Submarine!

by Edward L. Beach

  A steam torpedo is made ready in one of the bow tubes. Tang is carefully lined up, absolutely steady in the water, and the torpedo is fired. Damn! It takes a large jog to the left, then runs properly, and roars past the target, missing to the left by only a few feet. A steam torpedo puts out a most extensive and visible wake under normal circumstances, and the phosphorescence makes it even more visible. Besides, it is a much faster torpedo than the electric, and makes a high-pitched sewing-machine noise which can easily be heard at some distance. But still no reaction from the enemy. Tang has been in the harbor now for half an hour, shooting torpedoes from about nine hundred yards, and still he sleeps.

  Another steam torpedo is made ready, and fired as before. At last, this one settles down right for his middle, draws its greenish-white pencil line unerringly into the belly of the enemy.

  KERBLROOM! A pillar of fire shoots out of the amidships section of the stricken ship! Five hundred feet in the air it is topped by a regular Fourth-of-July fireworks, tongues of flames shooting out in odd directions—rockets, pinwheels, and several more explosions. Of the gunboat there is absolutely nothing left.

  Every man of Tang’s crew now feels much better about that gunboat. The score has been settled, and he won’t be around to heckle any more hard-working submariners trying to do their jobs. Sage heads are wagged below decks over the inevitable coffee and acey-deucy games. Most indubitably he has been taught a lesson he will never forget.

  Tang’s bag of two ships on her fourth patrol boosted her total to seventeen. Although you would have thought her outstanding performance rated a rest, that was not the way Dick O’Kane saw it. As a matter of fact, the normal refit time was cut short by four days in order to enable him to get back on the firing line. The coming Philippine campaign promised many action possibilities in the form of Japanese reinforcements sent to help the defenders, and Tang intended to be in on the fun. It was known that the favorite route was inside of Formosa, where the Japs evidently hoped that United States submarines would not be able to enter or dare to patrol. Ceaseless coverage, flying both from Formosa and the mainland, plus strategically located and extensive mine fields, was intended to cut down the efficiency of such operations and to increase their hazard.

  It is not recorded in history, but the story as known in the Submarine Force is to the effect that Dick O’Kane called his crew together shortly before getting under way, and informed them that he had volunteered Tang for the toughest assignment ComSubPac had to offer. He could not tell them where it was until the ship was underway, but he promised them all that there would be plenty of targets. Although the risks were to be many, the rewards would also be many, measured in terms of damage done to the enemy. It is a matter of pride in our service that not one man requested to be transferred out of that intrepid crew. Some, of course, had already been transferred or detached, for rotation of some personnel between patrols was one of the standard policies of the Submarine Force. The biggest loss was that of Tang’s Executive Officer, Murray Frazee, who had received orders to command USS Gar, and was already on leave awaiting availability of his first command. Frank Springer, who had been the third officer, moved up to exec, and on September 24 Tang departed from Pearl Harbor on what was to be her last and most glorious patrol.

  On the night of October 10 Tang moves into the Straits of Formosa. Dick’s predictions and expectations begin to bear fruit, for in the early morning a ship is sighted. Tang tracks him, maneuvers ahead of him, and with dawn about to break, dives on his track. The ship comes on unsuspectingly, and is greeted with three torpedoes, fired in standard salvo fashion. The first two hit exactly as aimed, and the Jap blows up with a thoroughly satisfying explosion. The third would have hit also, had the enemy ship been there to receive it—as it is, it passes just slightly ahead of the suddenly stopped hulk, which is even then in the process of blowing sky-high.

  One down, and Dick O’Kane has further evidence that if the fish are working right—and it now seems they might be—one torpedo would have sufficed to dispose of this ship, and the other two were wasted. Well, maybe he’ll put the matter to the test next time.

  Next time does not long delay in coming, for another ship is sighted several hours after daybreak. O’Kane could attack immediately, but the water is shallow and air cover excellent; consequently he tracks the ship all day submerged. Only a combination of the slow speed of the prospective target and the fact that he follows the shore line religiously, evidently in the hope that by so doing he is avoiding attack, makes this possible, for ordinarily a submarine is a target of opportunity, and must do all its chasing and end-arounding at night on the surface, or else well out of sight of possible air cover. This time, however, Tang has no difficulty in keeping up with the enemy submerged, and after dark a long, dripping shadow silently surfaces 4000 yards astern of him.

  With murmuring diesels, the gray wraith ghosts on past the unsuspecting freighter. There are two small patrol vessels up ahead of the oncoming ship, apparently maintaining a permanent anti-submarine barrier. Tang avoids these neatly, gets dead ahead of the enemy ship, then turns off the track and lies to in the wallowing seas, deck aft awash with spray and spume whipped across it by the wind. She has selected her position so as to be only 500 yards away as the target comes by astern. Three torpedoes are ready aft, but this time Dick O’Kane decides to try Morton’s idea. Undoubtedly there will be many ships through this area before Tang’s time here is over. This is a straight run-of-the-mine freighter; and anyway, if the torpedo does miss him, Tang will go on up ahead of him once more and try again.

  But no further attacks prove necessary, for the one single torpedo fired does the trick, hitting the target exactly in the middle with a terrific explosion. Two down.

  The next few days are uneventful, but in the early morning of the 20th a small task force, consisting of a cruiser and two destroyers, is sighted headed south at high speed. Even though they cut down their speed made good by a radical zigzag plan, Tang barely is able to overtake them, racing along the surface using all available power. A normal attack from the usual position on the target’s beam is manifestly impossible, since there is not a chance of getting there before dawn. The only possible shot is one up the tail, and Tang nearly breaks her neck getting into position. Since the target is running directly away at 19 knots, and zigzagging frequently, it is necessary to get very close—not more than six hundred yards astern of him—before shooting, in order to give the fish a chance to reach him before he is off on another zig. Tang manages to get in to 800 yards before the Jap realizes that his little task force has grown. He also notices that the newcomer has the annoying habit of wanting to climb right up on the cruiser’s fantail, which would annoy any cruiser captain.

  That, of course, is as far as Tang gets, for a searchlight suddenly outlines her in pitiless detail, and she barely manages to get under as the first salvo of eight-inch shells screams overhead.

  Two days later another convoy is picked up on the radar, a few minutes after midnight. Its disposition is quickly made out to be roughly in the form of a cross, a single column of three tankers flanked by two freighters or transports, the whole group heavily guarded by anti-submarine vessels.

  Tankers are the biggest prizes, outside of actual warships, and Tang is delighted at the prospect of getting three of them. The night is dark, and the submarine is able to track from dead ahead until, seizing a favorable opportunity, she stops, allowing the enemy ships to overtake her. As they do so, Tang turns and sets herself up for the three tankers with all torpedoes ready, six forward and four aft.

  On they come, oblivious. The relatively tiny submarine is lying in their path in such a position that the column of three ships will pass across her bow, while the single flanking vessel will cross her stern. Then, when the range to the nearest Jap ship is about three hundred yards, Tang commences firing.

  Two torpedoes into the first one, one into the second, two into the third. One saved in reserve forward for an emerge
ncy. The range is so close that the first two fish hit the leading tanker before the last two are fired, and he goes up in a roaring whoosh of flame, lighting up the whole scene as though it were broad daylight It is too late, of course, for any of the doomed ships to maneuver to save themselves, for the torpedoes are in the water within the space of seconds, and the range is so short that all maneuvers would be useless anyway. As Tang watches the destruction she has wrought, all three tankers burst into furious blaze—an unprecedented, unparalleled holocaust!

  But in the meantime the freighter is passing astern, and Dick O’Kane must get set to let him have one or two fish. It takes only a few seconds until finally the word, “Set below!” is received on the bridge, but much has happened in the interim. The freighter alters course, having sighted the submarine’s low-lying form in the glare of the explosions and flames of the tankers. He obviously intends to ram. Also, the large freighter-transport on the far flank of the convoy has changed course and is heading straight for the submarine with the probable intention of ramming. The situation is desperate. No time to dive, for she would only be hit an even deadlier blow while on the way down. No time to fire torpedoes—they would only miss anyway. One thing to do—avoid on the surface, and trust to your superior maneuverability to get yourself out of this mess.

  “Standby to ram! Collision quarters! All ahead emergency! Right full rudder!” The commands crack from O’Kane’s lips. Tang gathers way, curves to the right, across the bow of the oncoming transport. The latter alters his course to his left, in order to ram the submarine amidships. At precisely the right instant Dick O’Kane shouts the crucial command—“Left full rudder!” and swings his stern out from in front of the onrushing enemy with feet to spare. As he does so, there is the sharp rat-a-tat of machine-gun fire from the huge vessel towering above her, and Tang’s skipper sends everyone below to avoid danger of injury, remaining on the bridge alone in order to handle the ship.

  Again the situation changes with catastrophic suddenness. The transport has had to continue his swing, in order to avoid the freighter which had also attempted to ram. A good chance for a shot! Four torpedoes previously made ready aft for the freighter are still ready. “New setup!” the TBT goes into action once more, and the new fire control information is set into the TDC. “Standby aft!”

  Tang’s fire control party sets up the new targets in jig time. “Set below!” comes up to the skipper.

  “Fire!” The order comes down instantly. Four torpedoes, spaced ten seconds apart, lurch out of the stern torpedo tubes and head for the careening transport. Suddenly, it becomes obvious that he has not been able to avoid the freighter, and with a rending, groaning crash of tortured and distorted steel the two huge hulks rip into each other—at precisely the instant the four torpedoes fired a moment before begin to hit!

  A quarter of a mile away the double-barreled crash is tremendous. And the results are equally spectacular. A fantastic surrealistic V, broad and shallow, composed of two smoking, steaming ships, pitching back and forth in the roiled water of their own devastation, men leaping over the sides, bits of debris falling in the water from the explosions, and a huge pall of smoke from the three burning oil tankers covering it all, wafted like a blanket by the stiff north wind.

  As Tang races away from the area, it is noticed with astonishment that the total elapsed time of the engagement, in which a whole convoy consisting of five ships has been wiped off the face of the earth, is only ten minutes.

  As far as Tang is concerned, the fateful 24th of October begins quite normally, and it is not until after dark that the last big convoy is encountered. When contact is made, however, the radar goes wild with pips, and there is no doubt that this is really a big outfit. Dick O’Kane orders the customary tracking procedure prior to the attack and commences the approach to a firing position. Tang has eleven torpedoes left on board, and this looks like the perfect chance to get rid of all of them.

  But the escort vessels apparently have become suspicious—perhaps news was sent to them of the fate which had overtaken another convoy in this same area yesterday—and commence the unusual tactic of running down the length of the group of ships on opposite course, firing bursts of gunfire. A moment later one of them starts signaling to the massed body of ships with a large searchlight—which simply makes it easier for Tang to pick out the targets. The near column of three huge ships shows up plainly. The leading two are transports, loaded with irregularly shaped deck gear—evidently landing equipment; the third is a large tanker, also heavily laden.

  Tang’s crew are at battle stations surface torpedo, of course, and again she employs the familiar tactic of ghosting in, bows pointed at the nearest enemy ship to present the minimum silhouette, at slow speed until the best possible firing position is reached. Surprisingly, in spite of the evident alerted condition of the convoy, there is not the slightest attempt at evasion or zigzag by any of the ships. Maybe they think that the protection of the escort ships is sufficient. If so, they are soon disabused of this idea, for two torpedoes, fired at close range, hit into each of the three ships. Even as the explosions start to come in, Tang is swinging around to present her stem tubes at another tanker and cargo carrier moving up astern of the chaps just torpedoed. Steadying on course, the new setup is fed into the fire-control instruments, and the never-failing “Set below!” is sent up to the bridge.

  In the meantime, pandemonium has been breaking loose. The abrupt transposition of three of the largest vessels of the convoy into three broken, gutted, sinking hulks has thrown the escorts into a tizzy for fair. They mill around, shooting in all directions, flashing their lights indiscriminately, and, in general, doing their best to add to the confusion already generated. The ships comprising the convoy are so closely packed that maneuvers on their part are virtually impossible, but they do what they can, shoot off their guns wildly also, and make large puffs of black smoke as they try to speed up.

  Even as Dick O’Kane on the bridge starts to draw a bead for the stem tube shot, there are splashes all about; someone has spotted the submarine’s strange low hull, and has rightly diagnosed it as the cause of all the trouble. Unperturbed, Dick puts in the final shooting bearings, and three torpedoes are fired aft at the two new targets.

  As the last fish is fired aft, a whole salvo lands alongside Tang, just as the skipper shouts, “All ahead flank!” It is undoubtedly high time that the sub got out of here. The four muttering diesels roar their song of defiance, and four puffs of gray-black smoke pour from the exhaust ports as the submarine’s screws bite into the water. O’Kane is intently looking aft at the melee he has brought about, when suddenly a large destroyer looms into sight astern of one of the stricken tankers. This, undoubtedly, is the source of that unpleasantly close salvo. And he surely has a bone in his teeth! So thinks Dick O’Kane, while he watches narrowly, in order to make the decision whether to continue running in hopes of giving this new chap the slip, or dive and take the inevitable beating.

  At this moment the torpedoes just fired start hitting. One hits the transport and one hits the tanker, who is evidently laden with aviation gasoline, for he blows up instantly. The destroyer is at the moment coming around the stern of this very ship, and either catches the third torpedo or is set off by the explosion of the nearby tanker, for without warning he is blown sky-high himself. And, consequently free from pursuit, Tang races away again to reload her last two torpedoes, completely unscathed.

  How many times must Dick O’Kane have wished that he had left well enough alone at this point, but that, of course, was never Tang’s style. There are two torpedoes left, and there are still ships afloat; so the two fish are thoroughly checked, and then loaded into the forward torpedo tubes. And how the Fates must have laughed as number twenty-four torpedo slips greasily and treacherously into number four tube!

  Tang returns to the scene of the recent action, finds the transport which had been damaged during the last attack low in the water, stopped, but not sinking. Two destr
oyer escorts are patrolling around her, both to seaward. So Dick orders a wide circle, comes in from the land side slowly and quietly, gets all set, and fires torpedo number twenty-three, which runs straight for the doomed ship, a perfect coup de grâce. And then, to make sure of the crippled ship, torpedo number twenty-four is fired.

  Instantly, this torpedo is observed to begin a circle to the left!

  O’Kane screams down the hatch! “All ahead emergency!” Then, a moment later, as the ship commences to gather way, “Right full rudder!” There is only one thing to do—get out of the way of the oncoming torpedo. If its rudder has jammed, as appears to be the case, or if the gyro or steering engine has gone haywire, the deadly fish will certainly come back to the point from which it was fired.

  Will we make it? The question is almost a prayer to those on the bridge. Down below it is known that something is wrong, but they are used to Dick O’Kane’s wild and unorthodox maneuvers. Still, this smacks of a real emergency. Then the word comes down via conning tower telephone:

  “Torpedo running circular!”

  The slightly phosphorescent wake can be seen, off to port, describing a perfect circle. It curves back toward Tang—it looks as if it might hit the bridge—there is nothing anyone can do except hope that it will veer off on another erratic phase. With eyes popping out of their sockets, the men on the bridge stare at the Frankenstein monster they have released coming back to claim them—now it looks as though it will hit aft—still it comes—maybe it will pass astern—here it is—here it is—hold your breath——

  WHRANGG! A terrific blow strikes Tang in the after torpedo room! Instantly the three after compartments fill, and the ballast tanks in that section of the ship are completely destroyed. The stricken hull of the submarine sinks by the stem immediately, as though it had been held up at the bow and the stern and the stern support had suddenly been removed.