50 cal machine guns.   We submerged and stayed down all night.

Apr 19, 1945 - 0005 - Underway as before.
Quiet today for a change.   We have changed areas, and maybe this one will be a little easier on our nerves than the last one.   I hope so.
Well, we did it again.   At 0710 this morning we sneaked into the harbor at Kiiu Suido to see if there was any shipping around.   We ran right into a very large freighter, one smaller tanker, and 5 escort vessels.   We went to battle stations and made a run on them.   We fired 3 fish at the freighter and started to come left to fire at the tanker, when two of the fish hit the freighter at 1400 yards.   He must have been carrying ammunition or high octane gas as he just disintegrated.   The concussion when he exploded was so great that it broke light bulbs and the glass faces of engine dials.   We lost control of the boat for a moment and had no chance to shoot at the tanker.   We started deep with the escorts making all speed for us.   The first one started dropping charges that shook the hell out of us, and as he passed over us, we let go with a doodle bug at him.   It hit him, and he sank.   The rest of them became cautious then and started pinging on us to find out our exact position.   We kept on going down, and what a surprise we got.   We hit bottom at 270 feet.   Either we were wrong about our position, or the chart of the harbor was wrong.   Gee, that's a hell of a feeling when you start getting depth charged and want plenty of water over you and get caught in shallow water.   We started to get out of there in a hurry, and they followed us all day and kept dropping charges.   At 1530 this afternoon we finally lost them.   We are out to sea now charging batteries, and maybe we can get some sleep.

Apr 20, 1945 - 0100 - Today is my wedding anniversary and maybe it will be celebrated with some more noise.   I guess we are going back into the harbor in the morning and see if we can get the tanker.

Apr 21, 1945 - Ran into a trap this morning, and we were lucky to get out.   The damn Nips must have figured we'd be back after that tanker.   They had a small tanker out in the bay when we came in and 5 P.C. boats and 2 tin cans waiting in a cove a little distance away.   They were sitting there waiting for us with sound gear.   When we were well inside the bay, the P.C. boats moved out into the entrance and the cans started pinging on us.   They started dropping charges, and we tried to get out.   That was the worst depth charging we have had yet.   It was pretty awful for a while.   When we went under the P.C. boats to get out, they dropped all they had.   We got hit with everything from 300 pounders all the way up to 1000 pounders.   We were lucky and finally got out in deep water where we lost them.

Apr 22, 1945 - We are 30 miles out now, and we have a lifeguard station today.   It ought to be quiet for a change.
Gee, we just had some lousy luck.   A fighter pilot flew over us in trouble and signaled he could not make it back to his base, and he was going to bail out and let us pick him up.   He jumped, and and just before he hit the water, a gust of wind swung him and he got tangled up in his chute and the poor guy drowned before we could get to him.   The guys on the boat here sure feel terrible about it.   Well, I guess his number was just up, that's all.

Apr 23, 1945 - Pulled 70 miles out to sea today and submerged.   The Captain decided we needed a little rest to quiet our nerves.   The last week has been a small idea of hell I guess.   Well, we'll be back at it again tomorrow.

Apr 24, 1945 - Tried to go in again this morning.   They were waiting for us and picked us up on sound.   They worked us over and after about 2 hours we lost them.   They were 5 P.C. boats.

Apr 25, 1945 - Out to sea resting up again.   All day dives and charge at night.

Apr 26, 1945 - Went in to Kii Suido again this morning.   Got in and saw nothing all day.   They must be laying low.

Apr 27, 1945 - Out to sea last night and in again this morning.   Same as yesterday - nothing doing.

Apr 28, 1945 - Started into Kii Suido again this morning and caught an unescorted 3000 ton cable layer operating just off the harbor mouth.   Threw 3 electric fish at him and got two hits.   He sank in about 5 minutes.   2 P.C. boats came out looking for us and dropping charges.   We went deep and got out of there.

Apr 29, 1945 - Out to sea again.

Apr 30, 1945 - Same as yesterday - still out at sea.

May 1, 1945 - Went back into Kii Suido again this morning.   Ran into a big, brand new tin can.   We fired 5 steam fish at him.   He spotted the fish and made a sharp change of course.   All 5 missed.   We started down and rigged for depth charges.   He made a wide turn and came barreling over us when we were a little over 200 feet down.   He laid 4 600 lb charges right on us from stem to stern.   Light bulbs broke, and the cork on the bulkheads flew in all directions.   We thought we were really in for a bad time, but the damn fool kept going and headed for Japan at full speed.   Boy, we were lucky.   We started out to sea and ran into two spit kits.   They dropped 6 charges, and we lost them.   We have hopes of going back to the barn tonight as we only have 2 fish and one doodle bug left.   We all hope so.
2330 We have just received orders to leave the area and head for Saipan to refuel and proceed to Pearl Harbor for refit.

May 2, 1945 - Underway - regular sea routine.

May 3, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.

May 4, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.

May 5, 1945 - Received news broadcast today that there are rumors that Germany has surrendered.   This is unconfirmed news, but we hope so.

May 6, 1945 - Met tender ORION off Saipan and refueled.   Heading now for Pearl.

May 7, 1945 - Underway - regular sea routine.

May 8, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.   Rumors of Germany's unconditional surrender confirmed.   War in Europe is now over.

May 9, 1945 - Underway - regular sea routine.   Heard of N.Y.'s planned celebration.   Sure wished I were there.   Wonder how much longer it will last over here.

May 10, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.

May 11, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.   Received promotion today to MoMM2/c

May 12, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.   Crossed international date line.   Yesterday is now today.

May 13, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.

May 14, 1945 - Underway as before - regular sea routine.

May 15, 1945 - Underway as before - Due in Pearl tomorrow morning.   Rendezvous with escort at 0600.   60 miles out.

This concludes the third war patrol for USS SENNET and George Bedell's diary.   Either he was transferred before SENNET's next patrol, or he simply stopped keeping his diary.   USS SENNET made a fourth war patrol in which she penetrated the heavily mined Sea of Japan earning the Navy Cross for her skipper and qualifying her crew to join the elite "Mighty Mine Dodgers Society."