What did the pharmacist mates treat?

The main things that WW2 medics would treat would be minor injuries, a few broken bones, skin rashes, etc. A few needed to treat bullet wounds from surface attacks with guns; the enemy did tend to shoot back. There would probably be a few cases of STDs or STIs (called venereal disease back then) as well.

Colds and flu were relatively uncommon on submarines during WW2. Most sailors hadn’t had a chance to go home and be exposed to children who tend to spread such illnesses. If there was a cold or flu on board, it would probably spread rapidly because of the close living conditions and then die out.

Pharmacist mates did not expect to treat anything more unusual. As a result, they did not have the supplies to treat men with tropical diseases like those of the rescued POWs. Nor did they expect to do surgeries. However, in addition to the cuts, broken bones and routine illnesses, the medics did their best to handle whatever emergency issues came up.

For example, there were three known appendectomies done on boats so they could stay on patrol. The first one was done on the USS Seadragon (SS-194) in 1942. The patient was in great pain and the medic thought he could do the surgery. The patient gave his informed consent. The operation took two and a half hours and was done “by the book”; the medic was following the descriptions and diagrams in his medical books. The patient recovered fully. A few notes:

1. The surgery was done submerged, at 120 feet, to provide a steady platform.
2. It was done on the wardroom table with the Executive Officer as the chief assistant.
3. Ether was used as the anesthetic which can be dangerous in the closed spaces of a submerged submarine with no access to fresh air.
4. Some instruments had to be devised from wardroom silverware. For example, a tea strainer was used as a mask to administer the ether and bent spoons were retractors.

In late 1942, successful appendectomies were also performed on the USS Grayback (SS-208) and on the USS Silversides (SS-236). After that, the Navy issued orders that pharmacist mates were not to perform any further appendectomies. It might seem unlikely that there were no more cases of appendicitis on board submarines, but there do not appear to be any records of other surgeries.