Cromwell, John Philip.

Cromwell, John Philip, born 11-09-1901, in Henry, Marshall County, Illinois, United States, to Dr Edward Gorton Cromwell (1876–1929) and his wife Grace V, born Paskell Cromwell (1877–1921) .

John had one sister and one brothers, Dorothy Cromwell Crebs (1900–1964) and Frederick P Cromwell (1905–1992) .

John graduated from Henry high school in 1919. In August, he and a friend drove in John’s car to Washburn to hear Roxie Larocco, a young Italian harpist. John then attended the Marion Institute before passing the final examinations for the Naval Academy. John married Margaret Robertson on 27-09-1927, in Schuyler, Illinois. Their children were John (Jack) and Ann. Jack was a member of the Class of 1951. John and his wife, daughter, and son were present in New London, Connecticut during the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 and in Honolulu during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1920, he graduated in June 1924 and served initially in the battleship USS Maryland school and was assigned to USS S-24 (SS-129) during 1927–29. He next had three year’s diesel engineering instruction, followed by further tours of duty in submarines.

Lieutenant Cromwell commanded USS S-20 (SS-125) in 1936–37. The USS Sculpin (SS-191), a Sargo-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sculpin, a scorpionfish-like fish.Her keel was laid down on 07-09-1937 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 27-07-1938 by Mrs. J.R. DeFrees. The USS Sculpin was officially commissioned on 16-01-1939 under the command of Lieutenant Warren Dudley Wilkin

Cromwell then served on the staff of Commander Submarine Division 4. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in 1939 and spent two years in Washington, D.C., with the Bureau of Engineering and Bureau of Ships. In May 1941, he became engineer officer for the Pacific Fleet submarine force.

During 1942–43, Cromwell commanded Submarine Divisions 203, 44 and 43, flying his pennant in USS Sculpin (SS-191).

Following promotion to Captain, he went to sea in Sculpin as prospective commander of a mid-Pacific submarine wolf pack.SS Sculpin was commanded by LCDR Fred Connaway, making his first war patrol. If conditions warranted, Fred Connaway, age 32, was killed by a shell from a Japanese destroyer that struck USS Sculpin (SS 191) shortly before she was sunk on 19-11-1943.

Cromwell would form a wolfpack with USS Searaven (SS-196) and either USS Spearfish (SS-190) or USS Apogon (SS-308) under his direction. As a senior officer, Cromwell was completely familiar with the plans for the upcoming Battle of Tarawa, Operation Galvanic, and knew a lot more about ULTRA – and its source – than anyone else on SS Sculpin. It was Cromwell’s first war patrol also.

Death and burial ground of Cromwell, John Philip.

While attacking a Japanese convoy on 19-11-1943, the SS Sculpin was forced to the surface, fatally damaged in a gun battle and abandoned by her surviving crew members. Captain Cromwell, who knew secret details of the impending operation to capture the Gilbert Islands, Deliberately he stoically remained aboard the mortally wounded vessel as she plunged to her death. John remained on board as she sank. For his sacrificial heroism in preventing the enemy from obtaining this information, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor.

Forty-two members of Sculpin’s crew – three officers and 39 enlisted men – were pulled from the sea by the Japanese, though one of the latter, badly wounded, was thrown back. The 41 survivors were taken to Truk and interrogated for ten days by Japanese intelligence officers. The group was divided in half for transport back to Japan on two escort carriers – 21 on Chuyo and 20 on Un’yō. Those on Unyo arrived in Japan in early December and spent the rest of the war working in the Ashio copper mines, after which they were repatriated to tell their story.

On the evening of  03-12-1943, 240 miles (390 km) southeast of Yokosuka – with some help from ULTRA – USS Sailfish (SS-192) sank the Chuyo, and only one of the Sculpin prisoners on board survived. The Sailfish attacked again at 08:42 and hit the carrier with one or two torpedoes on the port side. The hits caused massive flooding and the Chūyō capsized very quickly to port six minutes later. There were very few survivors because of the speed at which she sank. Only 161 crewmen and passengers were saved, including one American prisoner of war; 737 passengers and 513 crewmen were lost.

Captain Cromwell and eleven men from his crew have a sea grave. But there is a memorial stone at the Henry Cemetery, Henry, Marshall County, Illinois, United States..

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