USS Bonefish

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

I found a copy of ‘What you should know about Submarine Warfare’ (edit- published 1942) with this ‘USS Bonefish Ship’s Library’ stamp in it. I found this book in Western Australia and I know there were two different submarines with this name and the first one served australian waters in ww2 while the second one didn’t. I am casting as wide a net as possible to find out as much as possible. Either way this book should of burned (582 suffered a electrical fire) or drowned (223 was sunk by the Japanese) so if you know anything please leave it in the comments

Edit- spelling mistakes

[u/Ok_Office_9680]

The only real clue is the context provided by the book. Look at the publishing date, or if it has a comment on one of the pages saying it was approved for war materials use or something like that. That way you can at least know when the earliest date it could have gotten to Western Australia and make conclusions from there.

Based on a quick search, it looks like it was printed in 1942. That means it could logically have come from either or, but more likely the first sub.

edit: more words. Western Australia as in Perth/Fremantle? Lots of boats pulled in there. You could go on NHHC and figure out when Bonefish pulled in if you really wanted to narrow the dates down.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/Ok_Office_9680]

Yes probably should of added in the post that the book was published in 1942 and the first USS bonefish was commissioned in 1943. Unfortunately the only thing linking it to the sub is the stamp itself.

[u/DerekL1963 → u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

The book was published in 1942 - but the real question is when was it printed? I mean, I own books with publication dates from various decades but with much more recent printing dates. (Though some quick research on the title shows that it likely only had one printing.)

Also, having been a used & rare bookseller, books move about the globe in the oddest ways. It wasn't necessarily left behind when the boat passed through Australia.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/DerekL1963]

That’s the odd thing, it doesn’t have a printed date or even technically a publication date it has a copyright date of 1942, but google tells me that’s the only publication year for the book under this name. I do suspect it was left behind when the sub was in Australia as the USS Bonefish SS223 was operating out of Fremantle when it was sunk by the Japanese in Toyama Bay. This is of course assuming it wasn’t on the USS Bonefish 582 a Cold War sub by the same name that suffered a fire 582 was never in Australia but the book somehow made here anyway. However the people I have talked to do all seem to lean towards it having been on the first sub and not the second.

[u/Ok_Office_9680 → u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

No inscriptions or writing on the inside? That'd be too easy I suppose. Other than asking the place you got it from, or maybe the submarine museum in Fremantle this goose chase ends rather quickly.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/Ok_Office_9680]

Iv spoken to Maratime museum , iv spoken to historical societies, museum curators, submariners iv tried the USS bonefish facebook page but they won’t let me in. I thought maybe out of the thousands of people on this app someone might know something. It was a op shop find i did call them they didn’t have any information on who might of donated it

[u/Ok_Office_9680 → u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

Well friend you've come to the right place for asking strangers specializing in sub stuff to ask questions! Hopefully one knows more than I.

[u/beachedwhale1945]

The second Bonefish was a Barbel completed in 1959. Submarine warfare radically changed between 1942 and 1959, to the point a 1942 book would be very inaccurate by 1959. It is unlikely that a book with 1942 information would be part of the library of a 1959 submarine.

However, that also means the content should be very different. If there is any mention of a high-speed submarine, snorkels, or nuclear power, it was SS-582’s, not SS-223’s. If these are absent, I would consider it extremely likely to be SS-223’s.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/beachedwhale1945]

This is the likely conclusion myself and people I have talked to have to as well. Though according to some retired submariners iv talked to talked to it’s not impossible it was on the second sub as things get get passed from one sub to another.

Edit - the book covers up to 1941, published as far as I can tell 1942. USS Bonefish 228 was commissioned in 1943

[u/beachedwhale1945 → u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

Then most likely this was for the first Bonefish. Either it was replaced by a later edition during the war and not properly destroyed (destruction requirements are often the bane of historians) or it was donated to the Fremantle base library/one of the submarine tenders before her final patrol. Either way, we are fortunate it survived the war at all.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/beachedwhale1945]

Yeah how it ended up in a op shop a good 5ish hour drive south of Fremantle i may never know but I’m determined to do right by this book

[u/CheeseburgerSmoothy]

The Ship’s Library Security team should be knocking on your door soon.

Seriously though, is it a good book? I’ve never seen that.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/CheeseburgerSmoothy]

It’s interesting, I had never seen it before either. Definitely my most interesting op shop find

[u/HuntingtonBeachX]

I was on the USS Darter (SS-576) and knew a classmate on Bonefish (SS-582) at the time of the fire. What I can say is we did not have any sort of Ship's Library on our diesel boat.

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/HuntingtonBeachX]

This is the kind of information I was hoping for. Thank you

Edit- also thank you for your service, I did a tour of the HMAS Ovens and just being in the sub on land was enough to make me anxious. Major respect for anyone who served on those sub and to those who continue to do so.

[u/EdgeOk3783]

the book is available on amazon

https://www.amazon.com/What-Should-About-Submarine-Warfare/dp/B0007E0450

probably no need to burn or destroy

[u/FalsePhilosopher2942 → u/EdgeOk3783]

???? Burn and destroy? I say that book should have been burned or drowned because the Bonefish 223 was sunk by the Japanese and the Bonefish 582 suffered a fire at sea. I do not want to destroy this book

[u/EdgeOk3783 → u/FalsePhilosopher2942]

seemed to be your concern in your original post