Dive! World War II Stories of Sailors & Submarines in the Pacific

by Deborah Hopkinson

  “ ‘Good-by, Captain …’ ”: ibid., 197.

  “The tension of these last …”: ibid., 191.

  “He was big and brawny …”: ibid., viii.

  “By the autumn of 1944 …”: Roscoe, 417.

  SUBMARINE SCHOOL: A Bit about Tonnage

  Tonnage is: Alden and McDonald, 21.

  “Displacement is calculated …”: ibid.

  “A Japanese freighter of 5,000 …”: Jackson, 24.

  USS WAHOO

  “The ship was called …”: SWR, SS-238 Wahoo.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “After exhausting months of drills …”: Grider and Sims, War Fish, 33.

  “Dudley greeted each of us …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 71–72.

  “ ‘Don’t call me Mister …’ ”: Sterling, Wake of the Wahoo, 26.

  “It was one of life’s touchy moments …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 84.

  “I loved this ship …”: ibid., 104.

  PART THREE

  “Mush was in his element …”: Grider and Sims, 57.

  “Morton feared nothing …”: Roscoe, 205.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Everybody liked Mush,”: Grider and Sims, 51.

  “ ‘Now, you’re going to be …’ ”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 114.

  “I could feel the stirring …”: Sterling, 81.

  “ ‘Every smoke trace …’ ”: ibid., 86.

  “ ‘Any customers, Yeo?’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘That’s the kind of stuff …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Wait a minute … I’m going …’ ”: ibid., 88.

  “This was the first time …”: ibid.

  “The thing that caught …”: ibid., 89.

  “ ‘Any of you men ever…’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘We have a special mission …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Would you guys …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Guess I’ll go back …’ ”: ibid., 90.

  “ ‘Rowdydow.’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Do you think he’s crazy? …’ ”: ibid.

  “It was an awe-inspiring night …”: ibid., 91.

  “The whole universe …”: ibid.

  “This was another innovation …”: ibid., 92–93.

  “ ‘Clear the bridge.’ ”: ibid., 93.

  “all two thousand pounds …”: ibid.

  “ ‘I bet you don’t …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Attaboy, Yeo …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘We clipped three seconds …’ ”: ibid.

  “Most of them could be …”: ibid., 93.

  SUBMARINE SCHOOL: Dive!

  “There’s no such command …”: Sheridan, Overdue and Presumed Lost, 13.

  “It’s an uncomfortable feeling …”: ibid., 19.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Our charts simply showed …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 133.

  “How could we reconnoiter … ?”: Grider and Sims, 54.

  “ ‘It means we take a cautious …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘The only way you can …’ ”: ibid.

  “Now it was clear …”: ibid., 54–55.

  “ ‘Hey, Mr. Grider …’ ”: ibid., 55.

  “A couple of months before …”: ibid.

  “The outline of Wewak …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 133.

  “When I thought …”: Grider and Sims, 56.

  “Mush was delighted …”: ibid.

  “Normal prudence …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 133.

  “It was a strange …”: Grider and Sims, 53.

  “He wandered up …”: ibid., 53–54.

  “ ‘All right, George …’ ”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 134.

  “ ‘We’ve been laying off …’ ”: Sterling, 94.

  “ ‘The Old Man spotted …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘How’s things up there? …’ ”: ibid., 95.

  “ ‘I guess he’s like me …’ ”: ibid.

  “The atmosphere was heavy …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Every person is the center …’ ”: ibid.

  “Wahoo was my cocoon …”: ibid.

  “What kind of Japanese warships …”: ibid.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “We spent the entire morning …”: Grider and Sims, 57.

  “all of us in the conning tower …”: ibid.

  “few captains other than Mush …”: ibid.

  “For all the tension within us …”: ibid.

  “ ‘I have the periscope …’ ”: ibid., 58.

  “ ‘Dick … you’re in low power.’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Down periscope! … All back …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Well, Captain …’ ”: ibid.

  “We would not leave …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 136–137.

  “The two of them …”: Grider and Sims, 58.

  “ ‘We’ll take him …’ ”: ibid., 59.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “We had the element of surprise …”: ibid.

  “Now our plan to catch …”: ibid., 60.

  “ ‘She’s up-anchored …’ ”: Sterling, 96.

  “I believed it was …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 135.

  “Wahoo’s hull bucked …”: Sterling, 96.

  “ ‘All hot …’ ”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 138.

  “The situation had changed …”: Grider and Sims, 61.

  “ ‘All right,’ said Mush … ”: ibid.

  “We had talked about down-the-throats …”: ibid.

  “Now I remembered …”: ibid., 62.

  “For a fleeting moment …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 138.

  “ ‘Stand by to fire … five!’ ”: Grider and Sims, 62.

  “ ‘Bring her up, Hank …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘He’s still coming …’ ”: ibid.

  “How many were left? …”: Sterling, 97.

  “utterly cool”; “had been lost …”: Grider and Sims, 62.

  “I watched her come …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 138.

  “ ‘When shall I fire …’ ”: Grider and Sims, 62.

  “ ‘Well, for heaven’s sake …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Fire six! …’ ”: ibid.

  “I couldn’t take her …”: ibid., 62–63.

  “The first explosion was loud …”: ibid., 63.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “Ten, twenty, thirty …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Jeez …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Well, by God …’ ”: ibid.

  “a mighty roar and cracking …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 139.

  “ ‘It’s a hit!’ ”: Sterling, 97.

  “ ‘Bring her back up …’ ”: Grider and Sims, 63.

  “Bedlam broke loose …”: ibid., 63–64.

  “A line had formed …”: Sterling, 97–98.

  “ ‘Chow will be spoiled …’ ”: ibid., 98.

  “ ‘The war is one Japanese destroyer …’ ”: ibid.

  the destroyer … Harusame: Holmes, Undersea Victory, 199.

  “ ‘All my nerves are tied up …’ ”: Sterling, 99.

  “ ‘Get your depth-charge medicine …’ ”: ibid.

  “We were still celebrating …”: Grider and Sims, 64.

  “Three blasts sent us …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 141.

  “ ‘George, you take over …’ ”: ibid., 142.

  “The conduct and discipline …”: SWR, SS-238 Wahoo.

  “When the sun balanced …”: Sterling, 100.

  “I came below decks …”: ibid.

  SUBMARINE SCHOOL: Attack Strategies after Pearl Harbor

  “Ideas about what a submarine …”: Grider and Sims, 29.

  “The ‘skipper problem’ …”: Personnel figures from Blair, 818.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “Our crew pitched up …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 142.

  “The great weakness …”: Grider and Sims, 68–69.

  “We were entering …”: ibid., 70.

  “Before the day ended …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Let’s finish him off …’ ”: ibid., 71.

  “Our battery was getting …”: ibid., 72.

  �
� ‘Every one who does …’ ”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 153.

  “Some Japanese troops …”: ibid., 154.

  how many people died: Death toll from DeRose, Unrestricted Warfare, 94.

  “To some submariners …”: Blair, 386.

  “We made quite a stir …”: Grider and Sims, 82–83.

  “put a crack in …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 175.

  “Mush had talked to her …”: Grider and Sims, 83.

  “ ‘Tenacity, Dick …’ ”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 162.

  “ ‘You’re not leading enough …’ ”: Sterling, 135.

  “Morton had demonstrated …”: O’Kane, Wahoo, 177.

  “In round figures, we had …”: ibid.

  “Only one question …”: Grider and Sims, 83.

  “I groaned …”: ibid.

  “I never saw him again,”: ibid., 85.

  “I left the Wahoo …”: ibid., 91.

  “the homemade chart of Wewak …”: ibid., 86.

  “A big controversy …”: ibid.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “Mush was boiling mad …”: Lockwood, 98.

  “All Morton wanted …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Yeo, I’m going to ask …’ ”: Sterling, 229.

  “ ‘Why, you’re Gene Tunney …’ ”: ibid., 232.

  “I thought, Oh brother, …”: ibid., 233.

  “ ‘The Commander has a fine idea …’ ”: ibid.

  “‘The men will receive it …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘We’ve got an hour …’ ”: ibid., 236.

  “I had been complimented …”: ibid., 237.

  “I heard the diesels …”: ibid., 238.

  “Days dragged by …”: Lockwood, 110–111.

  “This makes her final total …”: ibid., 111.

  “ ‘What happened, George?’ ”: Grider and Sims, 87.

  “By now virtually all …”: ibid., 88.

  “I like to think …”: Beach, Submarine!, 65.

  PART FOUR

  “It is one thing to be …”: Grider and Sims, 131, 133.

  “O’Kane is the fightingest …”: SWR, SS-238 Wahoo.

  “Submariners are always asked …”: Beach, Salt and Steel, 87.

  USS TANG

  Tang: SWR, SS-306 Tang.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  “My beloved Wahoo …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 50.

  “Tang had no bugs …”: ibid., 27.

  “ ‘Why, only the Chief …’ ”: ibid., 25.

  “It was the answer I had expected …”: ibid.

  “If a steward became adept …”: ibid., 26.

  “I had to shake my head …”: ibid., 89.

  “a vibrant ship …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 52.

  “‘All hands are aboard …’ ”: ibid.

  DISPATCH: The Officer in Charge of Ice Cream

  “ ‘We think we know where …’ ”: Beach, 90.

  “Stinky—now known as …”: ibid., 92.

  “Even if the Captain …”: ibid., 94.

  DISPATCH: Heads or Tails? …

  “We had prepared a can …”: ibid., 167.

  “Instead,” reported Flasher’s …”: ibid.

  “Too little has been written …”: ibid., 167–168.

  “No one on Flasher ever knew …”: ibid., 167.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “a name was to be had …”: Monroe-Jones and Green, 133.

  “he was flabbergasted …”: ibid.

  “While we were talking …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Steward, what … did you spill …’ ”: ibid., 134.

  “ ‘Gleason to the captain’s cabin …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Where is it …’ ”: ibid.

  “The skipper’s eyes …”: ibid., 135.

  “ ‘I just couldn’t throw …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘I have no idea, sir …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘Although it’s very unusual …’ ”: ibid.

  “We finally found her …”: ibid., 136.

  “When my mother saw …”: ibid.

  “The dog, LUAU, …”: SWR, SS-411 Spadefish.

  “ ‘The whole ship was awake …’ ”: Moore, Presumed Lost, 185.

  “22:48 FLASH NEWS …”: SWR, SS-411 Spadefish.

  DISPATCH: The Stowaway Rat

  “a real monster …”: Monroe-Jones and Green, 122.

  “prove that I still had …”: ibid.

  “I gave up …”: ibid., 123.

  “By now I had grown …”: ibid., 124.

  “I imagined him enjoying …”: ibid.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Sometimes the ships …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 101.

  “When a person walks down …”: ibid., 102.

  “ ‘It’s all in here …’ ”: ibid., 104.

  “The enemy closed …”: ibid., 106.

  “In a few minutes it would be …”: ibid., 106–107.

  “ ‘We’re right on,’ ”: ibid., 107.

  “I had,” he said later … : ibid., 108.

  “The destroyer had crossed …”: ibid.

  “If we were sighted …”: ibid., 108–109.

  “ ‘Constant bearing—mark …’ ”: ibid., 109.

  “ ‘Level off at five …’ ”: ibid., 110.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “ ‘Blow safety …’ ”: ibid., 111.

  “We held on, waiting …”: ibid.

  “The scene was not …”: ibid.

  “ ‘Stop pumping,’ ”: ibid., 112.

  “An axiom of antisubmarine …”: ibid., 114.

  “Perhaps it was wishful thinking …”: ibid.

  “The destroyer would be getting …”: ibid.

  “their fast swish-swish-swish …”: ibid.

  “a highly agreeable parting.”: ibid., 115.

  “The sea was all ours …”: ibid., 116.

  “Gone was the former glossiness …”: ibid., 130.

  “To a man they were …”: ibid.

  “Submarines were an unknown …”: Lockwood, 252–253.

  “ ‘I thought that I had been …’ ”: ibid.

  “ ‘We picked him up …’ ”: ibid.

  During her second patrol … air strikes: Truk strategy from Blair, 607.

  “Lifeguard was our mission …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 161.

  “Tang lit out …”: ibid., 170.

  “ ‘Thar she blows!’ ”: ibid.

  “an old-fashioned man-overboard …”: ibid.

  “Time and time again, it seemed …”: ibid., 182–183.

  “There had been sub-air …”: ibid., 191.

  “Tang was a happy ship …”: ibid., 187.

  DISPATCH: A Historic Operation at Sea

  “ ‘I can do it …’ ”: Blair, 291.

  “Lipes devised surgical instruments …”: ibid., 292.

  “The seaman came into …”: Lockwood, 37.

  “ ‘Good Lord … will a shot …’ ”: ibid.

  “His courage, resourcefulness …”: ibid.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  “ ‘You’ve got some small broken bones …’ ”: ibid., 384.

  “The torpedo, our very last …”: ibid., 456.

  “ ‘All ahead emergency …’ ”: ibid.

  “All stories seemed …”: Beach, Submarine!, 183.

  “ ‘All I could do …’ ”: DeRose, 226.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  144 airmen: Lockwood, 244.

  “Ever since the loss of Wahoo …”: Roscoe, 478.

  Getting in and out … : Sea of Japan from Blair, 857.

  FM sonar gear: Mine detection from Roscoe, 479.

  Lockwood was eager: Lockwood training from Blair, 858.

  “ ‘There was a scraping …’ ”: ibid., 861.

  “ ‘Had Sea Dog or Crevalle …’ ”: ibid., 860.

  “ ‘All hands breathed …’ ”: Blair, 861.

  “The Hell Cats turned out to be …”: ibid., 863.

  Over the next ten days: Hellcat
s statistics from ibid.

  “ ‘When I came out here …’ ”: Sasgen, Hellcats, 56.

  “ ‘our country, the place where …’ ”: ibid., 68.

  “ ‘so deeply and completely …’ ”: ibid., 220.

  “ ‘Dearest Sweetest Love …’ ”: Sarah Edge’s letter from ibid., 233–234.

  EPILOGUE

  “The valiant efforts …”: Roscoe, 494.

  “ ‘The long-awaited day …’ ”: Sasgen, 241.

  “ ‘Cease offensive operations …’ ”: Blair, 870.

  “ ‘Captain, I talked it over …’ ”: Blair, 871.

  “Thirty of us had been …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 466.

  “Just when everything seemed its darkest …”: ibid.

  “We all weighed in …”: ibid.

  “He was just skin and bones …”: Lockwood, 327.

  “In just over four …”: Blair, 769.

  “There was no assurance …”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, 466.

  “ ‘Let us pray …’ ”: Blair, 873.

  AFTER SECTION

  “What we saw and did …”: Mendenhall, Submarine Diary, xvi.

  ON ETERNAL PATROL

  The first confirmed … attack number 4,735: First and last sinkings of Japanese ships from Roscoe, 490; Blair, 870; Alden and McDonald, 334.

  FACTS AND FIGURES

  4,472 separate attacks: Alden and McDonald, 335.

  Although figures have continued … reduction in tonnage: Blair, 80, 82, 877–879.

  For your reference, the page numbers that appear in the print version of this book are listed below. They do not match the page numbers in your eBook.

  Photos ©: i: Bureau of Ships Collection/Naval History and Heritage Command; iii: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; vi: Mike Smolinski/NavSource.org; ix-xi background, 2-3: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 4: Library of Congress; 10, 13, 16, 21, 28, 32: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 34: U.S. Navy/navsource.org; 36: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 38: Darryl L. Baker/navsource.org; 48: Lt. Cmdr. Fred Freemen/navsource.org; 51: Army Signal Corps Collection/Naval History and Heritage Command; 55, 64, 71: U.S. Navy, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 82-83: National Archives; 86: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 89: National Archives; 90: AP Images; 94, 99, 101: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 106-107: Dr. Diosdado M. Yap, Editor-Publisher, Bataan Magazine, Washington, D.C., 1971/NHHC; 116: Chief Mass Communication Specialist Ahron Arendes/U.S. Navy; 118: National Archives/NHHC; 124-125: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 128: Mike Smolinski/NavSource.org; 131: Rick Connole/navsource.org; 138: Naval History and Heritage Command; 140: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 145: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 146: Army.mil; 152: National Archives/Naval History and Heritage Command; 157: ussubvetsofworldwarii.org/navsource.org; 160: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 166: Naval History and Heritage Command; 170, 176-177: Bureau of Ships Collection/Naval History and Heritage Command; 179: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 181: U.S. Navy, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 185: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 187: U.S. Navy, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 191: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 194-195: U.S. Navy - Submarine Force Museum; 197: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 198, 202, 212, 218, 221, 224, 234-235: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 240-241: Arkivi/Getty Images; 242: ussubvetsofworldwarii.org/navsource.org; 246, 250: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 252: David Buell/navsource.org; 263: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 273, 274 top, 274 bottom, 275: U.S. Navy/Naval History and Heritage Command; 281: Lt. Cmdr. Fred Freemen/navsource.org; 284-285: Darryl L. Baker/navsource.org; 284-285: Robert Hurst/navsource.org; 288: The Navy Department Library/Naval History and Heritage Command; 290: Sarah E. Shuler (daughter) & Lawrence L. Edge Jr. (son) of Lawrence Lott Edge/navsource.org; 296-297: U.S. Navy, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 299: Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library; 305: USS Albacore Museum Portsmouth, New Hampshire; 312-313: San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.