At the end of its combat patroll the submarine Gato was to make port in Australia. It was to surface in a sector on a given heading and precede to port which they did. An Australian aircraft soon arrived and dove on them. They immediately crashed dived and stayed down for a period of time. They again resurfaced on the correct heading and preceded towards port. Again the Australian aircraft found them and preceded to dive on them. Again they crashed dived and stay down for 20 to 30 minutes. They surfaced for the third time and broke out what ever machine guns they had and then preceded to port. For the third time the Australian aircraft dove on them, they then fired in the vicinity of the aircraft who then broke off his attack.
They were met in port by the Australian authorities who were not happy. At the board of inquiry the Americans were able to ask the pilot why he dove on the submarine he said" for practice" the American submarine commander then said they were only firing" for practice" which was really the end of the hearing. The chief who was on the boat told me the story in the mid eighties and really thought it was funny!
