By piecing together official U.S. and Japanese naval reports, he arrived at 31 official sinkings, for a total of 227,800 tons. There were only two years left in the war, but Tang would achieve the best record of any U.S. submarine. I was kind of wedged in there. The Mark 18’s 570-pound warhead hit Tang’s empty aft torpedo room and detonated. Number 23 went out straight and hot and hit the target amidships. When the last man in the conning tower came down—he had a broken arm—he reached up and grabbed the rope lanyard that was attached to the hatch, which is spring-loaded, and pulled it down. There were also a goodly number of destroyers and destroyer escorts, which we didn’t like because they were the guys with the depth charges. So after we fired, we got away from the action, stopped, reloaded, then resumed the attack. We started sinking from the stern. DECKER: The Navy sent me to submarine school at New London, Connecticut; I spent three months there, then went to Mare Island, California. He said he selected me because I had a “knack for catching the bubble.” That’s a glass arc tube with a bubble in it. But if you hit it just above the keel, you’d sink her. The only other submarine to be sunk by a wayward torpedo was the USS Tang. This record is unexcelled among American submarines. By October 1944, the USS Tang had racked up the best record of any US Navy submarine, sinking Japanese ships across the Pacific. It was a tragic and unfitting end for the most successful submarine in U.S. Navy history. “That last run, all in all, it was a pretty successful run, except for the final loss. Oita Maru ( Japan): World War II: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Formosa Strait by USS Tang ( United States Navy). There were some survivors, who were rescued by Japanese fishing boats. On March 26, 1944, while on her fourth war patrol off Palau, the USS Tullibee became the first American submarine in World War II to be sunk by one of … Normally, we would have one or two knots on the screws, but we were all stopped. It received four battle stars, two Presidential Unit Citations, and its commanding officer received the Medal of Honor. I went through the trial runs. I went to torpedo school in Norfolk, Virginia, graduated as a Third Class Torpedoman, and selected the submarine service. On her first war patrol, she encountered Japanese ships for the first time before sunrise on 17 Feb 1944; she survived a depth charging by the convoy escorts and then torpedoed and sank the transport Gyoten Maru. Between Aug. 7, 1942, and Feb. 9, 1943,... Get the latest in military news, entertainment and gear in your inbox daily. One officer managed to swim out of the conning tower but was unable to close the hatch. DECKER: Right. He said, “Clay, we aren’t going to be able to get forward to the escape chamber unless we get the boat level.”. When it dropped back into the water, it had a hard left rudder on it. In order to reach her area, Tang had to pass through narrow waters known to be heavily patrolled by the enemy. While we were out, we received a message to rescue a bunch of Navy carrier pilots who had been shot down during the battle of Truk Atoll. Half of the 87-man crew died instantly. Images Used (From Left): (1) USS Lexington ordered her crew to abandon ship while it was sinking on May 8, 1942 (2) 3D illustration of the confirmed direct hits sustained by USS Lexington (8) Japanese aircraft carrier IJN CV Hiryū, Sunk June 5, 1942 during the Battle of Midway, Approximate Location 240-260 miles NW from Midway: Richard O’Kane, had served on five war patrols as the executive officer of the highly successful USS Wahoo. We had over 5,000 valves, lines, gauges, everything. Normally, we would fire torpedoes at a range of 1,000 to 1,500 yards; we went in on that target at 700 yards. This was the first time survivors escaped a sunken U.S. submarine without assistance from the surface, and the first time a breathing device known as the Momsen lung was used. Some other submarines had from 10 to 15 patrols; we were number one with only four patrols. Of the 13 sailors that managed to escape, just eight made it to the surface, and only five would survive. That really causes a lot of conversation at a submariners’ reunion—submariners with the Navy Air Medal! With most of the rear compartments flooding quickly, Tang’s stern section sank. One of the most outstanding of those 288 submarines was the USS Tang, launched on August 16, 1943, at the Mare Island (Calif.) Navy Yard. The contract to build Tang was awarded to Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 15 December 1941, and her keel was laid down on 15 January 1943. A depth charge is nothing more than a 55-gallon drum half full of TNT. He was bleeding from the forehead. That’s what a submarine needs to take it down. However, one of its own fish turned around and hit it, causing most of the crew to be lost at sea. I’ll tell you about that one in a minute. It had a crew of 87. In December 1942, I quit school and joined the Navy. USS Tang (Lt.Cdr. Commissioned in 1943, USS Tang was a Balao-class diesel-electric submarine with a crew of 87 and an arsenal of 24 torpedoes. DECKER: Dick O’Kane was without a doubt the finest submarine skipper in the entire Navy—an absolutely first-class officer. DECKER: It was. Its commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Luckily, because I was wedged into my duty station, I didn’t move more than four or five inches. USS Tang (SS/AGSS-563), the lead ship of her class was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tang. I was assigned to the Tang—a new submarine that had just been built and was about to be commissioned. U.S. submarines sank nearly five million tons of shipping, including 1,113 merchant ships and 201 warships. October 21, 2020. The TANG on this, her third war patrol, sixteen days after entering her assigned area, the East China and Yellow Seas, had fired 24 torpedoes in ten attacks and sunk 8 ships for a total of 39,000 estimated tons with 12 hits. When I was seven, we moved to Menlo Park, California. Meet the last survivor of America’s most lethal World War II sub. “When we realized that our clubbing and kickings were being administered by the burned, mutilated survivors of our handiwork, we found we could take it with less prejudice,” O’Kane said later. With two torpedoes left, Tang doubled back to finish off the crippled tanker. During World War II, the average patrol was about 70 days. USS PT-368 United States Navy: World War II: The ELCO 80'-class motor torpedo boat ran aground off Halmahera, New Guinea) and was scuttled. I sat on a bench forward of the control room with a big wheel in front of me, like a steering wheel in a car. On its first war patrol around the Caroline and Mariana islands, Tang sank six Japanese ships, amounting to 18,000 tons of shipping, with 16 of its 24 torpedoes hitting their targets. In this case, they were all in a line, really rolling on. DECKER: Well, my rating was torpedoman. On a patrol performing ‘Lifeguard Duty’ Tang rescued 22 American airmen. On the night of October 10-11, 1944, the Tang sank two freighters – Joshu Go and Gita Maru. DECKER: We were on station in the Formosa Straits for almost a week and a half. (a) Attack No. The torpedo suddenly breached the surface and turned, heading straight for the Tang. She is credited with having sunk 13 vessels for 107,300 tons of enemy shipping on this patrol, and her Commanding Officer was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. We steamed over and, sure enough, it was a convoy. Wahoo was lost with all hands in October 1943. In five war patrols, O’Kane and Tang sank 24 Japanese ships totaling over 227,000 tons. Key point: The USS Tang had a very good run, sinking many enemy ships. But the Tang’s run came to an end in clash with a Japanese convoy — not from a Japanese weapon, but from the sub’s own errant torpedo. When we started to dive, I’d have to rig the bow planes—they looked like big elephant ears. Motor Machinist’s Mate Clayton Decker’s Story. In a little over a month, it sank seven ships, including one with its deck gun. 1 and 2. DECKER: I was born in Paonia on Colorado’s Western Slope in 1920. The men on the bridge who survived said the last torpedo came out of the tube, went about 300 yards, then came up dancing out of the water. You don’t want to hit a ship at the water level; all you’ll do is blow a hole in her. "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships"-- USS Tang; War Damage Report #58--2/23/44; Japanese Naval and Merchant Vessels Sunk During World War II by US Submarines: USS Tang; United States Submarine Losses--World War II 70 Years Ago—Oct. We pulled 22 flyers out of the water; they weren’t hurt physically. Our troops were landing on Leyte then and the Japs were apparently sending this supply convoy to Leyte. World War II: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the East China Sea by USS Tang ( United States Navy) with the loss of 32 lives. The Tang’s Last Patrol That appealed to me. And it was the submarine that sank itself. During the summer, while I was in college, I worked down in the coal mines in Paonia, so I knew I didn’t have any problems with claustrophobia. WWII: You must have had an outstanding commander. By Diane Bell, … As Tang withdrew, it fired four torpedoes from its stern that sunk both of them. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories. ), its skipper, Commander O’Kane, had sunk more Japanese ships in World War II than any other U.S. submarine commander. The next morning Tang discovered another large convoy, shadowing it until that night, when it conducted its final attack. American submariners in the Pacific compiled an outstanding combat record and played a major role in strangling Japan’s wartime economy. That’s exactly what the 23rd torpedo did. DECKER: The submarine is like a cylindrical tube. Our third patrol was in June and July and went from Pearl to the East China Sea and Yellow Sea, where we sank 10 ships. The pips on the radar screen showed a convoy of 35 ships. She sank a total of 33 ships, including Japanese warships, as … Of the nine men on the bridge, three were able to successfully swim to the surface. I have to say that, to qualify to be a submariner and get your dolphins, you had to be able to go through the boat with a qualifying officer and identify everything. And there are few better ways to recount such a fascinating tale than to take it directly from the Medal of Honor citation. So our torpedomen set the depth into the memory of the torpedo so it would hit a foot or two above the keel. Nine survivors of her crew were rescued by the Japanese Kaibokan CD-34, an escort of the convoy that the Tang had attacked. And then, on her fifth patrol, tragedy struck-the Tang was hit by one of her own faulty torpedoes. There were two ships left, one of them crippled, and the Tang returned to finish them off. Also, the boys responsible for reloading the torpedo tubes had to do it with a block and tackle; they couldn’t reload if we were maneuvering. Of the 80-man crew, only one survived. Stop by the shipyards at Bath, Maine, home of Bath Iron Works, and the sight is impressive: Massive docks and... "It’s not Hollywood, it’s not sexy. WWII: Tell us a little more about these ballast tanks. Tang, under Commander R.H. O'Kane, set out from Pearl Harbor on 24 September 1944, to begin her fifth war patrol. The survivors were taken to the Ōfuna prisoner-of-war camp on Honshu, where they were held in solitary confinement, beaten, and interrogated until their release after the war ended. Upon his release, Richard O’Kane was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions aboard the USS Tangbefore it sunk. After the war, O’Kane, by then a rear admiral… We had a crew of 87 and now we had an extra 22 to accommodate—talk about “hot bunking!” Admiral [William F.] Halsey wanted all of those flyers back in service as fast as he could get them, so we went back to Pearl Harbor. WWII: How many combat patrols did the Tang make during the war? He was on board the troop transport USS HUGH L. SCOTT when it was torpedoed by an enemy sub off Casablanca during the allied occupation of North Africa. It was just like a shooting gallery for us. Right behind me was the bulkhead where the radio shack was. Being on board TANG when she sank was ironic for Narowanski, whose first ship was shot out from under him in November 1942. Further on her patrol, Tang encountered a large Japanese convoy on October 23 and moved in for a night surface attack. Departing Pearl Harbor on September 24, 1944, Dick O’Kane navigated the USS Tang into waters near the Formosa Strait. Normally, the convoys would zigzag, two abreast. The boatswain’s mate was in charge of all “right-arm ratings,” and a torpedoman was a right-arm rating. View Benjamin Brimelow, Business Insider's articles. Only one other submarine was so honored. We made our shakedown cruise from Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, down to San Diego for deep-diving tests and to see if the boat was seaworthy. World War II: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Formosa Strait by USS Tang ( United States Navy). DECKER: That was our second patrol, in March 1944. We knew the Japs could set off depth charges at 200 feet. It was impossible to hide that fact. WWII: What about that patrol on which you didn’t fire any torpedoes? 26 crew were killed. The frigate was also carrying survivors of the ships Tang had sunk the previous night, who beat the survivors from the Tang. Contributor: C. Peter Chen ww2dbase USS Tang was commissioned into service in late 1943 as the Pacific War was already well underway. That would break her back and down she’d go. We carried 24 torpedoes—10 tubes forward and four tubes aft. In her first patrol, spending February 1944 west of Truk and Saipan, she sank three freighters, a large tanker and a submarine tender. But the lanyard had a little piece of wood like a handle on the end and it flipped up and got caught in the rubber gasket around the hatch. And the lads who were thrown around the control room, they had bashed heads and bleeding faces. 2. Surrounding that tube are the ballast tanks, with flood valves on the bottom and vent valves on the top. It was two in the morning, October 24, 1944. That was us,” Leibold said. On March 26, 1944, while on her fourth war patrol off Palau, the USS Tullibee became the first American submarine in World War II to be sunk by one of … O’Kane was given the option of joining a larger U.S. attack group with three other subs but chose to go it alone. Her commander, Richard O’Kane, a 1934 graduate of the Naval Academy, would earn the Medal of Honor and the Tang would receive two Presidential Unit Citations. It circled around on our port side and hit us just ahead of the aft torpedo room and sank us immediately. USS Trigger Sunk 28 March 1945 by kaibokan Mikura, CD-33 and CD-59. One of only eight men to escape was Motor Machinist’s Mate Clayton Decker. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. The USS Grayback was launched on Jan. 31, 1941, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command and quickly earned a fearsome reputation in the Pacific Theater. On 25 October [Annotator's Note: 25 October 1944] the Tang sank some ships and then hauled off to reload. It sank 10 ships — two of which were hit by torpedoes that Tang fired at other ships — including four in a single engagement. On March 26, 1944, while on her fourth war patrol off Palau, the USS Tullibee became the first American submarine in World War II to be sunk by one of her own torpedoes. The final torpedo it launched was a Mark 18 electric torpedo, an American copy of the German G7e that was known to have issues. The first USS Tang was a Balao class submarine that served during World War II in the Pacific. All totaled, on our four patrols, we were credited with sinking 31 ships with a combined tonnage of 227,800. World War II submarines were named after fish, and I’m told the Tang is a tropical fish. In those days, very few of the submarines had boatswain’s mates, but we had one. Benjamin Brimelow, Business Insider We were also taking on water; it was pouring down the open hatch. Skipper had two torpedoes left with an injured transport sitting dead in the water, and he didn’t want to miss. By the time Tang realized the torpedo was heading straight for it, there were only about 15 seconds until impact. On the night of October 24, 1944, U.S. Navy submarine USS Tang was in the Taiwan Strait shadowing a massive convoy of Japanese tankers and transports. On January 8, 1944, we arrived at our home base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The explosion threw the lads who were standing in the compartment where I was sitting across the compartment and against the steel bulkheads. Right after that, I went to help Bill Ballinger, the chief of the boat. During World War II, the United States employed 288 submarines, the vast majority of which raided Japanese shipping in the Pacific, thus preventing the enemy’s vital supplies and reinforcements from reaching the far-flung island battlefields. DECKER: We only made five patrols, and on our second patrol, we never fired a torpedo. WWII: How did you get assigned to the Tang? An empty ballast tank has air in it. She was launched on 17 August sponsored by Mrs. Antonio S. Pitre, and commissioned on 15 October 1943 with Lieutenant Commander Richard O'Kane, former executive officer of Wahoo, in command, and delivered to the Navy on 30 November 1943.Tang completed fitting out at Mare Isla… S last patrol wwii: How did you get assigned to the Tang—a new submarine that had been... What about your fifth patrol, our executive officer of the convoy that the Tang is tropical... 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