I take this opportunity toexpress my thanks to theindividuals within theDepartment of the Navyand the submarine forceswho supplied documentsand records. To MareIsland Naval Shipyard,Lawrence Savadkin, andWilliam Leibold, I amindebted for assistance in

obtainingthephotographs;to artist Fred Freeman forthe basic cutawaysubmarine drawing; toTony Mesler for themidship cross-sectiondrawing and end-sheetcharts,andtotheNationalGeographic Society forconfirming prewar namesonthecharts.In verifying the

operations of othersubmarines,Ireliedontheauthority of TheodoreRoscoe’s United StatesSubmarine Operations inWorld War II and W. J.Holmes’sUndersea Victory.For details of surface shipoperations, Samuel EliotMorison’s impeccableHistory of United StatesNaval Operations in WorldWar II answered all

questions.For Tang’s operations, Ithank Murray B. Frazee,Jr., who saved my file ofexpanded patrol reports,sailing lists, and detailedrecommendations forawards tomembers of theship’scompany;andFloydCaverly, who suppliedadditionalinformation.Forreviewing the manuscript,

IwillalwaysbegratefultoMrs. Peggy Grey, authorPaul Schubert, and Mrs.HenryBothfeld.Finally, I am deeply

indebted to my wife,Ernestine G. O’Kane, forassisting me at manytimes, and without whosehelpthecompletionofthisbook would have beenimpossible.

R.H.O’K.

Forgive me for writing hereto the relatives of all menwho served in Tang andespeciallytothekinofthosewho sailed on her lastpatrol:As you may know, Iattempted to reach someparents and relatives afterrepatriation and laterfollowing final survey to

duty in 1946. It was tooearlyandperhapswilleverbe so, for no matter howoneviewsthelossofTang,a thought of Titanic willalways be present in asituation wherein thecaptain returns andshipmatesareleftbehind.Believe me, on thatfateful night I becamephysically exhausted in

trying to reach my shipand men, then so closeahead. Whence came thestrength for the followingeight hours to take me towithin a stone’s throw ofChina’s shore will alwaysremain a matter ofwonder.Ifyourkin’snameisnot

mentioned in thischronicle, it in no way

meansthathewasnotjustas important to Tang’soperations as wereshipmates whose billetswere nearby and whosenames thuscametomind.In fact,many of themoreremote battle stationsrequire the moreresourceful and reliablemen, for theyareon theirown,withnoonetoadvisethemorcorrectamistake.

For the following page,therefore, I have compiledacombinedsailinglistthatincludes every submarinerwho served in Tang butwho had been detachedpriortoherlastpatrol.Forthe opposite page, I haveprepared the final sailinglist of old hands and newwho fought her throughthe typhoon and in theFormosa Strait, and who

understandably willalways have a specialplace in my thoughts. Inlater pages you will findthe citations from ourpresidents, one or both ofwhich were awarded toeach shipmate whopatrolled and were sodearlywonbysomany.AsIwrotethischronicle

and replotted the courses,

allofthetimeknowingtheactual fate awaiting mycrew and ship, it becamenecessary time and againto saddle upmy buckskinand ride into the hills sothat, upon my return, Imight continue with aclear eye. Nothing couldcompensate for the lossthat somany of you haveborne. It is my hope,however, that when you

havereadthistrueaccountand perhaps in spiritpatrolledwithus,youwillalways think of your kinand Tang with utmostpride,asdoI.Our Tang’s two

Presidential Unit Citationshave been passed to hersuccessor, the U.S.S. Tang(SS563), nowoperating inthe Pacific. God willing,

may her commission andthosetofollowcontinuetoguardthepeace.

Respectfully,

Sebastopol, California

June,1977

ServedinU.S.S.TangPriortoFifthWarPatrol

ArneI.Anderson

MoMM2c

BruceH.Anderson

Lt

RalphC.Anderson

S2c

RaymondJ.Aquisti

BM2c

NormanF.Aufdenkamp

S1c

WilburnBarnett

S1c

CalvinG.Barrick

QM3c

DallasG.

Bowden EM1c

MarvinE.Breedlove

CCS

EmilW.Brincken

FCS1c

CleonBussey

Ck2c

DanteN.S1c

Cacciola

FrankG.Carrisalez

S1c

JamesD.Cazola

MoMM1c

PaulC.Collins

MoMM2c

CharlesR.Conder

EM3c

ArderyJ.Cooper

EM3c

JamesF.Cross

TM3c

RoyH.Crotty

CMoMM

HalA.Davis EM1c

HenryW.Dardinski

FCS2c

CarlT.Dilley

TM1c

ClydeR.Dotson,Jr.

F3c

JamesFlemming

S1c

MurrayB.Frazee,Jr.

LtCdr

ThomasP.

Gannon RM3c

RobertB.Gorin

TM3c

WalterH.Hallfarth

CEM

GeorgeH.Hanskat

EM3c

RobertL.MoMM2c

Harding

RaymondR.Hardon

MoMM2c

EdwardE.Hinson

RM1c

CalvinG.Jancik

SC2c

JamesR.Johnston

SC2c

Wm.F.Keenan,Jr.

MoMM1c

HermanKendrick

StM2c

CliffordM.Kirkelie

CRM

JosephD.Kivlen

CEM

AlbertL.

Kohlstrom CMoMM

CharlesKormanik

MoMM1c

JamesW.Laird

EM2c

EuclidH.Lambert

TM3c

RobertC.QM2c

Ludy

MortonH.Lytle

LtCdr

RobertB.MacDonald

CMoMM

MyronO.Mack,Jr.

S1c

LesterMadison

St3c

Arden?.Markham

RT3c

JamesF.Marnell

TM2c

FrankMaselli

SC2c

DaltonE.Mathis

CMoMM

RaymondD.

McNally Y3c

RoyJ.Miletta

RM3c

JessieR.Miller

TM1c

JamesH.Montgomery

TM1c

FranklinRT3c

Nielsen

EarlW.Ogden

CSM

GuyOverby,Jr.

MoMM2c

CharlesO.Pucket

Ltjg

RudolphK.Reidenbach

S1c

LeroyC.Rowell

CPhM

EdwardA.Russel

CMoMM

FredSchroeder,Jr.

RM1c

JamesW.Scott

QM3c

JohnJ.Sertich

S1c

DonaldR.Sharp

TM2c

EverettShearer,Jr.

EM3c

JamesG.Smiley

MoMM1c

JosephL.

Sutton StM1c

RobertTaylor,Jr.

StM1c

WilliamC.Walsh

Lt

AlvinK.Warren

SC3c

DonW.TM2c

Watje

ClementO.Wilson

TME2c

FrederickD.Wixon

SC1c

HarvieE.Young

CEM

JohnG.Accardy

SM3c

RalphF.Adams

StM1c

DwayneD.Allen

MoMM2c

PhillipE.Anderson

TM3c

CharlesAndriolo

RM2c

Homer

Anthony F1c

WilliamF.Ballinger

CTM

EdwinC.Bauer

Y3c

EdwardH.Beaumont

Lt

EdwinF.RM1c

Bergman

FrederickN.Bisogno

TM3c

WilfredJ.Boucher

TM3c

BernardV.Bresette

QM3c

JohnBush EM2c

FloydM.

Caverly RT1c

BenjaminChiavetta

Y3c

WalterJ.Clark

QM3c

RobertJ.Coffin

EM3c

JamesH.CEM

Culp

ArthurJ.Darienzo

EM2c

JesseB.Dasilva

MoMM2c

ClaytonO.Decker

MoMM3c

MarvinV.DeLapp

CMoMM

WilliamE.Dorsey

MoMM1c

FredM.Enos,Jr.

Ltjg

LawrenceH.Ericksen

F1c

DanielC.Fellicetty

Y3c

BruceH.

Finckbone EM2c

HenryJ.Flanagan

Ltjg

JohnW.Fluker

TM1c

JohnM.Foster

TM1c

WilliamC.TM2c

Galloway

ThomasE.Gentle

F1c

GeorgeJ.Gorab,Jr.

EM3c

OsmerD.Gregg

Cox

HowardW.Hainline

QM3c

FrankG.Harms

MoMM2c

GlenO.Haws

MoMM2c

JohnF.Henry

F1c

JohnH.Heubeck

Ltjg

AlbertL.

Hudson CMoMM

HomerW.Ijames

RM3c

StewartS.Imwold

MoMM3c

DonaldM.Jenkins

Y3c

SidneyW.CQM

Jones

LouisC.Kaiser

MoMM3c

JohnT.Kanagy

EM1c

JohnT.Kassube

Cox

JohnA.Key SC3c

RalphB.

Knapp FC3c

RichardJ.Kroth

Ltjg

LeroyR.Lane

EM1c

PaulL.Larson

CPhM

RobertP.RM3c

Lee

WilliamR.Leibold

CBM

LindleyH.Llewellyn

RM2c

CharlesW.London

F1c

ChesterLoveless

EM1c

EllroyLytton

MoMM1c

RobertV.McMorrow

MoMM1c

JohnJ.McNabb

F1c

PeteNarowanski

TM3c

RichardH.

O’Kane Comdr

JohnJ.Parker

CCS

BasilC.Pearce,Jr.

Ens

RubinM.Raiford

Ck2c

FrancisJ.F1c

Reabuck

DarrellD.Rector

GM3c

ErnestReinhardt

F1c

JamesL.Roberts

SC3c

GeorgeL.Robertson

MoMM2c

LawrenceSavadkin

Lt

SeymourG.Smith,Jr.

QM3c

FrankH.Springer

Lt

EdwardF.Stepien

F1c

FredL.

Sunday EM3c

HayesO.Trukke

TM2c

PaulB.Vaughn,Jr.

Cox

CharlesW.Wadsworth

TM3c

HowardM.StM1c

Walker

LelandS.Weekley

CTM

RobertE.Welch

QM2c

JamesM.White

GM1c

WalterH.Williams

Y2c

PaulT.Wines

Ltjg

GeorgeWukovich

MoMM1c

GeorgeZofcin

MoMM1c

Prologue

PartIShakedownMARE ISLAND TO PEARLHARBOR

Chapter1Chapter2PhotoInsert

Chapter3PartIIFirstPatrolIN THE CAROLINES ANDMARIANAS

Chapter1Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6

Chapter7Chapter8Chapter9Chapter10Chapter11Chapter12 Part III SecondPatrolLIFEGUARDATTRUK

Chapter1

Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6Chapter7PhotoInsertChapter8Chapter9PartIVThirdPatrol

TOTHEYELLOWSEA

Chapter1Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6Chapter7Chapter8

Chapter9Chapter10PhotoInsertChapter11Chapter12Chapter13PartVFourthPatrolOFF THE COAST OFHONSHU

Chapter1

Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6Chapter7Chapter8Chapter9Chapter10Chapter11

PartVIFifthPatrolINTHEFORMOSASTRAIT

Chapter1Chapter2Chapter3Chapter4Chapter5Chapter6Chapter7Chapter8

Chapter9Chapter10Chapter11Chapter12Chapter13

Epilogue

APPENDICESGLOSSARY

Charts*

PatrolRoutes,U.S.S.TangWakeAtollCaroline Islands AdjacenttoWesternTrukCentralMarianasPalauIslandsTrukAtollEastChinaSea

YellowSeaSouth Coast Honshu, KiiSuidotoInuboSakiFormosa

Diagrams

MidshipCrossSectionCutaway Drawing ofSubmarineSubmarineApproachSubmarineAttack

*Basedonchartspreparedbytheauthor

TheCommandantrequeststhehonorofyourpresenceatthe

LaunchingofTheUnitedStatesShipTang

attheNavyYard,MareIsland,

CaliforniaTuesday,August17,

1943

Ceremoniesthreethirty-ninep.m.Launchatthreefifty-ninep.m.

—Mrs.AntonioS.Pitre,

Sponsor

MIDSHIPCROSSSECTION

She stood tall and proud,herbullnoseagood30feetabove the ground.Dignitaries had assembledon the christeningplatform, and launchingawaitedonlythemomentsofslackbetweenfloodandebb tide. Below, a few ofus who would fight and

command her mingledwith the masters andleading men who hadbrought the submarine tothis moment; all of uswouldhaveanactivehandin her completion. Theshipyard’s whistlesounded; the encasedbottle of champagne burstonherstem,drenchingthebow, and the sponsorsvoice was firm and clear:

“IchristentheeTang.”Tang accelerated down

the ways, and her deep,streamlined hull enteredthewaterwith littlemorethan a ripple. Withsnubbing anchorscontrolling the cradle, oursubmarine floated clearhandsomely.Her mission had been

established on December

7, 1941, the afternoon ofthe Japanese attack onPearl Harbor, by directiveof the Chief of NavalOperations:

EXECUTEUNRESTRICTEDAIRAND

SUBMARINE WARFARE AGAINST

JAPAN

Over a million tons ofJapanese shipping hadbeen sent to Davy Jones’s

locker since then,but thatwas only a prelude to thetask ahead. Another 5million tons must follow,or better yet, the enemymust be convinced thatsending his ships to seawas futile. It was August17, 1943, and Tang, nowcoming alongside thedock, would be the 70thnew American submarinetojoininthebattle.

She would be my firstcommand, culminatingnine consecutive years incombatant ships, forJapaneseconquestsinEastAsia, the sinking of theU.S.S.PanayinChina,andearly rumblings in Europehad kept me and mycontemporaries from theU.S. Naval Academy oncontinuous seaduty.Minehad commenced with a

year in the taut cruiserChester, followed by overtwo years undermild andwild skippers in thedestroyerPruitt, thelastofthe World War I four-pipers. She served as ademanding school incommunications,commissary, gunnery,torpedoes, tactics, and intrue seamanship. Pruittalso introduced navy life

and the separations it canimpose to my boyhoodchum, Ernestine Groves,who became my wife onJune 1, 1936. With therequired surface ship dutywell behind me, myrequest brought orders toU.S. Naval SubmarineSchoolinJanuaryof1938.Together again and withour infant daughter,Marsha, Ernestine and I

were off to New London,Connecticut, and fromthere,fivemonthslater,toPearl Harbor, where Ireportedaboardthenavy’slargest submarine,Argonaut.Argonautwasamonster,

a continuous challenge,with 12 torpedoesforward,78minesaft,andmounting two6-inchguns

that could hurl hundred-pound projectiles nearly20 miles. Fortunately, mybillets closely paralleledthose in Pruitt, andknowing my way in theirrequirementsgavemethatmuch more time to learnmyshipforqualificationinsubmarines. The requiredyearpassed,andtheboardof two skippers put methroughmypacesduringa

grueling day in port andanother at sea; but theysigned the certification,and I wore thesubmariner’s twindolphins.In September, 1939, all

operationsatPearltookona most serious air withPresident Franklin D.Roosevelt’s proclamationofLimitedEmergency.Our

son, James, was born thesame month. Major unitsofthePacificFleetarrivedin 1940, and commencingin the fall of 1941,available submarinesquietly departed on patrolwith their torpedo tubeouterdoorsopenforfiring.My qualification forcommand was approved,and my promotion tolieutenant came by

dispatch prior toThanksgiving, whenArgonautdepartedPearltopatrol southofMidway.Askirmish with twoJapanesedestroyersonthenight of Pearl Harborwasour only action with theenemy;butArgonaut’s lackofairconditioningcoupledwith our required all-daydives resulted in everincreasing humidity and

attendant electricalgrounds, and fighting theensuingsmallfiresbecamealmostroutine.Nearlyhalfher major machinerybecame inoperative, butthatdidnot stopArgonautfrom carrying out hermissiontodefendMidway.Little did we know, untilreaching Pearl Harbor onJanuary22,1942,thatshehad been the only ship

available to oppose anexpectedassault.Wefoundour families fine but allwaiting on two hours’noticeforevacuationfromthe Islands. Waiting alsowere my orders to reportas executive officer ofWahoo,underconstructionatMare IslandNavyYard,up the bay from SanFrancisco, which wasArgonaut’s destination for

somemodernization.Mostfortunately, this providedme the opportunity tosettlemyfamilynearby.Ihadlovedmylastship,

but itdidnot take longtotransfer my affections. Ofhalf the displacement andwith twice the power,Wahoo would have twiceArgonaut’s speed andmaneuverability. Further,

shewouldcarry24insteadof 12 torpedoes and hadteninsteadoffourtubestolaunch them. To me, thelivingspacesseemedmorelike a streamlined trainsthan a submarine’s. Thecontrol room and theconning tower eachsportedaradar,andintheconning tower was atorpedo data computer,too;allthisequipmentwas

new to me. Needed onlywas a ship’s company tomatch,butalreadyasharpnucleus of officers andpetty officers who werequalified in submarineshad assembled, and a fewof them had patrolexperience. Together weinstructed the new hands.Our captain wasmeticulousandenjoyedanexcellent reputation in

torpedo fire control. Hetrained his shipthoroughly,andallseemedtoaugurwellforWahoo.But on a 55-day patrol

of TrukAtoll, only two ofourmanycontactsresultedin attacks, and only onefreighterwassunk.Forthesecond patrol, whichwould takeWahoo to theSolomons and then on to

Australia,thechiefofstaffprivately arranged forLieutenant CommanderDudleyW. (Mush)MortontoaccompanyusasaPCO,or prospectivecommanding officer foranother boat. I hoped hispresence would turn thekeyforus,butwithenemyships about, only afreighter and a submarinewere sunk. Our skipper

was exhausted, and whenwe reached Brisbane itappeared likely that hewouldstayinport,atleastforapatrol’stime.In our apartment inBrisbane, Mush Mortonand I analyzed the patrolandairedourviewsaboutsituations in Wahoo. Ourcomplete agreementconcerning actions that

mighthavebeentakenandon many possibleshipboard improvementsenhanced the rapport wehad established on patrol.Sixdays later, I addressedhim as Captain. As wediscussed my role as hisexec, Mush related hisexperience at PCO schoolin New London. While hemade periscopeobservations and tactical

decisions, two seniorinstructors recorded theirown recommendations.Unencumbered by themechanics of making theobservations, theinstructors were able torecord quicker and betterdecisions.“So you will be my co-

approachofficer,”he said.“You’ll make all

observations and fire alltorpedoes, but I’ll conWahoo to the best attackposition.”AndthenwithachuckleMushadded,“ThiswayI’llnevergetscared.”Thiswasaresponsibilityandanopportunityuniquein our submarine forces,and I spent the followingfortnight calling angles onthebow,that is, theangle

formedbythelongitudinalaxis of an approachingship and my line of sightintersecting her. Myestimates of these angleswould soon be used indetermining enemy ships’courses. This task helpedinkeepingmymindoffthedeep sorrow I felt when Ilearned that a returningU.S. Army bomber hadobservedthedestructionof

my dear Argonaut by twoenemy destroyerssoutheastofNewBritain.But all my thoughts

wereaheadonJanuary16,1943, when Wahoodeparted to patrol thePalau Islands. Thedestroyer Patterson, whohad performed so notablyin the terrible Battle ofSavo Island, joined us for

two days ofmutual targetservices en route. Ourskipper put his shipthroughherpaces;Icalledangles on the bow, thequartermaster read mystadimeter ranges, and allthree of us were satisfied.When Patterson turnedback,sendingGodspeedbysignal searchlight, Wahoowas already 400 miles onherway.

One week later, deepinside New Guinea’sWewak Harbor, I was tofire my first six warshots,the final two down thethroat of an attackingdestroyer.Thelasttorpedoinourforwardtubesbrokeher back, but since wewere already starting forthebottomwethoughtfora moment that thedetonation was her first

depth charge. Two dayslater,thefiringwasspreadover 12 hours asWahoo’sremaining 18 torpedoesputdownaconvoyoffourships.Onthefourthpatrol,to the East China andYellow seas, our 24torpedoes sank six shipsand damaged another,while our deck gun sanktwomore.Duringherfifthpatrol, to theKuril Islands

anddowntheeastcoastofJapan, Wahoo sank threemore ships and damagedtwoothers.Wahoo was leading the

pack in ships sunk. I hadbeen promoted tolieutenant commander.Theship’scompanyhadallshared in a PresidentialUnit Citation, and ourskipper recommended

awards for hissubordinates each time hewas decorated.Understandably,menwerein line hoping for a billetin our ship. But Wahoo’sstorage batteries, ofexperimental design, hadbeenfailingrapidly;onthelast patrol they had hadlessthanhalftheiroriginalcapacity, a severe anddangerous handicap, and

their replacement hadalready been scheduled atMare Island. My waitingorders to command Tang,then building at the sameshipyardandonly20milesfrommyfamily,couldnothavebeenmorewelcome.Andso,afterfivepatrolsin Wahoo, I had left herwithabitofalumpinmythroat and walked toward

the building ways.Ernestine was at my side,Marsha and Jimscampered ahead, and inmyhandwasaninvitationtowitnessthelaunchingofthe submarine I wouldcommand. I could acceptthat challenge withabsolute confidence, for Ihad already fired morewarshotsthanallbutafewof our submarine

commanders.Tang would spend herentire life in war, onmissions that took hertwice the distance aroundthe earth. According topostwar findings by theJoint Army-NavyAssessment Committee,her leading patrols innumber of ships sunkrankedfirst,third,andtied

for sixth in the 1,560warpatrolsbyoursubmarines.One of her devastatingtorpedo salvos broughtresults unparalleled in allnavies,whileherrescueofnaval airmen madeheadlines across thenation. In total number ofshipssunkduringthewar,Tangplacedsecondandintotaltonnagefourth.Allofthis sheaccomplished ina

period of nine monthsfromthedateofdepartureon her first patrol, hersinkings averaging oneship every 11 days, twicethe rate of her nearestrival.Sadly,asTang’sstorytestifies, in war there canbe an inverse moral: Thegreater the performance,the harsher theconsequence.

PartI

Shakedown

MAREISLANDTOPEARL

HARBOR

To the casual eye, Tanghadappearedreadyforseaupon launching, but shewas now securely mooredabreast our shipbuildingoffice. Electrical cableshad been snaked below,and already shipyardworkmenhadresumedthe

tasks that had beeninterrupted by thechristening. According tothe schedule, their workwould continue for nearlytwo months. During thefirst fewweeks, our ship’scompanyassembled.Somemen arrived fromsubmarine school orschools pertinent to theirparticularrate.Manycamedirectly from other

submarines or afterextendedperiodswithoneof the manufacturers ofTang’smajormachinery.Afewreportedfrombasesorships and had nosubmarine experience, buttherewasaplaceforeachofthemaswell.The senior officers and

pettyofficersbroughtwiththem, perhaps, more

varied patrol experiencethanhadeverbeforebeenassembled for fitting outand fighting a submarine.Thosemenwhohadservedin some of the 29 AsiaticFleet submarines hadexperienced the generalJapanese onslaught thatcoincided with the attackon Pearl Harbor. Duringthe retreat from thePhilippines, their

submarines had beenassigned trying andsometimes impossiblemissions in the delayingactions. Then, from basesin Australia, their boatsranged the SouthwestPacific and adjacent seasafter enemy ships. At theoutset, the men fromPacific Fleet submarineshad had an easier time ofit. Only the five

submarines undergoingrepair were at PearlHarbor on December 7,1941.Neithertheynorthesubmarine base wasdamaged. Another fivewere out on patrol, withtorpedo tube outer doorsopen for firing. Theremaining 12 were at seaor on the West Coast.Offensive action againstenemy shipping started

immediately. Their patrolsranged from theSolomonsto the Kurils, through thePacific islands to theJapanese Empire, and ontotheYellowSea.For those members ofTang’s crew who had notyet patrolled insubmarines, these officersand petty officers formedan experienced nucleus to

pointtheway.Theywouldmake it their business toinstructthenewhands,forin submarines perhapsmore than in any otherfighting unit, the survivalofallcoulddependontheperformance of anyindividual.If our ship’s company

brought something uniqueto Tang, she more than

matched it. Great sectionsforotherboatsofherclasswere now moving fromshop to ways, and theyappeared identical tosections of previoussubmarines. A close end-on look at the cylindricalpressure hull, however,showed steel plating oftwicetheformerthickness.The external frames,welded to the pressure

hull, seemed to be rolledT-bar and had dimensionsyoumightexpecttoseeinthe girders of a steelbridge. In the torpedorooms, where the ballasttanks and framing wereinside thepressurehull topermit streamlining, theframes remained visible;theyweremassive,bothindepth and thickness ofplate.ThusTangwouldbe

the first deep-hulledsubmarine in the Pacific,with tactical capabilitiesdue to her superior depthstillunknown.Lieutenant Murray B.

Frazee, Jr., fromGettysburg, had reportedearly as executive officerandnavigator.Frazwasofmedium height, and hisfirm features bore the

touchofa smile, evidenceofthesenseofhumorhe’dsurely need. Seven patrolsinGraybackhadgivenhimconfidence, and with thiscame enthusiasm for thetaskahead.ThoughheandI had served in boats ofdifferent temperaments,their basic organizationwas the same, and I likedwhatIheardandsaw.

Fraz’s assistant in manyoftheadministrativetasks,and a key figure in theship’s company, would beourchiefoftheboat,ChiefTorpedoman’s MateWilliam Ballinger. FrazhandedmeBallinger’sfile.His home was Rosemead,California, buthe came toTang from patrols inTunny, and with anoutstanding record.Atmy

nod,theexecsentforhim.It was some minutesbefore Ballinger reachedour shipbuilding office,having come fromwitnessing tests of Tang’storpedo tubes. He was abittallerthanFraz,andhisdark hair, strong features,and military countenancetook my eyes from hisgreasy dungarees. It wasevident that he already

understood his dualresponsibilities, for muchof his prestige as chief ofthe boat rested upon hisbillet as our leadingtorpedoman. We spoke ofhis skipper in Tunny,Commander John Scott,whom we both admired,andIcongratulatedhimonhisnewbillet.Already, some of the

men were assemblingspare parts in thestorerooms providedashore for each ship’sdepartment. Those notengaged in this or thenecessary fire watchesincident to the weldingaboard were attendingspecialized schools. Allhands were busy. Nowwhen you have someonewho is carrying the ball,

don’t stand in his way. Itook my own advice,leavingFrazincharge,andproceeded to theshipyard’s design sectionto investigate the truestrengthofTang’spressurehull. As I hoped, it couldprobably take twice thepressure of the stipulated438 feet. Various hullfittings, however, wereconsidered to be of lesser

strength. We would lookintothatlater.At a naval shipyard,

where construction doesnot follow a strictproduction line, it ispossible to include newequipment not shown inthe original plans and tomake other innovationsthathaveprovendesirablein actual combat. We

stretched this a bit toinclude items that wouldimprove our habitability,though generally this wasjustamatterofinstallingaparticular piece ofequipment in a moreconvenient location. Oneitem that did not fall intoeither category was aTaylor icecreammachine.Suchaluxurywasunheardof for submarines butwas

authorized for thewardroomofcapitalships.That didn’t really meanmuch, for where couldeven a battlewagon findone? Well, Tang’s chiefshad—and apparently onlyan hour ahead of thewardroom on the just-modernized Tennessee. If Idid not take immediateaction the battleshipwouldget themachineby

default, my forgedsignature on the chitnotwithstanding.“Why, only theChief ofthe Bureau of Ships couldauthorize such aninstallation!” It was theanswer I had expectedfrom the shipyardcommander, but the keywas in the way he’dwordedhisnegativereply.

Myphonecallreachedtheacting chief, who was atfirstlukewarmbutbecamequite receptive when Ipointed out that theinstallation would beentirely independent ofour own refrigerationsystem and so could notcauseitsfailure.Hesimplysaid, “Get it.” With thewhole conversation on agreentranscribingdisk,we

did just that, though I’mnot sure who or even ifanyonepaidforit.Ensign Fred Melvin

Enos, Jr., from across thecauseway in Vallejo, tookon a somewhat simplertask.Melwasfresh-caught;a Naval Reserve OfficerTrainingCorpsgraduateoftheUniversityofCaliforniaand submarine school, he

had yet to go to sea. Butmuchofwhathelackedinexperiencehemadeupforin eagerness. His projectinvolved a uselesswarming oven builtbetween the frames ofwardroom country’sforward bulkhead. Iwanted it converted to athermostaticallycontrolledbaking oven for ourstewards, as it was right

there in the pantry. If asteward became adept atmaking pies and pastrieshecouldverynearlywritehisownticketinthenavy,and I’d never been averseto sampling theirexperiments. It seemedthat I’d barely turned mybackwhen the installationwas complete, andon thisone I don’t know if apound of butter or half a

hamdidthetrick.These were typical of

the fun projects. Therewere others much moreserious,whichaffectedourship and her fightingability. One of theseinvolvedthetargetbearingtransmitters (TBTs). Ourperiscopesdidnottransmitsufficient light for anydark night use, so on all

butmoonlitnights,attackshadtobecarriedoutwithour boat on the surface,and bearings taken fromthe bridge weretransmittedtotheconningtower by the TBTs. Thebrackets holding the TBTswere often welded ontothebridgestructureinanyconvenient place, thoughthe shipyard had seen thelight in locating Tang’s

after TBT on a centerlinepedestal. We took care oftheforwardoneourselves.Down came the gimbal-mounted gyrocompassrepeater,whichwasrarelyused for taking bearingsfrom the bridge. Therepeater was rigidlyreinstalled flush throughthe bridge cowl, with itsface still in plain sight. Initsplaceonthecenterline,

where alignment could bechecked by a sighting onthe bullnose, went ourforward TBT. The V-shaped receptacle of theTBTwouldtakethecenterhinge pin of a pair ofbinoculars to transmitbearings, including myfiringbearings,below.Our diesels, generators,

and main motors were

aligned, a task that mustbe done after a ship iswaterborne. The 300 tonsofbatterieswereinstalled,bringingTang close to hersurfacetrim,andoneafteranother our major piecesof machinery were beingtested. Participating, orjust observing all of thiswas the best possiblewayfor our ship’s company tolearn the boat. If there

werebuildingyardswhereworkmen loafed on thejob, Mare Island was notamong them. On thecontrary, it was not at allunusual to see anelectrician or a machinistcontinue at his task wellinto the next shift so thatothers’workwouldnotbedelayed.With this type ofeffort, Tang’s completionstayedrightonschedule.

Commissioning is notgiven the fanfare of achristening,foritisnotasspectacularasalaunching.Inmanyways,however,itis more solemn andsignificant to theparticipants. It marks thestate of a ship’scompletion, when theresponsibility andauthority pass to theprospective commanding

officer. Tang’scommissioning ceremonywasshortandtothepoint.Withhercrewandofficersassembled, the shipyardcommander read hisdirective. I readmy orderto take command andnodded to Sidney Jones,our chief quartermaster;the jack and colors werehoisted smartly as thecommission pennant was

brokenfromourmain.Thefirst watch was set. Tangwas now a part of theUnited States Navy and Iwas in command. I tookthisoccasiontoreadtoallhands my charge fromSecretary of the NavyFrankKnox:

Immediately after hershaking down period theU.S.S. Tang will be assigned

todutywhereversheisthenmost needed. It is entirelypossible that you willproceeddirectlyintocombat.Your first action may be byday or night, against anytype of vessel or aircraftpossessed by our able andruthlessenemies.

Your future Fleet, Force,and Unit Commanders mustrelyontheU.S.S.Tangasaneffective fighting unit from

thehourwhenshereportstothemforduty.Itisyourtasktojustifytheirconfidence.

If there was any doubtin the mind of anyoneconcerning the seriousnessof the coming weeks, thisletter would square themaway, for a charge to mewas a charge to everymemberofthecrew.The ceremony was not

completelyserioussinceasofthatday,October15,allhands commenceddrawing submarine pay,with time before theshakedown to spend it inSan Francisco. I believethat some of the men’ssmiles, however, wereoccasionedbytheassistantshipyardcommander,whoproduced a receipt formeto sign—for one

submarine. I could readtheirminds; the crew hadbeen signing their livesaway in drawing ourequipage, and now a chithad even caught up withthecaptain.Wehadsixweeksbeforeour shakedown. Thesebeganwith dockside trialsofallenginesandsystems,themajoritycomingunder

Lieutenant William Walshand his engineers. Thencame our first underwaytrials. I thought of myWahoo experience in this,when the bridgegyrocompass repeater hadbeen 180 degrees out ofphase and my captainwanted it fixedright then.We ended up with nocompassatall.Iwouldnotmakethatkindofmistake,

but as it turned out Iwasnot called upon, for Tanghad no bugs. Sheperformedasifshe’dbeenat sea a year, and it wasratheruptoustocatchuptoher.Between the firing ofdummytorpedoestocheckthe proper operation ofTang’s ten torpedo tubesand our initial dives, all

spares for our machinerycame aboard. The divesthemselves were normal,not stationary ones in thebayashadpreviouslybeenthepractice.Ourfirstdivedifferedfromoneonpatrolin only two respects. Firstwe waited for the“Christmas tree,” thebankofindicatorlightsshowingthe status of all hullopenings, to change from

redandgreentoallgreen,signaling that they wereclosed. Then a slight airpressure was built up inthe boat; it held constant,showingthattheboatwastight. The vents wereopened, allowing the seato flood the ballast tanks,and down we went. Theengineering officer iscustomarily a submarine’sbattle stations diving

officer, and Bill Walshtook her down on thisoccasion. Having come toTangfromtwowarpatrolsin Tautog, he found thisstrictly routine andtrimmedtheboatpreciselywith a minimum ofpumping.Our deep dive, to 438

feet, required morepreparations. Vertical and

horizontal battens, eachmade of two overlappingpiecesthatcouldslideoneupon the other, wereinstalled by the shipyard.Micrometer gauges wereattached to permitaccurate measurements ofthe hull’s compression atvarious depths. Comparedto that of earliersubmarines, our deflectionat438feetwasnegligible.

I was sure the shipyardwould use the accuratefigures they had obtainedtoimprovethedesign,butfor us they spelled aconfidence no submarinecouldhavehadbefore.We had agreed to helpinthetrainingofafloatingdrydockonourwaybackto Mare Island from ourdeep dive, so we rolled

through the Golden Gatewith three engines onpropulsion. Our fears ofthe usual drawn-outprocedure were allayedwhen Tang roundedTiburon Island. Thefloating dry dock wasalready flooded down,with just the sides andbow a few feet abovewater,andswingingtothetide. We made a wide

sweep so as to approachher open end on a steadycourse and had slowedonlyto10knots,hopingtogetourbowacrossthesillbeforethedockcouldyawagain with the swirlingtide.With 50 yards to go,it did not look good. Iordered, “All backemergency,” for anothertry, but before the screwsbit in, the dock swung

back and aligned herselfperfectly.Westopped,andTang’s bow coasted overthe sill at a good7 knots.“All back two-thirds”settledher inhandsomely,and no one outside ourship’s company knew thatluckwasthemajorfactor.Tests could go onforever, but as withsignificant figures in

mathematics, there comesa point where carryinganything beyond a certaindegree is meaningless.LieutenantFrankSpringer,whose primary dutiesincluded our torpedo firecontrol, brought such acasetomyattentionwhenhe showed me the finaltest data on the torpedodata computer (TDC). Itwas solving firing angles

tothequarterofadegree,whileourtorpedoeswouldfollow a course no closerthan half a degree. Tang’sother systems wereperforming normally, too,and what we now neededwere independentoperations, in which eachwatch section could gothrough its paces and allhands at battle stationscould acquire the

necessary coordination.Tang had only her high-speed endurance testremaining, sowe reportedready for our shakedown.Our departure for SanDiegowas setupwith thestipulation that we takealong the shipyardrepresentatives ofFairbanks Morse andGeneral Electric so theycould observe the

endurance tests of ourdiesels, generators, andmainmotors,whichwouldbe run en route. Thiswasnoconcessiononourpart,for we would gladly havetaken both of them righton to patrol. Tang wouldget under way atmidmorning on thefollowing day, December1,1943.

The special sea detail hadbeen stationed and themooring lines singled upwhen I came aboard. In aminute we were underway. The passage throughSanPabloBay,onbetweenThe Brothers, and pastAngel Island, with San

Francisco looking likeshe’d been transplantedfrom the Mediterranean,wouldintrigueanyone,butour business lay off tostarboard,inthemainshipchannel.Thebayhadbeenas clear and smooth as alake, but mist and rollingswells greeted us as wepassed under the bridgeand through the GoldenGate.Tangseemedtocome

alive.“Ship dead ahead. It’s

herstern.”Thereportwasfromthestarboardforwardlookout, and the stern ofthe Patterson was nowdistinguishable throughthe mist. The destroyerwould escort us down thecoast and was, bycoincidence, the same onethat had accompanied

Wahoo to sea fromAustralia. With the seabuoynowastern,webothchanged course to south,directly into the troughoftheseas.Tang’s presentcomplement was 79 andincluded seven officers.Motor machinist’s mates,electrician’s mates, andfiremen accounted for

nearly half the enlistedmen; torpedomen,gunner’s mates, andseamen made up anotherquarter; the rest includedcooks, steward’s mates,quartermasters orsignalmen, radiomen, firecontrolmen, yeomen, aradio technician, aboatswain’s mate, and achief pharmacist’s mate.All hands except the

executive officer, hisassistant navigator—achiefpettyofficer(CPO)—and me would standwatches either in theirspecialties,ormanningtheradar, as steersman,lookouts, soundman,planesmen, or as dutychief in the control room.Watchdutiesfortheotherofficers would be divingofficer, officer of the deck

(OOD), or assistant OOD.The OOD would beresponsible for carryingout my instructions,initiating dives, andeverything else thataffected Tang’s safety orherroutine.Hewouldalsoinitiate action to close theenemyuntil eitherFrazorI assumed the con. Of allthemen in our ship, Frazwouldspendthemosttime

on his feet, but hisavailability would insurethat exhaustion wouldnever interfere with mycarrying out my duty toput the enemy on thebottom.As is customary, our

ship’s company had beendivided into three watchsections. When we werethrough with our

shakedown,anyoneofthesections would be able tocarry out all normalevolutions, surfaced orsubmerged, includingdiving and surfacing. InTang,wecarried thisabitfurther, with a cook ormesscook and stewardalways on watch so therewould never be an excusefor staleorcoldcoffee.Atbattle stations, every man

wouldhave a specific job.All assignments, includingthose for emergencies,werepostedontheWatch,Quarter, and Station Billforeveryonetosee.Up to thismoment, our

surface operations hadbeen in waters where amistake could mean agrounding or possiblecollision. The special sea

detail, consisting of ourmore experienced men,had been on watch. Now,for the first time, westationed the regular seadetail. The first sectiontookoverthewatch.Untilwe next entered port, thespecialseadetailwouldbemembers of the regularwatchsections.At two-engine speed,

Tang was riding fairlycomfortably through theswells,thoughsomeofhercrew might not haveagreed. Our everincreasing speed as weworked up to full powerdid not improve matters,however. Rather, itimposed an unpredictablecircular motion on top ofourroll,asthoughtheshipwere following a giant

corkscrew. It was comingup noon, and the odor offrying chicken permeatedthe boat, reaching eventhebridgethroughthehullventilation. A fried mealshould not have beenserved on our first day atsea, but there was themenu over my signature,posted in the crew’smessroom. Untouched onthe tables remained

enough fried chicken forthree-quartersoftheship’scompany. The cooksstowed it in the freezerroom.If we were having

trouble with cooking oil,Patterson was having aworse time with lube oil.Shewas rolling half againthe degrees of our boat,especially to port, and

snapping back asdestroyersarewont todo.Lube oil was building upinherport sumps, leavingtoo little to starboard andforcing her to slow. SinceTang was well into herendurance run, weinformed CommanderWesternSeaFrontier,whocontrolled shipping alongthePacificCoast,thatTangwas proceeding

independently. He wouldtell us if he didn’t like it,butstealingthejumpwitha logical plan usuallybrings agreement andavoids further dispatches.Therewerenone.Tang had proceeded a

hundred miles down theCalifornia coast by lateafternoon, on a track tothe west of the Channel

Islands. The seas weremoderating, and thosehands who had forgonethenoonmealcommencedcollecting in the crew’smess. The evening mealhadbeenchangedtosteak,potatoes, and vegetables,and the tone of theconversation in themessroomtoldthatallwaswellwithinourship.

Frank Springer was inthe wardroom, alreadyworking on hisqualification notebook,and he handed me thedrawing of thecompensation system thathe had just finished. Itincluded Tang’s variableballast tanks and theassociated pipelines to thetrim manifold. Forwardand aft, occupying the

space surrounding thetorpedo tubes, were thetrimtanks,properlyshownas being partially filledwith seawater. Theamount of water in thesetanks would be varied toadjust Tang’s weight andtiltingmoment.Amidships, the space

between the pump roomdeckandthepressurehull

was divided into fivesections. Three of themwere designated asauxiliarytanks,andononeoftheseFrankhadputthelegend “fresh water.” Theother two auxiliary tankswereshownpartiallyfilledwith seawater and wouldbe used for adjustingTang’s overall weight toobtain neutral buoyancy.In compensating, the trim

pump would shift ballastbetween these tanks orpump to sea through themanifold. To increaseballast, the tankscouldbefloodedfromsea.Forward in the samespaceandextendingtothekeel, negative tank wasshown filled withseawater. This 14,000pounds of negative ballast

wouldgiveTang an initialdown-angle and speed herdive till the ballast wasblowntoseaandthefloodvalve closed. The largesttank of the group, locatedjust aft of negative, waslabeled “safety.” Normallykept flooded, it could beblown partially orcompletely dry tocompensate for seriousflooding inside the

pressurehull.It was a neat and

complete diagram, and Iinitialed it in the spaceFrankhadprovided.Itwasgood to see him so faralong, for he would haveto qualify ahead of hisjuniors.The navigator’s evening

stars showed us within amile of the track he had

laid down before ourdeparture and a bit aheadof our estimated position.The hours of darkness arethose a submarine likesbest,forherlowsilhouetteblendsintotheseaandherlookoutscanalwaysspotasurface ship first. It wasnotatimetoletdownourguard;atseatherewasnosuch time as that. Butthose not on watch could

relaxabitintheincreasedsecurity. The night passedquietly, andmorning starsshowed that we wouldreach San Diego bymidafternoon. Atmidmorningtheendurancetrial was successfullycompleted.Tang moored at thenaval base on schedule,and two senior friends

greeted me at the dock.Commander E. R.Swinburne, whom I hadknown since submarineschool, had alreadyprocured a destroyerescort to act as target forus in the morning.Commodore ByronMcCandless I had knownsince I served inPruitt; hewas now the basecommander, and

fortunately for us, anyonewho had ever served infour-stackdestroyerscoulddo no wrong. Over a cupofcoffeethateveningIdidask a favor: Could weborrow a wire recorder?One came aboard aftermidnight.Tang was under way atdawn, with an hour’s runtothenorthernedgeofour

operating area. Thedestroyer would start upfromthesouthforthefirstof three preliminarytracking and simulatedfiring runs; we would notfire exercise torpedoesuntil latemorning. Below,Ensign Henry Flanaganwas supervising the finaladjustmentson12exercisetorpedoes. Hank, whohailed from New London,

had fleeted up from chieftorpedoman’s mate andwould soon be promotedagain.Tallandrugged,hehad come to Tang fromseven war patrols inTambor and another inThresher. Tang’s torpedodepartmentwasinthebestofhands.At school and during

drills aboard, the ship’s

company had been putthrough its paces. It wasnow coming up my turn,fornomatterhowwellthetorpedo fire control partycould solve the problem,the result would be nobetter than the periscopedope—ranges andespecially the angles onthe bow—that I provided.And that was but part ofmy task, for unless I

connedourshiptoagoodattackposition,evenafinesolution for enemy courseand speed could result intorpedo misses. Myreputation in torpedoattacks had probablyprecededme fromWahoo,where Mush Morton hadconned the boat while Imade the periscopeobservations and fired thetorpedoes. The number of

escorts accompanyingJapan’s merchant shipshad been increasingsteadily, however, and itbecame very difficult toconvey tomycaptain inafew words the shipformationsthatIcouldseeat a glance. Now, morethansixmonthslater,thatdifficulty would havefurther increased, so Iwould follow the normal

procedure of bothmanning the scope andconning the ship. TangwoulduseWahoo’s uniquefiring method, however.This consisted of firing aseriesofsingleshots,eachdirected by a separateperiscope bearing to hit aselected point along theside of the enemy ship.Themethod used bymostsubmarines required only

one firing bearing. Then,to obtain the desiredcoverage, they used theTDC’s spread knob todirect their torpedoesalong slightly divergenttracks.Lieutenant Bruce

(Scotty)Anderson had thedeck as we entered theoperating area. He hailedfrom San Francisco and

had reported from themerchant marine. In hisbilletasfirstlieutenant,hewas responsible for deckand auxiliarymaintenancenot assigned to otherdepartments. As of themoment Scotty had otherthings on his mind. Thiswould be his first dive asOOD.Well,hehadtostartsometime, though theexperience is a bit like

being pushed into coldwater. Scotty had hisinstructions, so Fraz and Iwentbelowandwaited.Aloud “Clear the bridge!”from topside told us thatthe destroyer’s tops hadcome over the horizon.The lookouts weretumbling belowsimultaneously with thetwo blasts on the divingalarm. I counted all four

lookouts and watchedScotty, with thequartermaster, close thehatch and then man theperiscope. Frank Springer,the assistant OOD in theconning tower, hadgrabbed a periscopebearing of the target shipand then had practicallydropped to the controlroomtotakeoverthedive,which had been initiated

bythedutychief.Tangslidunder the waves quitenormally. These twoofficers, yet to qualify insubmarines, had taken usdownandhadus rightoncourse to intercept thetarget.Ihadalreadyfoundthatmaneuvering a submarineonthesurfacewasgreatlysimplified once I had

command.NolongerwasIbeing second-guessedbyasenior, and I knew mydecisions, with logicalfollow-through, wouldbring the desired results.Submerged, thoughoperating in threedimensions and withlimited speed, the sameproved to be true, and Iwasabletoconourshiptoan advantageous attack

position. During thedestroyer’s threepreliminary runs, each ofour three watch sectionsmade a dive followed bybattle stations andsimulated firing. On thefinal three runs, we firedexercise torpedoes, set torun under the target. Thedestroyer captain calledthemhits.

For a week, except forthree afternoons, we firedtorpedoes during the dayand made nightapproaches after dark.Each approach might belikened to a slow-motionversionofadefensiveback(the submarine) headingoff a broken-field runner(thetargetship).Onceourship was in position, ourtorpedoeswouldmake the

tackle. Again and again,based on the periscopebearings, ranges, and myestimatesofthedestroyer’sanglesonthebow,ourfirecontrol party solved forthe target’s course andspeed.Atnight,sometimeslate at night, the exercisetorpedoes,whichfloatedatthe end of their run andwere picked up by specialretrieving boats,would be

returned to us at the baseto be prepared again forfiring. Thesewere days ofconcentration on the skillinwhichTangmust excel,making her torpedoes hit.Every drill, everyevolution was pointed tothisend,andeventhewirerecorder that CommodoreMcCandless had suppliedplayeditspart.Ithadeightchannelsthatcouldrecord

forahalfhour,oritcouldbe switched to fourchannelsforonehour,andso forth, on up to onechannel for four hours.There were microphonesbytheattackperiscope,bytheTDC,next toplot,andin the control room.Everywhere we turned, itseemed,amicrophonewasstaring us in the face.Everythingwe saidduring

anapproachwasrecorded.Between runs, we wouldplay it back, first in itsentirety and then aftererasing all of theunnecessary orders,exclamations, andextraneous conversation.Theresultwasamazing—acrisp order, theacknowledgment,andthenquiet. Three-quarters ofeverything we had said

could be erased. We alllearnedtothinkbeforewespokeandtolimitwhatwesaid to the problem athand.During the afternoons

when our destroyer escorthad other commitments,we got to the business offinding what hull fittingsmight limit the depth towhich we could dive. In

timeofpeaceImighthaveacceptedthestipulatedtestdepth of 438 feet, butknowing that there wouldbe destroyers overheaddropping depth chargesandthatextradepthcouldmeansurvival,establishinga maximum depth closertothehull’struecapabilityseemed inorder.Thedivewas slow and deliberate,with battle telephones

manned in eachcompartment, and withofficers and senior pettyofficers stationedthroughoutthesubmarine.At any sign of trouble,Tangwould start up againimmediately. Bill pumpedfrom auxiliary to seaperiodically on the waydown to compensate forthe loss in buoyancy asTang’s hull was squeezed

in by the increasingpressure. With thesubmarine swimmingdown with neutralbuoyancy or against somepositive buoyancy, achange to ascent wouldrequire only that theplanesbeshiftedtoputanup-angle on the boat. Wepassed our test depth, butat 450 feet a gauge linecameapartandoneofthe

hoses to our Bendix speedlog ruptured. A rawpotato, jammed over thegaugeline,pluggedituntilits stop valve was locatedand shut off; the speedlog’s valves were in plainsight and quickly secured.Westarteddownagain.At525 feet, the rollers thatheld the sound heads inthe lowered positionagainst sea pressure

cracked.Theheadshousedthemselveswithaswoosh,and Tang made a steadyclimbtothesurface.Commodore McCandless

greeted us as usual,apparently taking apersonal interest in oursubmarine. His shipfitterswent to work installingenginecam-typerollersonthe sound gear. Our

spindle-type rollers werenot designed for externalpressure and should nothavebeenusedinthefirstplace. While this wasgoing on, our machinistssilver-soldered a newfitting on the gauge lineand substituted weldinghose on the Bendix log.With hose clamps fromWestern Auto and newinsides, our speed log

should now be the bestinstallationunderthesea.On the next freeafternoon, Tang rolleddown past 525 feet, onpast 550; everythingremained tight. We wereon our way to 600, butjust20feetshytheflangedjoints in the vent riserstook off like roadsprinklers, with 300

pounds per square inchpressure behind them,rather drenching the areabutwithlittlevolume.Westartedupand the leakingstopped,butwekeptrighton going up. These nine-inch diameter pipesconnected the tops of theinside ballast tanks in thetorpedo rooms to ventvalves located in thesuperstructure. They were

builtinflangedsectionstofollowthecircularcontourofthehullandwereboltedtogether. Since both endsopened to sea pressure,therewasthoughttobenowaytotesttheinstallation;butTang had. The troubleprobablylayinimproperlytightenedboltsnexttotheframes and pressure hull,which were almostimpossible to reach.Again

thedestroyerbasecametoour rescue. CommodoreMcCandless had hisshipfitters up half thenight making specialcrowfoot wrenches toreach the nuts and bolts.The butt end of eachwrench was fashioned tofit into one of our torquewrenches so thatwith thecombination each boltcouldbe tightenedexactly

thesame.Before dawn we were

readytotryagain,butourfinal torpedo firing camefirst. The target practicewent well in all respects,and then Tang starteddown. No one batted aneyetillwepassed575feet,but the very fact that 600feetwas the last figureonthedepthgaugedidcause

some uneasiness, likecoming to the edge of theocean. The pointermovedto the 600-foot mark andthen to the pin three-quarters of an inchbeyond. There were noleaks.Wecamebackupto600 and maneuvered atvarious speeds over theocean floor. Then, just toconvinceourselvesofwhatwe really had, we topped

thingsoffwithamaneuverwe’d been practicing. Billgave her an up-angle bythe stern, and we wentthrough the maneuversbackward. Tang’s actualtestdepthwas612feet.Theclimbbackuptothesurfacewasalongone.Wetimeditforfutureuse.Thesea and setting sun didlook pretty good, and we

headedforthebase.Sofarwehadbeenconcentratingon torpedo firing andmateriel. A total of 43exercise torpedoes hadbeen fired at actualmoving targets, ourengineering plant wasperforming beautifully,and Tang had depthcapabilities no Americansubmarine had knownbefore.Nowweneededto

concentrate on personnel,on the routine thatwouldget our submarine to herpatrol area and get herthereundetected.We’ddosomething about thatstarting the next day,whenTangwouldleaveona week’s independentoperation, which I hadrequested as a part of ourshakedown.

After supper, over agameofcribbage,FrazandI worked out the generalplan for thecomingweek.There were no southernboundaries shown for our50-mile-wide operatingarea. We did not ask forclarification, but ratherwould take advantage ofthis for a patrol downMexico’s coast. Everythingexcept firing torpedoes

would be done exactly asif we were on patrol offJapan—reconnaissance,approaches, the works.There should be justenough spice to keep itinteresting,andsothattheexperience of the olderhands would rub off onothers, we would shuffletheofficers’watchlist.Fraz took the conwhen

we got under way, andFrankbroughtusalongsidea week later. There wasnotmuchthatasubmarinedoes that we hadn’t triedout during that shortperiod, though Mexicanfishing boats hadsubstituted for Japanesemarus. I had a last cup ofcoffee with thecommodore, and henodded approval of our

patrol,thoughofcoursehewasnotresponsibleforouroperations. We had donewell not to inquire aboutthemissingareaboundarybeforehand, forCommander Swinburnewas quite aghast when Itold him what we’d beendoing.“Why, you could have

caused an international

incident if you’d beensighted!”“Sir, ifTang can’t avoidthe Mexican fishing fleetshe doesn’t have anybusiness going on patrol,”I replied. He seemed tocomearoundtomywayofthinking, or perhaps he’djust remembered thattomorrowTangwouldstartback for San Francisco,

and we’d be out of hishair.Therewasnoescortandwe were given an outsideroute back up the coast.This permitted extendingourpatrol a bit, though itsoon became evident thatthetroopswerethinkingofthecityandChristmas.Wesettled down to a routinethat would approximate

that of a submarinereturning from patrol. Intwo days,Tang moored atMare Island shined up sothat leave and libertycould commenceimmediately.The yuletide days were

full, though businessproceeded at a modestpace.Amongother things,this included the required

reading to the ship’scompany from Articles fortheGovernmentoftheNavy.Theseregulationsleftlittlein doubt, especially thefirst70articles.Informallyknown as “Rocks andShoals,” they spelled outtheconductrequiredofallmembers of the navalservice in peace and war,stating the penalty thatwouldbe imposed for any

breach. By way ofemphasis, the severity ofthe punishment precededthelistedoffenses.Isteppedintothecrew’smessasFrankwasreadingto the duty section andfound myself standing asstifflyatattentionasIhadwhen I first heard thearticles under John PaulJones’sflag.Thefirstthree

articles covered conductand morals, divineservices, and irreverentbehavior, but with Article4 came the blood andthunder: “The punishmentof death, or such otherpunishment as a court-martialmay adjudge,maybe inflictedon anypersonin the naval service foundguilty of….” The offensesincluded mutiny,

disobedience, intercoursewith an enemy, desertionintimeofwar,sleepingonwatch, striking the flag orattending to an enemy orrebel,orwhenengaged inbattle treacherouslyyieldingorpusillanimouslycryingforquarter.In submarines, most of

these offenses wereextremely unlikely if not

physically impossibleoncethe hatch was closed. ButfullyapplicablewasArticle19, pertaining specificallyto the duties andobligations of acommanding officer: “Ordoes not do his utmost toovertake and capture ordestroyanyvesselwhichitishisdutytoencounter.”If therewere any doubt

about theproperaction tobetaken,thisarticlewouldpoint theway inTang.Noother words werenecessary;weallknewourmutual responsibilities.But just in case someoneneeded reminding, all 70articleswereposted,astheArticles themselvesrequired.The reading of the

Articles seemed a bitincongruouswiththespiritof Christmas, but ourfellow submariners werefiring torpedoes that veryday, and being in everyway prepared was a partof my charge. Adding toTang’s preparedness, Frazhad somehow stolen thesenior instructor from theradar school. LieutenantEdward Beaumont, from

Paxton, Massachusetts,reported on board withbona fide orders andwould fill two importantniches. He would be ourradar and assistantengineering officer and hewouldroundoutthewatchlist,making it possible forTang tohave anOODandassistantOODonwatchatalltimeswhenunderway.

Another development,not too unexpected, wasnonethelessdisturbing:Wehad several reluctantsailors. Our deep-deepdive, theknowledge that Iwas dead seriousconcerning the Articles,Tang’s pending departurefrom stateside—any or allof these might have ledseveral of our hands torequesttransfers. Ididnot

ask who the specificindividualswere, though Ididsuspectafew.FrazandBallinger would handlethisundermyinstructions:First,infairnesstomenatPearl who deserved sometimestateside,therewouldbe no exchanges ortransfers before wereached the Islands. Anyhandswho stillwanted toleave Tang at that time

would be transferredwithout aspersion when areplacement volunteered.More and more were theoutstanding qualities ofboth Fraz and Ballingerbecoming evident, for Iheard nothingmore aboutthematter.A change in schedule

was greeted by cheersfrom the bachelors and

jeersfromthefamilymen,forTangwouldproceed toSan Francisco, or morespecifically to Hunter’sPoint Naval Shipyard,rightafterChristmas.Withgas rationing, commutingwould be difficult if notimpossibleformanyofthefamilymen,butthereasonfor the change was mosturgent. Tang would dockto receive newly designed

low-cavitating propellers.We already knew wewouldbeabletodivedeepenough to find atemperature gradientshould one exist in theseas we patrolled. Anabrupt change in thewater’s temperature, atemperature gradientmeant a change in thewater’sdensityaswellandwouldbendthewavefront

of theenemy’secho rangeback toward the surface,clear of any submarinebelow the gradient. Withthenew,quieterpropellersand reasonable oceandepthtodivein,wewouldlikewise be able to avoiddetectionbypassivemeans—listening—and still runatmostanyspeed.Our high-speed run to

Hunter’s Point—only twohours from under way tillourbowcrossed the sill—left the signalmen onTreasure Island stillchallenging as wedisappeareddownthebay.Early liberty and latequarters took care of thefamily men, and SanFrancisco showed ourbachelorshowtotrulyringinaNewYear.

TheU.S.S.Tang(SS306)slidesdownthebuildingwaysatMareIslandNavyYard,August17,1943.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

Tang’sofficersatthetimeofhercommissioning,October15,1943.Lefttoright:LieutenantBruce(Scotty)Anderson,EnsignHenryFlanagan,LieutenantCommanderRichardO’Kane,LieutenantMurrayFrazee,LieutenantFrankSpringer,LieutenantWilliamWalsh,EnsignFred(Mel)Enos.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

Tang’s“frontporch,”theforward20-millimetergunplatform;theopenhatchleadstothegunaccesstrunk.Inthebackground,the4-inch,53-caliberdeckgun.

U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

FinallayoutofTang’sbridgeinstruments,viewedfromthelookoutplatform(lefttoright):targetbearingtransmitter,speaker-microphone,gyrocompassrepeater,rudderangleindicator,divingalarm.Thewhistlepullisbelowthedivingalarm,andbelowthegyrorepeateristheopenhatchtotheconningtower.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

Tangviewedbowon.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

Tangviewedfrom45degreesoffportbow.Her312-foothullwith28-footbeamandasurfacedkeeldepthof16feetdisplacedover1,500tons.Shecarried24torpedoes,each21feetlongandweighingmorethan2,000

pounds,andhadtentubes—sixforwardandfouraft—fromwhichtolaunchthem.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH(MAREISLAND)

PhotoInsert

Her bow sliced throughthe crests of the winterseas and then eased downthrough the troughs. Asthe diesels drove hersteadily on, there wasnone of the hesitancy orshudderthatwouldbefeltin a surface ship of her

tonnage. Down the duallines of her wake, theGoldenGatewasfadinginthemist;butaheadlaythewholePacificandtheseasbeyond,whereTangwouldseekouttheenemy.The navigator took hisdeparturewitharangeandbearing on the FarallonIslands and recommendedthecourse toourassigned

corridor. This was amoving rectangle thatwould followus on to theHawaiian Islands. If wemaintained the speedprescribed,therewouldbeno shipswithin 100milesaheador asternof us, norinside 50 miles on eitherbeam.Ourescort,ablimpfrom

Sunnyvale, came up from

the southand took stationahead. It would remainwith us until lateafternoon, primarily tohelpinidentifyingTangasfriendly so that wewouldnotbedrivendownbyourown planes. Theresponsibility for oursafety, as always,was ourown, and with two blastson the diving alarm, wewould be out of sight

beforeaplanecouldreachourposition.Frankrelievedmeofthe

con and Iwent below.Hecouldhandleanythingthatwaslikelytotakeplace.Ifthesituationwaschangingor in doubt he wouldinform me or call me tothebridge,butifitseemedprudent, he would divewithout hesitation. Tall

andserious,Frankhadmycompleteconfidence.Fraz had completed his

immediate duties asnavigator,sohejoinedmein the wardroom. Over acup of coffee, we plannedthecominghours,decidingto keep them simple. Atrim dive after the blimpwas released and regularunderway routine would

completeourday.Thisdidnot mean that we wouldbe idle, for everyonewould have four or morehours of watch or theequivalent beforemidnight, and routineschool of the boat,conducted by a pettyofficer who was qualifiedin submarines, wouldcontinue for the men inthedutysectionduringthe

short periods when theywere not on watch. In apatrol or so, this trainingand individual studywould lead to theirqualification and the rightto wear silver twindolphins.My own school started

immediately, for waitinginmydeskwasa stackofrecent submarine patrol

reports. Though thereports were brief, themethod of operation ofeach boat and the datacontained in each reportcould provide the key toremainingonejumpaheadof the enemy. Myimmediate task was toknow more about himthan anyone in Pearl’straining command, ournext hurdle before going

onpatrol.We still had a low

overcast at midafternoon,and at the latitude of SanFrancisco dusk wouldcome at about 1630. Thatwould give the blimp justtimeenoughforadaylightmooring.Ithadcarriedoutitsescortmissionwell, forthough we had planes onthe SD (our air-search

radar), none hadapproached us. Wereleased the blimp withthanks for a good job andreceived the pilot’sGodspeed.Scotty sounded two

blastsassoonastheescorthad disappeared, and weslid under the waves forour scheduled trimdive. Iassumed the con and Bill

took the dive, for thesewere our battle stationsand the trim must besatisfactorytobothofus.“Level off at sixty-four

feet, Bill,” was my order,and I received promptacknowledgment.Billblewnegative to the markpreviously established onthegaugeaswepassed48feet, leveled us off at 60,

and eased Tang down totheordereddepth.Hehadcalculated andcompensated accuratelyfor the weight andplacement of the fuel,stores, and torpedoes thathadcomeaboard,andwasable to request speedreductionspromptlyasthefinal pumping of trim andauxiliary tanks wascompleted.

“Satisfied with thetrim,” came over theintercom in Bill’s usualcalmvoice.Wewereat64feet with a one-degreedown-angle, and theBendix log showed 3knots. That down-anglewas exactly the aspect Iwanted, for now just atouch of speed wouldswimTangdownagainstatendency to broach in

heavy seas. Inminuteswewere back on the surfaceand again at three-enginespeed.Duskcameonandthere

were no evening stars.Secretly, I suspected thatthe navigator was just ashappy in using deadreckoning instead ofworking up a star fix.During the second dog

watch we entered ourcorridor and steadied onthenewcourseof225.It had been a long day,

though the relaxation thatcomes with good mealsand accompanyingconversationhadmadethetime slip by quickly. IpickedupmyNightOrderBook from the holder justinsidemycabindoor.Fraz

hadthoughtfullyinsertedaslipofpaperwithessentialfigures I might need. Iwrotebriefly.Under way on course

225° true, en routeSubmarine Base, PearlHarbor. Threemain enginesare on the line, speed 17knots.There should be no

shipping sighted, but do not

let this in any way relaxyour vigilance. I expect theentire watch to be as intentandseriousasifwewereinapatrolarea.Report any changes in

weather or othercircumstances.Ifindoubt,callmetothe

bridge. If in doubt aboutbeing in doubt, call meimmediatelyordive.

Remember,noofficerwillever be reprimanded fordiving, even though it proveunnecessary.In thecontrol roomand

along the forward andafter passageways, thenighttime red lights tohasten our eyes’adaptation to night visionseemed to impose ageneral quiet throughout

the living spaces, thoughno such instruction wasgiven.Mengoingonwatchmoved quietly, speakingsoftly. I put my ear closeto the pressure hull; theseas beyond the voidballast tanks were justaudible. This was as nearas one could come to apeaceful moment in awartimesubmarine.

During the midwatch,the OOD reported thewindbackingtostarboard,and later, the starsbreaking throughoverhead.Wewerepullingclear of the stormy lowpressure area, alsoconfirmed by a risingbarometer. If a star fixshowed us to be in theleadinghalfofourmovingrectangle, aswe expected,

we could delay ouradvance while conductinga simulated submergedapproachandfiring.ThenavigatorandChief

Quartermaster Jones werealreadytakingsightswhenI started for the bridge. Ilet them come below towork out their positionlines before Iwent on up.A half hour later Fraz’s

voice came up the hatch.“It looks good,Captain.” Idropped to the conningtower to see the chart.Things looked goodindeed, for we were 15miles ahead of themidpoint of the rectangleand could now spend anhour or more submerged.If we dived during theforenoon watch, anothersection would take her

down;thenwecouldgotobattlestations.At first thought, asimulated approach andattack might seem toonebulous to have realtraining value. However,the same section of theTDC used to determineenemy course and speedcould also generate acomplete, realistic

problem. To have all theelements for a sonarapproachrequiredonlytherecording of the enemyship’s speed as well as itsrangeandbearingforeachminuteof the exercise.Tointroduce the soundbearings realistically, wedevelopedourowndevice,consisting of my shavingbrush and a dynamicmicrophone. The

microphone was pluggedinto the receptacle in theforwardtorpedoroomthatnormally received theoutput from one of oursound heads so that thenoises created with ourdevice could be heard onthe conning towerreceivers.Two men, armed with

the recorded problem, a

stopwatch, and Tang’s“super sound device,”conducted the enemy’smaneuvers. Anexperienced soundman,wearing an earphone sothathecouldhearwhathewas doing, could generateanytypeofpropellernoiseby repeatedly pushing thebristles of the brushagainst the microphone—the thump-thump-thump of

afreighteror,withafastercircularmotion, the swish-swish-swish of a destroyer.Further, he could controlthevolumebythepressureheappliedandso indicatetherange,andcouldmakethe sounds in the cadenceofapropeller’srevolutionsper minute to give anindicationofspeed.The operator’s assistant,

withtheproblemdataandthe stopwatch, wouldindicate the correctbearingforeachminuteontheazimuthscaleatopthesound head’s housing. Inthe conning tower, thesonarman would train thesound head in searching;whenhecameclosetothecorrect bearing he wouldbe given faint screwnoises, which would peak

as he crossed the bearing.With a series of thesebearings, the propellerrevolutions per minute,and estimated ranges, theTDC operator could solvefor enemy course andspeed, arriving at a fairlyclose solution as theapparent ship passed by.Withexperience,wecouldalso introduce our ownmaneuvers and those of

enemy escorts into theproblem.However, since Iwould never base myfiringonsonarinformationalone,allsimulatedfiringswould follow periscopeobservations as a drill inmy procedure, though ofcourse in these exercises Iwouldmakemy periscopedata agree with theinformation provided bythesonarmanandtheTDC

operator.Mel Enos took Tangdown, and as he leveledtheboatoffhandsomely, Ireflected that a short twoyears before, an officerwith his time in servicewould likely be justobserving, not diving.Since that time, thenecessity for filling new-construction crews and

qualifying replacementshadshakenalittlerealisminto even the mostconservativenavalofficers.After all, Mel wassurroundedbyexperiencedmen who would preventany serious errors. Rightnow, our trust in Melseemed reflected by hisself-confidence. He madenomistakes.

The bonging of thegeneral alarm and theorder “Battle stationstorpedo” came over the1MC, Tang’s announcingsystem. All stationsreported manned overtheir battle telephones,and the practice approachproceeded right up to thefiringpoint.Thencamemyfiringcommand,“Constantbearing—mark!…Fire!”a

separate command on anew periscope bearing foreach torpedo. On each“Fire!” the plunger thatwouldsendthetorpedoonits way was pushedsmartly home. Had thetorpedo tubes themselvesbeen readied for firing,four Mark 14 torpedoes,each with a 500-poundwarhead,wouldhavebeenspeeding at 46 knots into

thePacific.It was a good exercise,even though it did notseem that our firing data,when compared with therecorded problem, wouldsubstantiateahit.Ofmoreimportance was theparticipation by all hands,who had carried out theirtaskssplendidly.Wecoulddiscuss the apparent miss

later in the wardroomwhileonourwayagain.“Prepare to surface.Lookouts to the conningtower,” I called. Imade acarefulsweeparoundwiththe periscope, thenordered, “Sound threeblasts. All ahead two-thirds.” A minute later,now standing on thedripping bridge, I ordered

the turbo blowers startedand the lookouts topside.The bow was riding wellwiththeseasnearlyabeamto port so I ordered, “Allahead standard, threemain engines.” Theexhausts sputtered as thediesels fired, while theturbo blowers forced theremaining water from theballast tanks, slowlyraising us from an awash

to a fully surfacedcondition.By the time theballast tanks were dry, asevidencedbyhugebubblesrising along our sides, wehad regained our cruisingspeed.After the navigator hadobtained a morning sunline, he joined Frank andme in the wardroom todiscuss our simulated

attack. Over a cup ofcoffee, we compared oursolution of enemy courseand speed at the momentof firing with those thathad been recorded for theproblem.We had the shipgoing too fast and on amore divergent course.These were cumulativeerrors,andtheTDC’sanglesolver had directed thetorpedoestointerceptata

pointaheadoftheenemy.“Butwefiredaspreadoffour,”commentedFraz.Hestarted figuring out loud,“Nine knots equals threehundredyardsaminute….The torpedo you firedunder her stern wouldhaveblownherwholebowoff!”“Well, you don’t sinkships with hits in the

bow,” was my response.But I conceded that thecrew might feel betterabout their efforts if theyknew we wouldn’t havemissed completely. Soword of a ghost shipwithamissingbowwaspassedalong by the chief of theboat.Though wartimecruising was a full-time

taskinitself,wecontinuedoureffortstoperfectthosedrills and evolutions thatwould likely be requiredduring the training periodstill ahead of us at Pearl.Oneafteranotherwewereabletoputthesescheduleddrills on the shelf andmove steadily into theroutine we would followwhen en route to a patrolarea. Ifwenowheard the

words “Fire in the afterengineroom!”itwouldbenodrill.Eachnight, shortlyaftertheeveningmeal,amoviewouldstart intheforwardtorpedo room, though ithad to vie with a goodlibrary and acey-deucey.Toward midnight, theunmistakable aroma offresh-baked bread would

permeatetheboat,andtheon-going watch sectionwould pass through themessroom,whereapileofhotrollsawaited.Walker, the steward onwatch,broughtadozenorso to thewardroom. Theywere worth rolling out ofmy bunk for, and I joinedFraz, who couldn’t resistthem either. I’m sure the

navy’s doctors knew whatconstituted a balanceddiet, but they hadmisjudged what asubmarinerwouldeatbyamile. On patrol it hadturned out to be abouttwice the quantity ofbaked goods, in partbecause baking had to bedone at night when thegalley was available, soenough extra had to be

baked for the watchsections.Our progress had beengood even thoughwe hadto take one of the mainengines off propulsion fora short time whencharging batteries. Duringtheseperiods,theauxiliarydieselmadeupsomeofthedifference,andouroverallspeed suffered little.Thus,

on the fourthnight out ofSan Francisco, we crossedthe 500-mile circle fromPearl Harbor;we reportedasrequiredtoCommanderSubmarine Force, Pacific(ComSubPac) andrequested a rendezvouspoint and escort for earlymorning two days fromthen.Molokai was in sight at

dawn on January 8, andbefore 0800 we had ourescort in sight a point onourportbow.Ourpassagethrough the KaiwiChannel,betweenMolokaiand Oahu, was fast anduneventful.DiamondHeadwas abeam to starboardwhen the chop of thechannel suddenly stopped,andourshipsteadied,asifenteringalake.

“Rig ship for surface”and“Makeallpreparationsfor entering port” cameoverthe1MCjustminutesapart. In the channel, thedeck detail came topsideand fell in at quarters ontheforecastle.Formanyofour ship’s company, thiswas their first view ofPearl Harbor. They couldsee only the remnants ofthe December 7 disaster,

for the seeminglyimpossible salvage wasnearing completion. Aright turn around ten-tendock and a wide left turnaround Sparrow PointbroughtTang to her berthat the submarine base.While the troops werebusy with the dozens oftasks incident toarrival inport and makingpreparationsforsailingthe

nextday, I left theshiptomake various courtesycalls.Courtesy calls are morethan just the exercise ofnaval protocol, for theyrenew acquaintances andoffer the senior, andsometimes the junior, theopportunity to speakwhatis on his mind in private.After a brief but cordial

conversation with ViceAdmiral Charles A.Lockwood, ComSubPac, Iproceeded to the trainingcommand. The commandhad apparently beenupgraded, for to mysurprise, Captain John H.Brown, a practical, seniorsubmarinergreetedme.“Now what would theTang like to do, and does

she need anything?” werehis first questions afterwe’d gotten around tobusiness. Things werelooking up for our shipandthetrainingcommand,too, since formerly boatswere just toldwhat todo.Fortunately, Ihadbroughtwithmeaproposedeight-day schedule, which alsoincluded a brief of ourshakedown.Itomittedany

referencetoourdeep-deepdive and other maneuversthat were Tang’s concern,but did show our manyday and night approachesand the firing of over 40exercisetorpedoes.Captain Brown lookedover the proposedoperations, which werebasic;ourapproachesweredesigned to cover the

situationsaboatwouldbemost likely to encounteronpatrol.“That looksgoodtome.WillyouhaveFrazeeworkit up with operations?”said the captain. I wassurprisedthatheknewthename of Tang’s executiveofficer, but I shouldn’thave been. Knowing menwas one of Captain

Brown’slongsuitsandhadundoubtedlyplayedapartin his pending promotiontorearadmiral.Sad news, especially for

me,wasconfirmationofarumor we had heardstateside. My belovedWahoo was indeed“overdue and presumedlost.” This would add anextra note of seriousness

and determination to ourfinaltraining.The training period offPearl Harbor providedgood exercise in themechanics of approachand attack. The targetship, a destroyer escort(DE),wouldcomeoverthehorizon zigzagging on abase course laid down soastopassinTang’sgeneral

area. If our submergedapproach was aggressive,wewouldbeable toclosetoanattackposition.Thatis, if we were not sightedor picked up by the DE’secho-ranging, for shewould then avoid. Somerealism was lacking sinceenemyshipswouldnotbeso conveniently routed,and if they made contact,the escorts would attack

us.After nearly a week ofday and night operations,wehadabreatherinport.About midmorning, I leftthe ship for the trainingcommand.“Well, how’s it going?”askedCaptainBrown,asifhe’dreceivednoreportsonourboat.“Just fine, as far as the

mechanics of approachand attack are concerned,sir. What we really needare someend-aroundsanduncanned situations,” Ireplied. Captain Brownstarted to speak of thespace limitation of thesubmarine sanctuary andthe time such exerciseswould take. Then hestopped.

“What you’re reallysayingisthatyou’rereadytogoonpatrol,”hesaid.Ianswered with a simple“Yes,that’scorrect,sir.”“I’ve had some

interesting reports onTang,” he said. “Also, I’vebeen checking, and nosubmarinehaslefthereonher first patrol with lessthan three weeks of

training.”Captain Brown hadobviously beenanticipating my statementor he wouldn’t have beenchecking on past policy. Ididn’t want to push himintoapositionofhavingtosay no; with a timeprecedent established,though by a formercommander,my insistence

might do just that. Thenext move was obvious: Iinvited the captain to sailwith us the followingafternoon for our late dayandnightoperations.Our ship performedsplendidly while CaptainBrownwasaboard.Iknewit and he knew it, thoughatfirsthedidseemalittletaken aback when I

continuedwithmy cup ofcoffee after the OODreported the target insight.“This is the time I’ll be

spendinggettingmyshoesand jacket on,” Ivolunteered.“Andbesides,trying to get to theconning tower now mightbeabittreacherous.”Two blasts and the

thump of lookouts’ feethitting the control roomdeck punctuated mystatement. The OOD hadobtained the original truebearingpriortodiving;onmy first periscopeobservation, with agenerousamountofscope,we had a second truebearing. With a singleorder, Tang was off tointercept.

After thenightexerciseswerecompletedandwhilewewere en route to port,Captain Brown steppedinto my cabin and satdown on the bunk. Ibuzzed for a couple ofcupsofcoffee.“Well, I’m going to letyougo,”hesaid.But thenheadded,“Iwouldcautionthatyouarewayaheadof

much of your crew, andyou’ll do well to tempersome of your tactics for atime.”This was undoubtedly

good advice—my actionsand decisions didsometimesleavethetroopsa step behind—and Iwouldkeepitinmind.Onthe other hand, Tang’sdeep-deep dive was one

thingourcrewhadalreadydone that no other U.S.submarine crew had evenconsidered.Our pending patrol

operations took Fraz andme to headquarters thenext day. While awaitingthe admiral and from hisvantage point, we hadtime to observe our boatand the others down on

the waterfront. Except forthe revamped bridgefairwater and periscopeshears, Tang’ssuperstructure followedthe traditional designadoptedduringtheyearofLimited Emergencypreceding the war. Thisgaveall ofourboats theirexcellent seakeepingability. Like the tip of aniceberg,whatwecouldsee

belied the ship below: A312-foot hull with 28-footbeam and a surfaced keeldepth of 16 feet displacedover 1,500 tons. Fourdiesels, mostconservatively rated at1,600 horsepower each,could drive the submarineonthesurfaceatwellover20 knots. When she wassubmerged, 252 batterycells, totaling more than

300 tons, could move herin for attack at over 10knots when necessary, orat dead slow speed forthreedays.ButTang’smostsignificantfeaturewasoneshe shared with allsubmarines—the ability toreach the enemy’s mostremotesupplylinesandtopatrolthere.Like other boats at the

fingerpiers,infactallU.S.submarines since thelettered boats of WorldWar I design, oursubmarine bore the nameof a fish. The Tang is anelongatedflatspeciesfromthe Indies that carriesspines protruding aft oneach side of its tail: So inthe tradition of herchristened name and insurface ability our

submarinematchedanyofthe others; submerged shehad depth capabilitiesbeyond any of them.Within weeks, possiblydays,wewouldbeputtingallofthisandourselvestotest and would perhapsjustify the spines that ourtroops had added to asketch ofTang’s namesaketo represent the forwardtorpedo tubes, giving the

fish a most ferociousappearance.Our four-day readinessfor sea period remainedbusy but not hectic.Reloading torpedoes,fueling, taking aboardstores, attending briefings,and squaringawaydozensof smaller items kept twosections busy, but onesection got ashore each

day.Withthisschedule,alldepartments were readyforseabylateafternoonofthefourthday.Inthequietofmycabinon the last evening atPearl,Ithoughtofsomeofthe factors that hadbrought Tang to thismoment. Of hercompletion and underwaytrials, right on schedule

andwithout a hitch. Theywere a tribute to themenofMareIslandandgaveusourinitialconfidence.Soabit of each workmanremained with our shipand crew. Of CommodoreMcCandless, whoseassistance had made ourdeep dive successful. Ofthe dive and our realisticshakedown, which haddemonstrated our

capability. Of the friendsand loved ones who hadgathered at the GoldenGate Bridge to see us offand whose prayers weknewwerewithus.AndofTang herself, a vibrantship, performing withoutflaw under the mostcritical eye. She surelywould not be foundlackingduringourcomingendeavors against the

enemy.The sound of men

moving along thepassageway on returningfrom the movies at thebase was followed shortlyby a quiet knock. Frazentered and reported, “Allhands are aboard andTang’s ready for patrol,Captain.”

PartII

FirstPatrol

INTHECAROLINESAND

MARIANAS

January 22, 1944, hadcome quickly. At noonTang sounded a prolongedblast and backed smartlyout of her slip. The portscrew went ahead two-thirds, and shecommenced a rapid twistin an almost stationary

position; then all aheadtwo-thirds,andshewasonherway.Asweclearedtheharbor, our friend thedestroyer escort tookstation ahead. Weproceeded down theprescribed lane, thenheadedwest.Our destination wasWake Island, which hadbeen in Japanese hands

sincemid-December,1941.Staging planes throughthis atoll would be oneway the enemy mightcounter OperationFlintlock,thependingU.S.assault on Kwajalein, theJapanesestrongholdintheMarshalls,600milestothesouth.Inalow-levelattackonWake, our flying boatscould very likely destroyany fuel dumps and

prevent an enemycounterattack from thisquarter. Thus two suchstrikes, coming about sixdays apart, were plannedforCommanderThomasP.Connally’s squadron ofCoronado seaplanebombers, then based atKaneohe,Oahu.Originally, Tang’s smallpart was to provide

lifeguard service shouldany bomber come down.During the readiness forseaperiod,FrazandIhaddrivenovertoKaneohe,onthe windward side ofOahu, to work out detailswith the squadroncommander.TomConnallywasasleanandwiryashehadbeenwhenIknewhimat the Naval Academy,where hewas anOlympic

gymnast. As we discussedplans for the strikes, hisenthusiasmandconfidencewerecontagious,andTangwas soon a participant. Inaddition to lifeguardduring the strikes, wewouldconductapre-strikereconnoiter of Wakeaircraft activity andpossible resupply. If ourfindingswarrantedit,Tangwould withdraw to report

to the commander, whosesquadron would be inreadiness at Midway. Forthe strikes themselves,Tang would serve as abeacon for theCoronados,stationing herself on theselected path for thebombing runs and tenmiles from the center ofWake’sfacilities.Following her lifeguard

duty,Tangwas toproceedtoanarea in thenorthernCarolines and from thereto Truk. This prospect ofseveralpatrol areasmeantat least an extra thousandmiles in transit and calledfor two things. One wasthe conservative use ofdiesel oilwhenever itwascompatible with thepatrol.Theotherwasextrafuel. We had already

prepared for this latterrequirement while ourboatwasstillontheways.Meat was dear andrationed, so for theconsideration of onesmoked ham, theshipyard’s night shift hadseen to the installation ofoilproof neoprene gasketsinnegativeandsafetytankfloods and vents. Wahoohadn’t minded donating

the ham, since the wholeship’scompany,exceptforthe few of us who weregoingtonewboats,wasonleave while she receivednewbatteries.For this patrol, we had

filled safety with fuel,enough to take us nearlyto Wake Island at aneconomical speed. Wewould be light on diving,

for safety would normallyflood with salt water,about 20 percent heavierthan oil. Bill wouldcompensate for that byblowingnegativeonlypartway dry when we dived.Thesituationofbeinglightwould last only until wehadusedenoughfuelfromour normal system. Thenthe oil in safetywould betransferred to the regular

fuel tanks, and safetywould resume its normalfunction. If this workedwell, the increasedcruisingrangemightletusfind an extra shipsometime, and all for thepriceofaham.This then was Tang’s

situation as our escortturned back for PearlHarbor and we proceeded

west at one-engine speed.OurobjectivewastoreachWake Island and, ifpossible, to do soundetected. Since therewould be no possibility ofenemy planes for somedays, we wouldconcentrate our search onsubmarines. To this end,eachlookout,with7×50binoculars, was searchingthewatertothehorizonin

two careful sweeps, onewith the top of hisbinocular field just abovethe horizon, and the nextthree-quarters of a fieldlower.Betweensweeps,hewould lowerhisglasses inorder to give his sector arapid search with theunaided eye. Thoughcontact with an enemysubmarine was veryunlikely,thelookoutswere

aware that at this speedwe were vulnerable. Iwatched theirconcentration. TheJapanese skipper whoseperiscope went unsightedwould be good indeed.Withprideandconfidence,Iwentbelow.Yeoman McNally was

right on, perhapspromptedbytheexecutive

officer, and had laid thestackofnewpatrolreportson my desk. I started topick one up, but a quickturnthroughtheboattookprecedence. I hadencouraged the oncomingOOD to do this. Thefirsthand information hegainedandaquick glanceat any orders would thenpermit him to assume thewatch with a simple “I

relieve you, sir.” Themomentary inattentionpossible were thisinformation to beconveyed orally wouldthus be avoided. If Ibelieved it good for them,then it was good for me,too. These were notinspections, just informalturns, and nothing morethanthenormalcourtesiesshipmates would show to

oneanotherwasexpected.In the galley, just aft of

the control room, Wixonwas supervising thepreparationoftheeveningmeal,butthetablesinthecrew’s mess were stilloccupied by men playingacey-deucey or readingbooks that had beensuppliedbytheRedCross.Already,trashandgarbage

had accumulated andwould have to be put inweightedsacksfordisposalafter dark. In the livingspaces, aft of themessroom,somemenwerereading,butallwasquiet.The crew’swashroomwascrowded as handsscrubbed up for supper.ThepingingrumbleofNo.1main engine greetedmeasIwentthroughthedoor

to the forward engineroom. Chief MacDonald,our leading motormachinist’s mate, wasoverseeing the watch. Hisbrown hair, ruddycomplexion, and pleasantsmile bespoke his name,but gave no hint of theengineering skills hebrought to Tang frompatrols in Halibut. Astandby watch was

conducting generalmaintenance in the afterengine room. First ClassElectrician’s Mate Kivlen,from eight patrols inThresher, was overseeingtwostrikersonthecontrollevers in themaneuveringroom. There the electricaloutput from the dieselgeneratorsor thebatterieswas directed to the fourmain motors, or from the

generators to the batterieswhen on charge. Onoccasion, the frighteningfigure of 5 million wattswould pass through thiscontrol cubicle. Someoneelse might have beensurprised to see crates oforanges lashed in out-of-the-way places. But thiswas a trick I had broughtfromWahoo;ourcrewwassure to snitch them, and

that was the reason forstashing them equallythroughout the boat.Satisfied, I went forward.Walker had just broughtmeacupoffreshlybrewedcoffee when a messengercame forward from thecontrolroom.“The officer of the deck

reports that the sun hasset, Captain,” he said,

pronouncing each wordcarefully, as if he hadmemorizedthereport.Thiswasprobably thecase, forhe held a small slip ofpaper at his side. Theimportant thing was theconciseness of the report.Hewould soon be at easeand would need noprompter. To help thisalong, I thanked him forhis report and sent back

word to man the SJ(surface-search) radarnow,andtosecuretheSDradar and high periscopesearchatdark.Blessed darkness wouldfollowsunsetinlessthanahalf hour at this latitude,and then a submarinecouldfeelalmostassecureas when submerged. Wewould follow the night

cruising routine we hadused along the Mexicancoast. The evening meal,movies, and otheractivities would mostlikely continueuninterrupted.About 2000, the OOD

requested permission toopen the messroom hatchto dump trash andgarbage. It was a good

opportunity for me to gotopsideintothecoolnightairand judge formyself ifthe hatch should beopened. Though the seaswere from the starboardquarter, they were barelyrolling into oursuperstructure, and Inodded to Ed Beaumont,who had the deck. Thehatch was opened, theweighted sacks went up

and over the side, andeverything was securedagain in seconds.Somewhat envious of Edwith his topside watch, Iwent below for a game ofcribbage with Fraz andthenmystackofreports.On the second day out,we checked Bill’scompensation with amidmorningdive.Heheld

the boat up at periscopedepth with negative stillfloodedbykeepinganup-angle on the submarine.Then he blew negativeslowly until we wereleveled off at one-thirdspeedandthusestablishedanewmarkonthegauge,which would serve as aguide to whoever divedduring the next few days.Our routine would now

includedailydives,thoughatnoscheduledtime.When two days from

Wake Island, we werewithin possible range ofenemy search planes, soour lookouts had to coverthe sky as well as thewater to thehorizon.Thisthey did in horizontalsweepsabove thehorizon,thensearchingatriangular

area to overhead. Asbefore, after each sweepthe glasses were loweredto permit a rapid view ofthe whole area with theunaided eye. We thusexpected to sight anyplane while it was stillmanymilesaway,beforeitsawus.Shouldaplanegetby the field of thebinoculars, the rapidsearch with the unaided

eyemustspotitintimeforus to dive before it couldattack.Instead of the formalposition slips that hadbeen requiredwhen Iwasin the navigator’s shoes, Ihad requested that Frazbring his chart to thewardroomaftersupper.Atother times Iwould see iton the chart desk. On the

eveningofJanuary26,theexact 2000 position, runahead from his eveningstar fix, showed that wewere20milesaheadoftheposition laid down on ourtrack. We had gained alittle each day in spite ofour recent dives. Thisfitted in well withconverting safety tankback to its normalfunction, for the diesels

had now used somewhatmorefuelfromourregulartanksthansafetyheld.Theoilwastransferredwithoutincident, but beforeflushingsafetywechangedcourse to north. Any oilslicks thatwemight leavewhile flooding andblowing safety to rinse itout would lie on a north-south line and would notdiscloseourtrack.Afteran

hour’s run and half adozen blows, Tang cameback to the course forWake.Taking a tip from the

“remarks” section of twopatrol reports thatdiscussed radar detection,we kept our SJ radartrainedclearofthebearingof Wake Island as wemoved in on the night of

the 27th. Frazee’snavigation was exact andweneedednorangetotheatoll, so why take thechance of advertising ourapproach with radarsignals? At the crack ofdawn, Tang dived fivemilesnortheastofWake.

Frank took thediveasweslid under the sea andleveled the boat off at 64feet. He soon requestedone-third speed andreported a satisfactorytrim.Onthefirstperiscopeobservationitwasstilltoodark to distinguish any

details. Then, just asdarkness had comequickly, so did daylight. Imade a fast sweep in lowoptical power, with itswidefield,forasubmarinenever knew what mighthave moved in duringdarkness. All was clear.Then I flipped the handletohighpowerandmadeaslow search. The tops ofstructures on Peale Island

poppedabovethehorizon,as ifcomingupoutof thesea. Everyone was quiet.“Bearing—mark. Downscope,”Icalled.“Zerozerosix,”saidJones,ashereadthe relative bearing fromthe azimuth scale on thescopehousingandloweredthescopesimultaneously.Fraz had already

converted the relative

bearing to true and waslaying down the line as Istepped over to the chartdesk.Thelinebisectedthehigh point of the island,the northernmost part ofWake Atoll. I sketched invery lightly the track wewould follow past theislands. It would keep usthreemilesoffthereefbutstill close enough for thereconnaissancewewanted.

Fraz smoothed out mysketching with sharp,straight lines and enteredthecoursetobesteeredoneachleg.IbroughtTangtothefirstleg.“Will you take the con

and call me when wereach here,” I said,indicating a point wherewewouldchangecourseinabout a half hour, and

then gave searchinstructions. We wouldexposenomorethanthreefeet of periscope andwould take looks everyfive minutes. In thismanner we would not besurprised by a plane thatmight take off and beoverheadweretheintervalmuchlonger.Iwentbelow,forIhada

reason for wanting myexecutive officer to closethe island. It hearkenedback to an experience IhadhadinWahooasMushMorton’s exec. We werebothon thebridgeclosingapromontoryatdawnanddived a little too early.Before we could doanything about it, a fineship whipped around thepoint and was gone. I

remember Mush’s exactwords when we discussedour failure later. “Withtwo of us up there we’rejust too cautious. Fromnowonyou’ll takeher in,dive, and call me whenyou’vegotashipinsight.”I might not go quite thatfar, but there were boundto be many times whenFraz would have to carrytheball, andagoodplace

tostartwasrighthere.FrazandItookturnson

the periscope thatmorning, changing atabout two-hour intervals.First came Peale Island,which had once held thePanAmericanHotelintheChina Clipper days of themid-1930s. It hadapparently burned duringthe Japanese assault; at

least we could not see it.Continuing our clockwisecourse around the atoll,we then passed thenorthern arm of WakeIsland, which is shapedlike a big V, open to thenorthwest. Before theJapanese had taken theislandfromus,mostofthefacilitiesandlandingstripswerelocatedneartheapexof the V. We saw the

buildings but no signs ofactivity. Finally cameWilkes Island, originallyan extension of Wake’ssouthern arm but nowseparated from it by adredged small-boatchannel.By midafternoon Tang

had examined all of theatoll except where thelagoon opened to the sea

at the mouth of the V.From three miles out wehad not seen any activity,but neither was thereanything that wouldwarrant altering the strikedate.Wemovedoff to thesouthwest, where wewouldsurfaceatdark.Thisseemed to be the mostlikely place to interceptany ship or submarinesupplying Wake from the

Empire and a secure spotforustochargebatteries.Ithadbeena longdive,and since the seas werecalm we took a suctionthrough the boat shortlyaftersurfacingandassoonas the chargewas started.Opening the forwardtorpedo room hatch andthe doors to the engineroom brought a true gale

through the ship to feedthose diesels. In three orfourminutes,theairintheboat was completelychanged, and any slightheadaches disappearedinstantly. The hatch wasclosed, and wecommenced our nightsurface routine, changingit in one respect. We hadno place to go, so weremainedstoppedformost

of thenight.Thishadtwoadvantages: Our soundgear was effective nowthatitwasnotblankedoutby our own screw noises,andwesavedfuel.Onthefollowingdaywe

moved in submergedtowardtheopenroadsteadoff the boat channelbetweenWilkesandWake.That was the only

anchorage,andshouldanyship have slipped by us,shemightbethereforourtorpedoes. This was notour luck, soweproceededsubmerged to ourdesignatedpositionforthefirst strike by theCoronadobombers.In the forward engine

room, the troops had aproject with a deadline

this very evening. Tanghad to supply a suitablebeacon light,but sincewewouldbeonthehorizonasviewed from Wake, thelight had to be screenedfrom the atoll. Our signalsearchlight was ideal, butrigging a suitable light-tight screen from thematerials at hand wassomething else. That is,until someone thought of

theyeoman’scircularfiberwastebasket.Thediameterofthebottomhappenedtobe thesameas thatof thesearchlight. With thebottomout, the fiberconemade a perfect screen,securedneatlywithabandof the pharmacist’s mate’swideadhesivetape.

We surfaced duringmideveningtwilight,while

there was still a sharphorizonforthenavigator’sstar sights. Fraz’s positionlines lay neatly through aneedlepoint,andTanghadto move but a shortdistance to be right onstation. The navigatorcontinuedtogetgoodstarsights from our stationaryposition,andonahorizonthat would have beendeemed fuzzy and

worthless in peacetime.Our position remainedgood.“Radar contact, bearingzero three eight, rangethirty-six thousand.” Ed’svoicecameoverthebridgespeaker.ThecontactcouldonlybetheCoronados,forplaneshadtobeflyinglowtobepickedupbyourSJ.“What’sthatrelative?”

“Oneeightfive.”Jones trained the

searchlight just off ourstern on Tang’s portquarterandgavethesignalagreed upon, in thecadenceofagunsalute:“IfI wasn’t a gunner Iwouldn’t be here, rightgun fire,” with Jonesgiving a long dash withtheword“fire”atthefive-

secondintervals.And then the great

flying boats were there,looming out of thedarkness just above thehorizon.Secondslatertheywere passing over ourperiscope shears, only ahundred feet above, theirblueexhaustflamingatusandmarkingalinetowardWake.

It was perhaps just aswell that I had to givenoorders, for I felt my teethclench and my eyes mistup as I wished thosemenGodspeed.Flashes and flames ontheatollshowedthattheirbombs were hitting, buttherewasnowayforustoestimatethedamage.Tangremainedonstationfor20

minutes so that anydamaged plane wouldknow where to find herand then headed downpast Wake for possiblerescue. About an hourafterthestrike,twoenemyplanes commenceddropping flares andsearching the area, butneithercameclosetous.It was not until after

midnight thatwe receivedthegoodnewsthatnoneofthe bombers had comedown and only one wasdamaged. To our surprise,themessagefurtherread:

TANG RELEASED FROM

LIFEGUARD

PROCEEDTONEXTAREA

Apparently the secondCoronadostrikewasoff,so

we presumed OperationFlintlock had been asuccess. Three engineswent on the line forpropulsion,oneoncharge,andwewere on ourway.Our elation was short-lived, however; threehours and 60 miles later,the second part of themessage was cancelled,andTangwasorderedbackto Wake. The second

strike, scheduled forFebruary 5, was still on;someone on the staff atPearlhadjustgoofed.During the followingdays, Tang patrolledsouthwest ofWake duringthe night and closed theisland each day. Therewere planes in the airduring daylight, but noshipscametotheatoll.We

couldnotcomplain inonerespect,fortheairactivitykept us on our toes andprovided good periscopetraining,while the fish allabout the reef gave ourinexperienced soundoperatorsconniptionswiththeir grunting, whistling,andpseudoecho-ranging.The repeat performance

by the Coronados was

uneventful and lackedsomeofthezestofthefirststrike, partly because itwas a duplicate, butmostly because the planescameoverathighaltitudethis time. Though ourreconnaissance did notdisclose specific damageby either strike, Japaneseplanes were in the airdaily, so they must havebeenshakenup.

Finally, shortly aftermidnight, our call signprecededa codedmessagereceived on the Fox, thenightly schedule ofbroadcasts fromComSubPac to hissubmarines. Before MelEnos could decode it, aseconddieselhadfiredandTang was on her way. Asexpected, all planes weresafeandwewere released

fromlifeguardduties.Thiswas no false start, andthoughtheFoxhadn’ttoldus,thistimeweweresurethatallhadgonewellwithFlintlock.

ItwasnowFebruary7,forwe had crossed the dateline, and our course wassouthwesterly, toward theCaroline Islands. Thisarchipelago, located southof the Marianas, stretchesfrom the Marshalls in theeastandincludesthePalau

Islands in the west.Consistingmostly of smallislands, reefs, and atolls,the Carolines would nothave been of greatimportance except for onelarge island atoll in aboutthe center of the chain.Made up of several nearlysunken mountains,surrounded by distantreefs, and with deepanchorages, it was

frequently called JapansGibraltarofthePacific;onthechartsitiscalledTruk.Theprogressof theU.S.

offensive in the CentralPacific, through theGilberts and Marshalls,had been too costly in itsinitial stages; it was stillunacceptably slow. Tospeed this up throughbypassing the Carolines

andmovingdirectlyontheMarianas would stillrequire neutralizing Truk.Tangandothersubmarineswould participate for thepresentbysteppinguptheattrition of shipping innearby areas, and wouldlater be positioned tointercept fleeing shipsduring OperationHailstone, a carrier airstrikeonTruk.

Pending final decisionsconcerningthestrike,Tangdid have a patrol area.Aboutthesizeofthestateof Connecticut, it waslocated north of thecentral Carolines and wasessentially a holding areauntiljustbeforethestrike.No logical shipping lanespassed through it, butmuch in war is illogicaland the unexpected

frequently happens. Atleastwewereonourown,andtheproblemwasours.Tang would operate in

such a manner that fuelwould not be a limitingfactor terminating thispatrol. This very minuteshewasproceeding toherarea at two-engine speedinstead of three to makeup for the diesel oil she

had consumed during thefalsestart.Inthefollowingdays, when in our patrolarea,Tang’s routinewouldalso be patternedaccordingly. Our firstpriority, however, was toreach the Carolines. Justbefore 0400, I wasawakened by a slightlymore severe voice thanusual coming through thecontrol room door. Some

have called it submarineears,butanychangeinthenormalsoundswakensyouinstantly, especially ifyou’re in a position ofresponsibility. You canthen either get upimmediatelyor, ifyouarecool, lie there and awaitdevelopments. I had abetter solution for suchoccasions—aneavesdropping switch on

the commercial Voycallintercom,whichservedthebridge, conning tower,control room, and mycabin. I flicked the switchat the head of my bunkand listened to ChiefBallinger.Hewaslecturingthe on-going lookoutsconcerning theirresponsibilities and theadded dangers withcoming dawn, when an

enemy submarine trackinguscouldhavedivedahead.I sent for my Night

Order Book and checkedthe time of morningtwilight, then entered:Maketrimdiveat0520.Tangwason the surface

again at a quarter of thehour,moving over a calmseawithacrisphorizonallaround. On such a day, a

single light puff of smokeor the rising haze fromdiesel engines of any shipwould be visible eventhough the ship herselfmight be many milesbeyond the horizon. Suchvisibility was a two-wayaffair,however,andcalledforasunlookout.Hissoleduty was to examine thesun through protectivelenses and the area in its

vicinity with clearbinoculars.Only from thisarea could a plane have achance of attacking, butwith an alert sun lookouteventhatwasminimal.The morning was

uneventful, thenoonmealsatisfying, and then camethe shout, “Clear thebridge! Clear the bridge!”punctuatedwithtwoblasts

on the diving alarm. Theother sounds of divingwere normal, but theexcitement in the OOD’svoice had told half thestory; the starboardlookout told the rest:There was a distant planea point on our bow. Tangwas passing 60 feet whenwe blew negative to leveloff at 80. That was acomfortable depth, giving

someroomtosteadydownshouldourtrimnotbetoogood or our planesmen abit excited.We thenwentup to 64 feet for aperiscope observation,cautiousasalways, forwecould never know whatmight have transpired onthesurface.The executive officer

gave the relative bearing,

and I had the plane insight on the first high-power observation. AJapanese patrol, probablya Betty, heading to thesoutheast. A few truebearings till the planefinally disappearedconfirmed the direction inwhich it was heading,perhaps to Ponape, about300 miles east of Truk.Afteranother tenminutes,

with the horizon clear allaround,Tang surfacedandproceeded toward herarea.Theremainderoftheday was uneventful,thoughpossiblyabitmoretaut, and darkness waswelcome.The evening Fox

schedule containedanother message with ourcall sign, and Mel

completedthedecodingina hurry. The submarineGuardfishwouldbepassingclose to our track andmight be sighted thefollowing day. Frazsuspected that the crewhadasightingpool,whichwas all rightwith both ofus. In factwewouldhavelikedachanceourselves.Iftherewasapool,thecrewmember with the 15-

minute slip won, for at1315 on February 8,Guardfish’s periscopeshears came over thehorizon. We continued toclose, and thenunexpectedly Guardfishdived.Was it Guardfish? Had

she received themessage?Though the answer wasvery probably yes in each

case, a submergedsubmarine,friendlyornot,wasnothingtofoolaroundwith.Tangcrankedontwomoreenginesandgavethediving position a wideberth, well beyond anypossible approach andtorpedorange.At midafternoon Tang

entered her patrol area.The seas looked the same,

but there was oneimportant difference; theywerenowexclusivelyours.Noonewouldbetellinguswhatwecoulddohere,orhow we should conductour patrol. We hadachieved our firstobjective, the next was tofind the enemy. The firstmove was obvious. WithU.S. naval operationsprobably still in progress

some 500 miles to thesoutheast, there would beno Japanese shipping inthat direction, so Tangheaded west. Two-enginespeed would take us farenoughby0300.Therewewould conduct our searchon the following day. Iwrote in my night orders:Proceeding on course 254°trueat14knots,80/90[80percent load, 90 percent

speed]ontwomainengines,enroutetoourpatrolstationfor tomorrow. The batterycharge should be completedbyaboutmidnight.At0300stop, lie to,andmansound.If rolling becomes excessive,maneuver on the battery asnecessary. Search ourvicinity thoroughly,continuously,anddiligently.The night was quiet,

especially after we hadstopped. Men coming onwatch moved silently andtalked in low voices andwhispers. Itwasreallynotnecessary, but I certainlywould do nothing to altertheir seriousness. Dawncame and we continuedour search, nowaugmented by the searchperiscope, with Tang stillon the surface, lying to

andmaintainingquiet.Thiswas a far cry fromaccepted submarinedoctrine, which dictatedhaving way on the boat,but what is doctrineanyway? I believe it is aset of procedures,established throughexperience,thatprovidesaguide.Butdoctrineshouldbeflexible,neverrigid,for

circumstancesoftendictatecomplete departures. Oursituation that day was anexample of suchcircumstances.Inorderforustoutilizespeed in searching, it wasfirstnecessarytoknowthegeneral direction of theenemy’s movement. Wecould then proceed on avery wide zigzag ahead

and thus cover a broaderfront as the enemyovertook. But we werepresently in an open-seaarea, and enemy shipsmight be on any track,though the northwest-southeast courses passingthrough the western partseemed more likely. Noamountofrunningaroundat our available speedswould increase the

probability of sighting theenemy. In fact, to do sowould only make us atarget for a submergedenemy submarine andwouldblankoutoursoundgear with our own screwnoises.Tangwaslyingtointhecenterof a circle some20miles in diameter that wehadsearchedbyradarand

sound during the threehours before daylight. Itwas clear of any enemy.Theonlyplanesthatcouldreach our position werepatrol bombers. We couldsightthemanddivebeforethey sighted us, for ourdiving timewhen lying towas only five secondslonger than whenproceeding at 15 knots.The only real danger was

fromasubmarine,butshewould first have to comeinto the area undetectedby our sound, radar,scopes,andlookouts.Thenshewouldhavetoconducta many-mile submergedapproach. This would callfor considerablesubmerged speed. Oursoundman, with nointerference fromourownpropeller noises or from

other machinery, woulddetect her screws beforeshe reached an attackposition. The foregoingwas not just conjecture orwe would not be stakingourlivesonit.In addition, lying to

whileinthisopen-seaareawould use only the dieselfuel necessary for normalliving, just a fraction of

that consumed whencruising at one-enginespeed. The oil we savedwouldbeavailablewhenitmight really be needed inpursuingtheenemy.There were, of course,the alternatives of asubmerged patrol withhighperiscopesearchesorof periodic surfacing.Neither of these would

insure the coverage wewanted, nor would theysavethefuel,aswewouldthen be charging batteriesnightly.We shifted our patrolstation about 20 mileseacheveningsothat ifwewere detected, shippingcould not just be routedclear of a single spot. Atthe same time we were

working south near thewestern boundary of ourassigned area. During theforenoon of the third day,February11,wedived foran unidentified plane,which I strongly suspecthad feathers. At least alazygooney, itswings justtouching the crests of thesmallwaves,was theonlything in sight when wereturned to periscope

depth. Tang remaineddown the usual extra fewminutes and then ingeneral support of thelookout headed south,away from the reportedplane.At about 1130, “Fire in

thegalley!”cameoverthe1MC. The fire party fromforward arrivedimmediately, but

extinguishing the flameswas another matter. Theculprit was the largecommercial deep-fat fryer,now loaded with salt butstill blazing since theheating element could notbe turned off. Fire partiesfromaftwerecalledwhenthe paint and cork on thebulkheads burst intoflames. Fortunately, thespike on an old-fashioned

fireaxrippedthearmoredelectrical cable out of itsjunction box, effectivelyturning the machine off.Thefirewasonitswayoutuntil someone opened thehull ventilation clappervalves to get rid of thesmoke. The rush of freshair rekindled the flames,and acrid smoke filledevery compartment. Ittook freshwater hoses and

fire fighters wearing air-supplied diving masks toget the flames out. Allhands except those withmasks had been forcedtopsideby the smoke,andthey carried with themeveryavailableweaponasdefense against a possibleenemyplane.On my next turn belowto control, however, I

found Fireman AnthonystillmanningtheSDradar,with the thick glasses healways wore practicallyglued to the screen. Weswitched off the SD and Ifollowedhisheels topside.AnSD contactwouldonlyadd to our problems, forwecouldn’tdiveanyway.Withthelastemberout,ourdieselsgobbledupthe

smoke with a suctionthrough both torpedoroom hatches. In minutesTang was again buttonedupandheadingsouth,butwith a blackened galleyand messroom to remindFrazandme toworkoverourFireBill.Afteranextrahour’s run to put badmemories and the slightpallofsmokewelloverthehorizon, we stopped and

continuedoursearch.Before the usualcribbage and acey-deuceygames when the eveningmeal was finished, Frazbrought in the Fire Bill.Ballinger joined us, for itwas he who saw to itsposting in eachcompartment and to thecorrections, too. Thechanges were obvious. A

simple sentence added tothe bill for eachcompartmentdirectedthatventilation clappers bekept closeduntilorders tothecontraryweregiven.Ballinger went aft, andFrazwas talking about animproved installation ofthe fryer. It was designedfor operation on AC buthad been installed on DC

with its thermostatoperatingaseparaterelay.This should have beenentirely satisfactory, butthe relay, which was nopart of themachine itself,had fused, leavingnowaytoturnoff the fryer.Noneof our ideas seemed tooffer any solutions,perhapsbecauseourheartswere not in it. Thisconversation was brought

to a happy conclusion bythe reappearance ofBallinger, who had beendiscussing the same thingwith some of the ship’scompany. The crew’ssolutionwas quite simple,and the chief of the boatexplained it straight fromtheshoulder.“Captain, the troops

wouldliketogetridofthe

goddamned thing.” Thiswasnotaprofaneship,butthe wish could not havebeen expressed moresuccinctly.When itwaspitch-blacktopside, following theweighted bags of garbage,the deep-fat fryer went toDavyJones’slocker.

Timehadnotdragged,but

we had been 20 days onpatrolwithoutevenapuffofenemysmoketorewardthehoursofconcentration.It is difficult to inject anylevity into such a deadlyserious business, butneither is it possible tomaintain such a tautroutine without somebreak. Now, one of theexecutive officer’s finequalitieswasagoodsense

of humor. I listened andwent along with Fraz’splan.While Mel Enos was on

watch topside, Frazencoded a message in theradio room addressed toTang, Sunfish, and Skate.The other two submarineshadprecededusonpatrol,and our crew knew theywere at Truk. With the

connivance of theradiomen, the messagewas copied into theincoming Fox from Pearl,complete with call signs,identifiers, and the Ultraprefix, signifying that themessage was based oninformation from adecoded Japaneseoperationsmessage.At theappropriate time,

after Mel had come offwatch,hewascalledtotheradio room just as he hadbeen forpreviousencodedmessages. Word cameforward shortly that wehad something hot. Frazraced aft, gathered up thetape as it cameout of themachine, and headed forthe wardroom; but hedropped the messageportion on the control

room deck on his waythrough. After giving theduty chief just enoughtime to thumb it through,Frazretrieveditandcameback to officers’ country.Now for the first time Isaw the completedmessage:

TANG WILL JOIN SKATE AND

SUNFISHASA

WOLF PACK TO ATTACK CONVOY

CONSISTINGOFSIX

TANKERS AND ESCORTED BY

SIXTEENDESTROYERS

TANG IT WILL BE YOUR MISSION

TOEXPOSE

YOURSELF AHEAD OF THE

CONVOYTODRAWOFF

THE ESCORTS AND THEN EVADE

ATYOUR

SUPERIOR DEPTH WHILE SKATE

ANDSUNFISH

WIPE OUT THE TANKERS GOOD

LUCK

Itwasjustcornyenoughto ring true, but whatsurprisedFrazandmewasthe speed with which thedope went through theboat. Muffled comment of“Jesus Christ, we’re goingto take all the bastards’depthcharges!”and“Howthe hell are we going toget a combat pin if wedon’t even get to fire ourtorpedoes!” could already

beheardfromtheforwardtorpedoroom.I knew that thesubmarine combat pin,awardedonly if an enemyship was sunk, was aprestige item, but I hadnot realized until thismomentthatitwasofsuchimportance to the troops.It appeared thatwemighthave gone a little far, but

the truth soon leaked outand a message thefollowing eveningsolidified things. It was atrue Ultra, addressed foractiontoSkateandSunfishbutonlyforinformationtoTang. A convoy wouldleaveGrayFeatherBankat0800 the following day,heading for Truk. Threemore engineswent on theline, telling all hands that

Tang meant to get therefirst.

Our Operation Orderspecified2400ofFebruary15 as the time we coulddepart from our patrolarea tohead forTruk andthen to our assignedposition for Hailstone, thecarrierair strike.With theUltra developments, we

saw fit to modify this.While the navigator wasplotting, we were makingknots. The extra distancewe could travel beforemidnight could be criticalin reaching a positionahead of the convoy. Frazcompleted the true plotshortly and called hisrecommendations up theconning tower hatch,“Course one six five at

eighteen knots, Captain.”Wecameleft15degrees.I dropped down the

hatch to look things overwith Fraz. His trackshowed we would haveUlulIslandonourbeamat0300, which was fine, asthepatrolsfromitsairfieldwould not be out beforedawn. With everythinglookinggood,wegaveone

engine back to Bill Walshfor his battery charge.Frank Springer had thedeck andwas followed byHankFlanagan.Thisfittedin well, too, for each wasan extremely capableOOD.Wecouldnotaffordthedelayofadive,and ittookonlyawordtoinsurethat theywouldcallme ifat all possible beforesoundingtwoblasts.

Before midnight, Frankreported a fallingbarometer, with seaspulling around to thesouth. Shortly,Tang’s bowstarted rising and fallingslowly. With somemisgivings,whichacupofcoffee failed to allay, Iwent topside. Fraz wasalready there. We lookedat the seas, which werebuilding up fast, with

whitecaps as far as wecouldsee,tilltheyblendedinto the darkness. Theyhad already knocked ourspeeddownalmost2knotsandpromisedtodobetter.Another engine would dolittle to make it up, mostof the energy going intobattering the seas. Wewent below to thewardroom where Walker,who had the steward’s

duty, had just completedan experiment in makingpeachturnovers.Hotones,rightoutoftheoven,wereimpossible to resist, sowith the excuse that weprobably wouldn’t sleepmuch anyway, we scoffedacoupleofthem.“We’ll read it in themorning, Fraz. Ifwe can’tget toour spot, thenwe’ll

come left and head ’emoff. It could be a bitwoolly!”“Wecandivefasterthan

a Zeke, Captain,” Frazreplied. He was readingmefivebyfive.We’dbothbetopsideatdawn.Before getting some

shut-eye,I tookoneofmyfrequentturnsthroughtheboat. In the forward

torpedo room, Hank andhis torpedomen were justcompleting a recheck ofthe final adjustments ontheir last torpedo.Aft, thewatchstanderswereintentat their duties, though anote of excitement wasevident. They alreadyknew that the situationwas taut but did not letthat affect theirconfidence. In the engine

rooms, where the roar ofthe diesels prevented theusual courteous exchange,the thumb and indexfinger sign conveyed theirsupport. It was with menlikethesethattheseedsofa fighting submarinegerminated. How couldany captain not do hisdamnedesttoliveuptohistrust and theirexpectations?

Dawn broke on a dustysea, perfect for asubmerged approach, butthe navigator’s star fixshowed Tang just passingUlul. The convoy’sprojected trackstill lay40milesahead.Wecame left20 degrees to head for anew point ahead of theenemy, one that we stillmight be able to reach.With seas moderating,

perhaps due to the shoalsto starboard, the fourthmainenginewentbackontheline.TheSDradarwasused sparingly until wewere beyond its detectionrange from Ulul. Even so,on many of these shortobservations there weredistant planes. Thesemightbeneartheislandorthey might be patrollingahead of the convoy. We

had no way of knowing,for the SD was notdirectional; it gave only apiptoindicateaplaneandtherange.At about 0930, a pipthathadbeenhangingoutaround 18 milescommenced closingsteadily.The reports cameup from the control room—16miles…14miles…

12miles! Frazwas by hischart desk, next to theconning tower hatch,watchingme. I turnedmythumb down. “Take herdown, Scotty!” he called,and the sounds of divingdrowned out the nextreport.Tangslidondownto80

feet, then slowed andlistened,buttherewereno

distant propeller noises.Back at periscope depth,allwasclear.However,wehad a full can and couldnow make a submergedrun in. For the next tenmiles we slowedperiodically for soundandperiscopesearcheswithoutresults. With everythingclear and no contacts onthe raised SD, Tangsurfaced to sweep the

dusty horizonwith the SJradar and to search withthe periscope lens 50 feetabove the sea. Then cameEd’s chilling cry, “Clearthe bridge! Clear thebridge!” and two blasts ofthe diving alarm, and wewere on our way downagain. A Zeke had comeoutofnowhere,headinginon our port bow. Tangcontinuedondownto300

feet, just in case, butnothingwasdropped.We came back up to

periscope depth; again allwasclear.Wehadcrossedthe convoy’s projectedtrack,butnowthatwehadbeen sighted, there wouldbe no ships along thatcourse—and mostprobably along any othercourse for Truk—on this

day. Unintentionally, wemay have convinced theJapanese that there weretwo submarines lurkingouthere.Maybemore, forSunfish or Skate, perhapseven both of them, couldbe here, too. We’d worryabout that some othertime.Atmy request, the exec

brought the crew up to

date over the 1MC. Tangwould be waiting for theconvoy whenever it daredto leave Gray Feather orMogamiBank.

Weremainedsubmergeduntildusk,searchingontothe south on the chance

that the Japanese convoycommandermightmake arun for it, skirting ourknown position. Certainlyhewouldconsidertheareatothenorthcontaminated.Our periscope exposureswere cautious for the firsthour, with quick sweepsfollowed by short high-power searches. With nomore planes sighted, wecommenced continuous

searching, coming up to50-foot keel depthperiodically for lookswith17 feet of scope. Thesehigh searcheswouldmorethandoublethedistancetothe horizon and increasethe range at which wemight spot a freighterstops accordingly. Nothingwasmoving,andwecouldonlyhope that theconvoyhadreturnedtothebanks.

We waited until it waspitch dark beforesurfacing. The situationwas quite different fromthat in our last area, inwhich the enemy mighthave been moving alongany track, for we nowknewthattheconvoy,ifitwereindeedonthebanks,would move east. Thispermitted increasing thefrontage of our radar

search by running onnorth-south legs. It wasnecessarytocompleteeachleg before a convoy,previously undetected,could finish its transit ofour radar’s northerly orsoutherlycoverage.Duringthe nightwe could searchon the surface, and ourspeed of 15 knots assuredus of covering a 45-milefront in thismanner.With

nearby airfields sportingZeros,Tangwouldhavetobe submerged duringdaylight, for a sightingwouldsendtheconvoyonawidearcaroundher.Butwe would be searchingwith both periscopes,frequently with 17 feetexposed, while oursoundmen listenedcontinuously.Theareawewouldsearchlaysoutheast

ofUlul;thischoicewasnotbased on guesswork, for Ihad spent a whole patrolbetween the banks andPiaanu Pass into TrukAtoll. The majority ofships had then passedclose to Ulul beforeheading across the opensea to Truk. Times hadchanged much, but notgeography, and this stillofferedthesafestroutefor

theenemy.The night was notroutine, and neither wasthe following day. Thiswas a period ofconcentrationbyallhands,and we manned battlestations quietly to reviewourproceduresandtogiveeach individual anopportunity to askquestions if he had any

doubts whatsoever. In theconning tower, our firecontrolpartywascompactbut not crowded. The restof the party surroundedJones and me on thescope. Starting forward ofus, on the wheel, wasWelch, who would alsohandle speed changes andcall log speeds as weslowed for periscopeobservations. To starboard

was Scott, who kept theQuartermasters Notebook,Tang’s complete anddetailed log. Starting aftcame Ogden at the chartdesk, where he plottedTang’s and the enemy’smovements on thenavigational chart. Next,manning our sound gear,were Caverly andSchroeder. Across fromthemtoport,Frankwason

theTDC’sanalyzer sectionwhile Mel, on his right,handled its angle solver.Assistingthem,andonthefiring panel, was Ed, whocouldalsomantheSJwithBergmanshouldIsticktheshears out for a radarrange. Fraz remained ingeneral supervision,coordinating plotwith theTDC, taking care of suchdetails as getting the

torpedo tubes ready, andinforming me of thedegrees togotill firingonthe track I had chosen.Fraz’s supervisory rolemeant that the transitionto night surface firing,when I manned the TBTsonthebridge,wouldentailminimal change in ourprocedures.Thequestionsthatarose

intheconningtowerledtoageneraldiscussioninthewardroom that appearedto help each individualfully understand therelationship between hisown and others’responsibilities. The nextnightwegotthechancetoput all this to test, forwhile we searched withtwo engines on the lineand another still charging

batteries, word came overthe 1MC, “Secure thecharge.SJcontact,bearingthree zero five true, rangethirty-one thousandyards.” It was 0025 ofFebruary17.

PhotoInsert

Wewouldnotgotobattlestations yet, but thetracking party’s taskcommenced immediately.It would solve for theenemy’s base course andthezigzagplanwhileTangheaded for the convoy.Atthe first indication of the

convoy’s course, our boatwouldmovetointerceptitat a point about sevenmiles ahead. From thatposition we could counterany maneuver the enemymight make. Ranges andbearingswere fed into theTDC and to thenavigational plot. Frankdid the analyzing on theTDC, but the navigatorcame down with the first

good estimate of the basecourse.Wecamenortheastto intercept. Continuedtracking showed theconvoy’sbasecoursetobe100degreestrue,itsspeed8½ knots, and that itwaszigging up to 40 degreeseverytento14minutes.We were now close

enough for a distinctpresentation on the PPI-

scope (plan positionindicator)of theSJ.Thereweretwogood-sizedships;a somewhat smaller one,perhaps a destroyer; asmall escort close ahead;an escort on either beam;and two wide flankingpatrols.Itlookedmorelikea small task force than aconvoy,andthehighratioofescorts tomerchantmenshowed what had been

happening: Japan’smerchant fleet was beingsunk at three times therateofitsescorts.Tang went to battle

stations, the Bells of St.Mary’s from the 1MCchiming throughout theship. Compartmentsreported in record timesince all stations had longsince been manned

voluntarily. This was notpurelyacaseofdedicationon the part of the troops,for itwas at their stationsthat their own telephonetalkers could provide arunning account ofeverything that was goingon—almost everythinganyway, for at thismoment a call came fromradio. We had an UltrafromComSubPac.Thisone

wasaddressedforactiontoTang and just forinformation to Skate andSunfish. Fraz sent Mel ondown since he would notbe needed at the anglesolveroftheTDCforsometimeyet.Shortly,hisvoicecameoverthespeaker:

CONVOY WILL DEPART GRAY

FEATHERBANKAT

TWENTY TWO HUNDRED

FEBRUARYSIXTEENFORTRUK

NOTESKATEANDSUNFISHTHISIS

THECONVOY

YOU WERE TO HAVE ATTACKED

BUTONEOFYOU

WAS SIGHTED AND CONVOY

ORDEREDTORETURN

ONTOGRAYFEATHERBANK

Well, this was ourconvoy all right, but wedid not regret our search,for otherwise we might

well be playing catch-upinsteadofbeinginpositionout ahead. I did not likethe part about beingsighted. Not so muchbecause it was quiteobviously referring toTang, but because thesomewhat slurringstatement had beenwrittenbehindacalmdeskashore. Sometimes asubmarine did get sighted

when doing its damnedestto make contact or presshome an attack, but notthrough any sloppiness onthesubmarine’spart.Afterall, bullets, bombs, ordepth charges were theusualresult.The thoughts had taken

only seconds, but theywere an unnecessarydistraction. I put them

aside, for we had a man-sized task right astern ofus.I wondered why the

convoy commander hadchosen nighttime to makethis dangerous passage,especially in sufficientmoonlightforasubmergedsubmarineattack.Iwastohavetheanswerwithinthenext few minutes. It was

0219, nearly two hoursafter our initial contact.The range to the convoywas15,000yards, andwewereabouttomoveinforthe attack. Suddenly, adark, narrow shapeappeared astern andseemed to be crawling upourwake.Idroppeddowntotheconningtowerforamoment.Thereshewasonthe SJ at 7,000yards, her

pipneatlyblendinginwiththe luminous cursor line,whichwastrainedlikethehand of a clock on theconvoy’s center. Backtopside, in spite of ourflank speed, the enemyship was still closing. Shewas a radar-equippeddestroyerorfastescort,forshe would not have beenabletoseeasubmarineatthat range on any night.

The convoy commanderwas apparently countingonhertotakecareofus.Our business was

certainlynotwithher;twoblasts slid us down. Wepaused at scope depth tosee if she would give useven a slight port orstarboard angle on thebow. That would tell uswhichwaytoturnsoasto

befarthestfromhertrack.Her silhouette remainedsharp, however, and nowher bow wave made aperfectV.Itwasnotimetodally. We turned lefttoward the convoy andwent deep. Thebathythermograph showeda6-degreegradientat375feet, and depth chargescommenced as we werepassing 450. There were

only five of them, andthough their whack wasdisturbing, we were notshaken up. The fact thatwe were busy leveling offat500 feetandgettingonwith the approach had itscompensations.Tang was now in the

enviable position of beingimmune to echo-rangingbecause of the gradient

and able to use anysubmerged speed withoutfearofdetection.Propellernoises come fromcavitation, the partialvacuum that normallyforms around the bladesand then collapses; underthe sea pressure at thisdepth, 250 pounds persquare inch, the propscouldnotcavitate.

After some minutes toput a little more distancebetween us and thedestroyer, we slowed soour soundmen could getbearings. The convoy wasdrawing to our right; ithad changed the basecourse to its left. A rightturn and full speedwouldintercept. Unlike previoussubmarines, our boat didnot throb at high

submerged speeds; onlythe increased water noiseand the Bendix log toldthoseofus in theconningtower that Tang wasmaking knots. Then camethe long climb toward thesurface, slowing onapproaching cruisingdepth. A periscope sweep,and the ascent wasresumedtoexposetheSJ’sreflector. A moment was

all the operator needed,for the range of 9,000yards fitted our solution.Tang was again ahead oftheconvoy,andwewouldnow concentrate onindividualships.

At 4,000 yards theleading freighter wasgivingusastarboardangle

onthebow.Wewouldfirefromforwardifshedidnotzig.At3,000theanglewas20 port; she had comeright andwould cross ourstern. “Open the outerdoors aft.” The leadingescort, which waspatrolling back and forth,conveniently crossed tothe freighter’s starboardbow, clear of us. Withwater lapping the scope, I

watched the port escortcross our bow about 100yards ahead. We were onthe inside; nothing couldstop us! The freightercame on, less than twoship’s lengths fromcrossingourstern.Iswungthe scope’s wire ahead ofthepointofaim,herafterdeckhouse.“Constant bearing—

mark!”Isaid,nowleavingthe scope absolutelystationary. Jones read thebearing.“Set!”calledFrankasheheld that bearing constanton the TDC; both itsanalyzersectionandanglesolverwere now static, aswere the gyro angles onthe torpedoes. Thefreighter was continuing

acrossthefield.“Fire!” I barked theinstantherafterdeckhousetouched thewire. Fraz hitthe firing plungersimultaneously, usurpingEd’sjob.There followed a slightshudder, the momentaryzing of the torpedo’spropellers, and the slightpressureonourearsasthe

poppet valve vented theresidualair in the torpedotubebackintotheboat.The second torpedo

went to the after edge ofher midshipssuperstructure, aimed andfiredwithexactlythesameprocedure. Another wassenttotheforwardedgeofthesuperstructure,andthefourth to hit under a king

post about 50 feet insideherbow.Thewholefiring,four individual shots, hadtaken20seconds.“All hot, straight, andnormal,”calledCaverlyonsound.“What’s the time ofrun?”

“Fifty-eight seconds,Captain,” Fraz replied,checking the table he hadpreparedagainsttherangeof1,500yards.ChiefJoneswascallingofftheseconds

as the torpedoes raced at46 knots to intercept theenemy. “Thirty-five …forty ….” I raised thescope at 45; the secondsdragged. “Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three, fifty-four,fifty—”WHACK!Theexactsound of a depth charge.Her stern disappeared. Sixseconds brought anotherwhack;sevensecondslaterthere came a third. The

rest of the freighterpractically disintegrated.While escorts milledaround, she seemed tocapsizetowardusandsanksternfirst.Againwe did not dally.

Tang went deep, levelingoff at 575, and slitheredaway to the northeast.There were three reasonsfor this depth: the same

security from detectionthat we had enjoyed ontheapproach;areasonableworkingareaonthedepthgauge,whichhitthepinat612; and the unlikelihoodof getting any close depthcharges.Depth-charging isthree-dimensionalbombing. If the Japaneseeven possessed a depthcharge with a hydrostaticexploder capable of

operatingatthisdepth,thechanceofgettingonecloseenough was extremelyremote.Distant depth-chargingcontinued as I tried torelaxoveracupofcoffee.Before the first cup wasfinished, Fraz reportedanother contact. In theconning tower, Caverly,whowasstillathisstation,

flipped on the smallspeaker that carried thesamesoundshehadinhisearphones. The faintthump-thump-thump ofheavy screws camethrough the backgroundnoises.We checked with the

after torpedo room. Hankand his reload crew werejust pulling the last

torpedo home. A momentlater the big bronzebayonet ring had securedthe torpedo tube’s innerdoor,andTang’sbowrose.Swimming up, like aguppy, seemed to takelonger than it had duringtheapproach.Butthenwehadknownthattheenemywas coming our way andall hands were occupied.Now, we could only

wonderatwhatlaytopsideandlistentoBill’sfrequentorders as he flooded theauxiliary tanks from sea.Somanyoperationsappearsimple when they gosmoothly,anditwouldnotbe impossible now tooverlook crucial detailssuch as the verticalcomponent of Tang’smovement. If it becameexcessive, there might be

nostoppingherat60feet.Without the urgency of apendingattack,wepausedat 100 feet to check thetrim.We reached 60 feetwithin moments; it wasstill too dark to spotdistant ships, but a quickSJ search showed onegood-sized pip and somesmaller ones off at 14,000

yards.Wesurfacedandputall engines on the line orcharging batteries, thenraced against the comingdawn to get ahead of theenemy and jam a chargeintoourbatteries.Itwouldbe close, for on its courseof300degrees,theconvoywas heading nearly awayfromusat7knots.Likealldiesels,ourmain

engineshadmeaneffectivecylinder pressures, calledMEPs, that could not beexceeded for longwithoutinviting trouble, evenpiston seizures andwrecking an engine.Battery charging wasguided by temperaturevoltage gravity curves,called TVGs. If the TVGswere exceeded, ourbatteries would gas and

could quickly generateenough hydrogen for adevastating explosion. Toprevent the accumulationof gas, a separateventilation system wasprovided, fitted withblowers, flow meters,hydrogen meters, andalarms.To reach an approachposition,Tangwould have

to exceed the MEPs andpushtheTVGs.Ascaptain,Iviewedapossibleenginecasualty as one of thelesserrisksingoingafteramillion-dollar enemy ship.I didn’t blame theengineers for not agreeingwith me, for those dieselsweretheirbabies,buttheyfellinlineadmirably.A fortunate

characteristic of a storagebattery is its ability tostoreenormousamountsofenergyduringthefirstpartof the charging cycle andstill remain well belowmaximumTVGcurves.Theengines on charge carriedtheir share. All of themlaiddownatrailofsmoke,indicativeofoverload,butTang’s engines wereFairbanks Morse, and if

anything could get ustherewith enough batterycapacity for an approach,it would be these rock-crushers. They did; 40minutesaftersurfacingwedived well ahead of theenemy.The morning twilightwas short here, close tothe equator, and we hadgood details on the first

periscope look. Theyweredisappointing, however,for the ship had ziggedaway and was showing a50-degree starboard angleon the bow. We knewwhere to go but,fortunately for the enemyship,shedidn’t.Duringthenext six hours shepresented angles aroundthrough her stern to 150port. Our best sustained

speed closed to 6,000yardsatonetime,butthenshe drew slowly away tothe southanddisappearedtowardanareathatshouldnow be occupied by oursubmarine Burrfish. AnAsashio type destroyer, aChidori torpedoboat,aPC(patrol craft), andcontinuous air cover keptus from trying an end-aroundonthesurface.

Reluctantly, we turnedwest for our assignedposition during the firstcarriertaskforcestrikeonTruk. How I wished weknew a little bit aboutOperationHailstone.Afewdetailsmight letme judgethe importance of ourbeing on station, but wehad apparently departedon patrol before the planswere firmed up. The

freighter that had goneover the hill, though inballast, was a valuableship, and turned loose wecouldfindandsinkher.Tang reached her

assigned position afterdarkofFebruary17.Itwasright back south of UlulIsland, 12 miles bearing194 degrees true to beexact.Theislandis85feet

high,sowemovedsouthalittle to try out our SJ. Itgaveafairpipat16miles,sowe settled on that as abetter position. No shipwould pass between usand Ulul undetected, andwecouldnotbeseenfromthe island, even withradar, for it was verydoubtful that the enemycouldgetaradarreflectionfrom the tops of our

shears, which would bethe only part of us abovethehorizon.Ourmissionwas still tointercept ships fleeing thestrike, and it would benoveltohaveshipsdriventous.Frazhadplottedthepositionsoftheothereightparticipating boats. Aspro,Burrfish, Dace, and Gatolaystaggeredtothesouth,

at an average interval of45 miles. Directly acrossNamonuito Atoll fromTang was Skate, andhalfwaybetweenSkateandTruk lay Sunfish. Inaddition, Searaven andDarter were to the northand south of Truk aslifeguards.ThisdispositionmightletSunfishandSkateorAsproandTangattackasingle group of fleeing

ships,butelsewhereonlyasingle submarine attackwould be possible.Considering the threeboatswhohadcomeallofthe way from patrols outof Brisbane, roughly 150submarine days weregoing into this effort; butwewouldn’t complain, forTang occupied the bestspot.

In the morning,numerous planes beganshowing up on the SD,most of them at the samerange as our distance tothe island. We trackedsome out and others in.Therewaseitherincreasedpatrol activity overanything we had seenbefore,orJapaneseplaneswerebeingstagedthroughUlul in an attempt to

counter our planes, whichcould now be strikingTruk.Perhapsbothactionswere taking place. It wasexcitingenoughtokeepusonourtoes,butthosemenoffwatchseemedtotakeitallinstrideandcaughtupon some much neededsleep. In midafternoon acontact on the SDcommenced closing. Asprearranged, Scotty dived

when it reached 14miles.A half hour later all wasclear on the SD and therewasnothinginsightontheperiscope, so we surfacedand continued our searchuntildark.Able to establish ourposition by radar, thenavigator needed no starsthisnight.NeitherhenorIhad quite calmed down

from our first attack, butcribbage always seemed agood antidote. It wascompetitive but not soseriousastointerferewithconversation. There wasjust one subject, however,the details of the attack.Frank joined in, and wecame to some quickconclusions: We hadunderestimatedtheenemy,forheobviouslyhadradar.

It could have been on thedestroyer or another shipof the convoy that wasvectoring the destroyer tous. In either case,we hadassisted the destroyer bykeeping our SJ’s cursorlinerightoverherpip.Wehadbrought this aboutbymaking too many bearingdemands on our radaroperator, disrupting hisnormal all-around search.

The cursor wouldotherwise have beenmoving. The convoycommander might havebeen successful inthwarting attack by ashallow submarine, whichwould not have been ableto reach the gradient at375 feet, and possibly adeepboatifshehadhadtorun at greater thancavitation speed for her

depth on the approach.There was one other areaof complete agreement:The crew had performedsplendidly.Having squared that

away, we sent for theMerchantShipIdentificationManual, ONI-208J, foranother attempt atclassifyingtheshipwehadsunk. The publicationwas

notall-inclusive,norwasitabible,butsometendedtotreat it so. Wahoo hadbrought back pictures,house flags, and life ringspainted with bothJapanese characters andthe English equivalent,NITU MARU, in largeblock letters. This olderfreighter was not listed inONI-208J, so the staffsubstitutedtheNitsiiMaru,

whosepicturesinthebookdidn’tevenjibewithsharpenlargements of the realship. At a minimum,however, the manual didhelp in making aneducated guess. On adaytime approach andattack, I would expect toprovide our identificationparty with details thatmight help them narrowdown the choices to a

particular class, thoughrarelytoaspecificship.Inany case, thedetermination would bebetterthanjust“UnknownMaru.” All sinking reportsrequired visualconfirmation, and thesewould normally bemodified by the reportingsenior,whowouldaffixan(EU)oran(EC)dependingonwhether,with the total

information available, heconsidered the estimate oftheclasstobeuncertainorcertain, respectively. Thetonnage listed would befrom ONI-208J for thatclass.WithgoodhelpfromtheQuartermaster’s Notebook,andmymemoryoffleetingsilhouettes,FrankandMelsettled on a Mansei Maru

class freighter, with alisted tonnage of 7,770,and it looked about righttome.Withthelatitudeof8° 04′ north and thelongitude of 149° 28′ easthandy in the notebook, IcopieditallintomyNightOrderBook.The freighter that had

gotten away still occupiedmy mind. I found myself

practically brooding overher probable meanderingaround to the south of uswhile we sat heretwiddling our thumbs.Confusing dispatches onthe night of the 17th didnot help. One of themdirected a submergedpatrol. The other simplysaid, CRABAPPLES CRABAPPLES.There was obviouslysomething missing from

our Operation Order dueto our early departure.After a dawn dive, withnot even a plane in sight,we surfaced to find outwhat was going on. Theareawasclear,butnottheether waves. There was amessage on the morningFox that we normallywould not have receiveduntil surfacing after dark,since our boats could not

receive Fox frequenciessubmerged.Thetapecameout of the machine andTang was on her way forSaipan, still wonderingwhat “crabapples” was allabout.

Thecompletedispatchhaddisclosed that Task Force58, the fast carrier forcethat had just hit Truk,would conduct an airstrike on Saipan thefollowingweek.Fiveofthesubmarines that had beenat Truk, including Tang,

were ordered on for thisattack, with specificassignments to followlater.Wehadstartedoffatone-engine speed, as thatwould put us therehandily.Thenavigatorlaiddownourtrackonthenewchartandbroughtitdownto the wardroom, wherewe could look over thesituation.

With the Marianas infrontofus,thepossibilitiesfor independent huntingunfolded. I picked up thephone from its receptacletomy left andordered18knots. In minutes we feltthe surge of two morediesels. Fraz stepped offour new four-hourpositions along the track,and we were just startingour short-range planning

whenChief Jonescame tothewardroom’safterdoor.He had heard the enginebells from CPO quarters,locatednexttothecontrolroom, and surmised he’dbeaffected.“Makeiteighteenknots,Jones,” said Fraz. Hereceived a ready “Aye,aye, sir.” This was achangenooneobjectedto!

Jones left for the crew’smess to correct thepositionsontheirchart.We might not know

what ComSubPac wanted,except ships on thebottom, and ComSubPacwas unaware of just whatwe were doing. Within asubmarine, however,pending operationsbecame common

knowledge. At the initialone-engine speed, Tangwas just going, but withthree engines the crewknew that something wasbrewing. We hoped theywere not wrong, for thiswas the situation: Allsubmarines within somehundreds of miles hadbeen pulled down to Trukfor the air strike, veryprobably leaving the

Marianas uncovered. Thischain of mountainousislands, lying on anortheasterly-southwesterly line,provided a protected pathforshippingfromJapantothe South Pacific,especially since to thenorth lay theBonins, thenthe Nampo Shoto, thenTokyo. Unless the otherboats had surfaced also,

which seemed unlikely,Tang was the onlysubmarine to receive themorning message, and ithad not been repeated.Theotherswouldnotgetituntil after surfacing,probablyonthe2100Fox.By that time we could be250milesonourwayandshould reach a patrolstation by the followingnight. There had to be

ships, and with luck Tangwould have the Marianasalltoherself,atleastforatime.We rolled along

smoothly, althoughnumerousSDcontactskeptus from relaxing. Theseplanes ranged from 20 to28 miles, and certainlysuggested a patrol for aconvoy. We changed

course 30 degrees to theright until we had movedten miles from our track,andthen60degreestotheleft,crossingourtrackandproceeding until we wereten miles to the left. Thezigzagging considerablyincreased the frontage ofour search, and our shipwas still making 90percent good in thedirectionwewantedtogo.

But our side excursionsuncoverednothingvisuallyoronthesurface-searchSJradar.Theplaneswerenotbehind us; we had beenthere. They had not comein from either beam. Iftheywereaheadwe’dfindthemsoonenough!Finally, about noon, the

pips just disappeared.Maybe the Japanesepilots

hadgonebacktoUlulandweresittingdowntolunchtoo. There was, of course,no reason why the acey-deuceygameorthecasualreading should not havecontinued,thoughitwasalittle bit difficult toconcentrate elsewherewhen diving wasimminent. For the rest ofthe day Tang hadstraightaway cruising. The

ninth movie in ourrepertoire was shown forthe second time, and thenthe quiet movement ofmen comingonandgoingoff watch gave assurancetoallhandsbelow.The navigator had agood morning star fix togowithhispositionsofthedaybefore. In spiteofourside excursions, we were

making good over 17knots; this would put usreasonablyclose toSaipanby dark. Our trim dive at0830mightmoreproperlybecalledawetting.Itwasjust to assure us that oursubmarine would divesmartly. After we leveledoff at 60 feet, three blastsstarted us back up withour speed droppingmomentarily to only 10

knots on the maneuver.Backup tocruising speed,Tang was slicing throughthe tropical seas with apurpose.Blaat! Blaat! Down we

went. A Japanese Bettywas coming in from lowon the horizon tostarboard.Wedidnotstopat periscope depth, forthough these versatile

planeswere usually calledtorpedo bombers, theycould carry depth chargesequallywell.Wemoved acouple of miles from thediving spot beforereturning to periscopedepth. The Betty was stillin sight, though just adotabove the horizon off tothe north. We called thelookouts to the conningtower but waited another

ten minutes beforesurfacing. This establishedourroutine fornearlyhalfof the day. Very close tothe half hour a Bettywould arrive; Tang woulddive. The Betty wouldsearch for a few minutesand then depart. On eachoccasion, the executiveofficer or I questioned thelookout, and they weretrue sightings. We were

wasting a lot of time, sowhen the fifth Bettyshowed up and hung outon the horizon, Tangcontinuedonthesurface.

The bridge speaker wasalways on, its cone actingas a microphone as well.For diving, the area oneithersideoftheconewasfree-flooding. Bridgenoises were transmittedbelowquietly, but a voicedirected toward thespeaker came down loudandclear.Thenext “Clearthe bridge! Clear thebridge!” though directed

to the lookouts, made usjump below. Bill Walshdidn’t raise his voice, butthis command had moreauthority thanhad itbeenpunctuatedwithprofanity.In there somewhere weretwo blasts, but Tang wasdiving anyway. This timewe kept right on goingdown,blowingnegativeat80 feet and levelingoff at250.WhenFrazproceeded

toquestionthelookoutsinthe control room, threestepped forward with theSD operator as well. OurBetty, knowing that itcouldnotgetinonus,hadlain out there as a decoyand called in two smallerbombers, one out of thesun on our port quarter,the other from a high,small cloud cover on ourportbow.

Twice now we hadunderestimated theJapanese. On the firstattack, Tang’s superiorcapabilities and a fairknowledge of how to usethem had thwarted theconvoy commander. Now,thoughtheenemyhadnotgotten in to attack, hismaster chart in Saipansurely had our positionsand track laid down as

accurately as our ownnavigator’s. Should wecontinue as planned, theJapanese would likelyhave additional surpriseswaiting, even after dark.Further, any shippingwould be routed clear ofour projected positions. Ifweweretobesuccessfulinour present endeavor, alittle more brain powerand less reliance on our

ship’s capabilities wascertainlyindicated.In spite of our frequentdives, our batteries’specific gravity stillshowed a nearly fullcharge.Wecouldcontinuesubmerged until dark atnearly 9 knots. Thenavigator swung hisdividers from our presentposition. The miles we

could run would bring usclose to Aguijan. Fromthere we could interceptany shipping proceedingfromSaipantoGuam,andapproachTanapagHarbor,the site of the Japanesenavalbase, fromthewest.Of immediate importancewas proceeding on thisnew track, which laynearly 30 degrees to theleftofourpreviousone.

Surfacing at dusk, wemovedontowardAguijan.As we slowly approachedthe island, a small pipshowed up on the SJ’sscreen. It tracked onvariouscourses,suggestingthattheshipwasasurfacepatrol. We dived clear ofher location before dawnandmovedinwhenitwaslighttolookherover.Ourtracking party’s estimate

was correct, and thoughthe patrol’s presence wasdisturbing,itcouldforetellshipping.It was east longitudeWashington’s Birthday,with cherry pie on themenu. The Japaneseseemed to be celebratingit, too, for there werebombers in sight onpracticallyeveryperiscope

observation. They turnednear our position toapproach their fields onTinian, and in so doinggave Tang’s OODs somebad moments. Sighting aplane on a straight coursewas one thing. Youassumed it was going onby and didn’t see you. Aplane that was circling orjust turning immediatelycreatedtheimpressionthat

it had sighted yourperiscopeandwas comingin. I’m sure that a part ofthis was psychological, apart due to the scope’smonocular vision; on theother hand, it wasimpossible to know howsharplyapilotmightturn,and prudence frequentlydictatedafairlydeepdive.Tangactedmuchlikeayo-yountilshehadclearedto

the northeast, thenproceeded slowly alongTinian’swestcoast.With bombers stillpassing overheadoccasionally, aWashington’s Birthdaydinner might seem a bitincongruous and likewiseour holiday routine.However, the latterentailed merely the

cancellation of our schoolof the boat and the usualshort period of tricing upbunks for clamping downthe decks in the livingspaces.Justthefactthataman could sleep onthrough, whether hewanted to or not, waswhatreallycounted.Since we had movedintothetropics,theTaylor

ice cream machine hadmore than taken over theload of our late deep-fatfryer. I had to shake myhead, however, as Iwatched the beautifulwedges of pie beingsmothered with globs ofice cream, but all handsseemedtolikeitthatway.In fact, it had taken mymind off the enemy whowas still in the skies

overhead, at least for amoment anyway. Thereport of squalls and thenoiseofheavyrainonthesurface of the sea calledme to the conning tower.Dusk was coming, so wepreparedforsurfacing.Thelookouts were ordered tothe conning tower withrain clothes, and thewardroom stewardbrought additional suits.

OnthisoccasionIwenttothe bridge first, but I wasable to call the lookoutsandOODup immediately.The weather was notnearly as forbidding as ithad appeared through theperiscope, the rain havingbeaten the seas flat aboutus. But that aspect waspushedaside,foroffinthevicinityofTanapagHarborenemy searchlights could

be seen between thepassing squalls. Theapparent signaling couldmean ships, and sinceComSubPac still had notgiven us a specificassignment for Task Force58’sairstrikewemeanttofind out. Tang started offat two-engine speed,chargingbatterieswiththeothers, and again pushingtheMEPs.Forthemoment,

the only wind came fromourownspeed.

This night could offerdepartures from ourprevious tactics, for itwasovercast and furtherblackened by the passingsqualls, which were, intruth, invigorating afterourlongdive.Already,ourtracking party was busy

identifying blops on thePPI-scope. Though theblops appeared sharpenough to be ships orgroups of ships, one afteranother their course andspeedcorrespondedtothatoftheprevailingwind,andthey were declassified tosqualls. The old-fashionedA-scope seemed to help.On its horizontal grassyline, the contacts showed

upasverticallinesorpips,bouncing up when thebearing was on. Perhapsthis was my personalpreference for thissituation, for it seemed togivetheoperatorahorizonto search and a sharpelusivepipratherthantheblop retained by thematerialofthePPIscreen.The painstaking search

continued until a largedense squall that ourtracking party wasinvestigating suddenlydeveloped a momentarytall pip. The normalperformanceoftheSJhadbeen just about halved bytheweather, for the rangewas 14,000 yards. Thetime was 2200, stillFebruary22.

We moved in quicklywith little fear of beingsightedwhileoutsideofanattack position. Theoriginal pip soondeveloped into a total offive,withanothergroupofships now sometimesshowinguptothenorth.Thereweretwowayswe

could attack under theselow visibility

circumstances. One wouldbe to barge in, spread thetorpedoesacrossthemajorships,andretire.Itwasthemethod apparently usedsuccessfully by Germansubmarines against ourlarge North Atlanticconvoys, especially in1943. It could be efficientwhenthereweremanybigships,theirratiotoescortswas large, and when

replacement torpedoeswere not too manyhundreds of miles away.Ours was a different typeof war. We had broughtour torpedoes over 5,000miles already, and gettingreplacements by theshortest route wouldrequire a round trip of6,000more. The Japaneseconvoys generally had nomore than two or three

ships, and the ratio ofescorts to ships was largeand getting larger.Therefore we would huntout each enemy ship—cargomen of any sort orsizable warships, firstcome first served—andmakeeverytorpedocount.The one extravagance, atleastasIviewedit,wouldbe the firing of fourtorpedoes into each ship

onthis,Tang’sfirstpatrol.Selectingsuitabletargets

under these circumstanceswouldrequirealittlemorethanjustsneakinginforalook.Wewouldhavetobeready to shoot, withdrawquietly,evadetheenemy’smaneuvers, or perhapsdive.Beforewehadmovedin too far, Hank Flanagancame to thebridge just to

askforabowshotifitwasinanywaypossible.Igavehimmy assurance, for wewereinperfectagreement,though for differentreasons. Hankwas hopingtokeeppeacebetweenhistwo torpedo rooms. Themen from aft would be alittle hard to live with ifthey unloaded their lasttorpedoes before theforwardroomfiredashot.

I, on the other hand, didnotwanttoendupwithaone-ended boat. Imaginethe last-minutemaneuvering on our firstattack if suddenly wecould not have fired fromaft! Hank went below tohis forward torpedo room.We gave Bill time tosecure the battery chargeand get his final gravityreadings, and then Tang

wenttobattlestations.Once again the chimes

were just a formality. Allcompartments, fromforward to aft, reportedimmediately after thegeneralalarmhadstopped,and we started in on thesurface to gain an attackposition on the nearestship. Her base coursewas275, essentially the same

as thatwhich had alreadybeen determined for theentire group. I say group,for as viewed on the PPI-scope, the ships were notin the formation I wouldexpect of a convoy. At4,000 yards we could notsee her, but we knew herabilitytospotushadbeenreduced accordingly. Westopped to assist oursoundmen and twisted

ship slowly to keep ourbow on her bearing asrelayed up from theconning tower. She cameon with a small zigtowards, detected by plot,andwouldnowpass1,200yards ahead. The routineorders preparatory tofiringcommenced.“Open the outer doors

on tubes three, four, five,

andsix.”“I’vegother,”whispered

Jones, standing just tomyleft. “She’s a patrol boat.”The almost simultaneousreport of fast screws fromCaverly confirmed thesighting.“All ahead standard,

right full rudder” wouldbring us to a retirementcourse. We spoke in

hushed voices while therange continued to closeslowly. For a minute wehad to present ourbroadside silhouette, butthenwewere in the clearundetected. This was nosuitable ship for us; if wemissed she could force usdown and all the shipsmightgetaway.Wewouldtryagain.

Tangwentafterthenextnearest pip. There was nolong run in this time, butgaining a position on herbow involved passing herup.Astern,orovertaking,chase was always anextended one, for wegained by only thedifference in the twospeeds. In a half hour,however, Fraz’s plotshowed us 30 degrees on

the next ship’s bow. Theradar range was 3,800,and shewouldpass insideof 2,000 yards. This timewe did not have to wait;herlow,chunkysilhouettemarked her as a patrol orpossibly a minesweeper.Our soundman’s report ofaslower,heavierpropellerseemed to favor the latterestimate.Againwe turnedandpulledclear.

We did not secure frombattlestations,asthecrewwould not have leftanyway, but all handsnotactivelyinvolveddidstandeasy. As understood, thesenior officer or pettyofficer could send a fewmenatatimetogetcoffeeand the snacks that hadbeen laid out in themessroom. Perhaps it wasjust this short period of

catching our breath thatwas needed. At least thetimewas a factor, for themajor immediate squallshadnowblownbeyondus,and the unmistakable pipof a good-sized shipshowed up to the north.Shebecameclearlyvisibleat 7,000 yards, but onlywith the aid of 7 × 50binoculars. I blessed thepatriotic family that had

donated the binoculars Iheld, and Mr. Rogers andhis optical shop at MareIsland, who had coatedtheirlensesandaffixedthevertical reticle. With thecenterhingewedgedintheslightlytaperedslotofourforward TBT, I wasmarking bearings on theship, a freighter, andcalling down estimates ofherangleonthebow.The

base course was 255, herspeed 9 knots, and nowtwo escorts were in sight,strangely patrolling mostof the time on herstarboard bow andquarter, on the other sideofher.Wedidnotobject.A large zig away

concerned us, so wemoved quickly onto hertrack, and all hands went

back to their battlestations. We were nowkeeping pace with thefreighter4,000yards fromthebowescortandwaitingfor the next zig. Zig shedid, seemingly nearly atus,butthentheslightportangle on the bowcommenced to open. Notfastenough,however,andwemadeadipsydoodle,aturn and short run away

followedbyaturnback,toopen our distance to hertrack. Tang stopped, thesteersman holding herhead on course 270,practically perpendiculartothatoftheenemy.Fraz,in the conning tower,orderedtheouterdoorsontubes3,4,5,and6openedas I continued to markbearingsandcallherangleonthebow.Joneshadhis

binoculars on the bowescortandwouldinterruptmeonlyshouldshegiveusa zero angle on the bow,whichwould indicate thatshehadsightedusandwasclosingtoattack.“Tendegreestogo,”saidFraz over the speakersystem.Thesubmarineandtarget dials of the TDCwere now continuously

presenting the respectiveaspects of Tang and theenemy, identical to whatwas seen topside. Fromthese dials Fraz wasreading the lead angle forazerogyroangleshotandgiving me advancewarningofthedegreestillthe target reached theoptimumfiringbearing.“Stand by for constant

bearings,” I warned andthen swung the TBT untilthe reticle was on herstack.“Constant bearing—mark!” The TBT remainedmotionlessas the freightercrossedthefield.Heraftersuperstructurewascomingon the reticle. Frank’s“Set!” came in thenick oftime.

“Fire!” I barked in anexplosive voice, for likethoseaboutmeIhadbeenholding my breath. Thenext three torpedoesfollowed, fired in exactlythe same manner to hitspecific points along herport side. The torpedoeswereontheirway,andsowasTangatfullspeedandwithrightfullrudder.Theexplosions commenced

while we were but aquarterofthewayintoourturn. The freighterdisintegrated under fourhits; there could be nosurvivors. She was gonebefore we reached ourretirement course, but notherbowescort.Sheputupa brave chase, closinginside of 3,000 yards,undoubtedly knowing thatwe could fire stern

torpedoesdownherthroat.Therewasnosignalonthemaneuvering roomtelegraphs for the speedwewanted,butchiefsCulpandMacDonaldknew.TheFairbanks Morse dieselswhirled their massivegenerators, pumping 5million watts throughTang’s four main motors,and we pulled steadilyaway, losing the patrol in

the spume and smokeastern. The extra 3 knotsthemaneuveringroomhadconjured up in our boatcould prove doublyimportant, for had webeen forced down, gettingup on the surface againcould have been difficultas long as the escortremainedinthearea.Though interrupted

during the attack, thenavigators plot continuedto show the track of theother ships. Overtakingthem indue coursewouldoffernoproblem.Theseashad been building up,however, sowe slowed togive the forward torpedoroom a steadier deck fortheir reload. For the timebeing Tang secured frombattlestations.Ourregular

sectionwatchcouldhandleanything in the interim,and our tracking partyneeded a break, even ashort one. I took a muchdelayedtriptothehead,inthe starboard after cornerof the forward torpedoroom, but paused amoment to watch thereload.WereItomakeanyadverse judgment, itwould be that there were

too many men involved,extra volunteers I wouldsuspect, but the torpedoeswereslidinghomesmartly.Inoddedapproval.After a welcome cup of

coffee in the wardroom, Iwent back to the conningtower, stopping off for aminute in the controlroom. By tradition acommanding officer is

expected to instillconfidenceinhismen,butafter a few words withChief Ballinger I realizedthat this could be a two-wayproposition.Iwentupto the conning towerperfectly confident thatwe’dclose inandsink thenextshipjustlikethelast.Fraz took his turn

below, Hank reported his

reload complete, andTangsetofftoseekoutthenextship. I glanced at theQuartermaster’s Notebook;a half hour had passedsince our torpedoes haddetonated. We changedcourse 30 degrees tostarboard and went aheadstandardtomovefromourposition on the port beamof thisgroup toapositionsharponitsbow.Atrange

4,000 we went back tobattle stations, but with anew set of lookouts. ChiefBallinger would regulatethis so that more mencould share this vantagepoint.The ship we wereseeking was now singledout andwe stopped to lether come on. Soundreported an encouraging

120 propeller count,reasonable for amerchantman at thedetermined speed, but at3,500yardsthedarkshapedevelopedintoadestroyerwith Tang 1,200 yardsfrom her track. We hadpracticed runningbackward submerged, andI figured we could divegoing astern, too, if needbe. In any case, backing

downofferedtheonlywayto pull clear withoutgiving her a beamsilhouette. Back we did,our propellerwash rollingdown our sides, and shepassedat2,900yards.There was more thanone reason for notshooting. With theincreasing seas, I hadordered the torpedoes set

to run at ten feet for thelast attack. This was fourfeet deeper than we hadset them at Truk andwasnecessary lest they broachand run erratic in ourpresentseas.At thisdepththey would likely rununder the destroyer.Further,withher lookoutsclose to the sea, likeours,she might very well spotusbeforewecouldshootif

we closed to a properrange on the surface. Butsincetherewasnotenoughlightforanyperiscopeusewhatsover, diving wouldmean a shot by soundbearings alone, notsufficiently accurate,especially against adestroyer. If these reasonshad not been enough toconvinceme, the fact thatwe already had another

ship picked out wouldhave.Tangwent ahead. Therewasaboilofwateraroundthescrewsuntilwegainedheadway, then thepropellers bit in and ourship picked up speed. Aswepassedthenextcontactabeam,wefoundherwithour 7 × 50s. Her low,tapered silhouette was

unmistakable; she was asubmarine, probablyenemy, but we could notbe sure. The decision wasnot ours to make, forexcept in certain Empireareas we could not fireupon another submarineunless it was positivelyidentified as enemy. Ourexperience with Guardfishin broad daylight showedthe impossibility of any

identificationhere.Tang’s divergent courseto get clear of thesubmarine put additionalpips abeam. One of thesepromised to be a suitableshipwith twoescorts,onewellaheadandoneastern.We converged to find afine freighter’s silhouetteat5,000yards,andshortlyafterwardthelowshapeof

an astern escort. The bowescortremainedjustapip,for some reason scoutingnearly8,000yardsahead.The visibility in ourvicinity was improving.This permitted callingdown details of the ship’sprofile, her raked bow,composite superstructure,and gun mounts on herbow and stern. From the

control room,where therewas time to use theidentification books, camethe first estimate of thisship’s type. She wasclassified as an ArimasanMaru, and with gunmounts,verylikelyanavalauxiliary. The tonnage ofthisclasswas8,663.Her angle on the bow

wasnowsharpeningaswe

movedaheadintopositionfor attack, and the detailsbecame less discernible.We had the immediateproblems of attack facingus and were momentarilystartledbyaflickeroflightat the ship’s forward gunmount. It was notrepeated, however, andthe bearings with angleson the bow were calleddown for each visible

change.“We’ve got her oncourse two seven zero,speed eight, Captain.” Itwas Fraz’s voice. “Rangetwenty-eight hundred,we’re twelve hundredyards from her track. Itlooks good from here.” Itlooked good from thebridge, too, but a bitscarierperhaps, forat this

stageherangleonthebowlooked very sharp, and aslight change of enemycourse would put usunderfoot. That wasalways the case if youwere really right in there,and there were invariablyanxiousmomentsuntil therateofchangeofheranglebecame pronounced withthe decreasing range.Perhaps itwaswell that I

wasbusytwistingourboatfor a minimal silhouette,marking bearings, andthen settling her on theheadingfornearzerogyroshots. A black squall inbackofusgaveus furthersecurity from detection,butImorethanwelcomedFraz’scall,“Tendegreestogo,Captain.”“She’s turned back, but

she’ll never make it.” Itwas Jones, just in back ofme, keeping track of thebowescort.Iknewexactlywhat he saw: The escortaheadwas coming towardus. It was like havinganother pair of eyes andthe judgment to go withthem.“Constant bearing—

mark!”

“Set!” from the conningtower.“Fire!”The next threetorpedoes,eachfiredtohitaspecificpoint,zingedoutat eight-second intervals.From the instant of firingit was impossible for theenemy to maneuver his600-foot ship to clear thedivergent torpedo tracks.

Thewhacksofthefirsttwodetonations resoundedfrom below instantly, asecond before we felt theexplosions topside. Thethird torpedo hit forwardof her bridge, causing atremendousexplosion.Themarine life, suddenlyphosphorescent, made theseasgowhite.Tangwashitfrom all sides by amonstrous shock wave,

which seemed like theinstantaneous detonationof a hundred torpedoes,buttherewasjustthatoneheart-stopping crack. Thenaval auxiliary twisted,raisedfromtheseaasyouwouldflipaspoononend,thenplungedbythestern,engulfed in a mass offlames.“Are you all right

below?” I called. Therewasnoanswer.“Allaheadfull,rightfullrudder.” I gave the orderautomatically, still notknowing the situationbelow. When I saw theluminous pointer of therudder angle indicatorswing right, I took a halfbreath. Then Fraz’sreassuring voice came

fromtheconningtower.“We’re OK—checkingthe compartments.” Hepaused and then, “Whatthehellwasit?”Tangwasgatheringway,so not too much waswrong. It had seemedminutesbeforeIhadheardfrom below, but it wasreally only seconds; justtime enough for the crew

to feel themselves to besure they were still thereand to get their jaws offtheir chests. We were inthe clear; the ship wasgone, and again therecould have been nosurvivors.Wecruisedalongabeam

ofthethreepipsremainingonourSJwhilefourmoretorpedoes were pulled

from their skids into theempty tubes. The onlypossible damage from theexplosion was found atthis time, for the outerdoorofNo.5torpedotubewas leaking slightly. Itwould undoubtedly seattightly with sea pressureondiving.Withthereloadcomplete, and after timefor those who wantedcoffee to finish a cup or

two, we turned ourattentiontobusiness.The visibility hadfurther improved, and wewere able to investigatethe three remaining shipswith but one approach.Theywereallpatroltypes,so we set off to find thenortherly group of shipsthat had shown upintermittently back at

2230. The navigator laiddownanovertakingsearchplan that would covertheirlikelypositions.Withour regular sections nowon watch, Tang followedthe wide zigzag track tothe northwest, cruising atthree-engine speed toinsure a rate of advancethat would catch up withtheenemy.

I checked theQuartermaster’s Notebookprior to writing up mybrieforders for the restofthenight.Onthefirstshipthis nightwe had fired at2349; the latitudewas14°47′ north, and thelongitude was 144° 50′east.Onthislastattackwehad fired at 0120. Thelatitudewas14°45′north,andthelongitude144°32′

east. I wrote themcarefullyinthebackofmyNight Order Book so thiswouldremainapartofmypersonalrecord.Itwas now a quarter of

three on the morning ofFebruary 23, and I wasready for some shut-eye;but some of the men stillwondered about themighty shock. To me the

answer was now plain:When a torpedo explodes,theinitialdetonationwaveofitswarhead—thewhack—is felt instantaneously,for the sea acts as a solidandtransmitsthisjustasifit were a rigid iron rod.Theexplosionofour thirdtorpedo had caused thedetonation of the wholenavalauxiliary’scargo,theequivalent of hundreds of

warheads, with a shockwave of stupefyingproportion.Iwenttomycabintotryoutmybunk.

PhotoInsert

Sleeping or even restingduring the predawn hoursproved impossible. Lowvoices from thewardroomindicated that otherswerehaving the same problem.I started across thepassageway.“Butwecouldhavesunk

each of them with threetorpedoes,” Mel wassaying as I entered thewardroom.FrazandFrankwerethere,too.Theexec’seyes were as wide andbrightasonewouldexpectatnoonday,butIcouldnottell about the other two,for theywerewearing redmasks to start night-adapting their eyes priorto going on watch. It

would take some hours,perhaps even a day tocompletely calm downfromtheexcitementofthisnight.“You’reright,Mel,about

firingaspreadof three,” Iinjected at the firstappropriate moment, “butthey’reonthebottom,andthat’s what counts!” Iwould see what we could

do about a better rotationof the OODs when wewere attacking on thesurface, for they wouldhavetoseeittobelieveit.That would be far betterthan any explanation.Actually I had now beentemptedonthreeoccasionsto withhold that lasttorpedoandwas sure thatintheconningtower,witheverything checking, it

seemedthelogicalthingtodo. But an exact plot, thevisual presentation on theTDC,andtheblopsontheradar screen could notcompetewith but a singleglanceof theeyesandthejudgment the good Lordhadgivenus,eventhoughwe saw only shapes on adark night. In each case,the fourth torpedo hadinsured destruction of the

enemy,thuspermittingmeto concentrate on evasionimmediately after firing. Iregrettednotoneofthem.FrankandMelhadgone

topside.Oursystem,whichIhadbroughtfromWahoo,withanOODonthebridgeand an assistant OOD inthe conning tower, waspaying extra dividends,especially when we were

expectingcontactwiththeenemy.TheassistantOOD,acting as assistantnavigator, interpretingradarcontacts,supervisingthe conning tower watch,and always ready toinitiate tracking, allowedthe OOD to concentratefully from the bridge.There were additionaladvantages;armedwithallof the essential

information, the assistantcouldrelievetheOODonamoment’s notice for thelatter to don rain clothesor get a cup of coffee, orthey could changepositionsatanytime,suchas halfway through thefour-hourwatch.Itwas,ofcourse, the addition of Edto our complement thatmadethispossible.

There was time for agame of cribbage beforethenavigatorwenttopsideforhismorningstars.Frazcounted first and peggedout. We sat back for amoment, a little morerelaxed.“Tenacity, Fraz. Stay

with’emtillthey’reonthebottom!” Fraz answeredwith a smile and a nod.

We felt good about theway this patrol wasprogressing. Ships weren’tfalling in our lap, but wewerefindingthemandthetorpedoeswerehitting.By Fraz’s star fix we

were 150 miles west ofSaipan, beyond the reachof our carrier planesshouldtheyevensearchinthis direction. The

Japanese would probablynotsendtheirshipsfartherwest. We changed courseto north. An Ultra fromPearl raised our hope byreportingthecomingnoonposition of an enemyconvoy, and we went tothree-engine speed withonly a 20-degree coursechangenecessary.Nothingmaterialized, but havingcome this far a further

search of this vast areaseemedourbestbetbeforereturning toward Saipan.Perhaps it was our plan,maybe the Ultra was afactor, or just plain luckwas stayingwith us, for asingle faint puff of smokerose off to the north andthen blended into theclouds. It was distant, farbeyond the horizon,spotted by Scotty on the

tall search periscope. Theenemy had made onemistake, for one bearingwas all we needed. Tangwas on course 015,heading for the enemy bythe time I reached thebridge.Itwas1109onthemorningofFebruary23.Two pips on the SJ alittle to the left of theoriginal periscope contact

gave the first courseindication.Wecamelefttoparallel the enemy on atentativewesterlyheading.Therangetothetwoshipsof 23,000 and 24,000yards was close enoughuntil we could find outmoreaboutthemandhowwemight best attack.Oursearching had been withnormal lookouts, theraised search periscope,

andwhenthehorizonwasfuzzy, the SJ radar. Nowwe had Jones atop theshears with one armhooked through the lastrung to keep him fromfalling and at the sametimehelpingsupporthis7× 50s. There was goodreason for this. Thebinoculars had nearly halfagain the power and amuchwider field than the

periscope, and they couldbe kept much steadier onthehorizon.“I’vegot’em,”hecalled.

“A big tanker, a freighter,and a destroyer. They’regone now.” I motionedJonesdownandhedidnothesitate,foritwasalonelyplacealongwayfromthehatch.WithChiefJonesathandwherewe could talk

without shouting, ourtactics became obvious.His estimate of a 90-degree port angle on thebow checked with ourtracking,andwecameleftto225degreesandwenttothree-enginespeed.Our first move was to

preclude their sighting usby opening the range towhereourradarcouldjust

maintain contact. Thiscould be considerablyfarther out than the rangeat which we first had thepip, for once the contactwas made the operatorknew exactly where tosearch. Tang’s speed ofnearly 18 knots wouldkeep us abeam of theenemy,andthenwewouldgain position ahead for asubmerged approach and

attack. This would be thelast half of an end-aroundin which Tang wouldfollowthearcofaquarterof a circle, but a circlewhose center was movingat about 8 knots. Thenavigator worked out thedetails, probably moreaccuratelythantheenemyshipswouldmaintaintheircourse, if indeed they didnotchangethebasecourse

before our maneuver wascompleted. Fraz thenplottedourtrack.Itwouldtake nearly three hours,with Tang moving alongshort segments of the arc,but that would leaveplenty of time for asubmerged attack duringdaylight.The end-aroundproceeded quite exactly.

We gained position wellout on the enemy’s bowand were moving towardthe spot where we couldsubmerge and run in fortheattack.TheproblemasbeingrunontheTDCandthenavigator’splotlookedgood. This could be theexact type of submergedapproach we had beenhoping for, possibly firinga split salvo, or torpedoes

fromboth ends, one salvoat the tanker, theotheratthe freighter, maybe evenincludingthedestroyer.“Lost radar contact!”

called Caverly. Wheninformation from soundwas not required, Caverlywas our battle stationsradaroperator.Hewasourradarrepairmanaswell,sowhen he said lost, it was

just that, not a faultyradar;theenemyhadgoneoverthehill.Aseriousmistakeinany

military operation is tobase your tactics on yourenemy’s intentions unlessyou possess the capabilityof countering. This Tangpossessedinspeed,andwelit out at full power rightdownthelasttruebearing

line. We would reach theenemy’s last knownposition before he couldmove beyond radar rangefrom it. Any other coursemight add to this range,letting the enemy springour trap. It was a hairyrun, with Jones, Fraz, orme hanging onto theshears as we moved intogatheringsqualls,butthencame the welcome call

from the OOD, “Radarcontact, bearing one threefivedegreestrue.”“Headforit,”Icalled.“We are, Captain,”answered Fraz, who hadjust dropped down to thebridge.It soon became morethan apparent that wewoulddowelltomaintaincontactwiththeenemyfor

a night attack. Even thisbecame an increasingproblem as the convoyenteredsquallaftersquall.Sometimestheshipswouldemerge on the samecourse, sometimes onanother, but more andmore frequently itbecamenecessary to go in afterthem and then to retirewhen they showed upsuddenly closer than

expected. Itwasno longera question of remainingundetected; the enemyobviously knew we werethere. The forays intoreduced and sometimeszero visibility were a bitunnerving, for with ourradar nearly blanked outthere was always thechance of coming face toface with the destroyer.Delaying behind the

convoywouldhavebeenagood destroyer tactic, butthe enemy did not knowthe squalls wereinterferingwithour radar;onlyweknewthat.Finallythe hour of sunset cameand then welcome dusk,and at the same time weemerged from the squallyarea.Tangstopped.If there was any doubt

in anyone’s mind that wehad been detected, it wasdispelled at this moment.Theconvoywas inacleararea,withthelasttwilightbeyond to silhouette theships. Several searchlightsignalsweresent fromthedestroyer to the otherships. They then lined upheading west with thetanker astern, and thedestroyer took position

ahead.Whilewecouldstillseethem,theysteamedofftothewest.Withthedarkclouds for a background,wewatched fromatop theshearswith7×50suntilthey had disappeared. BillWalsh’smenpouredontheoil and cut down on themain motor fields somaximum current wouldflow. Tang was off onanother full-power run

downthelasttruebearing.Instead of to thesouthwest, where theconvoy’s course at darkwould have taken it, theships turned up on ourportbowto thesoutheast.Had the convoycommander not left hismost valuable ship outnaked astern and sobetrayed his probable

intentiontocircleandleadhis ships east, we mightnothave followed the lasttruebearing.But thatwasneitherherenorthere.Wehad them—destroyer,tanker, and freighter, incolumn and heading forSaipan—and it was just amatterofhowandwhentoshoot.Much of the day’s

excitement had beenexperienced by theindividuals topside in thewatch sections, but in asubmarine it wasimpossible not to beinvolved. All hands werekeyed up, perhaps tooexcited. To unwind a bit,at least physically, weresumed our regularunderway routine, leavingtracking and similar

activities to the watchsection. Fraz and I tookturns when there wasdoubtbutforthemostpartwere able to relax, too.The evening meal wasserved, and then the shipidentification books weresent to the messroom,where all the lookoutscould hash them over. Iftheir conclusionsconcerning the ships we

were chasing shouldcoincidewith those of theregular identificationparty, the informationcouldbeofusethisnight.At 1930, the battle

stations tracking partytookover.Anotherhourorso would be requiredbefore Tang would be inall respects ready tomovein, for the convoy’s zigs

were of the wildest sort,sometimes evenbacktracking, makingdetermination of the basecourse difficult. Againstthis thoroughly alertedenemy,with the destroyernow patrolling at highspeedonalargearcacrossthe bow of the tanker,attacks like those of lastnight would be nearlyimpossible. We had three

things going for us,however: the dark night,the very wildness of thezigzagging, and apeculiarity of all buthighlytrainedlookouts.When a person walksdownastreetorridesonabus, he habitually lookswhere he is going. Thishabit is so ingrained thatan after lookout tends to

look where his ship isgoing.Onlywhenthevitalimportance of hisparticular responsibility isthoroughly explained canyoucountonhiscompleteconcentration aft. Tangwould take advantage ofthis, the dark night, andthe wild zigzagging. Shewould attack from astern.Though this would meantaking on the much less

valuablefreighterfirst,wewould not be subjected tothe slicing bow of thedestroyer. During thewhole remainder of thenight, and if need be tilldawn, we could work onthetanker.The duty chief hadreceived the report of thelookouts.Theyhadagreed,though I suspect with

some dissenters, that thefreighter was a TatutakiMaru class ship. Perhapsnot unsurprisingly, thisagreed with the regularidentification party’ssecond choice. I wasinclined to go along withthe lookouts on thisoccasion, for they hadmade their determinationbywhattheyhadseen,notby what they had been

told. During the day wehadbeentoobusytosendmany details down to ourparty, and no shipcomparable to the tankerhad been found by eithergroup,buttheinformationon the freighter wasencouraging.Shewaslongenough to hit easily andhad boilers amidships tohelpherblowup.

It was 2030 and wewent to battle stations inall respects ready. Ourtactics would be to moveup astern. When thefreighter zigged, Tangwould cross her stern andmove up on the oppositequarter.Thenextzigbackwould put us near herbeam,andwewouldshooton a large track with thetorpedoes angling in from

herquarter.Things never seem to

workoutquiteasnicelyinpracticeastheyappearonpaper, and this was noexception. On our firstapproach, the TatutakiMaru zigged twice to theright, leaving Tang off inleft field. On the nextapproach,her zigwas lessthanhopedfor, leavingus

with too large a track forour torpedoes; theywouldbe almost paralleling hercourse.Thethirdapproachwastoourliking.Tanghadworked well up on herport quarter about 1,000yards off; her zig leftwould quickly bring heracross our bow, and thetorpedoeswouldhitonanaverage track of 130degrees. Fraz ordered the

outer doors opened. Iwasmarking bearings andcalling the angles on thebow, and then we wereblinded and chokingtopside in the freighter’ssmoke.These three approachesset a pattern. Sometimeswe didn’t reach an attackposition; once she ziggedaway three times, spoiling

oursetup;andsmokefromthatcoal-burningfreighter,which had caused theoriginalsighting,savedheragain.True,wecouldhavefired on the generatedbearingoftheTDCandshewouldprobablyhavesunkwithoneormorehits,butweexpectedtohitwithalltorpedoes and see her go.Anunexpected super rightzig headed the Tatutaki

Maru across our bow. Theforward room raced toopenthedoors.Imarkedasingle bearing and angleon the bow, then called,“Constantbearing—mark!”Hersternwascrossingthewire, but there was no“Set!” She was nearly toour bow. Another“Constantbearing—mark!”and then came Frank’s“Set!”

“Fire!” sent the firsttorpedo on its way. Thenext three followed in aneight-second cadence tohit along her starboardside.Thefreightercametopieces under three hits.Thetankeropenedupwithbiggunsfromforwardandaft almost immediately,while the destroyer closedin firing a barrage,seeminglyinalldirections.

During the initial flurrysome tracer shells seemedto land a thousand yardsor so away from us, butthis was just by chance.Tangwasleavingthescenewell astern when thedestroyer crisscrossedthrough the area wherethe freighter had been,laying down 12 depthcharges. We were quitehappy to have the enemy

think we were submergedback there as we headedfor a position 10,000yards, five miles, on thetanker’sbeam.Thefiringtimehadbeen2230,stillonFebruary23,though I felt that daysmust have gone by. Theposition from the deadreckoning indicator (DRI)was15°16′northand143°

12′ east. The navigatorwould have to take apositionfromtheDRI,too,for running up a positionwith our antics of thenightwouldbeimpossible.Strangely,however,Tang’sfiringsetuphadturnedoutnearly ideal—a range of1,400 yards and a 105-degree average track, thetorpedoes coming in from15 degrees abaft her

starboardbeam.Iwroteinmybriefnightorders: Cruising on basecourse 090° true,maintainingpositionbetween8,000and12,000yardsontheportbeamoftheenemy.He is shooting every fewminutes anddropping depthcharges occasionally. Therange will vary with hiszigzagging, but be alert to

note any continued changeindicating a change in basecourse. If you lose contact,head down the last truebearing at full power andcall the navigator. At 0300gotothree-enginespeedandfollow courses the navigatorwill recommend to placeTang on the enemy’s basecourse, 10,000 yards deadahead of him by one hourbeforemorning twilight.We

will dive before dawn andattacksubmerged.Ilefttheusualspacefor

the OOD’s initials, a lineforJonestoinsertthetimeof morning twilight, andmy call for one half hourahead of that time, andthen handed the orders totheexecutiveofficer.“It’s all in here, Fraz.

Forget any stars and have

Jonesfillinonthefour-to-eight.Oneofushas tobebright-eyed at dawn, andthatmeansme.”Fraz glanced throughthe night orders and gavea cheery “Aye, aye,Captain,” more thanwelcomingtheopportunityto carry the ball. It waspast midnight when I hitmysack.

TheshipactuallysunkonFebruary23,asshowninIJNreport.

The dawn attackwewereanticipating held manyadvantages. The hours oftrackingwouldletusmakean accurate determinationof the enemy’s speed andzigzag plan. Having gonesome hours unmolested,theenemywouldprobably

have calmed down and,with the assurance thatcomes with daylight,might relax his vigilance.Wewould be able to divein the most advantageousposition and press homethe attack with theaccuracyand surpriseofatrue, submerged,submarine.These thoughts, my

confidenceinFrazandthewholeship’scompany,andeven the occasionalrumble of a depth chargeconfirmingthattheenemywas in our grasp, one orall of these kickedme offto sleep. Except for threereports of an extra ship,each diagnosed assimultaneous gunfire fromthe destroyer and bothends of the long tanker,

myfirstconsciousnesswasof holding a piping hotmugofcoffee.Itwasnotawardroom cup, with asissy handle, which onecould contemplate or setaside. This was a GI cup,sohotIhadtopassitfromhand to hand. It was thesure way of getting theindividual called onto hisfeet.

“It is one-half hourbefore morning twilight,Captain.” I thanked themessenger, whoundoubtedly went aft totell of my balancing themug while rolling out ofmy bunk. After a fewyears, I’m sure mostsubmariners become quitegoodatthis.Afteranothercupinthewardroom,fromthe steward’s freshly

brewedpot,itwastimetogotopside.ThefewwordsI exchanged with thetroopsonthewayrevealedour mutual confidence.The hopes andexpectationswereevident,and I had never feltmoresure of having the enemyin my fist than at thismoment.“Where are they, Fraz?”

wasmyfirstquestionaftertakinga sweepwith the7×50s.“Right back there tenthousand yards, wherethey’re supposed to be,”washisreplyandtheoneIexpected.Itwasnotacurtanswer, just a concisereport reflecting somepride, for several timesduring the night, full

power down the last truebearing had regainedcontact on a wildlymaneuveringenemy.No matter how careful

weweretonight-adaptoureyes with red masks anddim ruby-red lightingbelow, a few minutes intheexistingdarknesswerestill required for goodvision.Eventhenithelped

to knowwhat to look for.Shortly a slight, fuzzybump on the horizon wasvisible. Then it took themore defined shape of a“blurp,” right over ourstern.Tang was on course090andsowastheenemy,though now ziggingmildly.“Allstop.”Wewouldlet

the convoy, or what was

leftofit,comeintoabout7,000 yards, and byremaining on our originalcourse, we would be ableto maneuver with it ifnecessary withoutpresenting a broadsidesilhouette. The enemyclosed, and Venus, now amorning star, came updead ahead, nearly asbright as a quarter moon.Youarealwaysinthelight

path of the moon or aplanet when you view itfromyourship,butinthiscaseTangwas also on thesame light streak beingviewed by the enemy. Hewas now taking on adistinct shape as heneared. I had to grit myteeth and tell myself,almost audibly, that hecouldnotseeus.Theslightgray of morning twilight

didnothelp,butwewereputting together the bestelements of a nightapproach and a daylightattack. This was no timeforwavering.“Ultra from SubPac!”

came over the bridgespeaker.ItwasMel’svoice,a bit excited. He read themessage:

THE CONVOY YOU ARE

APPARENTLY

ATTACKING HAS BEEN ORDERED

TOCHANGE

BASE COURSE TO NORTH AT

DAWN

“Christ!” Itwasmoreofa supplication than aprofanity. The brokenJapanese dispatch couldwell have been a ruse toget us off their back. Irejectedtheinformationin

the Ultra. This was not adifficult decision, for wecouldnot reachapositionnorth of the convoyanyway. Tang went aheadon the battery to avoid achance puff of smoke onrestarting the diesels andthen slid down to radardepth.The timewas0548on February 24; we wenttobattlestations.

Billheldherneatlyat40feet as we turned left toclose the enemy. In a fewminutes it would be lightenoughtosee throughtheperiscope.Inthemeantimeradar ranges and bearingsflowed to plot and theTDC.“He’s zigged left,

Captain.”“Shifttherudder.Steady

on north. All aheadstandard.”Iftheenemywascoming

tonorth,astheUltrasaid,thiswouldparallelhimfora later attack should hehead back for Saipan. Ifthiswasjustanormalzig,we would be closing thetrack and gaining positionfor attack. The secondsdragged.

“Enemy course zero sixzero,” called Fraz, with anoteofreliefthatwebothfelt equally. The enemyhadziggedjust30degrees,andTang could reach himhandilywith a good high-speed run.We dropped to100 feet and went aheadfull. Till the scope wentunder, I watched theblurp,nowalmostashape,but the vibration

precludedavalid estimateoftheangleonthebow.Acourse normal, orperpendicular, to theenemy’s track wouldhastentheattack;wecameleftto330.The high-speed run

wouldrequire20minutes.It would be interruptedonly as we stopped thescrews temporarily so our

soundmen could obtainbearings on the tanker.Thiswasthetimetomakeall tubes ready for firing.There was no need tospecify which ones—wehad only eight torpedoesleft,fourforwardandfouraft.Wewouldfirethelasttorpedoesfromoneendorthe other, maybe both,sincethelossofthistankercouldhurttheenemymore

than the loss of the otherfourshipsputtogether.Fifteenminutes into therun, plot showedweweregetting close to theenemy’strack.BillbroughtTang up to 64 feet as weslowedto3knots.Aquicksound check, a quickerperiscope sweep in lowpower, and I breathednormally.

“We’re right on,” Ireported by way ofassurance to all hands, aswell as to myself. “Nowstandby for a setup.”Thesea was like glass; thescope would barely breakthe surface and be downagain.Iglancedatourkeeldepth; Bill was right on.My hands indicated thedesired height. Jonesbrought the scope up

smartly.“Bearing—mark! Range

—mark!” I flipped thehandles up and the scopewas down. Jones calledthe bearing and then readthe stadimeter range fromthe dial, now just abovethe periscope well. I hadcalled the angle 25starboard; the range was2,600 yards. Tang was

1,200 yards from theenemy’strack.Our3knotswouldtakeustooclosebyfiring time, so we camerighttoparallelthetanker.Itwas0609.Subsequent periscope

observations were shortandfrequent,eachnowforjust one piece ofinformation. A water-lapping look at the

tanker’stopsforabearing,thenextonthedestroyer’smast, a range using deckleveltotanker’stopsasthestadimeter height, and anangleonthebowusingtheseparation of the masts.The lens of the attackscope was never exposedformorethanthreeorfourseconds, nor more thaninches above the surface,thenback to thedestroyer

again.“Downscope!”Itwasanunnecessary order, forJones had it lowered as Iflipped the handles. Itservedjusttopunctuate.“Open all outer doors.”The destroyer had crossedthe tankers bow and washeading directly at us,about 800 yards away.This was my problem; I

would not disrupt oursetup on the tanker untilthe last instant, and thatwas approximately oneminute away. I had facedthis situation before, inWahoo, amuchmore tautone with the destroyercomingatnearly30knotsatmyraisedperiscopeandwith but one torpedo leftthat we could fire. Bycomparison this was

nothing, except that thistime Iwas in command. Icounted to ten in a one-second cadence. Joneskept the scope at my eyeasIraisedmybodyfromacrouchingposition.“Bearing—mark!” Thescope was down. “That’son the tanker. Thedestroyer has turned rightand she’s going down the

tanker’s side.” Thedestroyer was absolutelydwarfed by the length oftheloadedoiler.The whole fire controlparty and, through thetalkers, the whole shipknew what had justtranspired. I believe theyall breathed more easilywith me, for everyonewantedthattanker.

Wewerenotquiteoutofthe woods. Between thesecond and thirdsubsequentlooks,theoilerhad zigged 20 degreestowardus.Thisputustooclose to the track, for thesteam torpedoes in ourforward tubes required arun of over 400 yards toarm their warheads. Wecould have fired angleshots to use up the extra

yards in their turn, butfortunately Tang wasalreadyturningawayforastern shot. Continuingwould just squeak us outfor the straight shots wedesired.The angle on the bow

was opening fast as shecame on, giving theimpression that we wereon her beam until I lined

up details known to beathwartship. She waslooking for us, all right:Frombowtostern,herrailwas manned by white-uniformed sailors, anestimated150menonourside alone. Others wereatop the bridge and aftersuperstructure. She was anaval tanker, shownnowhere in ONI-208J norin the book of enemy

naval ships, but wascomparable to ourCimarron and withestimated6-inchguns.Butwhy so many men? Hadshe taken them to sea onfleeingSaipan?“Ten degrees to go,generated range fivehundred.” It was Fraz’sreport for near zerotorpedo gyros and the

rangefromtheTDC.“Stand by for constant

bearings. Up scope.” Thistime there was no specialeffort to conceal theperiscope. What weneeded were quick,accurate bearings, for atthis range the angularchange would be high. Ifwe were sighted, thetanker could not possibly

do anything about it; herlast hope, the destroyer,wasjustpassingunderhersternheadingaway.“Constant bearing—

mark!”“Set!”Frankwasholding

the bearing constant onthe TDC. The big, squatstack was coming on thestationary periscopereticle.

“Fire!” Fraz hit theplunger, and the firsttorpedozingedonitsway.The next three followed,eachtohitaspecificpointalongherstarboardside.On the tanker, the

lookouts saw the torpedowakes and were pointingandwavingrightuptotheexplosions. I saw not oneof them leave his post. It

wasquick;thetorpedorunwas only 23 seconds.Debris went into the air,and the entire ship wasenveloped in a mass ofbillowing flame andgrayish-brown smoke. Shestarteddownimmediately.Fraz took the scope andwatchedhergoinjustfourminutes. The time was0643.

Tang went deep, too,and the depth chargesstarted one minute later,buttheywerenotclose.

Tangwas swimmingdownwith a generous angle.Therewasnorush,forthedestroyerhadbeenon theothersideoftheholocaustandhadnotorpedowakesto disclose our firingposition.Herpresentdepthcharges were several

hundred yards away,maybe even a thousand.As long as she wasdropping depth chargesshe could not conduct asound search for uswithout blasting her ownsoundmen’s ears. Eachmoment counted,however, for we weremoving farther away justbycontinuingonourfiringcourse as wewent deeper

toward that hoped-forgradient.Weneededtogetthere before she settleddowntoanorderlysearch.Bill pumped from

auxiliary to sea for briefperiods to keep the boat’sneutral buoyancy as herhull was squeezed by theincreasing sea pressure.We passed 450 feet, andthen the needle of the

bathythermograph movedsharply,tracinga5-degreewater temperature changeon the lamp-blacked card.Itwasexactlythegradientwe wanted, at 475 feet.Wewouldcruisebelowit.“Level off at fivehundred, Bill.” Bill’sacknowledgment wasinterrupted by anunexcited though

disturbing report fromLieutenantFlanagan.“We’re taking some

water in the forwardtorpedoroombutcanholdit for a while,” wereHank’s matter-of-factwords. It was the type ofreport I expected. Morethan one ship, includingtheGrafSpee,hadbecomeanineffectivefightingunit

because toomanydamagereports, not the damageitself, had convinced hercommander to withdraw.We had discussed thisearly in our shakedown.But situations can changequickly, especially insubmarines.Instead of leveling off,

Tang passed 500 feet as ifsheweregoingondownto

600. I dropped down tothe control room.Billwasdoingwhat he couldwithplanesandpumpsandhadcalledforspeed.Butspeedalone, with our down-angle,wouldonlydriveusdeeper. I ordered him toblowsafety,butwithBill’scalmorder,DeLapponthemanifold gave only a shotof high-pressure air, as hewould on surfacing, and

Tang continued to drop.Twenty times thatamountwould be needed downhere.The responsibility for

our ship was mine; Ihooked them up in seriesandordered,“Blowsafety!Blowbowbuoyancy!”DeLappblewandblew.

The 3,000-pound airroared, andwith speed to

help the planes, Tangslowly took an up-angle.She should be swimmingup, but the hand of thedepth gauge still restedagainst the pin at 612.Were we climbing or stilllosing depth? We couldblow main ballast andundoubtedly get back onthe gauge, but greatbubbleswould accompanythe inevitable venting,

most certainly betrayingourpositiontotheenemy.We could not risk thatunless it becameabsolutely necessary. Ontheoccasionswhenwehadtested Tang’s depthcapability, some relativelyminor mechanical failureshad accompanied ourincreasing depths. Thesameshouldbetruenowifwe were still sinking. We

held on, waiting andlistening. The minutesdragged, but theycontinued withoutincident, and I becameever more confident thatTang was indeed risingslowly.“We’ve got her,” called

Bill as the hand on thedepthgaugeflutteredforasecondandthenmovedoff

the pin. These had beentheninelongestminutesofmy life, and I daresay allhandsfeltthesame.The ship was under

control and all pumpswereon the torpedo roombilges. I went forward,ducked through thetorpedo room door, andgasped.Thescenewasnotas Hollywood would

picture it, with men inwater up to their armpits,struggling and sputtering.Nonetheless, Hank’s crewwasgoingaboutitsseriousbusiness knee-deep inwater. It looked like alake, no less, halfsubmerging the culprit,our leaky No. 5 torpedotube. Water was sprayingoutofthegapsintheinnerdoorbayonet lockingring,

drenching everythingforward.In order to accomplish

anyrepairs,andbeforethepumpscouldgetahead,wemust have less seapressure. Back in thecontrol room, Bill wasbringingTang up steadily,nowat500feet,withFrazfilling my shoes while Ihad been forward. We

passed through thegradient, whose loss wasthe least of our worries.Now, instead of floodingauxiliary from sea to slowourascent,weventedbowbuoyancy a bit at a time.The bubbles would besmallastheyrosefromtheventvalveand,wehoped,would not become toolargeas theyexpandedontheir way up. They might

well be sighted, but wewould change course assoonasbowbuoyancywasfullofwateragain.Wehadlittle choice in any case,for air in bow buoyancywould expand wheneverwe lost depth, forcingwater out the holes in itsbottom and making ourbow light. The oppositewould be true each timewe sank a little. A

gallopingmotionwouldbeinevitable, and broachingfrom periscope depthlikely.Our safety tank was a

differentmatter. Itwas asstrongasthepressurehulland fitted with greatmushroom flood valvesthat closed hydraulicallyand seated with seapressure.Rightnowitwas

nearly dry and completelysealed off from the sea. Itwas safety, located a bitforward of our center ofgravity,thatwasgivingusthe buoyancy tocompensate for the waterinthetorpedoroom.We breathed a little

more easily asBill leveledoff at 100 feet, for thepumpsweregainingonthe

flooding.“Light screws bearing

three five zero degreestrue.”Caverly’sreportwasnot unexpected, but itcertainlywasnotone thatwe wanted to hear. Isquatted down next tohim,andheflippedoneofhisearphonesoverforme.It held little resemblanceto a combat information

center, butwewere fasterand decisions could bemadejustthatmuchmorequickly. The true bearingremained constant; thedestroyerwould pass overus just as surely asconstant bearings bringcollisions at sea or athighwayintersections.“Stoppumping.”We were now

completely quiet exceptfor our slowly turningscrews, and they werebelow any possiblecavitation. Almostimmediately we lost thedestroyers propeller noise.Shehadstoppedorslowedtolistenbutataminimumwascoastingdownthelasttrue bearing she held onus. If we just waited, thenext sounds could be her

fast screws as she rushedoverhead in a depth-charge attack. We had tolook!“Bring her up to eighty

feet.Opentheouterdoorsforward.” Unless forced,we would not fire, for Ialready knew what firingon an alerted destroyercouldentail,andthatfromasubmarinewithallofher

capabilities. Ours wouldhave to be a desperationshot,butjustthatsituationcouldgreetusatperiscopedepth.Bill eased her up, using

a minimum angle, for thefreesurfaceofwaterinthetorpedo room would tendto accentuate anymovement. It was liketrying to balance an ice

tray full of water. Underthe precariouscircumstances, Tang easedinto 80 feet in a laudablemanner. IfBill coulddo itat80withoutgalloping,hecould repeat it at 64. Hehad to. We started up.Jones brought the scopeup exactly the same aswhen we had lastsqueaked a look at thisdestroyer before the

attack.Frazcalledoutourdepth. At 65 feet Jonesfollowedmy eye with thescope. The bright greensurfacewas justabove thelens; a flash of daylightandthescopewasdown.“Ten starboard,” Icalled.“Range seven hundred,”Jones read, and then thebearing. It checked with

sound.“Ease her down to

eighty, Bill; we’re comingleft with fifteen degreesrudder.” The additionalinformation went to Billbefore the order to thesteersman because anyappreciable rudder tendsto make a submergedsubmarine squat by thestern, and inour situation

thedivingofficerdeservedany advance warningpossible.Tang steadied on thereciprocal of a normalcourse,onethatwouldaddour travel to thecomponentoftheenemy’s.Weslitheredaway.Eachofus was waiting for theothertomakeamovethatwould create a sound. It

was Tang’s turn first, forthewaterhadrisennearlyafootinthetorpedoroomsince we had stoppedpumping. Much morewater would increase thelikelihood of flooding outoursoundtrainingmotors,locatednexttothetorpedoroom’safterbulkhead,andwe needed them as wenever had before.When asubmarine is truly quiet,

any internal noise seemsamplified; our multistagerotarydrainpumpwasnotbad, but the dual-pistontrim pump sounded liketwosmallpiledrivers.“Light screws bearing

zero eight zero.” Itapparently sounded liketwo small pile drivers tothe destroyer, too. Wecontinued to pump, we

hadto,andsneakedupfora look. This time Iinformed the troops thatwe would fire only indefense, for word haddrifted back that readyingthe tubes had added totheirapprehensionsonourfirst look. The destroyerwas off at about 3,000yards, which was good,but her angle on the bowwas zero. The propeller

count was low, probablyso her soundmen couldhear us above their screwnoise.Ourpumpsdidtheirbest until the estimatedrangewas down to 1,500;then we gave them a restandwent through anotherslitheringevasion.The destroyer did notseem hurried and gave usthe impression that she

was just waiting for thecorrect setup. Her tacticsseemed disquietingly akintoourownwhenwewereon the offensive. We hadmade some derisiveremarkswhenshehadhadtwo shipsand thenone inher charge. Now that shehadbeen relievedof themand could concentrate onus, there was nothingfunnyabouther.

The pumping, evading,and waiting became atrying cycle, made themore so since at all timeswe had to be ready toshoot. Reload crews wereno longer necessary andthere was only onetorpedo room to man, sothere were extra hands totemporarily relieve manyof those at battle stations.Butotherschosetostickit

out, and I was especiallyproudofthem.Meanwhile,our repairmen had notbeen idle. With rags andlead for backing, theywere caulking the opensegments of the bayonetlocking ring, literallysqueezing the extrudingrubbergasketbacktowardits groove. At first thisseemed to have littleeffect, just redirecting the

waterbehindthering,butby noontime the flowhaddiminished noticeably. Anhour went by withoutpumping,and theenemy’sapproaches were reducedaccordingly. Compared tothe forenoon, we seemedto have the situation inhand, and I decided thatwe should leave wellenough alone. Furthercaulking could distort and

crackthering,andthenallwouldbelost.An axiom ofantisubmarine warfare istostaywiththeenemy,forone never knows theextent of the troubles thatmay exist below. TheJapanesecaptainhadreadthe book, and thedestroyer remainedon topof us throughout the

afternoon, sometimes soclose we were sure shewoulddrop.Perhapsitwaswishful thinking, but weconcluded that the 12depth charges where thefreighter sank, theoccasional drops duringthe night, and thenumerouschargesafterthetanker’s sinking had lefther with but one goodsalvo, which she was

savingjustforus.Wewerecurious, though notdistressed, at the lack ofecho-ranging. Perhaps thedestroyerhadcomeoutofSaipan directly from anupkeep period, with hergear in overhaul. Maybethe explosions on thetanker had put it out ofcommission. Or the easewith which she madecontact with passive

sound,justlistening,madeecho-ranging,whichwouldadvertise her presence,unnecessary. The enemy’serror, I believe, was toassumethatweweredeep,whereanysanesubmarineoughttobe.Howcouldheguess that we werewatching him so as tocounter every move? Itwas undoubtedly bafflingtohearus,startarun,and

then lose contact timeaftertime.Sunsetwas coming, andthe following hours, untilwe could get on thesurface, could be ourtoughest. We would havedifficulty in seeing thedestroyer through theperiscope starting a fewminutes into eveningtwilight. The first test

came. I could not call anangle,andCaverlyhadherbearingconstant.Ilistenedwithhimandagreedwithhisguessataslightdrifttothe left. We came rightwith crossed fingers. Thedestroyerpassedclear,butthiscouldnotcontinue!Thetimewasnow2000,the calculated end ofevening twilight; it was

pitch-black through theperiscope. The destroyerwould be getting nervous,too,nowknowing thatwemight be on the surface.We delayed pumping,hoping to add to heranxiety, and thoroughlyexpecting a high-speeddepth-chargerun.At2040the screws came in,speeding up, their fastswish-swish-swish roaring

throughourhull.The bearing remained

steady and then driftedjustahairtotheright,butthatwasenough.Wecameleft to parallel her on anopposite course, and sheracedbycloseaboard.Herdepth charges mightdetonate nearby, but notclose enough. We waited,looking to starboard as if

we could see through ourhull. And then the soundof the destroyer’s screws,now well past us, wassmothered by eight tooth-shakers. To our surprise,when the detonationsfadedher screws couldnolonger be heard throughthe hull or on the JKsound gear. Plot showedher last course as nearlyeast. We could only

conclude that this last runhad come closeby chanceand that she had nowslowedbelowcavitationtoprevent our tracking untilshewas clearofus.Thereremainedasegmentoftheship’s company, however,who were convinced that,humiliated at having lostboth her ships, thedestroyer had blownherself up. In either case,

it was, as far as we wereconcerned, a highlyagreeableparting.

I believe the whole ship’scompany breathed out inunison, though we werenot hanging on the ropesbelow. True, the airconditioning had been offall day, and most fans aswell. The heat from thenight’s battery charge had

nowheretogobutupintothelivingspacesabovethebatteries,andwewerehotand sweaty. Some wouldhave given a buck for acigarette, but in spite ofour CO2 absorbent theywould not have lightedanyway. A healthy“submarine smell” wasundoubtedly present, butsince we were all in the

same boat none of usnoticedit.Wehadallbeentoo busy to become overapprehensive, but as ofthis moment there wasneverahappiersubmarinecrew.The air compressors

were now running, forventing safety into theboat and other normalusesofcompressedairhad

raisedourpressureseveralinches above atmosphere.It would blow a mantopside should the hatchbe opened normally. Evenif the hatch were kept onthedogswith the latch asa backup, the timerequired for thistremendous volume of airto escape past the gasketand equalize the pressure,while we wallowed blind

on the surface, would beunacceptable. We waitedimpatiently. The pressurein the boat was finallydown. Sound made acareful sweep, and amildcheer followed the threeblasts.Tangsurfacedonanevenkeelsoasnottofloodoursoundtrainingmotors;the remaining air rushedpast the hatch gasket andwe were topside. The sea

wasallours,underablackthough star-filled sky, butbest of all was the aromaofGod’sfreshair.Weheadednorth toput

the scene of the day’sactivities behind.Preparations commencedfor the repairs to No. 5torpedo tube, and thearoma of frying steaksfiltered to thebridge from

the hull ventilation. Theyhadnotbeenonthemenu,butouractingcommissarysteward, Wixon, probablywiththeconnivanceoftheexecutive officer, had hadthem thawing sinceregular mealtime.Certainly, no one wouldobject.After we had made anhour’s run, blessedwith a

calm sea, our divers wentoverthebow.Tendedfromon deck with the forwardtorpedo room hatch opennearby, they would nottake long to get belowagain in an emergency.Just the same, themoments were alwaysanxious when anythingcould disrupt asubmarine’snormaldivingability.Replacingtheouter

door gasket, working inthedarkessentiallybyfeeland mostly under water,couldbedifficultindeed.IfIwasconcernedaboutourpresent nakedness, howdid ourmen diving at thebowfeel?Ikickedmyself.ComSubPac’s staff

alwayspickedthedandiesttimestosendusmessages,andnowanotheronecame

in on the Fox. Tang wasassignedanewarea;we’dconsider it later, for weweren’t going anywhereuntil this job was done.What I feared might takemost of the night wasfinished in an hour,however. The outer doorgasket was back in itsdovetailed groove, thedoor closed, and the tubedrained. We could take

care of the inner doorgasket while we were onour way. Tang was off atfour bells and a jingle,heading north until weconsidered our new area.The important thing wasto put a day’s run behindus. There would be noships to torpedo backthere,andnowthatSaipanhadbeengivenachancetosettledown,enemypatrols

wouldbeout forsure.Webent on three engines;with but four torpedoesleft, we were sure fuelwould not be a factor interminatingthispatrol.I joined Fraz in the

wardroom for a very latesupper, if one could callsteak, potatoes, and icecream with fresh-frozenstrawberriesasupper.Our

most recent message fromComSubPac was on thedispatch board, somewhatconciliatory incomparisonto the others. It readsimply:

TANG ASSIGNED AREA OF

SOUTHERNBONINS

BELIEVEWECANFINDYOUASHIP

THERE

Fraz and I chuckled.

Intelligence was good atbreaking Japaneseoperational messages, realor pseudo, but not one ofthefiveshipsTanghadputon the bottom could havepresseda radiokey,muchless completed a dispatch.So apparently the forcecommander thought wewerehavingadryrunandhad noted the manner inwhichwehadbeenpushed

around, more than 3,000miles just in our areas ifweincludedWake.Jonesbroughtdownthe

chart that included theMarianas and the Bonins.The navigator stepped offthedistancetotheVolcanoIslands, for there were nosouthern Bonins as such.Wehadanother500milesto go from our present

dead reckoning position,more ifwewere supposedto pass Iwo and go on toChichiJima.“We’ll never get there

anyway,”commentedFraz,implying,Ihoped,thatthetorpedoes wouldn’t lastthatlong.Weseemedtobefinding ships 50 miles offtheMarianasrightnow,sowhy change on our route

north? The navigator laiddownthecourseIwanted,which would leave PaganIsland about that distanceabeam. Jones took thechart back to the conningtower, with my orders tosteer 345 degrees true.Fraz hit the hay, for hewould have to be up atmorningtwilighttogethisstars, and I went forwardto the torpedo room.

Hank’s men were justcompleting repairs on theinnerdoorofNo.5tube.Ipickeduponeofthelead-backed fillings and askedhowwehappenedtohavetheleadavailable.“We’ve got a pack rat

aboard,” Hank explained.“It’s from a piece of toiletplumbingthatwaslyinginthe officers’ head next to

our storerooms at MareIsland.” In a sense it hadserved its intendedpurpose such as no leadelbow ever had before.Thenightwastoofargoneforformalnightorders.Onthe page for the previousday I copied down thepositionofour lastattack,latitude 15° 50′ north andlongitude 144° 21′ east,then turned to thecurrent

dateandwrote:Stayalert.Dawn came on brightand clear, a good day forplanes scouting ahead ofshipping. The navigator’smorningstarfixshowedusabreastofPagan,soplanesfrom any sector werepossible. A sun lookoutwent topside, and wemanned the searchperiscope; if the Japanese

continued running theirships along this islandchain, one place was justaslikelyasanother.Iftheydidn’t,thenthewarintheCentralPacificwouldbeasgoodasover.Themorningprogressed uneventfully,and so did the afternoonexcept for increasing seas.All hands were slowlycalming down, and Tangwas resuming a normal

patrol routine. It includedplentyofsacktimeand,inview of the last few days,no drills whatsoever.Except for a late morningclampdown of the decksbelow, any man not onwatch could spend histime flaked out with agood book or gettingaheadonhisshut-eye,andmost were doing exactlythat. The watch standing

wassomethingdifferent.Ifthere had been any laxityin the past, and I hadreason to believe that inthe case of two or threemen there had been, theeventsof the last tendayshad made Christians ofthem.Not just the respectof their shipmates wasinvolved, but their veryownhides.

“Smokeonthestarboardbow!” The cry carried onintowardroomcountry.“Herewegoagain!”saidFraz, sliding out from theinboard seats in thewardroom, and anothercribbage game I mighthavewonwasdeclarednocontest. There were nofurtherpuffsofsmoke,butsince they were first

sighted on our bow, theenemymustbeheadingina southerly direction. Wecame right until Tangwould be convergingslightly on his mostprobabletrack.Though Caverly hadtorn down our SJ radartime after time on thispatrol to replace tubes orcapacitorsorresistors,this

was the first time it hadbeen out when we had acontact. To get the thinginto a submarine, it hadbeen squeezed from allsides. Now, though themajor units could beremoved, replacing a partrequired considerabledismantling.Steppingoverparts spread around theconning tower deck andkeeping an eye glued to

the search scope at thesame time was quite atrick. But we couldsympathize with Caverly,who was trying to solderpartsbetweenourfeet.Jones made the nextsighting; just the tops oftwo ships stuck up overthe horizon, but his truebearing was all that weneeded at this time. The

enemy had surprisinglydrawnrapidlytotheright,though that first singlebearing on one puff ofsmoke could have beensomewhat in error. Thechange in bearing didconfirm the enemy’ssoutherly heading,however, and now thevery large distancebetweenthemastsofeachship showed thatwewere

approximately on hisbeam. We would have tostay out at this range,about 20,000 yards,whilemoving ahead, forotherwise the enemywould have our silhouetteagainst the late afternoonsun.Without theradarwewould have littleopportunity for accuratetracking, and from thisrangewecould learnvery

little about the enemywewere to attack. Thenavigator consolidatedmythoughts. His plot showedthatwecouldnotcountonshootingbeforedark.Eventhe waxing moon wouldnot provide enough lightfor a submergedperiscopeapproach. We would findoutwhatwehadover thehorizon first and thendecide how to attack,

perhaps this night on thesurface after moonset,perhapsatdawn.The following hourswere cautious ones. Westayed abaft the enemy’sbeam and closedsufficiently to identify thetwomajorshipsbypokingour search periscope upover the horizonperiodically. Tang’s shears

werealwayshulldownfortheenemy,even ifhehadlookouts in his highesttops. It was likesubmerged tracking,except we were on thesurface. The ships’ basecourse was 160 degrees,and they were ziggingmildly with an overallspeed of 8½ knots. Whatwe had in sight wasenoughtomakeourhearts

pound: The leading shipwas a large four-goalpostfreighter,aworthyshipinherself; but the other wasthe Horai Maru, a verylarge, coal-burning, two-stack transport. Herpicture was in ouridentification books. Thethin tops of three otherships, probably escorts,were inconsequential. Wewouldattackthetransport.

Without the SJ, Idecided, our best betwouldbea crackofdawnsubmerged attack and Iprivately informed Fraz ofmy intention.His reactionshould not have surprisedme. By my tone I hadelicitedhisopinion,andhegaveit.“Oh, Christ, Captain,

then it’s so damned long

tilldark!”I believe Fraz was a

little surprised at thelanguagehehadused,buthewasclosertothetroopsthanacaptaincaneverbeand was undoubtedlyreflecting more than hisownfeelings.PerhapsTangwasnotuptoanotheroneof those hairy days ofevasionsosoon,butonthe

next one we wouldn’t beleaking! Well, Fraz hadspoken his piece, and Iwould not want myexecutive officer to feelthat he couldn’t. His wasthe major influence, butLieutenant Beaumont’sreportoftheSJbeingbackon the line was theclincher; we would attacktonight.

The sun set, and thencame the end of eveningtwilight. We moved in to10,000 yards and trackedfrom the enemy’s quarter.Nowwith accurate rangesfrom radar, it becameevident that the convoy’szigs were imposed on aconstantly changing basecourse, or worm turn,similar to a sinewave. At2130 the moon had set.

We started our approachbut quickly foundourselves astern of theconvoy as it made acolumn movement, eachship turning in the samewaterastheshipahead,tocourse 090, due east.Theseweremaneuversonewould expect of warships.It now became a case ofsearching out the HoraiMaru. Aheadwere shapes,

blopsontheradartotalingfive, but we could notdistinguish all of themwith our 7 × 50s. Thetracking party had themon a steady course as westartedourapproach.Tang left the trailingship—a small one thatwehad not seen before—3,000 yards abeam, andalso her patrolling escort,

notedonlyon radar.Thencame our Horai Maru,steamingstraighteast.Foran attack we had to passher up and come nearlyabreast of the freighterand astern of thefreighter’s starboardescort. Tang wasessentially a part of theconvoy’s formation, still3,000yardsabeam,and itremained only for us to

turn left and move in fortheattack.But theconvoyturned first, anothercolumn movement, to theright, bringing thefreighterclosetoourbow.Webackedaway,markingbearings and with theouter doors open. Sherolled across our bow inthe increasing seas, and Iwas sorely tempted tomark a constant bearing

and let her have twotorpedoes as her massivehulkcrossedthereticle.“She’s turning,” saidJones,whohadhiseyeonthe transport. “A littlewide,” he commented. Hewasright; theslickboiloftheseawherethefreighterhad turned was just thisside of the Horai Maru.Thisgaveusmoretimefor

asetup,sowetwistedforastraight shot and Icommenced markingbearings. She came onquickly,ashowerofsparksrolling out of her afterstack.“Rangesixteenhundred,

ten degrees to go,Captain.”“Watch the nearest

escort, Jones.” It was

really an unnecessaryreminder.“Constant bearing—mark!”“Set!” Her great sterncame into the field andtouchedthereticle.“Fire!” A slight shudderand our 21st torpedo wasonitsway.“Constant bearing—mark!”

“Set!” Something waswrong! The wake of thefirst torpedo was in mybinocular field, headingforthemiddleoftheship.It should have beenleading her bow. But anyone torpedo could beerratic.“Fire!” Her after stackhad touched the verticalline.

“Constant bearing—mark!”“Set!” There was no

torpedo wake down mylineofsight.“Zero angle, Captain,

but she’s still twothousandyardsoff.”ItwasJonesatmyside,reportingthattheescortwascomingin.Therewasnoreasontoconfirm it; he knew what

he was looking at. Thetransport’s forward stackcameon.“Fire!“Constant bearing—mark!” It would take butseconds to get this lasttorpedo streaking on itscourse.“Set!” There was thethirdtorpedo’swakeinmy7 × 50s′ field, barely

leading my present pointofaim.“Constant bearing—mark!” Now sure that theTDChadenemyspeed tooslow,Igaveanewbearingwell forward on thetransport’sbow.“Set!” Her stem cameon. If the TDC’s firingsolution was correct, thisonemightmissahead.

“Fire!“All ahead flank.” Wewouldcrossthetransport’sstern.Icrossedmyfingers.The seconds went by. Westeadied with the escortclosing astern. We hadmissed.

Tangwasnotthroughwiththis convoy; only theshooting part was over.Operating on priorities asusual, our next taskrequired no majordecisions. The problemwasdeadastern,anarrowshape that was laying

down a smoke screenbetter than our own. Shewas apparently steampowered, and the smokewasfromlightingoffmoreboilers. Aminimum of 15minutes would elapsebefore she could furtherincrease her speed. Thebeauty of our FairbanksMorse diesels was theirability to deliver fullpower immediately. Our

smoke was due tooverloading beyond therated horsepower, but theextra horses were pullingus away. During thecomingquarterofanhour(it seemed likemore timeifIdidn’tthinkintermsofminutes) we had to losethe patrol or she wouldlikelycloseinanddriveusdown.Initself,thatwouldonly be an inconvenience,

but it would surely makeour one remaining taskimpossible.Sometime I’ll visitBeloit,Wisconsin, and tellthem about their engines,for the range openedsteadily to 3,000 yards.Tang slowed to full. Theengines stopped smoking,andwecameright,leavinga blotch of smoke for the

escort to investigate. Weclosed the convoy again,nottoattackwithourdeckgun—I had once been apartytosuchafutileeffort—but we would do ourbest to bring a fellowsubmarineintoattack.Mel had our message

ready from the contactcode. In but five, five-letter groups it gave the

basic informationofwhat,where, how many, andwhat doing. Really, plainlanguagewoulddo,fortheenemy would guess itscontent on the firsttransmission. Theradiomen broadcast it on4155 KC, the basicsubmarine frequency, on8310, and the higherharmonics, but Pearl didnot answer. Topside, the

mild sparking at ourantenna insulator due tothe increasing salt spraywas disturbing. Nothingcame of this until weopeneduponthelowareafrequency, 450 KC. Thenthe insulator took off,blinking like a looselyscrewed-in light bulb. Wewere a bit jumpy aboutthis, and it proved not tobe just our nerves. Out of

the night came a signalsearchlight. It was quiteobviously a challenge, forwereceivedanS-8,S-8,S-8, repeated several times.Perhaps we were thoughtto be the trailing patrol,which we never had seenthrough our binoculars,anditwasasubmarine.Tang had been

transmittingformorethan

two hours; if there was afriendly submarine withinstrikingdistanceshewouldbeonherwaytointercept.No receipt or replywouldbe coming, for Japanesedirection finders wouldthen pinpoint her. Ouranswer to the challengewas a course change,putting the enemy deadastern, and just by chanceheading us on 070, our

initiallegtowardMidway.Itwas0045onFebruary

27. I wrote in my nightorders: Proceeding oncourse 070° true at four-engine speed en routeMidwayAtoll.We have butone priority, to reach portsafely. I will expect norelaxationonthepartofanywatch stander until we passthrough the reef. I left no

morning call, but beforeproceedingbelow I copieddown the firing data onourattack.Wehadfiredat2241 on the 26th. Thelatitudewas17°48′ northandthelongitude143°40′east. Well, at least we’dscared them more thanthey’dscaredus,Ithink.I received my morning

call anyway. It was a

messagefromComSubPac,addressed to allsubmarines,andstated:

SUBMARINE THAT FIRED ON THE

HUSOMARUAT

TWENTY TWO FORTY TWO ON

TWENTYFIVEFEBRUARY

REPORTTHECIRCUMSTANCES

Submarine warfare surelyhad changed during themonths I’d been away.

Nowthestaffwasbreakingtheenemy’sdispatchesandlooking down our throatsif we missed. SubPac hadthe name of the shipwrong and had notconverted to our eastlongitudedate,butaddingthe time of our torpedorun to our firing timewould put the time in thedispatch only a fewseconds off. There had

beenacoupleofflickersoflight at the stern of thetransport, I now recalled.Perhaps the enemy had aflashlightandstopwatchathand. I did some quickcalculations.Wewouldnotbe at the 500-mile circlefrom Saipan, where wewould report ourdeparture from patrol,until after midnight. Toopen up with a radio

signal nowwould providethe Japanese with ourposition. Another positionwhen their directionfinders locked onto ourtransmission earlytomorrow would make ittwo.Theyalreadyhadonefor last night. That wouldbe enough for the enemyto plot our course andspeed.SubPacwouldhaveto wait. I thanked the

messengerandtriedtogetsome more rest. Thisdispatchdidn’thelp.Itwasno use; it would take acribbage board to geteverything back on anevenkeel.As I might have

expected,Frazwaswaitingin the wardroom, havingfinished his morning starsand just as incapable of

relaxingaswasI.“Iwasn’t going to show

you that, not yet anyway,butIfigureditwouldbeasure way of getting acribbage partner,” hecommented, and thendealt. I cut a five, whichwas good for both of us,but the game wasinterspersed with talk ofthe previous day and

night. Our pegs movedslowlyaroundtheboard.A submarine was never

heldaccountableforeveryone of her misses, anymore than a quarterbackwhonowandthenfailstoconnect. Most submarinesfrequently spread theirtorpedoestogiveagreatercoverage than the lengthof the ship, especially

when the firing data wasshaky. What counted wasthe end result, though ofcoursethecaptain,likethequarterback, could bereplaced,forthesuccessorfailure was on hisshoulders. There was nouse in our crying overspilledmilk, nor in tryingto affix any individualblame for missing theHorai Maru. However, if

we didn’t iron it out andfind wherein we erred, Iwouldberemissindeed.FrankandMelhadcomedown from the 4-to-8, soafter breakfast those of uswho were specificallyinvolvedinthefiringsetupreviewed the attack.Looking back calmly, wesoon saw the causes forourmisses. Except for the

tanker,wehadbeenfiringon8- to 9-knot ships, andourafternoontrackinghadshown the convoy with asimilar speed. Our radarhad been out ofcommission then, and wehad very probably misseda wormturning on top ofthe zigging. This wouldaccount for our speedsolution being about 1½knots too slow. On

resumption of thewormturning, just beforewefired,thetransporthadturned outside in thecolumn movement, wasbehindandclosingup.Theshowerof sparks fromherstack was a clue that shewas pouring on the coal,whichcouldeasilyaccountfor3moreknots.Wehad,perhaps, been putting toomuch stress on seeking

minimum gyro shots,twisting to get our bowaheadofthetransportandsteadying just beforefiring. During the twistingperiod, the bearings Imarked would have beenintroduced into the TDCwithanerrorequal toourship’s swing during theshort period between themark and the actualphysical setting. It would

be little, but enough toaccount for another knotorsoofanalysiserror.Sometimes errors canceleach other, but thesetended in the samedirection, resulting in anestimated enemy speederror at firing of up to 6knots. Six knots is 200yards a minute. Ourtorpedo run was

approximately70 seconds.Theshipwouldhavebeen650 feet farther alongwhen our torpedoescrossed her track, but theone aimed just forward ofherbowmusthavebarelymissedherstern.There was one otherlesson. This was the firstattack in which I had notknown personally the

solution for enemy speedat firing. I was franklyamazedwhenIlearnedwehad her at 8½ knots. Myseaman’s eye had toldmeabout 13. In the future Iwould keep myselfcompletely informed andwould impose myjudgment if required, forthe responsibility wasalwaysminealone.

Now that we knew thereasons and could avoidthe same errors in thefuture,wefeltbetteraboutit,partlybecauseall ofusknew that no submarinehad ever before put fiveships down on her firstpatrol, nor had any thathad unloaded all hertorpedoes had anythinglikeourpercentageofhits.

Other than traveling assafelyaspossible,andthatmeant as fast aswe couldgo, there were lesserthingstobedonewhileenroute to base. Some wereenjoyable, and some werenot. Those men nearingqualification put in extrahoursat their studies.Theexecutive officer workedonthedatasectionsofthepatrol report, and I

unlimbered my pencilhand for some préciswriting of the patrolnarrative. The content ofthe usual chapter had tobe condensed to aparagraph, the paragraphto a line, and sometimesthelinetoasinglewordorfigure.Early in themorning of

February 28,Tang crossed

the 500-mile circle fromSaipan,andweopenedupwiththerequiredmessage,giving the dope on theHorai Maru, theexpenditure of torpedoes,and the ships sunk. Toavoid the usual extraexchange of messages forrouting,westated thatwewouldfollowtheroutethemorning Fox hadprescribed for Halibut.

SubPac would next hearfrom us when we crossedthe 1,000-mile circle fromMidway.To keep time fromdragging, and for anulterior motive, wecommenced daily fielddays. Whenever acompartmentwas ready, Iwould inspect it that onetime.With the responsible

officer, petty officer, andchiefoftheboatpresent,Ilaid down the law. Ifanyone messed up theirspace they were to reportit to Ballinger, and theculprit would clean it up.On the lighter and moreenjoyable side, the cookshad a different type offieldday,breakingoutthebest of our meats, whichhadbeennonetoogood—

a surprising number ofcartons marked “fry cuts”had contained stew meatinstead—and splurgingwith stores that mightotherwise be turned in atbase. A ship’s companynever ate higher on thehog.The 1,000-mile circle

came quickly. Therequiredmessagewassent

requesting a rendezvousfortwodayslater,at1000the morning of March 3.The last compartment hadbeen checked off, and thenavigator’s positionshowed us right on atsunrise. The light-greenishsky characteristic of allcoral atoll landfallsshowed up dead ahead at0930. The only escortavailable was the garbage

scow.We rolledup to thereef,slowingaswepassedthe masts of a sunkenrescue vessel. Warned bythe hull of a submarinethat had missed theentrance in a treacheroussea, Tang threaded thenarrow channel throughthe reef. The harbor hadchanged since I had lastbeen there. We twistedleft, entering anewbasin,

andmooredstarboardsidetoanewpier.The exuberantGooneyville Band wasgood, the awaitingpaymasterbetter,butwhatourtroopsreallylikedwasthe sight of their reliefcrew,whowouldstandallof their watches for thenexttwoweeks.

PartIII

SecondPatrol

LIFEGUARDATTRUK

Midway Atoll was noCapri, but for a ship’scompany returning frompatrol it had most of theessentials. No rollingdecks, no watches, notricingupbunks,andgoodchowwhen onewanted itwere the things that

countedmost. There wereother diversions, one notinexpensive, and to takecare of that, paydayproceeded briskly. All ofthe pay records had beenforwarded from Pearl tothebasedisbursingofficer.Individual chits had beenmadeout,anditremainedonly for the crewmen toline up alphabetically todraw their money. Tang’s

wardroom, with its twodoorways, made an idealwalk-through disbursingoffice. Each man got totouch his money, put aten-spotinhispocket,andwitness Ensign Enos withChief Ballinger seal theremainder in an envelopebearinghisname.Thishadbecome a submarine wayof countering the civiliancontractors’ workmen,

someofwhomwouldhavebeen escorted to the citylimits of Reno or LasVegas. They were proswith dice or cards andalways awaited theuninitiated submariner’sfirstnightashore.Ourladscould learn the truth bylosing ten bucks, when itwas all they had, just aswell as by dropping $150orso.Forthosewhodidn’t

learn, or did not want tolearn, Mel would bebreakingouttheenvelopesfrom the publications safedaily to make similardisbursements. If,however,amanwantedtosend money home, histotalwas the limit,buthehadtoreturnfromthepostoffice with the receipt forthemoneyorder.

Whilethiswasgoingon,IwalkedupthedockwithCommander ChesterSmith,whohadgreetedusas we came alongside. Hehad been skipper ofSwordfishintheSouthwestPacific,onpatrolwhenthewar started, and sank hisfirst shipbut aweek afterPearl Harbor. BetweenpatrolshissubhadrescuedAmerican High

Commissioner to thePhilippines Francis B.Sayre,12ofhisparty,andfive enlisted men fromCorregidor,takingthemallin Swordfish on down toFremantle. Consideredamong the best ofsubmariners, he would beour division commanderduringour refit.Wecouldnothaveaskedforbetter.

Returning to Tang, forthere was still businessaboard, I saw my shipfrom a distance for thefirst time in six weeks.Gone was the formerglossiness of her blackpaint. Salt water, wind-driven spray, and thetropic sunhadbleached itto a slate gray, somewhatsplotched, like thecamouflaged freighters of

WorldWarI.Nolongerasif out of the showroom,she looked likeshe’dbeenplaces and done things,andindeedshehad.Ilikedthe way she looked andmade a mental note thatno one was to get loosewith fresh paint. Comingupthedockwastheship’scompany except for thesenior petty officers andofficers. To a man they

were grinning from ear toear.AtthemomentIcouldnotsaywhethertheprideIfelt was in our ship orthese men; both, I guess,fortheywereinseparable.Aboard, Fraz was

checking the lastcorrections to the bluestencils of our patrolreport. Officers andleadingpettyofficerswere

going through theirdepartments with theircounterparts in the reliefcrew, and the officer incharge was awaiting me.We inspected Tangcasually from torpedoroomtotorpedoroomandthen returned to thewardroom.“What do you think of

her?” I asked as soon as

we each had a cup ofcoffeeinhand.“It’shardtobelieveyou

just came in from patrol,Captain. She looks readyfor an old-time militaryinspection.” He hesitatedandthencontinued,“We’llkeepherjustthisway.”Asa former warrant officer,he’d been brought up inthedaysofspitandpolish

and knew exactly what Iwanted.Fraz had the stencilsready for my signaturewiththecrazywirepenathand. Jones was standingbywith the inkedtracingsfromourchartsandwoulddeliver thepackage to thedivision commander’soffice for his endorsementand that of the deputy

force commander on theisland. Next would comeComSubPac’s endorsementandthendistributiontoallboats and to18 interestedcommands, including thesubmarine school, all theway up to the Chief ofNaval Operations andCommander-in-Chief, U.S.Fleet. So we had allchecked our spelling,dottedour i’s,andcrossed

the t’s. The few repairrequests had beendiscussed with the baserepair officer and dulysubmitted,andIdecideditwas a good time to goashore before somethingshouldcomeuptopreventit.Midway was no longer

the single low islandwithan additional sand spit,

sometimes visible at lowtide,thatIhadfirstseeninthe mid-1930s. After thelonely cable station hadcome Pan Am’s ChinaClipper facilities,and thenshortly the naval andMarine installation. Now,the boat passage throughthereefhadbecomeashipchannel and the sand spitan air station; lowbuildings, shops, and

quarters dotted the twoislands. Only thegooneybirds wereunchanged;asbefore,theywereeverywhere.Fraz joinedmenear the

former Pan Am houses,occupied by the seniorofficersontheisland.“Haveyoueverseenthe

inside of one of thesehouses?”heasked,looking

to the right and thendown. There on the usuallow signwas the nameC.D.Edmunds,CaptainUSN.He was the deputysubmarine forcecommander. The sun wasnow well over theyardarm; we could makeourofficialcallandmoocha drink or two all at thesame time. We turned upthewalkandweregreeted

bythecaptain’sstewardatthe door. He immediatelygoteachofusadrink,andonly then did he tell usthatCaptainEdmundswasover at Eastern Islandseeing CommanderPeabody off on the planeforPearl.HewasreferringtoEddiePeabodyofbanjofame, a loyal reserveofficer, who had beenknocking himself out for

two years now in gettingaround to see the troops.Therewasabitmoredelayinthecaptain’sreturnthanhis steward hadanticipated, and duringthis time two thingshappened. Properly, weswitchedfromhiswhiskeytobeer,butindoingsowespotted a boned rib roast,the likes of which wehadn’t seen since before

theattackonPearlHarbor.It had obviously been setout to be at roomtemperatureforroasting.“Are you thinking whatI’m thinking, Fraz?” Iasked,glancingatthewallclock.“You mean that if weplay our cards right weshould get invited fordinner?”

Fraz understoodperfectly. The captain andEddie Peabody bothreturned,fortheplanehadengine trouble. To savetime, the roast was cutinto thick steaks. EddiePeabody, a real all-aroundentertainer,keptusrollingwithhisbanjoandstories,andto top itoffagreedtostay an extra day for ourcrew.

Our days were notcompletely free, as theresponsibility for our shipstill rested with us. Wewould not have had itotherwise. Certain jobsTang’s crew didthemselves, such as thecomplete recementing ofNo.5 torpedotube’souterdoor gasket and theinspection of the othernine tubes. None of us

wouldtrustthattoanyonewho was not going onpatrol with us. The basework required inspectingaseachjobwascompleted,butlittleofthiscausedanyreal inconvenience sinceour officers were nevermore than five minutesaway. They couldgenerally be found at theold Pan Am hotel, nowpopularly called the

Gooneyville. A largecorner room had longsince been set aside as awardroom or meetingplace. Tables, some withand some without pokercloths, a bunch of chairs,and a large refrigeratorloadedwithbeerwere thesum total of thefurnishings. With friends,what more could onewant? Itwashere thatwe

learned what reallyhappened on submarinepatrols, the things asubmariner was perfectlyat ease sharing with acontemporarybutweretootrivial or personal to beincluded in the patrolreport. In toto, theymadeup the woolly narratives,and in them the staffseldom shared. The beerhelped let down the bars

between junior and seniorofficers, and should anevening’s yarns have beenwirerecordedforairingonstateside radio, the term“silentservice”wouldhavebeendroppedforever.Wewere seeing little ofTang’screw,whichwastheway we both probablywanted it. However, ourfishermenhadagreatday

onMarch7,returningwiththe bilges of their motorsailer loaded with mahimahi. They gave away allthey could and assportsmen refused to letthe rest go towaste. Thusstartedthefishfry.Asmallmountain of fish, cut up,rested in cold storageovernight, and the 8thstarted off with softballand beer. CPOs against

officers, firemen againstseamen, torpedomenagainst electricians, cooksand stewards againstauxiliarymen. It wassupposed to be a roundrobin,butbymidafternoonjust who was playingwhom seemed in doubt.Therewasonethingclear,however: Whichever teamhad Fireman Anthonywon.At first, theypitched

him easy because of histhick glasses. Then itbecameapparentthathe’dlay the ball out of reachand clear the bases ifanyone was aboard.Eventually,Anthonyendedup at the plate seeminglyfor all teams. The mahimahi disappeared alongwith the beer, and thegame folded whenAnthony could no longer

swingthebat.

The ease with which aslight alteration could bemade to a submarine wasdirectlyproportionaltothedistance from the States,or more specifically fromthe Bureau of Ships, inWashington. Theparticularworkrequestwehadsubmittedwasworded

carefully, however, so asnot to elicit too muchinquiry. It said simply:“Install coaming to stiffentop plate between theperiscopeshears.”Itwouldcertainly seem that thiswas to get rid of someperiscope vibration. Whatit didn’t say was that anoblongholewouldhavetobe burned in the plate toreceive the coaming,

which would then bewelded in place. Midwaywas the place to do this,and it was completedbeautifully and withoutquestion.Tang now had asecure lookoutplatform inher tops, a crow’s nest.Standingonthenextlowerhorizontalstiffenerplate,alookout would have thiscoaming at chest height.He couldn’t fall out and

onlyhad to raisehis armsandducktostartdown.Hewouldnothavetimetousethe rungs on “Clear thebridge!”soapadeyeaboveand a cleat forward atbridge level were weldedin place so that we couldattachaclearing linewithsister hooks, to be usedwhenever the station wasmanned. No longer wouldone of us have to hang

precariously from therungs as we had whenchasingthetanker.Theseconddayafterthe

softball game, Ballingerand Fraz came to seeme.The troops had had theirfillofgooneybirdsandthenight life and wanted toget on patrol while theywere ahead. I presumedBallinger was referring to

thelackoftrouble.Hewasarealchiefoftheboat,forthere had been no mastcases forme to dealwith.If anyone had been introuble, he’d settled it,thoughperhapswithFraz’ssupport.Ididn’tknowandwasn’texpectedtoinquire.I reported our readinessfor March 16, with twodays’ and one night’s

training commencing onthe12th,andfinalloadingthe day before ourdeparture. The trainingmight not have seemednecessary, but we hadsomecobwebstoshakeoutand new crewmen tointroducetoTang’smethodof operation. This couldbest be started during thecontrolled circumstancesof a training period. Then

too,wewantedpracticeingetting below from ournewcrow’snest.While we continuedpreparations in anunhurried, orderlymanner,Sunfish and Skatecame in from patrol.Mostly by listening, Frazand I learned that neitherof them had been in aposition to takeadvantage

of the first Ultra down atTruk; and each hadsuspected that the secondUltrapointed the fingerattheotherforbeingsighted.But they sharedmy viewsin two respects: Noremarks were necessary,andany submarinewithachance ought to go afterevery such possibility.Skatehad sunk thecruiserAgano off Truk, and

Sunfish had put down twofine ships at Saipan,arrivingtherethedayafterTang had. We hadpractically run aroundeach other, perhaps evenrouting ships into eachothers’ laps.This certainlyconfirmed that two ormore submarines couldoperate in a relativelysmall area as long as theyadheredtothemandateof

not firing on anothersubmarine unless she waspositively identified asenemy.Wedidn’tconsiderat the timethat thiscouldbecome complicated if anenemy submarine showedup and didn’t know abouttherules,foraquestionofmine disrupted theconversation.“What the hell is

‘crabapplescrabapples’?”There was a look ofsome disbelief on the partofboth skippers, and thenthey told us. It was theplain-language codeword,specifically for Hailstone,directingallsubmarinestogo to deep submergencewhile our surface forcessteamed through an area.Well, sometimes it pays

not to get the news, andthose first two ships Tanghad sunk near Saipan justdidn’thaveaguidingstar.Thebrieftrainingperiod

was to the point andshoweduponedeficiency,related to the crow’s nest:Our submariners’ handswere not sufficientlycallusedtotakethegaffofsliding down a clearing

line. Leather gloves fromthe Marines’ small storestookcareofthat.WithourOperation Order was apersonal letter tome fromCaptain E. W. (Joe)Grenfell, ComSubPac’schief of staff. It read inpart:“Ithoughtyoumightlike to know whatoccasionedourdispatchofthe 25th. Your answergave intelligence

additional evidence thatthe transport is beingrepainted as a hospitalshipsothatshecanreturnsingly immune fromattack.”Well, at least our attackontheHoraiMaruhadnotbeen completelymeaningless. Of perhapsmore importance to Tang,the staff was back in our

good graces. It was lateafternoon of March 15when Fraz reported thatall departments werereadyforseaandpatrol.Inthe privacy of my cabin,we spoke of the problemareas ofTang’s first patroland shared a confidencethat these were indeedsolved. Moving to ourexpectations for thecomingforay,I foundthat

we were speaking inpositive terms, morefrequently using the nameof our ship. It was anatural change thataccompaniedourincreasedconfidence and theattendant respect we heldfor Tang. All handsremainedonboardfortheeveningmeal, and no oneasked permission to leavetheship.

In spite of the early hour,Commander Smith hadcome down to see us off.With his Godspeed Iwenttothebridge.“Readyforgettingunderway, Captain.” Fraz’sreport was exact andconcise. The joking and

informalities ashore atMidway had ceased withourtrainingperiod.Itwasnecessary that it be thisway, lest orders or thesignificance of formalconversations bemisunderstood.Numbers1and 2 main engines wereon the line, rumblingquietly as if impatient toget on with the work. Alongtask layaheadforall

fourofthem.“Let go the spring lines.

Slackthesternline.Takeastrainonthebowline.”Hank watched as

Boatswains Mate Leiboldtookchargeincarryingoutmy orders. This was theyoung man whom Hankhadwanted to swap for atorpedomans mate, anytorpedomans mate, but a

fewmonths earlier.Tang’sstern swung out from thedock.“Let go all lines. Allback two-thirds.” Tanggatheredsternwayquickly.“Port ahead two-thirds,starboard back one-third.”She lost her sternway andtwisted toward the basinentrance.“All ahead two-thirds.”

We gathered headway,making the careful S-turnto line us up with thedredged channel and thenarrow exit through thereef. The jagged coralheads seemed especiallycloseinthemorninglight,but in minutes they wereall astern, and Tang wasonce again in the deepPacific.

FrazandJoneshadbeenplottingourprogressusingthe after periscope andestablishing our departurewith bearings on thestructures of Sand andEasternislands.“Recommendcoursetwo

five four, Captain,” saidFraz,comingtothebridge.We came right and wentahead standard, then

steadiedonthefirst legofour voyage. It was thereciprocalofourcoursetoMidwayandindeedwouldtake us right past PaganIsland,northofSaipan.Wewould not be patrollingthere, however; we wouldcontinueforanother1,200miles to thePalau Islands,generallycalledjustPalau.In preparation for theextra thousands of miles,

Tang was loaded to thegills with fuel and chow.The regular seadetailwasassumingthewatch,whilebelow the ship was beingriggedfordive.InminutesTang would be able tocarry out any operationdemandedofasubmarine.Wewereonpatrol.Our Operation Order

was brief and written in

the familiar manner. Itsaid in part: “When in allrespects ready for sea,proceedtoarea10Wwestof Palau. Stay beyondnormal search in passingUlithi and Yap, andregulate speed so as toreach position 60 milesbearing 255 from ToagelMlungui Passage by 28March for carrier taskforcestrike.”

Theorderswerespecificand left little opportunityforasubmarinetouseherfull capabilities. NeitherFraznorIwasparticularlyhappy with them, for3,500 miles was a longway to send a submarinefor a one-shot, long-shotpossibility. A fleeing ship,ifany,wouldhavetopasswithin 15 miles of ourpositionifwewereevento

make contact. We hadexpectedanEmpirepatrol,but in all fairness, nosubmarine could build areputation in one patrol,and there were othersawaitinganopportunityinJapanscoastalwaters,too.Welookedoverthelegsofour routing, which Frazhadlaiddownpreciselyonthe charts. As it turnedout, they made a pretty

goodcompromisebetweena zigzag and a straightcourse. The daily coursechanges were sufficient toclear an enemy submarinethat might be vectoredahead and at the sametime added practicallynothing to our overalldistance. An averagezigzag would add aboutten percent, or an extraday’s run, a day of transit

inwhichwewouldbe theprospectivetarget.Iwouldpreferourtrackanytime.The days and nightswentbyquietly,forTang’screw was well shakendown. The lookouts werethoroughly briefed in thecritical area for theirsearch, the seas to thehorizonandforsubmarineshears beyond. On March

19and20,however,patrolplanes from Wake werepossible, and we wouldcross the atoll’s likelysupply route from MarcusIsland, so our lookoutswould search the skies aswell. The two diesels thathad been driving us onhad now consumedenough fuel to permittransferof theextraoil toour normal system. Since

the diesel oil floated ontop of salt water in thetanks, the transfer merelypushed a like quantity ofsaltwaterouttosea.Afteraroutinediveatdawn,wesurfaced feeling that Tangwasinfightingtrim.The 19th remained

bright.Thereshouldbenotrouble in spotting anyplanethatcouldreachour

position. Seas from thenorthwest, however, werecausing a roll that madethe use of our periscopefor spotting anothersubmarinedifficultatbest.I took over the searchscope for a few minutes.My left wrist was inconstantmotion, elevatinganddepressingtheinternalprism tokeep the fieldonthe horizon. This was the

time to put Tang’s crow’snest to use, for with aslight body movement inrhythm with the roll, alookout would be able tokeep his 7 × 50s steadyon. The manila clearinglinewent up in place andso did the lookout,complete with gloves andbinoculars. His sole jobwastospotanysubmarineahead. I was more than

satisfied. If a man in thetopshadprovennecessaryover the centuries, whowere we to decideotherwise because of on-again, off-again radar? Tomy surprise, myenthusiasm was notcompletelyshared.“It’s just such a

goddamned long way tothe hatch, Captain!”

Ballinger replied to mydirectquestion.Well,Ihadasked,andtheanswerwasshort and to the point.That was the beauty ofhaving a real chief of theboat.Hehadaneartothecrew, and his prestigepermitted him to tell thecaptain. Both Fraz and Ihad tried out the crow’snest and it had seemedgreat. On our short

training period, ourlookout from the topswasamong the first down thehatch.Perhapshehadoneeyeonthehatch,ormaybeitwasabitdifferentjustintraining next to Midway.Frazwentaloft forpartofa watch and came downbetter understanding thelookout’s apprehension.Hearing the “Clear thebridge” with the wind

whistling around his earswas Fraz’s main doubt.There seemed a partialsolution, however, inmakingthisaspecialbilletthatcouldbefilledonlybythe extra agile. The selectfew from each section, allvolunteers,weresoonheldinsomeesteem.Butjusttobe sure, our OODs nowyelledtheirfirst“Clearthebridge” direct to the tops

whenever the crow’s nestwasmanned.There was no patrol

from Wake, nor supplyship or submarine on theWake-Marcus line. Mynight orders seemedrepetitious, giving theroutine items of course,speed,statusofthebatterycharge, and sometimes acaution. On the 22d,

however, I made thefollowingentry:Proceedingon course 245° true at80/90 on numbers 3 and4main engines. The batterycharge should be completedby2200.Tangwillbewithin150 miles of Pagan Islandby dawn. Ship contacts arepossibletonight,andaircraftat daylight. In the usualplaceat thebottomof thepage,Irequestedacallfor

0600.“Ship broad on portbow!”The answering bellsfrom the maneuveringroom telegraph hadsounded, and Tang waslisting to port with rightfull rudder by the time Ipassedthroughthecontrolroom. I checked my rushto the bridge, for Hank

was already taking thecorrect action in puttingthe enemy astern. Thetimewas 0512. Iwent onup to the conning towerandthentopside.The thin masts, visiblewith7×50s,immediatelysuggestedapatrol,butshewashulldownfrombridgeheight. We would remainon the surface, where we

would be able to see herhull in full daylight withour raised searchperiscope. This wouldavoid the possibility ofbeing held down, perhapsfor hours, should we lookher over submerged. Themorning surface hazecleared. Our ship was anice trawler. There hadbeen occasions earlier inthewarwhensomeofour

submarines attacked suchships and even smallerfishingboats.Irecalledtheendorsement tooneof thepatrol reports: “A smallbut valuable inroad intothe vital Japanese fishingindustry.”A patrol or twoin Empire waters wouldconvincemostanyonethatsuch attacks werecomparable to swattingmosquitoes on the Jersey

Coast.Ourbusinesswasinsinking merchantmen andwarships.Eventhoughthetrawlerappearedtohavealot of antennas andmightbe spotting as well asfishing, she was not asuitable target for Tang.We moved back to ourtrack in a wide sweep,with Pagan Island stillnearly150milesaway.

Thedaywent smoothly.Our dawn contact hadbroughthometoallhandsthat we were in enemywaters. At lunch, twoblasts took us down. Adistant patrol planecontinued on its course.Tang surfaced and didlikewise. At 1700 theoutlines of Pagan andAlamagan islands becamedistinct.Ournavigatorand

Chief Jones checked ourpositionwithtruebearingson the highest points ofeach. To avoid beingsighted, we dived andcontinued submerged tillnear the end of eveningtwilight. The passagebetween the islands wasuneventful. In the clear tothewest,westoppedsoEdand Caverly could checkour SJ radar on the

islands, known targets atknown ranges. Static frominternal sources couldclosely resemble thereflections from the sea,called sea return. In thepast, it had not been toounusualforasubmarinetobargealongfat,dumb,andhappy, relying on a radarthatwassickorevendead.Various checking deviceshad been furnished,

generally called echoboxes.Eventheywerenotfoolproof. The skeptics,and Tang would continueto be among them, wouldstill take advantage of anisland or pinnacle for testand tuning. After onepatrol,ourexpert,Ed,hadjoinedtheclub,too.Our short delay assuredus of a peaked and tuned

SJ. With someanticipation,wewerenowskirting the area of ourmajor contacts of but amonth before. A watchcouldnothavebeenmorealert and eager, but thenightpassedquietly.“Ultra from

ComSubPac!” It was Ed’svoice, for now all watchofficers had worked into

thedecodingboard.Itwasnot a trueUltra, basedonbroken enemy codes, buttheinformationwasjustasgood,maybebetter:

BARB REPORTS CONVOY ONE

NINEZEROMILES

BEARINGTHREETWOZEROFROM

PAGAN

LASTCOURSEONETHREEFIVEBE

GUIDEDBY

PROVISIONSOFYOUROPERATION

ORDER

Thetimewas0907,andTangwasoffatfour-enginespeed to intercept at apoint almost due north.Fraz and Jones plotted itout accurately. If 135wasthe convoy’s base course,notjustalegofitszigzag,anditsspeedwasaverage,we could intercept in fivehours. The search was

intent.Noonpassedandsodid 1300. The tops of theconvoy could come overthe horizon at anymoment. Another hourpassed.“Clear the bridge! Clearthe bridge!” and twoblaatssentusdownwithasharpangle.Two lookoutsconfirmed a patrol planeon the horizon broad on

ourstarboardbow.Backatperiscopedepth,wehadaBettyinsight.Itcontinuedon to the north anddisappeared. After 30minutes down, weresumed our surfacesearch. The first hourrevealed nothing, but at1608twoSDcontactssentus down. The ranges ontheradarwere tenand11miles, but on return to

periscope depth neitherwas in sight. The planeactivityindicatedaconvoyor something, but oursearch until dark up thereciprocal of the convoy’sreported track disclosednothing. We weredisappointed but notsurprised,forwehadbeentryingtodoinhourswhathad required days for ourfirst ship. Somewhat

reluctantly,weheaded forourassignedstation.UlithiandYapwere leftwelltothesoutheastofuswithoutincident.Wedivedat 1651 on March 27 toavoid an unidentifiedplane and entered ourassigned area, 10W,westof Palau, at 2000. Thenight was calm as wemoved quietly to our

station, 60 miles bearing255 from Toagel MlunguiPassage, and 3,500 milesfromMidway.

Tang lay to in the relativesafety of a dark night,mademoresecurebecauseshe was making no noisethat would hinder hersoundmen,andnoneatallthat could be heard fromwithout her pressure hull.Sixtymilestotheeastwas

the enemy. We could notlure him to us; we mustsearchandwait.A privatecommunication hadaccompanied ourOperationOrder, probablybecause we were notavailable for a briefing atPearl,anditexplainedthecoming strike. Prior toHailstone, major Japanese

navalunitshadwithdrawnfrom Truk and were nowstationed at Palau. Fromthis base they couldthreaten our pendingoperationsintheMarianasand the campaign ofGeneral DouglasMacArthur to captureHollandia on the northcentral coast of NewGuinea. To remove thisobstacle, Task Force 58’s

aircraftwouldstrikePalau.The nucleus of the forcewould be coming fromMajuro, a major base intheMarshallIslands,2,500miles east of Palau.Additional units nowoperatingoffthenortheastcoast of New Guineawouldjoinitenroute.Wecouldonlyguess,butitlookedlikeadozenorso

carriers, together with allofthesupportships,wouldbe involved in OperationDesecrate.Comingsocloseto the Japanese fleet,surely our new fastbattleships would beincluded. Just how a taskforceof this sizehoped tomake the passageundetectedwasbeyondus.Perhaps, with apreponderance of force,

they did not considersurprise a critical item. Ifso, they were overlookingits importance toparticipatingsubmarines.WithTang,onanarc60

milesfromToagelMlunguiPass, were four otherboats.Archerfishwould lieto the south of us, and tothenorth, clockwise alongthe arc,wouldbeBashaw,

Blackfish, and Tullibee.They were probablyalreadyonstation.Closeinto thepasswasTunny; ontheother sideof theatoll,offMalakalPassbyPeleliuIsland, layGar. These twowould be lifeguardingduring the strike on the31st. In addition,PampanitowouldbeatYapand Harder down atWoleai for subsequent

smallstrikes.Wewereallcalledfleet-

type submarines, but thiswas just a between-the-wars designation. It hadcomeaboutwhenthefleetwas looking for eyes toscout ahead. But the taskrequired more speed thancould be built intosubmarines. Longer rangeaircraft came along and

took over the job, but thedesignation fleet-typestuckandseemedtosparka continued effort toinclude submarines inoffensive fleet operations.In their enthusiasm, thestaff seemedto forget thatsubmarines had stayed inbusiness for three basicreasons: their ability todive and thus avoiddetection and operate

independently; their longlegs, which permittedthemtoreachtheenemy’sfront door; the surprisethat these first two madepossible. Taking away ordowngrading any of thesereduced the submarines’potential or destroyedtheir effectivenessaltogether. Our submarinedisposition at Truk andnow at Palau was not

compatible with thepreceding premise. Forexample,assumingthatwehad reached our stationundetected, our chance ofmaking contact with afleeing ship depended onthe ship’s passing within15milesofus.ContactsbyBashaw or Archerfish,about 40 miles distant,would be well out of ourreach should we even

know of them. But justsuppose Tang remainedlucky, what would wehaveforatarget?Itwouldbe a thoroughly alertedshipjustleavingport,withecho-ranging escorts,zigzagging at top speed,and racing through ourarea or over us like anexpress train. Theremightbe torpedoes fired, but itwould not be the precise

kind of attack that couldcoldcock the enemy. Eventhough thesubmarinewasunsighted,itwasexpected.True surprise came daysintoavoyage,orwhentheenemy least expectedattack, not in a situationlikethis.I regretted that Fraz’sand my ideas onimproving exactly this

situation had apparentlynot reached Pearl in timeor perhaps were reposingwith a routing slip whileawaiting further staffcomments. They were sosimple,perhapstoosimpletoringabell.Inthem,thesubmarines were simplystaggered at securecommunication intervalsalong the legs of a Vcoveringtheprobablepath

of fleeing enemy ships.The submarine closest in,at the apex, would sendout the contact using avariation of a code I hadlearned in grammarschool, “One if by land,twoifbysea.”Inthiscase,a single echo-rangingpingwould indicate the rightleg, two pings the left.Relayed out, the messagewould let all submarines

start moving for theattack, and the resultcouldbeasurpriseindeed.At night, the distancebetween submarines couldbe greater, and the samesignals could be sent bykeyedSJradar.Ofcourse,lotsofboatsdidn’thaveanEdBeaumontandprobablyhadn’t operated on theirSJs so that the transmitterimpulse could be hand-

keyed, but switching thehighvoltagewoulddo thesame thing. We had donethis to reduce thelikelihood of the enemy’sdetecting our SJ, for hewould hardly recognize ashort impulse, but it alsopermittedusing the SJ forsimplecommunication.

Any fleet or task forcecommander wouldundoubtedly desire a planthat offered themaximumpossibility of putting aJapanese capital ship onthe bottom. It could bedebated, no doubt, but Ibelievedthe“PaulRevere”disposition would do thejob better and with halfthe submarines.One thing

I could not argue with—wehadconsiderablymoreinformation aboutOperation Desecrate thanwe had had for Hailstoneat Truk. But with theknowledge camerestrictions we hadavoided previously, for atTrukTanghadbeenonherownmostof the time.Butagain, we were on patrol,and like the other

submarines with us, wehad to make the best ofthe situation. I wrote inmynightorders:Lyingtoonpatrolstation,60 miles bearing 255° truefrom Toagel Mlungui Pass.SJ, SD, and sound aremanned, but do not in anyway let this relax thevigilance of all lookouts.Allow up to three volunteer

lookouts on the bridge asconditions permit. The dutychief will assure that theyhave their eyes night-adaptedbeforesendingthemtopside. Maneuver at lowspeed on the battery as isnecessarytodampenoutourroll.A contact could come at

anytimefromanydirection,includingupordown,soact

accordingly. We’ve made ithere;let’sfindaship.I reread the orders,

crossingmy fingers at thelast line. The extralookouts would be thoselads, especially from theengineers, who wanted asmell of unused air and alooktopside,evenintothedarkness. There wereothers who had gone

below when we left ourbaseandwouldtakeprideinnotcomingtopsideuntilwe returned. We wereindividuals,afterall.After several hours ofuninterrupted shut-eye,the hot coffee tastedparticularly good, perhapsbecause I was sufficientlyawaketoenjoyit.Topside,theskyintheeasthadnot

yet started to gray. Itwouldbea longdive,andTang might just as wellstartitofffilledwithpure,cool night air. Scottyordered two engines onthe line and the forwardtorpedo room hatchopened, but with a pettyofficer standing by. Theforwardengine roomdoorwas opened, and I couldvisualize the gale blowing

throughtheboat,withthecurtains in the wardroomand CPO quartersstreaming aft at a 45-degreeangle.Fiveminutesfrom forward, a repeatfrom aft, and Tang wasbuttonedupagain.Scotty’stwoblastssentusdowntopatrol submerged on thisMarch 28, three daysbeforethestrike.

In the early days of thewar, all patrols weresubmerged once asubmarine reached theborder of her area. Then,each periscope exposurehad consisted of the low-power sweep and high-power search, as ifpreparingtosurface.Therewasusuallyanappreciabletime between exposures,and the situation on the

surface could havechanged, so the cautiousprocedure was proper. Abetter way in most areaswas to look continuouslyandthereforealwaysknowwhat was going onupstairs. We would bedoing this with bothperiscopes,andasatTruk,withabout17feetofscopestickingabovethewatertoincrease the distance we

could see. This would bethe next best thing to asurface search as far asfinding the enemy went,and was a reasonablecompromise consideringthe likelihood of one ormore submarines beingsighted should we allsearch on the surfaceduringdaylight.Toreceiveany contact report fromone of the other

submarines, radio wasguarding 450 KC. Theradar elements atop ourraised SD mast wouldserve as our antenna, butthey were such a horriblemismatch to the lowfrequency that Iconsidered intersubcommunications by thismeansverydoubtful.Ididnot voice this doubt otherthan to Fraz, but I’m sure

ourradiomenfeltthesameway. They stuck to theirlistening,nonetheless.Our first day wore on.Nothingmoved,notevenaplane, and here we wereonly60milesfromthelastmajor enemy island baseinthePacific.Knowing that all wasclear,wesurfacedwiththefirst stars so thatFrazand

Jones could get us anaccurateposition.Afterthelow-pressure blowers hadbroughtus fromanawashto a fully surfacedcondition,weagaintookasuction through the boat.It would be unfair forthose below not to shareimmediately the purenight air and for thesmokers to still have theirlighted cigarettes die out.

Rather than roast thebeefin a hot boat, we delayedthe evening meal a halfhour, and the roasts wereturned into steaks forfrying after we surfaced.The steaks for all handswere brothers to thoseFraz and I had moochedthatfirstnightatMidway,andIlookedinquiringlyatFraz.Hejustnodded,thencut me in later. He had

personally checked theboxes of boned fry cuts,rejecting those thatappeared to have beentampered with, so thistimeTanggothershareofgood steaks, and veryprobably the staff atMidway got the boxes wehad turned in, which said“fry cuts” on the outsidebut had pot roasts andstewmeatinside.

The 2100 Fox had amessage addressed toTunny and Gar, and forinformationtous.Withoutexplanation, it orderedthem to be on theirlifeguard stations on the30th. To us thismeant anadvancement in the strikedate, and considering theenormityofsuchachangewith hundreds of unitsinvolved, an enemy

sighting of Task Force 58seemed the probablecause. Why else wouldthey advance the date?Therewouldbenochangeinoursearch.Iftheenemymovedthisway,wewouldmakecontact.Wemadenoannouncement concerningour guess; the ship’scompany would then bekeyed up in expectation,with a letdown should

nothing move. Better thatwe maintain constantvigilance.The battery charge wascompleted well beforemidnight, and all wasquiet. Tang took anotherdeep breath beforedaylight, and then Franktookherdown,levelingoffat the ordered 100 feet.We listened there until it

would be light enough toseethroughthescopesandthen came quickly to 64feet. A quick sweeprevealed nothing, and thehigh-power search showedonly the crisp, clear seas,with small whitecaps cutoff sharply at thehorizon.No wonder ancientmariners feared the edgeoftheseas.

“Bring her up to fiftyfeet.”Tang rose like anelevator, then rolledforward to a slight down-angleat53feet,settlinginto the ordered depth.Another quick sweep andall was clear. Thuscommenced our all-outsearch for the day. Lightclouds seemed low, but

that was because theywere so distant. Amongthemwewouldtrytofindasinglepufffromasmokymaru, or a light brownhaze from a dieselmotorship. I turned thesearch scope over toScotty,whohadthewatchwith Frank, and went onbelow.A patrol plane at noon

reminded us that airfieldsand lagoons for seaplaneswere only three times asfar away as the distantclouds. From 64 feet wewatched it cruise by fivemiles to the east. Wehoped its search mightindicate the track of aconvoy, so Tang movedoverontoitspath.Nothingdeveloped except somethreateningweather off to

the northwest. Finally thesun set. Mel had thelookoutsstandingbywhenI came to the conningtower. We had beensearching all day, but outofhabitIwentthroughthecustomary careful searchbeforesurfacing.“Bearing—mark!” Iglanced up and read therelative bearing, 70, of a

thin mast, its pronouncedrake indicating anapproximatecourse.“Takeherdowntosixty-

four feet. All aheadstandard.” I estimated theangleonthebow,thoughIhadnotreallyseenit.Frazgave the normal approachcourse, and the steersmansteadiedonit.Theonethingthatevery

OOD tries to prevent,havingthecaptaincometothe conning tower andsightaship,hadhappenedto Mel. Sooner or later ithappened to all of us, forthe captain has a prettygood idea of where andwhentolook,andperhapsof more weight, of justwhat to look for. Maybethat’s why he’s incommand. Mel was

somewhatabashed,buthegotover itquicklywhen Iwelcomedhimtotheclub.The ship wasundoubtedly a patrol, butwe’d move in to look heroverandat thesametimefreshen up our trackingparty. On additionalthought, if you’reapproachingapatrolthat’slooking for you, be ready

to shoot. Tang went tobattlestations.TheBellsofSt. Mary’s chimed out inearnest from our 1MC forthe first time in a month.Even though they nevercouldhavetheauthorityofthe klonking prewargeneral alarm bell, thenote still raised myheartbeat a bit, and I’msure I was not alone inthis.

Without going to fullspeed and seriouslyexhausting our battery,which was already lowafterourall-daydive,Tangcould not reach the ship.In a fewminutes itwouldbe dark, however, so wewaited and then movedahead on the surface forsubmerged observation intheintermittentmoonlightandpossiblefiring.Notthe

moonbutlightningflashesrevealed our target afterwehaddived.ItwasaPCtypepatrol,nowjoinedbyasimilarshipandsixlargeplanes in groups of two.The boats had on theirrunning lights and theplanestheirlandinglights,brightones,andproceededwith their search. It tookus two hours at periscopedepth and another two at

500feettogetclearofthemess. No one could say,however, that we hadn’thad a realistic drill, andwe wondered if theJapanese antisubmarinecommanderwassayingthesamething.The first explosions ofDesecrate came duringlunchon the30th,agoodone followed 15 seconds

later by another. Thattimed well for torpedoes,sowesurfacedforabetterlook and found threeplanes to the east. Theyclosed to seven miles anddown Tang went, notasking questions, thoughthey were probablyfriendly. Nothing elsehappened.TheseconddayofDesecratewasallenemy—a close bomber for

breakfast, a mediumbomber for supper, andtwo planes after us at2230. This pair milledaroundbutcamenocloserthan eight miles, so weremained on the surface,though with the OOD’sthumb resting lightly onthe diving alarm. TaskForce 58 had made theJapaneseawfullymad,andthey seemed bent on

taking it out on us. Wehadn’tevensaidboo!Ihadhopedforareleasefrom our patrol station sothat Tang could closePalau, but none came.Probably ComSubPacknewnothingofthestatusof Task Force 58, andwould not, for radiosilence would bemaintained during the

force’s withdrawal. So wetwiddled our thumbs,sightingonelargeplaneatdawnforAprilFools’Day,a flash and loom ofsearchlights toward Palauto start the 2d—and thencameanUltra!

The course was west bysouth, 260 degrees true.Just under 500 milesahead lay Mindanao, thesouthernmost large islandof the Philippines. Tangcouldreachitinadaybutfor two factors, ourdwindling fuel supply and

amostunusualpartofourUltrainstructions.NorthofNewBritain,onApril 18, 1943, AdmiralYamamoto, Commander-in-Chief Combined Fleet,had been shot down byourP-38s.Thishadproveda severe blow to Japan’sfortunes.Now, less than ayearlater,theDivineWindhad backed again, for

accordingtoourUltra,theplaneofAdmiralKoga,thenewfleetcommander,wasdown in a small tropicalstorm. Tang, uninvited bythe Japanese, was to joininthesearch.An hour aftermidnight,

we passed into the areascontrolled by CommanderSubmarines SouthwestPacific

(ComSubSoWesPac); hewould be our operationalcommander even thoughwe might not haveoccasion to communicatewith him at Fremantle.Marking a spot mightconfuse the enemy’ssearch, so we lay to andproceeded again with thetouchy business ofconvertingourtworeservefuel oil tanks to normal

ballast. Having men andtools down in thesuperstructure while onpatrol made all handsuncomfortable, but theblanksboltedovertheventvalve openings werequickly removed. Werinsedoutournewballasttanks, blowing them outwith the turbos andfloodingagaintillwewerereasonably sure the oil

slickwouldnottrailalongafterus.Surprisingly,only30 minutes had elapsedwhen we resumed ourvoyage. Thatwas but halfthetimerequiredwhenwewere north of Truk, sothere had been room forimprovement.Our search commenced

at dawn and wouldcontinue all day as Tang

plodded along at one-engine speed through thelikely area. Only long-range bombers andsubmarines could botherus,andthelatterfacedtheproblem of keeping theirscopes undetected on theglassy sea. Our regularwatch could handle themboth, but to insure thattheir routine search wasnot interrupted, extra

lookoutswent topside andon aloft. Again our shearslooked more like aporcupinethanaperiscopesupport,butaslongasthemen could all get below,the more eyes the better.Justtobesure,wedecidedon a trial dive after themorning watch hadrelieved.At 0807 came the

expected “Clear thebridge! Clear the bridge!”and not until we hadslipped under the sea didthose of us below knowthat a Japanese bomberhad added a touch ofrealism to our drill. Withthis incentive, Tang haddived in the usual timeand without any strain.Theplanewassearchingina lazy S off over the

horizon on our port bowandremainedinsightforahalf hour beforedisappearing to the west.Since itwas covering thatarea, we’d continue thetrack that Fraz had laiddown on the chart. Notoften does an enemyreceive best wishes, butshould that patrol bomberspot something, its reportcould bring out a ship for

our torpedoes.We wishedit luck. If eyes strainingthrough 7 × 50s andperiscopes couldhavehadtheir way, Koga wouldhavebeen found;butonlytheusualbitsofflotsam,acoconut, and an oil drumadded momentaryexcitementtooursearch.The conversation in the

crew’s mess did not seem

tocarryonintothecontrolroomthisevening,perhapsdue to a generaldisappointment. It shouldnot have been so, for thiswas just another day ofpatrol, except on this daythe possibilities had beensogreatthatwemayhaveforgotten thatour chancesof finding the admiralwere very small. Of onething we were convinced:

KogahadescapedtoDavyJones’slocker.Fraz brought his chartdown to the wardroomwith our projected 2000position on the track, andwe started thinking aboutthe next day. We wouldenter our new area atmidnightandpatroleastofDavaoCity.Fromtherewewould commence the real

operations that hadbrought us farther westand had been detailed inthe second half of theUltra. Four Japanesecruisers had been sightedby an Australian coastwatcherastheyproceededup Davao Gulf, anenormous bay extendingup from the southeast tipof Mindanao. Tang wouldjoin forces with available

submarines fromFremantle to interceptthem. ComSubSoWesPacwasclosertothescenesofcurrent action than thecommand at Pearl. Lesshampered by surroundingcommands and staffs, hecould seize upon thisopportunity and issuesome broad, flexibleorders. The submarineswoulddotherest,andsink

allofthem.A single rock-crusher

moved Tang quietly intoher area at midnight andon to its westernboundary, still 120 milesshort of Mindanao, at0300onApril4.TheOODstopped our ship asdirected in the nightorders and instigated theall-out search that had

nowbecomeroutinewhenour boat was lying to. AssoonasFrazandJoneshadtheir stars on morningtwilight’sfirsthorizon,twoblaststookusdown.Our trim dive was

routine. We stayed downonly till periscopevisibility was good andthen commenced oursurface patrol. A good

breakfast, another day,and new possibilitiesseemed to give us a lift.Thatapparentlyappliedtoeveryone, for on his own,Jones came forward withour best chart of DavaoGulf. Atmy invitation, hejoinedusatthewardroomtable; he had visited thegulf in S-boats before thewarandwasable topointout advantageous

positions.Thatwedidnothave a large-scale chartdid not bother us (I hadnavigated Wahoo intoWewak Harbor using achart we had preparedfrom an Australian schoolgeography). If we ranaground while travelingsubmerged, we could justback off the shallow spot;and if we proceededslowly with decks awash

whileon thesurface,we’donly have to start theturbos to be clear forbacking.The first plane of thisarea interrupted ourspeculation, providing theonly topside activity fortheday.Below, the troopswere not idle. A generalcampaign for all hands tocomplete thecoursebooks

for their next rate wasunder way. The executiveofficer had instigated theprogram when Tangreached her first patrolstation, and the ballseemed to be rollingwithout coercion. Themessroom looked like aschoolroom when I cameforward from amidmorning turn throughtheboat.Atonlyonetable

was an acey-deucey gamegoing on. At the others,groups were workingtogether, filling in theanswers and getting readyfor their tests. On patrol,thiswassomething tosee;at least these men wereaccomplishing somethingimportant.We were concerned

about our fuel, not that it

wouldn’tgetushome,butthehigh-speed chases thathad been the making ofTang’s first patrol wouldnot be possible too muchlonger. My concern wasnotsharedbyall. Iwasinno position to avoidoverhearing a torpedoroom conversation. Thecrew had stepped off thedistance to Fremantle ontheir messroom chart and

figured, should fuelbecome critical, Tangcould have her refit downunder. The stories fromFremantle had pretty wellpermeated the submarineforce, especially that of acooperativeventurebytheenlisted men of the staffand boats. Poolingresources, they hadpurchased an excellentthoroughbred prospect,

employed a trainer, andracedtheirhorsejustonce.At the last minute all oftheir money went on hisnosethroughthetracksidebookies. The tales ofsubmarine bluejacketswith fists full of poundnotes were stillreverberating.Andthentherealmotivebehind an Australian refit

unfolded. In any ship’scompanythereisalwaysatleast one adept gambler.Tang’swasSteward’sMateWalker,apparentlyequallyat home with cards orbones. Members of thecrewhadpooledtheir$10stipends at Midway, andwiththisWalkerhadtakenthe civilian workmen tothecleaners.Sothecrew’srequest for an early

departure from Midwaywas not then purely flagwaving or boredom withthe gooneys, and hadnothingtodowiththelackofmastcasesortrouble.Itwas just a sure way ofgetting the money off theisland. What better placetospenditthanAustralia!Fortunately, there is aregulation strictly

forbidding financialdealings between officersand enlisted men.Certainly, interpretedbroadly, this meant Ishould not becomeinvolved. It was my out,but I wondered just howmuch cash they had onboard and where they’dstasheditaway.Another message finally

came in on the Fox, anoperational change, butnottheoneweanticipatedor wanted. Tang wasmoved in to the 100-mileposition, another 20milescloser to Davao City. TheboatsfromFremantleweresimilarly stationed; wewere back to the circularscreen, net, trap, orwhatever one wanted tocallit.Ihadmyownname

for it, but we had agreedto save our profanity fortheenemy.The air patrol was a

couple of hours late onApril 5, apparentlycovering our new positionon a later pass. Thefollowing day it didn’teven show up. The 2100Fox brought anothermessage, directing us to

return to area 10 W atPalau. Thoughts ofcontinuing our patrolthrough the South ChinaSea and on to Australiawere replaced by those ofreturning to a stagnantareaover450milestotheeast, not a happyexchange.Moredisturbingwas the thought of fourenemy cruisers probablysteaming off to join their

fleet, when they shouldhavebeenattackedby thesubmarines assembled todo exactly that. The otherparticipating submarinesmust surely have hadidenticalsentiments.Midwaydidnothaveallof the facilities necessaryto convertTang’s numbers4Aand4Bballasttankstoadditional reserve fuel oil

tanks,ashadrecentlybeenauthorized. This wouldhave added another 1,500milestothecruisingrangeof the average boat and,the way we wereoperating, another 2,000to Tang’s. ApparentlySubPac’sstaffengineerdidnothavealistoftheboatswith this conversion, or ifso, staff operations hadn’tseen it. AlreadyArcherfish

had cried uncle and wascreeping back to base lowon fuel. Tang was stillpatrollingforfourreasons:ourearlydeparture,whichallowed a slower, moreeconomical speed; ourstraight course, whichsaved a good ten percentover zigzagging; the extrafuel we had stowedwhereverpossible;andoursingular method of

patrolling when we didn’thaveanyplace togo, lyingto day or night. Now wewouldaddafifth.The 500 KW auxiliary

engine, 670 horsepower,was carrying the electricloadandpushingusalongat4½knots,sometimesupto 5 when the electricranges were off and theauxiliaryloadwaslight. It

seemed and sounded likean outboard motor,kerring away, but at leastif and when we madecontact, we’d have thewherewithal to run thebastard down, though wefelt a little naked passingthrough unknown watersat this speed. This wasespecially true during thesecond and third days,when the seas were

scattered with oil drums,probably the deck cargoesof sunkenships,extendingonouttothehorizoninalldirections. An enemy’sscopewouldbedifficulttospot, but we convincedourselves that he wouldgiveus at least6knots inhis angle solver, for nosubmarine traveledat4½,and his torpedoes wouldmiss ahead. Then too, our

lookouts were thoroughlyaware of the dangers andneeded no prompting.Therewerealwayswaitingvolunteers, and sometimesI wondered if some ofthem just preferred to betopsidewhen cruising likethis.We could look forwardto more secure nights,with the advantage of our

good SJ, but on themidafternoon test it wentout of commission.Caverly’s concise reportcontainedallthenecessaryinformation and a bit ofsentiment, too: “The SJ’sjustcrappedout,Captain.”EdBeaumont,Caverly,andBergman started round-the-clock repairs. Onething that never crappedout was the vision the

good Lord gave our lads,and two more lookoutswent to the forward 20-millimeter gun platform.Intheeventofadive,theywould clear into the gunaccess trunk,whose lowerhatchwasalreadyclosed.Ididn’t like it and theydidn’tlikeit,butthat’sthewaythingsaresometimes.Surely this short voyage

was the modern wartimeequivalent of a privateercaught in the doldrums,not knowing what mightfetchupfromwhere.Timedid not drag, for thepotential dangers andopportunities were sogreat, but keeping theadrenaline at a decentlevelmusttrulyhavetriednature’smechanisms.

Airpatrolshadkeptourbow and stern planeslimbered up on the odddays, and now one hourinto the 10th, as wenearedPalau,theJapanesechangedtheir’schedule.Atdawnwewereshieldedbya nice overcast, but asteadily decreasing SDradarrangewasdisturbinguntil it commencedopening up, at five miles.

At breakfast, a plane thatwould spot us if it brokethrough the low cloudsdrove us down till its pipdisappeared.Thefollowinghourpassedroutinely,andthen a calm, loud “Clearthe bridge! Clear thebridge!” and two preciseblasts sentusdownagain.We knew by Hank’s voicethatthiswasnoplane,butneitherwasitashipforus.

The single stick anddeckhouseofapatrolboatpoked over the horizon.We tried to close, but shewas heading off to thenortheastatover15knotsand out of range. Wewondered if she, too, hadbeen searching day afterday after day. Tang wasnow less than 50 milesfrom Palau. We wouldcontinue on submerged to

close the islandundetected. The navigatorlaid down our track to apoint fivemilesoffToagelMlunguiPass.

ItwaslateafternoonwhenBill reported the lowerslopes of BabelthuapMountain,ourfirstlandfallsince Pagan Island, overthree weeks earlier. Thesummit was obscured intheovercast,andnowhereonthegreeninclineswere

there sharp, knownprojections for bearings tofix our position. Seaman’seye agreed with our deadreckoning, however, andTang’s position was goodenough to interceptshippingheadedforToagelMlungui Pass into Palau.After more than 2,000miles since last sightingland, not knowing exactlywhere we were seemed

excusable. This is but oneof the advantages asubmarine holds overaircraft; when there isdoubt about her position,she can just stop. Besides,closingthereefsubmergedthis day would entailturning right aroundbefore dark to reach asecure location for ourbattery charge. I decidedto leave well enough

alone.Tangpokedalongatperiscope depth, with anoccasional high search,and surfaced well intoeveningtwilight.Thenightwouldprovidea new experience for agood part of our ship’scompany, for we wouldnot be using radar. As farastheSJwent,wehadnooption, since its

transmitter was stillundergoing a rebuildingjob. The SDwould not befired off because at thisrangefromanenemybaseits longer wavelengthsignal could be picked upby direction finders, andbombers would bevectored out along thebearing that the shoreinstallation had obtained.Somemight not come too

close, as they would notknow our distance fromthe island, but for otherswewouldhavetodive. Ineither case, our presencewould be known, and anyships would be routedclear of us. Beingwithoutradar would take a littlegetting used to, even forthose of us who werepatrolling that way whenthe war started. There

wouldbeotherdifferencesand areas of emphasis.After we had surfaced, Iincludedtheminthenightorders.Lying to, approximately15 miles west of ToagelMlungui Pass, chargingbatteries. We will not beusingradar,sobesureeachlookout is completely night-adaptedbeforeassuminghis

watch and understands ourstatus.Soundismannedandmay be our major defense.Hold any maneuvering onthe battery to lowest speedsandmaintainquiet.Thedutychiefwillassure

himself that all trash sacksare well secured andweighted, as we want notelltalesinthisareaatdawn.Our low silhouette gives us

theadvantage,butonlyifalllookouts do their best. Apatrolorshipcancomefromanydirection.Keep me completely

informed. Call me at anytime.Ifindoubt,dive!We will dive early into

morning twilight, and patrolsubmerged.It had been a quiet,

serious night, blessed by

clearing skies. With Tangnow submerged, Fraz andJones were working uptheir morning stars, andthe duty steward had justbrought hot coffee to theconning tower. On thedispatch board was amessage from Trigger toComSubPacthatradiohadintercepted. She would befour days late in movinginto the southern half of

area10Wduetoaconvoyencounter en route andsomedamage.Maybewithher help we could stirsomething up. There wasdefinitely something to besaid for this old-fashionedpatrol routine, for thetension of the night wasgone and we were in asecure position, ready toattack. Scotty was on thescope,and Ihadcomplete

confidence in him as anOOD,but Iwishedhehadmore interest in themachinerythatsurroundedus. He would have tomaster it all beforequalification.The spot we had

selected for the day’spatrol was ten miles westof Ngaruangl Passage.From there we would be

able to intercept anyshipping that camethrough this pass oraround Velasco Reefheading for ToagelMlungui. Later, we couldspot and trail for nightattackanyoutboundships.It looked like a natural,the first likely place tointercepttheenemyinourentire four weeks and5,000milesofpatrol.Tang

moved in cautiously, forthe enemy must come toherashesteamedthrougheither pass or around thereef. Everything dependedupon remainingundetected, evenunsuspected. Each searchwouldstartwithminimumscope, and onlyoccasionally would wecome up to examine thelagoonandtheseastothe

west.The first call came

during breakfast, distantecho-ranging. Bergmanhad just returned to hisradar repairsand took thesound watch. Then heflipped on the speakerabovethereceiverssothatthe rest of us in theconning tower could hear.Thereporthadbeengood,

but the hollow pingslacked the cadence of anautomatic man-madesignal and contained avaryinginflection.Wehadsome distant porpoises,but even their talk wasbetter than nothing, for ithad served to liven thingsup a bit. The porpoises,the grinding of groupers’teeth,andtheothervariednoises near the reef were

our only sound contacts.The periscope did nobetter. Tang should havejoined the AudubonSociety, however, forseabirds were in sightalmost continuously. Theyseemed to delight inhangingaround thescope,asifaboveaschooloffish,which might just havebeen the case.We headednorthwest an hour before

sunset so as to surfacefartheratseabutstillcloseenough to sight any shipthrough7×50s.Nothingmoved.Since Trigger would not

be entering her area untilApril 14,wemoved southafter our battery chargewas completed. Our newposition, off ToagelMlungui,wouldcoverboth

areas a little better, butjust to be sure, oursubmerged track took ustwo miles off the channelentrance. This seemed alittlecramped,sowespentmostof theday twomilesfarther out. One four-motoredflyingboat,whichlanded in the lagoon, wasour only sighting in twodays. Time was not lost,however, for Frank and

Mel completed the rigidrequirements forqualification except for anexercise torpedo shoot. Ifourpatrolshouldcomeby,we might just let Franksimulate a firing; but theJapanesedidnotoblige.In midafternoon a mildcheercamedownfromtheconning tower. Five daysof struggle had put the

radarbackonitsfeet.Thepile of useless condensers,resistors, and tubeswouldfillacoupleofwhitehats,andthatdidnotcounttwomodulator units that hadleaked their oil. We allliked this higher poweredSJ when it was working,but would gladly haveswapped it for thepreviousmodel,whichtheolder boats had. Though

that one didn’t have thezip, the bugs had beentakenoutanditwasmorereliable. The presenttrouble seemed to bemostly a matter of heat,and better ways ofdissipating it would havetobedevised.After looking over the

channels and the reefs, itwas apparent that they

would not be used afterdark.Quietlywewithdrewfarther to the northwest,where we could use ourSJ,andresumedourusualnightpatrolroutine.“Radar interference

bearing zero five zero,Captain.” I thanked themessenger and gave myhead a quick shake tochaseawaythecobwebs.I

liked patrolling withoutemitting any radar orother signals but wouldhave to admit thatsleeping was better withtheSJinshape.Frankwasin the wardroom puttingthe finishing touches onthe drawings in hisqualification notebook. Itwas 0155, so he wouldhave been at it sincecoming off watch at

midnight. I knew thatsome considered me astickler inadheringtothispeacetime requirement,but Frank’s qualificationforcommandwouldfollowquickly. At that time heshould know the boatmore thoroughly than anyof his juniors, and itlooked as if he would.After a cup of coffee, webothwenttopside,pausing

intheconningtower.Frazwasthereaheadofus,nowkeying the radartransmitter.The replywasa simple short period ofinterference, a long one,and a short one again. Itwas an R, or Roger, andcould only come fromTrigger. Three-quarters ofanhourwentbybeforewehadapipat18,000yards.That augured well for

future simple securecommunications, probablyoutto20miles.We closed rapidly, andour combined speedsbrought Trigger and Tangtogetherinlessthanahalfhour. I had been dubiousabout thenewcamouflagesubmarine paint jobs—decks black, sides a lightgrayhaze,andallvoidsin

white—but thisrendezvous convinced allofustopside.Without7×50s we could not seeTrigger lying to at 500yards,andwewouldhavemissedherwithbinocularsexceptfortheseaspouringout of the limber holeswhere the superstructuremettheballasttanks.Trigger needed spare

parts to repair herdamaged equipment, butthere wasn’t time beforedawntoputoverarubberboat. By blinker gun wesettled on preliminaryarrangements for coveringthe area and establishedcommunications by soundpings for possible futureuse. Shewas not in shapeto patrol in close, so weheaded in to Toagel

Mlungui Pass, withanother rendezvous set upforafterdark.WithTriggerto handle offshoreshipping, we could movein closer. Tang dived andcrept to a position twomiles off the channelentrance. Nothing stirredinside the large lagoonduringthelongmorning.At lunch Hank sent

down word of squallsmoving in from thenorthwest.Frazwentuptotake a look. Soon thesound of rain beating onthe surface of the sea setup a dull roar below. By1400wewere surroundedby heavy rain, withvisibility no more than amile.Shouldashipappear,therewouldbeinsufficientdistance to track her, and

torpedofiringwouldbeasfrom the hip. To preventthis,andlestashipslipbyin the reduced visibilityafter all these hours ofwaiting, we surfaced andtook a new position, sixmiles from the channel.Here our SJ would maketimely contact and Tangwould have maneuveringroom for attack. Still theenemy did not move, and

at dark we headed out tofindTrigger.It was past midnight

when we finally locatedher, for again our SJ wason the verge of giving upthe ghost, and as luckwould have it, so wasTriggers. It had been theplantotransfersparepartsthis night by rubber boat,but with the seas kicked

up by heavy squalls,“‘tweren’t fittin’ ferlow’rin’.” Instead weresorted to the linethrowing gun-tin canmethod,andsentover theinformation about thearea, our ideas forcovering it with twosubmarines, and a list ofsimpletacticswithsignals.Fritz Harlfinger,commanding Trigger, sent

back some compatibleideas. We all saw eye toeye and now needed onlysome moderate weatherfor transferring the sparesand some enemy ships toworkon.The Japanese did not

cooperate,buttheweatherdid.Afteranother fulldayoffToagelMlungui,withamorning flying boat and

an afternoon bomber ashighlights, we foundTrigger again. Through 7× 50s we were watchingasshegotherrubberboatready in the usual placeforward of the conningtower.All of a suddenweheardthewhooshofairasshe unexpectedly openedher forward group vents.Down went her bow, halfunderwater, and theboat

crewpaddledoffasiffromaslopingbeach.It was not unusual toread in a patrol report,“Contacted the U.S.S. so-and-so to exchangeinformation concerningshipping in the area.” Insubmarine language thatalso meant that the boatsexchanged movieprograms. This night was

no exception. The soppedcans were struck below,where willing hands usedup a fair amount of ChiefPharmacist’sMateRowell’sgauzeandcottoninwipingthe salt water from thefilm. Therewas no recordof the film having beendamaged by this; in fact,the submariners claimedthat the salt water justfixed the emulsion a little

better.On the return trip,Trigger took the requiredspares, compressor valvesand cages, radar tubes,and our spare batteryventilation motor.Fortunately, this couldreplace her burned-upsound training motor. Iftheyflushedthesaltwaterout and dried it in one of

thegalleyovens, it shouldwork fine. There was noneed to tell Trigger this;hercrewhadbeenthroughthesethingsbefore.Though there had beenno ships yet, the otheractivities of April 15seemedtogiveallhandsalift.Maybe itwas just thechange, but of course thenewmovieswerenottobe

overlooked. On thefollowingday,Tangvariedherroutinewithanall-daysubmerged search downalong the reef toinvestigate the lowerlagoon and the westernentrance to MalakalHarbor.Stayinginclosetothe reef without adequatechartskeptFrazandJoneson their toes. In this kindofsituationanexperienced

soundman wasindispensable as he notedchanges in the intensityand bearing of the noisecreatedbytheseaspassingover the reefs. Thenavigation was excellent,buttheharborwasempty.Still, the Japanese wouldnotlikelyleavetheirshipsin exposed roadsteadswhen small fjordswere athand among the various

steep islands.Likemanyasubmarine on patrol, weclung to the hope thatsooner or later the enemywouldsendhisshipsoutIfhe didn’t, the war wasessentiallyover.The 17th brought one

flying boat, but that nightour board deciphered amessage in which Tangand Trigger were

information addressees.Fraz and I read itsomewhat flabbergasted.Sunfish would beindefinitely delayed inreaching area 10 E. Thatwas the eastern side ofPalau,whereGarhadbeenon lifeguard duringDesecrate. She had longsince departed. We couldsurmise only that it wasArcherfish who had

relievedGar, but she, too,had left for lack of fuelwhilewewereenroutetoDavaoGulf.NosubmarinewasnowoffMalakalPass,and the Japanese wereprobably running theirships through itandon totheEmpireunmolested.Becauseofthetotallackofshipping,FrazandIhadbecome pretty well

convinced that ToagelMlungui and the lesserpasseshadbeenminedbyour aircraft duringDesecrate. But we stillcouldn’t quite bringourselves to believe thatTang would be leftguarding mined channels,and the arrival of Triggerhadsomewhatallayedourapprehensions. Now,having two of us in

essentially the same areato the west and nosubmarine to the eastshowed that lack ofknowledge or confusionexisted in ComSubPac’sstaff, maybe both. Therehad been a comparablesituation at Wake soonafter the war began.Tambor was put inTritonsarea to the north of theatoll insteadof the vacant

area to the south. Tritonbroke radio silence,announcingthattherewasan unidentified submarinein her area, and if it wasthere on the succeedingday she was going totorpedo it. Theoperational-urgentmessages that hit theschedules that night weresomething to decode. Butovertwoyearshadpassed

since then; by now weshouldhavelearnedtoputthe round pegs in theroundholes, and even thesquare ones in the squareholes,too.Wedecidedtositontheinformationuntilwemadethe next scheduledrendezvous with Triggerafter our usual submergedpatrol. Maybe the

following Fox wouldcontain a message to usclarifyingthesituationandwith some areareassignments to properlycovertheshippinglanestothese islands. Frank hadthe complete story of thissideoftheatollandcouldpresent our views toCaptain Harlfinger andcome back with his. Thiswas something that just

couldn’t be done byblinker gun or any of thesecure means ofcommunication.At 2130, after another

fruitlessdaywithonly theusual flying boat, Frankand Leibold paddled outtoward Trigger, barelyvisible though but 400yards away. Our rubberboat was quickly

swallowed up in thedarkness, but we couldsoontellbytheactivityonTrigger’s deck that it hadreached there safely.Withthem were morecompressor parts and aspare radar modulationnetwork for exchange.Maybe Triggers wouldworkforusandviceversa.Itwasworthatry.

The conferencewent onwhilewestoodononefootand then the other,expecting the rubber boatto heave in sightmomentarily. Finally itwas alongside, with Edassisting from on deck. Ibelieve he really justwantedtogethishandsonthe modulation network,butIdidseehimhelppullFrank up. Frank’s report

was brief. Though Triggerwas in fullagreement thatsomethinghadtobedone,she wanted to sticktogetherforanotherdayorso while she completedrepairstothedamagefromher drubbing by theconvoy’sescorts.Tang spent the next

threedayspatrolling closeinduringthedayandthen

withdrawingtochargethebatteriesandtogiveroomfor a radar run on anyinbound convoy. A dailyflyingboatorbomberoverthe atoll was our onlyreward. On April 22,however, activity pickedup with a flight of fivebombers just before noon,a single at 1300, and fivemore at midafternoon.Though we saw no

explosions, we believedthe planes were ours,flying up from NewGuinea. On the first Foxthat night was a messageaddressed for action toTang.

Theseawascrisp,thekindthat seems to kick theflying fish into their longglides.Twohadlandedondeckduringthenight,andathirdhadbashedintotheconning tower, theirwhitish-blue shapes justvisibleinthedimpredawn

light.Melsentforthedutysteward, and in threeshakes Adams wasscurrying around on deckretrieving them. He wasjustasexcitedovertheonelargefishasifhe’dcaughtit himself, and in a sensehe had, for it was stillflipping. A submarine isnot a democracy, and Ichose the large one forbreakfast. They are bony

things, but if you’ve beenbrought up on the NewEngland coast handlingthatisnoproblem.It was a new day, and

Tang was heading for anew area with a newmission. Most of this weliked, but it was notwithout problems. Thearea west of Palau wasdead and in our opinion

would remain soindefinitely. Now headingeast, we had a greaterchance of intercepting theenemy.Atthismoment,60miles east of Palau, wecouldbecrossingthetrackof a ship heading in fromYap. By morning ourpresentspeedwouldputuson a line connecting Yapwith Woleai, and so itwould go as Tang passed

throughtheCarolinesrightback to Truk. Among theproblems was the 1,200miles toget there. If therehadbeenanydoubtbeforeconcerning the staff’s lackof knowledge of fuelcapacities,thisdispelledit.It also accounted for ourone-engine speed. If timewerenotafactor,we’dbebackontheauxiliarynow,and in all truth that little

engine might have to goon propulsion yet. Still,this was a challenge of asort.Unlikesteamplants,adiesel’s injectors measurean exact amount of fuel.Therearenotrickssuchasrunning on back pressure;only reduced speed andauxiliary load will help.Tang would see what shecould get along withoutand at the same time not

get torpedoed. Anotherpart of the dispatch thatwedidnotlikewasthelistofexactpositionswewereto occupy. Again, hereweredirectives fromPearlto cover an operation3,000 miles away. Thistime, however, Tang hadan out, for she would betheonlysubmarineatTrukfor the continuing strikesbyourLiberatorsfromthe

Marshalls and for thesecond carrier air strike.We’d go to the assignedpositions—wehad to startfrom somewhere—andthen we’d go wherevernecessaryanddowhateverwe had to in rescuingdownedaviators.Lifeguardwasourmission.The complete operation

would not be new to us,

for though we had notbeen called upon atWakefor any rescue when wewerethereduringourfirstpatrol,allhandshadgivenit considerable thoughtandsomepreparationshadbeenmade. The bridle fortowing a floatplane clearwasstillaboardandmightbe used even if just intowing a raft. AtDesecrate, we had been

aghast when ComSubPacmovedTunnyfromcloseintoToagelMlunguiPassoutto 30 miles for herlifeguard services.Presumably, that was topermit her to remain onthe surface to receivereportsofdownedaviatorsand then to effect rescue.It was our expectation tomove in as soon as ouridentification was

established and to be offthe reef, or at least at aclose-in focal point.Involved with dive-bombers, fighters, andcapitalships, theJapanesewould surely not bediverting any of their airto attack a singlesubmarine.Buttherecouldbe opposition from shorebatteries, so atmidafternoon we would

commence preparations tocounterthat.Istilldidnotfeelthata

deckgun, in this age,wasofmuchvaluetoanattacksubmarine. Duringconstruction I had arguedto at least have our gunmoved aft of the conningtower. If an enemy shiphadcomparableorgreaterspeed, it was axiomatic

that she’d be able tooutgun us. Our own gunwouldbeusedfordefense,shooting astern. With thegun mounted forward ofthe conning tower, wewould have to changecourse in order to bringthe gun to bear on apursuer. That would notonly present a broadertarget to the enemy butwould also reduce the

componentofspeed,notanice situation when a subcouldn’tdive.Ontheotherhand, if we had morespeed, we could pick ourposition,andagunaftwasessentially as good. Imayhave won the argument,but the gun stayedforward. Now, however,with theprospect of usingthegunagainstland-basedforces, I might have to

review a part of mythinking, and Frank hadpointerandtrainerdrillsetupat1500.FrazandItookturnson

the bridge as Leiboldpointed and Cacciolatrained the 4-inch, 53-caliber deck gun. Theirtargets were obliginggooneys, skimming thewaves.White,ourgunner’s

mateandguncaptain,wasin charge, slamming thebreech and calling arealistic “Ready one!”Leibold was elevating ordepressingagainstour rolland kicking off thesimulated rounds as Tangmomentarily steadied,while his trainer wasapparently staying on inazimuth. Though thesethree had fired as a team

only during ourshakedown, aknowledgeable glancewould indicate they wereno novices. Frank, on thespotting scope, anadditional eyepiece of thepointers scope, confirmedthis. We secured untilsunset, when a searchplanewouldbeunlikelytointerrupt our furtherpreparations.

On schedule the OODcalled, “Battle stations—gun!”Theguncrewwouldfire as many rounds asnecessary to establish thecorrelation between thesightbarrangeonthegunandtheactualradarrange.Theoperationwas simple,somethingweshouldhavedone on our shakedown.No target was necessary,just the sharp horizon. At

2,000-yard sight barincrements, the gun crewfired seven careful shots,kicked off with the crosshair exactly on thehorizon. Ed and Caverlyrecorded the radar rangeof the splashes, andsurprisingly, knowing theexactbearing,wereabletorecord all of them. Thepointer and trainerremained topside with

Frank to determine thelimiting point of eveningtwilight for accuratesighting and then they,too,wentbelow.Theseasandnightwerequiet, but below decksthingswere buzzing a bit.We had altered course tothe northeast, and thechart in the crew’s messtold all hands that Fais

Island lay ahead. Tangwould dive short of theisland about midmorning,then move in toreconnoiter. There wasalwaysthesmallchanceoffinding a freighter there,loadingat thephosphoriteplant,anditwasnosecretthat failing this sometarget practice wasassured.

Fraz and Jones had agood round of morningstars and Tang was righton the track at our deadreckoning position. Tenhundred came; Mel’sunexcited “Clear thebridge”andtwoblastssentusdowntoclosethesiteofthe refinery at a quiet 4knots. First with highperiscope and then withbut two feet as we drew

near, our search wascareful and thorough. Noship was moored at therefinery, and to eventhings, new gunemplacements wereplainlyvisible.Theywouldbe enough to keep anysubmarine that had ideasofbombardingtherefineryoff to seaward at arespectabledistance.

Tang’s plan was notoriginal but containedrefinements over aprevious visit I had madein Wahoo. The first stephad already been takenwhen Frank plotted thecurveofradarversussightbarranges.Nowwemovedincautiouslytoobtaintheexactbearinglinebetweenthe island’s lookout towerand the refinery. It was

128degreestrue.Withthisline drawn and theposition of the otherimportant-lookingstructures plotted, wecame right and slowlyproceeded around Faisuntil the lookout towerbore308degreestrue.Thesunhadsetwhenwestuckthe SJ out for an accuraterange. Itwas 7,300 yards,a respectable distance but

oneatwhichweknewthe4-inch gun could hit. Ofmore importance, FaisIsland’s guns would notbearonus.The Bells of St. Mary’s

were sounded in earnest,accompaniedby“Standbyforbattlesurface!”Itwasabeautiful maneuver towatch. The gun crew andammunition train were

linedup to thegunaccesshatch. Everything was inreadiness in the conningtower.“All ahead standard.Blow safety and hold herdown with the planes,Bill.” Bill gave her a 5-degree down-angle, andwe were swimming downwithsafetydry.“All ahead full. Blow

main ballast.” The 3,000-pound air roared, and theplanesmen fought Tang’stendency to rise. It was alosing battle. We were at64feet,then63.“Battlesurface!”Threeblastshowled,theplanesmen shifted theirplanes, and Tang bouncedto the surface like a cork.Frank called the initial

range, 6,800 yards. “Set!”came from the gun, and Iordered, “Commencefiring!”Thefirstfiveroundshad

point-detonating fuses andwere seen bursting in thetrees. Then Frank used arockingladderoffirst200-and then 100-yardincrements to insurecrossing the target, and

applieddeflection spots toinclude the other plottedstructures. Though anydamage could not beascertained, thedetonations of mostprojectiles showed asflashes, or momentarylooms of light for thoselanding across the island.With33 rounds expended,I ordered, “Cease fire!”Theremaining160rounds

we would save for Truk.Theemptyshellcaseswerekicked over the side, andwecametothenavigator’srecommended course fortheatoll.At my request Frazdropped below andextended mycongratulations to allhands, since more wasinvolvedintheshootthan

couldbeseentopside.Theammunition train hadworked to perfection, fornot once was the firingdelayed.Withthesimplestof gun fire control nowwell tried and proven, Iwould not hesitate to usethe gun if it could furtherourmission.It had been a goodshoot, primarily a project

of Tang’s troops with anassist from Frank. Quietlyand without any fanfare,his capabilities werebecoming evident. It waseasy to see why he hadbeen commissionednumberone in theprewaremergency officerprocurementprogram.The subject of

conversation in the

wardroom that night wasthe shoot, and fromremarks we overheard, itwas no different in thecrew’smess.Itwasgoodtohearsomethingotherthangripes about the dearth ofJapanese shipping, andthis seemed to see usthrough the following twodays of straightawaycruising. We were farenough from enemy bases

topermitadaylightgreasejob on the gun and lateafternoon pointer drill.The troops showed suchenthusiasm about the gunthat I became a littleapprehensive of theirletdown should we nothaveoccasiontouseit.OnApril27Tangwouldagainbewithin range of enemypatrols.Theycamewithanabrupt “Clear the bridge!

Clear the bridge!” alljumbledinwithtwoquickblasts. It was Hank’s“other” voice, whichseemed to blow thelookouts down the hatchand ineffect said, “This isnodrill.”Ed leveled off at theordered 100 feet, the firsttimehe’dbeencalledontotake her right on down,

and with the addeddifficulty of right fullrudder. Our new coursewas 225, the bearing of adistantpatchofsmoke,butclosing at six miles as wewentunderwasanenemyplane.Frazhadplottedtheprobable position of theship,nearHitchfieldBank.We could waste no time,and Tang had climbed toperiscope depth just eight

minutesafterdiving.“Up scope.” Jonesbrought it up smartly;therewasnot timefor theusualcaution.“Bearing—mark!” Jonesread230.“That’s the smoke. Theplaneistotheright,goingaway.”From50-footkeeldepthwe had two blobs of

smoke, now tracked on atentative course of westand at 10 knots. Threeblastsandwewereonthesurfaceworking up to fullpower for an end-around,far and away the mostthrilling maneuver insubmarines. Only in thisway could we hope tocatchtheenemybeforehereachedGrayFeatherBankand the security of a vast

area of shoal water. Tangwasrolling,butsowastheplane, sighted coming inhigh. Again we made itbelow, though this timetheenemy,aZeke,gotinalittle closer. It wasprobably from Ulul, andthose planes were fastenough togiveus trouble.Our next two surfacedashesgainedbearing,butthentheZekesatontopof

us, apparentlyuntil it hadtoreturn for fuel.Anothersurfacedashgotusbackinthe running before therelief Zeke arrived. Againthe sky was clear andagain we surfaced. Thediesels fired and thencame the SD report, “Twomiles… one mile… he’scomingin!”There was a swish

below, perhaps of a dudbomb, and the rattle ofmachine gun bulletsabove, but we werebuttoned up and on ourwaydown.It was noon; we’d beenatthissince0859,butnowthe enemy was on GrayFeatherBankand immunefrom attack. He need notenterdeepwateragainfor

ahundredmiles,andthenwhere? Without otherorders we would havetried anyway, but ourmissionwasatTruk,nottothe west. Our submarine,especially the lookouts,had performedtremendously. The besttime to tell them so wasright now. I called thelookouts to the conningtower.

Quickly thequartermaster took overthewheel and glanced aftwith a look of somedisbelief. The lookoutscame up immediately butwitha“Hashegonenuts?”expression plainlydiscernible. Then itdawned on me. I had notsaid, “Prepare to surface,”but since“Lookouts to theconningtower”isapartof

the order, anothersurfacing was justassumed. I squared themawayandhaveneverseensuch relief. The four ofthem seemed to breatheout in unison and droptheir shoulders about sixinches.Thequartermaster,who I now presumed hadtaken thewheel so as nottobeinlinetogotopside,resumed his duties. After

the lookouts, all handsreceived my thanks.Though the enemy hadgotten away this time,withacrewlikeTang’s hewouldn’tnext.

Tang caught her breathby running submerged.About midafternoon, theZekes seemed to havegiven up their search,apparently satisfied thatthey had accomplishedtheir major objective, asindeed they had. Oursubmergedspeedwasonly3 knots shy of one enginecruising, however, so oursiestahadcostusonly six

miles. Somewhatrefreshed, and a little lessjumpy,webounced to thesurface and rolled on ourway. The seas werefriendly, and the nightpassed withoutinterference.Blaat! Blaat! and downwewent.Itwas0719,andthe dawn patrol fromTruk, a Betty, was on the

horizon. It practicallyconfirmed the navigator’smorning star fix; wewereon theborderofourarea.Anothertwohours’surfacerun would have put usastride the probableshipping lanes from thenorthwest to Truk. Wereany ships moving, thatwouldbethelikeliestarea,for no sane ship wouldcome from the west off

GrayFeather. Idecided toleave well enough alone;wenowhadafullcanandcould reach the areasubmerged an hour late.We commenced our all-day submerged patrol,slowing toaquiet3knotsatmidmorning.A distant plane at 1500

and two floatplanes at1700 seemed to confirm

the intelligence report ofTruk’ssteadybuildupsincethe first air strike, inFebruary. That meantships, too, and we wereeager. Well into eveningtwilight,we surfacedwiththe usual cautions butwaited a few minutesbefore starting the noisyturboblowers.Theydidn’tgetstarted,fortheSDthathad shown all clear

suddenly had a pip at sixmiles, closing steadily.Fraz,withhissextant,waspractically mowed downbythelookouts,whoknewofthecontactandwereontheirstartingblocksforthedash to the hatch. Withdecks already awash on“Clearthebridge!”Icouldnotblamethem,andmadea soft landing myself onthe last lookout’s

shoulders. After going to60feetfortenminutes,wereturned to radar depth.Theenemywasstill there.No plane could fly thatslowly;forsuchaconstantrange it must be circling.Weeasedondown to200feet to have the eveningmeal in comfort whilesound did our searching.The plane finally becamediscouraged, or low on

fuel, because at 2000 allwasclear,andthistimewestayed on the surface forthenight.This patrol area, acrossthe northern reefs andislands of Truk Atoll, hadbeen one of oursubmarines’ favoritesearlier in the war. TheNorthPassstillofferedthebestpossibilityoffindinga

target, for it could handleany draft ship. We hadtimetogiveitafewmoredaylight hours and divedten miles off the passbeforethestartofmorningtwilight. Sound had to beour ears and eyes until itwas light enough to seethrough the search scope,so we rigged for silentrunning to give theoperator every break

possible. Shortly after wecould distinguish theislands on the reef, afloatplane came by fairlyclose. It must have beenjust by chance, for Tanghad made no electricalemissions that the enemymight detect, and wedoubted that his radar onDublon could reach us orseparate us from thenorthern islands. Tang

stayed as long as herorders would permit, buthereweneededdays,evenweeks,nothours.At1100,the last possible moment,we set course for ourlifeguard station, 30milesbearing 110 from Dublon,and commenced the longsubmerged run to thepositioneastofTruk.

It was nearly 1900 whenwe surfaced. Fraz andJones hurried with theirstars on a fading horizonand confirmed ourposition. At 1928, SD hadour attacking Liberators,coming from theMarshalls, and shortly

their blops appeared onthe SJ. They provided agood fast exercise for ourtracking party. Theformation advancingacross the scope on eachsweepof the cursorwasaheartening sight. Onschedule, they passedsevenmilestothenorthofTang, and ten minuteslater the explosionscommenced. They were

probably hitting Dublon,which was 30 milesdistant, and Ballingerbegansendingafewhandsat a time up to see thefireworks. The Liberatorswould probably return toEniwetok or otherMarshall bases by adevious route unless oneor more were in trouble,when theywould ditch atourknownposition.

Ballinger had taken hisown turn topside with uswhen the first planeclosed, ten minutes afterthe first bombs. It seemedalittleearlyforoneoftheLiberators unless it wasbadlyhitandwastryingtoreach us, but how couldweidentifyit?Justincase,the extra hands wentbelow.Suddenlythesinglepip separated into three.

Mel’s “Clear the bridge!”leftnodoubt,butnotuntilafter the two blasts andthe noises of diving hadceased did we learn thatthe enemy was droppingflares, obviously trying topinpointus.Weneededtobebackon the surface fortwo reasons: A Liberatormight still be in trouble,and after our longsubmerged run a battery

charge was urgent. Theenemy planes cooperated,departing as suddenly astheyhadappeared,andwesurfacedunderthequartermoon. A couple ofelectrical grounds due tothehumidityofourall-daydive delayed starting thebattery charge, and thenthe Japanese took over.Their searches weredetermined, and they

dropped increasingnumbers of flares as theyapproached,nowusingupto fourplanes.Theclosestflares were about fourmilesaway,buttheplanescontinued in,disappearingfrom the radar, probablyas they skimmed the seashoping to catch oursilhouette. Dead in thewater, Tang wasundoubtedlyinvisiblefrom

above. There is a time tobe chicken; at this stagethe battery charge wassecured and we dived.Afterthreemoredivesandshort runs to seaward,wewereon the40-milecirclefrom Dublon, 20 milesfromthereef.Perhapsthiswas beyond the range atwhich Japanese directionfinderscoulddetectourSDradar,maybemoonsetwas

a factor, but I suspect theenemywas tired, just likeourwholeship’scompany,andbothsidessecuredthedrillforthenight.Here we were on a

mission ofmercy, and theJapanese seemed moredetermined to get ourscalps than when we’dsunk their ships, with theone exception of our all-

day tussle with thedestroyer west of Saipan.Atbestwehadservedasadecoy for the Liberators,but when your dives andsurfacescomeouteven,noday is a total loss. Finallythe anticipated reportcame in on the Fox; allplanes had made it back.Tang was off at three-engine speed, with barelyenough time to reach her

assigned position for thecarrierairstrikeonTruk.“Radar interference

bearing two four zero,Captain. The executiveofficer is in the conningtower.” There was an airof excitement in themessenger’svoice,whichIsharedequallyasIbecamefully awake.With Fraz ontheballtherewasnorush.

We had both planned onthreeorfourhoursofshut-eye,but itdidn’t look likehe’deventurnedin.Itwas0400, and we’d been onstation40milesduesouthof Moen Island for onehour. Thirty-five minuteslater the action startedwithaplaneora flightofplanes at 4,600 yards onthe SJ. Our sectiontracking party paid off

with an almost instantcourse determination,toward our task force.There was no time for acoded contact report, sowe told the task forcecommander by voice on4475, our assignedfrequency for this strike.There was noacknowledgment, so wetried twice again blind.After that itwould be too

lateanyway.It was another 40

minutes before planesshowed up on the SD. Asusual, when planes werehighenough for theSD tocatch them, the SJwouldn’t. We had nobearings, only ranges, andnoway todetermine theircourse.Theycouldbeoursor the enemy’s. The next

flight in the spottyovercast closed rapidly totwo miles. We dived.Thirteen minutes later alldoubt was gone, as Tangsurfaced under flights ofup to 50 planes shuttlingbetween Truk and thesouthwest. With thepossible exception of asinkingmaru, thiswas thegrandest sight any one ofushadwitnessed.

The tops and then thesuperstructuresofourtaskforce came over thehorizon. It was 0815, andherewesat23miles fromthe reef, when in ouropinion we belonged upfront,ascloseaswecouldget.Commonsensetoldusthat our planes could notall be lucky, but perhapsnone had yet made itbeyond the reef. All

communications had beenchecked out; we wereguarding the VHF tacticalfrequency and ourspecially assigned 4475,andallunitsandplanesofthe task force wereguarding them, too.Patience is certainly arequisite for a submarinecommander, but at thismoment I believe I firstunderstood Captain J. W.

Wilcox,Jr.Ihadsignalsinthe cruiser Chester. Wewere receiving animportanttacticalmessagesentby36-inchsearchlightfrom beyond the horizon.Myskipperwasscreaming,“Getitfaster!”Finally the call came,

and Tang lit out, herscrews digging holes withfull battery power while

the diesels fired. Ourdestinationwas a raft twomilesoffFourupIsland,onthe southern reef. Therewas no emergency speedaheadonthemaneuveringroom telegraph, probablya holdover frompeacetime, when the onlyconceived emergency wasinbackingdowntoavoidacollision. Our telegraphshad just one-third, two-

thirds, standard, and full.Ringupfulltwiceandyougot flank, also consideredbeforethewartobeasfastas a ship could go. Whenthewartimejobtobedonebecame more importantthan one of the engines,wearrivedatanewspeed,and why not call itemergency? Instead ofringingupfullthreetimes,most of us got this speed

bytelephoneandleftitupto the electricians andmotormacs (motormachinist’s mates) to givethe rock-crushers theworks. At this moment,CulpandMacDonaldwereagain in charge aft, andTangwasrolling.Wewereout of that static trap,spelled T-R-A-P, of ouroperational dispatch andmeant to stay loose and

flexiblefromhereon.The sight ahead as we

closed the atoll wouldhave brought a lump ofpride to anyone’s throat.Ourbomberswerepeelingoff through a hole in theclouds aboveTol Island, ahole filled with flak, anddiving straight through.For themoment it seemedthat the fourth plane of

eachwingwashit. If theyhadthatcourage,wecouldat least get this survivor,two miles off the beach.Tangwas not alone asweskimmedOllanandFalasitislands, for two of ourretiring bombers cameover to strafe the islandson the reef and fightersarrivedtoguideus.“Tharsheblows!”Itwas

Jones’s Down East twangfrom our crow’s nest. Ididn’t even know he’dgone aloft. The raft wasabout four miles west ofthe reported position, butfrom an aviator’sviewpoint that was closeenough.Atsomethingover22 knots, Tang was thereintenminutes,conductingan old-fashioned man-overboard drill: a wide

turn to place the raftupwind and a needle-threading, slow, straightfinal approach. The yearsof conducting thismaneuver as a drill paidoff inthisonemoment,asHankandhis rescuepartysnaked Lieutenant (jg) S.Scammell, Second ClassAviation Machinist’s MateJ.D.Gendron,andSecondClass Aviation Radioman

H. B. Gemmell aboard inthreeshakes.While the planes kept

any opposition from thebeach at bay, weskedaddledsixmilestothesouth. Scammell and hiscrew were shaken up alittle, but nothing that ashot of depth-chargemedicine, Lejon Brandy,wouldn’t take care of in a

hurry. It had to, for weneeded the three of themin our new AIC—ouraviation informationcenter—set up for thisoperation. Although wehadn’t known it at thetime, this project hadstarted at Mare Island,with the customarydonations by GeneralElectric and FairbanksMorse of communication

receivers to the twomesses.Thesehappenedtobe the best Hallicrafters,and that suited everyone,astheiraudioperformancewas excellent; with themwe would get broadcastsfrom the States and evenworldwide.Tomake themwork properly,we neededcoaxial cables run fromradio foreandaft throughthe watertight bulkheads.

To justify this, anothermicrophone cable wasnecessary, thus makingeither mess a potentialcombat informationcenter. What luckprompted this,we’ll neverknow,butnowwithapilotand a radioman aboardwho knew all the calls,and lots of the pilots byname, ourwardroomAIC,witha large chartofTruk

Atoll, was ready to go toworkinearnest.It was 1559 when the

next raft outside the reefwas reported through ourAIC. Again at emergencyspeed,wesetouttoroundKuop Atoll, which sticksdown south from Truk. Aquarterofanhourintotherun came another call, araft close to the area

where we’d picked upScammell and crew. Thisonewecouldreachduringdaylight, a sure rescue, sobackwewenttoapositiontwo miles west of Ollanand one mile off thecontinuing reef. Again theposition was approximate,forourlookouts,theraisedscope,andourcrow’snestcould spot nothing. Thebomber and two fighters

closebyseemedperplexedthat we wouldn’t followone of them over the reefto the actual position,which was five milesdistant. At least that wasthe distance on the SD toone of the planes. Frazplotted theactualpositionof the raft; it was in theclearandshouldbeabletopaddle outside the reefduring the night. Right

now there was a raft wecould reach, even thoughit would be dark. We setoff to round Kuop Atolland start a night search,feeling confident thatTang’s unique ability tomonitor distress calls andthustakeimmediateactionaugured well for themorning.Allplaneshadnowbeen

recalled,leavingusonourown, as a submarine issupposed to be.We couldeither dive before theJapanese crawled out oftheir holes or shoot firstand see if we could keepthem down. I chose thelatter sincewe could thenbe proceeding at fullpower toward thedownedaviatoreastofTruk.Whitehadhisguncrewstanding

by, and my “Commencefiring!” was followedalmost instantly with thefirst salvo. The point ofaim was the nearest gunemplacement on thesouthwest end of OllanIsland.Ourballisticsoftheprevious week againproved correct. Frank’scurvehadplotted so closeto a straight line that hesettledonasightbarrange

of 300yards less than theradarrange.Theveryfirstprojectile, with its point-detonating fuse, burstnicelylowinthetrees.Theguncrewworkedsmoothlyand unhurriedly ascorrected ranges werecalledeverysalvoorso tothe sightsetter. Frankinjectedhisspotstoseeanoccasional short. The realeffectiveness was in the

bursts, which must havebeen showering the areawith fragments andpreventingtheenemyfrommanning his guns. WithOllan now 8,500 yardsback on our quarter andTang pulling away, I gave“Ceasefire!”Theguncrewdived below through thegun access trunk, and weputtheislanddeadastern.The order was a bit

premature, however, forone enemy gun crewcrawled out and let fly atus, sending a huge smokering rolling out from thebeach.Thefirstsplashwasa big one, 1,000 yardsastern on our SJ. Thesecond one we did notspot, but we heard itwhump somewhereoverhead. It could havebeen close, for the enemy

excelled in his gunnery.Thoughthisaddedatouchof excitement, there wassomething to be said fortheprotectionthatcombatairpatrolhadprovidedtillitsrecall.A 40-minute high-speedrun got us clear and intodarkness. With only thereefs to worry us, werolled around Kuop Atoll,

then to a spot six mileseast of Feinif Island,locatedontheeasternreef.Fromtherewecommenceda zigzag search to thesouthwest, running a halfhouroneachlegandfiringagreenVerystarevery15minutes, one at each turnand one in the middle ofeach leg. These were notprearranged signals butones we hoped an aviator

would recognize andanswerwithanyoneofthepyrotechnics in his raft. Itwas a rough night for thenavigator and not anentirely calm one for me,especially because weclosed the reefhourlyandmyresponsibilitiesbroughtmetothebridge.Theonlyreply, sighted on someoccasions, was a series ofredorwhiteflashinglights

that changed bearingrapidly,asifflashedalonga runway. We were notbothered by the enemy,probably becausewe usedonly the SJ, and thatsparingly. Neither did weaccomplishanythingotherthan assuring ourselvesthat we had covered thearea of the reported raftthoroughly and had giventhisnightourbest.

It was now 0330. Tanghad worked well aroundthereef,soweheadedouttoaproperpositionforthesecond day of the strike,hoping to have anotherchance to find the lonelypilotandcrewwemustbeleavingbehind.

EngineeringofficerBillWalshuseda16-millimetercamerato

recordactionduringTang’srescuesofnavyfliersatTruk.Above:Threeaviatorsarepulledaboardfromaraft.Below:The4-inchguncrewholdsdownoppositionfromenemybatteriesonOllanIslandasTangracestowardanotherdownedplane.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPHS

TangapproachesLieutenant(jg)J.A.Burns’sKingfisher,fromthebattleshipNorthCarolina.Burnshasalreadypickedupseveralotheraviators,bringingthemseawardforrescue,U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH

Linesarethrowntothedamagedfloatplanetoholditalongside,andtheaviatorsbeginscramblingtosafety,U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPHS

TopreventtheJapanesefromsalvagingit,Burns’splaneissunkbyfirefromTang’smachinegun.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPHS

Fromher11,150-milesecondpatrol,TangreturnstoSubmarineBase,PearlHarbor,withtherescuedaviatorsaboardandiscongratulatedforajobwelldone.OffthereefsduringTaskForce58’sstrikesonTrukApril30-May1,1944,Tangpickedup22fliers,thelargestsubmarinerescueofnavalairmeninthewar.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPHS

Radar interference fromTask Force 58 wavedacrossourSJtubeminutesafter we left the reef.Perhaps it had been therefor some time, but ourconcentration had beenelsewhere. If we couldnote this radar from our

low height, surely theJapaneseinstallationsatopTol orDublon islands hadit, too, probably for somehours. The attack hadseemed to achieve littlesurprise the day before;todaytheenemywouldbethoroughlyreadyifhestillhad the wherewithal tostrike back. With this inmind, we proceededcautiously to the position

we had selected andwerestopped, lying to, at thecrackofdawn.Wewereata focal point of possiblerescues,13miles closer tothe reef than assigned onthe first day but stillnearly tenmiles out.Herewe were hull down fromthe highest points of theoutlying islands, beyondtheir gunfire, but wewould be able to watch

them with raisedperiscopesassoonasitgotlight. We were searchingwith a half dozen pairs of7 × 50s, the scopes, andsound as the gray in theeast turnedtopink. If thisarray failed to spot theenemy first, nothingwould.“Submarine conningtower bearing zero three

five.” It was Ogden,Jones’sunderstudy,onthesearch scope. Bothperiscopes went downsimultaneously.Shehadtobe enemy; Tang was theonly U.S. submarineassigned to this area.Another single lookshowed a narrow conningtower and a true bearingchangeof4degreestotheright.Tangcouldreachher

submerged. The dive wasquiet, as if the enemymight hear us, and Tangwent to battle stationsagainst a bona fide targetfor the first time in 48daysofpatrol.Our course was 080,

nearly east, to close theenemy’s track, and wewere moving at standardspeed,forhewouldnotbe

able to hear us above hisown surface screw noises.Attheendoftenminutes,we stopped our screwsmomentarily so that oursoundmen could obtain abearing. The enemy haddrawn only 5 moredegrees to the right; Tangwould make it handily.Another short run andweshouldbe close enough tocalltheangleonthebow.

“All ahead one-third.”The quartermaster calledout our speed as weslowed,fullyawarethatinsuch an approach aperiscope feather fromtoomuchspeedcouldturnthehunter into the hunted.Ourspeedreached3knots,stilldropping.“Up scope.” Jones

broughtthehandlestomy

hands and then followedme up from my squattingposition.“Bearing—mark! Down

scope.” The angle on thebow was still sharp,difficulttocallonanearlycircular conning tower. Isaid 15 starboard. Frankwas doing a good job ofanalyzingontheTDC.Thesubmarinewascomingdue

south from Otta Pass andmaking 12 knots; therange generated on thedata computer was 4,500yards. In fourminutes therangewouldbe3,000andthe angle on the bow 30.Our torpedorunwouldbe1,500 yards if weremained nearlystationary, but we wouldbeclosing.“Allaheadtwo-thirds.” If we maintained

this 6 knots for threeminutes, the torpedo runat firing would be under900 yards, just what wewanted.“All ahead one-third.”

Again the only onespeaking was thequartermaster, calling ourspeed by the half knot asTangslowed.“Up scope.” Jones was

bringingthehandlestothelevelIindicated.Theouterdoorswereopen, ready tofire.“Lost his screws,

Captain!” It was thedreaded report fromCaverly on sound. Jonesbrought the scope upsmartly, right on thegenerated bearing thatFrank called. The enemy

had dived! We could notfireontheflywithoutfirstengaging thedepth-settingspindles on each torpedo,and then what was theenemy submarine’s depth?A quick sweep and I hadthe probable reason forourmisfortune:Coming inwere flights of our ownbombers and fighters,maybeahundredofthem.That was the probable

reason,butnotnecessarilythe only one. We hadquickly passed into thatdoubtful area of who isattacking whom, aptlycompared to a duel in apitch-blackcellar.We quickly rigged for

silent running, for defenseas well as to give oursoundmen every possiblebreakinregainingcontact.

Simultaneously, Tang wasslithering down to 150feet; we could fire just aswell from there, and atleast should the enemymake an educated guessthatwewere at periscopedepth,hewouldbewrong.Soundcouldhearnothing,though we stopped ourscrews frequently whileproceeding along theenemy’s last course.

Periscope depth again didno better, and now as inour tussle with thedestroyer, we had todiscloseourpresence first.Our lifeguard job couldnotbedelayed.Weturnedaway, made a shortstandard-speed run, andhit the surface at fullpoweron thebattery.Thedieselsfired,andwerolledtoward the reported

position of the previousnight’slife-raftforanothertry.The submarine,

identified as an RO class,hadbeenheadingforTaskForce58.Melhurriedwithour contact report, whichgavethetimeandpositionof diving, her course, andprobablesubmergedspeed.On the advice of

Lieutenant Scammell, ourlargest colors were lashedflat on the deck, oneforwardandoneaftoftheconning tower. If anaviator thought his fellowairmenwouldbeprone toattack any submarine as aresult of our contactreport, who were we toargue!The jobwasbarelycompleted when our AICmade its first report. The

time was 0828, and theyhad been guarding boththe VHF tacticalfrequency, piped in fromradio, and 4475 on theHallicrafter, and hadTangon the way 15 minutesbeforetheofficialreportofa raft was received fromtheflagship.The downed airmen

were twoandahalfmiles

off our favorite OllanIsland. Though it was ashort run, we rolled in atemergency speed to findwhat at first looked like amess but turnedout to bea blessing. A floatplanehad half capsized in thecrosschop whileattempting a rescue, butanother Kingfisherfloatplane had made aprecarious landing and on

our arrival was towingboth his fellow pilot andtheraftclearoftheisland.Thisactionandthatofthenearby fighters who werestrafing the island greatlyspeeded up the rescueattempt. Much to itsdisgust, our gun crewdidn’t get to shoot as onthe night before, insteadpulling aboard Lieutenant(jg) R. Kanze and his

crewman, Second ClassAviation Radioman R. E.Hill. This was the crewwhoseraftwehadn’tbeenable to reach on theprevious afternoon. Theirnight of paddling towardthe Southern Cross hadcarried them beyond thereef and made the rescuepossible. Back aft,Lieutenant J. J. Dowdle,his Kingfisher wrecked,

scrambled aboard. Theother Kingfisher hadsomehow gotten into theair, so our forward 20-millimeter gun crewproceeded with thebusiness of sinkingDowdle’splane.Acryfromaloftbrought

ourattentiontooneofourtorpedo bombers, smokingin a long glide across the

lagoon toward our reef.We rang up flank andpleaded for more speed.Then our hearts sank; theplanewouldsurelyplungeinto shallow water farshort of an areawe couldreach.OurguncrewgotitschanceaswepassedOllan.The Japanese had cutdown the trees during thenight, apparently to keepourpoint-detonatingshells

from bursting overhead,but in so doing theyfurther exposed their gunemplacements, especiallyto Frank, who went aloftto spot from our crow’snest. When the planeseemed about to hit, itsuddenly climbed sharplywith a dying burst ofpowerandglidedoverthereef into the sea, taildown, in what I supposed

was a perfect ditching. Inanother20minutes,Scottyandhismenwere snakingCommander A. R. Matterplus his crewmen, SecondClass Aviation RadiomanJ. J. Lenahan and SecondClass AviationOrdnanceman H. A.Thompson, onto Tang’sforward deck. It appearedthattheliferaftwasonlyabridgefromthebomberto

our boat, and they werewetonlyuptotheirknees.Iwastoobusytodomorethansimplywelcomethemand offermy cabin to thecommander.Tangcouldnotdally,forshehadanotherjobofftheeastern reef.OurAICnowhad talent that would bethe envy of any carrier orstaff. They knew all the

pilots by name—andmostof them just by the soundof their voices—and wereintercepting the reportsandreplyingbyvoiceover4475, which was clear ofthe cluttered tactical VHFcommunications.Theyhadessentiallytakenoverfromthe big staff, runningwayahead of any directives,and so was Tang as sheracedforthreemorerafts.

OurAICwasasgoodforusasforourattackingplanes.At the moment we wereentering the area of ourdawn submarine contactandwouldhavetocrossittoroundKuopbythemostdirect route. Our mission,especially with airmenawaiting,certainlydidnotallow for the delay ofzigzagging or following acircuitous route. Our AIC

fixedeverythingbycallingin planes that werereturning after theirbombing runs. In minutesthey had an air cover forus, and never was asubmarinebetterescorted.Tang was high in the

water, with negative,safety, and of course theconverted fuel group dry,and with the Fairbanks

Morse layingdownamildsmoke screen with theiroverload. There was onemore trick, good for anextra knot and a half;maybewecouldsqueezeitto 2.We had proved it inWahoo,runningbothwaysover a five-mile course inMoreton Bay, near themouth of the BrisbaneRiver.Itrequiredonlythatone of the turbo blowers

be kept runningcontinuously. The low-pressure air kept theballast tanks dry cleardown to the floodopenings and sent aconstantstreamofbubblesup around the hull. Thisshield of bubblesapparently reduced theskin resistance of thesubmarine as she slidthrough the water. Never

had a submarine gonefaster, and should theturboburnup,westillhadanother, like theduplicatemachinery throughout theboat. In short order wehad passed through thedanger area, and if theenemysubmarinewasstillthere, she had but afleetinglook.Now for the first time

this day we had a chanceto really observe thecontinuing attack. Thiswas no 10,000-foot stuff;our dive-bombers werepeeling off at about 3,500feet and carrying theirbombs home. With clearskies, the attacks werecoming in from differentsectors.Theflakwasmorespread out than it hadbeen on the first day,

giving the impression thatantiaircraftfiremighthavebeen greatly reduced.Timeandagain, itseemedthat the dive-bomberswould not be able to pullout, but they did, almostall that had not been hit,andsomeofthosethathadand were trailing smoke.The obvious devotion ofthesemen,pushingdangeraside in carryingout their

task,madeallofusproudto be a small part of thesamenavy.Our AIC now reportedthat Lieutenant (jg) J. A.Burnshadagainlandedhisfloatplane from thebattleship North Carolina,this time off the easternreef in the vicinity of thethree rafts we wereheading for, so we

requested that he attemptto tow the rafts clear. Hewas a big jump ahead ofus, however, having takensome of themen onto hisfloatandtowingtheresttoseaward. Since they werenow in no immediatedanger, we followed ourescorting planes to a raftoffMesegon Island, in thebight between Truk Atolland Kuop. We thoroughly

expected to be drivendown,soBoatswain’sMateLeiboldslippedthetowingbridle over the SD mastandsecuredaliferingandlong line to it. We couldnow tow a raft, plane, orswimmer clear whilesubmerged. Our escortsdid such a fine job ofstrafing that again theJapanese could not mantheir guns, somewhat to

thedismayofourownguncrew, which was standingby below. After anotherroutine man-overboardmaneuver, Hank’s menpulled Lieutenant H. E.Hill aboard, andTangwasoffinstantlyforaswimmerjustoff theeastern reefofKuop, about five miles tothe south of us. Hill hadseen our Very stars butdarednotanswer.

It was 1330 when wegot there, and fortunatelya plane had dropped arubber boat to the pilot,whowasalreadytooweakto do more than get halfhisbodyovertheside.Butthe rest of him in thewater was acting as a seaanchor, preventing thewind from driving himashore. Fortunately,submarines have a

tendency to back upwind.We rigged in our soundheads so as not to breakthem off on the coral andstuck Tang’s bow verynearly ashore. The properapproach upwind wasimpossible, so a swimmerwith line was standing byshould the raft drift clearofourbow.Butthehumanseaanchordidthejob,andthis pilot was pulled

aboard as limp as he waswet.It was 1410, and Tangwas backing emergency,not because of the beachnow drawing away fromour bow, but to get on tothe loaded Kingfisherfloatplane and raft. Wewere barely up to speedwhen Chief Pharmacist’sMateRowell reported that

our newest guest,Lieutenant (jg) J. G. Cole,was coming around butmightdobetterwithsomedepth-charge medicine.Thebrandywaslockedup,andwewereallbusy,soIsuggested some dilutedgrain alcohol, a smallquantity of which Rowellkept and accounted foroutside of the lockedsupply. This was what he

probably had in mindanyway, and I’m not surethat Cole was the solerecipient.The Kingfisher wasdown by the stern with abashed tail from the seas,so Tang came alongsidenot worrying aboutcrunching a wing. Thepilots and crewmen, allnine of them, came over

like a pack of hounds letoutofakennel.Tang’snewaviators were LieutenantR. S. Nelson, Lieutenant(jg) R. Barbor, Lieutenant(jg) J.A.Burns,EnsignC.L. Farrell, First ClassAviation Radioman J.Livingston, Second ClassAviation Machinist’s MateR. W. Gniebel, SecondClass Aviation RadiomanJ. Hranek, Second Class

Aviation Machinist’s MateO. F. Tabrun, and SecondClass Aviation RadiomanA. J. Gill—and a happierbunchyou’veneverseen.Burns’s Kingfisher could

not have been gotten intothe air, so to prevent theJapanesefromsalvagingit,our after 20-millimetergun crew took over.Somehowtheymanagedto

expend four pans ofammunitionbeforesinkingit,perhaps so thateachofthe crew would have achance at firing, but Ichose to attribute theperformance to ourmovingoutofrangewhileworking up to full power.Itwas1515,andwehadtoround Kuop, go along thesouth reef of Truk Atoll,andontothesouthwestof

Ollan Island. There wasthe last reportedraft.Frazsteppedoffourhalf-hourlypositions along this track.It was not encouraging,especially when all planeswererecalled,forwecouldnot reach the raft’sposition tilldark,andthatwould be exactly whenwe’dneedassistanceintheinevitable search. Thechances would be even

worseinthemorningafterthe raft had driftedthroughout the night andwith the enemy back ontopofus.I dropped below to seewhat our aviators had tosayaboutit,fortheyknewwhat it was like to beadriftinarubberraft.“Ofcourse thereare thenew night fighters,”

advisedLieutenantBarbor.“Only the task forcecommander couldauthorize that,” injectedCommander Matter. Ididn’t even know thatnight fighterswere on thebooks,muchlessthatsuchwereontheline.Thatwasthe complete answer. OurAIC had Admiral Marc A.Mitscher on voice in

seconds.“We’ll need two night

fighters to locate the lastraft,Admiral.”“You’llhave three,”was

his reply. I believe thatCommander Matter was alittle taken aback that wehadn’t followed the chainof command, perhaps heconsidered himself in it,but theadmiral seemedto

like the way Tang didthings.No one liked crossingthe area of our morningsubmarine contact eventhoughcommonsensetoldus we could just as easilyencounter her or anothermost anywhere. The threeblack-winged nightfighters that joined us atsunset were doubly

welcome. With onesearching ahead and oneon each bow, weapproached the reportedposition. Our periscopeshears bristled withlookouts to replace thescopes that we could nolonger use in the fadinglight.Tang slowedandwecommenced a combingsearch downwind, thefighters now looking like

black albatross as theyflew their search patternsahead and on our beams.Our chances of locatingthe raft seemed slim,especially when wethought of our recentexperience with aircraftreporting a downed planemiles out of position.Suddenly, one of ourfighters dived, firing redstars or possibly tracers.

Theresultwasashowerofred Very stars coming upfrom the sea, well aheadonourstarboardbow.Thefighters guided us in andwere dismissed withthanks and Godspeed.Aboard came LieutenantD. Kirkpatrick and hiscrewman, Second ClassAviation Ordnanceman R.L.Bently,whohadalreadyset sail for the Solomons,

1,200milesaway,soastobeclearoftheJapanesebydawn. With this kind ofdetermination, theyprobablywouldhavemadeit. It was 1900, and Tangcommenced a slow-speedsearchwestoftheatoll.

Frank had the deck withMel as the assistant; abetter combination wouldbehardtofind.FrazandIwent below, ratherexpecting to see airmenstanding around in thepassageways, or at least Idid. We found only four,

threeinthewardroomandone in my bunk. Then Irecalled my suggestion tojust put ’emon thewatchlist. Fraz had passed it ontoFrank,ourseniorwatchofficer. He and Ballingerhad assigned the junioraviators who, except forthethreeinthewardroomandprobablya few in thecrew’s mess, were noweither in their bunks or

standing watches asunderstudies. This did notsolvemy predicament, forthough I had offered mycabin to CommanderMatter,Ihadnotintendedthatitbepermanent.With 22 extra men

aboard, making a total of102, some hot bunkingwas obviously necessary;assoonasamanassumed

the watch, his bunk wasavailable. This would notquite do for thecommander,butitledtoadiplomatic solution. I dobelieve Fraz and Ballingerlet me stew in my cabinforawhilebeforethechiefoftheboatknocked.Therewas not room for three ofus in the cabin, sohe juststuck his head andshouldersinandaddressed

the commander: “Yourbunk is ready, sir.” Thereare some situations thechief of the boat canhandle politely anddiplomatically that theskipperandexeccan’t.Hehas rare authority. Thecommander’s was the topbunkinCPOquartersand,in fact, a privileged one,for men climbing in andout of the other bunks

would not be stepping inhis face. Actually, thearrangement was quiteproper and even coveredinnavyregulations,whichstate that the captain of aship shall not vacate hiscabin for an embarkedsenior. There is goodreason,forifthecaptainispushed around, his status,prestige, and authoritysuffer in the eyes of his

crew.Though Task Force 58was well over 200 milesaway, we continued toguard4475,partlybecausethere were so manyradiomen aboard and thiskept them busy, likepounding the anchorchain. One message wasboth heartening anddistressing. Admiral

Mitscher congratulated allunits on their splendidperformance. Sixty enemyplanes had been shotdown, another 30destroyed on the ground,small shipping sunk, andTruk’s remaining above-ground facilitiesdevastated. We hadsuffered nine operationallosses,and26moreplaneswentdownincombat.The

message closed with aconciliatory statement:Eight airmen had beenrescuedand“someothers”wereinTang.We had assumed that

the task force staff wasmonitoring 4475 with asetup something like oursand keeping a runningaccount of the airmen inTang.Wehadforgottenthe

tremendous controlproblemsof thestrikeandthat doubtless everyonewasthereininvolved.Theywere probably more thanhappy to have our AICcarry the ball, and ourlifeguard results certainlyspoke well for thisinnovation. Should wenow open up and tellthem? I decided not. Itcould be hot enough out

here in the morningwithout giving enemydirection finders a chanceto locateus.Rarelywoulda submarine use hertransmitterwhenonpatrolin her operating area.There had to be anemergency or urgentcontact report, and thevoices and laughtercoming from the forwardtorpedo room would tell

anyone that all was wellthisnight.Tang was a happy ship.

Aftertheeveningmeal,thecrew’s mess and thewardroom became clublounges, enlivened by thestories of those awaitingbunks or coming watches.One thing at oncebecameapparent: Hollywoodnotwithstanding, airmen

could talk without usingtheir hands. What we alllearned should have beenrecorded, condensed to apamphlet, andpromulgated to dispelmyths and give facts. Wewouldincludesomeofthisin our patrol report,especially their doubtsconcerning emergencyidentificationsignals.

Whilethiswasgoingon,Tang was establishing areputationofherown.Thenewmembersofhership’scompany were notaccustomed to drop-inmoviesorhot,home-bakedbread at midnight servedwith Taylor-made icecream, and could hardlybelieve therewouldbenoreveille for them. Shouldthese men be grounded,

wehad candidates. Beforemorning twilight,we tooka long suction througheach end of the boat anddoused the smoking lamp.Our new lookouts hadeachpracticedclearingthebridge in the dark withonly the red glow of theconning tower lights toguide them. Theirearnestnesswassoevidentthat Fraz and I were sure

they had been filled withstories of the seas rollingup through thesuperstructure, but a footfrom the hatch as the lastman dived below. Ofcourse sometimes, butrarely, this had happened.Besides, maybe this wassomething akin to bailingout of a cockpit. In anyevent, with the benefit ofdawn’s first light and

Frank’s calm “Clear thebridge,” the airmen divedbelowlikepros.Admiral Mitscher’s

summation of thedevastation on Truk wasconfirmed on May 2, forduring thewholemorningwatchScottyreportedonlyone flying boat over thelagoon and a single landplanenearTolIsland.That

nothing was missed wewere sure, for the noveltyof manning the scopesintrigued every pilotassistantOOD.Tangwasinthe best position tointercept shipping fromthe Gray Feather-MogamiBank area, and our hopeswere raised at lunch by apatrolplanesearchingonanortherly and then aneasterly course. A convoy

orasingleshipmighthavebeen ordered back ontothebanksduringthestrikeandnowbeabouttomakea run for it. On thischance, we moved to thegeneralareaofthepatrol’ssearch, but one moreunidentified plane to thenorthwest, sighted byLieutenantBarbor,wasouronlyreward.

It was after 1600, andthose men just gettingacquainted withsubmarines might bechanging their mindsabout the luxury ofsubmerged cruising. As apractical demonstrationthe smoking lamp waslighted at 1830, a halfhour before our intendedsurfacing. Our regularship’s company watched,

for theword thatwas justpassedwasaninvitationtosmoke whether one reallywanted toornot.Twenty-twomen tried invain, forthere was not enoughoxygen to keep a matchburning or even get acigarettesmoldering.Three blasts, and a fewminutes later a suction,brought all hands back to

the beauties of earthwithitsairwellscrubbedbytheseas, celebrated shortlybydistant fireworks overTruk. It could beantiaircraftfireandbombsfrom Liberators, orperhapstheJapanesewerejustunderstandably jumpyand one shot had led tothe rest. This ended theactivity around Truk forthenext threedays as the

Japanese were probablylicking their wounds. Onefloatplanein72hourswasa good indication of thedamagetheyhadreceived.We continued our search,however, with the SDsecured and the SJ nevertrainedanywherenear theatoll. Since one placeseemedaspoorasanother,we worked slowly aroundtoOttaPass.Theonlyitem

ofnotewasaseriouserrorby one of our newassistant OODs, who wereall qualified OODs insurface ships. Instead ofheadsthatdischargedwithcompressed air, Tang’sforward drain lines wenttosanitarytanks.Anightlyritual was to blow theircontent overboard. With22 extra men and warmtropical waters, the tanks

had time to becomeparticularly ripe. Thiswould not have matteredhad the assistant OODheaded the ship into thewind before giving theorder to blow the largesttank aft. The followingbreeze carried the stenchforward, where our hullventilation efficientlysucked it in and piped itthroughout the boat,

settingoffcriesofanguish.Four diesels on the lineand a suction fore and aftput things back in order,thoughinsomenooksandcrannies it seemed tolinger on, and Iwonderedif Tang’s OODs hadconnivedatallofthis.During the evening of

May5,Tangmovedouttothe designated 40-mile

spot to lifeguard for amidnight Liberator strike.The planes were 56minutes late as their pipsclosedontheSDandthenshowed up on the SJ 12milestothenorthofus.Ofequal interesttotheship’scompany was radarinterference also to thenorth. It would be Permit,entering the area as ourrelief. The bombs were

away at 0110, down ontopoor Dublon Island. Goodexplosions were visible,thoughmostwereoverthehorizon and showed uponly as momentary loomsof light. The last of ourown plane contactsdisappeared by 0200, andthen enemy planes tookover to give us a propersend-off. Their searchwaspersistent,fortheJapanese

were tenacious fighters.Again, itwasthatdamnedSDthatwehadtousethisnight. There were noflares; they didn’t needthem in the moonlight. Apassing squall helped usavoid one plane thatclosed to three miles; foranother,weheadedupthemoon streak so as topresent a minimalsilhouette. Tang moved

away slowly, as herluminous wake at higherspeeds would aid theenemy. Finally at 0300,with all planes departedand our relief on station,we cranked on a secondengine and came to thenavigator’s recommendedcourseforPearl.Wewerenotquiteinthe

clear, for a floatplane,

probably fromHall Island,had us down again lessthan an hour after ourdawn trim dive. Itobliginglycontinuedonitsway. Two SD contactsremained outside of 30milesbutservedtokeepuson our toes. This wasprobably well, for therelaxation thatunavoidably crept in onthewayhomecouldmake

that passage the mostdangerous.DuringthedayFrazandI toyed with the messagethat would be sent toComSubPac after dark. Inanattempttokeepitbrief,we punched the bigdictionaryandathesaurus,butthenwesettledontheplainestofEnglish.Itread,FOLLOWING AIRMEN ABOARD ALL

HEALTHY, and then it listedthemalphabetically.We were not alone in

cooking up a message.Somewhatdumbfounded,Iread one prepared byCommander Matter,properlyhandedtomeforrelease. Likewise concise,thisoneread:

REQUEST RENDEZVOUS EARLIEST

FORTRANSFERAIRMEN

AND EFFECT THEIR RETURN TO

PARENTAIRGROUPS

We knew that TaskForce58,afteracoupleofbombardments, would goto Majuro for some restandrepairs.Theyhadbeenunder way nearly as longas we had, having retiredto the Marshalls forreplenishment after thestrike at Palau. We also

knew without asking thatthese 22 men, with thepossible exception of one,neither wanted nordeserved rest on thesandspit of a flat atoll.Theywanted to go to ourrest camp, the RoyalHawaiianHotelatWaikiki,and I meant to get themthere.Isilentlyquestionedthe authority behind thedispatch, and thought it

overquickly; itwasn’t thebest approach. If thisdispatch went out,however, theremightwellbe some damned fool atPearloronTaskForce58’sstaffwhowould carry thecommander’s request intoeffect. Fortunately, amongthe duties filled by theaviators were those inradio and on the codingboard.Isentforthecoding

officer with the duty; itwas Lieutenant Dowdle.He had seemed sort of arounder, and since he’dhad the guts to set hisplane down in thatcrosschop right in front ofthe enemy, this should besmallpotatoestohim.“Will you take care ofthese,”Isaid,handinghimboth dispatches. Then I

added, “Will you readthemnow.”Hereadthelongone,atleastasfarasthelistingofnames, sort of nodded,then read the other,originated by the groupcommander. He raised hiseyes and looked at mewith hard lines of furydrawnonhisface.Hislipsweremoving, and I didn’t

have to be a lip-reader tocatch most of the “Whythat sonof a bitch!”Thenhe understood my nod.Dowdlewasmyman, andthis was right back in thehandsoftheaviators.Aftersupper both dispatcheswere keyed through thetransmitter, but I stronglysuspect that the lead toTang’s antenna trunk hadinadvertentlyfallenoutfor

thesecondtransmission.It was May 7, and wewere entering the areawhere planes could befriendly or enemy. Thesimple little SD could notyet be picked up byairborne direction finders,and out here it did addsome security as well assomepossiblyunnecessarydives. The first pip was

trackedonbyatbreakfasttime,butanhourlaterwepulled theplug toavoidalarge, low-flying plane. AtnoonMel reported a PBM(U.S. Martin patrolbomber) and received theunnecessary instruction towatch it. He’d knowwhattodo.Blaat! Blaat! DownTangwent, with those at lunch

tilting their soup bowls tocompensate for the rathersteep angle. Our PBMmightjustbecomingintosay hello, butwith a zeroangle at five miles, anyplanewasmenacing.“Level off at fourhundred.”Wehadn’t beendeepforawhile,andnowwas a good time to seethatallwas tight.Besides,

our new hands might liketo talk sometime aboutlunch in thedeep.Allwaswell, so we dipped downto500feetandstartedthelong climb to the surface.It took longer thanexpected,agoodreminderto us for an attack in thefuture.It was midafternoon

when our SJ kicked the

bucket for the last time.The oil had leaked fromthe modulator unit and ithad shorted, but this unitfrom Trigger had seen usthrough.Thisdelayedabita demonstration we hadplanned, to show theairmen our repertoire ofidentification flares, butthey showed up betterafter sunset anyway. Itturnedoutthatnoneofthe

airmenhadeverseenthembefore, so we felt that atleastwehadaccomplishedsomething.Butthenitwasthe consensus that theywould not be able to seeany one of them from theair except the Mark Icomet from our BuckRogers gun, and not eventhat if they were alreadyattacking. With this kindof assurance, we tucked

awaythepyrotechnicsanddecided to rely on ourgoodold twoblastsof thedivingalarm.TheeveningFoxbrought

congratulations fromacrossanduptheline.Wewerenotpublicityminded,and our delay intransmitting the list ofrescued airmen was justsubmarine common sense.

During this period, doubt,anxiety, and suspense hadobviously been buildingup, and the timingprobably brought amaximum impact. Therehad been sub-air rescuesbefore, but never one likethis.AtbreakfastCommanderMatter thumbed throughthe dispatches on the

board. “I can’t understandwhy they haven’t set upthe rendezvous,” hecommented, “or at leastansweredmymessage.”“Well, it looks like theywantyouallbackatPearlfor a little publicity,Commander. It isn’t everygroup commander thatgets out and carries themail!” My comment

seemed to smooth hisfeathers, though I hadmade it to fill a suddengap in the wardroomconversation. Perhapsbecause it was true, theconversation returned tonormalasnicelyascanbe.May9cameandTangwasgrindingawaythedegrees.WakeIslandlay120milesto the northwest, andseven miles away was an

SDcontactclosingrapidly.We did not question itsintent,forafriendlyplanewould hardly be here atdawn. The dive wastwofold, our usual trimand again frustrating theenemy.Anotherplanenearnoon closed to 12 miles,apparently just in passing,but now we had anotherproblem,ourfuel.At1300we slowed to one engine.

If the weather held andTang encounterednoheadseas, we’d make it. Ofcourse there was one acein the hole, cutting ourspeed in half and cruisingontheauxiliary.Affecting the new crew

members who had joinedus at Midway was ourfailuretoputanenemyonthe bottom. Rightly or

wrongly, thesinkingofanenemy ship was thedetermining factor inclassifying a patrolsuccessful. Sometimes onthe most trying anddifficult patrols, notorpedoeswerefired.Ihadexperienced this and wassorry for the six newhands, for theywould notbe eligible for thesubmarine combat pin.

They found anunencumbered championin Lieutenant Burns,however. As a theologicalstudent,hehadawaywithyoung men, but I couldofferhimnosolution.Thatevening,twooftheaviators were speaking oftheir roles at Palau. Weperked up our ears whentheycommentedaboutthe

mining. Toagel Mlunguiand the other shallowwestern passes hadreceived about 80 mines,most of them planted onthe first day of OperationDesecrate.Franklookedatme and understood theslight shake of my head.Thiswassomethingwithinthe submarine force; ouruseless weeks spent therewere our business. It

would not be spreadaround in the patrolreport, but I would mostcertainlytalkwithAdmiralLockwood in private.Therewereno stonewallsinfrontofhisdoor.The seas continuedcalm,andTangcrossedthe1,000-mile circle on the11th. Our luck continued;with 2,000 gallons of

diesel remaining of ouroriginal110,000,andwith11,200 miles behind us,Tang entered the safetylane. We passed betweenthe buoys, then by theArizonaandaroundten-tendock, and mooredstarboardside topier1atthesubmarinebase.The reception was notthe ordinary one. Fleet

Admiral Chester W.Nimitz, AdmiralLockwood, and otherswere there. As they weregreeting each of theaviators, Lieutenant Burnsunexpectedly steppedforward.“AdmiralLockwood,”he

addressed our forcecommander, “there aresome new members of

Tang’s crew who joinedher at Midway. Is thispatrol going to bedesignated as successfulforcombatinsignia?”The admiralwas a littletaken aback, and then heanswered, “Why, uh—Why, yes, indeed.” Burnsthanked him and steppedback,andI’mtoldthatoursix new crew members

were grinning from ear toear.We had in no wayexpectedthatTangandtheaviators would makeheadlines and the frontpages, with a full page inLife, but after all it’s theunusual that makes thenews. The same crew thathad struggled somewherebelow600feetandspenta

day crippled and houndedbyadestroyerreceivednonotice other than to havethe estimated tonnage ofthat great tankerarbitrarily cut nearly inhalfbythestaff,butthat’sthewaytheballbounces.Again working onpriorities, payday for theship’s company and busesto the Royal Hawaiian

took precedence. Thetroops’spitandpolishhadserveddoublethisMay15,first for the admirals andnext for the officer incharge of the relief crew.Tang’swatch officersweregone before noon, and bymidafternoon Fraz hadwangled wheels. Beforeleavingtheship,Isignedarecommendation thatLieutenant Burns be

awarded the Navy Crossfor deliberately placinghimself in grave jeopardyto save others. Then IjoinedFraz.We glanced back at our

ship’s washed-out paintjob, running rust by theexhausts. Grudgingly, Iadmitted that she neededsprucing up. When wewould next see her, she

would be a camouflagehaze gray with whitebeneath, the color of agull.

PartIV

ThirdPatrol

TOTHEYELLOWSEA

Not one but two dividedhighways now led fromPearl Harbor toHonolulu.Theywere filledwith fastlate-afternoontraffic,andIthought with somenostalgia of the simple,black, two-lane road thathadservedsonicelyinthe

late 1930s. The changewas necessary, of course,for Oahu was the hub ofour expanding Pacificwareffort. Unchanged,however, were the RoyalHawaiian Hotel and itsmagnificentgrounds,butafew minutes farther on.The sentry waved usthroughwithasalute,andFraz completed his firstsoloinfourmonths.

In minutes we weremoved into our suite ontheseconddeck,bychancea deluxe one. A rotundawith powder room hadbedroom suites to rightand left, each facing theocean. Straight aheadwasthe living room, whichopenedtoaspaciouslanai.On the back of therotunda’sclosetdoorwasawhite card stating among

other things that thecharges were $100 a day.Ofcoursethatwouldhaveincluded all of theluxurious furnishings, butsome of those had beenreplaced with items moresailor-proof. It was reallybetter that way, for we’dnot have to be overconcerned about adropped butt or a spilleddrink. I am not sure who

engineeredtheleaseoftheRoyal Hawaiian as asubmarine rest camp, butit was certainlyadvantageous to both theowners and the navy. Thereal winners were thesubmariners.The division engineer,

whohandleddiverse tasksfor the commander, hadour mail waiting on the

largelanaitable.Itwasallin chronological order,except that the latestpostmarked letter hadbeenplacedon topbeforethe bundle was secured.Obviously, he hadpatrolled, too. One letter,one beer from the coolerunderthetable,andwesetouttofindFrank,Mel,andthe others. As expected,theywereat the first reef,

where thewaterwasdeepenough for swimmingwithouthittingbottombutstill suitable for lollingaround.Thesunwasaboutan hour from setting, andthis was the time to startregaining our tans alongwith limbering up ourarms and legs. There wasno rush about this, or fordinner, since it would beserved continuously,

something that even thehotel’sprewarguestscouldnot enjoy. Suddenly, thetrials and frustrations ofour second patrol, andeven the satisfaction ofTang’sfinaltask,wereallathousandmilesaway.Responsibilityforaship,

even in upkeep, couldnever be completelydelegated. The officer in

charge of the relief crewcouldnotpossiblyknowacaptain’s desires as wouldone of the regulardepartment heads. AtMidway this had been ofnoparticularconsequence,for none of us was evermore than a half mileaway. Here, the 15 milesbetween the base and thehotel,with no travel aftercurfew,couldhaveposeda

problem except for onething; Scotty and Bill,togetherwith four leadingpetty officers, wereholding down the fort.Scotty had orders to thesubmarinebaseandwouldtakehis time at theRoyalafter we had departed onpatrol. Bill had orders topostgraduate school forengineering studies and,likethefourpettyofficers,

who were going to newboats, would take hisrecuperation time in theStates. In the meantime,theywereavailabletolookout for Tang’s interest asthe backlog of smallalterationswascompleted.They would call Fraz ormeasappropriate.The first call came at

midmorning of the fourth

day, relayed by Walker,who found me at thesecondreef.Frazhadsomepersonnel matters todiscuss with the staff, sohe joined me in the carthat Scotty had sent.Tangwas still a washed-out,rusty black, but analteration scheduled butunknown tous,wasmuchblacker. In an attempt toinsure good short-range

VHF and UHFcommunications with thesurface forces, two newantennas were beinginstalled.Eachwouldstickabove the shears to affordall-around performancewithout blank sectors.Sticking anythingunretractable at such aheight was bad enough,but the alteration calledfor their installation plate

and angle-iron brackets tobe welded to port andstarboard of the shears.Thisstructureandthepipecarrying the coaxial cablewouldmake access to ourcrow’s nest practicallyimpossible. Further, thecomplete array couldcause an unacceptableturbulence when we wereat periscope depth andmaking anything above

one-third speed, whichwould be just one moretelltale for an alert enemyplane. It certainlyappeared thatourprimarymission had beenforgotten, so thenext taskwastofindthebaserepairofficer.It was not difficult;

Commander W. D. Irvinwas looking for me.

Someone had apparentlyalreadytoldhimthatIhadstoppedtheantennawork.We met about halfwaybetweenTangandthebaserepair office. He wasbristling.“What’s this about your

stopping the VHF-UHFinstallation?” hedemanded.“Not stopping,

Commander, just delayinguntil we arrive at theinstallation best suited forTang,” I replied,maintainingaleveltone.Itwas not too difficult; hewas senior to me and I’dhadyearsofpractice.“Well,what’ssodamned

special about you and theTang that the antennascan’t be installed exactly

asontheotherboats?”Now, that remarkdidn’t

seem exactly called for,but since he had asked, Idescribed our crow’s nest,itsall-aroundvisibilityandourmeans of access to it.Then I expressed myparticular intent tomaintain our streamlinedsilhouette, the best in theforce, and to avoid the

extra submergedturbulence that would becaused by structures hungout to port and starboard.Commander Irvin calmeddown a bit, for like mostothers he obviously hadnever heard of asubmarine with a crow’snest. But he remainedunbending.“Only the force

commander can authorizeany change!” was hisclosingremark.WherehadIheardthosewords before, and wouldAdmiral Lockwood be ascooperative as AdmiralMitscher? I had no choicebut to find out, for thealternative would entailredoing the job at seawhileenroutetoournext

patrol station. Still,Admiral Lockwood hadcommanded submarinesandmightwellunderstandthe importance of this toTang. He should not bebotheredwiththis,butbigmen delegate tasks tosubordinates and havemore time for what seemtobesmallthingsthanonemight expect. The firstpart of my brief

conversation with himconcernedanappointmentto discuss future taskforce-submarineoperations, but as I wastakingmy leave I broughtuptheimmediateproblem.“Admiral, there is one

thingyoucandoforTang.We’reabout to loseaccessto our crow’s nest unlessthe new VHF-UHF

antennasare installed foreandaftof the shears.Willyouauthorizeit?”The admiral was quite

intrigued with Tang’scrow’snest, thoughhedidnot delve into the detailsof how she happened tohave one. Theconversation revolvedaround limitations onradarusage, and lookouts,

butnottheantennas.Thenhe said simply, “Oh, yes,the antennas. It’s yourboat, have them installedanywhereyouwant.”Surprisingly,Commander Irvin wasquiteagreeable.“Let’sgodownandtakea look,” he said.Wewerefriendsagain,andthatwassomewhat important

duringabaseoverhaul.Having Bill and Scottyavailable during workinghours, and this sometimesincludedmostofthenight,wasnotenough.Logically,their real interests wereswinging to their comingassignments. There was asolutionathand,however.Our regularwatchofficerswerespendingmorehours

aboard following repairwork than if they’d had aday’sduty. Itwouldbenoimposition to formalizethis. Starting in themorning, we’d have anofficer aboard who wouldbe responsible for allrepairs in our ship, onewho would be going onpatrol with work done bythesubmarinebase.

Frazhadworkedoutanexcellent arrangementwith force personnel. Wecould choose ourreplacements from thereliefcrewandcouldcarryextra hands. For the mostpart, these officers andmen were waiting onsubmarine billets. Wewould do what we couldto select thebest. Iwouldreserve judgment about

the antennas, but witheverythingnowapparentlyunder control, we headedbacktotheRoyal,ormorespecifically, to the beachbeyondthebanyantrees.Several boats hadreturned from patrol, andthat always made for aninteresting evening. Theconversations were broadbut always returned to

patrol experiences. Just asat Midway, there wasmuch to be learned,especially if one couldlisten and not talk. Itwasdifficult. Slade Cutter andhis Seahorse had beendown at Satawan, to thesouth, during the Trukstrike,andhadpipedallofour 4475 voicecommunications into their1MC, so they heard it

throughouttheboat.“Moreexciting thanany

football broadcast everthoughtofbeing,”hesaid,andthatwasfromthemanwho had once kicked thefield goal that was theonly score in beatingArmy.“That’s the beauty of

medium frequencies,” Icommented. “They’re not

temperamental and seemto get through; of coursethe enemy hears it, too,but that doesn’t alwayshurt anything.” Then Itippedthemoffconcerningthe new antennainstallations that were instore. Commander Irvinmightnotremainafriend,but we would be longgone.Ofmore importancewas the experience of one

of the boats, which hadbeen fired on whilereturning from patrol.When another boat saidthey would have firedtorpedoes right down thewakes,itbecameclearthatnoteveryonewasawareofthe prohibition againstfiring on anothersubmarine, except insingle-sub Empire areas,unless the submarine was

positively identified asenemy. Perhaps a fewJapanese submarines hadgone free for a timebecause of this restriction,but that was better thansinkingoneofourown.Sobesides the pleasure ofseeing old friends andparticipating in the bullsessions, we all learned alittle more about fightingoursubmarinesandofour

commonenemyaswell.

In the submarine force’swartime organization, thedivision was generally anadministrative unit, andthough Tang like otherboats had a permanentdivision assignment, inpractice we reported to acommander present. Thesquadron commanders

were usually trainingofficers; some had patrolexperienceandallhadhadenough years insubmarines to commandour wholehearted respect.In patrol operations,however, our orders camedirectly from the forcecommander. AdmiralLockwood had anexperiencedstaff toadvisehim and carry out his

directives, but the staffwas not in the chain ofcommand. It was properthen,andfranklyexpectedthat I would see my bossin private if I hadsomething on my mind,andthatIdid!Ifirstdiscussedwiththeadmiral our earlieroperationsatTruk,thenatPalau and off DavaoGulf,

giving our thoughts fromon the scene of theinefficiencyof the circularsubmarine disposition.Then I used my express-train example of what anindividual submarinemightexpect.“That may be whathappened to Tullibee,”Admiral Lockwoodinjected.

That was my firstknowledgeofherfailuretoreturn. After a pause, Idescribed our simplifiedoperationswithTrigger, inwhich both boats retainedfreedomofmovement,andnoted that in a similarsituation, unknown toeither submarine at thetime, Tang and Sunfishmight well have chasedenemy ships to one

anotherwestofSaipan.“I’m glad to hear that,for it supports myintention for your nextpatrol, in the East ChinaandYellowseas.ItwillbewithSealionandTinosa,alloperatingindependently.”Iexpressedmycompletesatisfaction—whowouldn’t—and thenpausedagain, for the final

item I wished to bring upwas a bit touchy. It tookbut a few sentences,however,topointoutthatifaseniorsubmarinerhadbeen ordered to AdmiralMitscher’s staff, and ifoperational control of thesubmarines had passed tothe task force commanderfor the strike on Palau,TangandTriggerwouldnothave been left guarding

minedchannels.Thismayhavebeen theadmiral’s firstwordof themining; if so, it served topunctuate thisrecommendation. In anycase, he thanked me formy frankness, and I leftwith the feeling that hewas indeedanadmiral forevery one of us in theforce.

It was past time toresumeourrecreation,butonesmalltaskremained.Ifound Fraz at the officers’club, andwe tookaquickturn through the boat forjust one purpose, to findouthowmanyextrabunkscould be swung for extrahands. For the most part,these could be temporary,movable to the forwardand after rooms when

some torpedoes had beenfired. A cursory lookshowed space for six; wemight findmore. That jobwaspassedon to thedutyofficer, and we headedback to theRoyal and thesecond reef, thoughalready discussing theprospects for our comingpatrol.Our troops seemed to

have been pretty wellswallowedupbyHonoluluor the sea off Waikikiduring daylight hours.Curfew in town came atdark, and if some strayedthe MPs apparentlydelivered them quietly tothegate.Thereweremorerecreational facilities andmore organized functionsthan at Midway. We hadallbeenorganizedenough,

however, and missed thespontaneous sport of ourfirst upkeep. Still, therehad been no troubles thatweknewof,nomastcaseswerepending,andalreadyour time ashore wasdrawing to a close. Fraz,Frank, and I werecongratulating the crewand each other over acouple of beers when amessenger brought a

sealedletterfromtheforcemedical officer, my friendCommanderWaltWelham.The doctor had just beeninformed that the masteratarms forceat theRoyalhad confiscated theremainsofatinofalcoholfrom Tang’s wing, and hepointedout thatundilutedit could be deadly. Thisalcohol was supposedlystrictly controlled and

issued in small quantitiesfor cleaning and dryingelectrical machinery andoptics.Leave it toabluejacket,or their combinedingenuity, and they’llfigure a way. Getting afive-gallon tin out fromunder lock and key andthen off the base seemedimpossible, and then I

thought of Walker; hiswinningsmighthavebeenof assistance in finding away. Frank left to findBallinger,nottolocateanyalcohol that remained—that would be impossible—buttoinsurethatitwascut twice. Even then itwould be 50 proof. Thetroops had certainly donebetter at getting the hardstuff than had the officers

and chiefs, who haddividedtheleftoverdepth-chargemedicine.Two weeks and a dayhad passed quickly, butthatwasallthetimeithadtakenthebasetocompletethe work requests andalterations. We could stayattheRoyalanotherweek,but to do so would meanfollowing Sealion and

Tinosa into theEastChinaandYellowseas.Wewouldthenbeenteringa stirred-up area, when we wouldlike to at least have achance to hit the enemyfirst. Ballinger concurredfor the troops, though hewould not yet tell themwhy lestword leak to theother twoboats.Topacifysome,includingmyself,wewould retain our wing at

the Royal during thetraining and readinessperiod. There was oneother reason for returningtoourshipearly.Onboardwere two new ship’sofficers and 12 enlistedmen. They would have tobecome accustomed toTang’s way of operating,andweallhadtogetbackinto the grooveofmakingreal exercise torpedoes

passunderrealtargets.We started, as usual,withsimulatedattacks,thetracking parties usingproblems that had beengenerated in the TDC andrecordedagainsttime.Thisoffered one variation notavailablewitharealtargetatsea,forwhentherewasconfusion, both time andthe TDC could be stopped

until the doubts wereclarified. While this wasgoing on, Hank, Mel, andtheir torpedomen wereloading the exercise fishthat wewould fire duringthenext threedays.Aftofthe conning tower, mennot otherwise busy werepassing the commissarystores across thedeck anddown themessroomhatchlike a bucket brigade.

Almostunnoticedweretheengineers, topping off 4Aand 4B ballast tanks, nowconverted to reserve fueloil tanks. There were noidlehands,andatdusktheexecutive officer reportedthe ship ready for seaandourtrainingperiod.Our new officers and

crew members were notentirely unfamiliar with

Tang,forasarranged,theyhadbeenselectedfromtherelief crew. Only one wasthrown into a position ofimmediate responsibility,Lieutenant LawrenceSavadkin, from Easton,Pennsylvania, our newengineering officer. Adark-haired, wiry,knowledgeable gentleman,hegaveeveryindicationofmeasuringuptohistaskas

hetookTangdownon thefirst dive. Itwas a carefuldive, on soundings of lessthanourtestdepth,forthealterations to the mainballast tanks warranted apost-shipyard procedure.An extra half hour wasinvolved, but it wascertainlynotwasted,foritgave Larry an opportunitytogetthefeeloftheboat.

During three days andtwo nights, Tang againwent through her paces,with all of the normalemergency drillsconducted betweenpractice approaches.Exercise torpedoes werefiredonthefirstafternoonand during the followingtwomornings.Theroutinewasrigorous,butnomoresothanduringcomparable

periodswhenwehadbeeninpursuitoftheenemy.Inpreparation for a longpatrol, our OOD andassistant, with sectiontracking parties, carriedtheball,whileFrazsharedmy responsibilities inoveralldirectionup to theattackposition.Thiswouldspare us many hours ofwaiting at battle stations.Our training officer,

Captain C. B. Momsen,knownfortheescapelungand called Swede by hiscontemporaries, found noescapeinhistask.Hetriedto take in everything andasaresultwashangingonthe ropes. This was aswitch, for not entirely injest, most boats sighed inrelief when they got outfrom under the trainingofficer and on to the

relativepeaceandquietofpatrol against the realenemy.Icalledatemporaryhaltto our operations at noonof the third day. For thebenefitofournewhands,Ihad scheduled an exerciseknown to no one aboardexcept Captain Momsen,Fraz, andme.Aswewentbelow for lunch, I

routinelyorderedtheOODtostopandthenmaneuveron the battery should wepickupanyparticularroll.Dessert was being servedwhen two blasts took usdown, and word camequicklythatwehadscrewson sound bearing 195degreestrue.TheOODwasputting them astern andhadordered200feetaswepaused in the control

room. Fraz proceeded tothe conning tower andbrought us back toperiscope depth. Thepropellerswere those of afriendly submarine thathad been operating in thearea south of us and wastrying to close for asimulated attack. Asprearranged, we bothsurfaced. The radar rangewas 4,800 yards, within

reach of steam torpedoesbut hardly a distance atwhich a hit, even on anunalertedenemy,couldbeexpected.Ourbeliefintheadvantage of a stationarypatrol when a submarinehad no particular place togo was bolstered again,though Captain Momsendid not seem to share ourconfidence completely. Asfar as Fraz and I knew,

Tangwas theonlyboat tostop and lie to on patrol,and even we admitted ittooksomegettingusedto.The torpedoes thatTangfiredhadpassedunderthePC target or sufficientlyclose to have hit anymodest-sized freighter,which would be at leastthree times the target’slength. The final round of

drills had gone well, andweweresurethatourshipwas ready. Tang headedfor port, and those not inthe duty section whowished took the waitingbusbacktotheRoyal.Hank and Mel, with

their torpedomen, nowhadthreedaystocompletethe adjustments on ourtorpedoes and to strike

them below. Bymidmorning of the firstday, aMark23wasbeingeaseddownthepermanentskid, through the slantedloadinghatch,andontoitsportable skid, supportedby chain hoists. Thetorpedoandskidwouldbelowered away and movedon crossbeams to theirstowage position. Of latermanufacture, theMark 23

steam torpedoes hadcharacteristics similar tothe Mark 14s and shouldperformidentically.Unexpectedly the workstopped, and a hush wasnoticeablebelow,followedby the hum of the 1MC.Then inquietwords camean announcement: “Alliedforces have landed on theNormandycoast.”

I had anticipated thatthe Allies’ return to theContinent would be amoment of great elation,but likeothers, foundthatIcouldnotcheerandprayat the same time. IfGodspeeds can carryhalfway around the earth,thenTang was helping 80fellow fighting menashore.

By nightfall of June 6,thelastofour16Mark23swas below forward. Aft,Mel and his men hadfinished with the eightMark18-1electricfish,thefirst ever loaded in Tang.Other departments keptpace,andnowforthemostpart two watch sectionsduring daylight hourscouldcompletetheloadingand final preparations,

except for one all-handsfunction.Down through the ages,whether it be a share inthe plunder or a moreformal war prize, theresponsible commanderreceived the larger share,foritwasthroughhimthatthis incentive brought re-suits in the fieldof battle.In more recent times, the

substitution of decorationsfor shares did not alterthis. Our submarine forcehad initially adopted anawards policy that wasconservative both in thenumber of awardsbestowed and the time ittook for awards to beapproved. But wartimelosses were resulting inincreasing posthumousdecorations, nullifying

muchoftheincentivesuchawards were supposed toimpart.Soinearly1943adirective tohastenawardsin submarines wasapproved by Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet(CinCPac). Now thedivisioncommanderwouldreview the patrol report,question witnesses, and ifwarranted couldrecommend that a skipper

sinking one ship receivetheSecretaryoftheNavy’sLetter of Commendation.For two ships, hisrecommendation could befor a Silver Star Medal,and for three or moreships, the Navy Cross.Depending on his ownaward, the skipper couldthen recommend aspecified number ofsubordinate awards for

members of his ship’scompany, though all hadto be approved byCinCPac’s Board ofAwards.At first, I thoughtthis procedure was toomechanical, but afterlistening to junior officersat theGooneyville tell thecomplete stories ofincidentsthat,ofnecessity,had been covered by onlya sentence or two in the

patrol reports, it seemedthat this was in fact thebest way possible.Regardless, thismorning Iwould attend my firstawards ceremony as askipper.Tang’sofficersandcrew,in whites, were information on the pier. AsFraz, Ballinger, and Ilooked the divisions over,

wewereofthesamemind:Never had a finer-lookingship’scompanyassembled,nor one as proud. Behindthem,mooredportsideto,was Tang in her gulltrimmings, haze grayblending into black decksand tank tops. The insideof the bridge cowl, thelimber holes, and othervoids now showed white.Takenalltogether,itwasa

picture I could neverforget.Fleet Admiral Nimitz,

Vice Admiral Lockwood,and others arrivedprecisely on time. Thewords to the crew weresincere and to the point,and then came thepresentation of the NavyCrosstomeforTang’sfirstpatrol. Though this was a

personal award, I like tobelieve that the ship’scompany shared in mypride. Inapractical sense,others were affected, forthis permitted me tosubmit recommendationsfortheawardoftwoSilverStar and two Bronze Starmedals, and thesenominations would behonored.

Thedaywasstillyoung,and we would not leaveuntil a gentlemanly houron themorrow.A holidayat the Royal seemed afitting celebration, thoughIcouldnot join theothersuntil after lunch with theadmirals.

Thescrewswerechurning,the port one pumpingwater between Tang andthe dock, setting herbodily to starboard as shegathered sternway. Theprolonged warning blasthad stopped, and the linehandlers on the pier

paused in their task andstoodatattention.Noonehad ordered this; themomentwaschargedwithsome emotion, and it wasthe natural thing forfighting men to do. Portahead standard killed thesternway rapidly andstarted our twist tostarboard. Tang gatheredheadway and thenproceeded briskly along

the channel at two-thirdsspeed. We were right onscheduleat1330thisJune8.How many times had I

gone through this samemaneuver? It would seemproper for Fraz or one ofthe junior officers to takeher out, and in peacetimethat would be the case.They had their

opportunities in shiftingberth during our refit,however, and for Fraz,during the training periodas well. At that time anypossible minor damagecould be repaired withoutdelaying our mission.Today if any mistakesweremade theywould bemine.The rusting hulk of the

battleshipArizona was onour starboard hand; Icould never give it morethan a glance and stillkeep the clear eyemy jobdemanded, but then camethe channel entrancebuoys.Wewereatsea,butin the safety lane, whereall submarines wereimmune from attack, atleast by our own forces.Mel took the con and a

half hour later, with mynod,broughtTangrighttothe navigator’srecommendedcourse,290.Wewereonthefirstlegofour voyage to the EastChina Sea, 4,150 miles tothe west. From there, ourpatrol could take usanother thousandmiles tothe farthest reaches of theYellow Sea, and even intothe great, shallow Gulf of

Pohai.The seas were kindly,fromthesouthwest.Tang’sbow sliced through themeffortlessly; the logshowed14knots.“Ship rigged for dive”came over the bridgespeaker from control. Melacknowledgedandorderedthe regular sea detail set,secondsection.Tangcould

now carry out anysubmarine evolution; wewereonpatrol.Also patrolling, about

threemilesahead,wasourescort, a bomber makinglazy figure eights. Wewoulddelayour trimdiveuntil after its release andthustakefulladvantageofthis bit of protection. Iliked its constant turning;

it would give an enemysubmarine fits. There wasa second reason fordelaying the dive, forSealion was now in sightastern. This afternoon wewould test our new UHF-VHFantennasandthelowfrequencies we might usebetween submarines, too.Fraz had laid down ourtrack a little to the north.Sealion could now pass

welltothesouthofusandstill not go much out ofherway.Edandthewatchwere conducting the tests.With the sharp outline ofKauai already abeam tostarboard,Iwentbelowtothestackofwaitingpatrolreports. It was no chore,for at this moment moreexciting reading did notexist.

Two words wouldcharacterize the controlroom,quiet business, as ifwe had been at sea forweeks.Thiswastheresult,at least in part, ofshortened stays at theGooneyville and now attheRoyal.Therehadbeeninsufficienttimeforanyofus to fall too far fromsubmarine wartimeroutine. Now the watch

wasconsciouslysettingthepace for our new hands,urged by Fraz andBallinger. Perhaps nourging was necessary, forwe were all in the sameboat and would share intheresultsofanymistakes.In the wardroom

passageway, two footballlegs were slithering downfromtheoverhead.Ensign

Richard Kroth, a large,likeable young man fromHamtramck, Michigan,was now getting ready togo on watch. His bunk,one of the new ones, hadbeen hung where theventilation piping took aconvenient jog tostarboard. His toessearched blindly for amomentbeforefindingtheladderrung,andthenDick

hitthedecksolidly.Alittlemore practice and thisdescent from nearly sevenfeetmightbecomeroutineforhim,butsomethingfortherestofustowatchoutfor when going throughwardroomcountry.A few minutes later,

Dick joined us in thewardroom, extolling thevirtues of his bunk. Slides

providing extra openingsin the air supply andexhaust lines were withineasy reach; the light,withits long gooseneck,permitted reading in anyposition; and it would beimpossible to fall out ofthe bunk in any sea. Alsoconsidering the privacy,webegantowonderifthisbunk should have beenassigned to the junior

officeraboard.Wedismissedour escort

a half hour before sunsetwith awell done, and thepilot in turn wished usgood hunting. The longJune days, even at thislower latitude, wouldpermit the bomber toreach Pearl before dark.We were now cruisingsingly,withournewhands

alreadyonwatch,andonlya trim dive remained onthe Plan of theDay.Withdeference to the cooks,stewards, and messcooks,we changed the time fordiving to 2015, when allmess gear would besecuredandthenewwatchset.The divewould bewell

observed, for we had a

third lieutenantcommander aboard,Morton H. Lytle, fromTulsa, Oklahoma. Mortwould patrol with us as aPCO, or prospectivecommanding officer, andwould thus takecommandof a submarine fresh frompatrolandasup-to-dateaswe could make him. Thefive-year spread insenioritybetweenFrazand

me,withMortrightinthemiddle, was as it shouldbe. He would not just bestandingaroundbutwouldhaveaplaceonthewatchlist and at times wouldhave other responsibilitiesthat would be to ourmutualbenefit.The weighted sacks of

trash and garbage hadbeen dumped, the

messroom hatch securedagain, and two blasts oncue took us down. Larryhad compensated quiteaccurately for thetorpedoesandstoresofourfinal loading. To see thatall was well, Tang swamon down to 550 feet andthen back up again. Thiswas a new experience forournewofficersandmen,but with hands around

themtakingitallinstride,noneofthemseemedoverconcerned. It was anopportunity for Larry tofind out now how muchpumping was required onthe way down andflooding on the way backup again. Things werecoming his way one afteranother, but he continuedas if everything wasroutine.

Backon thesurface, thenight remained quiet, andhaving Sealionmaneuvering to the southgave our section trackingparties a real target towork on with SJ rangesand bearings. We wouldreturn this service on the9th and so alternate enroute to Midway. Theorders for the night werebrief. Other than the

course,speed,andengineson the line, they calledattention to the standingnightorders,itemsthatthewatch officers shouldreview frequently and towhich I could refer onoccasion. They were nowtyped and pasted insidethe hard covers of the 5-by-8-inch Night OrderBook, where they wouldalways be conveniently at

hand.TangwasallintheclearexceptforSealion,andherposition was accuratelyplotted by the sectiontracking party, so thisevening offered anuninterrupted period toconsider our patrol. Only16 months earlier I hadbeen inWahoo when sheleft Pearl for the same

area;shehadturnedinthetopscoreforthewar,eightships on the bottom. Onthe table, becoming wellthumbed, was her reportof that patrol, and thoughthe shipping conditionsshe had foundmight wellhave changed, this reportwould certainly set thetone for any submarinepatrol in these waters.Questions raised by this

patrol report I couldanswer, and surely nosubmarine was morethoroughly and accuratelybriefedforhermission.Nihoalaytothenorthat

dawn. Fraz and Joneshadfinishedworking out theirstars, and the plottedpositionshowedTangtoberight on schedule. It wasourdaytomaneuverwhile

Sealion tracked, so thenavigator remained busydrawing in our variouscourses on ahead. Theyincluded straight legs,zigzag plans, and thenperiods of very gradualworm turns, in which therudder was held constantat a specified angle andthen shifted when theship’sheadhadswungthedirected number of

degrees from the basecourse. The great arcsoccurring alternately toport and starboard gavethe impression that a shipwaswanderingallovertheocean,butagoodtrackingparty could usuallydeterminewhatwasgoingon before it becameevident through theperiscope.

The tracking exercisecontinued until lateafternoon, when Sealionhad apparently solved ourvaried routes and zigzagsorhadjusthadenoughforthis short passage. In anycase, Jones had made atracing that we’d pass toheratMidwaysoherpartycould verify its solutions,and she’d be doing thesame for us. An afternoon

sun line showed that ourlongitudewasnotfaroffinspite of the constantmaneuvers, and this weexpected, for Larry’sengineers had beengrindingout2 extra knotstomakeupforthelossdueto the zigging andwormturning. It wouldtake a round of eveningstars, or at a minimum asightonPolaris, theNorth

Star,toverifyourlatitude.All had turned out wellwith Fraz’s evening andthe next morning’s starfixes, and Tang was nowcruising singly, the way asubmarine was meant totravel. Without thedistraction of anaccompanying boat, theentirewatchwasintentonthisJune11.Below,items

in the press news, whichhad been copied from thenightlyFox, indicatedthatthe Normandy landingswere progressing wellexcept for the Omahabeachhead, where ourtroopshadbeenstymied.Iwondered if we could beas brave and slug it outwith the enemy withoutthat diving alarm as abackup. But ours was a

different battle in anotherocean;wewere trained infighting our submarine,and our thoughts andconcentration belongedhere.French Frigate Shoals

had been left behind,unseenexceptforthelightgreenskyonourstarboardhand,andwewouldmakeour landfallonMidwayat

daylight. Prompted by anexperience when greenwater had unexpectedlyloomed up dead ahead, Ichanged our course 10degrees to the south andthen wrote in the nightorders: Proceeding oncourse 300° true at 14knots, 80/90 on engines 1and 2. You will note thatourtracklies10milestothesouth of Midway. Accurate

navigation notwithstanding,keepasharplookoutahead,for approaching an atollduring darkness alwaysimposes an extra hazard.Keep me completelyinformed, and again do nothesitate to call me and thenavigatortothebridge.I left a call in theusual

place for 0500. The callcameearly.

“Radar signals on theAPR-one, Captain.” It wasthedutychiefsmessenger,makingareportthatIhadnever heard before. Ishookmyhead before thesignificance sank in. Ournew radar detector,installed during our refit,was responsible. Thoughnondirectional, like ourSD, it would keep usposted on the presence of

enemyradar.Bestofall,itemitted no signal of itsown to betray ourpresence.Asexpected,thissignal soon showed aswavy interference on ourSJandwas froma similarradar on Midway. Ourvisual landfall, on ourstarboard bow, was madeonschedule.Anhourlater,Tang was passing throughthecorridorcutinthereef.

One simple left turnbrought us to the fueldock, next to the oldsubmarinepier.There was no fanfareconnected with asubmarine’s stopping totop off. Those whoseduties permitted usuallyshowed up, however, liketrain watchers in a smalltown. This beautiful

morningthereweretwoofus, for Sealion was justcoming through thepassage in the reef. Itwasalways a somewhatintriguing sight, andcoupled with theconvenient hour, theturnout todaywas sizable.Itwas good to see friendsandwell-wishers, too, andthe coffee makers werekeptbusyforeandaft.

We had two pieces ofbusinessother than takingon fuel. One of these hadbeenessentiallycompleteden route. Now only thefinal reading, signing, andmailing remained for myfour recommendations forcombat awards. I wishedthat there could be more,but these were all that Iwas allowed topassdowntheline.Thechoiceforthe

first Silver Star was easy,especially after I hadlearned of Fraz’s actionsthroughout the night inputting Tang in positionfor the dawn attack westofSaipan.ThenextchoiceforaSilverStarwasmoredifficult. Should it beHank, whose calmdirectionofthecaulkingofthetorpedotubemayevenhave saved our ship, or

Bill, whose 15 hours ofdive without flaw hadoutlasted the houndingdestroyer? I chose Bill,influenced a little by thefact that his newassignment ashore wouldmake this his last chancefor such recommendation.The other two, for BronzeStar medals, were shoo-ins, Ballinger, for hisparticipationwithBill,and

Jones, who had beenindispensabletomeonthebridge. More time-consuming had beencomplying with thedetailed instructions andthe preparation ofcitations, but most of thework had fallen on Frazandhisyeoman.The second piece of

business had also been

under way, frankly fromthe day I had learned ofour probable patrol area.The manner in whichSealion and Tinosa wouldconduct their patrol couldhave a great bearing onourstrategy.Wehadbeenquietly listening withoutfear of disclosing ourplans, for up to this timeI’dmadenodecision.Fraz,Frank,andJoneshadbeen

our sleuths, and todaywe’dhavetheassistanceofWalker. He had stewardfriends on Sealion, andtherewasnothingunusualabout his helping servethere this noontime. Myown decision was startingto firm up; it looked as ifSealion would treat theEastChinaandYellowseasas another vast sea areaand conduct a surface

patrolaccordingly.Tinosa’sprevious patrols wouldindicate the same. Thiswould increase thepossibility of their beingsighted, so ifweremainedundetected ships mightwellberoutedourway.Submarines occasionally

haveoneortwo“reluctantdragons” aboard, and inthis respect are no

different fromother ships;and Tang was not uniqueamong submarines innever harboring one. Aday before we reachedMidway, an electricalground had developed inNo. 2 main motor. Inpeacetime this mightrequire a day or more toisolate and correct. Onestubborn case in Argonautwas going to require

removingthemotoruntilaFuller Brush man savedthe navy $10,000with $5worthofspecialbrushestoclean carbon deposits.Strangely, a main motorground had developedunder almost identicalcircumstances when I wasinWahoo. I now tried theremedy my skipper hadused then, anannouncement through

our new chief engineerthat we would leave onschedule and make thepatrol on the remainingthree main motors ifnecessary. By earlyafternoon, the ground hadbeen located andcorrected. We gladly heldadocktrialasafinaltest.There were no troubles,though now neither Fraznor I knew whether the

ground had been real orpseudo; frankly, we didnotcare.Tang was underway onschedule at 1600. Tinosawas way out ahead, withclose to a half day’s run.Now Sealions course wastaking her to the south ofus,alreadyhulldown.Wewould next see her at ouragreed-upon rendezvous,

15milessouthofKusakakiShima, in the East ChinaSea. Before dark the seaswereallourown.Below,Ithought momentarily ofthese three submarines,traversing another 3,000milesofhostileseasbeforesneakingalongtheEmpiretoitsverybackdoor.ThenI checked myself; suchthoughtswere timid.HereIhadcommandofthebest

fighting ship ever built,capableofgoinganywhereand sinking any enemyship. With completeconfidence, I reached fortheNightOrderBook.The 13th broke brightand clear. Well back onour quarter, to the north,lay Kure Reef, the lastnavigational hazard for aweek. Neither was there

any real danger from theskies, and for the presentourregularlookoutswouldconcentrate on the seas tothe horizon. From ourcrow’s nest and fromraised periscopes, wewould search ahead, fromport bow to starboardbow, forapossibleenemyperiscope shear. Ourposture remaineddefensive as we passed

Marcus Island on thefourthday.Itlayfartothesouth, but Tang was notbeyondrangeof its searchplanes.TomakeupforourSD, which would remainsecured unless absolutelyneeded,twoextralookoutsmanned our front porch.As before, they wouldclear through the 20-millimeter gun accesshatch into the sealed-off

trunk should we dive.Nothing but seabirds andoccasionalflotsamcameinview.Tang was nowapproaching the NampoShoto, the string ofvolcanic islands stretchingsouth from Tokyo to theBonins. In the center, onour track, lay Sofu Gan,which on some charts is

called Lot’s Wife. It stickshigh out of the sea like agiant thumbandmightbeconsidered useless, as itwould be impossible tohabitate.Itwasvaluabletoour submarines, however,foritmadeaperfectradartargetforfinaltestsbeforeentering theEmpireareas.Fraz and Jones hadenjoyedgoodmorningandevening stars, augmented

by sun lines during theday. Their navigation wasexact, verified by the SJradarwhenitobtainedthefirst contact and range at38,000 yards, 19 nauticalmiles. As we approachedthe pinnacle, our battlestations trackingpartyputtheTDCthroughitspaces,with Sofu Ganrepresenting a stoppedship. The inputs to the

TDC of our own courseandspeedwereautomatic.Nowwith the radar rangeand bearing set in byFrank, the TDC shouldgenerate the correct rangeandbearingofSofuGanaswe passed by. Additionalbearings and radar rangeswere checked with theTDC, all close to thecomputer’s solution.Certainly no one could

complain about theperformance of eitherpiece of equipment. InhopeofmaintainingtheSJin this present peakcondition, we used itsparingly.A sweepor twoevery ten minutes or so,and then the high voltagewas turned off, but thecathode heaters were lefton throughout the night.Thisshouldkeepdownthe

overall heat and perhapscutdownontube failures,for their cathodes seemedto burn out when turnedon,likehouseholdbulbs.Everymove, every drill,every test increased ourconfidence inTang and inour ability to fight her. Itwas well, for anotherhurdlelayonlytwonightsaway.Ourtrackparalleled

thesouthcoastofHonshu,beyond normal search byEmpire-based patrolplanes. Though we weresure that we could divebefore such planes couldreach an attack position,our goal was to avoidbeing sightedatall.Therewas little reason for theenemy to route shippingacross this path when afewextramilescouldtake

it along the safer coastallanes, through the InlandSea, and then south alongKyushu, the westernmostof the main Japaneseislands. No nation at warwould leave her sea areascompletely unpatrolled,and itwas certainly just amatter of time until oursurface passage waschallenged. Almostunbelievably, the seas and

sky remained clear. Wehad experienced morepatrol activity in areas ofthe Central Pacific, wherethe enemy had littlereasontosearch.CouldtheJapanese be concentratingon Tinosa and Sealion,called in by the emissionsfrom their SDs?Wehad amore likely answer whenBergman brought in thepress news, copied on the

eveningFox.UnitedStatesforces had invaded Saipanon the 15th. Only fourmonths earlier we hadunloaded most of ourtorpedoes just off Saipan,and the island had takenonlyatokencarrierstrike.Now it was invaded andour beachheads weresecure.Perhapslossofthesuppliesinshipswe’dsunkhad helped to ease the

tremendous task ofstorming that formidablesteepisland.If enemy air forces had

been deployed to counterthe invasion, they’d beback,andwedidnotrelax.Our position, 200 milessouthofNagoya,thelargeindustrial city west ofTokyo,wasplottedon thecrew’s messroom chart.

Alongthetracktothewestwere our dead reckoningpositions, showing thetimes we would pass theKii Suido and then theBungoSuido, thepassagesinto the InlandSea.Thesenames brought a tingle tothe spine of anyone whohadeverpatrolledthereoreven read the reports ofboatsthathad,foratthesepassesoursubmarineshad

received some of theirworst drubbings. It wasnotnecessarytoexhortourwatches to do their levelbest, but certainly helpingin setting the pace wasMort,ourPCO. Ifhewerea rank junior and notcoming up for command,we’dmost certainly try tostealhim.Without incident theKii

Suido and Bungo Suidowere left behind, but nowcomingupwas theNanseiShoto, the island chainleadingdownfromKyushuand forming a loosebarrier to the East ChinaSea. The name carriednone of the thunder ofmany passes, and in truththeislandswouldnotposea true barrier to asubmarine. But passing

them undetected could besomethingelse!During the intervening

hours, the few remainingpatrol reports must bedigestedandthenallgiventhe deep six. My laughwhenIsawthelastreportbrought Fraz tomy cabin.Now, every ship had anartist of sorts. In Wahoo,his product had been a

comic strip to accompanythe press news. Tang’sKassube confined histalents to shipboardcharacters and events, oroccasionally to ouroperations. Thewardroomseldom shared in theformer, from which onemight conclude that, forthemostpart,wewerethecharacters. But hisdrawing of the actual

sceneduringthestrikeandrescuesatTrukhadbeenamasterpiece.Not to be outdone,Trigger, whose report Iheld in hand, hadproduced a sketch thatexpressedherexasperationwith the situation Tanghad shared at Palau. ItshowedanenormousBugsBunny, complete with

carrot and crossed knee,sitting atop BabelthuapMountain. Under his gazeto the west lay Tang andTrigger, practically side byside and with hungryshark mouths. Back overhis shoulder, a stream ofsmall rabbits scamperedthrough the unguardedMalakalPass. In theusualenclosed cartoon caption,Bugs Bunny asked simply,

“Watchalookin’fer,bub?”Fritz Harlfinger, rather

boldly, had used the full-page sketchas a cover forhispatrolreport.Itseemedtocovermostofthepointsofmyprivateconversationwith Admiral Lockwoodbut insuredaratherwiderdissemination than mightbe appreciated. Quiteobviously, the staff had

failedtounderstanditsfullconnotation, and Fraz andIlaughedatthethoughtoftheir trying toretrieve thepage from reports alreadyinthemail.

It was late afternoon onJune22.YakuShima,oneof the large islands of thechain, was still 30 milesdistant on the navigator’schart. At 1706, stillundetectedon thevoyage,Tang dived to close theNansei Shoto submerged;

we would make oursurfacepassageafterdark.Our regular submergedroutinecontinued,watcheschanged, and the eveningmeal was served. Now intotal darkness, but in anarea we had thoroughlysearched in the fadingtwilight,Tang surfaced forthetransit.Thesubmergedrun had takenapproximatelythreehours,

forthetimewas2000,andat this instant 142megacycle radar buzzedournewAPR-1.Wewouldhave to learn to treat itsbuzzesforwhattheyreallywere, warnings of radaronly, for the signal wasintermittent, indicating arandom training. It mostlikely came from YakuShima, which rises cone-shaped to 6,000 feet, and

should Tang show on theenemy’s screen we couldexpectasteadybuzzingastheoperatortrainedonus.Remaining undetected,or at least not recognizedasasubmarine,wasstilloftop priority. To this end,Tang was moving alonginconspicuouslyat8knots,thespeedofatrawler.Oursecurity lay in the dark

night, our newcamouflage, and periodicsearches with the SJ,which was never trainedclose to the bearing ofYaku Shima. Surely anisland outfitted with asearch radar would alsohave the relatively simplereceivers to detect theradar of an enemy. Ourcautions may have beenexcessive,butourquickSJ

searcheswerecoveringthecritical areas. Ahead layColonet Strait, chosen inpartbecauseitisrelativelywide, but also because Ihad navigated Wahoothrough this same passage16 months earlier.Somewhat unfriendly, thedark, tall shapes of Yakuand Kuchino Shimaloomed on our starboardand port bows. Fraz

marked TBT bearings ontheirapparenthighpoints,then went back to theconning tower to plotthem.“We’rerightontheline,Captain,”came the report,not over the speakers, butfrom Fraz at my elbow.“Would you like theforward torpedo room togo ahead with the

movies?”Itwasanormalcourtesy

requestincasethecaptainshould care to attend,though I seldom did. Thisnight I had no idea thattheyhadbeendelayed.“Well, theyweren’theld

up, Captain, that is, byanyone’sorder.Thetroopsjustpreferredwaiting,andlistening to what’s been

goingon.”That would mean with

battlephonesmanned.Thesimple transit did notrequire that, but it couldhave. Our passageundetectedmightmeananearly contact, and havingbrought Tang this far, Icould understand thecrew’s desire toparticipate,franklylikemy

ownhereonthebridge.The passage had

followed an arc aroundYaku Shima and now ledbetween Kuchino Shimaand shoal ground tostarboard. The continuedhours of darkness werewelcome as Tang slidquietly on through thestraitandoutintotheEastChinaSea.Itwas2300,an

hour before midnight,when the navigatorrecommended our coursefor Kusakaki Shima andthe rendezvous withSealion. The course wasset, and below a Westernwasstartinginthetorpedoroom.“Radar contact bearing

zero four zero degreestrue!”

Thiswasnotgoingtobea night for sleep. Duringthehoursfrommidnighttonearly0200,wechasedanelusive pip that finallyfaded into nothingness.Possibly it was asubmarine,butmorelikelythe radar echo frommountain peaks on thesouthwestcoastofKyushu.It delayed our meetingwith Sealion until 0330,

butshewaswaitingonthespot. Dawn was too closeto do other thancommunicate by blinkergun to arrange for ourpatrolling in mutualsupport and for anothermeeting the followingnight.Frazneedednomorningstars on this June 23.Barely into morning

twilight, Dick cleared thebridge, sounded twoblasts, andafter thehatchwas secured, dropped ondown and took the dive.We would relax heresouthwest of KusakakiShima and let the enemycome to us. To thenortheastoftheislandwasSealion, patrolling as shesaw fit, but we had eachagreed tocall theother in

shouldacontactbemade.Patrolling submerged inwhat one would call anopen-sea area was a newtwist for Tang, for itapproached the patrolprocedures of 1941.Submarine tactics hadbroadenedsteadilyin1942and 1943, however, andnow with surface search,end-arounds, and nightsurface attacks, our boats

frequently took on thecharacterofsurfaceraiderswith the ability to dive.Many times, endorsementstopatrolreportstooksuchtactics for granted,overlookingfromthequietsecurity of an office deskthateachtriedandprovendevelopment still had itsplace, though often inconjunction with laterinnovations. The major

factorsdictatingthetacticsremainedthenatureoftheenemy and of the area ofoperations.

The East China andYellow seas heldeverything to be found inthe open-ocean areas andthe close-in Empire areascombined except onething,deepwater.Only inthe region directly to thewest of the Nansei Shotoand lower Kyushu was itpossible to dive deep andevadebelowatemperaturegradient. Elsewhere, our

submarine would befortunate tohave100-footdepth of water for attackand couldnot expect over200 feet inwhich tohide.By the nature of thecoastlinesandtheshippingroutes, contacts mightcome at sea, with firingclose inshore. Sometimesthe reversemight be true,andoveritall,airpatrols,thoughinfrequent,mustbe

expectedatanytime.Theseconsiderationsdidnot mean that this was aparticularly dangerousareaoranundesirableone.They did call for hit-and-run tactics, speed inhorizontal evasion, andabove all, announcing ourpresence only with ourtorpedoexplosions.Shouldthe enemy so much as

suspectTang’spresence,hewould route his shippingclear, for a hundreddifferent tracks wereavailable. There would beships. Our boats had notpatrolledherefornearlyayear, possibly longer, forScorpion,whohadfailedtoreturn,mayhavebeenlosten route. Finding theenemy and sinking himwassolelyuptous.

Thecrewwasenjoyingaropeyarn Sunday, takingcareofthepersonalthingsthat had been put asideduring our voyage. Theydeserved some relaxationafter the taut transit.Though we had sightednothing, neither had Tangbeen detected. Continuingthe vigilance hour afterhour and on into dayscould be more wearing

thanwhenoccasional topscameinview.Today,menwho had been topsideweregettingthefeeloftheplaneswithothers intheirduty section. More of thecrates of oranges stashedthroughout thecompartments werebroken open, and ageneral feeling of well-beingwasevident. Itevenprevailed into the school

of the boat, whichwas inprogress in the forwardengine room, and Ilistened to a short lectureon our Kleinschmidt stills.They were electric, withthesaltwaterheatedbyanenormous coil area,shapedlikeinvertedpeachbaskets one above theother.Thewhole chamberwas kept under partialvacuumby electric pumps

so the saltwaterboiledata low temperature. Thevapor,whichwaspumpedout, condensed to freshwater.Eachstillwasabouttwice the size of a 100-gallon drum, and the twoof them satisfied thebatteries and our ship’scompany, who enjoyed ashoweraday. Itwasa farcry from the stringentrestrictions on the use of

fresh water that prevailedeven into the war onsubmarines equipped withthesesamestills.The rumble of distantexplosionscomingthroughthe hull interrupted theschool. The crack of thedetonations was notaudibleonoursoundgearor through the hull, sotheirsourcecouldbe50or

more miles away.Independently, our JKsupersonic and JP sonicreceiver operators placedthe explosions to the east.Perhaps theyknewSealionwas patrolling there. Wecrossed our fingers andwentuptotakealook.Allwas clear at 50 feet, andTang planed up to thesurface, ready to roll to adown-angleanddisappear,

like a whale taking abreath. The horizon andskies remainedclear.Withlookoutsreadyandashortshotofhigh-pressureairtomain ballast for positivebuoyancy,wescrambledtothe bridge. One mainengine took a suctiondown the conning towerhatch. In five minutes,with a fresh supply of airbelow and the horizon

clear above, two blaststookusdown.There was some

disagreement, but theaverage number ofexplosions counted was12. They could betorpedoes and depthcharges, or just the latter.PerhapsasalvoofSealionstorpedoes had hit and anenemy ship was on the

bottom. We continuedperiodic high periscopesearches,bringingtheVHFantenna out for possiblemessages, but nothingstirred. Air searches outhere at dusk seemedunlikely, so we surfacedearlyintoeveningtwilightwhile the navigator stillhadasharphorizonforhisstars, and then the bridgespeakerblared: “HotUltra

from ComSubPac,Captain!”I recognized Ballinger’sconcisewordingaswellashis voice. It called mebelow.Dick and Mel had thetape from the codingmachine waiting in thecontrol room. Ballingerflipped on a white lightover the chart table; all

others were red. We ranthetapeacrossthedesk:

DAMAGED BATTLESHIP

PROCEEDINGFROMRYUKYUS

THROUGH NANSEI SHOTO

THENCETOKOBEORSASEBO

NEXT THIRTY HOURS WEISS IN

TINOSAPOSITION

SUBMARINES TO INTERCEPT

SASEBOPASSAGE

Fourthousandmilesand

westillwerenotout fromunder the thumb, but thistimenoonewouldobject.The Ultra gave thecomplete situation anddesignated a commanderpresent,whohadbeentoldwhat was wanted and nothow to do it. Twentyminutes later a codedmessage arrived fromTinosa, designating arendezvous at Danjo

Gunto.Threeengineswenton propulsion, the fourthwith the auxiliary wouldstruggle with the batterycharge, and Tang headednorthwest until Fraz andJonescouldgiveusamoreaccurate course. It tookbutaminute,andwecameto 320, a 5-degree changetotheright.Hankhadthedeck;MortandFrazjoinedme in the wardroom,

where Jones was waitingwith the large-scale chartof theEastChina Sea.Wehada90-mileruntoreachthe rendezvous. That gaveus plenty of time for ourbest judgment, butunfortunately, every milewas taking us away fromthe probable scene ofaction. Walker served hotcoffee to sharpen ourwheels,anddoubtlessalso

to get a good look at thechart, which we weremarking up lightly withpossibleenemytracks.The Koshiki Islandsquickly became a focalpoint.Firstshoalsandthenthree nearly touchingislandsextendjustover30miles to the southwest offthe western coast ofKyushu. They thus form a

triangular bay, with anentrance a little over 20mileswide.Thepassontothe north, six miles wideand20 fathomsdeep,wasmarked as dangerous tonavigation, but surely theseafaring enemy wouldconsider this passage alesser hazard than thesubmarines that might belurking in thedeepwatersto thewest of the islands.

To us, the answer seemedclear: One sub off BonoMisaki, on the coast, tosend the contact reportand then attack if theenemy was proceedinginto the bay; the secondboat tenmileswestof thesoutherntipoftheislands,toreportiftheenemywasgoing outside and then toattack; the third sub tomoveinnorthofthepass,

also to send out a contactreportbeforeattacking.By this disposition, aswe viewed it with Tang’smethod of operating, atleast two, and veryprobably all three of uscould get in to attack.Jones copied down thecoordinates for eachsubmarine, and Frazreached for them, already

surmising that he waselected to attend theconference inTinosa. As abit of final argument,shouldthatbenecessary,Ireached up to thebookcase behind me andbroughtdownavolumeofSailing Directions. Specificsofnavigationalhazardsformostanypassintheworldare contained in thisseries, and the Koshiki

Straitwasnoexception. Itdidn’t read as if it wereoverhazardoustome.“What are yourinstructions if CaptainWeiss doesn’t agree, sir?”The possibility wascertainlyremote,butIwasgladthatFrazhadbroughtitup.Nowwasthetimetobe sure we were thinkingalike.

“Just tell him thatTangwill take any one of thethreepositions.”Now thatshould mollify anybody.Fraz did not seemcompletely satisfied, butthis was his ball to carryforTang.DanjoGuntowasstillan

hour away when thereport of radarinterference was relayed

from the control room. Itservedasabeacon,andat0115 on this dark night,Fraz and Gunners MateRectorpaddledtowardtheindistinct shape of Tinosa.Withthemweretenmovieprograms, but morepertinenttotheproblemathand were the infraredsignaling apparatus andthe code for coordinatedattackthatwehadbrought

alongforher.Time always seemed topass slowly whenever ourrubber boat was out ofsightatnight.Thisnightitwas dragging; over anhour had passed and theconference was still goingon.Surely someonewouldglance at the wardroomclock and realize thatmorning twilight would

comeinacoupleofhours;reaching the KoshikiIslands undetected and intimetodoanygoodwouldsoon be impossible. Whatabouttheproblemathandwas so complicated as torequire this amount oftime?Myheartsankatthethought, and I foundmyself gritting my teethonlytoseeouryellowboatcoming out of the

darkness.Fraz,Rector, tenmovie programs, and theboat were all pulledaboard inwhat seemed tobeasingleeffort.“Whereto,Fraz?”“The Koshiki Islands!”cameoutofthejumbleonthe forecastle, and Tangwasoffwithaboneinherteeth, the maneuveringroomtelegraphscallingfor

flankspeed.NotuntilFrazhadchangedtodryclothesand joined us in thewardroom did I ask himabout the details. It wasenough that we wererolling in the rightdirection. Looking a littleweary, he sat down to acup of coffee, obviouslywaitingformyquestion.“OK, Fraz, what’s our

spot?”“Any one we want,Captain; we’ve got theislands and the straits allto ourselves,” Fraz repliedwith the usual twinkle inhis eye. “Tinosa andSealion will be patrollingtwo lanes, thirty mileswide, to thewest.CaptainWeiss got pretty mad atmy insistence, but finally

told us to go to our‘goddamnedislands.’”I wondered if Fraz wasjustbeingkindand ifDonWeiss’s wrath had notreallybeendirectedatme.This hadbeen a bit roughon him, but he had comeback with what wewanted.Itwasjusttoobadthe othersweren’t comingalong, but they obviously

haddifferentideas.Morning twilight came

early, and we continuedeastalongthe32dparallel.Our course soon lookedlike a sine wave as wemaneuvered to avoidsampans, which wentabout their businessunaffected by the war.They were not reallytroublesome, but a small

patrol coming south was.We pulled the plug toavoid detection. The hourwas 0808, and now wewould have difficulty inreachingthestraitontimewith any battery for asubsequent approach. Thechoice was not difficult;wecouldrunalldayatourpresent 6 knots and thentake our chances onhaving an opportunity to

charge.Fraz had finishedputtingourdeadreckoningpositions on the chart upuntil evening twilight,when we could surface,andthenhadcarriedusonat 16 knots. That wouldputusoffthenorthernendof the strait at 2200, toolate to carry out our plantocatchtheenemystill in

the strait. However, byheadingfarthernorth,andwith the SJ to searchahead, we could reach apositiontoattackanyshipleaving the strait at dusk.Wecameleft20degreesto070. All hands tried tocatch up on course booksorqualificationnotebooks,andIpulledoutafolderofofficers’ fitness reports. Itwas no use; our minds

were on one thing, andthat was as it should be.The informal plan of theday was changed toinclude a drill for ourtorpedo fire control partybefore lunch and thenbattle stations during theafternoon watch. Thisfitted in well with oursubmerged run, for theperiodic slowing forperiscopesweepsandthen

charging on again alladded realism. There wasone other innovation:Behindeachofcertainkeymenstoodanunderstudy.The run toward thecoast was uninterrupted.Onlyafewvariationsfromour course, to givesampans a little moreberth,keptour track frombeing as straight as an

arrow. Beam and quarterbearings on distant FukueShima to the north hadconfirmed our earlierposition, and now wesurfaced in eveningtwilight for a star fix andthe race toward ourselectedposition,12milesnorth of the strait. Twomainswentoncharge;theother two and auxiliaryboosted Tang up to 17

knots.Shewasrollingwitha purpose. Soon our tracklooked like a sidewinder’sas we dodged lightedsampans clustered inshoreof the 200-fathom curve.The lighted ones wereeasy; the hazard lay inthose few that had nothung out lanterns. Noneappeared to notice us. Athird main went onpropulsion as we passed

the 100-fathom curve,verified by an echo-sounding. The 50-fathomcurve would come next,but we could still dive inten. Tang slowed to 5knots. The timewas 2145onJune24;thethree-day-oldmoonhad set, andweeasedaheadintotheblacknight,waiting.

“Radar contact, bearingone five zero, rangetwentythousandyards!”Itwas Dick’s excited voicecoming over the bridgespeaker, but probably nomore excited than wouldbe anyone else’s. I hadneverbeenmorecertainof

joining the enemy thanduringtheselast24hours.The Japanese had to runships up this coast toNagasaki or call it quits,and they had given noindication of doing that. Iwasnotcountingonafirstcontact within minutes ofreaching station. Withcrossed fingers,wewaitedfor the range on the nextquick SJ sweep. The

enemy would either beemerging from the strait,heading our way, orentering it,headingsouth.The former seemed likely,for even with SailingDirections, entering thestrait could be tricky atnight. Still, an enemyconvoy could anchor inthe strait and make thesafer daytime passage tothesouth.Ifnecessary,we

could race around theoutside of the islands andgreet the enemy at thewidesouthernmouth.Considering thesepossibilities had taken buta minute or two as welooked over the chart inthe conning tower. Thencame Bergman’s directreport: “A mess of ships,range still twenty

thousand!”We pushed him aside

momentarily for afirsthand look. Bergman’sdescriptionwasasgoodasany for that jumble ofblops.No single pip stoodout as would that of abattleship,butnevermind,therewere shipsandwe’dtake them as they came.Wewerenowstoppedand

hadkilledanyheadwaysothat Tang’s motion wouldnotenter intothetrackingproblem. Still the pipsseemed to mill aroundaimlessly.A contact report is

supposedtotellwhat,howmany, where, and whatdoing. Our coded reportincluded only the five-letter group for the word

“convoy” and groupsgiving the position. Atleast Sealion and Tinosacouldheadinatfullspeedwhile the situationdeveloped. Sealionacknowledged at 2158,just 13 minutes after ourSJcontact,butnotadotordashcamefromTinosa.Tracking was nowhaving some success,with

courses varying from 270to315andspeedsbetween10and16knots.Apartofthevariationwasprobablydue to enemy zigs,confused as the majorships and escorts gainedstation. It now seemedclear thatour first contacthad been on the ships asthey emerged from thestrait and were formingup. Had we kept the pips

onthescreen,thesolutionwould have beensimplified, for thenBergmanwouldhavebeenable togive rangeson thesameship.Then,however,ourSJmighthavegivenusaway. Using the SJ onlyintermittently was acompromisewehadgladlymade.Thetentativecourseandspeedwerebetterthannone, so radio fired them

off to both boats,answering a query fromTinosa at the same time.Thehourwas2220.Theconvoynowseemed

to be settling down oncourse 280 at 12 knots.Though perhaps this wasjustalonglegofitszigzagplan, we relayed theinformation again. Thetime was 2227, and Tang

had done what she couldtobringtheotherboatsin.The task at hand nowrequiredoureverythoughtandeffort.TheBellsofSt.Mary’s chimed in earnestforthefirst timesinceouraborted attack on the ROclass submarine at Truk.This was pure business,and our business wassinkingships;wemeanttodojustthat.

The composition of theconvoy, which hadremained confused by thesmaller pips of numerousescorts and side lobes ofthe radar, clarified withthedecreasingrangeandachange of its base courseto340.Thisplacedusinafortunate position on itsport bow as the fuzzyblurps took shape.“Christ!” exclaimed Jones

tomyleftastheindividualships became distinct inour7×50s.Hespokeforboth of us and probablythe whole bridge watch,too.Infrontofusweresixlarge ships in twocolumns; the leadingshipswere possibly largeescorts.BetweenTang andthis main body were sixescorts, forming a part oftwo circular screens, 12

escorts in all, extendingcompletely around thelarge ships. It was aformidablearray.In the dark night, we

movedinslowly,intentonsneaking across the sternof the leading port escort.Jones and Leibold, as onour first patrol, were mysecond and third pairs ofeyes, keeping track of the

nextnearestpatrolstoportand starboard.Tang’s bowwas steady on the leadingescort’s stern, presentingour smallest silhouette.The escort’s wake, stillshowing aphosphorescence, wasclose aboard. We wouldmake it across a thousandyards astern, but in sodoingTangmust cross thebowofthestaggeredinner

screen patrol. Ships andpeople look ahead, wherethey are going; we easedouttotryagainwheretheinner screenmight be outofposition.We paused a minute or

two, a half mile from thesecond outer escort and alittle abaft her beam, ourcourse paralleling theenemy’s. Fraz came to the

bridge to see the situationfirsthand, and perhaps bywayofencouragement,forhereportedeveryonequietand on their toes below.HishushedvoicebetrayedTang’smood.Frazdroppedbelow, and again weheaded in, the convergingcoursemovingus laterallywithrespecttotheconvoy.Itwas theexactmaneuverI had used somany times

as an OOD in destroyers.The wake of the escortahead boiled just off ourbow; Tang was slicingthrough it, and again aninner patrol was blockingour path. Only in blinddisdain would a captainthink he could cross thatbow undetected. I hatedthe enemy’s guts, one hasto if he’s going to fighteffectively, but I felt no

contempt. We divergedagain to the convoy’s portflank,closetothequarter.The opportunities for

penetratingthescreenandsecuring a near broadsidetrack, one that wouldpermitasplitsalvoagainsttwo ships, had gone by.But large tracks hadworkedforothers,andwecould make them work

here. We maneuvered topass astern of the lastouter screen escort and toavoid the trailing innerpatrol. If we weresuccessful, our torpedoescould hit on a 150 track,still giving us a target ofhalf the ship’s length. Forthe third time we easedacross an escort’swake. Itwouldn’t work; the innerscreen patrol was exactly

in position. Or would it!We should be able to seethe trailing escort on thestarboardflank.“I’ve got her, Captain,”saidBoats.“She’swelloutthere.” Leibold ducked,and I looked out over hishead, my 7 × 50sparallelinghis.ThankGodfor young eyes; there washer low, sleek shape, but

more distant than sheshouldhavebeen.“All stop. Take the con,

Mort.”I heard his “Aye, aye,

sir,”asIdroppeddownthehatch. A glance at the SJconfirmedmyobservation.“Fraz, get me the

difference in ranges tothese two trailing escortsand call it up to the

bridge.” Caverly had theranges as I was going upthe hatch, and Frazrelayed the difference tome in person on thebridge,2,300yards.Therewasourslot!Tang went ahead

standard, changing course30 degrees to the right,andslidacrossthesternofthe convoy. With the

trailing escorts on eitherbow, we resumed theconvoy’s course. A thirdenginewentontheline.I thought for amomentofanincidentonpatrolinthe Solomons. The nighthad been similar, and alarge freighter with asingle escort had justgotten by.We surfaced tosee her stern still looming

up,andIurgedmycaptainto go after her. Thethought of his reply stillmade me boil: “Don’t bestupid; a submarine can’tattack from here!” Myfurther remonstrationwouldhave resulted in aninvitation to go to mystateroom. Now here Iwas, in command, with amuch greater opportunityandadutytoputallthatI

hadlearnedtotest.Tangwasclosingquietly

but rapidly, the patrolsnow falling back on ourport and starboard bows,as if they were backingdown. Reluctantly, weslowed to16knots, just 4knots above the convoy’sspeed. It meant that wewouldbeinjeopardyforalongerperiod, fornowwe

would pass between themat only the pace of a fastwalk.Motionofanobject,however, catches the eyewhen it might otherwiseseeonlytheblacknight.Itwas a fine point, one ofjudgment.Joneswasconcentratingon the port patrol andwould say nothing unlesshesawherturntowardus.

If thepatrolcontinuedon,she did not see us; thatwas axiomatic. Leiboldwas doing the same tostarboard, while Caverlybelow was taking shortkeyed ranges, and thoseonly when the navigatordirected.Ourpatrols, nowclose and approachingbroadside,hadgrown intodestroyer escort size, withgun mounts fore and aft.

At first alarming, theirvery height wasencouraging, for if theirlookouts were at bridgelevel, they could notpossibly see Tang as asilhouetteagainstthedarkhorizon; our backgroundwas the black sea. Therangeshadclosedto1,500and 1,700 yards;wewerenot quite in the middle,but we continued straight

on our course, stillovertakingby4knots.“Our bow’s inside their

sterns.” Fraz’s voice,coming over the speaker,was hushed but confident.Itwaswell that one of uswas shielded from thesight to port andstarboard. It would nottake much to spook ushere on the bridge. We

waitedtensely.“Bow’samidships.”We had an overlap. Iwondered what quirkbroughtthatsailingruletomindatatimelikethis.“Range abeam, elevenhundred port, thirteenhundredstarboard!”I knew Fraz’s reportswere, inpart,meant tobereassuring, but they did

little to ease the situationwe saw topside. The nextreport, with rangesincreasing, was almostjubilant, and veryprobably helpedthroughout the boat; butTangwasnowworkingupto the escorts’ bows,where, for a short time,the likelihood of beingsighted would be thegreatest.

We had been in moretaut situations, where theimmediate danger wasgreater, but never beforeinonewhereallwordshadbeeninwhispersfornearlytwo hours. Now the onlysounds were the quietrumblingsofourdieselsaswe drew slowly ahead.Again the speaker, thistime barking into thenight: “Range two

thousand!”“Come up here, Fraz.

Thisyou’vegottosee!”Myinvitationmusthave

been unnecessary, for hewas at my shoulder as Istopped speaking. I wouldlike to have seen theexpressiononhisface,butI knewwhat it was. Fraz,Mort, and I surveyed thesituation, and I felt my

shouldersrelax,naturally.Astern were sharp, tall

silhouettes, menacing, butTang was drawing away.On either flank, the long,lowoutlines of escorts layin encompassing arcs;those forwardwerebarelyvisible, blending into thenight. Dead ahead, in thecenter of it all, lay thegreat, fat sterns of the

mainbody.Thetaskaheadwouldbelesstrying,butitwouldbemore exacting. Mort tookthe con, and I droppedbelow for a glance at thechart with Fraz. Ogden’splotting was up to theminute, with our positionandthatofthemainbodymarkedwiththetime.Theconvoy had just passed

Oniki Saki and wouldundoubtedly continue onanother 25 miles, at leastasfarasNagasaki.Afingerofthe50-fathomcurvelayahead, but there was noimmediate shoal water.We could attack fromeither flank and, should itbecome necessary, evadesubmerged. Our targetswould be the two largeships in the port column,

threetorpedoeseach,firedfromforward,butalltubeswouldbeready.Deciding on our plan ofattack had taken but twoor three minutes, and thefirst change was in orderimmediately. Jones hadspottedasmallpatrolwellout on our port bow, justabout where we hadintended to go. We eased

off to starboard to attackthe right-hand columnfrom shoreward instead.The increasing swish andphosphorescencealongourwaterline accompaniedTang’s acceleration to 17knots. Conveniently, theconvoy steadiedon coursenorth and slowed to 10knots, helping us gainposition. The features ofthe two ships now in the

near column werebecoming distinct, and Icalled them down tocontrol.Theaftershipwasan engine-aft tanker orfreighter with plumbcruiserstern;hertwo-deckafter superstructure wastoppedbyamodern,squatstack, and she had aconventional bridgestructure forward. Theleading ship was a large,

modern, four-mast orgoalpost freighter withhigh compositesuperstructure. Bothappeared heavily ladenand were most probablydiesel-driven,as therewasnary a wisp of smoke. Imade no attempt toidentify the partiallyobscured ships in the farcolumn, for theywerenotour immediate targets.

Control acknowledged theinformation, and theidentification party wouldbe searchingONI-208J fortheprobableships.“Make all tubes readyfor firing.” I tookover theTBTfromMortand,justtobe sure,markedabearingon Tang’s bullnose. Apause and then came thecall from the conning

tower, “Zero zero zero.Righton.”“All tubes ready. We’re

ten degrees forward oftheir beam,” advised Fraz.That was the word Iwanted.“Come left to twoseven

zero. Open outer doorsforward.Slowtoone-thirdwhensteady.”This time I wouldmark

no bearings during theturn.Themovementofthebridge rudder angleindicatorcaughtmyeyeasthe steersman met ourswing. A glance at thedimly lighted gyrorepeater, installed flush inthebridgecowl,showedussteady on, and Icommenced markingbearings on the stern ofthe leading ship. There

would be no undetectedspeed change this night,and Frank’s coursesolution would be betterthan my estimate throughan angle on the bow. Icallednone.“Enemycourse still zerozerozero,speedtenknots,Captain.” Fraz’s reportmade unnecessary mypending question.We had

not forgottenourmistakeson the two-stack HoraiMaru and were double-checking.“Outer doors are open.

Fivedegreestogo.”Icouldnotspeakforthe

ship’s company, but withthe moment we hadworked months for onlysecondsaway,Icouldhearmyheartinmyearsabove

theidlingdiesels.Imarkedanotherbearingtokeepinthe swing, as one mightfollow through on a bird,thoughnotfiring.“Anytime,Captain.”“Constant bearing—mark!” My wire was onthe leading ship’s aftermast, the 7 × 50s nowresting steady in theirholder.

“Set!” came over thespeaker.Thecounter sternwas in the field, its afteredgecomingonthereticle.“Fire!” The comfortingshudder and zing cameinstantly.Thenexttorpedowent to her stackamidships,thethirdtothetip of her bow, and weshiftedtargets.“Constant bearing—

mark!” The reticlewas ontheaftersuperstructure.“Set!” The squat stackcrossed the field, about totouchthewire.“Fire!” Again theheartening feel and soundof a torpedo on its way.The fifth and sixthtorpedoesweresenttotheforward edge of her aftersuperstructure and to the

tipofherbow,zingingontheirway.The tracks had workedout well, giving a longertorpedoruntotheleadingship. Thus all torpedoeswere under way wellahead of the first possiblehit.“Torpedo run oneminuteforty-eightseconds,Captain.” The conning

tower would keep usposted.Atthemomentwewere turning to northagain, now with fourenginesrumbling,readytoroll us into the clear.Evasion would have towaiton thehits and someminutes into thecounterattack. In theinevitable confusion, wewould find a route out ofthearea.

“Thirty seconds to go.”Fraz joined us on thebridge,andnow the timescame over the speakerregularly. A whack, aflash, and a tremendousrumble came from thefreighter’s stern. Thenfrom amidships, and herwhole side seemed rippedout. The countdown wasresumed only to besmothered in two more

explosions. The secondship’s sternwas amass offlames, and hersuperstructure aftcrumbled with the secondhit. More tremendousexplosions andaccompanying flashesfollowed,nottimedasourtorpedoes, and withinminutes escorts wereracing through theholocaust, dropping depth

charges singly and inpatterns.Tang was racing,too, for the nearest deepwater.Theclosestescortat1,400yardsdidnotseeusand passed madly acrossour stern. We pulled up5,000 yards from theattack and7,000 from theprojected position of theconvoy. Only a great, lowcloudofsmokemarkedthespot where the ships had

joinedDavyJones’slocker,their pips fading off theSJ’sscreen.It was 0000, midnight,only seven minutes afterfiring our last torpedo,almost unbelievable! Thetorpedo reload had beenordered; Mort had thedeck;Frazwastakingcareof another contact report;and I was on my way to

the forward torpedo roomfor a much delayed butnecessary visit. Hank’sreload crewswere alreadyat work, easing a newtorpedohome. I couldnothelp comparing theirdeliberate, unhurriedperformance to the franticspeed often required bypeacetimeexercises.Walker had a cup of

coffeewaiting as I startedaft. “Howmany’d we get,Captain?” he asked,perhaps having beencommandeered byshipmates.“Why, both of them,

Walker.Wesawthemgo,”Iansweredbetweensips.“Ithinktherewasmore,

sir,” he repliedrespectfully. I pointed out

thattherewerecertainlyalot more explosions butthat it would be prettydifficult for him to tellwhat was taking placefrombelow.“Oh,Iwasn’tdownhere.Youweretopsidesolong,Ibroughtyourcoffee to thebridge.Itwassoexciting,Idropped your cup downinto the superstructure,”

headdedapologetically.Leave it toWalker; he’dfindawaytogetintheactwhether it involved atussle with the enemy orgettingaholdonapairofbones.Fraz had released thedesiredmessage toSealionand Tinosa, telling themthe convoy’s position,estimated setup, and that

we were trailing. EnsignKroth had sent it on outwithoutbotheringme,andhewasright.It was 0020. There wasradar interference to thesouthwest fromoneof theboats, probably Sealion,butitwassoweakthatwewere sure she could notovertake any ships beforethey reached thehavenof

Nagasaki.Tang could, andwith the torpedo gangcompleting their reloads,westartedoffaftertheoneremaining decent-sizedpip. Our approach wasspurred by an escort,which closed rapidly, butour engine cylinders,whichhad loadedupwithextra lube as we wereidling along, now laiddown a blue haze that

obscured her completely.We presumed the reversewas also true, for shethoughtwehaddivedandcommenced a depth-charge attack that musthave been devastating tothefish.Wefeltabitsmugabout it, but the loom ofNagasaki’s lights,probablyher shipyards, brought usbacktoreality.Thedepth-charge explosions or the

escort’s radio, perhapsboth, had alerted theenemy.The ship,whichwehadbeen closing steadily,suddenly showed zerospeedonbothplotandtheTDC. The range of 7,000yards became 5,000 andthen suddenly 3,800. Inminutes our combinedrange rate was over 40

knots, closing. We hadbarely time to complete a90-degree turn when shepassed1,600yards astern,a modern-lookingdestroyer escort. Shespottedusandclosedforaminute, but our team ofoverload experts forgoteverything they had everlearned about meaneffective pressures andkept pouring on the coal.

The blotch of smoke welaid down would surelymarkusasa smokymaru.But the enemy was stillcoming, big and tall, andTang was much closer tothebeachthanweliked.“Can we dive, Fraz?” I

shouldn’t have used thatword; it’s a wondersomeone didn’t sound twoblasts.

“Notyet,unlesswehaveto.”TheDEwas giving us alittle port angle. She washeading for our blotch ofsmoke, not us. We easedofftoportsowewouldgetfurther on her bow. Aninadvertentpatchofsmokebrought the DE on andthrough a repeatperformance, but our log

showed22knots,andeachtime she gaveus an anglethe range increased. Tangwas out to 3,400 yardswhen her searchlightscame on, illuminating thedivingalarmforMort.Thesound heads were pulledin, but there was nocrunch on diving. Ourcamouflage apparentlyworked in artificial light,too,fortheenemystillhad

not spotted us and racedby madly echo-ranging. Ithad been a rough way totest a paint job, but itseffectiveness would neverbeindoubtagain.Aquicksounding showeda coupleoffathomsunderourkeel.The sound heads wentdown, and we movedtowarddeeperseas.It was 0200 of another

night to remember. Nowwith time to consider, itseemed that the shallowNagasaki area would bevery unhealthy at dawn,buta littleovertwohoursaway. The opinion wasquiteapparentlysharedbythewholeship’scompany,forlookoutswerestandingby in control, perhaps asubtlewayforBallingertosuggestthatitwastimeto

“getthehelloutofhere.”A search by sound, asingle sweep by SJ, eachshowed our vicinity clear.Three blasts and high-pressure air such as wehadneverusedbefore,andTang hit the surfacerunning.Theturboshadushigh and dry in minutes;fourmainsweredeliveringfullpower,andweheaded

southwest to round theKoshiki Islands. Off thewide southern entrance tothe strait, the seas wouldbedeepifnotfriendly.

Sleep was impossible.Afterreasonablyfixingourposition with quick SJranges on Kami Koshiki,and Shimo Koshiki to thesouth,thenavigatorjoinedMort and me in thewardroom. This time wedidnot immediately reach

for a cribbage board, forwe were already playedout by the action of thenight.“Well, they sure fell inour lap tonight,”commented Fraz, quiteeffectively concealing thecustomary twinkle in hiseye and directing hisremark to our PCO. Mortsatbackandcontemplated

amoment before saying aword. His usual broadsmilecameonslowly.“If the object is to sink

ships and avoid depthcharges,thenIguessthisisall right, but I’d hate tothink it was going to bemy steady diet. I’ll take afew depth charges out indeepwateranyoldday.”Mort voiced my

sentiment, especially atthismoment,butalookatthe chart of the YellowSea,whereTangwouldbepatrolling within a fewdays, would tell anyonethatshallowseaswouldbeour lot. There wereadvantages to be had inanyarea,however,andforthe time being we wouldcapitalize on theopportunitiesofferedhere.

Fraz called for the large-scale chart, so here at0330 we figured on thebestplanforpatrollingthesouthern end of the strait.This immediate area heldeverything. Deep waterright up to thepromontories on theislands and the mainlandwouldassureusofshotsatanycoastalshipping,whilea submarine lying off the

middleofthestraitshouldbe able to detect anyshipping at night. In themain, we could revert tobeing a vessel ofopportunity here, still doour job, and see if theship’s company, all of us,could get our heartbeatsbacktoanormal73.Fraz and Jones were

abletogetagoodroundof

morning stars, so furtherplaying of the SJ on theislands to fix our positionbecame unnecessary. At0500 this June 25, withlightgrayallaround,Tangdived for the day. Thepassage close in to thesouthern tip of ShimoKoshikiwasinteresting,aswere all close-up views ofenemy land. We tookpicturesthroughthescope,

moreforthebenefitofourcamera buffs than for anyreconnaissanceconsideration, and thenmovedout into themouthof the strait. Occasionalhigh periscope searchesfound clear seas, and therumblingsofdistantdepthcharges indicated thatenemyshippingmightalsobe enjoying a day ofcontemplation. At 1900,

however, while Tang waswithdrawing prior tosurfacing, Mel spotted asurfacepatrol.Weavoidedcarefully, for if shereported the area clearafter an all-night search,perhaps the enemy wouldtry to run his merchantshippingtomorrow,duringdaylight. It couldbe sometime, however, before hewould run night shipping

again. If thisproved tobetrue, Tang would haveaccomplishedapartofhermission, for that wouldreduce the movement ofcargo essential to thewareffortbyhalfinthisarea.This had been a day of

comparative relaxation,but lest we let down ourguard, I reached for theNight Order Book and

penned special cautions.Then for the record Icopied the data on thesinkings observed justbefore midnight on June24:

AobasanMaruclassfreighter

7,500tons

Lat.32°30′N.

Long.129°35′E.

GenijoMaruclasstanker

10,000tons

Lat.32°30′N.

Long.

129°35′E.

Identificationwithbutoraldetails of the silhouettescould not be certain, ofcourse,but thesewere theselections of ouridentificationparty. In thequiet of this day, I hadcomparedthemwithother

ships in ONI-208J andcould find no fault withourmen’schoices.Dick and Frankwere in

thewardroom.Beforetheydonned their red masksprior to goingonwatch, Ihanded them the NightOrder Book. Dick took it,as he would be goingtopsidefirst,andIwatchedhim study each sentence,

then place his initials inthe lined space beforeagain reaching for hiscoffee cup. He was jolly,seemingly carefree, butwhenitcametohiswatch,Dickwasallbusiness.Thisnight we would searchwell clear of the strait,probably sharing the areawith thepatrol boat of anhour earlier. There wasroomforbothofus,justas

long as we knew whereshe was and she did notdetect us. Our periodic SJsearches would locate herhandily. Frank and Dickwould be followed byHank and Mel, watchofficers that would giveanycaptaineighthoursofcalm assurance, butreports of increasingsqualls, then the patrol,coupled with an alerted

enemy just to the northpreventedanysolidsleep.“Radar contact, bearing

zero two zero true, rangeeightthousand.”The report was no

louder than any of theothers, but every wordcarried forward from thecontrol room. It wasapparently a matter ofhaving my mind tuned as

wellasmyears.Theclockabove the doorway read0424, minutes after thecrackofdawn.Frazwouldbeon thebridgeor in theconning tower. Answeringbells from maneuveringfollowed by the slight listof turning toport toldmethat appropriate actionhadbeentaken; therewasno reason to rush to thebridge. Over a cup of hot

coffee,IrealizedthatTangcouldundoubtedlydevelopthis contact, and sink itshould it turn out to be aship, without myparticipation. Fraz was,after all, designated asqualified for command,and I would certainly belosing him after anotherpatrol or so. The thoughtwas sobering and wouldrequire continued

consideration.Topside, off in the fogandrain,wasagoodship,tracked as having justrounded Noma Misaki, asharp point jutting outfrom Kyushu about sevenmiles into the strait. Aglimpse confirmed thatTang was already on theenemy’s starboard beam,and Ed had rightfully

cometoadivergingcourseto reduce the chance ofourbeingsightedbetweensqualls and in theincreasing light. My onlychange in the action thatEdandFrazhadtakenwasto order, “All ahead full.”We would start our end-around to the southimmediately.The light rain and fog

hung in irregular scallops,forthemostpartobscuringthe coast but givingus anoccasional quick sightingof our enemy. She was amedium-sizedmast-funnel-mast freighterwith a splitsuperstructure.Surprisingly, she wastraveling alone, thoughhugging the coast for theprotection of the shallowwater. Already she had

passed one danger point,NomaMisaki,butanother,BonoMisaki,laytenmilesahead. What urgencywould call upon theJapanese to send this shipout thus, when oursubmarineswereknowntobe in the vicinity? Didthey think that we hadbeen destroyed in themelee following ourattack, or had Sealion and

Tinosa been sightedelsewhere, leading theenemy tobelieve that thisarea was clear? In eithercase, we had nocomplaints, for withmorethan twice the freighter’sspeed, Tang had gained aposition7,000yardsaheadand but 1,000 off herpresent track. Less than2,000yardsfromthetrackontheothersidelayBono

Misaki, so a good firingrange was insured. Onlyby reversing course couldthe freighter avoid theattack.“When we’re all clear,takeherdown.”Ed acknowledged theorder and gave Fraz andme a few extra seconds.Then came his “Clear thebridge! Clear the bridge!”

and the two blasts,sounding topside andthroughout the ship. Iwonderedifotherswereascalm at this moment asthey looked.Tome itwasalways a thrill to take a1,500-ton ship chargingbelow the seas. Thelookouts were hitting thedeck on below. Ogdenwhirled the wheel on thehatch by its swing-down

handle,settingthedogs,asEd kept the lanyard taut.The whole procedure wasas fast as ever, but gonewas a little of the slam-bang of earlier patrols.PerhapsTanghadcomeofage,andIapproved.The general alarm and“Battle stations!”substitutedforreveillethisJune 26. The time was

now 0521, just shy of anhour since the originalcontact. Fraz proceededwith ordering the torpedotubes readied, fourforwardandallfouraft,asI searched on the bearingwherethefreightershouldbreak out of themist andrain. The moments wereanxiousonesuntilCaverlyreported the sound ofheavy screws and then a

propeller count of 110turns. Jones guided thescopeafewdegreestotheleft.Thereshewas,stillanindistinct shape, a littlefarther inshore thananticipated, and with alargerstarboardangle.“Down scope. All ahead

standard.” Frank adjustedthetargetdialontheTDCto the estimated new

course. A five-minute runwould close the enemy’snew track.Allhandswerequiet;only therushof thesea about our hull brokethe silence. The minutespassed on Fraz’sstopwatch, four, and nowfive.“All stop.” Ogden, on

the wheel, called ourspeed from theBendix log

aswelostway,“Fiveknots… four knots.” AnotherminutepassedbeforeTangwasdown to3,but soundbearings showed thefreighter coming on asexpected.“Up scope. Bearing—mark!”Iflippedthehandlesup,and the scopewentdown.Jones read the bearing,

and I called the angle, 35starboard. Jones read thestadimeter range from thedial, now just above theperiscope well, 3,200yards.“Right full rudder; allahead two-thirds.” It wasproving to be a typicalapproach.Wewereturningin the direction of thefreighter’s advance until

our stern tubes wouldbear, and would then firefour Mark 18-1 electrictorpedoes. They wereslower,27knotsinsteadofthe 46 knots of our steamtorpedoes, but only thetwistofaknobontheTDCwas required to throw inthe proper cam so theywould take the correctlead angle. Of moreimportance, these

torpedoes were wakeless,leaving no line of bubblesand smoke to alert theenemy or to mark thesubmarine’s firingposition.“All ahead one-third.

Open theouterdoorsaft.”I could imagine theexcitement in the aftertorpedo room. This wastheir first chance on this

patrol. Two more setupsfor Frank followed, andthen came Fraz’swarning,“Ten degrees to go.” Thatwould be the firingbearingfortheidealtrack.I glanced at the depthgauge, then indicated thedesired handle height.Jones brought the scopeup smartly; I rode it upanotherfoot.

“Constant bearing—mark!”Jonescalledit.“Set!” from Frank. Thefreighter’s stern wascomingonthewire.“Fire!”Theshudder, theslight pressure rise,coinciding with a high-pitched whine, for theseries type electricmotorswereuptospeedinstantly.The other three torpedoes

followed,spreadalongthefreighter’s length from aftforward. She was a deadduck!“Christ!” Two of thetorpedoes had broached,porpoised twice, and thensettled down on surfaceruns, throwing continuousplumesofwaterintheair,like the rooster tails ofhydroplanes. The time of

the2,100-yardtorpedorunwasjustovertwominutes,ample for theenemy,whoavoided all of thetorpedoes by turningtowards well inside theirtrack.All of the explodersoperated, detonating thewarheads as they hit thebeach, if that is anyconsolationtoanyone.After some random

gunfire, the enemy tookrefugeinacovejustnorthof Bono Misaki. Wecommenced aninvestigation but foundourselvesbeingsettowardthe beach, so we surfacedand made a full-powerdash to the west,unobserved by our late-arrivingpatrolboat.Adaychecking the depthmechanisms of our

remainingMark18-1swasin order, and the place todo this was in the peaceand quiet below thesurface of the seas. Anhour’s run seemed ample,especially since nothinghad arrived in the skies.Here we had plenty ofdepth and were notcompletely withdrawnfrom possible activity. At0740, still refraining from

any profanity, at leastwithin my earshot, Tangdivedfortheday.“Sometimes it happensthisway,”saidMortashefinished his breakfastcoffee.Itwashisturn,andhis remarks were pointedat Fraz. We were allthinking, as theconversation soondisclosed, of the rash of

torpedo troublesourboatshad experienced earlier inthewar. Then the failureslay mostly in theexploders, whichsometimes had thestartling habit ofdetonatingassoonastheyarmed,400yardsfromthefiringsubmarine.Onotheroccasions, the magneticfeature would set off theexploder just as the

torpedoenteredtheenemyship’s magnetic field,about 50 feet away fromimpact. It wasn’t funny atthe time, for not only didthe enemy usually escape,but counterattack by anyescorts was immediate; Iknew, for Wahoo hadexperienced fourprematures in this samearea. Now as we lookedback, we chuckled at the

dismay the nearbyexplosions must havecaused on the enemy’sbridge. The conversationeased a bit ourdisappointment andfrustration, directing ourattention to the next realand serious task. The fourremaining electrictorpedoesmustbemadetoworkproperly.

Tackling one torpedo ata time, all parts of thedepth-keeping mechanism—the pendulum,hydrostaticdiaphragm,thedepth engine, thedifferential valve, and thesmall air flasks—werechecked. When this wascompleted, each torpedowas suspended by aloading strap with chainfall,thenswungandtilted,

with gyros running, tocheck the operation ofboth horizontal andvertical rudders. With theexception of somestickiness, which wasremedied by solvent andlight oil, no faults werefound,and formostofus,some faith in thesetorpedoes was restored.Thetaskhadtakenallday,and we surfaced into

anotherovercastnight.The hours of darknesswereundisturbed, aswerethose of early morning.With improving visibilityand then with liftingovercast,wedivedat0958onJune27foranotherdayof submerged patrolling.The weather was now tothe enemy’s liking, forLarry reported a Betty

searching just tenminutesafter we submerged. Atfirst it appeared that theplane might presage shipmovements; but then thegeneral nature of itssearch, not along anyprojected track, dispelledthishope.Probablyseveraldays would pass beforeships ventured this way.Another Betty wanderedabout in the late

afternoon,andthenaDanbomber just before sunsetcompleted the enemy’sactivity for the day. Closeto the end of eveningtwilight, we surfaced intoaquietnight to conduct asurfacesearchofourown.Trash and garbage wentdown in weighted sacksand sanitarieswere blownwith Tang headingupwind. In the middle of

these operations, Hudson,thedutychief, calledoverthe bridge speaker: “Ultrafor action Sealion, Tang,andTinosa!”

The message was not atrueUltraaswehadcometo know them, in thatspecific enemy shipmovements were notmentioned. Instead, thedispatch contained thecoordinates of an enemyshipping route. The ports

—Shanghai to the westand Shimonoseki, leadingfrom the Tsushima Straitinto the InlandSea, to theeast—were important,however. Ogden broughtthe chart, with dividers,pencils,andparallelrulersto the wardroom. Frazwent to work with thetableasachartdesk.Navigating

unquestionably providesthebestwayoflearninganarea. The seriousness andresponsibility connectedwith the work and theconstant plotting imprintan almost permanentmemory. The first set ofcoordinates that Frazplottedrangabellforme;the second pair confirmedmy suspicion. This wasturning out to be

essentially the same routeI had plotted whennavigating Wahoo heresome 15 months before,but that time my skipperhad brought thecoordinates aboard on aslip of paper just beforeourdeparture.Tang was a long wayfrom Pearl, so we couldnotbesureofthesourceof

this information. ButJapanese ship movementreports, and consequentlyUltras,werenonexistentinthese waters. Our guesswas that the coordinateshad been part of a fakemessage sent in theenemy’s ship movementcode.The rusewould lureoursubmarinestotheareawhile enemy shippingavoided it. The period

during which the threesubmarines were to worktogether was beingprolonged,forthedispatchfurtherdirectedDonWeissto position us to interceptthe enemy. As we saw it,the time for the threeboats to fan out and findtheenemy’sshipswaspastdue. There were probably60vesselsormore,mostlyunescorted,nowatseaand

ripe for torpedoes. Everywasted day gave theenemy an opportunity toshiftmorepatrols to theseseas and to bring shipshome safely. To me, thiswas a perfect example oftelling a commander howto do his job instead ofproperly spellingoutwhatwas wanted—and thisfromacrosstheseas.

AnotherrendezvouswasscheduledforDanjoGuntowhich, translated, mustmean “meeting place.”Again Fraz paddled outinto the night, but thistime without instructions.He would play it by ear,for we had not yet beenhurt by this dispatch. Themeeting was relativelyshort, and Fraz was soonback aboard. With Tang

heading northward, Frazjoinedusinthewardroom.He was obviously waitingfor my question, so Iobliged.“We’ve been banished,”

hesaid,butwithatwinklein his eye. Then heexplained. Don Weiss hadplaced his Tinosa to thesouth of the reportedshipping lane and Sealion

to the north of it; he hadassigned Tang the areacommencing 40 milesnorthoftheline.“And the other

boundaries?”Iasked.“Well, Captain Weiss

didn’t get around to that,and I didn’t think wewould want to bring itup.”Frazwasenjoyingevery

minute of it, and well hemight. As at San Diego,where the southern limitsof our training area hadbeen omitted, here thenorthernboundaryhadnotbeen specified, nor theeastern and western forthat matter. That shouldguarantee the contacts,and once the enemy wassightedhotpursuithadnolimit. We had the whole

YellowSea.Our movement

northward was slow anddeliberate; we crossed thespecified route submergedon the 28th and thenproceeded northwest atone-engine speed afterdark. Again we had oneobjective: To make ourpresence known only byour torpedo detonations.

Tothisend,thesmallAPR-1 radar detector was inconstant use wheneverTang was surfaced. Hourafterhour,onememberofthe radio watch crankedthe dial up through itsrange of frequencies andthen back down again. Itwas a monotonous task,rechecking static andspurious signals that ourelectrical machinery

generated. Whenopportunity permitted,these were identified andlogged,buteverynowandthenthepatiencepaidoff.At2000,Bergmandetecteda momentary noise thatrepeated and thendeveloped into the shortbuzzes characteristic of arevolving radar. It wasprobably from Saishu To,sometimescalledQuelpart,

a great island with a6,000-foot peak that lies45 miles off the southerntip of Korea. Possibly thesignal was coming fromMara To, a small islandfivemilesclosertoTangatthe moment. Fraz laiddownanewtrackthatleftbothislandsfartheronourstarboard beam to insurethat we would remainundetected or at least

unrecognized.The rituals that always

followed cleaning up aftertheeveningmealhadbeencompleted. Larry hadreportedusbackoncourseafter the short run towindward, and now thenoisesofaWesternmoviewere drifting back fromtheforwardtorpedoroom.Fortwo-thirdsoftheship’s

company,thiscouldjustaswell have been a trainingcruise, remarkable whenyouconsiderthatthechartinthecrew’smessshowedTang about to enter theYellow Sea, 4,600 milesfrom Pearl Harbor. It wasa compliment to the dutysection and a measure ofour self-confidence and ofour faith in our boat. Lestwe forget for even a

moment that the enemywas just as determined aswe in Tang were, I againpenned special cautionsfollowingtheusualentriesintheNightOrderBook.The course of 315

degreestruewouldtakeusbetween Kakyo To andHen Sho, just off thesouthwest coast of Korea.The evening was

interrupted only by thereport of sampans and byour occasional maneuverstoavoidthem.Intheearlymorning hours, however,weak 95 megacycle radaron our APR-1 and an SJcontact near Kakyo Tobrought Fraz and me totheconningtower.Itneednot have, for the sectiontracking party determinedthat the contact was

actuallyanotheroneoftheside lobes that plagued usfrom time to time. I didnot object to having mysleep disturbed, for therehad been doubt, and thenespecially I was to becalled.Fortherealenemy,it was simpler: Head forhim, head away, or dive.Happily, our APR-1 signaldid not increase inintensity as we drew near

the island, thuseliminating Kakyo To asthesourceoftheradiationand assuring us that weremainedundetected.Itwastoolatetoturninagain, so Fraz and Ibrought Tang up close toHenSho,asmall island inthe middle of the pass.Here we dived at 0441,when just a semblance of

graywasnoticeable in thedrizzleandovercast.The 34th parallel of

latitude divides the EastChina Sea and the YellowSea. Our position was tenmilesnorthofthisparallelandwestof themyriadofislands that make up thetruesoutherntipofKorea.From here we couldintercept enemy shipping

that followed either thegeneralpathoftheparallelor the safer routewindingthrough the islands.Therecould be an additionaladvantage, for if Sealionand Tinosa, patrolling tothe south, were sighted,traffic might well beroutedourway.Daylight brought low,

fast-moving fog patches,

notbadinthemselves,butthecoldwater,whichwasresponsible for the fog,chilled our periscopes.Within a second or twoafterthelensbrokesurfaceintothemoistsummerair,it fogged over hopelessly.Thewatchwassoonusingboth scopes alternately,one searching while theotherdunked.Thisprovedinefficient, almost

impossible, so sound andperiscopeswerebackedupwith periodic SJ sweeps,withagenerousamountofshears exposedmomentarily.The morning wore on,especially for thenavigator, as our set anddrift varied with eachattempted fix. Anoccasional single ping

sounding assured us thatTang was remainingoutside the 30-fathomcurve, however, andshould be unhampered inany maneuvers. At 1140the 1MC hummed in allcompartments,presumablyto announce, “Chowdown!” but the wordsinsteadwere,“Freightertothenorth!Coursewest!”

The duty chief hadpreempted the 1MC tolocate me aft. Theannouncement was reallynot a bad idea, forcertainly the whole crewsharedanequalinterestinanybonafideshipcontact.NotuntilOgdenraisedthescope did I become awarethat the drumstick I hadsnitched from the galleywas still in my hand. Not

too dignified, but I forgotabout it when the enemycameintothefield.Thescopewasvibratingas Tang picked up speed,for Mort had alreadyorderedanormalapproachcourseandhadgoneaheadstandard. The majordetails of the ship werediscernible, however, afine mast-funnel-mast

freighter, but withapproximatelya60-degreeangle on the bow. Thegenerated setup on theTDC checked closely withthe observation, andMort’s initial action wasthebestwecoulddountiltracking showed thefreighters base course andspeed.Waiting between

periscope exposures whileclosing the enemy couldfrequently be more tryingthan standing by fortorpedoestohit.Thenonlytorpedo failures or anincorrect firing solutioncouldsavetheenemy.Butthis freighterwasstill freeand could escape to theislandswiththeaidoftherain and squalls. Weneeded to close her track,

butmost of allwe had tomaintain contact. A goodten-minute full-speed runwas in order, but halfwaythrough we stopped ourscrews to permit sound totake a bearing. Bergmanflippedonthespeaker,andtheloudwump-wump-wumpof the target’s propellerfilled the conning tower.We were closing, but theenemywas drawing left. I

letTang coast on down to4 knots for a periscopeobservation. The standardprocedure for anobservationservedonlyasgood training, for thoughthe freighter was nicelybroadonourbowat4,000yards,wewereonherportquarter. Overtakingtorpedoes would barelyreach, and hits would bemostunlikely.

“Left twenty degreesrudder. All aheadstandard.”A glance at the TDC

while we were turning,then running a fingeracross the target dial andoff on the inscribed ship’sportbowgaveourcourse.We called it the normalevasion course, one thatwould maintain the best

bearing possible whileTang opened the rangepreparatory to a surfaceend-around.We settledon235 and would slow onlyas necessary for a quickglanceattheenemy.Not long before, such

courses were determinedquickly,avoidingthedelayof plotting, by using amultidialed calculator,

resemblinga circular slideruleandcalledanIs-Was.Ihadreluctantlyputitasideasastandby,forevenwithelectrical failure, Frankcould crank in the correctpictureontheTDC.Increasing seas as we

left the lee of the islandsslowed the enemybut didnot affect us submerged.Tang maintained the

bearing on the freighter’squarter,actuallygainingattimes as the rangeincreased.“Lookouts to theconningtower.Standbytosurface,fourengines.”Theorder, which Frazannounced over the 1MCat my nod, still sent atingle through my spineandprobablythatofevery

man aboard. Ahead lay arace and maneuverimpossible to duplicate inother than submarinewarfare,andoneinwhicha fairportionof the ship’scompany could visuallyparticipate. Not since ourfirstpatrolhadwebeensoinvolved, but this shouldbe a relatively quick,concise action. Larry tookthe dive, and I called him

up to the lower conningtowerhatch for awordofcaution.“We’ll be surfacing intoa heavy chop. Don’teconomize on the high-pressure air. Give her atleast twice the normalblow.” Machinist’s MateDe Lapp, from the airmanifold,hadmovedoverbelow Larry. They were a

good combination. Howgood I was to learn afterthe three blasts. The timewas 1330, an hour and ahalfintotheattack.DeLappdidn’tcrackthehigh-pressure valves, heopened them, probablyfulfilling a long-standingdesire. This was the time,for we were rolling,working on up to full

power on all mainswithout a moment lost.Only a short blow by theturbos had been required,for the high-pressure airhad done a part of theirwork.Nowthebridgewasquiet except for the windand the slap of heavyspray blown against theconning tower fairwater.We were not buffeted bythe seas as was the

freighter, but in workingthroughthemTangtookona rather uncomfortabletwist.Itwassoonforgottenin the excitement ofkeepingtheenemyinsightand not at the same timedisclosing ourselves to thefreighter or to an everpossible air patrol.Fortunately, theremoteness of this areaand the weather almost

precludedairopposition.We had anticipatedpassingthefreighteronanarc at maximum raisedperiscope range, butreducing visibilitypermittedanearlystraightcourse, and we relied onourcrow’snestandtheSJto maintain contact.Occasionally an angle onthe bow from a raised

periscope wouldsupplement theinformationforFrank.We were not at battle

stations, but one afteranother those men andofficers with key billetstook over. It soon seemedthateveryonefeltthathiswasakeyjob,andviewingtheproblemathand in itsentirety,eachwascorrect.

An hour and a half hadgone by since surfacing,andthe freighterwasnow15,000 yards abeam. Wewere on a parallel trackandwouldnowfollowthecourses recommended bythe navigator to maintainthe range at about sevenandahalfmilesandputusdeadaheadoftheenemy.On each glimpse of the

freighter, a bit ofinformation was suppliedtoouridentificationparty.They had become lesshesitantaboutaskingforaspecificdetailwhenitwasrequired to solve theirpuzzle. They hadtentatively settled on theTazan Maru and broughtONI-208J to the conningtower,opentothepage.Itwasoneoftheextrathings

that could be done on anapproach such as this andhelped to make it exact.The length and mastheadheight would be used onthestadimeter.At 1600 on the button,

two blasts took us downdead ahead of the enemy.Frankhadthefreighteronbasecourse255at7knots.Therangewasfine,16,000

yards.Proceedingwiththeenemy would delay theattack,buttherewouldbetwoadvantages:Shewouldbe farther from any help,andourmaneuversforthedesiredbowshotwouldbesimplified. With theseconsiderations, we let herovertakeus.A stern chase wasalways long, and when

waiting for an attack timeseemed to drag. Anotherhour passed, but now thefreighter was in constantview.Itwastantalizingbutnot easy on the nerves,and I considered turningtowards to get it overwith. The enemy ship didher part, however, and at1730 the Bells of St.Mary’s chimed again.Compartments reported

from forward to aft, andFrazgavetheorder:“Makeready tubes three, four,five, six, and seven, eight,nine, and ten. Set alltorpedoes to run on tenfeet.”That should be enoughtorpedoes, four forwardorfour aft, to sink thisfreighter two times over,but we need not

necessarilyfireafullsalvo.We had discussed thedepth setting at somelength, but with ourexperience of the surfacerunners inmind, andnowwith choppy seas thattended to make torpedoesbroach, a ten-foot runningdepth seemed theminimum.Our first maneuver was

a dipsy doodle, a gradualturnoffthetrackandthena sharp turn back, like aquestion mark laid out alittle to therightahead. Itbrought the bow tubesperpendicular to theenemy’s track, insuring abow shot. This was ofsome importance, for wewouldretainourabilitytofirefromforwardoraftonlater attacks ifwedidnot

use our electric torpedoesnow. The enemy did notcompletely cooperate andzigged towards, requiringa repeat maneuver byTang,butthatwaspar.Now with the angles Icalled and the rangesJones read all checkingclosely with TDC, Frazannounced, “Five degreestogo.”

“Stand by for constantbearings.Upscope.”Jonesbrought it up smartly, alltheway.Thefreighterhadno chance of spotting ourtwo feet of scope in thischop.“Constant bearing—mark!”“Set!”“Fire!” Her mainmasthadtouchedthewire,and

ourfirsttorpedozingedonits way. The second wenttoherforemast.The rangeon firingwas

1,250, the track 90; Frazcalled the time of run, 47seconds. I watched thesmoky wake of eachtorpedo right to its pointof aim. There were noexplosions; they hadpassed under the enemy

ship. The freighter turnedmenacinglytowards,downthestillvisiblewakes.

“All ahead standard. Leftfull rudder. Floodnegative. Take her deep.Grab a sounding.” I felt alittle silly acting like wehad a destroyer after us,but we would not bereattacking this alertedship now, and besides, if

you’re not on theoffensive, be on thedefensive. Tang was nowpassing 200 feet, still 50feet off the bottom, whenquite unbelievably thefreightergaveus twoveryclose depth charges. Theshoewasontheotherfoot;they weren’t supposed todothat!Caverly had shaken the

depth charges out of hisears and donned hisphones again; he reportedthe enemy’s screwsdrawing away.We startedbackup,asaquarterofanhour had gone by. Larryapproached periscopedepth, and the scope wascominguptodecklevel,tomyhandsasIsquattedforthat first look. A shakingwhackand rumble sentus

back down to think thisone over. There had beennoplanes,andwecametothe conclusion that thedetonation of a thirdcharge had been delayed,perhaps intentionally witha time device, to keep usoccupied while thefreighter escaped. Wereturned to periscopedepth, this time into thefading twilight. A sweep

with the SJ, and Tangsurfaced onto the YellowSea,allherown.It shouldn’t have

happened. To bringtorpedoes pushing ontoward5,000miles,andtohave six in a row, six outofourfirst12failus.Thatwasn’tquitefair;onlyfourhad been faulty, but thesurface runners had

spoiled two others. Thethoughts took but aminute, a minute wasted.Ourtaskwasahead.“What was the last

soundbearing,Caverly?”Ogden read from the

Quartermaster’s Notebook,“Three five zero true,Captain.”That required notebook,

with its thousands of

entries, had saved shipsfrom grounding,exonerated or convictedskippers when they had,and served as evidence incollisions, all of thisbeyond its everydayservicetonavigators.Nowthis single bearing couldwell be a million-dollarentry,spellingthedeathofanenemyship.

“All ahead full. Comerighttothreefivezero.”Wewouldworkonupto

full power once we wererolling and the enginetemperatureswerenormal.Frazsecuredthecrewfrombattle stations, and abelated chow was pipeddownforallhands. Itwas2030 in a long, exciting,frustrating day, but this

June 29was not over, forwewereheadingdownthelast true bearing of theenemy, just as we haddone time and againwestofSaipan.Theodoroffryingsteaks

was permeating the boat.Wixon had done it again,changing the menuwithout authority, or didFrazhavesomethingtodo

with it? In either case, Iwould not complain, andoneorbothof themknewit. The steaks were thebest, but the usualcamaraderie was lacking.After themeal I foundmymolars still grinding andwithFraz,Dick,andFrankproceededtotakeitoutonacribbageboard.Deep-running torpedoes

werenotnew.Atthestartof hostilities, it had beenassumed that ourtorpedoes, with warheadsof about the same weightas our exercise heads,would keep the depth set.Theyrantoodeep,andthemagnetic field of manyships did not set off theexploders. While thebureaus fiddled, somesubmarine captains,

including Mush Morton,commenced setting thetorpedoes shallow, toexplode on impact; thencame the late prematures,drenching the enemy. Bycomparison,whowereweto complain? Wasn’tblamingthetorpedoesnowjusttheeasythingtodo?HankandMeljoinedus,

having withdrawn two

torpedoes to check theactual depth set on them.Hankwasshakinghisheadslowly, contemplating hissteak it would seem, butthis was a habit of hiswhen searching for theright words. In a momenthesaiditasitwas.“The depth set on bothtorpedoes is ten feet,Captain, and the depth

mechanisms check out,too.”I thanked them for the

report, and then Dickposedaquestion:“CouldithavebeenaQ-ship,sir?”The thought had

certainlybeenentertained,especially after shecounterattacked, but hadbeen dismissed due to herlength and clumsiness.

Still, we should give heranother look. Dick chasedaft and returned with20SJ,openedtopage215.Those of us who hadobservedherexaminedthefour photographs and thedraftsman’s broadsidedrawing. The Q-ships, aclass of five ships, hadbeen built in Americaduring1918and1919andhad a loaded draft of 24

feet. But howmuch cargowould the Japanese besending to China?Probably she carried onlyenough to give her goodstability at sea. Theunladen draft of theseships was only eight feet.Therewasouranswer, forthough not appearingparticularlyhighoutofthewater, she might quiteconceivably be drawing

only ten or 12 feet. Ourtwo torpedoes hadprobably scared thebarnacles growing alongher keel, for if they hadrun much deeper, thewakes would not havebeenvisiblerightuptoherside.Knowing instead of

fretting is half the battle.Hank and Mel went after

their steaks, and weresumed our four-handedcribbage game.Dick cut afour,apoorcardforallofus, and then the phonebuzzed to my left. Hankpicked it up and repeatedthe message: “Radarcontact bearing zero zerozero.”The change of mood in

the wardroom was

immediateandmost likelyreflected that throughoutthe ship. There was norush;wefinishedthegameand then Frankaccompanied me topside.The dark shape of theenemywasjustvisibleouton the fuzzy horizon,made the more indistinctin the spume of the riled-up sea. Another half hourwould pass before we

would be able to make apositive identification, buttherewas little doubt thatthis was the same ship.Section tracking first hadher on course north, then040, and finally on 070,heading forKo-Toandtheten-fathom curve off theKorean coast. Cuttinginside this arc shortenedour chase, and Tang, now7,000 yards on the

enemy’s beam, slowed toplantheattack.A glance at the chart,and the ideal approachwas obvious. In the lee ofDaikokusan Gunto, wecould set our torpedoes torun shallow without toomuch fear of theirbroaching, and an attackaftermoonsetwouldletusmove in to a range at

whichtheenemycouldnotavoid them if they did.That was some hoursaway, and again someonehad to be cool, calm, andcollected.“Fraz, stay with her

here, about seventhousand yards abeam. Atmoonset, move to fivethousand, thirty degreesonherstarboardbow,and

callme.TakeMortoff thewatchlistforanyhelpyoumay need, but remember,you’resecondincommandonthisboat.”Again Fraz accepted the

responsibilitywithaready“Aye,aye,sir.”There were really two

other reasons for turningthisintermediatetaskoverto my executive officer,

each based on my ownexperience. The first butnot the more importantinvolved a former skipperofminewhohadaspecialbunk built in the conningtower. Every fish thatgnashed its teeth, everyspurious bit of static thatshowed as a possible pipon radar, brought himupright in his bunk. Hewas soon frazzled and

getting the rest of us inabout the same condition.Frazandthetrackingpartycould handle this phasejust as well without me,probably better. Thesecond reason wasobvious: It had workedbefore, west of Saipan. Iwent to my cabin andkicked off my shoes. Theonly soundswere the seasbeyondtheballasttanks.

“The moon has set,Captain.” It was Walkerwith another heavy coffeemug, which he hadconfiscated somewhere. Ittook a moment for themeaning of the report tosink in. All white lightshad been turned off, so Ineeded no red mask. Aquick turn forward, and Istopped at the wardroomfor another cup before

goingtopside.“We going to get herthistime,Captain?”“That’s right, Walker,one pickle right in hermiddle.” For a moment Iwondered what made mesay that, then I recalledmy thoughts before I haddozedoff:afeelertorpedoand then a spread of fourifthatsingleshotdidn’tdo

the job. With this cup ofcoffeedown,itmadealotof sense.An accurate shotintohermiddle,especiallyifshehadgreat,drum-typeScotch boilers,would giveanextraexplosion,too.The seas were stillkickinguptopside,andtheenemy’s navigation was alittleoff, the trackpassing15 miles north of the

islands. As firing from alee would now beimpossible,wewouldcloseto a range that wouldinsure hits even withbroachingtorpedoes.Now,inapitch-blacknight,Frazhadtopointherouttome,for even with deep ruby-red lights below, a briefperiod topside was stillrequired for maximumvision. She was there,

exactly where we wantedher.“Let’s go to battle

stations. I want five tubesreadyforwardandallfouraft.Setalltorpedoestorunat six feet. I’ll take thecon.”Fraz ducked below, and

the melodious bong, bong,bong of the general alarmcarrieduptothebridge.In

aminuteallwasquiet.“Left twenty degreesrudder. Steady on coursethreefourzero.”Tang was 2,500 yardsfrom the track as weturned. The freighter’sangle on the bow hadopened to 40 starboardwhen we steadied andstopped 1,500 yards fromher track. The seas and

wind from aft carried uscloser,andwebackedtwo-thirds to kill some of ourheadway. It would benearly impossible for herlookoutstospotuslookinginto this spume. TBTbearings went down onFrank’s request; there wasnoreasonforextraones.“Outer doors open. Tendegreestogo.Rangeseven

fifty, speed nine, TDCangle seventy-three.” Frazwasmakingdoublysure;itchecked with what Iobserved.“Constant bearing—

mark!”Shewascomingonfast.“Set!” Her stack was

already in the field,coming on the luminouswire.

“Fire!”Aslight jolt,andthe torpedo’sphosphorescent track wasvisible, as if skippingthroughthewhitecaps.“Torpedo run thirty

seconds” came over thespeaker.The wake was heading

forthefreighter’sbowbutfallingaftasshecameon,nowathersuperstructure.

“Fivesecondstogo.”The wake led to her

middle, right toher stack.The 500 pounds of torpexdetonated with singularfury,instantlybreakingthefreighter’s back. Her bowand stern sections tiltedsharply toward oneanother under anincandescent cloudof fire,smoke,andsteam.

Her gun crew had guts,however, for from hercanting bow came a halfdozen well-aimed rounds.How they pointed andtrained their gun on thattilting platform will longremain a wonder, andtheirdedicationinkeepingupthefireuntiltheywentunder would be a matterofpridetoanynation.

Beforegoingonbelow,Iwrote thebriefestofnightorders and recorded thedataontheenemyship:

TazanMaruclass

5,464tons

Lat.35°03′N.

Long.125°08’E.

Thetimewas0130ofJuly1,andweheadedwestfora submerged patrol afterdaylightandadayofrest.

Our dawn position, 40miles west of Ko-To, layhalfway between the 40-fathom curves to the eastandwest.Thiswasasgooda depth for security aswould be found and wasalso far enough from ourattack tobe immune from

probable enemycountermeasures. Tanglolled on the surface withlookouts alert while Larryand his engineerscompleted the batterycharge, then pulled theplug.Itwas0540,anhourand a half after the crackof dawn, and the wholeship’s company lookedforward to a day ofrelativerest.

Rest we did until 0900,when Hank reported asailing junk closing fromthe west. They are statelycraft,atleastintheeyesofthosewhohavesailed,andperfectly suited, throughevolution I suppose, fortheir tasks. Our leisurelyattempts to avoid wereunavailing, and ratherthan use up our battery, Isuccumbed to Mel’s

wishes.Wewould use thejunk for pointer drill. Itwould be a sailor’sholiday. Tang would notshoot her up, just bringher to and determine, ifpossible, whether she hadpassedanysizableshipstothe west. Thecompartmentsbuzzedeventhough the troops knewthiswouldbenothing liketheir shoot at Fais Island.

Preparations for a battlesurface were nevercompletedmorequickly.Frazexplainedourhold-

down procedure to Larry,as this method was aholdover from peacetimeand not taught insubmarineschool.Tous,itwas half the fun. Larryreviewed the steps withthe planesmen and

auxiliarymen who wouldbe carrying out his ordersand reported all inreadiness. A somewhatbelated “Battle stations—gun!” went out over the1MC, followed by thegeneral alarm lestsomeone might still beasleep. Then from a safedistance, well outside anypossible small arms fire,we went through the

procedure.Larry kept Tang downadmirably,firstwithsafetytank dry and then at fullspeed,withahealthyblowtomainballast.“Battle surface! Battlesurface!” What Chineseword would describe thedismayofthat junk’screwtoseethismonsterrearupoutofthedeep?

Mel and the gun crewheldpointerdrilluntil thejunkregainedhercourage,tautened the sheets, andcommenced moving offquicklyinspiteofthecalmfollowing the previousday’s blow. Asprearranged, a half dozenwell-placed shots closeacross her bow broughther to. When we closed,with the 4-inch gun

trainedonhermiddle,shedoused her great battenedsails, probably expectingtheworst.Our attempts to

communicate were notproving too successful,though the junk’s crewwas trying to tell ussomething. But our crow’snest made further “talk-talk” unnecessary, with a

salty“Smokeho!”A shower of canned

goods that had becomewet and lost their labelssailedovertothejunkasaparting gift, and Tangcontinued her day of restbyclosing therealenemy.It was 1015. The singlepuff of smoke soondeveloped into twocolumns of it, and as we

worked up to full powerthe masts of two shipscame over the raisedperiscope’s more distanthorizon. Tang was on thequarter of this two-shipconvoy,nowtrackedbyEdand the watch section assteaming on course 260.Wemust have been livingright, for had we notsurfacedtoquerythejunk,these ships would never

havebeensighted.No end-around was

routine, but this I believewould be singular insubmarines. Tang was notcalled to battle stations;rather, the duty sectionswere conducting themaneuver, whichotherwise would havebeen trying on all hands.Of course, direction came

from Fraz, Mort, or me,another advantage ofhaving a PCO along. Itbrought to mind some ofmy patrols in other boats,when battle stations weremanned for hours, onetimefor12hoursstraight,quite unnecessarily. Wehadcomealongway,andperhaps so had this wartoward its inevitableconclusion.

High periscopeobservations could notidentify the ships, for justtheir tops remained inview. The maneuvers ofthe leader marked her asan escort, however. Thesecond ship, plotted athousand yards astern,ziggedat intervalsof fromthree to12minutes, quiteorderly, like an unalertedfreighter. Only an air

patrol could prevent ourgaining the desiredposition,andeventhentheplaneswouldhave to spotus first. To guard againstthis possibility, twolookoutsmannedourfrontporch. We could take asmuch time as necessary,for the whole Yellow Seawasourbattleground.Still,it would be to ouradvantagetoattackbefore

antisubmarineforcescouldsweepthisway.Though we were

following thecircumferenceofamovingcircle, making our path agreat arc, our 14-knotspeed differential waseasing Tang around theenemy. Three hours hadnow passed, and theconvoy’s tops were back

on our starboard quarter,nearly in line. The extralookouts went below, andthen on cue came Mel’s“Clearthebridge!”andtheblaat, blaat of the divingalarm. Aft in the conningtower, I heard thereassuring thud of theengine-air and maininduction valves as theyclosed. It called attentionto the many unseen men

and functions connectedwith the dive. Now, withnegative blown to themark,Melwas levelingusoff at 60 feet. Our trimwould not have changed,so one-third speed wasordered immediately. Thetime was 1322, and wewereon theconvoy’sbasecourse.There would be

personnel changes inseveral key battle stationsthisday.Thenightbefore,Tang had completed thefiring of one half of hertorpedoes, actually onemore, 13 out of the 24.Certain key men hadalreadybeendesignatedtoschools, staff, or newconstruction, choices oftheir own. Starting now,they would change places

with their understudies,who had stood behindthem on this patrol, andwould enter into theirformer tasksonly toavoidmistakes. The object wassimple; Tang would starther next patrolwith thesekey billets staffed by menwho had manned themthrough half a patrol,through the firing, wehoped,of11warshotsinto

theenemy.I believed that theordered transfer of toomany officers and keyrates from Argonaut andWahoo upon their returntoMare Islandhadbeenacontributingfactortotheirsubsequentloss.Likeotherboats, theyhadheldontotheir most important menforaslongaspossibleand

thenlostthemallatonce,close to a quarter of theircomplement. Training ourown replacements on thejob would permit anorderly turnover andprevent any such raid onTang.Makingthispossible,of course, were the extrahandswenowcarried, forotherwise the exchangescould result in musicalchairs,affectingbilletafter

billet. This nexthour, andpossibly the hours tocome, might tell if Tanghadreachedatopfightinglevel that she couldmaintain on successivepatrols.The enemy came on,

zigging mildly and stilltracked at a steady 8knots. Fraz pressed downthe short handle on the

conning tower’s remotecontrol of the 1MC. His“Battle stations! Battlestations!”wentthroughoutthe ship. At a nod, thesteersman swung thehandle of the generalalarm, andonce again thebonging commenced. Thiswouldbethethirdtimewehadmannedbattlestationsin two days, fourth if wecounted the junk. The

actions that followed thefirst two had nothing incommon. Now again, adifferent set ofcircumstances mightrequire a whole new bagoftricks.“Up scope. Bearing—mark!” Jones read 358 asheloweredthescope.“That’s on the largefreighter;allsetupswillbe

on her unless I changetargets. Her angle is notmore than five degreesport.“Fraz,thesmallershipis

about fifteen hundredyards closer, on thefreighter’s port bow. I’llkeep you informedseparately, and will youkeep her on your plot. I’dlike two tubes ready

forwardandaft.”That was one of thebeauties of thenavigational plot; it wasnot limited to a singletargetshipaswastheTDC.For thepresent,wewoulddo nothing but let theenemy come on until thedecks came over thehorizon. Five minutespassed.Withourcombined

speed as we headed forone another, the enemywould be 3,000 yardscloser.“Up scope. Bearing—mark!” Again Jones readthebearing,thistime350,and I called the angle, 8port, then stepped over tothe chart desk, whereOgden was plotting underFraz’s general supervision.

Withafinger,Ishowedthenew path of the smallfreighter, which hadziggedandwascrossingtothe large freighter’s otherbow. No words werenecessary as Ogden drewinthetrack.Observations every four

to six minutes followed.The convoy wascontinuing to zig mildly,

and plot showed that itsbasecoursewouldcarryitnearly through ourposition.Therangeclosed,bringingtheirdecksinfullview. The small freightermountedagood-sizedgunon a raised bow platform.The bridge, stack, andsuperstructurewereallaft,butofgreater interestwasa fairly long, sloping,loaded depth-charge rack.

We could presume thatthere was another one afttostarboard.The attack we wouldlike was perfectly clear, asalvo into each of them,but that required thecooperation of the enemy.Our plans must remainflexible and encompassseveral considerations:Electric, wakeless

torpedoes would not besighted and, being slower,would allow us an extraminute or so formaneuvering to attack thesecond ship. Should thesalvoatthefirstshipmiss,the second attack couldstill proceed. If the firstshipwashitandtheattackon the second failed, wewouldstillhavetherestofthe day and part of the

nighttodothesecondjobover again, assuming thatanyhitwouldtakecareoftheescort.The ships’ respective

trackswerenotsufficientlyseparated to permit firingfrom between them. Towithdraw to one flankwould mean abandoningan assured position for atleast one attack, because

bothshipscouldzigaway.We would stay underfoot,maneuvering for a stern,electric torpedo attack onthe escort, and then playcatchascatchcanwiththebigfellow.The convoy came on

with a small change inbase course. Moderatemaneuvers put us aheadagain, but the escort’s

patrolling increased.Seldomdid she appear onthe freighter’s same bowon consecutive periscopeobservations.Withbroaderangles, disclosing moredetails, the identificationparty pegged our ships.The escort was of theAmakasu Maru class,though probably of the1940series,asthepicturesshowed the bridge

forward. The importantthings for the momentwere her length, 270 feet,and theminimumdraft ofseven feet. The largerfreighter looked similar tothe Samarang Maru, 357feet long and drawing aminimumofninefeet.Frazstepped off the mastheadheightsfromthedrawings;we would use the figuresoflengthandheightonthe

periscopestadimeter.The group was gettingclose, and there was agreat temptation to switchtargets, to feedinformation on the escortto the TDC. It could leadonly to confusion, I knew,forherirregularpatrollingwas superimposed on thelarge freighter’s zigs. Ourfire control party would

then be trying to solveahead for unknowns,instead of detecting achange in the base courseor speed. The true plotwould suffice for themoment,but themomentswerebecomingfew.Itookanother setup on thefreighter.“Up scope. Bearing—mark!Range—mark!”

Jones read the bearing,348, and then thestadimeter as I had left it,withsuperimposedimages.I then gave the angle, itwaseasy,zero!“Right full rudder. Allahead two-thirds.We’ll begoing ahead full, Larry.Take her down to eightyfeet.”Zero angles are not

always bad, and this oneonthefreighterpracticallyguaranteed an attack onherescort,nowproceedingtothefreighter’sstarboardbow. We had ample timetobringoursterntubestobear, less time for solvingaccurately the escort’scourseandspeed.“Allaheadfull.”TheYellow Sea swished

outsidetheconningtower,but no turbulence wouldreach the surface. Frazannounced therecommendedcourse.“Rudder amidships.Steady on one five zero.One-third speed.Sixty-fivefeet.”Tangslowedquickly,not having gained fullheadway during the turn.The steersman reported

steady on our new courseand then our speed at 3knots.“This setup will be onthe escort.” Fraz providedthe bearing, relayed fromsound, and Jones guidedthe scope, now justbreakingthesurface.“Bearing—mark! Range—mark!Angle—mark!”Routinely, Jones read

thebearingandrange,butwaited until I had givenmy estimate, 40 port,before reading the angleon the stadimeter. It wasour way to insure that Iwas not influenced by themechanical stadimeterreading.“Caverly, grab an echo

range.”He trained ahead of the

screws so the ping wouldfall amidships on theescort. “Eighteen fifty,”hereported, and then joinedin threemoresetups,withjust the accurate echoranges and the periscopebearings.“Checks good withescort speed ten knots,”Frankreported.That would be about

right, allowing for theextra speed required forpatrolling. A quick sweepshowed our big freighterrightback there, stillwithafairlysharpangle.“Ten degrees to go,Captain. The outer doorsareopenaft.”“Keep the soundbearingscoming.”“Two one five … two

one three … two onezero….”Theescortseemedto be creeping across ourstern.“Upscope.“Constant bearing—

mark!”Jonesread206.“Set!” from Frank. Her

stackaftcameon.“Fire!” Fraz hit the

plunger, sending thattorpedoon itswaywith a

whine.Thesecondtorpedowent to the foremast,whiningawayfromus.“Down scope. All aheadstandard.”Wehadtoopenthe distance from the bigfreighter’s track. Frazcalled out the time of thetorpedo run for the 1,250yards—90 seconds—andJones commenced callingthem off. Time crept as

these slow, 27-knottorpedoeschurnedontheirway. We slowed to one-third speed. Five secondstogo,four,three,two,oneand then zero. Time hadrun out. With an oath onmy lips, I managed tochange the words to “Upscope.” We would attackthebig freighter.WHACK!Thestillpendingprofanitywas jammed down my

throat. I swung the scopeto see the escort’s wholestern in theair, thenbackto find our big freighteralready turning away. Ashotontheflywouldhavelittle chance. Dear God,anothernightofit!

Ballinger had four menstanding by, and theymanned the scope for amoment each. It was thebestway for the troops togetthepictureofthefinalresults.Noembellishmentswould be needed. Theescort’s severed stern had

gone down immediately,andnow twominutes and20 seconds after thetorpedo’s detonation, thetipofherbowdisappearedin the frothy boil of thesea.Wesearchedcarefullythroughthearea,buttherewere no survivors,probably because of thedetonated explosivesaboardher.

A glance at the chartshowed that the largerfreighter was veryprobably caught betweenthird base and home, forshe was approximately100milesfromtheKoreancoast. Should her trackveer at all to the south, itwould lead to Sealion andTinosa, perhaps betweenthem. As agreed,wewereobligatedtosendacontact

report,butwewouldhavedone that anyway. Dickprepared themessage, butitwould have towait, forthe enemy was still closeandwedidnotwishtotipourhand.Tang’s batteries stillshowed nearly a fullcharge, forour submergedrunning and speed hadbeen minimal during the

approach and attack.Nowwe were trailing thefreighterat6knots,whichwecouldmaintainhandilyuntil dark and still haveenough juice left for apossiblesubmergedattack.The freighter pulled

away steadily, with anestimated speeddifferential of 5 knots. Atleastthebooksaidhertop

speed was 11, and underthe circumstances shewould hardly make less.The time for the nexthourly contact schedulewith Tinosa and Sealionwas coming up, and withthe freighter still in viewon the horizon, I washesitantaboutsurfacingtosendacontact report.Thefreighter had certainlystationed lookouts, just as

had the naval tanker, andthey would be searchingwestward, where Tangwouldbeasilhouette.Asacompromise, Hankbroughtusup toSJdepthand then eased Tangskywardtilltheleadtoourflat antenna would drainfree of salt water. Radiowas ready, and Bergmankeyedthemessagethroughtwice,blind.Therewasno

receipt, and Hank easedTang down again, surelyunsightedbythefreighterslookouts now peeringthroughhersmoke.Dick had the con and

withvolunteerswaiting incontrolmannedthescopescontinuously.Vibrationsatour speedmade searchingdifficult, but they werelooking for only two

things, a changeof courseby the enemy and the airpatrol that would surelysearchdownthefreighter’swake. No planes arrived,and the enemy continuedonastraightcourseforthecoast.Wewonderedaboutthisship,forsheseemedtobe a Japanese version ofour Hog Island freighters,which had been designedto carry Allied supplies

duringWorldWar I. Theyhad eventually been soldfor scrap, mainly to theJapanese, who ran ortowed them to the FarEast.Itseemedthatoutofeach four they had puttogether three operatingships.Sincethestartofthewar, they had beenabsorbing our torpedoes,though most of those inthis China trade had gone

free.The submerged chase

would last another threehours. Leaving explicitinstructions to call me ifsightofbothfreighterandsmoke was lost, I wentbelow for a turn throughthe boat. My thoughts onthecomingnightreflected,in part, my concern forsome of our men,

principallythenewhands.Theyhadnotbeenthrowninto this sort of thingbefore, especially two dayand night attacks back toback.ItwasdifferentwithFraz, Ballinger, Hank, andothers, for we had donethis before and weresomewhat calloused. Wehad learned to take thesedangers in stride andwould probably be more

hesitant if suddenly facedwith boarding the shuttleat Times Square. The turndid me good, not just instretching my legs, but inexchanging a few wordshere and there with thecrewaboutourattacksandlate successes. The men’sdetermination bolsteredmy own, and theirconfidence was broughthomesharplyinthecrew’s

mess. On their chart, thetrack of the enemy hadbeencarriedalmost to thecoast,where it ended inalarge, black X. I had themessage.At sunset, the enemy

was marked by a great,low funnel of smoke,hangingabovethehorizondue to the mild followingwind.Itbroughttominda

distant tornado and wellmight be a prophecy forthis night. We wereunhurried and waited fordusk,whenthelastchanceof air cover would havevanished. Lookouts werestanding by, and De Lappgave us a healthy blow,bringing the decks clear.The turbos started and sodid all mains, threeworking up to their full

power rating while theother with auxiliary wentoncharge.I marked a bearing on

the middle of the blackcloud ahead. “Zero seveneight,Captain,”cameoverthe speaker. “Make it so.”Tang was rolling on theenemy’stail.Thetailwasa longone,

for the freighter had

conjured over 11 knotsfrom her coal-burningpowerplant.Our18knotswas steadily closing thegap,buttooslowlywhenIglanced at the chart andconsidered the arc Tangmust follow to avoiddetection. In the 30minutes since we hadsurfaced, that one mainhad jammed her fulloutput into the can. Now

the future would have totake care of itself; weneededthatotherdieselonpropulsion. Shepulledherweight like a Belgian,removinganyoverloadontheothers.The moon that had set

at 0020 the night beforewould be up another 50minutes, until after 0100.That meant our night

wouldremainfairlybrighteven up to midnight. Ilooked at the chart againand then raised the scopeto be sure. To the south,the horizon was quitedistinct; so also would bethe silhouette of a ship,especially a close one. Iwould not prolong thisuntil moonset but woulddive in the first good leeforasubmergedattack.

Wewere now using theSJ freely. The accuratetracking and navigationshowed that Tang wouldhave to pass the enemyship up moon and to thesouth of Ko-To to insureagainst losing her in theislands to the east. Fullpowerandextraturns justshy of smoking had Tangwaiting with about threeminutes to spare as the

enemy approached thesoutherntipoftheisland.It was 2224 when wedivedamileandahalfoffKo-To and 1,200 yardsnorthoftheenemy’strack.As soon as Dick leveledTang off, the Bells of St.Mary’s were sounded forthe third time this day,still July 1. Manningstations and preparations

were more rushed thanpreviously, for the enemywasonly6,000yardsawayand closing at nearly 400yards perminute. Stationsreported and tubes werereadied, four forward andtwo aft, as the freighterpassed the southern tip ofthe island. Suddenly myperiscope bearings failedtokeeppacewiththeTDC.Three echo ranges by

Caverly, coinciding withthree periscope bearings,put the TDC back on; theenemy had slowed to 9knots, probably taking adeep breath at reachingthe apparent protection oftheisland.Tangwasalreadyclosing

the track for a straightbowshot.“Fifteendegreesto go. Outer doors are

open.” Fraz had allowedan extra 5 degrees for arapidbearingchange.“Tendegrees.”I was following thefreighter’s stackcontinuously,Jonescallingthebearings.“Fivedegrees.”“Constant bearing—mark!”

“Set!” from Frank. Herafter well deck came onthewire.“Fire!” Torpedo soundswere in the background,but there was no time tocontemplate. The nexttorpedo went to her welldeckforward.“Both hot, straight, andnormal,”reportedCaverly.“What’s the time of the

run?”Frank called the firing

range,500yards;Frazwasinterpolating out loud forthe torpedo run of 460when a frighteningwhackand explosion shookus. Itshook the enemy farworse, apparently settingoffacargoofmunitions.Ashort section of the bowwas all that remained as

Fraz bowled me off thescope and watched it go,timedbyOgdeninanother20 seconds. Our secondtorpedo was in theresomewhere adding to thedestruction or had beenrobbed.Four minutes after thetorpedoeswerefired,Tangwason the surfacepokingaround in the debris.

Again there could havebeen no survivors; wewould have seen them inthe moonlight. Somewhatawedbythefinalityoftheattack, we rounded Ko-Toand proceeded northwest,towardaposition60milesoutintotheYellowSeaforourusualpatrol.

It had been a classicapproach and attack,endingwitha firing rangeto our liking. There weresubmariners who frownedat getting so closeunderfoot, where anenemy zig in the closingminutes could drive a

submarine down. By andlarge, they were not theoneswhosankmanyships,though in certain placesthere could be advantagesin staying on the flank.Here in theYellow Sea, ifa submarine was drivendown before firing, therewas a good chance ofbeing able to make theapproachalloveragain.Ifnot, she still had her

torpedoes and could findanothertarget.These things, of course,

made up the generalconversation in thewardroom and probablyaftinthecrew’smess,too.Fraz had laid down ourtrack, a straight line, andjoined us. His quickapology for grabbing thescope was unnecessary. I

really shouldhavehandedit to him when the lasttorpedowasonitsway;herated the gesture, thoughtherehadbeenquiteabitgoing on at the moment.Frazwas in themiddle ofthe conversation in aminute. I listened andapproved,evenofajibeortwodirectedatMort.Tangwas clicking and Mortknew it, for he had

participated in everythingthathadtakenplace.Howcouldanybodyaboardfeelother than satisfaction atthe way this patrol wasnow developing? Fiveships down and we stillhad five steam torpedoesplus two electrics waitingfortargets.To an observer, our

operations this day might

have looked routine, evensimple. Finding andsinking a freighter and aconverted escort with theodds stacked against themwas no great feat. But hewould be forgetting thatTang had secretly rolled5,000 miles to get here,and that every one of athousand mechanicaldevices had operatedproperly. To our ship’s

company, today’s successmeantthateverymanhadperformedhistaskwithouterror. To Fraz and me itmeantonethingmore.Wehadchangedhorses in themiddle of the stream; therecent understudies hadperformed admirably, andwe would stay on top ofthe enemy regardless ofpersonneltransfers.

Dawn was comingearlier as we workednorth. After Fraz andJoneshadtakenaroundofstars, more to keep theirhand in than for anyimmediately requiredexact navigation, Tangdived for theday, andwemade it another ropeyarnSunday. Masts of twotrawlers poked over thehorizon at midmorning,

but no one suggestedsurfacing to look themover.Perhapswewerenotready for what might bebeyond.Before lunch,Melreported that they hadgonebelowthehorizonofour raisedperiscope.Theyhad gone their way, andwe had gone ours, butsighting fishermen rang abell. The Fourth of Julywas but two days away,

and I checked the menu,which I had signed toocasually. Fraz and Wixonhad not let me down.There in New Englandtradition was salmon andpeasforthe4th.Ofcourse,it was actually salmonloaf, but one can’t haveeverything.At my desk I penned

careful night orders, for it

was at a time like this,following prolongedaction, that we couldunconsciously let downour guard. Then on thepreceding page I recordedtheshipswehadjustsunk,together with theirpositions:

AmakasuMaru

2,000tons

Lat.34°

class 37′N.

Long.123°46′E.

SamarangMaruclass

4,000tons

Lot.34°38′N.

Long.125°

12′E.

That would not only be amatterofrecordbutwouldalso give the oncomingOODs and duty chiefssomethingtothinkabout.July 3 passed quietly.Menbrokeouttheircoursebooksandworkedontheirqualification, making upfor the days their studieshad been set aside. Such

effort was another of thereasons for carryingreplacements. A new rateand qualification werekeystoanewbillet,whichwould not necessarily beopen in Tang. Some menwould stay, and othersmight be looking formilder assignments. Withmenashorewaitingforthechance to come aboard,Fraz could comply with

mostrequestsfortransfers,but Tang’s requirementscame first. Once we hadbegun patrolling suchrequests had leveled off,however.Upon surfacing at dusk,

Tang headed northeast fora rendezvouswithSealion.Her radar signal appearedonourSJat2200,andjust50minutes later Fraz and

his bow hook werepaddling out into theYellow Sea toward ourfriend. She was barelyvisible at 500 yards, evenunder a bright moon, butour yellow life raft stoodoutplainly.ThefactthatIkeptmy7×50sgluedonthe raftmayhavebeen inpart responsible for itsapparentvisibility.

Fraz was to deliver anoral invitation for EliReich and his Sealion toaccompany uscounterclockwise aroundtheYellowSea.Wewouldoperate independently butin mutual support, and Iwould guarantee targetsfor Sealion. The rubberboatalsocarriedtenmovieprograms,asecondreasonfor the meeting. An hour

passed before the lifeboatreturned, and willinghands snaked Fraz aboardandoutof theway so theflat film tins could bestruck below. Fortunately,SealionhadnotexchangedmovieswithTinosa, sowedid not get our originalfilms back, but the troopsfelt thateven thosewouldbe better than the onesthey had just seen. Now

with this consideration allsquared away, I duckedbelowtospeakwithFraz.Mort and Iwere having

acupofcoffeewhenFraz,in clean, dry clothes,joined us. I shivered as Iremembered what thetemperatures had beenwhenIwashereinWahooin March, 1943;exchanging visits between

submarines would havebeen virtually impossible.But Wahoo had had thearea all to herself backthen. Eli Reich haddecided not to bringSealion north with us butto head directly for theShanghai area instead. Icould not blame him.Having operated closelywith Don Weiss’s Tinosawhile we were more or

lessbanished,hehadbeensomewhat restricted andobviouslywouldnowwantto go it alone. Eli wasfamiliar with that area,having served on theChina Station before thewar and, as I remember,after hostilitiescommenced. Fraz hadfurtherdiscernedthatbothSealion and Tinosa hadindeed patrolled on the

surface with SDs on andhad been driven downfrequently. Sealion hadsunk her first ship of thepatrol while en route tothis rendezvous. Frazwithheld nothing aboutour method of operation,so they could try it forwhatever it was worth.Therewould be one thinglacking, of course, for wewouldnotbepatrolling in

amannerthatwouldcausethe enemy to reroute hisshipping past someoneelse, as had the other twoboats. Our normal patrolwould continue to besubmerged with highperiscope looks duringdaylight.By blinker gun,we sent

Sealion a Godspeed andgood hunting, then set

course for a position wehad previously selected. Itlay on the direct routebetween DaikokusanGunto and Osei To, closeto the Korean coast. Thetime was 0005 of July 4,and three engines werepushingusup to18knotsfor the race to the passes,araceagainstdawn.TheassuranceIhadsent

to Eli was not an idleinvitation. When the EastChinaandYellowseashadbeen stirred up in Marchof 1943, the shippingseemed to vanish. Wahoofound it skirting the coastfrom the ShantungPromontory, north pastPortArthur-Dairen,oneastthrough Gaichosan Retto,down the Korean coast,around Choppeki Point,

and south through theinshoreareasTanghadjustpatrolled. Tang wasworking counterclockwisealong this track for areason. The Japanesemight hold up shippingscheduled for China untiladequate escorts wereassembled, but the shipsalready at sea or thosereturning from Chinawould have tomake it on

their own. That meanttraveling the long wayaround,andTang intendedto meet them, not followthem.

Opportunitiestocopyoreven read the press newshad been limited. Butwhile Tang, one ship inoneofoursmallest forces,wasbusilyoccupied,grandoperationshadbeenunderway. Piecing together thesketchy one- or two-linepressreportsgaveusafairknowledgeoftheprogress.Normandy’s beachheadswere secure, with Allied

forces now cutting off theCherbourg Peninsula, andCherbourg itself,bombarded from the sea,was perhaps about to beliberated. Closer to us,Saipan had been takenexcept for stubbornresistance at the verynorthern end. And closerstill, the Battle of thePhilippine Sea had beensuccessfully waged. We

would have to wait forTime and Life to find outwhathadreallytranspired,but in the meantimeexcitement was notlacking.Hank reportedincreasing clouds at 0230and a sounding of 30fathoms. The clouds couldbe a characteristic whenapproachingthiscoast,but

our landfall would not bemade until after daylight,while moving insubmerged.Minorchangesinweatherwouldnotbeofgreat importance,therefore.A further reportof complete overcast atdawnwassignificant;withsharp lookouts, we couldnow continue on thesurface,atleastforatime.Fraz came below, without

stars, and apprised me ofthe latest situation, fair togood visibility but with avery low ceiling. I joinedhim for coffee, as we stillhad some plans to discussfor the day. Our planningwas interrupted byanswering bells frommaneuvering.Welistened.“Ship bearing zero four

five!”

Thethreedigitssignifieda true bearing; she wouldbe to the northeast of usand, we hoped, comingsouth.Therudderwasfullrightaswepassedthroughcontrol. The OOD wouldbe putting the contactastern, not diving, sowithout fear of beingtrampled by lookouts, weclimbed to the conningtower and then on to the

bridge. Astern, above thehorizon,wereheavy,blackmasts and the top of awidebridgestructure.Thetimewas0408,and

the action to be takenseemed obvious:Open therange for secure raisedperiscope observation,move onto the enemy’strack, and shootwhen theship came by. In the

middle of the Yellow Sea,wemighttryjustthat,buthere islands restricted ourmovement, and as luckwouldhaveit,asmallfleetof fishing vessels wassprawled out along thepath Tang must follow.Therewasbutonethingtodo, and we threaded ourwayat fullpower through13 sampans and betweentwo trawlers. Fishermen

are supposed to be aboutbefore dawn, like farmers,or so I had been led tobelieve, but just as theyhad been east of DanjoGunto,thevesselswereonrandomheadings,drifting,and with nary a sign oflife. From above, ourmaneuvers would surelyhave looked like aseagoing slalom. The verypresence of these

fishermenduringourdriveto get ahead of the targetmay have been a boon.The enemy’s bridge hadcrept above the horizon,and this confusion ofsampans could havepreventedourdetection.We did not press ourluck;now5degreesontheenemy’s bow, we slidbelow the sea. All dives

were supposed to be thesame, but one from fullpower with the enemy infull viewhad abit added,like the kickoff of afootballgame.Weaddedalittlemore by not slowing—thecontrollermenwouldjust shift the load to thebattery—for a final trimwould have to wait foranother time and place.Thisshortburstwouldnot

take much out of thebatteryandcouldputusinperfectposition.FrankhadgonetotheTDCandLarryto the dive, so our firstteamwasalreadymanningthe key positions. Wewatched the TDC’s targetand submarine dials turnslowly, the inscribed shipnow pointing at us. Tangslowedtotwo-thirdsspeedforaquicklook.

The scope vibrated intherushofthesea,butnotso much as to seriouslyblur the image. Jonesloweredthescope,andwewent ahead standard. IlikedapartofwhatIsaw,the massive bow, broadsuperstructure and bridge,the great, heavy masts.Perhaps we had forgottenwhat a big ship lookedlike, but everything

suggested an auxiliarywarship. It would take abroader angle, uncoveringmore details, before wecould further identify her,but the angle she nowpresented was the part Ididnotlike.Itshouldhavebeen zero or slightly port;it was 10 starboard. Theshiphadziggedaway,butwewerehotafterher!

We didn’t know whatmight be in store, so theBells of St.Mary’s chimedagain.Thetimewas0516,ten minutes after we haddived, and if a submarinewas going to have earlyreveille, this way wouldraise no objections. Therewould be another ten-minute run. After battlestations were manned, Idropped down to control

tohaveawordwithLarry,for shallow water couldmake this a taut one.Boatswain’s Mate Aquistiwas on the bow planes,workingnicelywithMotorMachinist’s MateRobertson, at the sternplanes.Theybothhad thefeel of theboat, like goodsteersmen, but what wasmore, their mutualcooperationleftnothingto

bedesired.Theglancetoldmeall thatwasnecessary,and I returned to theconningtower.Fraz had readied fivetubesforwardandthetwowith fish aft. Halfwaythrough the ten-minuterun, we stopped ourscrews momentarily sothat Caverly could checkthebearingoftheenemy’s

propellers.ItcheckedwithTDC’s. Tang had coasteddown to 5 knots and afurther midpoint checkwas in order. Jonesbrought the attack scopeuptomyhands.“Bearing—mark!” Jones

read 315; it also checked,but it would not have forlong, as the angle on thebowwas50starboard.The

ship had zigged awayagainorwaschangingherbase course toward thecoast. Jones read thestadimeter range on hisknees, opposite anassumed masthead heightof 100 feet—4,500 yards,not a suitable shot. Wecouldonlystaywithherasour speed and endurancewould permit whilesteering whatever courses

would maintain the bestpossible true bearing. Toconverge and close therangewouldonlyresult inending up astern, in ahopeless position. Tangwas rolling again atstandardspeed,andweletfive anxious minutes passas we paralleled theenemy. The nextobservation confirmed oursuspicion; we were abaft

the ship’s beam, and shewas heading directly fortheshore.Forthemomentwedidlikewise,whileFrazandItookanother lookatthechart.Agreatbulgeofthe ten-fathom curve,extending about 15 milesfromthecoast,seemedherobvious destination.Everythinghingedonwhatshe did when she gotthere. Of one thing we

were reasonably sure; shewould not turn left, backtoward where she hadcome from. The otherpossibilities we meant tosee firsthand, and Tangwasrollingatfullspeed.First sharp and thenbroadside views hadpermitted identificationdetails to flow to ourparty.Withthemoderately

raked bow, mast, heavybridge structure, moremastsandkingposts,largesuperstructure and heavystack aft, and finally acruiser type stern, theyhad settled on theKurosioMaru. Icouldnotdisagreeat the moment, but themuch heavier masts, kingposts,booms,andplatformastern indicated aconversion, possibly to a

seaplane tenderoraircrafttransport.Spurred further by thisprobableidentification,wewent to theone-hourrate.Thisdidnotmeanthatourbattery would becompletely exhausted attheendofanhour,butwewouldthenhavetocutourspeed radically, down insteps to a crawl in any

later evasion. The reallyimportantdetailswere themasthead height and theoverall length. Thesefigures for the stadimetercouldbedoublyimportantif we were forced into along-rangeshot.Ahalfhourhadgoneby.We made fewobservations, andmanyofthese were discouraging,

asherzigsattimesshoweduswithin30degreesofherstern. Fraz motioned forme to come to the chart.“It looks pretty hopeless,Captain,” he said quietlyand privately. Fraz wasright, not just because ofour position, but alsobecause the bottom wasshelving rapidly at ourplottedlocation.IwishedIhad not seen the true

presentation;myargumentwaswiththeenemy,andIsucceeded in pushing allelseaside,exceptaccedingto quick soundings andrigging in of the soundheads.Fortunately, perhaps,my attention was nowabsorbed in dodgingsampans. They wereeverywhere, and any one

of them could ruin aperiscope. Itwasacaseoftaking a look through ashakingscope,theneasingoff a bit toward the nextclearareaand trustingwewere in it for the nextsquint. Amidst it all cameCaverly’s sounding, fourfathoms under our keel,not critical yet. Thenavigatorseemedrelieved,or perhaps resigned, and

we continued bargingahead.To our surprise, at high

speed on her almoststraight course, Tang wasmaintainingthebearingonthezigzaggingenemy,nowabout 6,000 yards on ourport bow. Fraz reportedher now crossing the ten-fathom curve almostsimultaneously with

Caverly’s“Threefathoms.”We killed our waymomentarily for a properlook.“Upscope.”AlookandIflippedthehandles.“All ahead full. She’sturningright!”A glance at Fraz’s chartshowedher justnorthandwest of Amma To. Wewere back up to speed

when Ballinger stuck hisheadupthelowerconningtower hatch: “Plenty ofbattery, Captain.” It wasthe report I wanted tohear. We would make alastdashtoclosethisshipand shoot on whatevertrack she presented. Ourdash was curtailed bysoundingsof two fathoms,one fathom, and then theecho merged with the

outgoing signal. This wasit.“All stop. Up scope.Bearing—mark! Range—mark!Angle—mark!”Jones read 340 and2,800, thenwaited formyangleestimate. Icalled75starboard; Jones read 80.Frank called the setup onthe TDC, 2,500 firingrange,105track,butasked

for quick bearings sincetheenemyhadslowed.Weobliged, and the scopewentdown.“Ten degrees to go,outer doors are openforward.”I glanced at the depthgauge, 58 feet. “Hold herdown,Larry!”“Ican’t,we’reaground!”“All back full. Up

scope.” Jones brought thehandles to my hands. Imust have looked like areptile, squirming on theconning tower deck, butthere she was. “Constantbearing—mark!”“Set!”“Fire!” and the first

torpedo went for her bigstack aft. The next fishwent for her middle, and

thethirdforward.“Left full rudder.” Wepicked up a swing to therightwithoursternway.“Shift the rudder, allahead full, steady on twozerozero.”“Hot, straight, andnormal.” The call camefrom JP by battletelephone. We hadpractically forgotten our

topside-mounted sonicreceiver. Iwonderedwhatshape the torpedoes werein, for now I couldconsider what had barelycrossed my mind beforefiring. Torpedoes weresupposed to duck aboutten feet on leaving thetubes before gaining theirset depth. That habit, thistimeputtingthemintothemud, might account for a

somewhat muffled zing,but JP showed they wereotherwise all right. Thewarheads were somethingelse. Would mud jammedintotheimpellerrecessonthe bottom—the impellerthat armed the firingmechanism—wash clearduring the run? Theanswer came in twotremendous explosions,and I thanked God that I

had been too busy toconsiderallofthesethingsbeforehand.We slowed for a look;only the bow, stern, andmastswere stickingoutofthe sea. A sweep aroundand we surfaced,surrounded by 34fishermen, understandablyawe-stricken. They werequick to recover, for in

some sampans men wereshaking their fists at uswhile from others camethe overhead claspedhands of a boxer’s salute.We assumed that theywere Japanese andKoreansrespectively.Thetimewas0601,fiveminutes after firing.Astern, for Fraz hadbrought us to 270 now

thatourbusinesswiththisshipwasover,wereabout50 survivors in the waterbut with several largelifeboats. We could nothave dived there had wewanted to close, and thethought of welcome deepwater overcame anycuriosity. The stern hadsunk before we surfaced,and now the bow wentunder in a bubbling,

foamingsea.Three engines were

drivinguswest,theotherscharging.Onourportbowwas smoke, black smoke,and then the hull of aferryboat,aboutthesizeofthose that plied betweenSan Diego and Coronado.Water was boiling fromhersternaswepassed;wewere both running, and I

wishedwecouldtellhertoclose thedampers lest sheexplodeaboiler.With all trawlers orother craft with antennasnowhulldownandunableto report our course, weheaded north to continueour counterclockwisesearch. At 0900, with thelocation of our attack 40miles away, Mel took us

down for the submergedrun to our previouslyselected position towardOsei To, up the Koreancoast.

The enemywould have tosearch a semicirclewith a40-mile radius, about2,400 square miles, tohave any hope of findingus. By that time, Tangcould well be another 40miles away. Frankly, theone chance of locating us

passedwhenpatrolplanesdid not show up duringour dash to sea. Thatpossibility had caused usto dive earlier than weliked. Without any designonourpart,Tangwasveryclose to her original trackandcouldpickuptheplanatthepointwhereshehadturnedsouth.Therewouldbesomemodifications, forwewerefivehoursbehind

and with far less batterygravity. We could movealong at 3 knots for therest of the day and haveenough extra for areasonable approach, butthat would not get us tothe passes. It did notmatter;theywouldstillbethere tomorrow, and thismorning’sattackhadbeena grand way to celebrateIndependence Day. Just

possibly the ship’scompany would take theOld Man’s salmon andpeas in stride if thathelped sink ships.Actually, therewasa trickto cooking good cannedpeas that I had learnedfrom Romero, the chiefcommissary stewardwhenIwasa juniorofficer.Youjustdrainoffthejuiceandboil it down, seasoning it

with salt, pepper, andplentyofbutter.Then justbefore serving, you dumpinthepeasandbringthemtoaquickheat.Well,we’dsee how they turned outtoday.In the wardroom, the

conversation did not strayfar from the last attack.This was Fraz’s tenthpatrol, and he’d neither

seennorheardofanythingquite like it. Mort justshookhisheadslowly.Butactually,withoutescortstooppose us, it was astraightaway approachwith only a few twists.Afterall,a submarinewasnot truly aground till shewas high and dry. LikeFraz, I was aware of noothercaseinwhichaboathad run aground and was

backing full while firing.But I had known onesubmarine that wouldhave gone after this shipexactly asTang had. I didnot voice this, nor did Imention the image ofMush Morton across thetable saying, “Tenacity,Dick.Staywiththebastardtillhe’sonthebottom.”A late breakfast for all

hands had done much toprolong the festive mood,evenforthemesscooks,asshipmates were lending ahand. The watch, ofcourse,wasallbusiness.Inthe conning tower, onescope was mannedcontinuously and both forhigh searches every 15 to20 minutes. We wouldremain a bit on thedefensive until we had an

opportunity to jam somemore energy in ourbatteries, but Tang wasstillontheprowl.The morning went

quickly, and everybodyseemedtoenjoylunch,forthe cooks had let theirimaginations run and hadturned out beautifulsalmonloaves.Quitelikelythis was in part due to

some encouragement byFraz and carried out byDick. The afternoon wasquietuntil1500,whenthedistant rumblingsofdepthcharges commenced, 58miles distant to be moreexact. It was always niceto know where theantisubmarine forces wereworking, especially whentheyweremilesaway.Therumblings remained faint

and finally ceased as wemoved slowly north,approaching the Koreancoast where it juts out tothe northwest. Fraz hadbeen up to the conningtower a half dozen timesto identify landfalls andfinallyOseiTo,theonewewere looking for. Frankreported it abeam atsuppertime. We weredoing well and relaxing

whenthewardroomphonebuzzed.Mort picked it upandsaidcalmly,“Herewego again, Captain. Dick’sgot smoke beyond theOnyoGroup.”I couldn’t place the

islands but knew theymustbejustinshore;thereweren’t any to seawardexceptOseiTo.Frazlefttostart the tracking; Mort

and I followed a fewminutes later, givingtracking time to getorganized.The situation was notimpossible but far fromgood. The enemy washeadingsouthbetweentheislands and the coast, atreacherousareaforashipnot familiar with theshoals. We examined our

chart for any place wherewe might attack outsidethe ten-fathom curve, forthe moon would becoming up full, and asubmerged attack wouldbe required. Thereappeared to be onechance, a high-speed end-around right back to thevicinity of the morning’sattack. That area wasundoubtedly still infested

by enemy antisubmarineunits, but maybe theywould have retired by thetime we arrived. It wassomethingwewould haveto find out, for there wasnoalternative.Thelookoutswereinthe

conning tower, andpreparations for surfacinghad been completed. Icommencedthecustomary

careful high-power sweeparound, over the moonlitisland and landsilhouettes, across thedarker horizon to thesouth, and then along thesharp edge of the YellowSea, scalloped by cloudsstill colorfully illuminatedby the sunnowbelow thesea. I found myselfretracing an arc for noparticular reason—or was

there one? I swung backagain; a slightdiscoloration clashed withthe sunset, the faintestwispoflightbrownhaze.“Bearing—mark!”It had become doctrine

inWahoo, and now Tang,not to switch ships. Staywith the one you have inhand until it’s on thebottom, then go after the

next one. But for mostevery rule there’s anexception. Besides, thesewere not ships yet, justsmoke and light brownhaze.“Bearing—mark!”It was still there, faint

but changed in shape.Ogden had read thebearing, 185, which Frazconverted to 265 true, no

change in bearing; Tangwasclosetohertrack.“Right full rudder. All

aheadstandard.”This ship was coming

fromthewestorwewouldhave seen her earlier. Shewas upsetting my trafficflow predictions, whichbothered me not one bit,especially since shewouldget us out of another

inshore scrape and intodeep water, where asubmarine belonged.Never could a shift oftargets have beencompletedmorequickly.Fraz recommendedcourse 290. It would takeus clear of Osei To morerapidly, and then Tangcould get on the surface,charge batteries, and look

overtheenemy.Theislandwas soon on our quarter,andthreeblastssentusuponto a flat sea, under thelightofafullmoon.Threeenginesfired,twotogooncharge and the other formaneuvering. The timewas1953,stillearlyintheevening,andtherewasnohurry.Wecouldwaitrighthere for the enemy tocomeoverthehorizon,but

to insure an attackseaward of the 20-fathomcurve, we would moveslowly west. Though allpractical considerationstold us that contact withthe enemywould soon beregained, the passingminutes were anxiousones. Caverly searchedwith the A-scope, whichwas becoming standardpracticewhenexamininga

particular bearing orsector. There was nothingrandom about his searchashemoved the reflector,examining every degreeabout the suspectedbearing.Knowingwhathewas looking for, andassisted by local radarconditions, Caverly had asingle dancing pip on thescreenthatquicklyrosetohalf the viewing height.

Tracking commencedimmediately with thisaccurate range of 18,500yards and the enemybearingjustslightlyonourport bow. No immediatemaneuvers were requiredas we quietly closed ourtarget.Some excitement wasbuilding up, noticeable inthe voices making routine

reports below and in onereport delivered in persontomeonthebridge.Itdidnotseemlogical,foruptonow this approach offerednorealtroublessuchaswehad faced this morning.That was probably theanswer.Thenwehadbeentoo busy to look beyondthe immediate problems,whilenowwehadtimetothink ahead, each about

his particular comingtasks. Mine was to sinkthis ship with but two ofour four remainingtorpedoes.The report made to me

on the bridge concernedthe specific gravity of ourpilot cells in eachbattery;we had enough for anysubmerged maneuvers. Iwas tempted to shift the

two engines from chargetopropulsionandclosetheenemy but restrained anaturalurgetomoveintothe attack. It might work,but to take full advantageofthecircumstances,exactsolutionsbytrackingcamefirst in putting the shipdown. Our single pipdanced, and now aninversion layer, or otherphenomenon that helped

radar and vision alike,broughtthetargetintofullview, in a mirage. Therange was 15,000 yards;she sat there on anartificial horizon, smallerbutotherwiseasshewouldnormally appear at halfthe range. Even the freakatmospheric conditionswereonourside.Within a few minutes,

Frazcametothebridgetoreportthathewassatisfiedwith the solution of theenemy’scourseandspeed.The range had closed to9,000 yards, and wediscussed briefly thepossibility that the enemymight also soon see us ona false horizon. It did notseem likely, but I securedthe battery charge inanticipationofdiving.The

range continued to close,and I considered howclearly silhouettes stoodout in a moon streak;tonight we were thatsilhouette.The range was 7,500. I

cleared the bridge,counted the lookouts asthey went by in themoonlight, sounded twoblasts, and stepped down

the hatch. Ogden set thedogs as I held the hatchclosed with the lanyard.Thedivetooktwosecondslonger than usual. Thetimewas2041.As ordered before hewent below, Larry leveledus off at 47 feet for radartracking. The Bells of St.Mary’s chimed again, andTang was into her ninth

attack of this patrol.Bergman now took overradar,andCaverlywenttosound. With accurateperiscope bearings, Frankchangedtheenemy’sspeedto 9½ knots. The solutioncontinued to check, andwe eased on down for amoonlight periscopeattack.Never, at this stage,

coulda submarinecaptainhave had more accurateinformation nor have hadhis boat in a morefavorable position; butthen there were few, ifany, other crewswith thistotal experience. Thesilhouette soon developedinto the one we had seenin mirage but now withmore details discernible.Her bow had a very

pronounced rake.Betweenthe bow and bridge stoodanextremelyheavy tripodmast.Herbridgeappearedmushroom-topped.Anotherheavytripodmastlaybetweenthebridgeandlarge after superstructure,which was topped by alarge, short stack. As yether angle had never beenwideenoughtoexposeherstern. Ballinger came up

head and shouldersthrough the lower hatch,waited for a propermoment, then announcedthat the identificationparty could find no suchship in the books. Thereason became evident onthe next zig, a wide one.At 4,000 yards, her sideglistenedinthemoonlight;shewasanewship.

Fraz had ordered thetubes readied when wewent down to periscopedepth, the last twocontaining torpedoesforward and aft. At range3,500heorderedtheouterdoors opened, formaneuvers by the enemy,not those that I wouldorder, would determinewhich torpedo room firedthe last of its torpedoes

first. That was well, for apart of payday wasprobably riding on it. Thetacticswewouldusewerefairly simple and revolvedaround nice timing and agood call of the angle onthebowafterhernextzig.If it put her track tooclose,wewouldpullawayandfirefromaft.Ifherzigwas broad, we’d turntowards and fire from

forward.Caverly was nowmatching my periscopebearings with sound. Therange was 3,000 yards asgenerated from the TDC,and a zig was due at anymoment. The scope hadbeen up continuously butnow was down to water-lappingheight.Theenemywas closing at 300 yards

per minute, and our 3knots added another 100yardstothat.“She’szigging,Captain!”Caverly had caught thechangeinsoundduetoherrudder before the ship’sswing was perceptible. Itwas the mark of a realsoundman, not just alistener.“She’s zigging left!” I

called. “Right full rudder.All ahead standard. We’llfire on this leg. Stand byforaquicksetupbeforewepickupourswing.“Bearing—mark!” Jonescalled 358. “Range—mark!” He read 2,400.“Angle twenty-fivestarboard.” Jones loweredthescope.“Steadyusnormaltoher

track,Fraz.”Tangwaspickingupherswing, which at first hadseemedmuchtooslow.Soslowthat Ihadglancedatthe TDC’s presentation tosee that our bow wasindeed drawing ahead ofthe enemy as it should.With 15 degrees to go,Quartermaster Welch putthe rudder amidships and

then met her swing. Tangsettled on 355, almostnorth, and continued toclose the track. Anotherglance at theTDC showedthe enemy broad on ourportbow.“Allaheadone-third.”Caverly commencedcalling sound bearings asthe noise of our ownscrews subsided. Frank

nodded,indicatingthatthebearings checked withthose generated by theTDC. Welch called ourown speed, 6 knots, 5knots.“Up scope.” Jones

broughtituptomyhandsandthenguidedmetothecorrect bearing. Theenemy ship was in thelow-power field. I shifted

to high; the angle wasopening as it should.Caverly supplied threeechorangestogowithmynext three bearings andanglesonthebow.“It’s all checking,” saidFrank.“Tendegreestogo.”Shewas big and broad, amassive, loaded ship, abeautifulship.

“Constant bearing—mark!”“Set!” The scope wassteady as her decks racedacrossthereticle.Theaftersuperstructurecameon.“Fire!”The torpedo left with agood zing. The secondtorpedo went to herbridge. Fraz announcedthe time of run, 30

seconds.Joneswasalreadycounting, “Twenty-five …thirty, thirty-one, th—”Explosions, shakingexplosions rocked us, butthe great tripod mastswere tilting toward eachother; the enemy ship’sback was broken. Jonestook a look and a secondlater said, “She’s gone,Christ, all of her!” Thetwisting, grinding,

breaking-up noises cameover sound and throughthe hull in increasingintensity. It was afrightening, soberingnoiseand should serve to keepanylookoutonhistoesforweekstocome.Flotsam was but 500yardsdeadahead, andwesurfaced to pick uppossible survivors. The

time was 2131, just threeminutes after firing. Thelookouts spottedoneman,who ducked under anoverturnedlifeboat.IttookLeibold’s grapnels to holdthe boat alongside andburstsfromWhite’stommygun to scare him out intothe open. Our ship’scompany was better atshootingtorpedoesthaninrescuingthisonereluctant

survivor. Finally,enmeshedinheavinglines,hewas dragged aboard toakinderfatethanawaitedin the Yellow Sea.Rescuing this young manhad takenmore time thanthe submerged approachand attack, but it hadprovided activity for thetroopsandfilledasenseofobligationforallofus.

Japanese antisubmarineforces were 50 milesbehind us, or so webelieved.Havingnodesireto verify this, I orderedthree engines on the line,and Tang headed northwith two celebrations tomark our IndependenceDay:

KurosioMaru

10,000tons

Lat.35°22′N.

Long.125°56′E.

NewMaru

10,000tons

Lat.36°05′N.

Long.125°48′E.

Our prisoner was dubbedFirecracker before he wasbroughtoverthebridgeonthewaybelow.Heseemedtobe in reasonable shape,at least as viewed bymoonlight. That is, untilhe saw the conning towerhatchand theglowof red

lights below. To him, itmust have looked like thefire pit or some Americaninferno. Firecrackerstiffened and went intoconvulsions,andonlywiththe aid of ChiefPharmacist’s Mate Rowellwas the poor lad usheredbelow.ThecoursenorthshouldkeepTang in the clear for

theremainderofthenightand give all hands anopportunity to return tonormalfightingtrim,eagerbut rested and sharp. Thebrief night orders werewritten accordingly, butthe night did notcooperate.Withinanhourwe were tracking anothertarget, which waszigzaggingleisurely,asifitownedtheYellowSea.Not

until well into theapproachcouldwemakeitout, a sailing junkbeatingto windward. We shouldhave knownwhat we hadbyhermovementsandthedirectionof thewind longbeforethesighting,butweprobably would haveclosed to look her overanyway.The trackingandpartial

approach had taken ussouth of the KakureppiIslands, so the navigatorlaid down a new track toleavetheislandswellclearand then awaited mydecision for the comingday’s patrol. The originalplans for moving up thecoast had been sointerrupted by contactsand approaches that ourtrack looked as if we had

been playing leapfrog.TangwouldnormallyhavearrivedoffChoppekiPointin due course and withplenty of torpedoes. Wewere not objecting to asingle one of our sideexcursions,butitwouldbea shame to come all thiswayandnotspenda littletimeoffthatadvantageouspromontory.Withbut twotorpedoes left, which

meant none for defenseafter an attack, ourapproach to the pointrequired good timing andpreferably areconnaissance beforemoving in to attack. Justto the south of ChoppekiPoint lies the DaiseiGroup,withgoodwaterallaround and a naturalchannel between theislands and the

promontory. Off theseislands we would be ableto see what was going onand even move in to thesouthofthemforattackinthe channel. Fraz movedthe arm of the draftingmachine till the rulepassed through ourposition; its other endpassed over the center ofthe three islands. It wasgood to have an exec and

navigator thinking alongthe same general lineswith you, especiallywhenhe would not hesitate topointoutanobjectionifhesaw one. The bearing onthe protractor was 340,andTang came to it.Withour present speed on thistrack, we would beapproaching the DaiseiGroup before dawn, and Ichanged the night orders

accordingly.Thedaysweregettinga

little shorter by thecalendar, but this couldnot begin to match theextra daylight as weapproached Manchuria.Jones called the navigatorfor morning stars, and aglanceattheluminousdialontheclockshowed0245.A half hour later, two

welcome blasts took usdown into the shallowthough still protectiveseas.Rumbling distant

explosions commenced atbreakfast time, reassuringin that they gave thegeneral location of theenemy effort, way to thesouth.Theyalso served toreignite the conversation

that had been runningsince our previous dawnattack, a rehash of thewhole episode as variousindividuals had seen it,which helped all of usrelax. We did not get toofarunwound,however,forHank sighted distantsmoke. The time was0917,andsectiontrackingwent to work with onlytrue bearings of the puffs

of smoke, beyond theDaisei Group. They drewslowly to the right,showing that the shipbelow the smoke wastraveling south,inaccessible in six fathomsofwater.Thesightingandtracking practicallyguaranteedanearlyattackoffChoppekiPoint,forthecoastal shipping was stillrunning and had to round

thispromontory.Fraz and Jones needed

no stars this night sinceourOODshadbeenabletokeep our position plottedwith bearing lines on thethree islands. The timewas 1952, the period latein evening twilight justbefore the near full moonwould rise. Tang surfacedandcommencedthethree-

hour run to seawardaround the islands andthen to Choppeki Point.Therewe could fire in 17fathoms and have ourtorpedoes hit any shiptrying to round the point.Fraz brought the chart tothe wardroom as wascustomarywhentherewasmore to consider thancould conveniently takeplace in the conning

tower. The sailing wouldbeclear,butourapproachshould be cautious, withthe APR-1 searching thefrequencies for enemyradar. Certainly if theenemy had an installationto spare, this would be anatural location. Lyingsubmerged off this point,unsuspected,wouldbelikehunting with your riflelaid across a stump and

pointing down the trail. Icircled a 30-fathom markthat lay about ten milesnorthwest of the tip ofChoppekiPoint.“Is that where Wahoo

sank one of her ships?”Frazinquired.“No.That’swhereMush

Mortondealtmeatwenty-eightcribbagehand.”“I can’t think of any

better criterion,” saidMort.FrazextendedTang’strack to the circled mark,Mort reached for thecribbage board, and ourgrandstrategysessionwasover.Tang’s mood was

obviously one of cautiousoptimism, cautiousbecause the old handsknew we could not stay

ahead of the oppositionindefinitely. If the enemyresorted to escorting hisshipspastdangerousspots,ashedidaroundthemainislands, then this was theplace to start.We did nothave long towait, for theradarpresentationbecameconfusingjustbefore2200,with a side lobe andseveral multipulse echoes,such as we had

experienced on our firstnight in the East ChinaSea. These could bereflections from distantmountains falling almostin phase with lateroutgoing signals, but theycouldalsobea shipat15miles.Perhapsitwouldbefair to say thatwe sharedin the confusion, fordifferentiating one fromthe other was time-

consuming and wouldremain so until Ed had achance to operate on ourSJ,givingusanadditionalknob that would vary thepulserate.This,heassuredus, would solve ourpresent problem, but itwould have to wait foranotherpatrol.We had coasted twomiles beyond our selected

spot,essentiallystoppedtoseeifonemountaintothenorth would move. Itremainedstationary,butanewpip showedup to thenorthwest. It too could bea secondary return, but ifso the echo was comingback from a mountainrange in Manchuria. Wekilledourwaycompletely,andthepipmovedsteadilyaway from Choppeki

Point. Tang did likewise,hotonitstail.Again my theory of a

southwardtrafficflowwassomewhat incorrect,though understandably noonementionedit.Weweretoo busy anyway, for theoriginal contact was at29,000 yards, andwe hadnow tracked it out to34,000. Under an almost

fullmoon,wecommenceda long, long end-around.Fraz broke out an old-fashioned mooring board,a pad of sheets with acompassroseinthecenter,bearing lines coming outradially, and with evenlyspaced concentric circles.The sheets were designedspecifically for plottingrelative movementsituations.Thiswassucha

problem indeed, for Tangmust pass from 17 milesdead astern to nearly tenmiles ahead, all beyondthe enemy’s sightingrange. Further, this mustbe completed before theenemy reached thesanctuary of GaichosanRetto. Fraz plotted ourcourse legs and recordedthetimes.Wewouldmakeit with a few miles to

spare, but just to be surewe worked on up to fullpower.Tangrolledunderastill-

rising moon and on arippleless sea. The run toour diving position wouldtake three and a halfhours, the submergedapproach and attack atleast an hour more. Thiswould be another one of

those nights, or moreexactly, nights andmornings, for firingwouldcome near dawn. Therewas a great temptation tostayonthebridgeorintheconning tower and toshare in all of theexcitement of thismaneuver. Then I thoughtof a former skipper, theone with his bunk in theconningtower,andwished

to avoid similar mistakes.Fraz, Mort, and Frankcould conduct this end-around; after all, two ofthem were qualified forcommand. I could relaxand then conduct theapproach and attack.Therewasadifferencethisnight,however,forwehadall enjoyed a goodmeasureofrestonourall-day dive, and this would

be the last maneuveragainst the enemy on thispatrol.Stayingclearofthemechanics of the plot andTDCbutgenerallyathandseemed a goodcompromise.Ballinger had

temporarily movedFirecracker from the aftertorpedo room to forward.It was a logicalmove, for

evenhandcuffedtoabunk,hecoulddisturb the firingaft. The young man wasrecovering remarkablyfrom his ordeal, perhapshelpedbybeingthecenterof attention and byRowell’s ministrations.Topside again, the enemyship was abeam, hersilhouette now identifyingher as a freighter ofconventional size for the

China trade. The end-around was going well,following almost exactlythe tracks that thenavigator had moved tothe true plot. Another 90minutes and we woulddive. I went below for aturnaftandfoundmenupand about as spacewouldpermit. Two ahead ofme,proceeding through theengine rooms, gave each

mainareassuringpat,andI was tempted to followsuit.Theshafttachometersinmaneuveringshowedaneven 345, about ten turnshigh. Culp was in charge,and we were bothsatisfied.Theaftertorpedoroom was all business.Theirtruetestwouldcomewiththefiringplunger.“Captain, you put us in

position, and we’ll blowher out of the sea!” ChiefTorpedoman’s MateWeekleyhadputhisfingerdirectly on our mutualresponsibilities. I wentforwardtocarryoutmine,pausing in the messroomtolookatoursecondplot;Tangwasmovinginahead.When I reached the

bridge, the enemy was

astern,with a sharp angleand on a parallel course.We had time for a finalaccuratecheck.“All back two-thirds.” I

watched over the moonlitside. “All stop.” Tang wasdeadinthewater.Radar ranges and TBT

bearings went to plot andTDC; there were no otherinputs. The enemy was

closing at 9 knots, exactlyastracking had previouslyfound, but the doublecheck increased ourconfidence.“All ahead two-thirds.

Dive when I’m clear, Ed.”Two blasts took Tangdown, and battle stationssounded as our shipleveled off. The time was0227onJuly6.

The freighter came on,overtaking us, becomingmoredistincteveryminutetill a predawn mist set inandhershapedisappearedcompletely.“Bring her up to forty-fivefeet,Larry.”Tangtooka modest but steady up-angle and leveled off.Bergman, standing by onSJ, called, “Range five

thousand. Bearing onesevenzero.”Thatwouldbearelativebearing;shewasjust off our stern tostarboard and coming onnicely, her present trackjust 500 yards tostarboard. We went backdown to wet the scope,now hopelessly fogged,and Caverly called thebearings of the freighter’spropellersassheclosed.

Both the surface mistand the fogging of theperiscopes had resultedfrom the very cold waterand themoist summer airhere in the northernYellow Sea. The patch ofmist was now behind us,but the fogging periscopelens persisted. The enemycouldbeviewedforonlyasecondor twoonanyoneexposure, but frankly this

wasallIdaredtouseinaclose-indayapproach.Theangle was now openingbut hard to call. Caverlybackedup theobservationwith a single pulse echorange,1,100yards.“Left full rudder. Allaheadfull,”Iordered.Fraz ordered the coursefor a 90 track with zerogyros, and I watched the

TDC presentation as wepulled off the track. Ourstern was now ahead ofher bow. Welch wasmeetingourswing.“Allaheadone-third.”“Ten degrees to go,”calledFraz.Thiswouldbeanewonefor me. I could get the“Constant bearing—mark”off handily, but the “Fire”

on a separate exposuremightbetooearlyor late.I considered firing ongenerated bearings, mostsubmarines did, but withonly two torpedoes, I’dstick with our bow-and-arrowmethod.“Constant bearing.”Jones raised the scope onthe generated bearing. Iswung it ahead to

amidships and called,“Mark!” Jones dunked thescope and raised itimmediately.“Fire!” The mainmasthad passed the wire, butthe after well deck wasstill on. The torpedowentoutwithawhine.The second double dipwas more accurate, andourlasttorpedowasonits

way for her foremast, itswhine fadingout ina fewseconds. The range was900 yards, the gyros near180,thesameasnearzerofor a bow shot. Bothtorpedoeswere runningatsix-foot depth. Ogdencalledofftheseconds;theyshouldhitonthe60thand68th. I gave the scope toFraz and Jones; my jobwas over, and they could

work out a hurrieddunking sequence. Thescope broke the surfaceahead of a shakingdetonation. The time was0320.“Herwholeside’sblownout!” Another whack andexplosion followed ontime.“She’scapsizing!”“Take the con, Frank,and take her up. The

lookouts can follow later.Move us in to anyflotsam.”Immediately, threeblasts took Tang to thesurface, andFrank connedherinaquickturntoclosethe small amount ofwreckage that was visibleinthepalegraydawn.Thelargestpiecewasaportionofalifeboat;therewereno

survivors. We could notdally, for radar had twocontacts at 16,000 yards,closing.

Every effort, everymaneuver would now bepointed toward theaccomplishment of onetask,cruisinghomesafely.Perhapsthetwopipswerebelatedescorts;wedidnotwaittofindout.Now,justfive minutes after the

contacts, Tang was nearlyup to full power and therange was opening. Thecourse of 190 would takeus past the ShantungPromontory, the greatpeninsula of China thatjuts about 200 miles intothe Yellow Sea and formsthe southern boundary ofthe Gulf of Pohai. Thiswouldbethe first legofalarge arc, curving to the

east, which would passwell clearof the scenesofour recent attacks. Shouldsomeoneviewingourtrackchart characterize us asrunning scared, he wouldbe absolutely right. Whenthe torpedoes wereexpended, it was the onlywaytorun.By0600wehadput 50

miles of Yellow Sea

between us and thepositionofour lastattack.Hank pulled the plug onschedule, and Tang slidunderthesea,ondownto100 feet for a leisurelycruiseat4knots.Allhandswould have preferred 6,butthenwewouldhavetocharge batteries onsurfacing,andtherewouldbe insufficient gravity forpossible submerged

evasion should we bedriven down. Our speedwas a compromiseweightedtowardsafety,aswasourdepth.Tang continued along

her track, and hands noton watch did just whatthey pleased. For themajority,thatmeantsleep.Like our storage batteries,which could receive

enormous amounts ofenergywhen flat, so theseyoung men stored awaytheirsleep.Bymidmorningmen were stirring about,some caught up on sleepandothersperhapsstilltookeyeduptostayturnedin.I fell in that latter groupand examined twoweeklymenus awaiting mysignature. I signed thembut drew question marks

on each evening meal.Fraz gave the word toWixon, who had notrouble in rounding upvolunteers. Two at a timetheysortedthecoldroom,a fewdegrees below zero,bringing all steaks, roasts,and fresh-frozenstrawberries to the frontfor daily consumption. Allhands fully understoodthatnoneofthiswastobe

turned in to thebase, andnooneobjected.Asweweresittingdown

forlunch,therumblingsofdistant explosions camethrough the hull. Soundwas able to obtain areasonably broad bearingon the source,approximately the reverseof our course. It wasreassuring, butwe needed

more than an educatedguess about what wasgoing on above thesurface.Frazlefttotakeusup for low and then highperiscopesearches.Allwasclear, but we remained atperiscope depth. Frazreturned with the chartthat I had requested andwatched,while having hislunch,asIsoughtouta36-fathom spot north of the

promontory. I’m sure thatFraz could visualize moreexploring, or at aminimum a new track toplot.“Now this is where

MushMortondealtmemytwenty-nine cribbagehand,onechanceinfifteenmillion. I have it framed,witheachcardsignedbyadifferent officer.” Fraz

seemedrelievedthatIhadnothing serious in mind;the others in the messcommenced figuring theodds and in a concertedeffortfinallyagreed.“Doyoustillfeellucky?”

askedFraz.“Well, that isoneof the

reasons I asked for thechart.” We got out thecribbage board and Fraz

proceeded to pin my earsback, which simplyverified that my luck wasnow concentrated intorpedoes and enemyships. It then occurred tome that in all of theexcitement of the attackand getting on ourway, Ihad still not looked overthe findings of ouridentificationpartyforthelastship.Theyhadworked

fast and diligently, and itwasquitepossiblethatwewould have had moremisses without theirdeterminations. They hadsettledonashipsimilartothe Osaka Maru, on page132 of ONI-208J. Thesilhouette picturedcertainly looked like thebroadside I had seen onfiring,andIthankedthemfortheirassistance.

Everything had gonewell this day. Sunset wascoming in another halfhour, and any enemypatrol planes wouldalready be en route totheir bases. There wasnothing holding us back,so I went to the conningtower, advising ChiefHudson and Mel to makepreparations for surfacingas I passed through

control. Frank was on thesearch scope, I took theattack scope, and wesearched carefully in lowand high power. All wasclear,andthreeblastssentusuptocontinuethe700-mile run to the NanseiShotoandtheboundaryofourarea.Thisevening Ipenneda

well done in the night

ordersandthenproceededtolistthecautionsIwoulddemand as we headedhome. On rereading, thetwomessagesdidnotseemto belong on the samepage,butthatwasthewaythey came to mind. Asbefore, on the previouspage I listed the data onourlastenemyship:

Osaka 4,000 Lat.38°

Maruclass

tons 40′N.

Long.123°40′E.

Any further considerationswere interrupted by aquiet knock, andwithmyanswer, Walker stuck hisheadpastthecurtain.

“I think we’re in thenews, Captain,” hereported. I stepped acrossthe passageway to hearTokyo Rose, who franklypresented the mostentertaining programavailable. No specificsubmarines werementioned as sometimeswasthecase,butdirefateswere predicted forsubmarines that foolishly

enteredtheEastChinaandYellow seas. Excellentmusicwasfollowedbytheusualfuneralmarch.IftheJapanese were botherednow,waituntilafewmoreships failed to make port.Actually, the programserved to emphasize mynight orders, and I shouldhave thanked Tokyo Roseforthecooperation.

Tang rolled throughoutthenightandcontinuedatfull power into morningtwilight,thechangebarelyperceptible under thebright moon. Sunrisecame, and we nowexpected a patrol planewithin an hour. Thelookouts were cautionedaccordingly, and beforethesunhadbarelyclearedthe horizon, two blasts

tookTang down. Probablya seabird, I thought, butDick had followed acautioninthenightordersand had answered thelookout’s report with twoblasts. It was a plane, aBetty off on the southernhorizon. We watched itthrough the scope,continuing on its way.Tang did likewise,submerged.

Only true seabirds andan occasional sampancame into our periscopes’view throughout the restof themorning.Thedawnpatrol would now havereturnedbyanotherroute,so after careful highperiscopesearches,wegotup for another full-powerrun. After nearly sevenhours, with 150 milesbehind her, Tang looked

forward to runningon thesurface on into the night.Tokyo Rose and friendsobviously thoughtdifferently, and a distantpatrolplanesentusdown.It was 1914, shortly aftersunset, and all planesshould have returned tobase. We watched itcontinue on its way,apparently unaware of us.Or was it? We had seen

thissamethingenroutetoSaipan.Wewaitedanother30minutes, then resumedour race through theeveningtwilight.Our course was now125,headingintotheloomofafullmoon.OurAPR-1picked up 250 megacycleradar with random train,perhaps a brand-newinstallation on Danjo

Gunto, our old meetingplace.The timewas2055.An hour later, when wewere between the islandsandthesouthernminefielddescribed in the JICPOA(Joint Intelligence CenterPacific Ocean Area)supplement to ourOperation Order, SJreportedfivepipsatrange16,000yards,deadahead!The range was suddenly

12,000, and right fullrudder put them astern.Well,wecouldn’tsaywe’dhad no warning, and Iwondered if Tokyo Rosereally was a turncoat.Certainly her antics weretoo corny to fool abluejacket.I had discounted the

effectiveness of thisreportedminefieldonboth

my voyages to the EastChina and Yellow seas.Thiswas based in part onpersonal experience intrying to maintain aminefield off the GoldenGate. It was a peacetimetest, and the cases wereloaded with concrete.Every blow would breaksome of the mooringcables,andtheminecaseswould end up on the

beach. In one instance,they had further foundtheir way to a ranch,where they served asunique gate markers. Onegoodtyphoonwouldlikelydo an excellent job insweeping this field if itreallyexisted,andthenthefloatingmineswould be ahazardtotheJapanese.AsI viewed it, a minefieldhere would serve no real

purpose,thoughplantingapseudo field by includingthe coordinates in a codethat was suspected ofbeing broken could beusefultoourenemy.Thesewere my theories, but wewould not put them to atestthisnight.Tang commenced a

reverse end-around to geton the enemy’s quarter, a

much more prudentposition for any furtherinvestigation and clear ofthe minefield, pseudo ornot. Our section trackingparty was doing well, butthiswasdeveloping intoataskforthefirstteam.Thegroup had been on course310, nearly the reverse ofour original course, thenon 340, and finally 060.Apparently they were

shifting their front tointercept us. It was toolate; the combined speedsaccelerated ourmaneuver,and Tang was already ontheir quarter. The nighthad become lightlyovercast, with the moonbreaking throughoccasionally, but stillwithexcellent visibility. Weclosed the groupcautiously to obtain

information that could goin a contact report toSealion and Tinosa. At arange of 10,000 yards wecould observe blinkersignaling but still couldnotmakethemoutwith7× 50s. Any good-sizedshipwouldhaveshownupclearly, so based on theirmaneuvers, signaling, andsize—or lack of it—weclassified this as a killer

group, probably directedbytheearlyeveningplane.We would report theirpresenceafterclearing thearea, but now we slunkawayandthenbentontheturns.I had elected to pass

through the Nansei Shotoalittlefarthertothesouththis time, using theNakano Strait. There was

no particular reason forthis selection other thanavoiding the morecommon passages. Ourtrack through theremainderofthenightwasthus more southerly and,we hoped, deceiving. Stillrolling at full power, wedivedat0500,welloutsideof possible contact byenemy radar. A divingposition30milescloserto

the islands would havebeen more desirable, butthehunter-killergroupandour ensuing investigationhad put us behindschedule. Continuingfurther on the surfacewould likely tipourhand,disclosing our intendedroute to the Japanese.They would then have allday to musterantisubmarine forces.

Thus, diving here was acompromise, as was oursubmerged speed of 4knots, forallmainswouldbe required for anotherfull-power run when wenext surfaced. Shouldenemy patrols outfox us,or just get lucky, Tangmight need a near fullbatterytoshakethem.More planning and

figuringwere taking placeforthistransitthanforanyoneofourapproachesandattacks. This was in partdue to the time involved,for we could plan ahead,knowingexactlywherewewould go. It would befoolishtoconsiderthattheenemy was not doinglikewise. Our close brushwith him pointed thefinger to his probable

efforts. In all of this wasone more factor, one thathad been so beneficialduringpartsofthispatrol:the bright moon. Stillbright,andrisingat2130,it would benefit theenemy, especially shouldTangstillbeintransit.Thedaywasuneventful,but a tautness and extranote of seriousness were

discernibleonsurfacing.Itwas early, 1600, for wehad to make up the losttime, and a five-hour runlay ahead. All engineswent onpropulsionor thebattery charge. When thefirst enemy radarregisteredontheAPR-1at1940, Tang was alreadyrolling with four engineson propulsion. The nexthour was quiet, but one

minute after we sightedGaja Shima light, asearchlight commencedsweeping the horizon tothe right of the islands.The time was 2106, andwe went to full power.Seventeen minutes later,the APR-1 had 153megacycle radar, strongbutwith random train.At2145thesignalsteadiedathighest strength. The

enemy was tracking Tang;that was a twist. Themaneuvering roomanswered the signal foremergencyspeed.We were alreadybetween Gaja Shima andTaira Shima, racingthrough the strait into arisingmoon.AswepassedNakano Shima, the steady153 megacycle signal

reached a maximum; thatwas its location.Butradaris not a weapon, as somewould want to classify it.The signal doesn’t bite orshoot projectiles andshould be consideredassisting equipment. Ifounditalittledifficulttogo along with my ownthesis, however, especiallywhen five small surfacepatrols moved in ahead

from port and starboard.There were no prescribedprocedures for such asituation. I chose to runthe gauntlet and not letthembluffmeintodiving.Fraz came to thebridge

from a quick turn belowand reported all men attheir battle stations. Eachword, each order wasbeing relayed by the

telephone talkers, andyou’d hear a pin if itdropped.Quiteadmittedly,wewere all in themiddleofasmalldrama.“I’ll take them one at atime, Fraz, and give wayjust enough to get its truebearing drawing aft. Wemaycloseanotherindoingso, but then we’ll do thesame with it. I’ll call the

bearingsasusual,andyoukeepmepostedonthetruebearings.”Frazcaughttheplanandducked below with hisusual cheerful “Aye, aye,Captain.”Though the patrolswould probably not haveourspeed,theycouldgiveus trouble from theiradvantageous position

ahead. Unless theirmovements werecoordinated, however, ourtacticsshouldwork.Ifnot,we had that small buttontostarboardonthecowltotake us down. The rangerate had picked up as thepatrols headed towards.We gave way to thenearest one on ourstarboard bow. She heldthebearingforaminuteor

twoandthendrewaft.Thenextwasalso to starboardbecause of our turn. Wewere being drivendiagonally across thechannel, but we now hadtwoinbackofus.Thenextmaneuvertostarboardwascloser, but it took care oftwomorepatrols.The lastonehadnochanceasTangoutranhertotheopensea,ourheartspounding.

The timewas 2300; thewhole maneuver with thepatrols had lasted but 15minutes. We had had ourseagoingslalomoffAmmaTo, now this was like apunt return. True, therewere fewer tacklers, butthese were playing forkeeps.Again,Ibelievethewhole ship’s companybreathed out in unison,andtoeasetheadrenaline,

the electricians proceededwith a shoot-’em-upWestern in the forwardtorpedoroom.Fraz, Mort, and Frankjoined me for coffee. Weconcluded that the enemyhad done well with whathe had. Chidoris, or fasterpatrols, could have forcedusdownfora20-hourdivedue to themoonlight, but

here in 200 fathoms wewere assured of goodtemperaturegradients,andsuccessful evasion wouldhavebeenjustamatteroftime. We were 20 milessouthof the30thparallel,almost600milesduewestofSofuGan.Thatpinnaclelay far from inhabitedislands, so our presentcourse of 090 needed nochange. Neither did our

speed,forhavingbeenjust30daysonpatrol,wehadfuel to burn, and Tangrolled on through thenight.A flying boat after

breakfast and a flare firedby a friendly submarine,which surfaced about4,000 yards on ourquarter,provided the onlyexcitementforJuly9.The

smoke bomb was a bitsobering; an enemysubmarine could havebeen in that position. Itimpressed on all handsthatTang was not yet outof the woods. For thebenefit of the othersubmarine’s fire controlparty, we would includethe target data in ourpatrol report. To makeenemy tracking difficult,

Tang had been using acourseclock,whichmoveda false lubber’s line. Thesteersmankeptthelineonthe compass card courseand,dependingonthecamselected, our shipwandered about her basecourse. Neither this nor aconventional zigzag planwouldthwartanattackbyone of our boats, and Iwouldgive the enemy the

same capability. Well, wehad used the clock intaking the advice of asenior, and now I securedit.Thetenpercentincreasein speed along our basecourse would cut a dayfrom our voyage and, formy money, reduce ourchances of beingtorpedoedby at least one-eighth, assuming that wewouldbeorderedagainto

Pearl.The required messagereporting our departurefrompatrolandtheresultswent out to ComSubPacafter dark. We alsoincluded the informationon the small killer groupand the previous night’spassage,forpossibleusetoSealion and Tinosa. Oureightsinkingsoughttoset

the staff buzzing in themorning. At dawn Tangwasnearlybuzzed,too,bya transport plane headingsouth through the NampoShoto. Its mission wasobviously notantisubmarine, and 15minutes submergedcleared the skies. Ourtrack left Sofu Gan overthehorizontothenorthasfourmainsmovedusback

up to a safe speed, ourfastest. Any submarinethat spotted our shearswouldhardlyhavetimetomaneuver before we hadpassedby.AgainTangwas“rollingdowntoRio.”No one had complained

about our daily rich diet,but why we were not allbreaking out withstrawberry rash or

suffering from proteinpoisoningwoulddoubtlessmystify the doctors. On aturnafttowardmidnight,Ifound the duty cook stillbusyoverthegalleyrange.At a glance, he seemed tobetryingthetextureofhishandiworkbetweenthumband finger, as if judgingpastrydough.Curiositygotme;Ihadtoinquire.

“Oh, I’m just trying toget the texture ofFirecracker’s rice the wayhe’s used to it, Captain.We’vebeen cooking it toohard,” our new ship’scook, Roberts, replied. Hewas so sincere that I justcouldnotremindhimthatFirecrackerwas,afterall,aprisoner,notaguest.I had not paid any

particular attention to ourprisoner other than tohave received dailyreports; there hadn’t beentime. This apparently wasnotthecasewithourcrew,who had quite quicklydeveloped a combinationof sign and oral languagethat worked satisfactorily.The information obtainedabout the youngman andhis understanding of the

status of the war wouldhave made up a smalldossier. The importantfacts, as far as we wereconcerned,were thenameof the ship, the Yamaokaor Amaoaka Maru, hercargoof7,000tonsofironore, and ports of call,Tientsin and Kobe. Ofcourse Firecracker’s realname,MishuitunniKa,andhis hometown of Kyoto

wereofinterest,aswashisbelief that Japan hadcaptured the HawaiianIslands and half ofAustralia.Thetruthwouldcomedownhardsomeoneofthesedays.Nightlynow,aswewere

trying to use up themovies along with thesteaks and strawberries,Firecracker would be

brought forward,handcuffs and all, for theevening show. There wasno longer any doubt thathehadbecomemuchmoreof a crew’smascot than aprisonerofwar.A congratulatorymessage came fromComSubPacontheeveningFox of July 10. Notreceivedtoowellbyapart

of theship’scompanywasthe second half of thesame dispatch, assigningTang to Midway for refit.Fraz and Jones laid downthenewtrack,abittothenorth of our present one.Field days andcompartment-by-compartment inspectionswentahead,whileYeomanWilliamstypedthestencilsofthepatrolreport.Allthe

while, four main dieselsdrove us on through crispPacificseas.Ourreportoncrossing the 1,000-milecircle went out on the12th, giving our arrivaltime. Tang enjoyed two13th’sandathighnoonofthe 14th passed throughthereef.All of the dignitaries

that Eastern and Sand

islands couldmuster wereon the dock, along withthe band, which wassmartly drawn up information. We hadanticipated some of thisandhadhalfofonesectionat quarters in clean,scrubbed dungarees andwhite hats. Except for theline handlers scurrying totake the mooring linesaboard, everyone on deck

wasatattention.Frommyposition on the bridge,Tang looked smart indeed.The bandmaster gave anod, but before he raisedhis baton, Aquisti, ouraccordianist, steppedquickly from behind theconningtower,playingtheMidway Hymn. I was asmuch takenby surpriseasthe bandmaster. Somehowthelinesweresecuredand

doubledup,whilethoseatquarters chanted, a fewhorriblyoffkey:

Beautiful,beautifulMidway,

Landwherethegooneybirdsgrow,Beautiful,beautiful

Midway,Thegoddamnedestplace

thatIknow!

PartV

FourthPatrol

OFFTHECOASTOF

HONSHU

Theusualformalitiesofanarrival were not restored;it would have beenimpossible,butonthisdayTang could do no wrong.The troops hadundoubtedly anticipatedthis and had takenadvantage of the

opportunity to blow offsteam. Only one incidentmarred our otherwisehappy landing, the arrivalof four Marines. Six-footers, they had comecomplete with handcuffsand blindfold forFirecracker. It came closeto being toomuch for thecrew, who were alreadylining up to draw theirmonies. Ballinger

interceded and went onestep further, securing asigned receiptona supplychit for one prisoner ofwar in good health. Thisseemed to mollify some,butotherslookedlikeboyswhohadjustlostapet.Captain Edmunds left

theship,perhapstoaffixapadlock to his freezer andliquor cabinet, but

Commander John M. Willstayed aboard. We hadbeen assigned to hisdivision for our upkeep,and as CommanderSubmarine Division 62(ComSubDiv62)hewouldlend such support as wasrequiredtoinsurethebestof repairs. Hisresourcefulness inmeetingthe materiel needs of ourSouthwest Pacific

submarines in the leanmonths of 1942 was wellknown, and now Tangwouldbenefit.Most of the crew had

vanished, each memberwith a ten-spot, andWalkerwasexplainingourpantry’sbakingoventohistemporary relief, probablyitching to be on his way,too. I invited the

commander to walkthroughtheboatwithme.It was not necessary formetocomment,forTang’sdepartment heads andtheir counterparts on thereliefcrewwerediscussingthe work requests on thespot, though I took theopportunity forintroductions.Thespitandpolish spoke for itself.Commander Will had

gatheredmoreinformationaboutourshipinthesefewminutes than would havebeen possible in an hour’sdiscussion.Infact,thiswasour pre-repair conference,andIsawhimashore.Fraz had finished allbusiness except the finalchecking of the stencils ofour patrol report, andYeoman Williams was

standing by to make anycorrections on the spot.Frazhadmadeonechangeby lumping our attacks 4and 5 together as 4A and4B. It was a small point,butnow the readerwouldknow immediately thatthese concerned one ship,finally sunk on the laterattack. I turned on to thefinal blue sheet precedingthe tabulations, to

paragraph(Q)Personnel:

(a)Numberofmenonboardduringpatrol

76

(b)Numberofmenqualifiedatstartofpatrol

55

(c)Numberofmenqualifiedatendofpatrol

59

(d)Numberofunqualifiedmenmakingtheirfirstpatrol

18

(e)Numberofmenadvancedinratingduringpatrol

17

What an introduction

those 18 new men hadhad, 9,700 miles in 36days, ten attacks, eightverifiedsinkings,andonlythree depth charges—andthose from a freighter.JonesandWilliamsheadedfor ComSubDiv 62’s officewith the report and thetrack chart tracings. Frazand I were close on theirheels, but we turned leftfortheGooneyville.Afew

minutes later, we joinedFrank and Mort in thecorner room. With feetpropped up and a beer inhand, we rehashed thepatrol.Itwasherethatthesmall trials came to light:the depth-setting spindlethat would not re-engageuntil a minute beforefiring; the failure of aready light in the firingpanel, indicating that No.

2 torpedo tube was notready, but corrected bybattle phone. None ofthese problems hadaffected the safety of ourship,andIwasproudthattheindividualsonthespothad solved each one, andin time. I shuddered tothink what might havehappenedifonemoreitemhad been added when wewere aground, backing

full,andfiring.Submarines were never

officially scored or rated,for there were so manyvariables affecting apatrol. By the very natureof anti-shipping patrols,however, a keencompetitionbetweenboatsdid exist. Already, Tangwasmovinguptheladder,and Frank was discussing

the results of our latestforay.“I read all of the patrol

reports at sub school andallIcouldlaymyhandsonsince; there’s been nopatrol like this,” hecommented.“You missed one,

Frank.”“The Wahoo’s fourth,”

joinedFraz.

He was right, and Ipointed out someinteresting similarities.Each sub had suffered alike number of torpedofailures, though after onesurface runner, Wahoo’shadbeenprematures.Bothhad put eight ships down,butWahoo had accountedfortwoofhersmalleronesbygunfire.Forsentimentalreasons, and love of that

fine ship, I was quitesatisfied that the resultshadturnedoutthisway.Our dinner on the

second evening withCaptain Edmunds andCommander Will wasdelicious. The salads andmashed potatoes,decorated by the Filipinostewards,werebeautiful. Icaught Fraz’s look as he

sawed through a slice oftough beef, however, andwe lowered our eyes lestwe’d explode in thinkingofourpastactionsandthenice steaks we’d beenenjoying.Itwasarelaxingevening, though we weresurprised that our hostswerealreadyfamiliarwithour patrol report. Thecommander’s yeoman hadobviously run the stencils

through immediately, andwe were not averse tofilling in some of thedetails.Forcertain,wedidnot have to embellish thefacts,buttheplacetoswapstories and to learn whatwasgoingonwas still theGooneyville.Or was it? We excused

ourselves early anddropped by the corner

room to see who wasaround. None of ourcontemporaries was insight,soweinquired.“Oh, they’re probablyoverat the seniorofficers’bar,” was the courteousreply. We found it, butwhyweneeded abar anda steward to serve bottledbeerwasbeyondus.Thenwe found we were

expected to pay for eachbottle instead of pickingup the tab upon ourdeparture for patrol. Thesmallbuildingandbarhadbeen built, we wereinformed, so that thejunior officers couldsupposedly kick up theirheels elsewhere than rightunder their skipper’s orexec’s nose. What theywere supposed to do on

thisgooney-infested islandthat needed shielding wasbeyondus.Thosewhohadseen to this constructionhad unwittingly undercutthe finest war patrolschool in existence, for atthat corner room rankswere never considered,and there the juniorofficer,comingexec,PCO,and skipper learned fromseniors and juniors alike.

We would not snub ourfriends from other boats,but Tang’s senior officersagreed to spend anappropriate amount oftime at the Gooneyvillehangout and keep thatcorner room buzzing atleast while Tang was inport.Included in the

submarine talk was an

update on Cherbourg,which had fallen to theAllies on July 1. The portand facilities had beendemolished by theGermans and the harbormined, so itwouldnot beusable for a couple ofmonths. Closer to us,Albacore, Finback, Bang,and Stingray had beenpositioned as scouts priorto the Battle of the

Philippine Sea. TheywerefurtherbackedupbyFlyingFish off San BernardinoStrait and Seahorse offSurigao Strait in thePhilippines.Thesetwohadmade contact with theJapanesecarrierforcesandformidablebattleshipforceand got off their contactreports as required.Commander J. W.BlanchardandhisAlbacore

gotoneormorehitsinthenewcarrierTaihoonJune19, while my classmateHerm Kossler with hisCavalla,enroutetorelieveFlying Fish, torpedoed thecarrier Shokaku on thesame day. Both carrierssank. The main battlebetweenthecarrierplanesof the Japanese and TaskForce 58 had taken placeonthe19thand20th,and

was described as TheMarianas Turkey Shoot.Aboutfourtimestheforceswere involved as in anyprevious encounter, andJapanese losses in planesprobably precluded theirbeing able to engage ourcombinedforcesagain.Noone had to mention thatthe loss of two carriers,oneprobablytheJapaneseflagship, had had a

significant effect on theoutcome.I might just have toreconsider submarineactions in support of fleetoperations,butinthiscasethe submarines had beenable to act independently,and their great value,other than the sinkings,was in contact reportsfrom exact positions. Still,

onlytwooutofsevenfiredtorpedoes, and for theothers it had been a longpatrol,asTangwellknew.

Completion of the workrequests was staying righton schedule, but on thisturn through Tang I wassurprised to see my surfand deep-sea rods stillsecured in the overhead.

They had been broughtalong for just such placesas Midway, and last timewere in nearly constantuse.Ballingerprovidedtheanswer. There was now arecreation department onthe island, complete withoutfitted sportfishingboats, and even mannedby specialists. Well,tomorrow the fish fry andball game would take

everyone’s mind off theirown and Midway’sproblems.As before, the daystarted off with softballand beer. The gamebetween the deck forceand the engineerswas theonly one recreation hadscheduled, however, andthings hardly got warmedupbeforechowwasdown.

The beer was good andcold, though short onquantity, but the fish frywas something to behold.Packages of fresh-frozenfillets from Boston hadbeen allowed to thaw.They were then opened,and the fish were dippedin batter and droppeddirectly into hot cookingoil. The entrappedmoisture practically

exploded, and those whoescaped a burn or twowerejustplainlucky.Afterrecreation had secured,Frank took a volunteerworking party to theGooneyville and returnedwith all of the availablecoldbeer.Itsavedtheday.Before long, men werelolling along the beach,some taking a swim, andothers sailing gooneybirds

into the air with a gentleassist from the windwardwing. With very littlebreeze, the albatrossseemed to like thehelp inbecomingairborne.The gooneys would not

change, but Midway had.Theislandwasnolongerafrontier, and it was timeforTangtobeonherway.A private letter from our

chief of staff, Captain JoeGrenfell, preceded ourOperation Order andcontained the necessaryinformation for Fraz andJones,whowouldneed todraw detailed charts fromthe base. The last part oftheletterwouldgoonthebulletin board in thecrew’smess:

Incidentally, Mishuitunni

Ka insisted his name wasFirecracker. CinCPac’sintelligence questioned himfor a week before they gothim to say anything otherthan “Ten thousand tons,”andsayhewas the toughestnutthey’vehadtocrack.

The Yamaoka Maru wasnot 10,000 tons but 7,500,and was carrying thatamount of iron ore. If it isany consolation to Tang’s

crew,shewasonhermaidenvoyage to Tientsin and wasreturning to Kobe fullyloaded.

The letter had Frazlaughing. “I guess Imightas well tell you,” he said.“Whenever you sawFirecracker coming to themovies,itwasarewardforsaying the tonnage of hisship was ten thousand.

Sometimes the troopswouldfeedhimicecream,but in the end they hadhim so well indoctrinatedthat if you’d just point tothe middle of any good-sized ship in 208J, he’dsay, Ten thousand tons,’withoutfail.”We had more seriousthings to discuss, for ashort training period

would start in two days,and I would now followthrough on a decision Ihad made when havingFrank surface Tang andclose the last flotsam. Apart of this period wouldbehis,tomakeapproachesand fire torpedoes, so thatwithoutreservationIcoulddesignate him as qualifiedforcommand.Intheotherpartof the trainingperiod

we would schedule a fewindoctrinal depth charges.These would be primarilyforournewhandsbut forthe rest of us as well, fornotsincethetooth-shakersofourfirstpatrolhadTangreallybeendepth-charged.Preliminary loadingwasroutine, and there was noevidence of tamperingwith any of the frozen

meat cartons. Frankmadepracticeapproachesonthefirst underway day,sandwiched betweenemergency drills for ourtwonewofficersandeightenlisted men. On thesecond day, his exercisetorpedoes were hot,straight, and normal. Amessage from the targetship remained puzzlingindeed,forthePCreported

that one of the torpedoesstill had its propeller keyin place. Perhaps theywere referring to thepropeller lock, a ruggedbronzedevice that slippedover one blade andbetween others of thecounterturning propellersto prevent accidentalfiring.Acheckshowedthepropeller locks from ourtorpedoesstillaboard.

Perhaps we would findout more about the locksashore, butnowcameourdepth-chargeindoctrination, apparentlythe first conducted atMidway for some time. Ithad been necessary, ofcourse, to notify allcommands, and so thewordspread,resultinginafair number of spectators.Tang dived, keeping both

scopes, well above thesurface, and the PC rolledbyatmaximumspeed.Thecharge at 200 yards wasapproximatelyasexpected,thewhackfollowedbytherumbling swish throughthe superstructure. Thenextchargewasscheduledfor 100 yards but fellsomewhatcloseranddidafine job of indoctrinatingall hands. It should have

been milder, butapparentlytheshockwaveand detonation reflectedfromthehardcoralbottomreinforced one another.Coincidingwiththewhackcamethesoundofatonofbolts being dropped intooursuperstructure,orsoitseemed. Itwasaremindernotto judgetheproximityof a depth charge by theintensity of the sounds

alone, and at least thoseashore andon thePChadenjoyedagrandshow.Thebestpartoftheday

had been Frank’sperformance, and now Ifacedthesamedilemmaashadmyskipperbefore thewar. If I sent in Frank’squalification now, hewould probably havetransfer orders waiting

when we returned fromour upcoming patrol. IcouldthenlosebothFrankand Fraz, and this wouldapproachthesituationthatobtained in bothArgonautandWahooprecedingtheirlosses. For selfish reasons,but also in the bestinterests of our ship, Iwould ask CommanderWilltoholdupforwardingthe correspondence and

hisendorsementuntilTangwasheadingback.

It had always been theprivilegeofacaptaintobelast in visiting thedentist;there was no one to prodhim. This morning, thedentist proceeded directlywith putting four smallfillings in one tooth thatwas givingmeno trouble,

and to my query aboutcleaning my teeth said,“Oh, we take care of thatduring the afternoons.” Iwasnoexpertindentistry,but in the past cleaningand examination hadalways preceded anydrilling. I assumed that Ishouldhavedroppedinonthepreviousafternoon,butdid so this day instead.The dentists were not in

evidence, but I received athorough scaling by acompetent technician.When I returned aboard,Chief Ballinger posed asomewhat blunt andunexpected question, butthatwashisprivilege.“Didtheychargeyouforcleaning your teeth,Captain?” Then withoutreally receiving my

answer, he exploded.“Well,Ijustfoundoutthatthose bastards have beencharging our troops fivebucks apiece, and no onecould get a dentalappointment in theafternoon because thedentists were always outsportfishing!”I thanked him for the

report,turnedonmyheel,

and headed forComSubDiv 62’s officewhere, in slightly moreformal language, Irepeated what Ballingerhadtoldme.Themorning of July 30brokeonanicernote.Asaresult of therecommendations hustledinto themail right here amonth and a half before,

awards forFraz,Ballinger,Jones, White, and Leiboldhad arrived, and for metheLegionofMeritformyconduct of the rescues atTruk, as well as a thirdSilver Star from mybelovedWahoo.Happily,abelatedaward,undermorerecent directives, had alsocome for Hank fromTambor. Commander Willmade the presentations,

and we could not havebeenmore proud of theseshipmates.While we were still at

quarters, CommanderWillcalled Hank front andcenter again, andproceeded to read from acard attached to a largemanila envelope:“Presented to Lieutenant(junior grade) Henry J.

Flanagan, United StatesNavy,inrecognitionofhisfifteen years of service inthe furtheranceof torpedoperformance andcapability.” Thecommanderthenwithdrewa beautifully finishedmahogany plaque bearingthe same inscription andmounted with a highlypolished and horriblymangled propeller lock.

Hank received the plaqueingoodgrace,helpedbyacheerfromhistorpedomenandagoodlaughbyall.In the wardroom forcoffee, Hank was readinghis real citation when heblurted out, “I finallymadeit,afterfifteenyearsI finally made it!” ThenHank,who had fleeted upfrom seaman in Uncle

Sam’s regular navy, readfrom the citation:“Lieutenant (junior grade)Henry J. Flanagan,UnitedStatesNavalReserve.”“Well,moveover,Hank,

wemightaswelljoinyourclub,” Fraz commented.“The captain, Mel, Dick,andIaretheonlyregularsleft.”Tang’s final loading

proceededintheafternoonin an unhurried manner,with steam fish forwardand electrics aft, and thencontinued on the 31st. By1500 she was topped offwith fuel and chow, andthe lines were singled up.After a sincere Godspeed,Commander Will had leftfor an appointment,considering,nodoubt,thatwewere taking the action

required by a dispatchdelivered by the basewhile he was aboard. Inpart he was correct. Themessage, fromComSubPac, directed thatwe leave witnesses to thedental shenanigans. Well,the force commander hadsent the message he feltnecessary, and we weremaking the only replypossible:

WITNESSES HAVE IMPORTANT

BATTLESTATIONS

AND ARE NEEDED IN TANG ON

THISWARPATROL

Only Fraz’s formalreport of ship ready forgetting under wayremained before castingoffthelines,butnowTanghad one man missing,Walker. Shipmates hadhimaboardinshortorder,

thoughwithhisfistsfullofbills. His trip to buymoney orders involved arepeat performance, andanother detailwas sent toround him up. We had acompulsivegambler!It was 1555, almost anhour after our scheduleddeparture, when the basetook in the lines. Tangbacked quietly from the

dock and twisted towardthe basin’s entranceleading to the dredgedchannel. Ahead lay theslicethroughthereef.Thecoral heads disappeared,and at my nod Hankordered, “Rig ship fordive,” then brought us tothe navigator’srecommended course, 270degrees true.Tangwas onherfourthwarpatrol.

Numbers 3 and 4 mainengines were driving usthrough the moderatesummer seas on aduplicate of the route wehad followed on our lastforay. Lieutenant (jg)Charles O. Pucket wasstandinghis firstwatchas

OOD on patrol. He wasteamedwithHank,solittlecould go wrong, andnothing that couldn’t betakencareofbythedivingalarm. Small and light-complected, Charles wasfrom Chattanooga,Tennessee, and had cometo Tang from the reliefcrew. Therecommendation of oursenior petty officers who

had now been detachedwas in the mainresponsible for his orders.It might not be the NavyDepartment’s method ofmaking assignments, butso far the selections wereworkingoutwellforus.Iwasabouttogobelow

when Fraz joined me onthecigarettedeck,theout-of-the-way area aft of the

shears. It was his way ofgiving me a chance tospeak in private ofanything that was on mymind. He was probablythinking of our ratherunconventional departure,but we spoke instead ofMidway, now below thehorizon but with itspositionstillmarkedbyanarea of aquamarine sky.How tremendously its

location had affectedJapanese strategy. TheEmpire’s South andCentral Pacific outpostshad all become secure inoperations following PearlHarbor.Japaneseconquestof Midway and thesouthern Aleutians wouldhave completed aperimeter of bases fromwhich their patrol planescould keep track of our

navaloperations.WiththeU.S. Pacific Fleet ashambles, a move againstMidway was consideredimminent, and Argonauthadpatrolledtherefortwomonths awaiting theaction. A submarine withtwo 6-inch, 53-caliberguns and 78 mines todefend an atoll, but shewas the best our navycould do. Japan had the

capability back then butdelayed too long. Whenthe battle did come, inearly June, 1942, theenemy split his forces andlost four carriers to ourone. Our victory in theBattleofMidwaywaswondearly,fornearlyallofourtorpedo bombers werelost.But their low-altitudeattacks had diverted theattentionof theZekesand

permitted our dive-bomberstocarryouttheirtask against the fleet sosuccessfully. Now it wasevidentthatthisbattlehadbeentherealturningpointofthewarinthePacific.Wehadjustreceivedour

finestrefit,soeventhoughno longer near the van,Midway continued tomake it possible for Tang

and other submarines tobe there. The charts Frazand Jones had broughtaboard toldofourgeneraldestination, but I wishedthatthosemeninthereliefcrew and others who hadworked on our equipmentmight have seen ourOperationOrder.Ballingerwould now have postedthe pertinent part in thecrew’s mess, and to all

hands the directive wouldmore than formalize therumors;itwouldprovideathrill and a seriouschallengeaswell.Thefirstlines read: “When in allrespects ready for sea andpatrol proceed by routesouth of Kure Reef to theNampo Shoto and areas 4and 5. Conduct offensivepatrolagainstallshipping.There will be no friendly

submarinesintheadjacentareas….”To any seasoned

submariner these twoareas had long held thegreatest possibilities—andthe thunder, for theycovered the whole southandapartoftheeastcoastof Honshu, the maincentral island of theJapanese Empire. We had

rounded up a goodlynumberofpertinentpatrolreports, some dating backto the first months of thewar. The tactics mighthave changed since someoftheseearlierpatrols,butthe areas had not, andthere was just a chancethat some of the tacticshad come full circle. Wewouldhaveonlyaweektostudy the reports, for they

would all go to DavyJones’s locker before weentered the areas, or atleast before moving ontosoundings.We would make ourtrim dive in the eveningafterallthemessgearwassecured, trash dumped inweighted sacks, and theritual of sanitariescompleted. It had proved

to be a good time on ourlast patrol, and onsurfacing would befollowed by the movies.Here was our ship on thesame course, at the samespeed, following the sameroutine, and now anotherpair of football legs wasblocking the passagewayforward.TheybelongedtoEnsignBasilC.Pearce,Jr.,fromPalatka,Florida,who

had come to Tang on thesame recommendation ashad Charles. In amomenthisfeetweresolidlyonthedeck,andafteranapology,which was unnecessarybut did no harm, Basilfollowed me into thewardroom.It was good to see and

hear the wardroombuzzing again, and never

hadacupofcoffeeat justtherighttemperature,hot,been servedmore quickly.Fraz had already toldWalker that I chose toconsider his antics inholdingupTang’ssailingapart of our leave andrecreation. How could itbe otherwise when, intruth, all hands hadenjoyed this episode; andbesides, pending mast

caseswerenot compatiblewith the requirements ofpatrol.The watch schedule

worked in well, givingBasil the first dive. Larrystood in the background,nodoubtgrittinghisteethabit,butIhadseenworsedives by experiencedofficers. Our seasonedplanesmen and chief

would help any dive, ofcourse, but if weconcentrated on our newofficers, they should beready by the time wereached theNampoShoto.Such demands on youngofficers, especially oneswho had not had anopportunity to attendsubmarine school, wouldhave been deemedpreposterousaslateastwo

yearsbefore.Wewerenotasking for a totalperformance, however,justonethatwouldgetourship safely below, towhere shipmates couldassistifnecessary.This evening Fraz

brought down the chart,with the position of hisstar fix plotted and thenrun ahead to 2000. We

weredoingwellandwouldpass Kure Reef during thenight. A change in coursewould be in order butcould better wait untilafter themorning star fix,when we would not beturning toward a shoalduring darkness. The onlytime that the cautionsdemanded by goodseamanship might takesecond placewaswhen in

pursuitoftheenemy.Thisnight I penned normalnight orders, but withadditional informationstressing some points forournewofficers.Proceedingoncourse270°true at 80/90 on twomainengines. The SD radar issecured and will be turnedononlywithmypermission.The SJ heaters are on.

Require sweeps and reportsby the operator every 10minutes, and searchcontinuously commencing ahalf hour before morningtwilighttilldaylight.When in the conning

tower, and as time permits,reread the standing nightorders. Make all requiredreports and demand thereportsyouaretoreceive.

Do not be lulled by the2,500miles betweenusandthe enemy’s front door. Hecanbeherejustassurelyaswewillbethere.Donothesitatetocallme

tothebridge,ortodive.

Our new course was 282degreestrue.Wehadcomeright the 12 degrees at1230, after Frank’s noon

sun line had verified ourlatitude. He was still ourseniorwatchofficerbutattimes would take himselffrom the list during thistransit to navigate. Theopportunity to work withbothFrazandJonescouldbeinvaluable.Otherswerelearning,too,forourshorttraining period had beenonly an introduction forCharles, Basil, and our

eight new unqualifiedmen. Some dives werescheduled,butotherswerenot so that this trainingwould approximate theexpectedoperationsofftheEmpire. In order not toslow the transit, firecontrol drills were heldwhile we cruised on thesurface, using soundbearings and propellernoisesgeneratedbyTang’s

shaving brush-microphonemethod.These propeller sounds

were serving a dualpurpose, for Tang had anew gadget. I had longthought it archaic for asound operator to count aship’s propeller beat withstopwatch in hand,keeping in phasewith therhythm by either a hand

motion or a bouncingknee, like a bandleader.Then came thequadruplingordoublingofthe count if its durationwas for 15 or 30 secondsinstead of a minute.Detecting a speed change,except for an experiencedsoundman, was likewisetime-consuming,sometimescomingtoolatetocorrecta firingsolution

speed error. There wereinstant-readingtachometers for enginerevolutions, even strobedisks for homephonographs; why wasn’ttheresomethingtogiveusan instantaneous readingfor propeller sounds? Apulsingsoundornotethatthesoundmancouldmatchwith the propeller rhythmseemed a workable

solution.BackinDecember,Ihad

been walking pastShermanClay&Co.inSanFrancisco when ametronome in theirwindow caught my eye. Iwent inside to find thatthey had an electric one,the works contained in asmall, gray metal box. Ahusky knob swung a

pointer along a curvedscale, which was alreadygraduated in beats perminute, and the rangecovered that of thepropeller beats ofmerchantmen and heavyships.For fast screws, likea destroyer’s, themetronome’s beats mightbe matched with everyother propeller swish.Time would not permit

official purchase by theU.S. Navy—and such adevice for a submarinewouldcertainlyraisesomeeyebrows—so, still feelingflush with recentlyacquired submarine pay, Iboughtmyshipapresent.We had figured variousways of feeding themetronome’s beat into theaudioendoftheJKsound

receiver so that theoperator would hear it inhisearphones,butthetaskhad low priority, and wewere seeking perfection.Our coming operations,where information fromsound could be of specialimportance, had changedall of that, and Midwaymounted the little graybox on a bracket adjacentto the receiver,where the

soundman, with hisheadsetpushedoffhisearsa bit, could hear it direct.Therewasnocoercion,butour soundmen found itworked fine on thepropeller sounds wegenerated in the forwardtorpedoroom.Somewouldreserve judgment till wehadarealenemyship,butasthecaptain’sgadget,themetronome was

undoubtedly assured of afairshake.At general quarters,

whentheywereonwatch,but especially in thewardroom, we weregetting to know our newofficers. My firstimpressionofCharles as aquiet Southern gentlemanneededsomemodification.Charles fitted in with the

rest of us, and when itcametothrowinganacey-deucey or pegging out, hecould be as noisy asanyone else. With Hank,Frank,Dick,andnowBasilaboard, the wardroomneeded but one to roundout a basketball team.Basil, likeDick,wasarealall-American boy, pushedinto growing up by theserious threat to our

nation; he would fit inanywhere.Before Tang crossed thearcs of possible enemy airpatrols, I made mycustomary inspection ofour boat. It was for onepurpose, to assure myselfthat all was secured forsea. Someone else’s wordinthiswasnotenough,forunless he had slugged it

through a hurricane ortyphoononthesurface,hecould not appreciate itsimportance. One piece ofheavy gear adrift almostsurely meant injuries anddamageaswell.Thewalk-through took little time,for loose gear had beenwell lashed. Havingobserved the effort, Iwouldnothavetogivethematteranotherthoughton

thispatrol.Fraz dropped by mycabin after dinner toadvise me that we wouldbe within range of patrolplanes from Marcus atdawn, and this threatwould carry through untilpatrols from the NampoShoto area might beexpected. It was just adouble check, for we had

changed to the eastlongitude date,whichwasalways confusing, and heknew I would want toinclude extra precautionsin the night orders. Wewould meet the smalladditional hazard withextra lookouts, as we hadbefore. At my invitation,he occupied the preferredchair, my bunk, and westudied the ship contacts

he had tabulated fromreportsofpreviouspatrolsin our areas. They werenot yet plotted but listedby date withcorresponding latitudesand longitudes. Over thepast several months thecontacts had dropped offsteadily, and a glance attheir latitudes showedpractically all of them tothenorth,closetoHonshu,

on coastal shipping. Wehadnopatrolreportsfromthe last quarter, but aprivatemessagewrittenbyAdmiral Lockwoodcoveredthat. IhandedthepennednotetoFraz.

DearDick,

IwanttotellyouwhyIamsending you and your Tangright back to the Empire,with hardly a breather. We

havehadtwopoor,andnowa dry patrol in these areas,the boats reporting a dearthofshipping.

Intelligence reportsindicate that the merchanttraffic must be there, and Iam certain that Tang canrediscoverit.

Sincerely,andGodspeed,C.A.Lockwood

Fraz read the note and

didn’t bat an eye. “Itrequires nothing that wewouldn’t do anyway,” hecommented, and in everyrespect he was absolutelyright.“Well, we don’t need

intelligence to tell us thatthe ships are there andrunning. The war is stillgoing on, so they have tobeeitherloadingoratsea,

but I don’t expect thatwe’ll find them offsoundings, or off the ten-fathom curve for thatmatter. Of course theadmiral’s note underlinesmyresponsibilities.”Fraz’sanswerwasanod.We both knew that thisnotewas a compliment toour ship and offered achallengetoeachofus.

Tang continued to enjoyyachting weather, withflying fish skimmingawayfrom her bow. Ourcamouflage seemed to beservingadualpurpose,fornightly a few fish wouldland on deck. Walkerundoubtedly hadsomething to do with thesupply brought below, forFrank reported meetinghim topside before the

crack of dawn, waiting toscurry about the deck assoonas theirwhiteshapeswere visible in the firstgray light. Fish forbreakfast remained thecaptain’s prerogative,thoughnowothersshared,especiallyFrankonFridayfor,hepointedout,hewasagoodCatholicandthusabonafide“fisheater.”

UnliketheNanseiShoto,whose spacing makes ittroublesomefornearly150miles below Kyushu, theNampo Shoto has aconvenient passage. Fortymileswide,itliesbetweenMikura Jima and HachijoJima. The track that thenavigator had laid downon our chart passed tenmiles south of MikuraJima. Only about eight

miles in diameter andrisingtonearly3,000feet,this volcanic islandwouldmake an excellent radartarget and serve as ourlandfall as well. This wasTang’s destination onAugust 8, as a clear dawnpromisedanotherfineday.The yachting endedabruptly with Basil’sbooming“Clearthebridge!

Clear the bridge!” He hadhooked them up in series,whichwas fine as long asthe lookouts didn’t freezein their tracks. Tang slidunder the seas for 30minutes, until a Bettybomber at about eightmiles disappeared on tothe south.The timeof thesighting was 0950, and iftherewere still somewhodidn’t believe we were in

enemy waters, anotherbomber at 1410 was theconvincer. The range onthissightingwastoogreatfor identification, and thiswas as it should be. Wewere reasonably certainthat neither plane hadsighted us, but Bettys hadplayedtricksonusbefore.Withafullcan,andplentyof time on our side, wecruised submerged for an

extra half hour, contentthatnoZekesorotherfastbombersarrived.Tangwasonthelast leg

of the transit, on course273 degrees true, andaccording to ournavigators, Mikura Jimashould loom up atmidnight. A cheer carriedforward from the crew’smess; someone just going

on watch or perhaps justrelieved had won theirpool. The time was 2359,and on a hunch, based inpartonreportsofpossiblenearby radar installations,Tang moved quietly 20miles into her area,southwesttoInambaJima.It is a small pinnacle,uninhabitable, and wasthus even more suitablefor checking our SJ. This

wouldserveasareferencepoint for our submergedpatrolatdawn.

Jones had plotted all oftheavailable shipcontactsin this immediate portionof the Nampo Shoto andhaddrawninamedian. Itturned out to be aconvenient north-southline about halfwaybetween Inamba and

Mikura Jima, and Tangwould patrol along thattrack on this August 9 asshe worked her waytoward Honshu. The finalchecks of the SJ and TDCwere completed, and twounhurried blasts sent ourship beneath the calmthough slightly rollingseas.Our chances of a good

ship contact had, ofcourse, been reduced bythe Japanese loss of theMarianas in June. Thisvery loss, however,increased the importanceof the Bonins. Lyinghalfway between Japanand the Marianas, theseislands were ideallysituated as a base forinterceptors that mightthen thwart any planned

bombing raids coming totheEmpirefromSaipanorGuam. Building up thenecessary facilities wouldrequire shipping, two-wayshipping,andthepreviousday’s patrols might wellindicate that some of thistraffic was under way. Inanycase,thiswasabetterspot to patrol than in theopenseabetweenhereandthecentralcoast.

The day wore on butwith willing handsstanding by for turns ononeof the scopes.Thoughon frequent searches thelenses were 26 feet abovethe surface, nothing butthe two islands came insight, not even a sampan.Still, itwas turningout tobeagooddayforournewmen and officers, for thiswas their first opportunity

for full watches on theplanes and with the dive.For each section, Tang’splank-owners gavedemonstrations in the artof slow-speed control ondown to stoppedand thenbalancing.We had worked

northwardslowly,acrossasubmerged mountain 300fathoms down, good for a

Fathometer test, whenBasil sighted possiblesmoketothewest,beyonda small pinnacle and reefcalled Zeni Su. Fraz hadsearched with the samehigh scope by the time Ireached the conningtower, and I followed.Neither of us couldidentify anything, but aswe had long ago learnedfrom reports from

lookouts, no tentativesighting could bediscounted. Three blastssent us up into the fadinglight to investigate. Radarand7×50ssearchingoutinto the night found onlyZeni Su, a nice-soundingname but a treacherousshoal and pinnacle. Thesearchhadnottakenusfaroff our track to the coast;we were unhurried, and

nothingwaslost.As it turned out, the

short jaunt to westwardshowed the desirability ofcontinuing on the sameheading so that we mightthen approach Honshunormal to the beachline,directly to an open bightwest of Omae Saki. Thisposition lay close to themiddleofourtwoassigned

patrol areas and seemedagood place for a starter.More important, shippingbetween Nagoya andTokyo and from otherports would be visible formilesasitproceededalongthisstraightcoastline,thuspractically guaranteeing asuccessful submarinetorpedo attack. Anotherfeature, and perhaps ofgreater significance to the

submariner, was the 100-fathom curve. In thisvicinity only, it curves towithinonemileoftheten-fathom curve and threemiles from the beach.After an attack in thisposition, Tang should beable to reach deepsubmergence in 15minutes,maybeless.Of course the enemy

knew all of these things,too, but there was onlyone way to find out whathe had done about them.Even with our dogleg,there were only 70 milesto go. The battery chargewas completed beforemidnight, and we movedin slowly, now headingdue north. Not knowingwhat may lie ahead andhavingtimetothinkabout

it is not a goodcombination, but weresistedournaturalurgetoclose the bight during thedark night. Anunsuspected patrol boatmight then thwart thereconnaissance that was apart of our mission and asubsequent attack, too.Better that we continueclosingslowlyanddivefora daylight examination of

the beach as well aspatrolsandshipping.AquickSJ sweepanda

single ping soundingchecked Fraz’s position;Tang had passed the 300-fathom curve 15 mileswest of Omae Saki andwas now six miles fromthe shore. Just asemblanceof gray showedin the east, and the coast

of Honshu appeared onlyas a fuzzy line tonorthward.IfollowedFrazbelow, and then cameCharles’s “Clear thebridge,” the diving alarm,and the roar through thevents.Wewereonourwayforaclose-upofHirohito’smain island and perhapshisshipping,too.Thetimewas0441,and

nowwewouldgothroughaperiodofblindnessuntilthere was sufficient lightfor the scopes. With twoscopes, one of them couldcertainly have beendesigned for better lighttransmission. The Britishhadlonghadsuchascope,but our construction hadfollowed the ideas ofsubmarine warfare asvisualized in the Geneva

Convention, of asubmergible raider thatwould bring an enemyship to and then sink itonly after all hands weresafe in the boats. Ofcourse, this could only bedone in daylight. Itwas anice thought, put forthafter the “war to end allwars,” and none of uswould have objected if itwas in any way practical.

Thatwas thebasis forourtemporary blindness, butthe solution was now athand due to thedevelopment of a radarscope. It had moregenerous optics and wasconsequently an excellentlight-catcher. We’d makeanother try for one atPearl.

“Bearing—mark! Range—mark!”camefromFrankonthesearchscope,tryingout his new qualification.Frazcalledthebearing,55

degrees, and Ogden,ducking under him, readthe stadimeter range of12,000 yards as the scopewentdown.“It’s aPC type,Captain,nearly hull down. Theangleisfortyport.”I liked Frank’s positivereport;hedidnothemandhaw but made his oneestimate. As in answering

a true-false quiz, the firstestimate of an angle wasgenerally the best. Therewasnoactiontobetaken,forthepatrolwascrossingfrom starboard to port,except to see if a shipmight be following. Thiswas asking too much insuchashorttimesinceourdive,butnowboth scopeswere busy, one searchingto the east and the other

following the PC typeescort off to thewest andchecking relative bearingswithsound.Therangehadactually been closer, forOgden had read thestadimeteroppositea100-foot masthead height,which was our practiceuntil a ship was at leastpartially identified. Thispatrol probably had aheight of 70, and that

would have to be reducedto the height above thehorizon.Walkerbroughtcoffeeto

the conning tower, butFrazandIdecidedtohavean early breakfast to gowithit.NowwithFrankatthecon, thismightbeouronlychanceinwhatcouldbeabusyday.“I thinkwe shouldhave

moved in closer, Fraz. It’sthesameoldthing,twoofus on the bridge and weget too cautious,” Icommented halfwaythrough a plate of baconandeggs.“Speaking as thenavigator, I like justwhatwe’re doing. We couldhavebeenrightunderfoot,and that PC could have

spoiled our whole day.We’renotrushed.”Wewerecooperativebutfrank, almost a must injoining the enemy.Already, even beforebreakfast, we knew therewould be shipping. ThatPC was not out herepleasure cruising, and wehad the time to wait forthe big ones. The hours

might be a little wearing,and some shifting of thewatchwouldbenecessary,especiallyasweclosedtheten-fathom curve, wherewe could afford nomistakes. Fraz, Frank, andBallinger would take careofthis,withmystipulationthat our two new officerswould take the dive withone of our experiencedofficersand,notknownto

them, would have thebacking of our mostexperienced petty officerswhen in the conningtower.Themorningwatch hadbeen relieved a full hourwhenthe1MChummedinwardroom country,followed instantly by“Captain to the conningtower!” This use of the

1MCindicatedacontactoran emergency, and I wasonmywayup the ladder.Thecontactwasthere,buttheemergencyhadpassed;Tangwasonthebeamofalarge engine-aft ship,which was passingunbelievably close to thebeach. Her escorts werethree patrolling bombers,but they made littledifference, for at 6,000

yards we were hopelesslyoutofposition.Battle stations had been

sounded automatically,and now we tracked theship on down the coast,notlosingsightofheruntiltheTDC’s generated rangehad passed 13,000. Shewasmaking12knots, andhadwefirstspottedheratthat range, Tang could

handily have reached anattack position. Theresponsibility was stillmine, and in all fairness,tracking a ship until itdisappeared was quite adifferent thing frommaking a first sighting,especially under thesecircumstances.Thisforenoondrillledto

a discussion in the

wardroom,whileFraztookthe con and Ballingerassumed the dive.Obviously, Ed felt guilty,butthatwassquaredawayin a hurry. None of uscould say that we wouldhave sighted this shipearlier, but we could goover carefully all of thethings to look for inspotting a distant enemyship that was close

inshore.Thepuffofsmokeor light brown haze, ofcourse, but the mast,cantedorstraight,thatdidnot match with the trees,and the relativemovement, or lack of it,betweentreesandpolesasthe submarine movedparallel to thebeachwerethe items to discern. Aninconsistency mightdisclose the masts of a

ship, and even a hunchwas worthy ofreexamination,witnesstheYamaokaMaru.Istillknewno better way ofdescribing the requiredeffortthanbysaying,“Justput your eyeball on thebeach,up the coast to thehorizon,andsqueezeuntilit hurts. Then switch eyesfor a sweep around andanother high-power

search.”Fraz gave us an

unrehearsed but nicelytimed demonstration.Beforewehadfinishedourcoffee,Iwaswantedintheconning tower again. Hehadapatrolcomingupthecoast, perhaps the sameonewehadseenatdawn.Avoiding her was noproblem, and we

continued toward theshore. Ed took back theconandletusgetasfarascontrol before soundingthe general alarm forbattlestations.TheBellsofSt. Mary’s left no doubt;ourmanofactionhadfourbombersinsight,andbackof their patrolling patterncame an old type loadedtanker. Shewas also closein and heading for Omae

SakiandTokyo.Jones read352, I called55 starboard, and Tangwas off and running with15 degrees right rudder.Fraz and Frank wouldcome down with thecourse to intercept beforewe had swung past, andthe moderate rudderwould not greatly affectour acceleration. Jones

had read the stadimeterrange before lowering thescope on down into thewell.Withthis8,000yardsand an assumed enemyspeed of 10 knots, theproblemplottedessentiallyas an equilateral triangle.Weeachhad to traversealeg toward the easternapex, but Tang held anadvantage, for hertorpedoes at 46 knots

would take over for thelastthousandyards.“Ease her down toeighty feet, Larry.” Withthis command he wouldnot put more than 2 or 3degreesdown-angleontheboat andwould thus keepour propellers frommomentarilyrisingasTangpivoted down about hercenterofbuoyancy.Itwas

just another precaution toinsure that the bombersoverhead would not sighta slick or swirl about ourpropsintheflat,calmsea.We were settled oncourse050,onwhatmightbe our only leg of thisapproach. Thiswas a newsituation for most of thecrew, since the enemycouldnotzigawayandan

attack was virtually acertainty. There weredisadvantages, too, fortimewouldnotpermitthefrequent observations thatmade for precise tracking.The hour was now 1020,ten minutes into theapproach, and we slowedfor a sound bearing andpossible look. Caverlycalled 345 true; we hadgained a little but could

not afford the delay of anobservation.Betterthatwesave a few moments forquickchecksbefore firing.Standard speed rolled uson.Itwas1030,anothertenminutes into the run, andas we slowed Larrybroughtusuptoperiscopedepth. Caverly called thebearing,nochange.Welch

called our speed, 4 knots.Jonesawaitedmynodandbrought the scope upsmartly;Irodeitonuptillthe lens was clear of thesurface. The enemy wascoming on big and fat,completelyblack,andwithanungainlytallstackaft.“Bearing—mark!” Jonesread315relative.“Range—mark!”Heread

the stadimeteron thewaydown, 1,300 yards;Caverly’s echo rangecorrected it to 1,200.There were three minutesto go. The outer doorswere open forward.Another periscope bearingand echo range checkedwith the TDC’spresentation. Tang wassteady on course. Theclockread1034.

“Five degrees to go,”Fraz warned. Jones hadthescope’shandlesatdecklevel. I glanced at thedepth gauge, right on at64feet,andheldmyhandsat waist height; thehandlesrodeupintothem.“Constant bearing—mark!” She was racingacrossthesteadywire.“Set!” Frank called. Her

sterncameon.“Fire!” Fraz hit theplunger—he consideredthis his prerogative—andourfirsttorpedowasonitsway with a healthy zing.The second and third fishwent to the tanker’smiddle and at her bow.Aquick sweep showed threebombers still out ahead,thefourthwasnotinsight.

Ididnotsearch.“Right full rudder. All

ahead standard. Get asounding, Caverly.” Wewould be turning towarddeep water during thetorpedo run. Fraz checkedthepreparedcardopposite1,200 yards for the timeandread58.8seconds.Wewouldnotworryaboutthetenths, just the whole 35

secondstogo—andtheseabottom, for Caverly hadjust reported two fathomsunder our keel. With but12 feet for verticalmaneuvering in anyevasion,wemight aswellstayatperiscopedepth,atleast until the torpedoeshadtimetodotheirwork.The58secondsforthefirsttorpedo had passed, andnow an additional 15

seconds for the next two.Therewerenoexplosions.We slowed, steadied ondue south, and sneaked alook. The tanker was stillproceeding, but a fewsecondslater, twominutesafter our firing, shereversedcoursetotheleft.We pulled in our neck,riggedinoursoundheads,grabbedanothersounding,

and started deep, nowthoroughly expecting abomb or aerial depth-chargeattack.Oursurprisecame when we rolled onthe bottom, but oursubmarine was tough andcouldtakethingslikethis.At least all hands nowknewthatweweregettingthemintothesafetyofthedeepasfastaspossible.

Therewouldbenomorehunting in this vicinitytoday, at least not of thekind we wanted, so afterreaching400feetwecameright to course 250. Thiswould keep Tang outsidethe100-fathomcurveforatimewhile we caught ourbreathandstillparallelthecoast for possible latercontact.Nothingstirred.

“Would you like to goover the firing data now,Captain?” Fraz inquiredafter we had reached thewardroom.Itwascertainlya good time, here in thequiet with nothing likelyto disturb us, but it wastoo soon after the attack.The excitement andfrustrationsofthemorningwould need an hour tosubside, and then we

would be able to examineour failuremore logically.The morning was not atotalloss,however,forwenowknewofoneplace tointercept ships that wereplyingbetweenTokyoandthe many ports to thewest. That the enemywould continue sendingshipsalongthisflatstretchof coastline without theproper surface escorts

seemed doubtful indeed.Still,thiswasapartofthegame, and while theJapanese worried aboutthe Omae Saki area, wewouldattackelsewhere.Anhourafter the firing,with no screws, pings, orother soundson theJKorJP,westartedtheclimbtoperiscope depth. Ourascent was cautious,

leveling off at 80 feetwhile Larry adjusted thetrim.Thequicklow-powerperiscope sweep and thecareful high-power searchdisclosed nothing excepttheshoreline to thenorth,not even a plane. Asoundingshowedusacrossthe 100-fathom curve, alittle farther to the norththan expected but on thelineforanafternoonpatrol

off the Irago Suido, thestrait leading to Ise Wan,the large, shallow baybelowNagoya.After lunch, Frank andthebattlestationstrackingparty reran the completeapproach through theTDC. Again theQuartermasters Notebookwas invaluable. Betweenthe information from it

and the true, ornavigational, plot, thewhole situation wasrecreatedand run throughto its conclusion. Frank,Mel,andDickbrought theresults down to thewardroom. In addition,they had made a large-scale plot of the firing,whichshowedthetorpedotracks and that of theenemy. We should have

had hits, at least two ofthem; with an averagetorpedo track of 110degrees—torpedoescoming in on the targetfrom 20 degrees abaft thebeam—large variations inthe enemy’s course wouldresult in practically thesameleadangle.Wecouldhavehadsomespeederrorsincefiringjust24minutesafter first sighting was

somethingakintoshootingfrom the hip. Still, thefinal setups includedaccurateechorangestogowith exact periscopebearings, and thesepositively fixed thetanker’s position andchecked the speeddetermination.Itwouldbeeasier ifwecould find a simple error,

something that we couldcorrect before the nextfiring, but now we wereconsidering the torpedoesthemselves.Wehad heardzingsastheyleftthetubes,but our own screw noisehad blanked them out aswe turned toward deepwater.Theplaneshadnotsightedtheirwakes,whichwould have led right toour firing position, or

surelywewouldhavebeenattacked. Still, somethingalerted the enemy aboutone minute after thetorpedoes shouldhavehit.Wewere in part guessing,butthereseemedonlyoneconclusion: The hardbottomoffHonshuhadnotbeen as kind to ourtorpedoes and theirwarheads as had the mudat Amma To, and this

could also account fortheirnotexplodingon thebeach 2,000 yards beyondthetanker.Idonotbelievethatanyoneofuswassurethatwehad arrived at the correctanswer,butweweremostcertainly not trying toblame the torpedoes. Amisswasamissregardlessof the cause, but on

subsequent attacks wewould try to fire fromdeeper water if possible.Distant depth chargesbroughtthediscussiontoaclose. Sound located thedetonations in a broadbandacrossourstern,andwewerequitesatisfiednotto be able to see theenemy during a singlesearch with 20 feet ofscope.Itwas1500,andwe

changed course to thesouthwest to keep wellclear of Daio Saki. Thefour hours to dark passedroutinely, giving mosthands an opportunity torest up. The time was1920,andthreeblastssentus toward the surface tocontinueoursearchfortheenemy.

All had appeared darkthrough the scopes, butnowwith7×50sandthefaint light from the upperlimb of the moon, ourlookouts would spot anyshiporpatrol that crossedour horizon. It gave us asecure feeling, as did the

two diesels jammingenergy back into Tang’sbatteries.Whenthegravitywas sufficient for anotherday submerged,wewouldmove on to the southwestcoast of Honshu, an easyhour’s run ahead. For themoment, our positionbelowtheshoalsextendingdown from Daio Sakiseemed ideal. Any sizableshipping would have to

pass at least five milessouth of the point, andcontact would be almostguaranteed. The topsidewatch was quiet andintent.There was a mixture of

business and pleasurebelow.Willinghandswerebeating down amound ofdough on the forwardstarboard table in the

crew’s mess. It hadobviously risenmore thanusualinourlong,hotdiveand was attracting moreattention than the acey-deucey.Toport,atthefarend of the crew’swashroom, two handsfromthedutysectionweretaking their turn atrunning the sacks ofaccumulated laundrythroughthemachine.They

would then hang it onlines in one engine room,and since it was wellmarked each man couldeasily retrieve his own.Thisnightlydetail insuredclean skivvies daily andprovidedachangeofpacefor those involved. Aft,electricians andmotormacs were at theirstations in the enginerooms and maneuvering,

meticulously following thecurves that guided thecharge. In the batterywells, below the livingspaces, others werechecking the specificgravity of the pilot cellsand then recording theventilation flow meters inthe living spaces above. Itwas all business, seriousbusiness, except in theforward torpedo room,

wheretheusualmoviewasin progress before a fullhouse. The whole scenewould surely have givenanyone a feeling ofsatisfaction andconfidence.Apause in themovie toannouncethatthesmokinglamp was out indicatedthat the battery chargewas on the finishing rate.

The extra hydrogen nowbeing generated would becarried away by theblowersat theirmaximumspeed; still, everyprecautionwouldbetakento insure that there couldbe no explosion. Theannouncement also meantthatwe couldmove on tothe coast and carry outany operation, night orday,evenboth ifneedbe.

We were not unhappy atleaving this spot, for DaioSaki, according to theintelligence supplementaccompanying ourOperation Order, had 252megacycleradar.ItdidnotshowonourAPR-1,whichwas coupled to the raisedSD antenna, beforesurfacing nor after ourdecks were high and dry.Still, an enemy radio

technician could just becompleting the lastconnection on a newmodulation network, andone pip would eliminatesurprise. At least theseconsiderations provided agoodenoughreasontogeton with our exploration,which anyone wouldprefer.The coast loomed up

black,abitforebodingandeerie as we followed the100-fathom curve duewesttowithinfivemilesofthe shore. The curveturned southward, downthe coast, and its lineserved as a ready-madetrack for Fraz and Jones,one from which Tangdeparted to investigatevarious locations butwhich remained as a safe

guide.Exceptfora15-milestraight portion, the coastwas marked by large andsmall bays withintervening sharpheadlands,somewithdeepwater nearly to the cliffs.The best of thesepromontories was MikiSaki, about halfway downthecoast,andwedoubledbackatmidnighttoinsurereaching it before the

crackofdawn.Frank temporarily filledin forFrazashadMort inthe Yellow Sea. Perhapshaving two execs was theanswer for successfullypatrolling the Empire, fornowFrazandIhadnearlyfourhours toget in shapefor another inshore day.We relaxed with Mel andCharles, who had just

come off watch, andreviewed what we hadseen while waiting forAdams’s apricot turnoversto come out of the oven.Wewereunanimousintheopinion that no ship hadsneaked by so far thisnight, but I was alone inbelieving that the enemyhad to run some nightshipping. Surely theenormous losses he had

suffered made getting theavailable bottoms throughwithoutdelayallthemoreimperative. But night orday,wemeanttofindandsinkhisships.An hour or so passed

before the heat from thebattery charge wasdissipated and the coolpredawn air returned theliving spaces tonormal. It

was still not a night forsleeping,asFrankand theOODkeptme informed ofTang’s progress up thecoast. Then came theanticipated report fromFrank:NigishimaSakiwasabeamandwehadslowedas directed. The nextpoint, only five milesfarther on, would beMikiSaki. The duty chief,Hudson, had the morning

watch relieve a fewminutes early so as not toconfuse the pending dive.Frazgavethecoursetothepoint, 280 true, and Tangcame to it. When westeadied,Miki Saki’s blackshape showed up deadahead.Thetimewas0400.Eighteen minutes later,threemilesfromthepoint,Dick’s firm “Clear thebridge” and well-spaced

blasts sent our ship belowthesea.Tang continued on

course, blind for the nexthalf hour. Then detailsgradually becamediscernible, first the shoreand then almostsimultaneously the bowwake of a patrol andsmoke. Before we couldreach an approach course,

this escort and a largeengine-aftshiphadduckedaround Miki Saki intoKadaWan and then downthe coast. Whippingaround that point at fullspeed, exposingthemselves for onlyminutes,hadbeenasmartmove. Even if in position,a submarine would havehad no time for tracking,andforthemomentweall

knewhowCaseyatthebatmusthavefelt.The enemy’s patrolactivity increased steadily.At least one echo-rangingpatrolwas in sight almostcontinuously, and anothercruised back and forthabout1,000yardsoffMikiSaki. The action of thislatter patrol dictated ourown tactics; Tang would

simply do the same 2,000yardsfartheroutandmovein to attack the next ship.By presenting a minimumangle for her ping, wewould probably not giveheranecho,andtherewasplentyofwaterforevasionif we did. Fraz joined mefor a late breakfast. Dickand Larry had alreadyfinished but stayed formorecoffeeandperhapsto

hearifwehadanythingtosay.Wedid,butnotaboutthe first ship; that wasalreadyinthepast.IcouldtellwhatFrazwasgoingtosay by his smile and thelookinhiseye.“This is the spot,

Captain.” I answered withanod.“Thatmakesfiveofusin

agreement,” said Larry.

“I’mincludingtheJaps,ofcourse.” He had hit it onthebutton; find thepatrolactivityandyou’dfindtheships.Larryhandedmethephone, which had buzzedto my left. The Japanesehad just added somethingnew, simple, and possiblyeffective to theirantisubmarinearsenal;Melhad a small-craft in sight,resemblingalandingcraft,

carrying six lookouts. Healso reported the winddying. Fraz went up tosurvey the situation,and Ifollowedshortlyafter.The sea had becomesmooth and glassy, andjustcuttinginourpositionnow required minimumperiscope exposure lest itbesighted.Thiswasmademoredifficultbythespeed

required to overcome thecountercurrent setting usto the south; we had toslow before each look sothatourscopewouldshowno feather. The inshorepatroldidnothelp,either,for just as we wereregaining our position, soit seemed, we would beforced to steer coursesacrossthecurrentinorderto present a minimum

angleandthusweresettothe south again. It allmadeforatryingmorning,further aggravated by thesmall-craft, who did agood job of making anuisance of herself. Thesituation became moreserious at 1244, when amodern-looking gunboat,loadedwithdepthcharges,forced us on down as shepassed nearly overhead.

On our way back toperiscope depth, sounddetectedloudpingingonabearing different from thegunboat’s. Jones and Frazquickly had the generalcourse plotted as comingup the coast. Thisantisubmarine patrol wasnotasbigasherping,butwhatshelackedinsizeshemade up in savvy. Whenabreast of Miki Saki, she

turneddirectlytowardourscope and succeeded inbluffing us off the 50-fathom curve as we keptour stern to her. Thereason for this tacticbecame apparent when atanker nosed out of KadaWan, to the south, andducked around Miki Sakiwith Tang again in noposition to attack. Infairness to our ship and

Hank, who had been onthescope, luckytimingbytheescortwasabigfactor.The patrol was back onour quarter when sheturned towards, and toswing toward her wouldhavemeantpresentingourbroadside to her pingbefore our aspect wouldagainsharpen.Withashipin sight, an aggressivesubmarine commander

would have done thisanyway, but the ship hadcome minutes later andHank was not incommand. It was myresponsibility, and nexttime we would turntowards and go under theSOB.In midafternoon we

were still at itwhenquitesuddenly our periscopes

commenced fogging asthey had in the YellowSea. A check with thebathythermographgaveustheanswer;changingtideswere bringing cold seasfrom the deep to thesurface near shore. Ourchilled lenses now foggedalmost instantly onexposure to the humidmidsummerairandwouldnot clear for several

seconds. The longerexposures led to thesighting of our scope bythe pesky small-craft. Shewas tenacious andextremely difficult toshake, remaining in ourimmediate vicinity foroveranhourandprobablycalling like mad forassistance fromoneof thepatrols. This tomfoolerycame to a screeching halt

with the Bells of St.Mary’s.We had smoke, two

columns of it, coming upthecoast,andTang,nowabittothenorthinshakingthe small-craft,wasoff ona high-speed run intoOwashi Wan. Welch tookthe wheel, Jones steppedoverasmyassistantonthescope,Ogdenwenttoplot,

Caverly to sound. Inmoments the immediatebattle stations weremanned, and an air ofconfidence seemed topermeate the conningtower. This would be nofly-by-night approach andattack; we’d be all set forthese ships when theycame by. The time was1635, over 12 hours intothedive.

Fraz had plotted theapproximate track of thetankerthathadslippedbyearlyintheafternoon,anda spot on this track wasour destination. Atstandard speed downhereat80feet,wewouldcauseno turbulence and shouldleave our small-craft stillsearching some four milesbehind out in 80 fathoms.Tang should still have 40

fathoms,ornearly180feetunder her keel, when shereachedthetrack,andthatwas more than we hadenjoyed almost anywhereintheYellowSea.Thehalf-hourrunpassedslowly, seemingly minutebyminute. I held up bothhands, fingers extended,and Fraz ordered all tentubes ready for firing,

torpedodepthsixfeet.Theorder and subsequentreports seemed to makethe time pass morequickly.With fiveminutesto go, we slowed to two-thirdsspeed,andthenone-third.“Bring us up to sixty-four feet, Larry.” The up-angle was modest, butTang leveled at periscope

depth quickly and took aslight down-angle thatwould counter the bow’stendency to rise on firing.Welch called our speedand Caverly the soundbearing. We had guessedright; the enemy was onour port bow, and Jonesguided the scope to thecorrect bearing before thelens broke the surface.Marks for the bearing,

range, thenangle,andthescopewasdown.Wewentaheadstandard,andthenIdescribedtheenemytothefire control party; thetelephone talkers wouldsend the word throughoutthe ship. The columns ofsmoke had become twomast-funnel-mast split-superstructure freighters.The leader was medium-sized, about 5,000 tons,

the second in columnsomewhat smaller.Onourside of them was thegunboatthathaddrivenusdeep, while ahead asmaller escort wasapparently patrolling. Bestof all, both ships wereheavilyloaded.Six minutes at standardheld the bearing, but atapping sound broke the

silence in the conningtower.“No change in speed,Captain, still seven twoturns,” Caverly reported,and Sherman Clay’smetronome had become apart of Tang’s sound andtorpedo fire controlequipment.Therewastimeonly to acknowledge thereport, for even with the

enemy’s slow speed, firingwas but minutes away.Identification had nowclassifiedthelargership,aBiyo Maru freighter. Firecontrol had her on course020, steaming at 6 knots.Frazgave the course for a100 starboard track, 290,and at my nod WelchbroughtTangtoit.“Open all outer doors

forward.”“Seven degrees to go,

Captain.” Fraz’s was thebest report of all; it hadbeen a rough two days,and in minutes we’d begetting the hell out ofhere.“Stand by for constant

bearings.Upscope.”“Fast screws bearing

three four zero, Captain!”

Caverlywas not excitable,but with this report hecame close to it. I swungleftandJonesbroughtmeon. It was the gunboatwithazeroangle,thissideof a thousand yards, andwith a tall, white V for abow wake. At 20 knots itwould take her over aminute to reach us;continuingwith theattackwasautomatic.

“Constant bearing—mark! Keep her soundbearingscoming,Caverly.”“Set!” came instantly;Franksensedtheurgency.“Fire!” and the firsttorpedo was zinging tointercept the leadingfreighter. Two more fishfollowed, and then asimilar spread of three tothesecondshipincolumn.

Never could individualtorpedoes, each to hit apoint, have been firedmoreurgently.Iswunglefttothesoundbearingofthegunboat.Withthescopeinlow power, she filled thefield. I hadmisjudged herrange or speed, but if shehad once had our exactposition, she had lost itduring our water-lappingperiscope exposures. Now

she was boiling past ourstern, apparently havingmistaken the direction ofTang’smotion,andwasoutof position for animmediate attack. Ogdenwas counting the secondstillourfirsttorpedoshouldhit,“Five,four,three…”Iswung the periscope backto the leading freighter intimeforthefirstexplosion,rightinhermiddle.Itmust

have ruptured her Scotchboilers, for the ship brokein two, practicallydisintegrating. I took afinal bearing of thegunboat, then gave Jonesthe scope; I had morepressing interests inconning Tang to put thegunboat astern. Thoughshe had missed ourpositionbefore, shewouldnow have six converging

torpedo wakes leadingright to Tang’s firingpoint. Her turn would befarenoughaway to insurebeingat full speed forherattack, but she could beback within two minutes.With a conscious effort tosound calm and assured, Iordered, “Flood negative.Take her deep. Rig fordepthcharge.”

Fourteen thousandwelcome pounds of saltwater surged intonegative, accentuating thedown-angle and pullingTang bodily toward thedeep. Watertight doorswere being closed anddogged; bulkhead clapper

valves in the ventilationlines were being secured;and all machinery notrequired for maneuveringwas shut down. It seemedpainfullyslow,untilOgdentimed two sharpdetonations as our fourthand fifth torpedoes; only66 seconds had passedsince firing! The gunboatwould have to be ourproxy in observing the

results. She would becominginfromnearasternand was already echo-ranging. It would becomforting to know therewas a temperaturegradient above us thatwoulddeflectherhowlingpings, but getting abathythermograph card inthese seconds would havebeen difficult. Theknowledge would really

makenodifference,foronreachingapathjustofftheocean floor, we would bebelow any gradient thatexisted.There had been variousstaff recommendationsconcerning personalprotection during depth-charging, such as lying inone’s bunk, relaxed. Sincemost of these were not

very realistic, submarinersat seadidwhat they likedas long as it wascompatible with theirbattle stations. Somepreferred standing in theclear,where they’dnotbebashed by solid objectsand such. Others liked tohang on tightly, for thevery same reason. Myposition when conning bysound was to remain

wedged between the largepipe housing the SD mastand the battle stationssound operator,specifically Caverly, whohadalreadyturnedhisleftearphoneoutward.The gunboat was now

closing fast from slightlyon our port quarter. Thevery low bearing rate andtheintensityofherscrews

both spelled close. Anymaneuver would throwour bow or stern closerstill; there was but oneorder: “Keep her goingdown, Larry!” If we lostone sound head, we stillhad another. The bearingrate suddenly picked up.Caverly trained right andhad the gunboat goingaway; she would havedropped. She had, but

between ear-splitting,wrackingexplosionsWelchheardmeorder,“Allaheadfull, left full rudder!” Asarranged, Caverly got asounding, and Larry wason the way to 180 feet,two fathoms off thebottom. Maneuveringpouredinthejuice,andbythegunboat’s fifthpassalldetonations were toshoreward.Therehadbeen

22 close ones, and nowcompartments checked infrom forward aft. Nodamageexceptlightbulbs;weshouldhavemorewithflexibleportionsabovethethreads. Even better thanthe reports was theunmistakable twisting,scrunching, breaking-upnoise,loudinthedirectionof the enemy, easilyaudible even above our

screws at 100 turns. Werigged for normalsubmergedcruising.In 38 minutes we were

back at periscope depthwatching the gunboat,4,000yardsbackonTang’squarter. Beyond her wasthe other escort, at theapproximate scene of theattack and apparentlypicking up survivors. One

planewasnowcirclingthearea; nothing else was insight. The timewas 1821,only 40 minutes after theattack,butitseemedlikeaweek.In the wardroom, Larry

was slowly shaking hisheadand lookingdownatthegreenpokerclothasifit were spread out for acourt-martial.BeforeIhad

a chance to complimenthisexcellentcontrolofourship,hespokeup.“Captain, if I’d known

depth charges would belike those, I might justhave stayed in surfaceships.”“Larry, they seemed

close because you’re notusedtothem.Whenwegetsome thatare really close,

thesewon’t seem toobad.Justwaitandyou’llsee.”Larry looked up indisbelief, and Fraz, sittingacross fromhim,was ableto keep a sober face. Iwasn’tandconfessed:Thiswas my tenth patrol, andthat lousy gunboat hadlaid themdownfasterandcloser than any I hadexperiencedbefore.IfTang

were not blessedwith thenew deep hull, we’dprobablybewrestlingwithrepairs this very minute.The confession perkedLarry up, and he reachedfor the cribbage board toget us back in fightingtrim, while Fraz took aturnthroughtheboat.Fraz returned shortly

and reported that he had

observed almost identicalreactions by the troopsfore and aft, a reassuringpat on our ship’s pressurehull.Itwasnowonder,forwith the sea about asubmarine acting like asolid in transmitting anyquick shock, a detonationof sufficient severity tomove her violently couldcrush her as well. Somesubmarines had returned

from patrol with dimpledhulls, bashed inductions,and jimmied hatches.Lesser damages involvedthe distortion of variousfittings or the breakingloose of fixtures, andalmost traditional in thislatter category was thecaptain’s washbasin. Buttoday our light bulbs hadborne the brunt of theenemy’s wrath. I nodded

whenFrazraisedhishandto his mouth and tilted itas though sipping from aglass, and he went aft todisburse the depth-chargemedicine. Formost of thetroops the brandy wouldcelebrate the sinkingrather than soothe janglednerves.Willing hands were

helping with the torpedo

reload while the eveningmeal progressed, probablywith the knowledge thatthemovies couldnot startuntil the job was done.Our5knotshadcarrieduswell to seaward, but thedepth charges keptrumbling. On surfacing,we found that the areaasternwasbeingsweptbysearchlights,andweknewthat if the good Lord had

not been on our side, wemight be back therelookingforanopportunityto surface and run for it.Thetimewas2010,andallengineswentonchargeorpropulsion. Fraz gave thenew course, 108 degreestrue.Itwouldtakeusbackpast Inamba Jima for adayorsoofquietpatrolindeepseas.

We had broken the ice,but our start was notauspicious.Ninetorpedoesexpended with one shipdown and anotherdamaged was nothing forTang to crow about. Weknew that the second,smallermaruhadsunk,fortherehadbeennothingleftafter the Biyo Maru classfreighterhaddisintegratedto make the sobering

breaking-upnoises.Thirty-eight minutes later therewas nothing in sight. Herbest speed could not havetaken her clear in thatperiod. Still, the samerules applied to all of us,and visual evidence wasrequiredforthecreditofasinking. That wasfrequently easy enoughearlyinthewar,andevennowinafewareaslikethe

YellowSea. In someboatsback in 1943, the cameraclub would be ready fordaytime shots through thescope,andquiteoftenhadthe opportunity. Now,withtheratioofescortstoships practically reversed,cameras, even officialones, remained in thelockers during attack. Atleast this was so in Tang,thoughanyonecouldhang

his camera around hisneck if he wished.Actually, we had beenfortunate to see the firstshipbreakintwo,foronlythe choice of basing ourinitial evasion on visualinformation rather thanblind luck had made itpossible.The orders this night

contained the course, our

speedof18knots,andthesearching instructions. Inthe second paragraph Ipenned heartfeltcongratulations to allhands. Staying within apatrol’s echo-rangingdistance hour after hourhad not been easy, and Idoubtedifanyofourboatshad ever done so before,but it insured joining theenemy. The troops knew

thatIhadpatrolledinfastcompany, but had theyknown that this was alsomy first experience in soslugging it out, somemight have had heartfailure. Somewhatregretfully,itmightnotbeour last, for AdmiralLockwood’s letter left uslittle choice. At least wehad foundoneway toputshipsdowninthisarea.

Frank and Charles werein the wardroom when Ilaid theNightOrder Bookon the table.At handwasONI-208J with slips ofpaper, one containinglatitudes and longitudes,inserted at pages 220 and230. It was a helpfulgesture by theidentification party, andwe recorded the ships asusual:

Sunk:

BiyoMaruclassfreighter

5,425tons

Lat.34°12′N.

Long.136°19′E.

Damaged:

AkasiMaruclassfreighter

3,057tons

Lat.34°12′N.

Long.136°19′E.

It was the first I knew ofthe identification of thesecondship,butquiteabit

was going on at the time,andthepicturesshowndidseemaboutright.While we were making

the entries, some weirdsoundsfloatedaftfromthemovie in the torpedoroom. Ihad to laughwithFrank, Charles, andAdams, who was servingme coffee. The crew hadselected a Dracula film,

perhapstoeasethembackto normal gradually, butsince the volume seemedunusuallyhigh, the choicemightbeformybenefit.Only the reports of the

completion of the batterychargeandofInambaJimaon our bow and thenabeam to starboarddisturbed the night.Maneuveringbellsandthe

feel of our ship told methat we had slowed onstation,andIwenttopsideforalookattheseabeforewedived.Eveninthefirstgray of dawn, the calm,almost oily surface wasdiscernible. It would be aday for caution even inthisremotespot.Charles called anunhurried “Clear the

bridge.” Each lookoutdropped to the stepat thefoot of the ladder, usingthe hand-grabs as dualfiremen’s poles, thenducked clear and onbelow. If one of our newmenwas among them, hehad learned quickly. Thetwo blasts had initiatedthe dive, and now Tangwas sliding below thesurface in the same spot

where she had dived onthe first day in the area.Perhaps Basil was hopingfor another chance tolocatehissmoke,butwhatall hands would like bestwas the 155 miles thatseparated us from thescene of our depth-charging.We had been too busy

withourown littlebattles

to think much about therest of the war, but aniteminthepressnewsputus back in our properplace. Our forces’ assaultlandings to retake Guam,which had been a U.S.possession for 40 yearsbefore the war, hadcommencedduringthelastweek of our refit.We hadjust assumed that withcommand of the air and

sea for bombardment, allhad gone well. TheJapanese, however, hadmade every effort toreinforce the island,bringing its troop strengthto an estimated 50,000.Guam had finally beensecured just two daysbefore,onAugust10.Further consideration of

the item and breakfast

were interrupted by a callfrom Charles. We had apatrol boat in sight. Theenemy was out early, forthe wardroom clock read0736. Fraz took this one,maneuvering to give thepatrol a reasonably wideberth. As the morningprogressed, we had ourfirst tussle with theKuroshio, or Japanesecurrent. It sets about 065

degrees true in thislocality, with a drift ofanywhere from one to 3knots. At our position,perhaps also affected bythe tides and the islands,the drift appeared to bemaximum. We foundourselvesbeingsetdirectlytoward Mikura Jima andhadtorunto thesouthtostayclearof the island. Inmidafternoon, quite

unexpectedly, depth-charging commenced.Planes and patrols werenow in sight on everyobservation, and thencame smoke in thedirection of our dawnposition.Tang was off on a longsubmerged run, makingthe maximum turns shecould hold till dusk. Our

attempt to maintaincontact with the smokefailed,butwegaveitatryat full power uponsurfacing. Fraz’s plotshowed the futility ofcontinuing, however, foreven a 6-knot enemy shipwouldreach thesanctuaryofTokyoBayaheadofus.We had simply guessedwrong, as our evasion ofthe early-morning patrol

could just as well havebeen to the west. Thatmight have led to timelyperiscope sighting of theenemy and a successfulsubmergedattack.Perhapswe were not using thetalentembarkedinTangtoits fullest. An arrow on acompassroseforWalkertospin could certainlydonoworse.

“Whynotlethimspitinhispalmandhititwithhisfinger?” suggested Frank,and we might just doexactlythat.As our chase had takenusclosetoSagamiTrough,south of Tokyo Bay,continuing on for a crackat any shipping along thesoutheast coast of Honshuseemed only logical. On

the seaward side of thepeninsula that formsTokyo Bay, this 70-mile-long section runs fromNojima Zaki in the southtoInuboSakiinthenorth.AnytrafficbetweenTokyoand ports to the northwouldbevulnerablewhenrounding each of thesepoints.Fraz laiddown thetrack and recommendedour new course. Tang

steadied on 046 and wewentbelowforaverylateeveningmeal.Thechipsweren’tfalling

our way, but this did notseem to affect theexuberance of our youngofficers. Mel and Dickcameoffwatchascheerfulandoptimisticaseverandseemedtoliftthespiritsofthe rest of us. A report of

weak radar signals of 260and then 150 megacycleswhen Nojima Zaki wasnearly abeam rang a bellforMel.“That one-fifty is thesame frequency radar thatsteadied on us in theNakano Strait,” herecalled. “If they havesurface-search radar here,they’re expecting ships,”

hecontinued.Frazsentforthe Quartermaster’sNotebook, havingremembered anotherfrequency for the NakanoStrait. He thumbed itthroughandconcededthatMelwas almost correct ashe read 153. There was alogic in Mel’s appraisalthat we might provebefore the skies againturnedgray.

At 2300 we turned lefttoward Katsuura Wan, anopenbayonly20milesupthe coast from NojimaZaki. Just short of thisroadstead, a finger of the100-fathom curve extendstowithin twomilesof thebeach. We would attemptto stay close to this deeparea and spend theremainder of the nightinshore. Closing the

enemy’s coast on thesurface would neverbecome routine, but athoroughly competentnavigatorhelped.The coast is long andlowandthisnightseemeddeserted. Tang was nevermore than three milesfrom the shore, so visualor SJ radar contact wasassured, but nothing

moved.Theonly sign thatthe peninsula was eveninhabited came at 0300when wood smokecommenced rolling fromthebeach.Thearomawasso pronounced that wecould almost see it. Theinhabitants were probablywithdrawingcharcoalfromretorts and restockingthem, but knowing thesource of the smoke did

not help the visibility,which dropped quickly tozero. Even a radarapproachwouldhavebeenfutile, sowewithdrew fora submerged patrol atdawn, still wondering ifthe enemyknewhehad anew submarine defenserightathand.Weclearedthesmokebyproceeding to the

southwestwellofftheten-fathom curve, and thenBasil took us down in thegrayofdawn.Theconcaveshoreline insuredadistantsighting of any coastalship, with ample time toclosetoanattackposition.Tang had been submergedover two hours on thisAugust 13 when theanticipatedcallcamefromHank on the periscope.

ManeuveringbellsbroughtFraz and me to theconning tower on thedouble.Hank’s contact was

smoke,notupordownthecoast, but off to thesoutheast. A second truebearing showed that theenemywas drawing right,undoubtedly heading forTokyoBay.Tangwasoffto

intercept at the bestsustainable speed. Fourbombers, and later asurfacepatrol,preventedasurfacedash togeton theenemy ship’s track, andour 12-mile high-speedsubmerged approach fellshort by three miles ofreaching a firing position.Frank and Fraz practicedcallingangleson thesternof a fine medium-sized

freighter until shedisappeared aroundNojimaZaki.This was our drill andcontact for the day. Aftersurfacingat1921,wetookonemoreturnupthe100-fathomcurvetoInuboSakiand then headed towardtheToriShimaareaofthesouthern islands. Tangwouldnotbeabletocover

the 300 miles before thenext night even at fullpower, sowe rolled southat a comfortable three-engine speed. Comfortabletilldawn,whenEd’s“Clearthebridge!”andtwoblastssent us down. The timewas 0429, close to ourusual time for diving atdawn, but this time wehad submerged for ayacht. The craft was not

on a pleasure cruise,however, for a closer lookshowed heavy machineguns and extra antennas.What shewas doing here,40 miles east of HachijoJima,wemeanttofindoutandatthesametimekeepherinsightasatargetforour 4-inch gun crew ifnothing worthy oftorpedoesshowedup.

Though my intentionswere not announced, notevenwhispered, the ship’scompany sensed the planand started with suchpreparations that stoppingthem would have beendifficult indeed. It wasentirely possible that theyacht had plans thatincluded Tang, fornumerous planes kept ourscopes dunking, and her

maneuvering preventedour surfacing for highperiscope searches. Thetroops experienced someanxiety at midafternoonwhenwe lost their target,but a dash on the surfacebetween planes regainedcontact and all wasforgiven.After the last plane had

apparently retired, we

surfacedtocheckallguns,and then Ballinger passedthe word, “Battle stations—gun!”Thegeneralalarmpealed with all of theauthority that wouldaccompany a full-fledgedtorpedo attack. At range7,000, I ordered,“Commence firing!” DickandMeltookitfromthere.Theyachtwastenacious

and wiry, twisting andturning and closing therange at everyopportunity. Her weaponsseemed to be theequivalent of 20-millimeter machine gunsbut maybe larger, for shekept us outside of 4,500yards and stayed on indeflection. The shootprovided a good examplefor my argument against

having a single gunforward,sinceatonepointwhilewewereopeningtherange, our 4-inch cameagainst the stops short ofthe conning tower andwould not bear. With theslow rate of fire, aboutsevensecondsperround,itwas impossible to stay onthe yacht for more thanone or two hits after Melhad spotted the splashes

on, and only eight surehits were observed. Theywere good ones, however,exploding in her side andupper works, anddemolishing herdeckhouse.After 88 rounds, Iordered, “Cease fire,” sowe’d have the remaining40 rounds for defensivepurposes. To me, the

enemy still seemed undercontrol, and I thought itbest not to mention asomewhatsimilarincident,though at much shorterrange, when the enemy’screw had come up fromthe sheltered side andthumbed their noses at usaswewithdrew.The activity gave the

troops something to talk

about as we proceededdown the island chain.This was well, for onlydaily dives to avoidbombers and one depthcharge from a Mavisbomber marked oursurface patrol off ToriShima. Again, however,wecaughtupwiththewarby the brief, nightlyreports of press news.Allied forces commenced

landingonthesouthcoastofFranceon the15thandthe buildup wascontinuing. Hitler hadanother front to face, andthis should be thebeginning of the end inEurope.It was 1410 on theafternoon of August 18.Tang had been down anhour for another bomber,

marking time in this area,andwasabouttosurface.“Fraz, let’s head in and

get a ship!” His answerwas a broad smile and anOKsign.

Any change of moodusually spread quicklythrough a submarine,probably due to thephysical closeness of thewhole ship’s company.Even experienced handswho might otherwise beconservative were caught

up in a chase and oftenturnedout tobe themoreaggressive men. Theirknowledgeofwhathad tobe done and how to do itwas, of course, a factor,and when the enemy wasjoined you didn’t stand intheir way. There was noenemy in sight, nor in allprobabilitywouldtherebeforanother300miles,butthe three engines on the

line and our new coursewere all that was neededto spark a feeling ofenthusiasm within ourship.Our few days of open-

sea operations were anecessary part of thispatrol, and more mightfollow. I would be remissin not trying to find theenemyinwaterswherewe

could take full advantageof our strong points inattack and evasion. That,for the moment, havingproven unproductive, wewouldattacktheenemyonhis terms, andourbeelinetracktowardthesouthwestcoast of Honshu told allhandswhere.Kantori Saki, ourdestination, is the next

sizable promontory to thesouth of Miki Saki. Ashallow, low coastlineextendsnorthwardwithoutinterruption for some 20miles. Thus, sufficienttracking of all shipscoming down the coastshould be possible. Thoseheading north might gettorpedoes shot from thehip. In either case, Tangshould be able to reach

deep water withinminutes.Frazhadbroughtthecharttothewardroomwith our estimatedpositionsmarkedalongthetrack.IfTangcouldstayonthe surface undetecteduntilthefollowingnoon,asubmerged run would puther in position to attackafterdark.Mynightordersemphasizedthekeypoints.

Proceedingoncourse312°true at 18 knots towardKantori Saki for inshorepatrol against the enemy.Our success can depend onreaching the promontoryundetected. Search with theSJ continuously during thenight.Man the search scopeat dawn, and station twoextralookoutsatsunrise.Inform me when the

battery charge is completed,and call me to the conningtower or bridge for anycontact this night which isinside 10,000 yards. If indoubt,divefirst.I entered the usual call,

this time for 0400, andhandedthebooktoWalkerfor delivery to the dutychief.AfewminuteslaterIwalked aft to the control

room on my way topside.De Lappwas standing theduty chiefs watch withHudson.Thatwasthewayit would be for theremainderofthispatrol,asthose about tomake chiefpetty officer worked intothe new responsibilitiesthey must assume. Thewatch was staggered sothat the best from ourexperienced duty chiefs

might rub off on thosewho would fill out thatwatch list. It was acontinuation of theprogram we hadcommencedapatrolagotoinsure that Tang’s keybillets were all filled byseasonedhands.It was well to look

ahead,butnowFrazandIhad to concentrate on the

presenttobesureofTang’sarrivalattheexactspottointercept the enemywhenever he chose tomove along the coast. Ontopside, the lower limb ofthenearnewmoonhadsetand a light overcast wasblanking out all but thebrightest stars. Even theturbulence along thelimberholesandourwakewerebarelyvisibleonthis

black night.We could nothave ordered conditionsmore to our liking, forthey practicallyguaranteed anuninterrupted night. Still,onsuchanightthereoftenarose an unconscioustendency to relax, evenever so slightly. On theway below, I mentallypictured myself as theOODas I rereadmynight

orders; they seemedadequate.Before dawn, Charlesreportedadrizzleandlowovercast. We would haveordered this, too. Extralookouts were postednonetheless,andwerolledon through the morning.Fraz’s dead reckoningposition at noon showedthatTang could now close

Kantori Saki submerged.With deference to theKuroshio and to insurereasonablebatterygravity,I put off our dive for anhourbutwelcomedBasil’stwo blasts sending Tangdownstillundetected.The submerged hours

couldwellhavebeenspenton Fraz’s educationalprogram,thecoursebooks

and qualification, butwhen closing the enemy’scoast none of us couldconcentrate on suchthings. The watches,library books, and acey-deucey games tookprecedence on thisAugust19, that is, until eveningchow was piped down ahalf hour early. Thechangewas just to permitall messes to be squared

away before surfacing.With improving visibility,Fraz had obtained highperiscope bearings ofKantori Saki and ShionoMisaki to the south. Hislines crossed close to ourdead reckoning position,and now three blasts sentusup into thedarknessofthe night. The time was1904.

The run in to the coastjust north of Kantori Sakimust have given Fraz andJonesfits,forastheywereattempting to fix Tang’sposition, we werefollowing an irregularworm turn in avoidingsampans. Nothinginterferedwithourclosingto 5,000 yards from thebeach, however, and herewewereassuredoffinding

any ship that dared topass. Evenly spaced dimlights, perhaps a mileapart, were now visiblealongtheshore.Theywerepossibly lighted buoysmarking the six- or seven-fathomcurveandmeanttoguide shipping in thosesafe shallow waters. Thiswas the thought that firstcame to mind, and it ledus tobelievea shipmight

this minute beapproaching the pointwhere it would becomedistinguishable on the SJ.As time went by withnothing moving, wethought of typical water-colors or prints showingaJapanese fisherman at theend of his small pier.There could be nightfishinggoingonoutthere,with lanterns hung out to

attractcertainfish.Furthercontemplation was putasideasapatrolboatcamedownthecoasttoseawardofus.Whenshewasnearlyabreastofourposition,sheslowed and her silhouettesharpened.SodidTang’saswe turned toward thepatrol and deeper water.Holdingourbreathalittle,we waited; no one spoke.And then her silhouette

broadened as shecompleted a 180-degreeturn to proceed back upthecoast.Itwas never boring thisclosetotheenemy’sshore,buthispatrolboatsaddedalittlespiceandexhortingthe lookoutsbecamequiteunnecessary. Themidwatch took over, andwe stayed in the same

vicinity with only theaddition of 156 and 256megacycleradartorecord.Itssignalstrengthwasjustmedium,threetofouronascale of five, and Edreported that it wasnothing like the signalfromNakanoShimaonourlast patrol,which had puttheneedleagainstthepin.Since it didn’t bite, we’dignore it. Compared to

manynightsthishadbeencalm indeed, but thecontinuous waiting andsearching had been tiring,and the gray in the eastwas welcome. Hank tookus down in his calm,unhurried manner, whichalwaysturnedouttobeasfastasanyotherdive.Wewouldwait for the enemysubmerged. The time was0450,August20.

We had moved in athousand yards, to twomiles from the beach,before diving andconfirmed the 50 fathomsshown on the chart by asingle ping sounding.Duringtheshorttimeuntilwe could see through theperiscope, a morning misthad set in. It could beconfinedtoashallowlayerabove the surface but

should burn off with thewarmth of day. In anycase, we were notsignificantly hampered,and itmight even providesome protection againsthaving our scope sighted.An early contact, a shipfrom the southwestwhipping around KantoriSaki, seemed likely, soFrazand I stoodby in theconning tower during the

firstcrucialhoursandthenjoined the others forbreakfast as soon as theforenoon watch hadrelieved.We might have known,

for the phone buzzedbefore we had startedeating. It was an inshorepatrol, andweavoidedbypresenting our stern untilshe had passed. Her

position gave a probabletrack for any ships thatmight follow, however,and wemoved in anotherthousand yards. Frazstayed in the conningtower for a sounding assoonasthepatrolroundedthe point and then camedownforanothertryathisbaconandeggs.“Twenty fathoms,

Captain,” he reported.“There should be onealong any time now,Adams, hurry upwithmybreakfast!”It wasn’t clear whetherthe second part of hisreportwasforme,Adams,or just a general warningto stand by. It becameacademicahalfhour laterwhenthehumofthe1MC

stoppedourconversation.“Captain to the conning

tower. Ship bearing zerotwotwo.”“Thatputsher inshore,”

Fraz commented on ourwayuptheladder;hehadthe whole picture in hismindalready.Only the tops of two

masts and smoke werevisibleabovethemist,but

theseparationofthesticksconfirmed the navigator’sestimate.Welchhad takenover the wheel, notwaiting for generalquarters, and rang upstandard speed seeminglyahead of my order. Frazgave the course, 290,straightforthebeach.TheBellsofSt.Mary’schimed,and Tang was on theprowl, ducking under

sampansenroute.We were no more thanup to speed when it wastime to slow, now in 15fathoms if the chart wascorrect.Larryhadusrighton at 64 feet; Jonesbrought the scope to decklevel, Caverly called thesound bearing, and I rodethe scope up. It was allroutine.

“Bearing—mark! Range—mark!” and the scopewas down. Fraz correctedthe bearing from relativeto true, 017. Jones readthe stadimeter, 9,000yards, and I called theangleon thebow20port.Wehadagoodsetuponamodern, medium-sized,engine-aft freighter. Theescorts were two SCs, orsub-chasers, well clear to

seawardonherportbeamand bow. Unless theychanged their patrolstations, we would firefrom a position halfwaybetween the escorts andtheenemyship.On succeeding setups,

plothadthefreighterwellinside the ten-fathomcurve, and we closed thetrack slowly with tubes

ready forward, and aftshould she veer out toseaward.PlotandTDChadpractically identicalsolutionsforthefreighter’scourse,217and219;eachhad her speed at 8 knots.Caverly’s bearings andconstant screw beatschecked.“Five degrees to go,

Captain,” Fraz warned.

“The outer doors areopen.”Wewouldfireona123track,sothetorpedoeswouldcomeinfromabout30degreesabaftherbeam.Jonesbroughtthescopetowaist height and thenfollowedmeup.“Constant bearing—

mark!”“Set!”Her stack came on.

“Fire!”Fraz hit the firingplunger and the torpedoleft with a healthy zing.The second torpedo wasaimed forward; herforemastcameonthewire.“Fire!”Again Fraz hit theplunger, but the torpedoleft the tube with aresounding clonk and did

not run. We could fireanother, but at 900 yardsour first torpedo washalfway there. Ogden wascountingforthe36-secondtorpedorun,30…35,36,37, 38, and so itwent foranotherhalfminute,whenthe first torpedo explodedinshore.Caverly grabbed asounding during the

rumble following thedetonation. It showed butthree fathoms under ourkeel, hardly enough toprovide additionalprotection. We took thefirsteightdepthchargesatperiscope depth, whichwas all right since wecould see that the enemywasgoingtomissandwasbetter than burying ourhead in shallow enemy

seas, but we’d take deepwater anytime. Thedetonations were notsevere and came as singleattacks instead of thesalvos that had thundereddownatOwashiWan.Thiswas probably the SCs’tactic due to the limitednumberofchargescarried,butitcouldhavebeenjustas frightening hadwe nothadbothoftheminsight.

Short bursts of speedwitheachdetonationwerecarrying us to seaward,away from the patrols. Awelcomesoundingshowed40fathomsunderourkeel,a depth where we couldincrease speed with smallchance of being heard.Larry put us into a slowglide toward the bottom.All was quiet except forcontinuing depth charges

astern.AsTangpassed200feet, we heard Larry’sexpected order, “Pumpfrom auxiliary to sea.” DeLapp would now becranking up the motor ofthe drain pump. Butinstead of the hum of thepumpweheardshouts.Fraz dropped down andcame back to report thattwo of the motor’s metal

fingers, which held thecarbon contacts, hadbroken off. It was notcritical; we could blowballast from auxiliary tosea,putabubbleinsafety,start thenoisy trimpump,orevenholdTangupwiththe planes while makingrepairs. Fraz did notinterfere, and Larryrequested permission touse the trim pump. The

request before starting upthetrimpumphadbecomestandard procedure if itwastobeusedinpumpingto sea during evasion.Wewould not forget ourexperience west of Saipanwhen the destroyer hadstayed with us hour afterhour.De Lapp and the

auxiliarymen completed

silver-soldering the fingersshortly after we hadleveledoff.Thefailurehadnotbeenseriousthistime,but itbroughthometoallhands that our ship, justlikeanyoneofus,wasnotinfallible. On the brighterside, the depth-charginghadstoppedafteratotalof30. Though none wereclose, it was always asomewhat shaking

experience, and all handscould use some relaxingtime. There would be nomoreships today; theseaswerefriendlyinthedeeps,and there we stayed,heading slowly to thesouthwest.While Charles and Basilpracticed changing depth,the rest of us threw ourideas on the table, trying

to come down with alogical reason for themissand the failure of thesecond torpedo to evenrun. Perhaps more to thepoint, Hank and Mel leftfor the torpedo rooms tohelpcheckthehardware.

The first and then thesecond dog watch hadbeen relieved. All handshad finished the eveningmeal, and we were a halfhour into the eveningwatch when three blastssent Tang to the surface.Following the pattern of

our slowdown, we wouldcharge batteries here atsea and let the boat cooldownbeforemovingontothe coast. There was norush, for we were nowconfidentoffindingashipat nearly any daylighthour. I only wished thatthe same confidenceextendedtoourtorpedoes,forwehadnotdeterminedany sure cause for their

apparent failure—theirsorours.On to the west lay

Shiono Misaki and IchiyeSaki, where we wouldattack,thistimelateintheafternoon,whichwouldbecloser to the shelter ofdarkness.Wewere not onthedefensive,butwewereacquiring a better andmore sympathetic

understanding of theproblems that hadundoubtedly beset ourimmediate predecessors inthese areas. With similartorpedo performance,getting any ships fromoutside the 20-fathomcurvewouldhaverequiredmore luck than any boatmight expect.Even inside,we were having ourtroubles.

Radar on 82, 99, and261 megacycles,apparently from ShionoMisaki, buzzed theAPR-1,but nothing came of it.The night remained quieton till dawn, when Melpulledthepluginthedeepwater off OkinokuraShima.Wewouldmoveinslowly to give both thetraining and qualificationprograms an opportunity

toregainsomeoftheirlostmomentum and then jointheenemy.The Japanese had other

ideas,sendingalargeshipand two escorts aroundShiono Misaki headingeastwardandoutofreach.It was like dancing a flyahead of a hungry trout;Fraz’s Plan of the Daywent into theGI can, and

we were off to interceptthe next ship. The courseof 315 was far to the leftof Okinokura Shima, butour ship moved like afiddler crab directlytoward the island due totheKuroshio.Themooringboard had proven correctagain.Tangwouldbeinanideal position by noon. Inthe meantime we wouldsearch continuously, as a

light chop made anysighting of our scopeimpossible.Dick’s shout brought us

to the conning tower. Hehad a modern, engine-aftship at a range of 8,000yards, with her escortswell out ahead. She washeadingwestandofferedapossibility; Tang was offandrunning.Thetimewas

1039, not yet two hourssincethefirstcontact,andthistimethegeneralalarminvolved all hands. For atime all looked good, forthe enemy was slowed bythe Kuroshio. The 3-knotcurrent would not upsetour torpedo attack, but acomponent of the currentwas affecting us.A 3,000-yard torpedo run was thebestwecoulddo;evenfull

speed would have donelittle better. There hadalready been two ships,however, and therewouldbemore;we’dwaitforthenextone.Another two hours

passed, and now thebottom lay 14 fathomsunder our keel. No shipcouldgetbytoshoreward.We turned left to parallel

the beach, our 2 knotsmatching the Kuroshio,and waited; waited fourminutes for Jones’s salty“Smokeho!”This was what wewere

looking for, smoke andthena ship farenoughoffto track. The Bells of St.Mary’s rang out over the1MCforthesecondtimeintwo hours, and the

compartments reported soquickly that the troopsmust have been stillstanding by. The shipwasnow in sight at 9,000yards, the bearing placingher practically on thebeach.Wehadamedium-sized, mast-funnel-mastfreighter escorted by twoSCs and a whale killer.Tracking soon had her on290,exactlyparalleltothe

coast, andcomingonat8knots. The approachconsisted primarily ofduckingunderthetwoSCsandturningleftforasternshot. Everything wasfalling in line for a 110trackandafiringrangeofabout 1,600 yards whenFraz gave the customarywarning, “Five degrees togo,Captain.”

I had but one area ofdoubt. Had the freighter,inclosetothebeach,beensubjected to the samecurrent as had Tang? Ifnot, our speeddetermination could be inerror by as much as 2knots. I would cover thispossibility by spreadingthe wing torpedoes. Joneshadthescopeatdeckleveland brought it up smartly

tomyhands.“Constant bearing—

mark!”“Set!” came from Mel.

Her stack amidships wascomingon.“Fire!” The first electric

torpedo was on its waywith a whine. The secondMark18-1wenttoapointone-quarter of a ship’slength ahead of the bow,

the third to a point thesame distance abaft thestern. If all was well, thefirst torpedo would breakherintwo.Ifwehadsomespeed error, the first andsecond or the first andthird torpedoeswould hit.If we were way out, evenbeyond any logical guess,the second or thirdtorpedo would hit. Thetimewas1317.

We settled down to thelong wait while the 27-knot torpedoes cruised ontheir way. The first hitshouldcomeinoneminuteand 50 seconds. Caverlygave us encouragement,for their whine was nowblending in with thefreighter’s prop noise.Ogden called the secondsto go, “Ten … five …three, two, one, zero.”

There was no explosion. Iheld back an oath duringthe additional timerequired for our secondand third torpedoes, andmanaged to swallow itduring those 16 seconds.We had another minute’srun to seaward before theenemywas alerted by theexplosions of all threetorpedoes on the beach.Wedidnotstoptoadmire

them, and Larry had usleveled off at 200 feetwhen the first depthcharges let go. They werenot very close, and nowwithsoundingsasaguide,Tang reached deepsubmergence. The enemyhad dropped 20, but our100 turns had kepteverything aft, includingsomelate-arrivingpingers.

Frank, Mel, and Dickmadea thorough checkofthe firing bearings, theactual gyro readings thathad been recorded, thedepth set, everything.Theninadditiontosettingtheprobleminto theTDC,theybrokeouttheMark8angle solver. It was aslightlymodern version ofthe prewar Mark 6,popularlycalledtheBanjo.

Most of us had wrestledwith the latter, and if thecorrect graduationson theslidingarmswereproperlypositioned over the curvewiththecorrectcolor,youcould read the rightcombination of gyro andlead angle if no onebumped it. The Mark 8had clampingarrangements to overcomethis difficulty and could

comeupwithasolutionasaccurate as that of theTDC. My spread hadcoveredanypossiblespeederrors, and the coast ofHonshu had taken care ofthe enemy’s course.Depthsettings, hydrostat springcalibrations, and rudderthrows notwithstanding,one or more of ourtorpedoeshadrundeep.

We had no wounds tolick from the enemy’sdepth-charging, butperhapsmore serious, ourconfidenceinourabilitytoput the enemy on thebottom was a bit shaken,andourpride,at leastmyown, was a little bent.There is but one thing todo when you fall off ahorse, swing back in thesaddle immediately. We

hadtokeepsluggingitoutwith the enemy, but Iwould at least be hesitantto attack on his terms,inside 15 fathoms, witherratic torpedoes. Luckhad been on our side, butwith our firing positionpinpointed for the enemyandnohitstoconfusehim,the coin could easily flipthe other way. There wasonlyonesolution,conduct

sometestfiringswherewecould observe just whatourtorpedoesweredoing.Fraz was in completeagreement with thedecision, which was goodsince the plan called fordisposing of three or fourtorpedoes.Thereremainedonly the selection of anappropriate place, andFraz went back to the

conningtowertocheckonthepossiblepositions.The Kuroshio added 3

knotstoourspeedovertheocean floor, carrying usbeyond Shiono Misaki bynoon.Ahalfhourlaterwecame left, following thecoast well to seawardtoward Miki Saki. Frankreported Kantori Saki insight at midafternoon. It

marked the halfway pointto Miki Saki, and theKuroshio had determinedtheplaceand time for thefiring; we would enterOwashi Wan, just to thenorth of Kuki Saki, atmidnight.On the surface midwaythrough evening twilight,our two navigators had afine, sharp horizon. Their

exact position for adeparturecouldbedoublyimportant when makingthelandfallthisnight.Theengineers and electriciansscurried with the batterycharge, and both torpedorooms buzzed. Tangseemedtocomeoutofthedoldrums,foralloftheoldhands knew what a nightprobe such as this mighthold.

The dark shape of MikiSaki loomed up atmidnight and Kuki Sakiminutes later. A singlediesel moved us quietlyaroundthepointsandintoOwashiWan.Thebaywasas black as the night andseemed to hold noresemblance to theroadstead I had seenthrough the scope. Butthose had been fleeting

glimpses,anddetailsoftheshorelinewere not on ourminds. I slowed to one-third speed to providemore time for consideringthe contour of the land.Fraz and Jones were notfindingeverything to theirliking either, for bearingsand ranges of knownlandmarks did not jibewith the chart. Of course,the charts were not

completely accurate, andtheSJ’ssidelobesaddedabitofconfusion.Allfellinplace when the bridgespeaker blared, “Contactonepointonportbow!”Bergman had a pipwherenopipought tobe.We stopped and the bellschimedbelowforthethirdtime since morning. Withradar to coach us on, we

nowhadalong,lowshapein our 7 × 50s that wasotherwiseindistinguishable againstthedarkbackgroundoftheland.We remained stoppedwhile tracking worked onthe ship’s course andspeed.Itdidnottakelong,for her speed was zero,too. Stopped or anchored,

was she viewing us? Ittook no encouragement tostart moving slowly on agreat arc to get hersilhouette to seaward,away from the blackbackground of the land.We were tracking all thewhile and clear of theKuroshio or itscountercurrent; the enemyshipstillplottedinafixedposition. She definitely

had her hook on thebottom, well out in thebay.Nowwith the starlit sea

asabackground,wecouldmake her out, a largepatrol,anchoredtwomilesin from Kuki Saki andasking for it! I shiftedpropulsion to thebatteriesso there would be nodiesel sounds, for they

would carry across thisbayonsuchastillnightasdo noises on a lake. Alltubes were made ready,for contrary to the WarInstructions of the 1930s,which specified onetorpedo for such ships, apatrol or destroyer mightrequire any number oftorpedoes; I knew. Ourtorpedoes aft were set onthreefeet.

Speaking in whispers,we closed slowly, headingdirectly for the patrolship’s beam. At 1,500yards, identificationbecame positive. The foreandwaistguns,astructureabaft the bridge, and nowthe long depth-chargeracks; it was surely thegunboat thathadharassedus during our first visit,topping it off with those

tooth-shakers.At1,200yardsI twistedship to bring our sterntubes to bear, a bitapprehensive while wepresented our broadsidesilhouette. But nary athing stirred aboard thegunboatasfaraswecouldtell. We were now inpositiontofireaMark18-1 electric torpedo, and its

minimal wake, should itmiss, would notnecessarily alert theenemy. There was anadditional advantage; wewere already headingaway fromher should shesuddenlycometolife.The outer doors wereopen aft as I connedTangforazerogyroangleshot.The binoculars rested

untouchedintheafterTBTreceptacle, checked belowas on 180 degrees, deadastern.“Set below.” We weresteadyonhermiddle.“Fire!” The torpedo leftwith the characteristicwhine. All of us on thebridge watched as thewake petered out after arunof ahundredyardsor

so, when the torpedoevidently headed down. Aloud rumble occurredwhen the torpedo shouldhave been halfway to thegunboat. Caverly hadtracked the fish until thelow-order explosion; therecould be no doubt that ithad indeed hit bottomwhere the chart showed250feetofwater.

Thetimewas0142,andfeeling that the enemymust surely be alerted, Itwisted Tang quickly tobringher in alignment fora second straight shot,taking all of the care thatwe had with the firsttorpedo. Tang was steadyas a rock, the wire rightamidships,whenIreceivedMel’s“Setbelow.”

“Fire!” was almostinstantaneous.Thetorpedoleft with a reassuringwhine, and itsphosphorescent wakestretched out into thenight,visiblealmosttothetarget. But there was noexplosionorothernoiseasit apparently passedunderneath the enemy.Thetimewas0144.

Fraz had joined me onthe bridge, expecting anexplosion, for Caverly hadtracked the fish down thecorrectbearing.Therewasno need for consultation;wehadone salvoof threeleft aft and were circlingfor a bow shot. Thequestion mark turn,steadying,andnowclosingto900yards,seemedslow,but Mel’s “Set” came

instantly following my“Mark.”“Fire!” and a Mark 23steam torpedo, set to runon the surface, leftwith azing directly for theenemy’s middle. ThoughTang was stopped,absolutely steady, and thetorpedo had zero gyroangle,ittooka30-yardjogto the left before settling

down toward the targetandmissedastern.We were stillwhispering, though thelast two torpedoes musthave roared past thegunboat. Her crew waswakingup,however,oratleast someone was aboutwith a flashlight. Theywouldhavetohurry,fora“Set” came from below.

The wire was on her gunmount forward, lest thistorpedojogalso.“Fire!”It joggedleftbut

then settled down for hermiddle, running close tothesurface.Therunwouldbe40seconds.“Come on topside!” It

was going to hit, and myinvitation was meant forFraz, but most of the fire

control party and others,too, reached the bridge.The explosion was themost spectacular we hadseen,toppedbyapillaroffire and tremendousexplosions about 500 feetin the air. There wasabsolutely nothing left ofthe gunboat, but we hadseen enough of this shipon this and previousoccasions to provide the

designers with everythingbuttheblueprints.Now knowing that ourtorpedo difficulties weremainlyinsluggishsteeringand depth engines, webentonfullpowertoreachthe security of the deepseas. There we wouldtemporarily convert Tangto a submerged torpedooverhaul shop, staffed by

men whose lives mightdepend on the quality oftheirwork.

The course was east anddawnmetusafterarunof60 miles. Dick slowed toone-engine speed, asinstructed by the singleentry in the night orders,and took our ship downfor the day. The exactingworkonoursixremaining

torpedoes would startroutinely, or so I thought,but Hank had thepreliminary findings readyat breakfast. It had beenthe whole department’sidea to start immediatelyafter the attack, but in acompromise work on thetorpedoes had replacedstanding their normalwatches. Hank andBallingerhadarrangedthe

minor juggling of thewatch list, and this wasjust another example ofthe flexibility that camewith having a few extraofficers and men in theship’scompany.The findings practically

pinpointed our troubles,for threeofour remainingsix torpedoes hadhorizontal, or depth-

keeping, rudder throws offrom three-quarters to afulldegreeheavy,ordeep.It was at least expectedafterourtestfiring,andinitself justified expendingthosetorpedoes,atleastasfaraswewereconcerned.How could this happenintorpedoesthathadbeenrun through the basetorpedo shop, with

preliminary and finaladjustments made byexperts and witnessed byHank and Mel on thecheck-offlists?Theansweris that it couldn’t withhandcrafted torpedoesfrom the Naval TorpedoStation. There thedifferential valves andcontrolengineswerehand-lapped, and othermechanismswere fitted to

each torpedo in a waycomparable to theproduction of a RollsRoyce.The torpedoes under

consideration, however,were put together fromcomponents thathadbeenmanufacturedindozensofdifferent locations. Thepeoplemakingthecastingsand doing the machining

could not visualize thewhole torpedo.Evenmoreimportant, they did nothave an active hand inmaking the whole thingwork. So the improperrudder throws existed allthe time but were notdiscovered because therough valves and engineswould stick in their traveland give what seemed tobe correct readings. But

our task was ahead, andduringthisdaythevalves,steering, and depthengineswouldbeoperatedand operated until theylappedthemselvesin,oratleast were sufficientlywornintohaverubbedoffany rough spots. By lateafternoon, Hank reportedboth torpedo rooms readyfor the final calibrationsandtests.

In anticipation, the aircompressors had broughtthepressurethathadbuiltup in the boat back downto a normal atmosphere,jamming the air back intothe banks. Inter-torpedoroomrivalrywasputasideby Hank’s 6-foot 4-inchmandate. Mel, with FirstClass Torpedoman’s MateFoster and his men fromaft, went forward and

joined Hank, ChiefWeekley, and the forwardgang.Morethanprideandreputation was riding thisafternoon. The depthsprings were calibratedunder the correctatmospheric pressure andthen each torpedo in turnwas suspended as hadbeen done in the EastChina Sea. Each was thenfiredwithitshigh-pressure

air only, spinning thegyros and admitting theair to the control valvesand engines. Then cametheswinginginazimuthtocheck theactualoperationofthevertical,orsteering,rudder. Next came thetilting to check thehonesty of the horizontalrudder. The samecooperativeeffortfollowedaft,andnownoholdswere

barred, the roomswere incompetition again. Justprior to loading, the menpaintedfresheyesoneachwarheadtohelpguideittothe enemy. No realtorpedoman would thinkofloadingafishotherwise,and frankly neitherwouldI.It was 1900 when we

surfaced this August 22

with the troops exudingconfidence. I thoroughlybelieved that they haddone their part, and Imeant to do mine. Ourheading was 012, directlytoward the scene of ourfirst attack of the patrol,where we had missed theold-fashioned black tankerwest of Omae Saki. Wewouldmove north slowly;therewasnorush,andour

attacks would be cold,calm,andcalculated!Checking the torpedoes

hadtakenprecedenceoverfood, and the wardroomwas enjoying a lateevening meal. The freshoceanairmore thanmadeup for the warmed-oversogginess. On the table togo with themeal was thedetermination by the

identification party. Thegunboat,aswehadchosentocallher,wasnewtoallappearanceandunlistedinourpublications.Thepartyhad used the notationsfrom the Quartermaster’sNotebook,whichhadbeenmade at various timeswhentheshipwasinsight,and the lengthdetermination by thestadimeter, which Jones

remembered. It all fittedtogether in a neatparagraph.

GUNBOAT: Flush deck withraisedgunplatformsforwardand amidships mountingestimated 3-inch double-purposeguns.Aftofmidshipplatform was a goalpoststructure, probably forsweeping, topped by alookoutordirectorplatform.

Her stern has two very longhorizontal depth-chargeracks, holding 14 counteddepth charges a side, andwhat appeared to be Y-gunsonthecenterline.Thelengthisbetween225feetand250feetmeasuredbystadimeter,and standard displacementestimatedtobe1,500tons.

They had put togethermore than I remembered,

and it would go into thepatrol report as they hadprepared it. This turnedthe conversation to thecurrent results of ourpatrol. One freighterdown,anotherdamaged,apatrolyachtdamaged,andnow a gunboat blown tosmithereens. It was amotley array to say theleast, but the gunboat didaddabitof respectability.

Truthfully, the ship waspure gravy, for we wouldhave fired those fourtorpedoeswhethershehadbeenthereornot.“Supposewehadn’tseen

her,” Frank ventured, andthat led to some livelypossibilities arising fromtorpedoes racing aimlesslyacross Owashi Wan. Butshewasinourbag,andwe

nowhadachancetomakemore of this patrol andperhaps really hurt theenemy.At 0100 Frank reportedTanginpositiononthe50-fathom curve west ofOmae Saki, and I wenttopside as we movedslowly into thewidebightoff Fukude. There, 6,000yardsfromthelongbeach,

we were certain that noship could passundetected, and theburningnavigationallightsspurred the hope that theenemymighttry.The remainder of themidwatchpassedwithFrazup and available. Themorning watch came on,and Basil took us downquietly. It was 0417, and

this time our dive was inthe best possible positiontointercepttheenemy.Wehad not long to wait, forbombers commencedsearching at daylight. Ahalf hour later the firstsurface patrol hove insight, coming westwardfrom Omae Saki. Ourperiscope searches wouldbecautiousthisday,andItook the scope until she

had passed. Fraz wouldtakethenextone,butnowonly planes remained,searching methodicallyalongthecoast.Wewereatbreakfast,as

usual, when the phonebuzzed. Ed had smoketoward Omae Saki, andsince it had just come inview, the ships would beheadingourway.Thetime

was0803asFrazandIleftthe wardroom. Asexpected, the enemy shipswere nearly aground astheyhuggedthecoast,andTangcould finish that job!Just as Jones swung thehandle on the generalalarm, Walker appearedwith our two cups ofcoffee, no mean trick tobalancewhileclimbingupa ladder and through a

circular hatch. We wouldhave time to drink them,forTangwasoffonafour-minute dash to close ahulk off Fukude,undoubtedly one of oursubs’ handiwork. Aposition 1,000 yards toseaward of the wreckwould insure theshortrange attack that wewanted.Theenemycoursehad to be about 280, the

direction of the coastline;we would concentrate onthe speed determination.The periscope bearingbeforeourdash,convertedto true, had fixed theenemy ships’ position as10,000yardsupthecoast,andnowasweslowed,thenexttruebearingwouldfixit again. It would be asimple case of time anddistancerun,aproblemfor

athird-grader.Welch was calling offour speed, and Caverlywith his metronome wasbeating out the enemy’spropeller turns, 130, agood clip. The log wasdown to 3 knots whenJonesbroughtthescopetomy hands. I checked it inlow power and Jonesraised the scope with me

as if it had a built-infollow-up system.A singlesweep and the scope wasdown.“Left full rudder, allahead two-thirds. We’reinsidethreeSCescortsandhave two mediumfreighters. I’m turning fora stern shot.Angle on thebowtwentyport.”“All tubes are ready

with outer doors open,Captain.” Fraz’s reportmade unnecessary mypending query. Our sternwas staying ahead of theenemy on the TDC. Wewouldsteadyon190forabroadside track. Welchacknowledged one-thirdand would steady us on.There would be onemoresetup before the constantbearing. The scope came

up in time to observe anunexpected zig towards,putting us underfoot. Afull-speed dash succeededonlyingettingusbetweenthe two freighters, whichhad zigged andwere nowona lineofbearing.Theyboiled past, about 200yards ahead and astern,followed by a third,smaller freighterpreviously unseen. All

three of them were tooclose; our torpedowarheads would not bearmedatthatshortrange.When you tried for arangeinsideof1,000yardsit sometimes happenedthis way; but we still hadourtorpedoes,andatleastthatwas an improvement.Perhaps we should begrateful that they had not

wiped off the attackperiscope and that depthcharges weren’t rainingdown.Tang had been securedfrom battle stations for ahalfhourwhenanoldtypedestroyer closed ourposition. She resembledour World War I four-pipers but had two stacksand long depth-charge

racks that must havecleared out the arsenal.Thesuspicion thatwehadbeen spotted seemedalmost certain with thearrival of a floatplane andthen four bombers. Theplanesdidnotbotherusasmuch as the ear-splittingecho-ranging of thedestroyer, the pingsblasting through our hullassheclosedtherange.

“Set all torpedoes ontwo feet and open theouterdoors.”None of us wanted to

shootthisship,feelingthata better one could be justaroundOmaeSaki,butshecould force our hand.When the range was justinside 1,000 yards, thedestroyer commencedcircling us slowly, very

slowly, counterclockwise.We kept our bow pointedat her; we had no choice.She continued her search,sometimes coming veryclose, and I shifted thescope to low power, notjust to keep her in thelarger field but so theplanes, especially thefloatplane, could beobserved,too.

I had made water-lapping looks duringapproaches, perhaps ahundred or more, someverytaut,butneverbeforeonesthatcontinuedonlikethis, wherein we wereforced to keep her inconstant view to attackbefore she could. The tip-off would be a shift toshort scale, the increasedpingrateshowingthatshe

hadanecho.Itcouldcomeatanyinstant.Ahalfhourpassed and she continued,never closer than 500 or600 yards, but seldomoutsideof1,200or1,300.We maneuvered slowly,following a smaller circleinside the destroyer’s andkeeping a bead on her sothere would be no last-minute twisting and

attendant swirl to discloseour presence to thefloatplane.Caverlyhadtheslowswishesofherscrewson the speaker, keepingphase with themetronome. I was callingangles and rangescontinuously lest we beforced to attack, and bybattle phone the situationwent to all compartments.Perhaps I should put our

stern to her so that wecould sneak away whenshe gave us a large angleandstillshootifnecessary.But turning now wouldpresentabroadside toherping;wehadtohangontoour present position andwaitherout.The destroyer gaveground first, leaving hercircle and moving slowly

to seaward. The time was1017; we had been underher thumb for nearly anhour. Her new tacticsmacked of Miki Saki,where the patrol hadsearched the point beforeturning seaward to driveus out of position. Nowthat I was able to use alittle more scope, thereason for the destroyer’ssearch became apparent.

To the west, under thebombers, were the mastsandbroadbridgestructureof a big ship coming ourwayalongthecoast.The destroyer hadaccomplishedapartofhermission by dragging us toseawardinhermaneuvers,which surely would haveplotted like penmanshipcircles drawn across a

page. It was nothing ahigh-speed run could notrectify. With a single callof “Starboard five, rangethirteen thousand,” wewere off and boiling, stillat battle stations. Besidesthe planes, the big shiphad escorts, but we’dworry about them later.For the moment, thisapproach was such abreeze compared to the

last hour that we wererelaxing our shoulderswhile Chief Culp and hiscontrollermen drove ustoward the enemy’s track.Ten minutes into the runTangslowed,Welchcallingout her speed as she lostway.The periscope

observation was routine,but the shipwas not. Her

angle had now opened,showing her full import.The decks of her longmidship superstructurewere dotted with whiteuniforms,aswasherupperbridge.Wehadabignavaltransportforourtorpedoesinstead of that destroyer.The scope was down andwe were off on anotherrun to further close thetrack. I took the moment

of quiet to give the escortpicture, especially toCaverlyon the JK-QCandBergman on the JPforward.ThetransporthadalargePCorDEahead,anSConherbow,andanLST(landingship, tank)plusaPC astern. I’d do theworrying about the planesoverhead.Againweslowed,Welch

callingoutourspeedfromthelogeachhalfknot,andCaverly a constant streamof bearings. Mel waschecking them against theTDC, giving reassuringnods. I glanced at thecomputer’s presentation;we would fire on thisobservation, perhaps adoubledipofthescope.“Get echo ranges to go

with my setup.” Frazstepped aft for a momenttobesurethatCaverlyhadtheword and thenmovedovertotheTDC.“Fifteen degrees to gofor a one hundred track,Captain. The outer doorsareopen,all torpedoessetonsixfeet.”Jones had the scopeready,havingtrainediton

the approximate bearingby twisting the tube withhis hands, and followedmeup.“Bearing—mark!” Jonesread345.“Range—mark! Angleninety starboard.” Caverlycalled 800 yards; Jonesread700.“It all checks, speedeight and a quarter,”

called Frank, and thescopewasbackup.“Constant bearing—mark!”Jonescalled354.“Set!” came from Mel.Herafterdeckwascomingon.Thiswasit!“Fire!” Fraz hit theplunger.ThefirstMark23left with a healthy zing,and the reassuringpressurehitourears.

The second and thirdfishwent to themiddleofher long superstructureand under her forwarddeck.Thewholeship’ssidewas manned by sailors inwhites, exactly as hadbeen the big naval tankerwestofSaipan.“Right full rudder. Allahead full.” We wouldattacktheLST.

“All hot, straight, andnormal.” Those beautifulwords came from Caverlyand Bergman almostsimultaneously. Jones washelping our torpedoes ontheir way with his raisedfist. Ogden was countingoff the seconds—11 moretogo.WeslowedandMelcalled the new relativebearing. The scope cameup, a sweep in lowpower

and back to the transport.The smoky wakes werefanning out toward hermiddle; the torpedoesthemselves would be 75yards farther on. Therewas nothing that greatship could do; she was adeadduck.The crack of adetonationandtheroarofthe explosion jammed

Ogden’s 30th second backdown his throat. The hitwas in theafter sectionofthe superstructure, theshallow torpedo rippingout a section of waterlinethe size of a freight car.The next hit was justforward of the longsuperstructure, under theshort forward deck, andgave her a down-angle ofabout 20 degrees, which

she maintained like adivingsubmarine.TheLSTwasheadingfor

the beach, and a sweepshowed no ship or planepaying attention to ourimmediate position, soFrazandFrankeachtookasquint of the sinkingtransport, followed byBallinger. It was not justpure generosity; we

wanted extra witnesses towatchhergo.Some ship or planedropped two depthcharges, nicely spaced soCaverly obtained twosoundings. Following thebottom, 100 turns on thepropsclearedusoutofthearea. For once,counterattack of thesubmarineseemedtobeof

second priority,undoubtedly as thesurvivors were picked up.Ten full minutes passedbefore the charges rained.Tang was then snug atdeep submergence, andtwo hours at high speedfollowed by gradualslowing kept everythingastern, including amultiship echo-rangingsearch. The enemy was

persistent, apparentlystaying with us, and wecame back to periscopedepthfortheadvantageofa visual observation.Masts, four of them, werefanned out across ourstern, but the howlingpings were not asdisturbing now that wecouldseetheships’tops.Itwas so easy to think thatecho-ranging was getting

closer that watching theenemy as soon as it wasreasonably safe had amentalaswellasatacticaladvantage.Our patrol had beenpunctuated bydisappointments andtriumphs, but each hadadded to our totalexperience, and especiallyto that of our new hands.

In just over three weeksthey had participated inmore action than I hadseen inWahoo’s two longearlypatrols.AsIwatchedBasil going about hisduties with confidence, itwas evident that he hadalreadyacquired theprideIhadhopedfor.During the afternoon,volunteers commenced

sorting the freezer room;this patrol now promisedtobeofnolongerdurationthanthelast.Darknesswastrebly welcome, for thethree blasts of the surfacealarmwouldheraldarushof God’s fresh air, thenfrying steaks, and a full-power run away from theenemy, now back on thedarkhorizon.

Jones had spent a part ofthe afternoon over thechart with his tracingsheet firmly secured inplace,apparentlyobliviousto the sonar search goingon behind us. Keepingbusy was the best way tokeep the enemy from

gettingonyournerves,butJones’s taskhadbecomeanecessary and continuingchore. After a week ourtrackswerecrossingonthenavigator’s chart, and aglanceatallofthetracingsnowshowedaconfusionoflines. They were visualevidence of our hit-and-run policy, always tryingto put at least a hundredmiles behind us after an

attack, and preferablytwice that figure. It wasnot just a measureaffecting our immediatesafety but one that wehoped would confuse theenemy. Our torpedoes,whether they hit orexploded on the beach,were announcing thepresence of a submarine.The Japanese had thosepositions plotted, but

without the tracks theywould certainly attributethem to more than onesubmarine,maybethreeorfour. How could they beexpected to know of ourextra fuel capacity andattendant long legs whenour own force engineerand operations hadn’t? Atleast this should dispersetheenemy’sescorts.

AtthemomentTangwaschargingthroughthenightand before dawn wouldhave added another 160miles to the 3,000 thatJones had added uproughly, 3,160 miles justinthesetwoareas.“Thatshouldprovidethe

DivCom with hisendorsement,” Frazcommented as we relaxed

with after-dinner coffee.“‘Excellent area coverageis indicated,’” he intoned,ofcourseneedlingmeabitabout the endorsement Idisdained. This time theremightjustbesomeperiodsofrunningscared.Midwaywas only 2,500 milesaway;wehadthefuel,andifitcouldaddtooursafetyand help promote thispatrol,we’dnot carry any

excessback.“I’m still wonderingabout that destroyer wehad this morning.” Frankhad changed the specificarea of the conversation alittle, but turning entirelyaway from the morningattack would be likeforgetting an Army-Navygamewiththelastplay.Itwasroutine todiscussany

attack, sometimes to findoutwhatwentwrong,butgoing over what wentright was a lot more funand sometimes just asimportant.“Maybe she never did

train her sound gear farenoughaft,” saidMel. “AsI remember, we werealmostcontinuouslyonherquarter.” I was pleased to

have the junior officersjoin in, for they wereflexible and could comedown with fresh ideas.Without awatch to stand,I had been mulling overthesubjectforsomehours,and Mel was close to myconclusion. I threw it onthe table to see whatcomment it might elicitfromothers.

“Ifigureshehadafixedsonar and was searchingby maneuvering in lazycircles. We stayed on theinside,keepingourbowtoher,andasMelsaid,neverdid get off her quarter forany appreciable length oftime nor into a forwardsector where she couldhaveobtainedanecho.”“Couldithavebeenjust

a Fathometer we heard?”asked Dick. None of therest of us had consideredthis,butitwasasplausiblean explanation as anyother.AFathometerisjusta vertical echo-ranger; itspings would sound thesame and could drive asubmarine out of positionjust as effectively ashorizontal echo-rangingand might even make a

contact. Many an attackhad been thwarted byrandomdepthcharges,andthe combination of an oldtype destroyer with longdepth-charge racks and apowerfulFathometercouldhave been successful, too.That is, if we had notunwittinglydone the rightthing, not through anylogicotherthanremainingin an attack attitude. One

thing was certain,however;thefailureofthedestroyer to make contactwould remain a pleasantmystery.We had received noidentification of thetransport during theattack, partly because ofthe few observations andlittle information sent tothe party. Had it been a

normal attack, the shipcouldnothavebeentypedanyway, for she wasnowhereinthebooks.Theparty had done the nextbest thing, submitting aparagraphfortherecord:

The Naval Transport wouldappear similar to BuenosAires Maru, page 45, if sheweregivenarakedbowandherstackcutdownlevelwith

the highest point of hersuperstructure. The grosstonnage would be about10,000 and the standarddisplacement15,000tons.

We checked ONI-208Jagain and none of uspresent who had seen herdisagreed. I recorded thelatitude,34°37′north,andthe longitude, 137° 50′east, and to ward off any

questions added onesentence, This was not ahospital ship, since theidentification bookcontained a small notesaying that the BuenosAires Maru had beendesignated as such. Thenight orders were againbrief, my congratulationshavinggoneoverthe1MC.Proceeding at three-enginespeedoncourse247°trueto

pass Shiono Misaki beforedawnandattackshippingonsouthern coast. When thebattery charge is completedat about 2300, put thefourth engine on propulsionand work up to full power.Call me topside for anycontact inside of 10,000yardsordive.Aturnthroughtheboat,

the report of increasing

seasfromthewestslowingus a knot, the completionof the battery charge, andthen the expected radarsignals from ShionoMisaki, all of these madethe night go quickly. ItwasspeededfurtherbyanSJ contact out at 10,000yards. The timewas 0336on this August 24, andsection tracking wassufficient for themoment.

With Hank, Charles, andFrank assisting, thetrackingwent smoothly. Itwaslikeoldtimes,gainingposition ahead with asurface dash on an enemyshipmaking only 6 knots,but we had not yet madeheroutinthisdarkestpartof the night. The runcarried us toward thebeach from the 100-fathomcurve,andnowwe

had a second ship, closeinshore and seeminglylarger.As the first contactwasprobablyanescort,weshiftedtargets.TheBellsofSt. Mary’s called an 0428reveille to go with battlestations, and momentslater Larry took our shipbelowtheseas.Our approach wentsmoothly on to a

generated range of 3,000yards. Then in the dawnlight the ship commencedsignaling with yardarmblinkers and maneuveredaway, displaying a superload of depth charges andefficient looking guns.Wekept a bead on her, butlike the destroyer the daybefore she couldforeshadow a real target.None of us regretted that

her maneuvers took hershoreward,nevergivingusa suitable setup. Itappeared that she hadbeen relieved by a secondpatrol, which kept usoccupied for the next twohours.Thetroops,afewata time, finished breakfast.Andthen,toolate,wesawthe second escort lead amedium-sized dieseltanker out of Kazampo,

just east of Ichiye Saki,and head for ShionoMisakihuggingthecoast.This promised to be a

busy day, and we wentdown to breakfast beforeanother interruption couldturn it into lunch. Thetime was 0950, and overan hour went by beforeDick’scallcamefromcon.He had a Hishun Maru

class patrol with twostripes on her stackcoming down the coast.Two stripes should meansomething, perhapsdesignating a commandship, for the escortingalong this coast wasobviously from point topoint, seeing a shipthrough a danger area,rather than accompanyingher all the way between

ports. It avoided theslowdown of convoyoperations and certainlymadeforthemostefficientuse of the availableescorts.With this inmindwe moved to the 40-fathom curve on sightingsmoke beyond Ataki Saki,guessing that the escortcommander would bereturning. He was there,all right, on the very next

observation, coming backwestandleadingtwolargefreighters close to thebeach. Welch swung thehandle on the generalalarm, and Tang’s battlestations were mannedagain.The freighters were in

ballastorridinghigh.Still13,000 yards away, weshould have no difficulty

in making the necessaryrun to close the track. AnescortsimilartotheHishunMaru following asternoffered no problem;neither did two destroyertypes, one just to seawardofeachfreighter.Tangwasonalongrunin,andwe’dtake a look from the 30-fathom curve. It wasalways a long wait, butfinallyFrazgavemeanod.

“All ahead one-third.”Maneuvering answered,but with the bells camereportsoflightscrewsandecho-ranging on ourstarboard beam andquarter. When Welchcalled 3 knots and Jonesbrought up the scope, Itrained first to starboard.We had two PCs, not yetthreatening, though theone on our quarter was

obviously already toseaward of our position.Left to the freightersshowed them coming on,and against thebackground of the beachthey were definitelypainted white. This wasunusual and so were themaneuvers of thedestroyers, which werepatrolling with a wormturn, a sine wave track,

each still abeam of herrespectivefreighter.Tang was charging in

again, and the nextobservationwouldbefromabout the 25-fathomcurve. The ocean floorshelved very slowly, andwe had time to considerfurther the details of ourlast observation.Were thedestroyers searching with

fixed sonar, or were theymomentarily expectingtorpedoes andwormturningtoaddtothedifficulties facing thesubmarine? Further, whatwerethePCsdoingthisfarto seaward, considerablyoutside of a submarine’sfiringposition?Weslowedagain; the situation waschanged only by theaddition of another PC to

starboard. The scope wasdown, and I looked overthe situation on Fraz’schart. Neither of us likedthe pending long torpedorun, but we’d see whatdeveloped at an estimated20 fathoms.Wewerenowmoving in at a somewhatcautioustwo-thirdsspeed.Again Welch rang upone-third speed. Caverly

sweptaroundandhad thejumble of freighters’ anddestroyers’ screws on ourstarboardbowasexpected.Further to starboard andacross our stern, he nowreported light swishes offour patrols, the two onourbeamsomewhatclose.Joneshadthescopereadyand brought it up for oneofourwater-lappinglooks.The sweep was quick and

thescopewasdown.We’dneed to move in anotherthousand yards for theshot we’d want, in to 15fathoms. But whatdisturbed me as muchwere the PCs, now five ofthem, poised in an arcbetween us and deepwater.“Fraz, this situation

stinks!” I remarked,

straightening up as Jonesloweredthescope.Fraz’s thumb pointing

seaward and his pleadingexpression fortified mydecision. No exchange ofwords was necessary.Routine orders sent Tanginto a great descendingcurve, the half turn of ahelix, toward the PCs andfriendlyseasbeyond.Inall

compartments our troopsquietlywentaboutriggingfordepthcharge.

Our speedwas two-thirds,notsufficienttopermitthepatrolling PCs to hear ourscrews, but the 5 knotswas bringing us aroundhandsomely. Fraz andJoneshadusedtheirOuijaboard in arriving at thedepthofthesea,andLarry

wasabout tosettleus twofathoms off the bottom at90 feet. Rather thandispute the navigators’figure,Iorderedthesoundheads rigged in. It neednotbeforlong,andatthemoment Bergman, withthe topside-mounted JPhead, was doing amasterful job in reportingthe low-pitched pings ofthe enemy. Larry went

through to a 3-degree up-angle in leveling off, notunusual and advantageousonthisoccasion.Thesterndidn’t hit, so neithershouldthesoundheads.We had the choice of

heading off to passbetween two PCs, givingeach of them theopportunity for abroadside echo, or of

heading directly beneaththe one nearly ahead andpresenting a minimalangle.The fine line tracedby the stylus of ourbathythermograph showeda minute horizontalmovement at our presentdepth. It could signify atemperature gradientahead. We repeated thesound head procedurewhilegoingdownanother

50 feet and passingdirectlybeneathaPC.Theseas were kind, and wecruised to deep waterbelowa5-degreegradient,whichwouldreflectallbuta fraction of each enemyping.One depth charge,

perhaps dropped indisgust, bade us farewell,and we commenced

rigging for normalsubmerged cruising. Tanghad been completely onthe defensive since thedecision to break off theapproach, and theimmediate rigging fordepth charge hadobviously smoothed outour withdrawal. Thisbecame especially evidentwhenFrazandIcomparedit to the simultaneous

rigging and evasionfollowing the firstsuccessful attack of thispatrol,outofOwashiWan.It would seem that somerigging for depth chargecould take place duringthe approach, thusspeeding the transition tothe defensive after firing.We each knew of boatsthat operated that way,butinthemthesparkthat

turned a ship’s companyintoafightingunitseemedto have been snuffed outalong the way or neverwas ignited at all. Theyhad sunk some ships, butnotmany.Tangwould continueon

the offensive just as longas she logically could;we’d worry about evasionwhen the time came. It

had come this day forseveral reasons: Theenemy at least suspectedourpresence,orhadmadea good guess, and truesurprisewas lacking;Tangwasbeingforcedtoattackfrom a precariouslyshallow position andwould have no torpedoesleft for defense; and theenemy’s antisubmarineunit was already in place,

waiting for us to shoot.Retreathasitsplaceinanybattle, even in asubmarine’s.Wecouldfinda better spot, withconditions more to ourliking,andwestillhadourlastthreetorpedoes.Thepatrolwasyoung,a

week shyof amonth, andtimewisewecouldaffordaropeyarn Sunday. But the

waxing moon dictatedotherwise, for now late inthe second quarter, itwasshining bright at sunset.Anextradayanditwouldbe low above the horizonandadefinitehindrancetoa submarine wanting tosurfaceandmakearunforit. We could avoid theworst of this by attackingtomorrow.

The horizon was clearlate into evening twilight,whenwesurfacedunderathree-quartermoon.Itwas1930, the evening mealwasover,andonlyroutinedumpingofweightedsacksheld up another high-speed run. Fraz had laiddown a track that wouldtake us well clear of anypossible radar detectionfrom Shiono Misaki and

thennortheastpastKantoriSaki and back to our oldstompinggroundnearMikiSaki. We would not bemovingontothispointnorintoOwashiWanbut to alesser point about fivemiles to the southwestcalled Nigishima. It istipped by a small islandlying about 300 yards offthe point, and any sizableships would have to pass

to seaward. Further, themotorboat patrols thatwehad observed before nearMiki Saki—and who hadobserved us, too—did notrange this far. With 50fathoms close to theseawardsideoftheisland,it appeared a natural forourlastattack.The squalls reported to

be gathering should make

the passage more secure,but with the suddenchange in the weather, Iwent topside to see formyself. Fraz was alreadythere, and though thelookout efficiency andeventhatoftheradarwerereduced, this would affectthe enemy without radarmore adversely. I was onmy way below whenHank’s firm voice called

me to the bridge. There,unbelievably close andparallel to us, was asubmarine. Radar called1,100 yards, and I called,“Left full rudder!” puttingherastern.Wehadmovedout to 5,000 yards whentracking showed that shehadturnedawayalso.Thebattery charge wascomplete.Allengineswenton propulsion and Tang

rolled at full power in amidnight end-around. Wedid not get far before thepip on the SJ’s A-scopebecame smaller and thendisappeared altogether;she had dived.We rangedahead on her originalcourse and then stoppedand waited. A long hourwent by; she had notsurfaced and hersubmerged speed could

now be bringing herwithintorpedorangeofus.It could be a case ofwhowas hunting whom, andwithout reluctance webent on the knots andheadedforNigishimaSaki.We were too keyed up

for sleeping, and over acup of coffee Fraz and Italked over thepossibilities, joined a few

minuteslaterbyHankandBasil, who had come offwatch. Could we havemissedaFoxthattoldofafriendly submarine? It didnot seem likely, but wewould have wanted toobserve this submarine indaylight to be sure. Frazleft for a moment andcame back with somenotes. This was the areawhere four torpedoes had

missed our submarineTautog, and we concludedthat the enemy hadoutfitted at least onesubmarine with radar andshewaslookingforus.Diving was but twohoursaway.Frazwouldbeup the rest of the nightmaking our landfall, andthen I would con us inwhile he navigated. There

wastime,however,tokickoff my shoes; and in thequiet, perhaps fortified bythe excitement of the lasttwo hours, I decided onour tactics for the comingday. I doubted that theyhadbeentriedbefore;theyhadn’t inWahoo, and thatcovered most everythingthat submarines had everdone. More important,theyshouldbenewto the

enemy and would avoidthe difficulties we hadexperienced in attackingtheBiyoandAkasiMaru.The two hours passed

quickly and at 0420 weslid under the shelteringseaamileandahalffromNigishima Saki. Asinsurance against beingcaught in left field, wecontinued in to 1,500

yards off the rocks. Asexpected, patrol activitycommenced within thehalf hour, but it turnedbacknortheastshortofus.In the calm, we nowlearned that Tokyo Rosehad again pointed thefinger at us, butencouragingly had usedthe word “submarines.”Ourhit-and-runtacticshadthe enemy confused, but

hewasdoingaprettygoodjob of getting under ourskin.Perhapsbythisnightwe would have evenedthatscore.Mel called me back tothe conning tower atbreakfast, for one of thePCsona return trip southwascontinuingdirectlyforus.Ataperiscoperangeof2,000 yards, we headed

down, rigging for depthchargeassheclosed.Tangwas at 275 feet, twofathoms off the bottom,when the PC passeddirectly overhead, hersound bearing suddenlyshifting to the reciprocal.AsIexpected,shegavenoindication of suspectingourpresence,andwewereclose to evasion depth ifshe had; we rigged for

normalsubmergedcruisingon the way up. She wasbackagainwithin thehalfhour, heading up thecoast, and we wentthrough a repeatperformance. Again ourvertical evasion workedperfectly, even though wehad but a slight gradient,and some of the troopsbegan to share myconfidence in the

maneuver.ListeningtothePC’s screws and pingsgrowing in intensity tillthey were overhead andcrossing our fingers thatneither speeded up,indicating a contact ordepthcharges,didpickupthe heartbeat a bit andwould take some gettingusedtobyallofus.Fraz,whowassupposed

to be making up for anightwithout sleep, couldnot standbeingoutsideoftheactivityand joinedmefortheseconddoublepass.Mel kept the con andhandled the PC’ssouthwardlegsowellthatFrazand Iwentbelow forcoffee.MysmilebroughtaqueryfromFraz.“Iwasjustthinkingthat

with more time insubmarines than Mel, Iwas essentially put underhack for shifting theArgonautfromoneberthtoanother.TheU.S.S.Beavermade port early, beforedawn,andwewereinherberth. I had the duty so Ibackedclear,butIwasnotyetqualified.”Frazshookhishead.He,

too,waswellawareofthetremendous changessubmarine service hadundergone since the startofthewar.Hereachedforthe cribbage board,whichmight serve as a sort oftherapythisday.After one more double

pass, the PC was relievedby a Hishun Maru classpatrol. We were not

leaving everything up toMel, for planes in sightcontinuously indicatedcoming shipping. Flyinglow, they also limited ourperiscope exposures andthe opportunity to fix ourposition. The counterKuroshio had moved ussouthwest a mile, offAdashika Wan, whensmoke appeared aroundMiki Saki. Battle stations

sounded for the first timethis August 25, aslowdownsinceyesterday,butourtargetsherelookedbetter. Their tops werenow in view, a mediummast-funnel-mast freighterand a smaller one withengines aft. Their trackplotted across the narrowentrance to the bay, andwe turned left for a sternshot with our last three

torpedoes. The enemycame on and then turnedunexpectedly intoAdashikaWan,givingusa130 port track with arange of 1,700 yards. Itwould be a reasonableshot,butnotwithourlasttorpedoes. Possiblyinfluenced by their portquarter escort, which wasabout to wipe off ourscope, we broke off the

attack and bucked thecurrent back to NigishimaSaki.Tang’sspeedoverthebottom was only a knot,but two hours after thesighting, now 1335, shewasbackinposition.Time had not dragged,

but the hours since dawnhad beenwearing andwewelcomed a period ofinactivity. It lasted 54

minutes, ending whenFranksightedsmoketothesouth.Asthetopsandthenthe hull came in view, itproved to be anotherpatrol with a deep-throated pinger, soundinglike a pile driver over oursupersonic JK. Her hull,however, had the chunkylines of a minesweeper,and as she drew closer amotor sailer or work boat

came in sight about 100yards on the sweep orpatrol’s starboard beam.The two appeared to besweeping. Our sonic JP,which amplified soundsjust as they would beheardwithyourearsunderwater, took this delightfulmomenttoreportscrapingand clonking noises, asthough heavy chainswerebeing dragged along the

bottom. This certainlyfortified the visualimpression that they weresweepingforus.Fraz went forward andTangwent down. The piledriver continued on JK asthe range closed. We had250 feet of sea above uswhen Fraz returned. Thebest he could say was, “Idon’t think so,” and then

the pile driver shifted toshort scale. We werealmost glad to exchangethe cables and chains thathad seemed so logicallypossible for the enemy’ssonar contact. We waited,therewasnothing elsewecould do, and then a lowcheer filled the conningtowerastheenemyshiftedback to long scale, havingpassed us up for a bump

on the bottom. Still, we’llnever be sure he wasn’tsweepingtoo!It was now 1530. Wehad spent just over anhour with the sweep, andas she continued drivingpiles to thenortheast, twoand then three patrolsmoved in to search thearea. They, at least, werenot fitted for sweeping,

though avoiding the threeof them required almostcontinuous trips close tothebottom.Theactionandthepossibledecisionsnowrequired more experience.Fraz had the con for themoment. Since somethingwas obviously brewing, Iflipped the eavesdroppingswitch on the Voycall atthe head of my bunk. Icould now listen in on

both control and theconning tower and thusjudgewhenIshouldgouptotakethecon.Thiscould,of course, be ratherdangeroustomypride,butithadsavedcountlesstripsto the conning tower orbridge, and had permittedenoughhorizontalexerciseto keep me going. Wordfrom con of distant high-frequency echo-ranging

drifted through, followedby a hushed statementfrom control that surelyexpressedthesentimentofthewholeship’scompany:“Jesus Christ, I wish theOldManwould get rid ofthese three goddamnedtorpedoes!”The duty chief’smessenger brought theofficial word of the echo-

ranging from down thecoast, growing louderthough no ships were yetin sight. In the conningtower, the JK speakerhadbeenturned on. The high-pitched, squeaky pings,like steam froma radiatorvalve, were the same asthose we had heard theday before. Though itspeakwas above the rangeof our receiver, the

intensity increasedsteadily, and on the nextobservation four escortswere insight.TheBellsofSt.Mary’schimedforwhatall hands certainly prayedwould be the last time onthis patrol. Happily, thelast three PCs had shiftedtheir activity to Miki andKuki Saki just to thenortheast, apparentlysatisfied that our vicinity

wassafe.Forthemoment,Jones and I were able tosearch at will. This waswell, for passing rainsquallswereobscuringthecoast, and we needed theearliestcontactpossibleonthe ship that must befollowing.The report “Battlestations manned” wasalmost immediate, giving

the impression that theship’s company hadalready been standing by,which was very probablythe case. Now I heardFraz’s order to maketorpedo tubes ready aft.The enemy ship was notyet in sight, but on thenext observation her twomasts poked out of thesquall, followed by herlong,lowhull.

I called, “Starboardeight,”Jones read,“Rangeeight thousand,” andTangwas off to move onto hertrack.Fromtherewecouldpulloffanytimeforasternshot as she came by. Thetimewas1743,ahalfhoursince hearing her escorts’pings.Frazcalledthetimefor our run, 15 minutes.We slowed for amidpointsquintandarange;allwas

wellandwecontinuedon.Another six minutespassed, and we slowedagain. Caverlyimmediately had herscrewsbeating90turnsbymetronome but abaft ourportbeam;wehadcrossedherboworshehadziggedto seaward. The nextminute seemedinterminable, but withWelch’s call Jones and I

took a quick sweep andthe scope was down. IgaveFraztheOKsignandordered left full rudder.The angle was 10 port;Tang was inshore of theenemy ship, and we werecoming to the reverse ofhercourseforlowparallaxfiring. Our torpedoeswould leave in thedirection of the enemy’smotion and their gyros

would then take them totherighttointercept.There was now amomentduringtheturntodescribeour target for theidentification party andvery probably all hands,too. It was not difficult;she was a heavily loaded,medium-sized dieseltanker, the identical shipthathadslippedbyusout

of Kazampo yesterdaymorning. The overallspeed of under 2 knotsmust have been nearlyintolerable to the enemy;we meant to make itimpossible.We had steadied on

course223.TheescortthatI had first seen across thetanker’s deck, forward ofher after superstructure,

had now dropped nearlyastern. The other threewere fanned out on herstarboard bow, while afifth ranged ahead. Noneof them could interferewithus,andtherewasstilltime to turn away for astraight stern shot. Thenavigator tabooed this;there was not roombetweenusandtheisland.I would now want echo

ranges to substantiate thestadimeter, for the datacomputer’s angle solvermust account for theadvance and transfer ofeach torpedo to the pointwhere it settled on itsgyro’s course. An error intherangesetintotheTDCwould result in adisplacement of thetorpedoatthetarget.

Fraz reported the outerdoorsopen;theenemywascoming on.We would getone more setup and thenshoot. Jones brought thescope to my hands asusual, and I rode it up.Caverlywasstandingby.“Bearing—mark!” Jones

read292.“Range—mark!” The

scope lowered and Jones

read 1,100 yards; Caverlycalled 800 from his echo,300yardsout!“Oh, Christ! I got areciprocal on the rocks,”Caverly said and trainedthe sound head 180degrees tobring the echo-ranging QC elements onthetanker.Wetriedagain,and both checked at 900.Only seconds had actually

been required, and nowcameFraz’swarningof10degreestogo.Iglancedatplot; the projected firingrange was under 600yards, no problem sincethe Mark 18-1s armedbefore 200. The TDC nowread 700, with enemycourse033andspeed8.Itall looked good, but withno escorts on our side ofthe tanker, we’d take one

morerangebeforefiring;itwould never be heardamidst the array of pingson our port hand andcould make this the mostaccurate salvowe had yetfired. This time Caverly,Jones,andIwereallattheready.“Any time, Captain,”

saidFraz,steppingovertothe firing panel. Jones

raisedthescopefromdecklevel to my hands, and Istationed the wireamidshipsonthetanker.“Constant bearing—mark!” Caverly called arange of 600. Jones readthebearing.“Itallchecks,”said Frank, backing upMel.“Set!” Her aftersuperstructurewasalready

coming on, and now herstack.“Fire!”Frazhitthefiringplunger, and the firsttorpedo was on its way.The second fish wentamidships. But the third Iaimedaquarterofaship’slength ahead, for themiddle of three escorts,nearlyonalineofbearing.Caverlywastrackingthe

torpedoes, all runningnormally as Ogden calledout the seconds. At thisrange even the slowMark18-1swouldnottakelong.Thetimewas1805.“Torpedo run fortyseconds,”calledFraz,bothto us and over the 1MC.All 88 in the ship’scompany were apparentlyurgingthesetorpedoeson,

some men close by quiteaudibly. They had beenbabied, checked, andrechecked. If evertorpedoes were to runtrue, these should. Theydid;thefirstwithawhackand disintegratingexplosion that crumbledthe whole after section ofthetanker,asifshe’dbeenconstructed of poorlyreinforced concrete. The

second torpedo finishedthejob.Iswunglefttotheescorts ahead and gaveJonesa thumbsup for thesearchscope.Theyhadnotrecovered from the shockofthefirsttwoexplosions,and the leading escortnever would; our lasttorpedohadjustblownhertopieces.What was left of the

tanker’s bow had nowsunk, and the stern escortwas making a run forwhere the tanker’squarterwould have been.Expectingsomecloseones,we put her on our portbow to work towarddeeper water, rigging fordepthchargeonourway.

The depth charges rained,but not close, for theenemy obviously had notthe faintest idea of ourfiring position. To closethe escorts now solely forthe purpose of reachingdeepwaterbytheshortestroutewas certainly not in

ourbestinterest.Weeasedoff to starboard andproceeded along an arc,keeping track of thenearest escorts by soundand water-lapping looks.At the end of about tenminutes,theinitialbarragestopped, but we had nowobtained deepwatersoundingswith the enemyabaft our beam. Anycuriosity concerning the

enemy’s tactics after theescorts regroupedwas putaside. Larry took our shipon down in a long, slow-motion glide and trimmedheroffataneven500feet.Our course was 116 to

pass Aoga Shima, safe inthe central Nampo Shoto.Any course to the east, aslong as our 100 turnsoutflanked the enemy,

would have beensatisfactory. But knowingthat Tang was proceedingalongthegeneralrouteforPearlgaveusallalift.TheJapanese were tenacious,however, for bearings oftheir echo-ranging showeda search extending acrossour stern from quarter toquarter.Itwas1915.Overan hour had passed sincetheattack,and ifwewere

to observe the enemy ithad tobenow,before theendofeveningtwilight.Standard speed assisted

Larry’s long climb to 100feet, where we slowedwhileheadjustedthetrimand then proceededsmartly on up to 60 feet.The enemywas not close,but neither was he as farastern as we would have

liked, for the brightmoonlaydeadahead.Wewouldbe in its streak onsurfacing. Tang washolding her own, perhapsdrawing away slowly at100 turns; we speeded upto standard.The timewasnow2000, and off on ourstarboard bow, at aboutthe same elevation as themoon, lay a single blackcloud.Itwasnotlargebut

big enough. Its bearingwasdrawingslowly to theleft, and I had neverexpectedtohearaconningtower cheer for a cloud.Preparations for surfacingwere completed;we stoodby, moving up to fullspeed on the battery. Thecloud started across themoon’sface;aminutelaterthree blasts sounded, thena cheer rang through the

boat as Tang hit thesurface.Thetimewas2039,and

one at a time the dieselstook over the full-powerloadlestweleaveatelltaleblotchofsmoke.Wecouldprobably outrun theenemy’s escorts anyway,buttherehadbeenenoughexcitement for one patrol.Again we had one

objective, and for themoment our props at 315turns were taking care ofthat.Of lesser importance,though perhaps not in theminds of the ship’scompany, was a delayedevening meal, announcedby the aroma of fryingsteaks coming from thehullexhaust.Enemy radar signals on

142, 242, and 306megacycles weakenedrapidly as we withdrew,and searchlights asternweresoonlostingatheringrain squalls. Now witheven the weather rootingfor us, Fraz and I left ourship in Dick’s capablehands and went below tosee if the steaks were, asgood as the smell wouldindicate. The formality of

waiting for the captain orexecutive officer to beseated before serving wasnormally waived by themwhen under way if theywould be delayed. Watchofficers, of course,completed their meal intime to assume the watchby a quarter of the hour.This night, all the officersexcept Dick and Ed, onwatch, chose to wait for

us. It was a compliment,but also with this mealwould commence therehash of the day and thepatrol. Itwasnatural, andprobablynodifferentfromthe stories swapped backatcampafteraday’shunt.Inafactualsense,ourswashunting to thenthdegree.Idobelieve that anair ofrelief greeted mycharacterization of the

day’s tactics as beingsuited to a particularproblem and set ofcircumstances, and so atleast indicated that thiswould not become Tang’smodusoperandi.Itseemedbest not to point out thatwhen fighting theJapanese in their frontyard, the tactics used thisday were applicable offevery deepwater

promontory. I would bethe first to admit that asubmarine would neverfeel completelycomfortable in stayingunderfoot. But comparedto the minimum-angletacticswehadusedearlierin this patrol, it wasconsiderably lessdangerous, for the enemywould already be past thedrop point for depth

charges by the time hedetected the sub, and thesub could be halfway todeepwater.Our conversation was

accompanied by the scoreof Flying Down to Rioshowing in the forwardtorpedo room. All of ourmovies were of courserepeats, but it happenedthat this show with Fred

Astaire and Ginger Rogerswas the only one I hadattended on this patrol.There was a remotepossibility that it washaving a rerun for mybenefit, though mostprobably for thesuggestion contained inthe title. If so, I had themessage.“What’s our fuel status,

Larry?”Thiswasnormallya daily report but quiteunderstandably had beenpushed aside this day.Frank handed Larry hisnotebook, which he’dapparently left on thesideboardinanticipation.“On surfacing we still

had fifty-five thousand,and we’re burning fivethousand a day at this

speed, that is outside ofcharging batteries,” Larryreplied, checking thefiguresinthenotebook.“That would get us to

Pearl with at least seventhousand to spare,Captain,” Frankvolunteered. The two hadobviouslybeenadvisedbyFraz to be primed for thequery.

“Let’sletherrollforthepresent and see whatauxiliary can do aboutpumping up the batteryduringthenextdayorso.”It was fun to observe

Tang’s officers remainingmaturely serious butunable to totally suppressa boyish glee at thethought of a high-speedrun from Honshu all the

waytoPearl.Perhapstheywere thinking the sameofme. It was a far cry frompeacetime steaming at themost economical speed,but other than the addedsafety sucha run affordedus,itwasfarandawaythemost economical move inthe overall war effort.Sincedepartingonherfirstpatrol,day inanddayoutincluding refits, Tang was

averaging one enemy shipon the bottom every 12days. In dollars and centsthey would be worthseveral million dollarsapiece, and many timesthat figure to the enemysince they wereirreplaceable. So it wasvery easy to justify toourselves the three dayswecouldsavenow,forwewouldbeabletodeparton

patrolagainjustthatmuchsooner. And should anystaffnitpickerdaretoraisean objection, we couldthrowthefigureofatleasta million bucks on thetable.My night orders and

congratulatory message tothe crew seemed familiaron rereading. I thumbedthe pages back to July 6,

the day of our last attackin the Yellow Sea. Exceptforlistingthecautionsandcourse ahead of thecongratulations, theentries were almostidentical.Themessagehadworked well before; therewas no reason to changeexcept to record the dataon this last ship andescort. The identificationpartyhadfoundnopicture

of the tanker in thepublications, undoubtedlybecause she was too new.The escort, however,appeared to be a Kushirotype, and I recorded themashadbecomecustomary:

1mediumdieseltanker

5,000tonsLat33°55′N.

modern,newappearing

Long.136°13′E.

1KushiroMaruclass

600tonsstandard

Lat.33°55′N.

escortvessel(PCE)

displacementLong.136°13′E.

Walkerbroughtacupofcoffee and took the NightOrderBookafttothedutychief. Only the mutedsounds of the racing seasbeyond the pressure hulland the reports requiredby the standing ordersdisturbed the hours tilldaylight.In overcast, scuddy

weather, Tang rolled past

Aoga Shima. It was 0800of August 26, and 3,325milesofunobstructed seaslay between us and Pearl.We continued makingknots throughout the day,andtherequireddeparturemessage went out to theforce commander atmidnight. Included inadditiontotheresultswasa general statement ofwhere and when and

under what circumstanceswe had found the enemy.Themessage should delaythe next boats for theEmpire until we wouldhave a chance to talk tothematPearl,Midway,orby rendezvous at sea, butthatwasstaffbusinessandours was to bring Tangback safely. With this inmind, our first runningdive was scheduled for

midmorning. In peacetimethis term would describeanydivewithwayon,butours would have avariation. Those involvedin the mechanics of thedivewerecutinonexactlywhat we would be doing;the rest of the ship’scompany would soon findout.Basil’s two blasts

initiated the dive exactlylikeanyother.Fraz,onthesearch scope with theprism fully depressed,watched forward. As soonas he called, “Decksawash!” I ordered threeblasts. Tang’s downwardmomentum carried heranotherfewfeetinalong,shallow dip, and then shewas on the surface atcruisingspeed.Thepit log

showedthatourspeedhaddropped 3 knots, but thewholeevolutionhadtakenonly four minutes. Usingan average of the speedreduction,wehadbeensetbackonly200yardsinourrunforthebarn,insteadoffive or six miles by anormal trim dive. Thetroops liked it, and thisdunkingdive toldme thatTang could go on down,

whichwas all I needed toknow. Frankly, it wasenoughdifferenttobefun.In February of 1943 Ihadenjoyedtwobirthdaysandfeltnonetheworseforit.Therewouldseemtobea chance in four thatsomeone in the ship’scompany would have abirthday on the day Tangrecrossed the international

date line. YeomanWilliamshadgonethroughthe individual recordspriortoourdepartureandhad made up a birthdaylist,andnowItookalookat it. Two fell on thisAugust 30. Tomorrowwould be August 30, too,and that meant two daysof celebrating birthdays.When the cooks andbakers had such an

incentive, they could dowonders, especially whenin competition. For twodays now, the humdrummeals of steak andstrawberries would betoppedby cakes the equalofBlum’sinSanFrancisco.Frank was polishing his

navigation, departmentheadswerepreparingtheirbase work requests, and

those not on watch werepolishing theircompartments. Fraz andWilliamswerebearing thebrunt of turning mylonghand into anintelligible patrol report,but on occasion Frazwould accompany mewhen a particularcompartment was readyforinspection.Inthepumproom, the vertical pipe

housingtheSDmasthadapeculiar bluish-purplestainthatcaughtmyeye.“Oh, youmissed that attheendofourlastpatrol,”Fraz volunteered. “I’ll tellyou about it down at theRoyal.” I would havepassed it off as unmixedbluingintheprimingpaintnow showing through thewell-scrubbed finish, but

the twinkle in his eyeshowed Fraz had a storymore suitably told over acoldbeer.Thatwasnotfaraway, for this night wereported passing the1,000-milecircleandgaveas our arrival 0900 onSeptember 3. Ballingerposted a copy of ourdispatch in the crew’smess; it would serve as atargetdateforallhands.

Our dunking divescontinued,butonedayoutofPearl,Ballingerreporteda problem; our ship’scompany would never beable to finish the steaks.There was little doubtabout his thoughts, thatthosefrozenfrycutscouldbe themakings of a luau-steak fry that woulddemonstrate to the newrecreational specialists

how things ought to bedone, and Iwas confidentthat the combinedingenuity of the troopswould triumph again.FranklyIwasgladthatourTaylor ice cream machinewassecurelyinstalledwithitscompressorinthepumproom and not as a singleunit, or the crew wouldtakeittotheRoyal,too.

The dawn came onbright and clear. In factthevisibilitywastoogood,forbackonourquarter tothe southwest was asearchlight signaling FORMONE EIGHT, or in plainlanguage, “Fall in astern.”Ogden took delight insending IMI’S (repeat), INT’S(interrogatory), in factevery operator’s signal in

thebook,endingwithaJIG(verify and repeat) as wewent over the horizon.Havingcomethisfarsafelyand now in thehomestretch, Tang wouldnot submit to peacetimeprotocol.A full section in theirscrubbed dungarees andwhite hats, this timeincludingAquistilestthere

beanothersurprise,lookedsharpindeedastheyfacedships in the harbor. Nobetter men fought anyship.Firstin,wechoseourberth, and bowing tonostalgia I stopped thescrews after ten-ten dockand ordered 15 degreesleft rudder when the endof the pier lined up withthe second palm tree. Itused to work; it still did,

and Tang brought herselfalongside for a one-belllanding.The usual fanfare

awaited,abitmoreformalthanatMidwaybutjustassincere. There would bethree or four more boatsarriving, incolumnif theyhad been caught by thatFORMONEEIGHT,sothetroopswere quickly free to go

about the business ofdrawing their monies andboarding the awaitingbusesfortheRoyal.Ofthepeople who greeted us,one of the most welcomeand respected wasCommander David C.White.HehadcommandedPlunger at thecommencement ofhostilities and haddeparted December 11 for

the Kii Suido, just to thewest of the areas we hadpatrolled. There he sankthe second Japanese shipofthewar,andoneofthedepth charges Plungerreceived in return was soclose that it expanded theport vent riser aft,jamming the stern planeshafting and temporarilyputting the planes out ofcommission. As

ComSubDiv 43, he wouldbe our divisioncommander during thisrefit and accompanied theofficer in charge of thereliefcrewandmethroughthe boat. In the crew’smesshepaused to lookatthe troops’ tabulations, 18ships and 150 depthcharges, all but a handfuloftheashcansreceivedonthislastpatrol.

“It’s a rough area, isn’tit,”hecommented,andheshould know! We walkedonaft,climbedupthroughthe torpedo room hatch,and the commanderpolitely went ashore. Thetroops’spitandpolishhadnot gone unnoticed, andwe’d get our ship backshined up and ready forsea.

In the wardroom, Frazhad all of the paperworkpractically buttoned up.Frank was assisting bycalling the totals from therough tabulations: 20 shipcontacts with 31 escorts,22 separate patrol craft,and 41 bombers. It didn’tappearthattheenemywasabout to say uncle, butmoreimportantthanthesefigures were those

concerning our men.Fifteen had made newrates, and another 18 hadqualified in submarines.The work had been goingon for months, of course,but completing the tautrequirementsonthispatrolwas worthy of specialcredit. Perhaps it wasfurther proof that somemenexcelunderstress.

WilliamsandJoneswereon their way. The reliefsteward served us goodcoffeeand thenproceededtoputourgearinthebackofthesedanattheheadofthe dock. With no alarmsor 1MC to hurry us, wetook our time beforeheading toward the Royalandthefirstreef.

PartVI

FifthPatrol

INTHEFORMOSA

STRAIT

We had not kowtowed toHank Munson and hisRasher,whowastryingouthis two years senioritywiththatFORMONEEIGHT,butnow we faced a newproblem. Our beautifulsuite at the Royal wasreserved for the Pearl

Harbor Commission,admirals with 30-oddyears seniority who werestill investigating theholocaust. I could notblame them forcommandeering the bestbut wondered whatpressures had forcedAdmiral Lockwood toadmit themwhen evenhewould not come to theRoyalexceptasaguest. It

was probably a directorder from AdmiralNimitz, or more likelyfrom Commander-in-Chief,U.S. Fleet, Admiral ErnestJ.KinginWashington.Thecommission wouldundoubtedly continue itsstudy indefinitely, andwith the added incentiveof such accommodations,who could blame theadmirals?

Fraz and I were notaccustomed to walkingaway from problems, bigor small, and this oneloomedbigatthemoment.A surreptitious inquirywith the assistance of thechief master at arms, aformer chief of the boat,disclosed that thecommissionhadnotshownup for months, but sincethe suite had been

scrubbedandpolishedtoaT,itwasbeingkeptvacantfor the day when thecommission might return.Chiefsof theboat,presentor past, are wonderfulmen, and armedwith thisinformation and fortifiedby my brand-newcommander’s insignia, Ifound regaining ourformeraccommodationstobeasimplematter.Infact,

theywere now evenmoreluxurious, for the originalrugs, drapes, and otherbeautiful furnishings hadallbeenreplaced.With our suite secured,

the last letter fromstateside read, and twobeers under our belts, weheaded for the rendezvousat the first reef. The surfwasunusuallyhighdue to

a kona, or wind from theBig Island. Only now, asthe adrenaline subsided,was it evident that wewere tired, exhausted,worn out. But it wasnothingthatafewdaysorpossibly weeks would notrectify.Atthemoment,thephysical support of thefoaming sea was ourtherapy, thoughunderstandably none of

the ship’s companyventured on to seawardthisevening.Hank Munson joined us

for chow, laughing abouthis visual signal andclaiming that itwas justagag. We were not topsidewhen the other boatsentered port, so wecouldn’tsayiftheywereincolumn, but we were

perfectly willing to givehim the benefit of thedoubt.Afterall,weshareda common enemy, andthat alone put anydifferences aside. Further,Rasher had just completeda fine patrol with fiveshipsdown,andtheywerenot coming easily as thewar progressed; we knew.This night, as all firstnights in frompatrol,was

not measured in hours ofrest but rather in theexchangeofyarnsandthecamaraderie that holdsbetween men who haveshared similar experiencesanddangers.Wehad enjoyed routine

sleeponourreturnvoyagebut awakened trulyrefreshedforthefirst timeon September 4. It was

well,foralreadyimportantbusinessawaitedusat thesubmarine base. Duringher shakedown andsubsequent patrols, ourship had logged sufficientnautical miles to havetakenhertwicearoundtheworld. The initial marinegrowthonherunderwaterbody would have beenkilled by the antifoulingingredients of the plastic

bottompaint,buton theirfaint skeletons new plantsand animals would havethrived. To maintainTang’s speed andendurance, a docking andbottomjobwereinorder.Iregrettedthepassingof

the all-hands toil ofscraping and wire-brushingthebottomasthewater receded. Though

working from puntssnubbed in close to thehull made it an arduoustask, this and thesubsequent painting werechoresofpridethatofferedeachhandanequalchanceto work on his ship. Thefactthatthetroopsonthisone occasion could ignoreeverything they had everlearned about propertopside painting and just

slap paint on the bottom,themselves,shipmates,andevenonunwaryofficersorchiefs who had beenunnecessarily taut merelyadded to theespritof thisfieldday.Alas, dock workmen

with high-pressure hosesand a few others to brushout the spots would nowcompletethepreparations.

The plastic paint wouldthen be sprayed on byprofessionals and the shipundockedwithonly a fewof our ships companyinvolved. Among themwouldbeFraz,Frank,andMel, plus a few selectedhands, and on thismorning all but Fraz andFrankhadgoneon ahead.Frank was driving anddropped me off at

squadronheadquarters,forthis was the time for himto handle our ship.Without my presence, hisjudgment would not betempered by thoughts ofwhat I would desire, andthus with his soledirection,Tangwoulddockhandsomely. Word wouldpassthroughthecrew,andFrank’sprestigewouldriseseveral notches as had

mine, with the troopsanyway, following theBeaverincident.My business was with

Commander SubmarineSquadron Four and hadbeen briefly thoughcompletely stated on asingle sheet. I doubt thatone page had everreceivedmorethoughtandcare by a skipper and his

executive officer, for itcould affect Fraz’s wholefuture. After a cup ofcoffee, I handed the letterto Captain C. F. Erck andwatched his expression ashe read. The firstparagraph summarizedFraz’s experience, now atotal of 11 patrols,probably more than anycontemporary.Inaddition,it pointedout that hehad

been designated qualifiedfor command for morethan a year. The secondparagraph described hisperformance and fightingability and stated that wewere doing the enemy afavor by holding Fraz inhis present billetwhen heshouldbefightinghisownship. The next paragraphrecommended that heattend the special PCO

school at New London tocatch his breath beforetaking his own command.An equally importantreason for sending him toPCO school—that some ofhis knowledge might ruboffonothers—wasleftout.The last paragraph,whichshould be the clincher,simply stated that Tanghad trained officers inexcess of complement and

a suitable relief asexecutive officer andnavigatorwasaboard.Captain Erck raised hishead and started to nod,butaprolongedblastfromthewaterfrontdelayedanyimmediatediscussion.“Ididn’tknowanyboatswere getting under waythis morning,” hecommentedwhile walking

over to thewindowtoseewhatwasgoingon.“That’s Tang,” I

volunteered. “Theexecutive officer will bedockingher,”Iadded.Captain Erck blinked a

bit, obviously not quiteattuned to my reasoningconcerningsuchdelegationof responsibility. A fewwordsofexplanationwere

in order but wereforestalled by a politeknock on the office door.InwalkedFraz.“Who has the con?” I

inquired, trying not toshowanysurprise.“Oh,Mel is backing her

clear,”hereplied.Thenheadded, “Frank will beputtingher across the sill,ofcourse.”

“You certainly haveconfidence in yourexecutive officers,” thecaptaincommentedandbythe use of the pluralsignified his approval ofthebasicrequest.I had business withCommander White andFraz with the personneloffice, undoubtedly togrease the skids for the

preparation of his orders.Knowing Fraz, he’dprobably sit down at thetypewriter himself andleave nothing to chance.We’d meet after lunch atthedrydock.Tang was high and drywith an exceptionallyclean bottom. Apparentlythe first semblance ofmarine growth had

washed away in the freshtobrackishwatersofMareIsland Strait. Since then,our short periods in portand speed at sea musthave prevented theexpected accumulation.Our zincs were anothermatter.Theseplates,aboutsix inches wide, a footlong,andahalfinchthick,were secured with capscrews to the struts,

propellershafting,andthearea around the sterntubes. Without them, theelectrolyticactionbetweenthe bronze propellers andsteelhullwoulderodeandpit the structures aboutTang’sstern.Higherontheatomic scale, the zincswent into solution first.Ours were gone, so thedocking was necessary ifforthisreasonalone.Since

undocking would takeplace in the morning wewastednotimeinheadingfortheRoyal.Surprisingly, with thesurf nearly as high asbefore, we moved outhandily to the second reefforbodysurfingshoreward.Thiswould have been thetime and place for myprewar board. More of a

paddleboard than asurfboard, it measured 15feet long by 17 incheswide, andwas four inchesdeep. Hollow and tailingoff gradually to a narrowtransom, it would catchpractically any wave withjustapaddleortwo,butitwas a devil to steer.Kamaainas would shoutwhen they saw it comingand give it a wide berth.

Fraz and I spoke of thosedaysandwonderedifsuchwould ever return.Perhaps, we concluded,though knowing theycould never be quite thesame.The undocking and

returntothebasethenextmorning were routine, sowewere soon free to takecare of other business.

Mine concerned anotherpitchforaradarperiscope,called an ST. Its 3-centimeterradar,one-thirdof the wavelength of ourSJ, would undoubtedlyremain immune fromdetection for months,maybe till the end of thewar. Radar, at least ourown, had not played animportant part in our lastpatrol except as an aid to

navigation. None of ourpatrols held much incommonwithoneanother,however, and with theenemy closing the radargap, we needed this STscope to prolong Tang’sadvantage. I didn’t thinkmuchofthestaffcommentthat our submarine didn’tseemtoneedoneanyway.A couple of them shouldhave been on our front

porchwhenwepenetratedthe convoy in the EastChina Sea. Thoughts ofthat night still sent goosepimples up my spine. Buttrue,wehadnotbeenshotat while on the surfaceduring this last patrolexceptbythepatrolyacht,and that was of our ownmaking. Still, our lastpatrol was in an area ofdaytime operations, and

surely in the offing wereoperations requiring moredifficult nighttimepenetrations. Tang ratedthe facilities to conductsome of them submerged,but in spite of previousrequests,shewasnotlistedfortheinstallation.I suspected that Tang’s

lack of success in gettingan ST was the result of a

missing comma or dashbetweenthewords“radar”and“periscope”inaprécisof our third patrol reportprepared by a reportingsenior.Referringtocertainapproaches and attacksthat were in partconducted by radar andthen periscope, his briefcalled them radarperiscopeattacks,and thisat least implied that Tang

had the installation. As itdeveloped, this wouldhave made no difference,forasofthemomenttherewasnoSTavailableatthebase. Still, the confusionpointed to the dangers oftrying to further condenseanalreadybrief and exactreport. Better thatinterested parties read thewords of the submarinecommander.

Fraz and Frank hadenjoyed better luck andhad laid the groundworkfor changes in personnelthat would follow ourestablished pattern. Notoneofthosemenwhohadmannedkeybattlestationsduring the last half of thefourth patrol would betouched, and again wewould pick replacementsfor others from the relief

crew, all volunteers forTang. Frankly, this wasmore important than theST,andweheadedfortheRoyal again in goodspirits.The first week hadpassed with seeminglymore time spent at thebase than at theRoyal, atleast daytime hours. Thishad affected few of the

troops, however, whoorganizedwhatturnedoutto be the luau to top allluaus. In the wartimerationing, meat pointswere as scarce in theIslands as anywhere else,almost as scarce as youngladies. Apparently theword of steaks hadbrought the latter out ofhiding, and our singlejunior officers now had

second thoughtsconcerning theadvantagesof commissions. But thatwasjustoneday,andwiththe available recreationinterrupted little bybusiness, we kept pacewithour ship in returningto fighting trim. Alreadywehadbegunconjecturingconcerningournextpatrol,and the logical guess wasnottoourliking.

For over a year now,small groups of boats hadbeen patrolling together,at first under thecommand of an embarkeddivision commander, butlater under the seniorcommanding officer. ThePacific was too vast fordivision into a grid as theNazishadquiteapparentlydone in the Atlantic. If acontactwere reported, the

great distances wouldnormally precludeheadquarters’ vectoringboatstointercept,andtheconvoys themselves weretoo small for any large-scale operation. Thedirection thus fell on thesenior skipper, who didnot have the securereliable communicationsthe task demanded. Itseemedtobethehopethat

a hot boat, by directionandexample,couldimpartsomeofitsfiretoothersinthe group or wolf pack. Ihadn’t changed myopinion that the boatscould do better on theirown, and areas foroperationwerenotyetatapremium. Our recentareas, 4 and5, could takefour or five submarinesand really stupefy the

enemy. Neither had Ichanged my opinion thatthesparkthatignitedahotboat had to come fromwithin, and to date thetotal sinkings by only onewolf pack had exceededthoseofWahooorTang intheYellowSea.We’dcrossour fingers and hope foranother independentpatrolbutofcoursewouldcarry out whatever our

next Operation Orderentailed.The Pacific war wasaccelerating, and to keeppace our submarinetenders were nowdeployed to Majuro andSaipan. They were inessence mobile bases andsubordinate commandsoperating just as hadMidway. Direction and

patrol assignmentsremained under the onecommand at SubmarineBasePearl. Thus the sameclean directives continuedwhile the boats enjoyed ashortened turnaroundtime. Since January ourboatshadsentwelloveramillion tons of enemyshipping to Davy Jones’slocker, but the enemyshowed no sign of

succumbing. Perhaps theacceleration might speedthatday,forhehadbutanestimated 4 million tonsleft. We were consideringthese things and workingourselves back into afighting frame of mindwhen a driver brought anotefromtheadmiral.The message merelyaskedthatIdropbytosee

him at my convenience,which of course meantimmediately or he wouldnot have sent a car anddriver.AwordwithLarry,for his engine overhaulswould be a determiningfactor, and Fraz, Frank,andIwereoffforthebase.“Howsooncouldyoubeready to head west?” theadmiral asked. “All the

waywest,”headded.I had not arrivedunarmed, having spentsomehoursduringthepastweekatbriefings,andhada pretty good idea of theurgency. The Leytecampaign, in whichGeneral DouglasMacArthur expected toreturn to the Philippines,was shaping up. In

preparation, there wouldbecarrierairstrikestothenorth and south tointerdict enemy supplylines and destroyreinforcements. Mostimportant, engagementswith the Japanese fleetbefore this campaign wasover were almostguaranteed. Now Tangwouldhaveachancetobeinthemidstofallofthis.

“Four days, sir,” Ianswered, “but there isone thing I request inreturn.”“Yes,” he said, not

seemingsurprisedandasifencouraging me tocontinue.The fewwords Ihad to say had been wellrehearsed mentally, and Ibargedahead.“Admiral,Tanghasbeen

banging out patrols atnearlytwicethecustomaryrate.Mosthavebeenshort,but so has every upkeep.My ship needs an STscope, and I needsomething to take back tomycrew. I’d likeournextupkeepscheduledforMareIsland.”“I appreciate what yousay, and I’ll take care of

it,” Admiral Lockwoodreplied and extended hishand to seal the bargain.“By this morning’s report,you may have troublegetting a load oftorpedoes,” he cautioned,andIdepartedtostartthewheelsinmotion.FrazandFrank were both waiting,and fortunately for themoment, Tang still hadtwo execs. Fraz sent for

Hank, Mel, and Ballinger,while Frank reversed theoverhaul of two mains,which were halfdisassembled in the afterengineroom.Sinceall torpedoeswere

21 inches in diameter,evenmostforeignones,weanticipatedlittletroubleinfinding a load, though itmight be a motley one.

Torpedo shortages hadcropped up occasionallythroughout the war. Backinlate1942oneboattooka load of Mark 10torpedoes on patrol whenothers were havingtroubles with latertorpedoes and theirmagnetic exploders. Wehad all chuckled at theendorsement to the patrolreport: “Even though

attacking with Mark 10torpedoes and obsoleteinertia exploders, threevaluable marus were sentto thebottom.”Wewouldbetickledto finda fewofthem today, but another’smisfortune solved ourproblem. Tambor, Hank’sold ship, would beindefinitely delayed inproceeding on patrol dueto main propulsion

troubles, and the basecommenced removing hercompleteloadofMark18-1s and delivering them toTang. A composite loadwith at least some steamtorpedoes forward wouldhave been preferable, butthe fact that Tambor hadaccepted these told thestoryofanothertemporaryshortage. Tang would sailon schedule, but in the

middleofthepreparationscame another all-handsevolution.How men can toil atstriking stores, fueling,loading torpedoes, andcarryingout thedozensofpre-patrol tasks and anhour later appear as ifready for a militaryinspectionwillalwaysbeawonder. But our crew at

quartersthisSeptember22would match the best inthe fleet. It was well, forpunctuallyasalways,FleetAdmiral Nimitz andAdmiral Lockwood, withan entourage such as wehad not seen sincereturningwiththedownedaviators, proceeded withpresenting awards for thethird patrol. A secondNavy Cross tome; a third

Silver Star to Fraz; SilverStar medals to Frank andJones; Bronze Starmedalsto MacDonald, Weekley,Ogden, and Caverly; andtheSecretaryoftheNavy’sLetter of Commendationwith ribbon toMontgomery, Robertson,Kivlen, Andriolo, Aquisti,and Wixon. In addition,under the revisedinstructions, Hank

received a Silver Star forthe firstpatrol, so if Ihaderred in that choicebetween Bill and Hank, itwasallsquaredawaynow.These presentationswere not all, however, formore important than anyone or all of themcombined was the awardof the Presidential UnitCitation. Signed for

Franklin D. Roosevelt, itcited the actions duringTang’s first three patrols,and from this momentevery man who served inTang would wear theribbonwith its blue, gold,and red horizontal stripes,and with a star if aboardduringtheactionscited.It was not something

that one scored, but with

the recommendationssubmitted as a result ofour last foray, I believedourshipnowledallothersin personal and unitawards. In any case, nosubmarine captain couldhave been prouder of hisfightingshipandmen.We had retained ourbillets at the Royal, andthis evening I finally

learned the story behindthe purple stains in thepump room. Cases ofWelch’s grape juice werebeing struck below whenprovisioning ship for ourthirdpatrol.Ourradiomenhad volunteered for thisworking party, so slippinga few cases into theadjacent radio shackbecame a simple matter.Thus on board was the

major ingredient forhomebrew to liven up Midwayuponourreturn.Thebrewhadworked,infactduringthe hot dives it hadworked too well andcouldn’t be capped orstopped. The purple frothoozed from the brewingarea in the back of thespare parts lockers, downthrough openings in thenonwatertight deck, and

thence to the bulkheadsand SD mast housing inthe pump room. Scrub asthey would, the radiomencould not completelyeliminate thepurple stain,and there was no paintaboard with which tocoverit. Itdidnotmatter,for the auxiliarymen hadnow invited themselves totheparty.

Ithadall takenplace inan unused shack onEastern Island, with thetwo gangs rowing overfrom Sand Island afterdark. The brew had somekick but was apparentlyalso a potent uretic.Stumbling in the dark inansweringtheurge,oneofthe auxiliarymen hadstepped hip-deep into ahole or burrow filledwith

rats. His shouts and thefrightened, squealingrodentsrunningaboutandover everyone had asobering effect thatbrought about a retreatacross the harbor, back tothe sanctuary ofGooneyville.I was undoubtedly the

last to learn about thisescapade, but it need not

have been so. There werefew my age who had nottried their hand at home-brewedconcoctionsduringProhibition, though Isuppose it would havebeenimpossibletopassonthebenefits of experience.One thing for sure,Tang’stroopswerenosissies.Fraz’s orders had

arrived, and I signed the

detaching endorsementbefore our one-daytrainingperiod,albeitwitha bit of a lump in mythroat. We had beenthrough much this pastyear,andwithresultsthatneither of us could haveaccomplished without theother. The skipper-execwas a unique relationshipin submarines, but I wasconfidentthatwithFrankI

would be blessed oncemore.Ourdayunderwaywasreally a post-repair trialrather than a trainingperiod. As before, we didsandwich in a round ofemergency drills for ournewofficers andmen, butwe moored at arespectable hour so thatthose who wished could

spendanotherrelaxinglateafternoon at the Royal.Though not many left thebase, we found the swimto the third reef andbeyondwas now a breezeand returned to our shipphysically tired butrelaxed and mentallyrefreshed.In the solitude of my

cabin after dinner and

cribbage, I reviewed myship’s readiness for thismission, my thoughtsreachingbacktothelayofthe ways, which haddetermined the north andsouth poles of Tang’smagnetic field. The Nazisused this characteristic ofall ships to trigger theirmagnetic mines, and theimmediate antidote hadbeen the shipboard

installation of greatdegaussingcoilstocounterthe ship’s magnetic field.Inalatersubstitution,thisfield was sufficientlyreduced at docksidedegaussing stations. SoTangwasdemagnetized,asa jeweler does a watch,but her residual magneticcharacter would neverchange.

Along the way our shiphad acquired other traitsthat would remain a partof her.Manyof thesehadintensified on succeedingpatrols, for the unusualhadbecomeroutineinouroperations, while theexpectations of the ship’scompany were everincreasing. The constantflow of new hands in noway lessened this, for her

reputationhad spreadandwas the very reason theysought billets aboard. Thedeterminationtoliveuptohernameandtobetterherpreviousperformanceshadbecome a driving force,defining Tang’sunchangeable character asafightingship.So Fraz’s departurewouldnotmateriallyaffect

our ship’s performance,and neither, Iwould haveto admit, would my owninevitable detachmentafter another patrol or so,one with the designatedPCO aboard if possible.Presumably, I would thenassist in the direction ofour sub-air rescue, whichwould become a majormission. But this was inpart conjecture, and my

thoughts belonged withthe task immediatelyahead.Frank’squietknockspeeded my return to thepresent as he entered toreport all hands aboardandTang ready for patrol.The clock over thedoorwayread2200.

Hundreds of patrols hadnow originated at ourbase,someboatsreturningroutinely as had been ourlot, but others continuingon to the Southwestcommands. Withdepartures almost a dailyoccurrence, one might

expect them to beconsidered commonplace,routine.Thishadnotbeenourexperienceinthepast,and if this September 24was any indication, thesincere formalities wouldcontinue till the curtainwas rung down on thewar.There had been ampletime for the officers and

crew to exchange wordswith friends, for Tangwould not get under wayuntil 1300.Now, as Frankand IawaitedCommanderWhite and Vice AdmiralLockwood, we spoke ofour enemy, wondering ifhis submarines alsodeparted on an air offormality. Probably, wesurmised,butguessedthatthe wardroom coffee

would be replaced by asakitoasttotheemperor.Walker’s coffee wasobviously still consideredbetter than that atheadquarters, for theadmiral had allowedampletimetoenjoyit.Wedidnotspeakofthepatrol,for not until on stationwould we find out whatmight be in store. The

conversation insteadturned to the Empireareas, their possibilities,and our mutual hopes forthe future. The dieselsfired on schedule, andweadjourned topside. TheGodspeeds wereaccompanied by firmhandshakes,andIsawourvisitorsashore.Base personnel snaked

thebrowover to thedockin seconds and then tookthe lines, but not fastenough, for the admiral,by chance in position,caught the bow line; hewas everybody’s admiralandstoodatattentionwithothers on the dock, butwithhisfingersinhisearsforthefivesecondsofourprolongedblast.

With “All back two-thirds,”thedieselsstoppedpurring and got down tobusiness. Tang quicklygathered good sternwayand “Left twenty degreesrudder” pulled the sternintoagreatarcaroundthefinger piers and into thebasin beyond the base.“Allaheadtwo-thirds;shiftthe rudder” killed thesternway, and our ship

headedoutthechannel.The harbor was quiet

and had for themost partassumed its prewarappearance. Now thecapsizedOklahoma, whichwould have been on ourport hand, had beenrighted and moved forrefitting. The Tennessee,only damaged, had beenrapidly repaired and had

nearlystolenouricecreammachine back at MareIsland. The Nevada, hitrepeatedly and holedforward,hadbeenbeachedon Waipio Point, now onour starboard hand, andthen quickly repaired.Together with Tennessee,she would be engaged inthe very campaign Tangwouldsupport.Howironicthat our fleet, which had

been caught in port onthat fateful day whenseemingly it should havebeen at sea, had reallysurvived due to this verycircumstance. If our shipshad been off soundings,such a surprise attackwould very probably havesent the majority of themirretrievably to DavyJones’slocker.

When first viewing theholocaust on returningfrompatrolinlateJanuaryof 1942, I should havelooked beneath the tearsstreaming unashamedlydownthefacesofthoseatquarterswithme. Iwouldhave seen jaws set aswasmy own, but all had thenbecome a blur. The samedetermination wasapparentlyreflectedacross

the land, forotherwisewecould not now be closingtheclampsontheenemy.Butthatwasinthepast;

ahead lay the openantisubmarinenet, the redand black channel buoystoportandstarboard,anddown their corridor, theseabuoy.Tangenteredthesafety lane, and twomorediesels went on the line.

The maneuvering roomwouldadd turns slowlyasthe engines warmed upuntil we reached fullpower. When CaptainSwede Momsen hadinformally characterizedour ship as having twospeeds, full or stopped, itwas not entirely in jest. Itall depended on whetheror not we had someplaceto go and of course the

fuel on hand. At thismoment, the destinationwas clear and the fuel noproblem.Dick, now a lieutenant

(jg), took the con as weheadedwestalongthelinedividingthetwooperatingareas in the submarinesanctuary. They wereunoccupied at the time,and the shortcut would

saveadozenmiles.Atmynod,heordered,“Rigshipfordive.”Wewerereadingeach other five by five,and no other words werenecessary. Circling aheadwas the PBM that wouldescort us till dusk shouldwewish.Frankwascallinga round of bearings andthen went below to plotour departure position. Afew minutes later, on the

heels of “Ship rigged fordive,”camethenavigatorsrecommended course, andwe came to 284 degreestrue, paralleling theIslands. The regular seadetail, first section,assumed the watch, andTang was on her fifthpatrol.The quiet, businesslike

manner of our departure,

of the transition from theRoyal to patrol, auguredwell for this mission andshould lend confidence tothewholeship’scompany.Ourimmediatedestinationwas our friendly atoll,Midway. This accountedfor the leisurely hour ofour departure, for wewouldthusarriveatdawnof the secondmorning.Atthemoment,Dickwasstill

turning over the watch toLieutenant (jg) Paul T.Wines from Ridgewood,New Jersey. Called Tiny,hewould obviously roundoutTang’sbasketball teamand by his jolly naturewould fit in well. Hewould share theafternoonwatchwithLarry,whowasnow our senior watchofficer, so nothing wouldgowrong.

OnwatchwithBallingeras duty chiefwas Leibold,who like others hadadvanceda rate.A secondclassboatswain’smatebuta year before, he wouldwork in as chief of theboat on this patrol. Frankdropped below, and wescheduled a dive for 1530so Paul could get his feetwet. In the wardroom,Adams served us the first

coffeeofthepatrol,anditwasdifficult indeedto tellthat our ship had justspentthreeweeksinport.Tangwasrolling,andat1525 Kauai already laywellbackonourstarboardquarter. We released ourescort with sincere thanksand received a Godspeedin return. In minutes thePBMwasbutaspotabove

the eastern horizon,probably under fullthrottle heading for thegolf course. After briefinstructions to Paul, Iproceededbelow.Thedivewas intentionally slow,following the peacetimesequences to bestdemonstrate all theelementsinvolved.Wehadnot done this since ourinitial dive and training

period, and though itmight seem a stepbackward, it was akin toreviewing the precautionsfor handling explosivesand reminded all of us tobe alert for anyirregularity in a dive.Failure to note a crucialitem was not unheard ofandinsomeboatshadledtodisaster.

With Larry’s previouscompensation andimmediate coaching, thedive was surprisinglysmooth.Perhapsthiswasagood way to commence atraining period, and we’dconsideritforthenextfullone. Now Paul was goingthrough the moredeliberate and cautiousprocedure of surfacing,where the submarine, not

the enemy, picked thetime. With the firstsurfacinginenemywaters,thereasonsforthecautionwouldbeevident.Frank’s evening star fixshowed us behind by ahalf dozenmiles, so Larrypicked up the phone tospeaktoChiefCulp.Afewextra turnswould have usback on schedule by

morning, when we wouldbe to the north of theisland chain. A jog in ourtrack would come upshortly after passingNihoa, and we welcomedthis northerly route as anoverduechange.Soonerorlater an enemy submarinewith endurance andpatience would surely getoff a shot at the trafficalong the virtual highway

tothesouth.Ofcourseourmore southerly routeswere never the same, andthat held true for otherboats, too. Still, ourpresent track followed analmost unused corridor asfaraswewereconcerned.Our speed made the

moderateseasracebythisnight, and though mutedby the ballast tanks

beyond our pressure hull,the sound was of aplunging waterfall. Thequiet movements onchanging the watch andthe punctual hushedreportsinaccordancewiththe night orders told thatallwaswellwithourship,and the night passedquickly.Wehadmadeupthesix

miles lost during the diveand would add a likeamount by afternoon. Asecond dive would be inorder, this one for ourother new officer,Lieutenant (jg) John H.Heubeck from Baltimore,Maryland. He and Charleshad swapped jobs, whichwas agreeable to allconcerned, though wewouldmissCharles’squiet

Southernhumor.Johnhadthe forenoon watch withEd, and after Ballingerchecked with Parker,Tang’s new chiefcommissary steward, lestpiesandthingsmightbeinthe oven, two blasts tookus down. Our ship hadalmost dived herself thefirst day, giving theappearancethatexceptforthe reports and blowing

negative to the mark, thediving officer could prettymuch twiddle his thumbs.Accordingly, I had askedLarry to upset the trim alittle.Howmuchisalittle?One or the other of usshould have told Ed, whowas a bit taken aback atour unexpected down-angle and the ensuinggallops. But we all foundoutinahurrythatinJohn

wehadasecondMel,whohadthatfinefeelofdivingfromtheverystart.Onthesurface again, I looked atFrank and we bothnodded;Tangwouldnotbelacking in competentofficers.Extra activities to helptimeflybycontinuedtobeunnecessary. Eight hoursofwatch,meals, school of

theboat,studies,abookoran acey-deucey game,perhaps a movie, and theday was gone. Thisafternoon we threw inbattle stations with acomplete approach andattack. Periscope andsound inputs were againfrom our folder of time-versus-bearing plots,whichhadnowbecomesoextensive that it was

impossible to recognize aparticular problem fromthefirstfewzigs.Caverly’sbearings were especiallyrealistic, for he hadlearned to throw himselfcompletely into theproblem, even switchingon the speaker so thewholepartycouldheartheshaving brush-microphonescrew noises. Mel wassetting our own ship’s

ordered course and speedintotheTDCsoTangcouldcontinue along thenavigator’s trackindependent of theproblem.IcouldnotspeakforPaulandJohn,butI’msurethatfortherestofusreal torpedoes could justaswellhavebeenontheirway. A few more drillswould have them in theswing of things; it was

impossible not to becomeinvolved.Topside again, Frank

shared my feeling ofconfidence, and thenjoined Jones, who hadbrought his sextant andwatchtothebridgeforanafternoon sun line. It wasrather a precautionaryposition line, unnecessarywith a good round of

evening stars, butsometimes invaluableshould the sky cloud overbeforedusk.Allwasgoingwell, but a fallingbarometer bore out theweatherbriefingFrankhadattended just prior to ourdeparture. Anyone livingin the northernhemisphere knows thatwith September comestorms, especially at sea.

Inthefall,ithadnotbeenuncommon for returningsubmarines to circleMidway for days whilewaiting for thewinds andseas from the south tomoderate.Onlythencouldasafepassagethroughthereef be assured. Shouldthis be our lot, we wouldproceed on our mission,bypassingtheatollandtheopportunity to top off. In

anticipation of thispossibility, every tank inour ship not reserved forfresh water and trimminghadbeenfilledwithdieselfuel. We could still carryoutourmissionbutwouldthen have to forgo theadvantage of being onstationwellaheadofotheroperations.French Frigate Shoals

lay 20miles to port.Tangwas doing well, but seascommenced building upduringthenight.Theydidnot slow our speed ofadvancesince,forthemostpart,wewereridinginthetrough.OurhotSJraisedapip on Eastern Island at0500, right on schedule,andIknewthesatisfactionFrank must feel with hisfirst landfall. We slowed

andmaneuvered to insurethe customary long,straight approach to thechannel.Afterwesteadiedon north, the seascommencedpushinguson.Wecouldnotsloworbackdown, for thatwouldonlyaccentuate the yaw thathad come on with theshelving bottom. It wasdifficult to leave thesteersmanalonewhenone

moment the bow was 30degrees to the left of theslotthroughthereef,andafew seconds later in thesame attitude off tostarboard, heading forangry surf breaking overthe coral. Seemingly, hecoulddampenouttheyawabout the ordered courseand keep the lookoutsfrom climbing the shears.But should he try to

overcome the naturalforces, too much orimproper rudder couldindeed broach our ship,whenshewouldotherwisecontinue in the rightdirection, though on wildheadings.TangwouldpassnicelythroughthereefifIjust gritted my teeth,which would also insurekeepingmymouth closed.They were anxious

moments, nonetheless, butwith a ship’s length to goshe settled on course,bisecting the slot into theharbor.It was 0700 when we

came alongside the fueldock. In spiteof thehour,friendsweredowntogreetus, though we saw nodentists. Frank and Iturned down a luncheon

invitation from captainsEdmunds and Will withsome regret, for therehadbeenagreat innovationatMidway.Insteadofcartingthe garbage to leeward oftheislandintheoldscow,they had for some timenowbeen spreading itouton the coral sand.After itcured in thesunforadayor so, a bulldozer covereditoverwithathinlayerof

sand. The whole projecthad taken months, butMidwaynowhad rich soiland raised vegetablesunobtainable elsewhere,eveninsubmarinesduringtheearlyweeksofpatrol.No special instructionshad been issuedconcerningWalker,andheseemed in excellent spiritsupon our return from the

morning’s courtesy calls.Diplomatically,wedidnotinquire, especially sincethe captains accompaniedus for a cup of our goodwardroomcoffee.Itwasn’tlong till the diesels fired,andwewent topside. Thefuel hoses were on thedock, the mooring linessingled, and after thehandshakes and GodspeedcaptainsEdmundsandWill

stepped ashore. The browwas on the dock, and thelast lines let go as Ireached thebridge.At theendoftheprolongedblast,“All back two-thirds”moved us quickly fromalongside. Hands on deckpaused at attention inresponse to those on thedockand thenwentaboutthenecessarycheckingandsecuring topside. “All

ahead two-thirds. Rightfifteen degrees rudder”brought Tang onto therange. Ten minutes latershe passed through thedredged slot in the reef,directly into the seasrolling up from the south.The time was exactly1200,September27.

Againwehadfuelineverytank and corner, but thedead reckoning positionsalong the track, whichFrank had diligentlyplotted,would all have tobe stepped off again. Thethree-enginespeedthatwehadplannedwouldexpend

too much energy infighting the seas. If wecould believe A. M.Knight’s ModernSeamanship, the directionof thewind and seas, andour own barometer, twodays at the most wouldmoveourshipbeyondthisstorm. There, a thirdenginewouldreallycount,and it was just commonsensetotakeadvantageof

the natural movement ofthe storm beforeincreasingourspeed.Pertinent parts of our

OperationOrderwerenowposted in the crew’smess,and after stepping off thenew DR positions, Joneswould be tacking up theirchart, too. The postedOperationOrderread:

When in all respects ready

for sea and patrol on orabout 25 September 1944,proceed at best speed byroutenorthofFrenchFrigateShoalstoMidwayfortoppingoff as weather permits.Thence followtracknorthofMarcus, between Volcanoand Bonin islands, south ofRyukyus and into FormosaStrait. Adjust speed so as toarrive on station if possiblepriorto12October.Friendly

submarines in the Bonin-Volcano area will beinformedofTang’stransit.Asseems desirable the patrolarea may be extendednorthward into the EastChinaSea,butyourattentionis invited to the JICPOASupplement to this order,and particularly to theRyukyuandotherminefieldsdetailedtherein.

The general nature of theorder would undoubtedlystir the imaginationof thetroops, but they wouldprobablydeducethatsomespecifics were included inprivate communicationsstill in my desk safe, ashad been the case in thepast. But the onlyadditionalinformationhadbeen given tome orally—TaskForce38wouldstrike

Formosa on October 12.Frank’s expected courserecommendation cameover the bridge speaker,and at my nod Paulordered, “Come right totwosixseven.”Withsmallvariations as might beindicated by the star fixesand sun lines, this wouldremain our heading untiljust before entering ourarea.PaulandJohnwould

continue standing theirwatches with our mostexperienced officers,topside asOODs and thenexchanging for theconning tower watch,whichmightbestbecalledoperations. We would tryto funnel as much of theactivity their way aspossibleduringthistransit.If their performanceduring thepast threedays

was any indication, theywouldbeabletotakemostanything in stride by thetime Tang reached herarea.Theseascontinuedtobe

brisk, with eight-footwaves and whitecapsthroughSeptember29,butour ship was riding well,very nearly in the trough.Well, that is, for everyone

except Caverly and a fewothers. Since thecommencement of ourshakedown, whenever theseas kicked up a bitCaverly had been the firsttofeelit,andakid’spottyhooked to his belt hadbecome a trademark. Astimewenton,thepresenceor absence of theornament proved to bemore reliable than our

barometer in predictingcoming storms or theirpassing.Onmorethanoneoccasion, Caverly wasencouraged to acceptpending jobs on the staff,once actually leading tohis detachment. A last-minute reshuffle of thepaperwork got him backaboard, for though hedreaded his seasickness,hishateoftheenemywon

out, though antipathy tothe staff may have tippedthe balance. Finally, atmorning fire control drillon the third day fromMidway the pot wasmissing,andathirdenginewent on the line. By lateafternoon, Tang hadmoved into friendly seasunderclearingskies.Beforeweencountereda

real storm the usualinspectionwas inorder. Itwas set up formidmorning, and as I hadalready seen thateverything forward wassecured for sea, I joinedFrank in the forwardengine room. Iwas rathersurprisedtoseeour juniorofficers gathered in agroup.

“Isuggestedthattheybehere to see what youdemand on theseinspections,” Frankvolunteered, and thatseemedagoodideatome.They saluted and Ireturned it, looking themintheeyeasiscustomary.They stepped aside and Istepped forward—directlyinto theopenhatchto theengine room’s lower flats,

about five feetbelow.Thebottom ladder rung brokemy fall, but also my leftfoot. Hollywood wouldhave one bouncing backfromsuchanaccident,butwhen you’re doubled up,nauseated, and with asweaty brow, you’ve hadit. Some minutes later,snaked up from the lowerflats, I hobbled forwardand Frank continued the

inspectionaft.Submarine pharmacist’s

mates are the best in theworld,andI’dmatch theirknowledge and skill withthatofthecountrydoctor.It had been proven in allsorts of doctoring,including lesseramputations and evenappendectomies. ChiefLarson took one look,

straightening my foot anddamned near sending meto the overhead, and thenannounced, “You’ve gotsome small broken bones—I could feel ’em, butthey’reprettystraightnow—andonehellofasprain,but there’s nothing they’ddo ashore that I haven’tdone except to take some× rays, and I alreadyknow about what they’d

looklike.”Those were the words I

wanted to hear, so I wasrelievedofthenecessityofpullingrankhadtheybeenotherwise.Stretchedoutinmybunkandwithmyclubof a foot propped up onthe bulkhead and theVoycall by my ear, I’dcommand orally over thesquawkbox.

Tang was now withinpatrol plane radius fromthe Bonins, and Frankstationed extra lookoutsforward as had been ourcustom. The daily divescontinued, and thenunscheduledonesasBettysfrom the Bonins or theVolcano Islands seemed toconcentrate along ourtrack. The contacts weremost probably just the

result of our passingthrough the enemy’snormal search patterns,and by all reports weseemed to get belowwithout being sighted. Iftherewasdoubt,wewouldalter our track duringdarknesstofoilavectoredenemy submarine. ButFrank was confident wewerestillundetected,andIsharedhisfeeling.

Hearing all of thereports, fromthelookout’sinitial call to the divingofficer’s“Satisfiedwiththetrim,” withoutparticipating physicallywas contrary to myprevious experience, and Iwondered how therealizationthatTangcouldget along without me,even through the torpedofire control drills, would

affectthetroops.Finally,Ichose to consider it acompliment to our ship’straining. Judgments,maneuvers, angles on thebow, and torpedoes thathitwould salvageany lostprestige.The Bonin and Volcano

islands were behind us,and on the night ofOctober 4 came our first

opportunity. An Ultra foraction to Trigger andSilversidesincludedTangasan information addressee.TheyhaddepartedPearlafew hours ahead of us,stopping at Saipan fortopping off, andwould bepatrolling as a two-submarine group off theNansei Shoto. The Ultraalerted the boats to anenemy weather ship east

of the Ryukyus. Frankbrought the chart, and Ihobbled to thewardroom,wherewecouldlayitout.The position plotted only50milessouthofourtrackand but a 40-hour runahead, less if we put afourth engine on the lineand worked on up to fullpower.We considered thepossibilities.Thereseemedlittle doubt that Tang

would reach the positionfirst, and the experienceleading to our very firstattack dictated that anysubmarine with a chanceshould go after everytarget. A weather shipmight not be much of atarget,butshecouldbeofinestimable value to theenemy in the brewingengagements. Besides,entering your area with a

shipalreadyonthebottomwasmostanysubmariner’sdream.Fortunately, weather

ships usually occupy astation, so we expectedlittle trouble in locatingthis one. A few hours insearching should do thetrick,andthenthere’dbealong submerged run fromover the horizon. A ship,

any kind of ship, was allthat was required to perkupa crew,andwith somemisgivings I allowedmembers of the gun crewon deck to grease theirgun.Ifwecouldpolishthisoneoffwith thedeck gunand enter the FormosaStrait with a full load oftorpedoes, Tang would beajumpaheadindeed.

In themorning, Caverlywent forward againwearing his trademark,thoughwehadonlypickedupalong,easyswellfromthe southwest. It hadhelped in kicking aboardsome flying fish, so one’sloss was another’s gain.The day passed quicklywithextradrills, andwithsatisfaction I listened toFrank going through the

periscope procedure withJones. The weather shipwould be Frank’s to sink,and I would only adviseaftercontactthathemovein to where a singletorpedo would be sure tohit.Hisfirstshipandonlyone torpedo to put herdown, but that had beenmy lot. These and similarthoughtskeptcroppingupduring a nightmade fitful

by increasing seas andthenat0300bythereportofafallingbarometer.Thesound of mounting seasnow came through theballasttanks,greatmuffledroars, but they were mildcomparedtothescreamingwinds and crashing seas Icould hear over theVoycall. Remembering anear disaster inWahoo, Iordered the lookouts

below; the OOD had theprotection of the bridgecowl and should be in noimmediate danger. We’dassess the situation atdaylight. But soon thethunderofgreenwateronthe bridge and a risingstern as Tang commencedseasledding dictated achange inplans.Onlyoneorderwaspossibleorwe’dlose the watch overboard

and flood the inductions:“Button up the ship. Shiftpropulsion to the batteryandslowtosteerageway.”The immediate pressureon my ears told me thatsecuring had already beenin progress. That’s myexec, I thought. Not sopleasant was the lastbarometer reading beforethe boat was sealed, 27.8

inches; it left no doubtabout theseverenatureofthe storm. Dawn wasbreaking, however, andhaving come this close tothe reported position ofthe weather ship, we’dstay on the surface andsearch with raised scope.An attack would beimpossible, but we couldperhapsstaywiththeshipandfirelater.

Itdidnotseemcredible,but the seas increased,forcing us to run beforetheminanattempttoholddown the roll. Goodseamanship would havedictated diving long agoand running under thestorm, but finding theenemy ahead requiredhigh periscope searchingand one could not diveexceptintheextreme.The

extreme came suddenly,withviolentrollsdumpingme over the guardrail ofmy bunk and onto thedeck. Frank came quickly;he neededmy help in theconning tower and hadbrought Chief Larson, thetwo climbing thebulkheads along thepassageway. A shot inmyfoot and the support ofaboutasize14sandshoe,

laced tight, had mestandingononefootandaclubinnotime.FrankandIheadedaft,hangingonaswe could, but when wereached the control roomTang tookaviolent roll tostarboard. I landed on theafter end of the high-pressureairmanifold,withmyfaceabouta foot fromthebubbleinclinometeronthe forward end of the

low-pressureblows.Itread70 degrees, and there shehung, obviously broachedbytheseas.“JesusChrist,issheevercoming back?” I heardmyselfsay.Frank had his owntroubles, having landedspread-eagledon theopenknife switches of the ICswitchboard. The 110 volt

AC juice had him doing ajigashetriedtogetclear,butsomehowhecalledouta cheerful answer:“Sometimes they don’t,youknow!”In all of his gyrations,Frank must have crossedhimself, or the good Lordthought he had, for weeased back to 60 degreesforacoupleof rollersand

thenslowlyrighted.Frankscrambleduptheladdertothe conning tower, and Ifollowed, mostly pullingmyself up with my arms.Jones raised the searchscope, perhaps saving theattack scope for businessafter we pulled clear ofthismess.When submerged,looking through the scope

gives the viewer theimpression that his eye isjust above the surface ofthe sea, at the position ofthe lens.Whentheboat ison the surface, it’s likelooking out and downfrom a 55-foot tower. Iwas lookingupatasinglemonstrous wave, so big ithad normal waves on itscrest,whichwereblowingoutintospumeasitrolled

in.Reflexesmademeduckmomentarily just before ithit, and thengreenwater,solid green sea,went overthe top of everything,burying Tang scope andall. Amazingly, the scopewas still there when thewave rolled past. I hadexpected a mangled tube,ifindeeditwasnotbrokenoff above the roots. Jonesloweredawaylestthenext

wavefinishitoff.Withabitmorespeedtohelp the steersman and—right after wavesthundered overhead—quick scope exposures tocon our stern exactly atthe seas, we got the rolldown to cycles rangingfrom45to20degrees.Weknew exactly where wewere, in the dangerous

semicircleofafull-fledgedtyphoon, where the greatcircular winds areaugmentedbythespeedofthe advancing storm. Ourpresent position wasuntenable, for we werebeing pushed ahead inadditiontoourownturns,and our total speed likelyequaledtheadvanceofthestorm. We could thusremain in this dangerous

semicircle for days, eveninto the Ryukyus to theimmediatenorth.Having already come tocontrol on the assumptionthatwewould dive, Larrycame shoulders-high intothe conning tower toreport on conditionsbelow. For once, thecrew’s living spaces werebetter than either CPO

quarters or wardroomcountry, for the troopswho were up and abouthad simply wedgedthemselves on deckbetween the bunk tiers,andothershadjusthuggedtheir bunk frames withboth arms. So, not relyingon a silly guardrail, noneof them had fallen. Larrywouldtakechargebelow.

We had long sinceforgone the option ofdiving, for our ballasttanks were divided portand starboard and hadindividual floods andvents.Ashort-livedlossofstability accompanied anydive, and with rolls suchas we were experiencing,the down tanks wouldflood first and couldcapsize theboat.True,we

mightjugglethevents,butthat was something wewouldnot try for the firsttime under theseconditions. There was butoneoption;wehadtoturnin front of the seas thathadjustknockedusdown.

Themaneuverwouldhaveto be fast; there could beno hesitating, lest wefounderwhilebroadsidetothe seas. Culp and thebattle stationscontrollermen went aft tomaneuvering; Welch tookthe wheel. Our ship had

just reached a maximumroll of 45 degrees to port,then starboard, and wasnow down to 35 degrees,then 30. With fingersmentally crossed, Iordered, “All aheadstandard.”DeLapp,bytheinclinometer in control,sang out, “Twenty-fivedegrees,”andJones raisedthe scope. A great wavewas rolling in, but not so

vicious; it would barelytopthelens.Theseashooktheperiscope,blurringanyfurthervision.“All ahead full. Right

full rudder.” Our sternstarted to port. The nextgreat wave rolled up ourstarboard quarter, layingusovertoportasitpassedoverhead but acceleratingour turn. Tang rolled

through the trough andtook the next monster onthe starboard bow. Itknocked her nearly over,shookher,andburiedher,but could not stop herswing. Frank called thenewcourse, the reverseofthat which we had beentryingtosteer.“All ahead two-thirds.Ease the rudder to fifteen.

Meet her. Steer two onezero.”Though the typhoon

would still dictate ourcourse, no longer was itdriving our ship into theRyukyus, nor could itknock us down. Tang’smotion was, nevertheless,that of a wild, plungingroller coaster, and thoughitwasmidmorning,control

reported that only a fewhands had come to themessroom. For them,fortunately, baking hadbeen completed beforemidnight,andour toasterswere secured and couldnot get adrift. But thereportofhotteainsteadofcoffeetogowiththetoastseemed a bit on the sissyside. Of more importancewas Larson’s report of no

injuries; it seemedimpossible, but asubmarine lies so deep inthe sea that it does nothave the dangerous whipofasurfaceship.Nottobeforgotten, however, wasFrank’s continuing theinspection after I hadfallendown thehatch, forasinglepieceofloosegearcould easily have brokensomebones.

Our best steersmen,working in pairswith oneon themaneuvering roomtelegraphs,used their skilland our screws to keepTangheadingintotheseas.For five taut hours, theykept Tang on course,coachedbyFrank,me,andtheOODsonthescope,forthe seas determined ourheadings. Quite suddenlythewickedseaschangedto

mountainous swells undertorrentialrains.Thewindsmoderated, becameconfused. Were we at theeyeof the typhoon,wherewe could now head intothe safe semicircle? For aquick check we triedcracking the hatch toobtain a new barometerreading.Itwouldn’tbudge,held tight by increasedatmospheric pressure.

High-pressureairwasbledinto the boat, a full halfinch,tofreethehatch;thebarometer read 28.4. Theincrease showed we hadmissedthecenterbutwerepullingoutofthetyphoononwhatwouldnowbethesafe trailing side, ormoreaccurately perhaps, thetyphoon was leaving usbehind.

Now able to choose thecourse, we came to 267,our original heading, andstationed the regularwatch sections. Thisshould be safe until thenavigator could fix ourposition.At1700,wefiredtwo mains with theengine-air induction openonlytotheforwardengineroom. At worst, a slug ofseawater would go to its

bilges. With all undercontrol, Frank and I wentto the wardroom. Ipropped up my foot; theshoelaces, still as ChiefLarson had tied them,were now loose. I hadhardly noticed when theshot had worn off; therewere more importantthingsgoingon.Confidentthat the shoe hadsomething to do with the

decrease in the swelling,Walkerhadarrivedwithasmaller size, a 12 thistime,andlacedituptight,apparentlywiththeideaofsqueezingmyfootback toshape.Overcoffee,FrankandIspokeoftheUltrathathadputusinthepredicament.One of two things hadobviously taken place.

Perhaps intelligence hadincorrectly broken theenemy’s message, whichcould have been reportingthepositionofthetyphoonat a specified time alongits projected path ratherthan the position of theweather ship itself. Thisseemed likely. Anotherpossibility involved theadvantage that accrues ifyouknowyourenemyhas

broken certain codes. Wehad evidence of theJapanese using this in anattempttosavetheirnavaltanker west of Saipan. Ifthis message had beendesigned to sucker asubmarine intoa typhoon,those involved wereundoubtedlysittingarounda bottle of saki, laughingat the predicament theymight be causing their

enemy.Still, ifoffered thesame opportunity, wewould surely coin acomparable dispatch.There would be only onedifference: We’d belaughing over a bottle ofbeer. Nature might havetaken care of the enemyship,butitwasdifficulttoconceiveofaweathershipbeingcaughtinatyphoon,especiallyonefromsucha

seagoingnation.On the more serious

side, we talked of ourfourth patrol, when ourshiphadtakenthebesttheenemy could throw at herand had shaken it off,going about her business.Now she had taken theworst that nature, evenwith the aid of bunglinghumans, could hand out

andhadshruggedthatoff,too. Surely the wholeship’s company, includingour new shipmates,considered with me thatTangwasthetoughestshipintheworld.Dawn of October 7

broke, still with greatswells and occasionalconfusedchop.Thenormalwatchmanned the bridge,

giving the SJ and thescopes a rest, but the seasheld our ship to two-engine speed. Finally thescudding clouds brokeaway,convenientlyintimeforthenavigator’seveningstars.IwatchedFrankandJones with a bit of envy,though there was nothingtopreventme fromtakinga round of stars if Iwished. Jones’s

competence made mewonder ifmy introductionto navigating might nothave been more pleasanthad I enjoyed an assistantwithhisexperience.Frankbroughtdownthechartwithhispositionrunup to 2000. The typhoonhad carried us 60 milesfrom the position shownon our DRI, and we

thanked our lucky starsthat the encounter hadtaken place well clear oftheRyukyus. I recalled anexperience at sea with ahurricane packing 100-knot winds and spokeconservatively when Iestimated that the windsof this typhoon had halfagain the speed. In theheight of the seas, therewas no comparison. We

werenot justguessing, forin the Quartermaster’sNotebook were recordedvarious periods duringwhich the scope had beencompletely buried, thelongest being 14 seconds.Sketching the wave crestsintheirmostmodestform,andarrivingattheirspeedfrom the recordedfrequency, Tang’s juniorofficers calculated that on

occasions a minimum of40 feet of sea had rolledabove the lens of ourscope.Iwouldnotdisputetheir figure nor wouldFrank, we had seen thewaves, and 95 feet fromcrest to trough seemedconservative.We came left 15

degrees, for the typhoonhad pushed us from south

of the track tonorthof it.This course would putTang back on the line bydawn, and I penned thefirst regular night orderssincetheUltra.Theywereoverdue.Proceeding at 80/90 onengines3and4.Ourcourseis 252 degrees true, and Ianticipatenocoursechangesthroughout the night. We

can now encounter surfacepatrols, however, and it isyourjobtospotthemfirst.Iftheenemyissighted,puthimasternordiveand then callme. Air patrols are possibleatdawn,and thedutychiefwill caution all oncominglookouts accordingly. Wehave come 4,600miles, butthe next 500 are asimportantasallofthemilesbehind us. At 0600, or on

advice of the navigator,change course to 267.Keepme completely informed inaccordance with thestandingnightorders.Adams took the night

orders aft, and the soundof movies from forwardindicatedthatallwaswellwith Tang. Mostremarkably, none of theship’s company had

received more than abumporscrapeduringthewild gyrations; they wereapparentlyastoughasourship. The pegs on thecribbage board had notbeen greased for sometime now, and I found amore than willingopponentinFrank.Havingobserved his predecessor,the executive officerprobablyassumedthatthis

was one of his informalcollateral duties, and if sohe was absolutely correct.Frank pegged out on therubber game, but moreimportant was ourformulation of plans forour initial days in theFormosaStrait.October 8 sawmoderating seas, and athird engine went on the

line.Atorpedofirecontroldrill speeded themorning,leavingtheafternoonforaropeyarn Sunday, whileextralookoutssearchedforplanes.Theywerepossibleat any time now, forOkinawa Jima lay only200 miles to thenorthwest, but no patrolchallenged our passage.Three diesels drove Tangon into another daywhen

a firm “Clear the bridge!”and two blasts sent usdown. I searched carefullyon the bearing of thepatrolplaneandcouldnotbe sure; it seemed to flapitswings.But Idecidedtokeepthattomyself,forthespeed of clearing thebridge and the dive wereexcellent.Alastdrillintheafternoon showed noroughspots.Thenexttime

we heard the generalalarm, we would have anenemyshipinsight.At dawn, SakishimaGunto was beyond thehorizon off our starboardbow. Our landfall wouldbe on Ishigaki Shima,about 150 miles east ofnorthern Formosa, or onFormosa itself, whichwould come up dead

ahead. Chiefs BallingerandLeiboldconsultedwithJones, then came to aproper decision: Theofficial landfall would beon Formosa, not Ishigaki.It was well for the troopsto settle such things inadvance, for Ipresumed ithad something to dowiththeirpool.The 11,000- to 13,000-

footmountainsofFormosaloomed up dead ahead atnoon, officially 1158,while Ishigaki never didshow. A fourth enginewent on the line, and webuilt up to full power toinsure our transit into thestrait during darkness. Abearing on Iriomote Jima,just west of Ishigaki andnowabaftourbeam,cutinwell with two peaks

ahead. After plotting,Frank recommended thenewcourse,320.“Makeitso,”Isaid,and

the navigator gave thenecessary order to Basilwith the deck. Our newtrack would pass betweenYonaguni Jima, now inviewtostarboard,andthenortheast coast ofFormosa, a handsome 60-

mile-widepassage.Dusk came and there

wasnochallengefromtheenemy. But technicallyTang was still in thePacific, or as printed onour chart, the PhilippineSea. We came to 340 togive the headlands moreroom before rounding thenorthern promontories.Therewas time for coffee,

and I dropped below onlyto hear the control roomspeaker:“SJcontactbroadon starboard bow. Rangeeleventhousandyards.”

By the time I climbed tothe conning tower, Frankand the OOD had slowedand put Tang on aconverging course withthat of the enemy ship,which could be headingfrom the SakishimaGuntotothestrait.Itwasalikely

path for a freighter, butnotforanunescortedone.Her speed was furtherdiscouraging, for plot’sfirst estimate of 12 knotswould be high whencompared with thecargomen we hadencountered. Still, in thisvicinityshipsweremakingthe longhaulbetween theEmpireandthesouthwest,andfastervesselswouldbe

employed.The guessing stopped at

7,000yardswhen the lowhull became more thanjust a blurp. Masts orgoalposts were not yetvisible, so we continuedclosing cautiously, andthen the outlines firmed.We had not seen thegoalposts because therewere none, but the

compact superstructurelocated about a third of aship’slengthfromthebowconfirmed our suspicion.Left15degreesrudderputan enemy patrol astern,andathirdenginetookusonourway.Lookingaft,FrankandIrecalled the incidentfollowing our first attackintheEastChinaSeawhen

we were at full speedclosing a destroyer escortonly to find out that shewas taking the sameaction. Ithadbeena trulyfrighteningexperienceandcould have happenedagain right here had wenot used caution in ourapproach. Perhaps ourshiphadmaturedabit.Wewere, of course,disappointed that this had

not turned out to be asuitable target, but in thepast patrols had meantships, and this would bean area to investigatefurtherinthecomingdays.For the present, the bestplace for finding worthytargets layahead,andourinterest, especially thenavigator’s, shifted fromthe fading shape astern tothe points on our port

bow. According to thecontourlinesonourchart,the 5,000-foot mountainsabout 30 miles inlandslopeddownabruptly,andstarting about ten milesfromthecoastthelandlaynear sea level. This couldbe confusing at sea, evenin daylight, for the landmight be hull down withonlyastructureorbeacontoshowthe land’send.At

night, when navigating inpart by radar, the smallsinglestructuresmightnotreflect the impulse. Ishared a bit of Frank’sconcernandreadilyagreedto soundings rather thanslowing as cautiousnavigationwoulddictate.

There were 80 fathomsunder our keel, whichshowed that we were notshoreward of the selectedtrack, and Tang barreled

on through the night.Kiirun, a large, well-protected, deepwaterharbor, came abeam toport at midnight. Larryand John, with themidwatch, would take usaroundthenorthern tipofFormosa in another hour.We would then slow andhead to the southwestdown the coast and intothe strait. Only a single-

line night order wasnecessary, for thenavigatorwouldbeabout.The course change left

to 245, leaving Kahei Shoto starboard, and slowingto one-engine speed werereported on schedule. AnhourlaterTangwasofftheTamsuiRiver,which leadsinland to Taihoku, thecapital of Formosa. Now

sheltered from thePacific,theseaswerecalm.Itwasa welcome change, for inthe quiet we couldconcentrateonseekingoutthe enemy. I toyed withthe ideaofgettingupandaboutandswitchedonthelight to double-check theluminous figures on theclock. It was coming up0400. Amoment later theduty chiefs messenger

steppedintomycabinandwhispered as if afraid ofawakeningothers.“We’ve got a ship,Captain.”Two hours into an areatill the first ship contactmusthavebeensomekindof a record, but it wouldbecomemeaningfulonlyifthe ship was put on thebottom. In the conning

tower,Torpedoman’sMateFoster called, “Rangeseventeen thousand,closing,” the directionundoubtedlyaddedformybenefit. The sectionsteersmanpulled theknoband swung the handle forthegeneralalarm.Our position relative to

the coast was ideal. Nowfour miles off Puki Kaku,

we were practicallyassuredofanattackastheenemy came up the coastfrom Pakusa Point.Lackinga radarperiscope,we had two options: Wecouldcontinueclosingandfire from the surface, orwe could run with theenemyandfiresubmergedafter dawn. To keep ouroptions open and to givemoretimefortracking,we

reversed course, prompteda bit by the first speedcheckonourenemyof14knots. Though theconsiderations had takenonly a minute or so, ourcombinedrangerateof24knots, 800 yards perminute, had alreadyreducedtherangetounder15,000 yards and wouldhavebroughtontheattackwithin another 15 to 17

minutes.While Frank and I

examined the chart,trackingtookadvantageofthe additional time toverify the enemy’s speed,which at least raised thepossibility that the shipmight indeed be a largepatrol. Shallow soundingsto shoreward of theenemy’s projected track

practically dictated anattack from seaward. Onthe surface,wewould notthenhavetheadvantageofthedark landbackground,andforatrulyshort-rangeshot, the enemy wouldhave a fair chance ofsightingTang.Thusonthisship,thebestchancesofasinking would follow asubmerged approach,wherein a range well

insideof1,000yardscouldbesought.Asadailypartofnormal

navigating, Jones hadalreadyfiguredthetimeofmorning twilight. Frankplotted the enemy’sposition for that time; thewaterswere good,with atleast20fathomsunlessthebase course was alteredshoreward. Frank then

pickeduphiscompassandspun a circle with a halfmile radius about thepoint, and I do believe heexpected that Tang wouldlay the ship down in itscenter.Without furtherinterference, Ed on plotquickly confirmed TDC’sestimate that we had agood-sizedshipchasingus.

This was based primarilyon the timing of the zigsbut was backed up byBergman’s viewof thepipon theA-scope.Wewouldknow for sure shortly; weslowedtodropbackontheenemy’s port bow. ChiefLeibold accompanied metopside to the after TBT,and we commencedsearching a narrow sectoron the starboard quarter.

With the advantage of aknown bearing and nothaving to cover a wholesector,Boatshadtheblurpahead of the lookouts butonly whispered thesighting so as not tointerferewiththepool.She was low and

chunky, as a sharp angleaspectshouldlook,andmyvisualbearingswerebeing

read from the repeaterbelowwheneverIsoundedthe TBT’s buzzer. Theangle was now openingand I called port 15 thenturned the TBT over toBoats while conferringwith Frank. We had acargoman, apparentlydiesel, for there had notbeen any smoke. Therewas no time for extraconversation, as the

navigator must con Tangonto the enemy’s track. Icontinuedtocallbearings,then an enemy zig tostarboard, but not angleson the bow since eitherTDCorplotwouldnowbemore accurate. Thesilhouette sharpened tozero, which I did callbelow.“Any time, Captain.”

Frank now had Tang inposition to dive. Boatswentbelow,andIstoppeda moment with John, ourbattlestationsOOD,justtotellhimtogoaheadwithanormal dive when I wasclear and to assuremyselfthat he knew all but hisfour lookouts would thenbe below. The pause wasfortunate,fortheexpectedfirst inkling of gray that

marksthestartofmorningtwilight was not yetnoticeable. Jones did notmakemistakes,butwehadall neglected to considerthe mountain range only35 miles to the east withpeaks up to 9,000 feethigh. It was acting like acurtain drawn up from asill and would delay thetime when the scopewould first be usable. A

full ten minutes passedwhile we ran with theenemy,butfortunatelythesetup was a relative oneand we still enjoyed thesituationoriginallysought,though transposed threemiles up the coast. Johns“Clear the bridge!” wasfirm and unexcited, thetwoblastsmethodical,andTangslidunderthesea.

AsweslowedforLarry’strim, Caverly picked upthe enemy’s prop and forsomesecondsswitchedthenoisetothespeaker.Itwasthe hefty thump-thump-thump of a single-screwship and batting out 140turns by metronome.Though the sound bearingchecked closely withTDC’s,at leastshowingnomajor change, remaining

blindatsuchacrucialtimetriedournerves.My replyto Larry’s “Satisfied withthe trim” was animmediate “Bring her upto forty-five feet,” toexpose our SJ reflector.Bergman’s single SJ rangeof4,500yardsandbearing150 showed a zig towardshore. At standard speedwe followed suit whileeasing back down to

periscopedepth.Firing would come in

less than tenminutes,andthe torpedo rooms madeready tubes 1, 2, and 3forward, and should therebe a wide zig to the left,tubes7,8,and9aft.Fourminutes into the run Iordered, “All stop.” Jonesraised the scope whenWelchcalled,“Fiveknots,”

butCaverlybeatuswithabearing. His 140 was agood guide, and now theenemy’s silhouette wassharpinthescope.Icouldsee a good half ship’slength, but that was stilljust a 30-degree angle onthe bow, so I called it togo with Jones’s relativebearing of 135. Standardspeed closed the track.After Tang’s run to the

firing point, the torpedorun would not be over1,500yards,andmuchlessshould the enemy zigtowards. Another threeminutes passed and weslowed just enough to geta vibrating look. I called,“Port sixty,” and then insuccession, “Port forty-five, port twenty, portthirty.” Iwouldguess thatnew members of Tang’s

fire control party figuredthat theOldManhadonehell of a time making uphis mind, but the plank-owners knew we had theenemy in the middle of azig and probably with anew steersman who hadswung past the orderedcourse.Hewouldneverzigagain, not horizontallyanyway, for this was thefiringleg.

“Open the outer doorsforward.”“The course for zero

gyrosandaninetytrackisonetwofive,Captain.”“Makeitso.”Frankwas forgetting no

detailsinreadyingtheshipand providing his part ofthe necessary information.I’d see if I could matchhim on the scope. Two

quicksetupschecked.Thisbig freighter, with rakedbow and squat stack, wasso heavily loaded she hadlittle more freeboard thanatanker.“Anytime,Captain.”“Rangeeighthundred.”“Stand by for constant

bearings.Upscope.”Joneshad the handles in myhands with the scope

practicallyon.“Constant bearing—mark!” The wire was onherwelldeckaft.“Set!” came from Mel.Her 14 knots brought hersternonquickly.“Fire!” Frank hit theplungerandinstantlycamethe slight shudder, themomentary pressure fromthepoppetvalve,andthen

the whine as our firsttorpedo went on its way.The next two, aimedamidships and forward,seemed to leave the tubesautomatically. Frank readfrom the prepared cardopposite a torpedo run of670 yards and announcedthe listed time of 47seconds. Already 30seconds had passed sincehe first hit the plunger.

Caverly switched on thespeaker again and trainedfromthefreighter’sproptothe high-pitched whine ofthe torpedoes and backagain until they allblended together. Weforgot the counting, butthe exploders didn’t, thefirst two detonating withinstantaneous fury. Inseconds,whenthecloudofsmoke had blown clear,

onlythetiltedbowwasinsight, seeming to backdown into Davy Jones’slocker.Without advancepreparations, three blaststook us to the surface.Those closest to the hatchgrabbed availablebinoculars and substitutedfor the regular lookouts,followingme and John to

the bridge. We connedTanginamongtheflotsam,but there were nosurvivors. Amid thewreckage, however, wereseveral half-swamped,emptylandingcraft.Couldthe enemybemovingwarmaterialsnorth?Nowwithballast tanks nearly dryand four engines purring,we headed southwestdown the coast while

working up to full power.The time was 0455, andthe normal watch sectionrelieved. They could takeTang down just as fast asthe battle stations team,andnow two-thirds of theship’s company couldcatchitsbreath.In the wardroom Iopenly congratulatedFrank since this was the

first sinking in which hehad participated asexecutive officer. Reserveofficers hold commissiondates that fix theirseniorityamongallofficersin the navy and are in allrespects equals. Our mostsenior reserves were stillabout a year away fromcommand, and Frank wasamong them. He wouldmake lieutenant

commander upon ourreturn from patrol andmost assuredly deservedthe qualification forcommand that also wouldbewaiting.

WehopedtoreachPakusaPoint, where we wouldhaveanunobstructedviewupanddownthecoast,butwould move beyond todeeperwateriftheskyandsea remained clear. Themountains that had foiledFrank’s plan to have the

ship laid downwithin thecircle now gave us a fewextraminutesofgraceinadelayed sunrise. PakusaPoint was already on ourport quarter when thelookout guarding thatsector spotted the firstplane. It was distant,perhaps over land, butDick’s answer was twoblasts.Our ship slid downquietly to patrol

submerged throughout thelongday.As was often the case

after a night of it, allhands were hungry, andBallinger’s request to goahead with breakfast wasreadily granted. The goodbreakfast seemed tosubstitute for the lack ofsleep, and the wardroomconversation revolved

about our fortunes inmaking this early contactand attack. Of equalimportance were theapparently exact firecontrol solution and thetorpedo performance. Thefirst two hits were rightunder the points of aim,andashadfrequentlybeenthe case in thepast, therewas nothing left for thelast torpedo. The patrol

was young, but Tang wasclicking; Frank knew it,too, and brought thediscussiontotheextremelyshortsinkingtime.“Shehadonlyafewfeet

of freeboard,” Ivolunteered, “and ourtorpedoes exploded at sixfeet below the waterline.They just plain blew outher side and the tops of

hercargoholdsandenginespaces, too.” Then, forPaul and John’s benefit,we reviewed the previoustorpedo troubles we hadexperienced, primarily indepth keeping, and whywe set ours to hit a fewfeet below the waterlinealong the ship’s side.Having watched sinkingtimes change from hoursto minutes, even seconds,

as Wahoo commencedsetting torpedoes shallow,I could speak of thefinalityofblowingaship’ssideout.The conversation wouldgo on, but Frank and Idecidedtotakeaperiscopeview of our area and thecoast of Formosa just toseewhat it all looked likein broad daylight. Mel’s

previous reports of planesover land or close inshorehad changed my mindconcerning a patrol offPakusa Point. It was noMiki Saki or NigishimaSaki as far as depth ofwater went; in fact, wewould have to move outover ten miles to gain adepth greater than 30fathoms. Horizontaldistance from the sceneof

our attack seemed best,andwewerecontinuingoncourse 225 down thecoast.The sight of four planes

on one low-power sweeprather surprised me,though closer examinationin high power showedthem to be landing andtaking off from severalairfields. I intentionally

made no comment andhandedthescopetoFrank.Hetookthesightinstride,as if he’d expected it, andproceededinattemptingtoidentify the somewhatindistinct points along thelow, nearly straight shore.Welch recorded thebearings and our ship’sheading so as to converteach bearing to true forplotting. While the

navigatorwasgoingaboutthe task of identifying thepoints and plotting, Iraisedthesearchscopeforacarefulstudyoftheland,one that I mightremember.Melandoneofthewatchsectionlookoutstook turns on the attackscope so that my searchcould be uninterrupted,and I followed the coastslowly. Another sweep

withtheprismraisedabitcovered inland to themountaintops, and thelandIsawlookedasfertileas the Sacramento Valley.The view brought homethe importance of thisgreat island to the enemyasbothastrategicfrontierand a rice bowl. Itsuddenly became all themore evident that everytorpedomustcount.

No surface patrols weresighted as we proceededsouthwest at 3 knots.Could it be that theybelieved we were stillnorth of Pakusa Point, offPukiKaku?Itdidnotseemlikely, for we knew theenemy’squick response.Aconsiderably greaterpossibility was the failureof anyone to note or atleast to report the attack.

It was all over so quicklythat now only thediscovery of the flotsamwould tell the enemyof adisaster. Our faith in thistheorywasshakenabitatmidmorning when enemyplanescommencedpassingover our vicinity. Frankwas getting somenecessary and orderedshut-eye,soItriedoutmynewsandshoeinchecking

this out and found that Icould walk on my heelwith little pain. Land-based bomberswere aloft,andwetrackedthemontoshore, directly into thewind, which had backedaroundtotheeast.I went to the conning

tower again just beforenoon. The watch hadrelievedandHankwasjust

lowering the scope after anormal search. “It’s allclear, Captain,” hereported. “I’ve justcompletedasweep.”Ihadcome up primarily toobserve the seas formyself, but the fast sweepand careful search werestill automatic. Satisfied, Iswung back to the coast,forthisstretchofshorelinewas new and I might

distinguish a landmark ortwo.“Bearing—mark!”Hank read 282, not

quite smothering agoddammit. It shouldn’thavehappenedtoourmostconscientious OOD, butthe masts of a ship putasideother considerations.The steersman had calledour ship’s head, and we

laiddownthetruebearingline through the enemy’sposition.“Headforhim,Hank.”Letting him close the

enemy might bolster hisprestige, and until wefound out which way theenemy was heading noother actionwas required.Hanksteadiedourshipon147, and Iwent down for

lunch.Itmightbemyonlychance. White, with thechief’s watch, had had aneartothehatchandknewwehadashipinsight.So,of course,would everyoneaft, and I decided to seehow long it took thegrapevine to reach thewardroom; it might takeHank’s call reporting thebearingchangetotherightorleft.ButIhadforgotten

Walker and his trips backtothegalley.“We goin’ to get thisone, too, Captain?” heasked, obviously enjoyingthe moment. The phonebuzzed,andHankreportedthe enemy ship drawingleft.“Come left to zero fourfive and go ahead two-thirds, Hank,” I ordered,

having cheated a bit inmentally figuring thereciprocal of our formercourseaheadoftime.Thetimewas1220,stillOctober 11, andTangwasoff on a long chase. Wehad another option, forusing our best sustainedsubmerged speed, wecould undoubtedlyintercept the enemy by

midafternoon. A glance atthe chart showed that theenemy ship wouldcontinue inside the ten-fathom curve in followingthecoast.Ourattack fromseaward of 12 to 15fathoms should besuccessful,butTangwouldthen face a shallow-waterevasion with a near flatcan. Itwas a combinationwe could not accept as

long as there were otherpossibilities.By 1300 the increasing

winds had churned theshallow waters till nicedepth control at 60 feetwas becoming difficult.Section tracking alreadyhad a reasonable speedestimate based primarilyon true bearings of theenemy ship, which

essentially fixed herposition along the coast.There was no reason tofight the seas at periscopedepth, and in fact wemight make a bit betterspeedbelowtheswells.Onorder, Dick eased Tangdownto80feet,wherewewould cruise betweenobservations.Since the ship was

following the slightlyconcavecoast inthisarea,even a reversal of coursewould not take her out ofview, and irregularlyspaced trips to periscopedepth provided trackingwithalloftheinformationneeded. The ship waszigging at odd times andmaking 8 knots over theground.Itwassufficienttogainbearingonusinspite

of her longer route alongthe coast. Frank plottedour two tracks ahead, andtheenemycouldindeedbeoutofreachbeforedarkbyheading into Taihoku. Itwas 1400, and as acompromise, we addedturnstobringourspeedupto7knots.On the very next

observation the bearing

rate had decreased, butour extra turns were onlyin part responsible. Nowcomingtoouraidweretheseas kicked up by theopposing wind andcurrent,fortheenemyhadclearedtheleeoftheshoreandmust now be buckingthe waves from nearlydead ahead. Our trackswere converging slowlyand another hour passed

before we could trulymaketheshipout.Thoughidentification might havebeenhastenedbybringingthe books to the conningtower on this oneoccasion, since notmanning battle stationsgave us plenty of room,the identification partypreferred to work belowfrom the details as theybecame available. The

mast-funnel-mastsilhouette had beenfurnished for an hourbefore the tall stack andforward superstructurewere identified. Now wehad the plumb bow andlowersuperstructureaboutthe stack with apparentlifeboats atop. It was agame, but not until anhour before sunset couldthe OOD provide the

clinching details of anafter deckhouse andcounter stern. They hadthe ship, an Aden Maruclassfreighter,constructedright after World War I,andoneofabout50intheclass. Eachmemberof theparty took a look at thereal ship and surely musthave gained enthusiasmforhistask.

A possible shot beforesunsetwasfoiledbyplanesapparently heading homefrom their daytime patrol,butsuchanattackhadnotbeen uppermost anyway,andwedidnotgotobattlestations.Atsuppertimeshepassed directly overhead,her single screw beatingout 70 turns through ourhull, or at least that wasthe wardroom count. For

the first time, Tang wastrailingthisship;buttherewas no better way ofdeterminingcourse,speed,and zigzag plan whenattack did not have to beimmediate.FrankspokeofthesimilarsituationintheYellow Sea, perhaps forthe benefit of thoseofficers who had not thenbeen in our ship, but thisnight I contemplated a

variationintheattack.Thesunhadset,andwe

trailed till the end ofevening twilight. Withlookouts ready in rainclothes in view of thethreateningweather, threeblasts sent us toward thesurface. De Lapp did notsave thehigh-pressure air,and a healthy blow hadourdeckswellclearbefore

the turbos roared. A spinof the SJ showed theenemy just over 4,000yards dead ahead, butbefore we closed, theweighted sacks of trashand garbage came upthroughtheconningtowerand over the side, for theseasprecludedopeningthemessroomhatch.Withthatdoneandsanitariesblown,weshearedouttopassthe

enemy2,000yardsabeam.Thesternchasewouldbealong one, especially sincetwomainswereneededforbattery charge. But thatwould hold only duringthe starting rate,and thentheauxiliarycouldreplaceone of them. We had notrushedsofarthisday,andwewouldnotdosonow.Our hope for another

unescorted ship vanishedwhenradarraisedtwopipsalong with that of ourtarget. They wouldundoubtedly be patrolsescorting this freighteraroundPakusaPoint,oratleast that was our wish.We came further left inorder topass thegroupatamore comfortable 4,000yards, and since thingscould happen quickly

when patrols were about,the Bells of St. Mary’schimedforthesecondtimethis day. The torpedomenhad partially withdrawnfour torpedoes from theforward and after tubesduring the afternoon. Thespecific gravity had beenchecked, the batteriesventilated, and all werenow in place waiting forthe tubes to be readied.

Frank gave the orderimmediately afterBallinger’s “Battle stationsmanned.”It was good, for Tangwas now abeam of theenemy, who was justvisible through the spumeonthisdarknight.Wehadused the SJ sparingly, butthe information CaverlyandBergmanprovidedwas

excellent. Especially thelastreport,thattheescortswere falling astern. Itwasalmosttoogoodtobetrue,but such things couldhappen when ships wereescorted only past extradangerous areas. Therecould be no betteropportunity, and Franksecured the charge andconned us in toward theenemy track as we had

agreed. The seas rolleddownourdecks,but thesewere nothing Tang couldnottakeinstride.Forwardwas John’s business, andrightnowminewasontheafter TBT. Through thespume, angles on the bowwouldbeonlyaguess,butbearings of the enemywould satisfy TDC andplot. The shape of theenemynarrowed,andthen

came the expected reportfromFrank.“We’re on her track,Captain, and steadied onzerosixzero.”“Slow to one-third,Frank,andcomeleftwhenthe range is twothousand.”Thebowofthefreightershowed up big and black,as if coming out of a

squall, and I had to tellmyself that she was stillover a mile away. It wasnot much over the 2,000yards, for almostimmediately came thewordthatwewerecomingleftwith5degreesrudder.I wouldmark bearings onher bridge as soon as herangle opened, and Frankwould keep our sternpointed right down that

bearing. Getting off thetrack seemed interminablyslow and must haveappeared so on the trueplot,forFrankwentaheadtwo-thirds.“The solution checks,

Captain, still zero six zeroandeightknots.”The angle on the bow

was now opening rapidly,and I called port 45 with

thenextbearing.Oursternwas now pulling ahead ofthe enemy’s bow; FrankwouldbebringingTang toa heading for minimumgyroswithtorpedoestohiton a 75 track. Even afterthe first torpedo hit, agood setup for furtherfiring would obtain. The400-foot ship lookedenormous as she startedacross our stern, mainly

due to her proximity butperhaps amplified by thissomewhat eerie, stormynight.“Ten degrees to go,range five hundred, outerdoorsopen.”Frank’s words were likeastarter finallyraisinghisgun. One more bearingwas buzzed, and thencame the “Any time,

Captain.” The TBT wasalready trained on herforemast,waiting.“Constant bearing—

mark!”“Set!”calledMel.Her bridge came on the

wire,followedbytheopenspace, and then the tallstackdeadamidships.“Fire!” and a single

torpedo raced from aft to

intercepttheenemy.Frankcalled up the time for thetorpedo run of 450 yards,30 seconds, 20 seconds togo. Imarkedabearingontheship’sstackshouldthissingle torpedo not do thejob,forwecouldstillfireaspread of three more. Aterrific explosion madethis unnecessary. Herboilers had apparentlyexploded with the torpex,

sendingapillaroffireandilluminated steamskyward. It was the firecontrol party’s turn tocome topside, but few ofthem saw much of theship, for she sank almostimmediately.We now experiencedsomething new inantisubmarine measureswith the firing of 40-

millimeter or similarautomatic weapons fromthe beach. The fire wasdirected straight up,however, and we werequite content to let theenemy believe that ourChina-based planes werealoft. We did not laugh,however, and promptlyheaded down the coast topass the two patrolsbetween us and the area

for the next day’soperations.Nightordersatthis timewould be out ofdate before the ink wasdry,soIrecordedourtwosinkings, which we knewcouldnotchange:

Dieselfreighter

7,500tons

Lat25°12′N.

Long.121′10′

E.

Mediumfreighter(AdenMaruclass)

5,824tons

Lat25°08′N.

Long.121′08′E.

Itwas2115,onlyaquarterofanhouraftertheattack,and already SJ had madecontact on the twoexpected patrols. As wemoved in an arc onapproaching Pakusa Pointto give these patrols awideberth,anunexpected

third pip appeared on thePPI. It was slightly moredistant than the others, toseaward, and wasobviously another patroljoining in a search.Reluctantlywesecuredthebattery charge again andmoveduptofullpowerinmaking a wider sweeparound the enemy. Thelate-arriving patrol musthave been equipped with

radar, for tracking soonhadheronaninterceptingcourse that she could nothave figured outotherwise.This patrol was turning

outtobemorethanjustanuisance and from heradvantageous point wasclosing on our port handuntil we put her astern.Ournewcourse,duewest,

opened the range, andtracking soon had theenemy turning back. Thepatrol had accomplishedher mission in chasing usclear of the point andprotecting her area. Butwehadbusinesselsewhereandcouldgettherealmostaswell by a jaunt towardtheChina coast anddowntothemiddleofthestrait.

We were still standingby for a specific lifeguardassignment for the nextday, but if none came inon the Fox the choice ofpatrol stations was up tous.Already,TaskForce38wouldbe about300milesfromFormosa,andthoughIdidnotknowthedetails,air attacks on Kiirun,Taihoku, Takao, and thenumerous airfield

installations wouldcertainly be made. Wemight do some good offthecentralcoast,andIhadleft a selected positionwith Admiral Lockwood.Just the knowledge that afriendly submarine waswaiting helped a pilotcarry his bombs home. Atleast we were led tobelievethisafterTruk,butit would be a much

different problem herewithnofriendlyaircover.It was 2230 when thenavigator recommendedcourse 215, the route wewould follow throughouttheremainderofthenight.Thelast24hourshadbeentiring, in part because wehad not completelyrecovered from thetyphoon,butmostlydueto

the duration of the lastapproach and attack.Every section had beeninvolved in the tracking,andof courseallhands inthe attack, and frankly ifthetroopsfeltthesameasIdid,we’dall justassooncall off thewar games foraday.Inviewofwhathadbeen happening, theenemy might justcooperate.

The wardroom was stillbuzzing, but after passingthe Night Order Bookaround,everyonefollowedLarry’s lead in gettingwhat sleep they couldbefore we were intoanotherday.Ourshipwasquiet, and even the chophad subsided, adding tothestillness.But itwasallbroken with “SJ contactbearing one zero, range

nineteen thousand.” Thatwould put it westward ofTang, 225 true, and Iflipped the eavesdroppingswitch for any furtherinformationwhile locatingmysandshoe.Topside,wealready had mastheadlights in view and camerighttocrossherbowandlook her over from allaround. First green andthen green and red side

lights came in view. Thenhalfway down her portside, a cargo lightilluminatedherwhitehull,agreenstripe,andalargeredcross.We could find no fault

with this properlyidentified hospital ship,and Larry, trying out hishand at navigating,recommended the course

back to our track. Below,allwas quiet again exceptfor a conversation incontrol, which alsoreachedmycabinsincethespecialswitchwasstillon.It probably expressed thesentiment of everyoneembarkedinTangandwassummarized in a singleexclamation in Ballinger’sunmistakable voice, “Aw,the bastard’s probably

transporting ten thousandtroops, all with athlete’sfoot!”FrankandJonesputourship in the selected spotoff Tsusho. The 15 milesfrom shore should permitsurfacingperiodicallyoratleast poking our antennaout for possible messagesconcerning downedaviators,andwith luck, to

intercept the airmen’sconversations. With firstdaylight, Basil’s welcomeblasts sent our ship belowfor another day of intensesearch. Volunteers for thescopes were no problem,forallhandsknew that atthis very moment ourplanes would be over themountains.Theywouldbefighters to gain and thenmaintaincontroloftheair,

and hot on their heelswould come the dive-bombers.ItwasalleasytopictureafterTrukandthenlistening to theairmenforthreeweeksafterward,andwe somewhat regrettedbeing so distant. Thiswasno Truk, however, for theobjectives were spreadover 180 miles, and acombat air patrol tofacilitate our surface

operations would beimpossible.To seaward, especially,

there remained a fairpossibilityofshipcontacts,and we alternated thesearchsectorsbetweenthetwo scopes. Only enemyplanes, mostly headingwest, and an occasionalsurface patrol came inview. They interfered

somewhat with ourattempts to catch carrierplane transmissions, andnothing intelligible couldbe heard on the occasionswhen our VHF-UHFantennaswerehigh in theair. The jammedtransmissions and smokerising from over thehorizon left no doubtabout the strike being inprogress, however, and a

general feeling of elationquickly went through theboat. The southern tip ofKyushu was only another700 miles to the north,and certainlyknowledgeable Japanesewereawarethatthisattackwas the beginning of theend.Frank and Chief Jones

were standing by with

sextant and watch whenthree blasts sent Tangtoward the surface. Theorder to start the turbosnormallysignifiedthatthesubmarine would not bediving immediately,enemy willing, and thenavigators boundedtopside to get their roundof stars on the fadinghorizon. An accurateposition was always

importantbutespeciallysothis evening, for ourdestination was the focalpoint of two probableshipping routes fromFormosatoChina.With a day forconsideration, we hadsearched Sailing Directions,evenanatlas,sothepointfor tomorrow’s patrol wasnotselectedbyticktacktoe.

Theseas,thecurrents,andthe shoals are just thesame forall seafarers, andwe considered Foochow alogical haven for enemyships during Task Force38’s continuing air strikesonFormosa.Therouteswehad worked out led fromTakao and Kiirun, andtherecouldbeenemyshipsalong either one of themthis moment, and more

after dark. We wereconfident of finding theenemy, at least somestragglers, where the tworoutes converged, in thewaters east of TurnaboutIsland.A singledieselwasalready pushing us alongduenorthwhiletheotherscharged the batteries.AfterFrankhadhisstarfixhe would plot it on thechartandthenadvancethe

point due north at ourpresent speed. I’d see thechart in the wardroomwhen he was ready withthe position accurate tothemoment.Remembering a captain

wholikedtoleanovermyshoulder, point with hisfinger,anduttersoundsofdisapproval,Iwentquicklybelow. The chart would

follow just that muchsooner, and we savedFrank’splaceatthesuppertableaccordingly.Restisarelative thing, or so itappeared with our youngofficers, for this night ajollier bunch would behard to find anywhere.Perhaps they had checkedthe menu or dropped bythe galley, for Adamsarrived with a platter of

rare roastbeef surroundedby roast potatoes.Whatever Walker had inthe serving dishes was oflittle importance, and thesame would undoubtedlybe trueaft, forweallhadthesamemeals,thebest.Frank had changedcourse 4 degrees to 356,and reported that our oneengine would suffice. As

had become the customwhen there was nourgency, he placed thechart atop the sideboardandenjoyedhisbeefwhileitwasstillhot.Thattakencareof,weconsideredourposition, and Walkerbrought the Night OrderBook. With the chartspread out, those aroundthe wardroom table couldreadataglancejustwhere

weweregoingandgainafair appreciation of theprospects. For all,includingWalker,our firstvisit to China since theShantung Promontorywould be anotherintriguingadventure.Early in the midwatch,Paul reported the winddrawing to the east, andabout an hour later,

passing rain squalls. Ourperiodic sweeps with theSJ were increased, andtoward the end of thewatch an indistinct pipappeared on the screen.Tracked at the estimatedspeedand in thedirectionofthewind,itsdarkshapewas soon identified byHank as a particularlyblack,densesquall,almostthe first one to so show

sinceSaipan.The morning watch

relieved. Frank and Joneswerewaiting,hopingforaround of stars, when SJreported a forest outahead. Such numerousreturns could only comefrom a fishing fleet, butespecially on the A-scopetheir pips seemed toogood. Two more engines

closedthe14,000yardsto5,000 before the gray ofdawn sent us down, andwe moved on in with ahandonthegeneralalarm.Now in good daylight Ispotted the first shape, apatrol passing from onesquall to another. Thesteersman pulled thehandleandtheBellsofSt.Mary’s held reveille thisFridaythe13th.

Itwas0530,tenminutesinto the run to close theenemy, when we slowedfor an observation. Our 6knotsshouldhavereducedthe range to about 3,000yards, but Caverly hadonly light high-speedscrewsahead,thoughtheyspread from bow to bow.At my four-finger sign,fourtubesforwardandaftwere readied, and we

sneaked a look intonothing but squalls. Two-thirds speed for fiveminutes should have therange down to 2,000yards, and we slowedagain. Sound now hadlight screws on variousbearings, and it seemedthat someone must beloose with the shavingbrush in the forwardtorpedo room. Jones had

the scope ready at decklevel, however, and whenWelch called 4 knots, Irode it onup for awater-lappinglow-powersweep.Seven different marks

caused some confusionwithin the fire controlparty, and that is exactlywhat we had topside, aconfusion of patrols. Ourdestination had been a

possible focal point forenemyshipping,andbyallappearancetheenemyhadchosen that very locationfor his patrols towait outthe strike. The bearingswere on those that werefairlyclose,buttherewereothers inview to thewestand possibly several morebeyondthesqualls.This was no target for

any submarine, and wesneakedofftotheeasttoasafe position for periodicradar sweeps. The patrolsremained in a large,scattered group with noother pips coming intoview,andafteranhourwedecided that our appraisalthattheywerewaitingoutthe strike was indeedcorrect. Some of oursearches had been with

decks awash, and on thelast occasion three blastscompleted the surfacing.Frankgave150degreesasthe course forTaihoku, ormoreaccuratelythemouthof the river leading to thecity, and two enginesdrove Tang back towardFormosa.TamsuiMountain, rising3,675 feet and located

about ten miles inlandfrom the northern tip ofFormosa, rose above thehorizon at midmorning.The coast was still 30miles distant, but inclearingweatherwecouldno longer be caught by aplaneout of the clouds sowe continued the run onthe surface. It took butanother hour to reach areasonable search position

and, prompted by smokeandflamesashorefromthecontinuing strike, wepulled theplug. It seemedprudent on two accounts:We would likely bedetected if we continuedon the surface, and withno positive identification,we could be surprised byoneofourownplanes.Noplanesofanysort,or

ships,evensampans,cameinviewofthescopesasweclosed the island andturned right to follow theshoreline to the south.Whenwesurfacedatdusk,the firesashore seemed tocover the airfields, or atleast the general areaswhere we had observedplanes landing. Therecouldbelittledoubtaboutthe thoroughness of the

strike, but it had alsocleared the seas. Oursearches along enemyretirementtracksremainedfutile but offered agratifyingdisplay, forfiresburned furiously day andnight.We spoke of thestagnant areas west ofPalaufollowingthatstrike,but knew that here it

would be different. Theenemy would have toresupply Formosa and hisforces in the Philippines,too.Itwasjustamatteroftime, and any submarinecould outwait the enemy.Task Force 38 haddepartedafterthemorningstrike of the 14th, andTang headed west. Theenemy would surely seekthe extra protection of

remote shipping lanesalongtheChinacoast.

It was with somedisappointment thatFormosa was left astern,for we should have beenable tocontribute insomeway to the success of thestrike. During the threedays of the operationmany airmen must have

been shot down, for weknew by our observationsof enemy air activitybefore the 12th that hewas not going to besurprised.Itnowappearedthat our first two attackswere on merchantmenhustled out of Takao, onthe southwest coast of theisland; this port had over2,000 departures a yearandwastheshippingpoint

for almost all of the riceand sugar. We hadgathered this and otherinformation aboutFormosa before leavingPearl. The Monograph oftheJapaneseEmpire,whichwas on the allowance oflarge ships and staffs,wasone source, but ThomasPhilip Terry’sGuide to theJapanese Empire, 1933edition, had the facts we

really needed—Formosa’sseasonal weather, herhistory as a group offeudal states, hersubjugation by theChinese, Dutch, Spanish,French, and then Chineseagain. The high point asfar as we were concernedwas the acquisition of theislandbytheJapaneseasapart of the settlement ofthe Sino-Japanese War in

1895, marking the firstventureoftheJapaneseasan imperial power. As ofthe date of our referencematerial,theJapanesehadmoreorlesscontainedthehead-hunting tribes thatstill lived in remote areasin the mountains but hadnot subjugated them, andwe wondered if thesesavagesmightnotstandinour stead and befriend

some of our airmen whocould be escaping to themountains.Frank had taken a

departure on Taiko Pointand recommended acourse of 316. It wouldtake Tang diagonallyacross the strait to aposition well south ofTurnabout Island. Webelieved there was good

logicbehindthisselection,for we would be able tomove slowly with thecurrentduringagoodpartof our submerged patroland would be in anexcellent position tointercept any shippingfrom the north thatrounded the island. Andround Turnabout it must,for the shallow waters toshoreward would only

accommodate ships of5,000tonsorless,andthatsurelywithalocalpilot.Thestraitwascalmfora

change, and we surfacedwith a quarter of ourvoyagebehindusandonly60 miles to go. If I haddared to dream, I mighthaveconsideredthisareaasomewhat shorter thoughwider Long Island Sound,

and lest others might belulledby similar thoughts,I penned specific nightorders covering our patrolin themiddle of the straituntil 0300, and thenmoving on to themainland.Thenightpassedquietly

andsodidtheday,thougheven the diehards in theengineers came to the

conningtowerforasquintatChina. Frankand Joneskept busy identifyingislands and correcting thechart; backed up by anoccasional sounding, theywere confident that wecould lie close to thistreacherous areathroughout the comingdarkness.Theywereright,but it did not make for arestful night, since no

navigational lights wereburning,notevendimmedones.Only an occasional

sampanhad come in viewof our scopes duringdaylight, and surely theenemy merchantmenwould require somenavigational aids at night.These considerations andblustering weather

dictated moving awayfromthedangerousshoals,andPakusaPoint layonlyafewhourstotheeast.Wewould have moved inanotherdayorsoanyway,for it was just our guessthat the Japanese wouldhugtheChinacoast.Therewas also the possibilitythat they had interpretedthe three-day strike as apreludetoafurtherassault

and landing.Evenwehadbeen fooled by our forces’previously unannouncedisland-hopping, and theJapanese might bebolstering Formosa forsuchanattack. If so, theirships would undoubtedlyfollow the more directroutestotheisland.Tang moved slowly eastafter surfacing just incase

some unconventionalconvoy commanderdecided to take his shipsright down the middle ofthe strait. We were in nohurry, for the total runwas only 60 miles. Johnreported our status inaccordancewith the nightorders, and the smell offreshly baked bread madefurther dozing offimpossible. It was not

bread but hot rolls, andAdams was just takingthem out of the oven.Hank and Paul, who hadjust come off the eveningwatch,were ahead ofme,but therewereenough foreveryone. Amoment laterthe duty chiefs messengercametothewardroom.“We’ve got an Ultra,

Captain,”hereported.“It’s

still coming in.” And thenhe hustled forward towakethecodingofficer.AminutelaterBasilracedaftstill buttoning up hispants, and I wondered ifothers’ hearts had pickedupabeat,too.Waitingforthedecoding

of an Ultra was akin towaiting for the torpedoesto hit, and on this early

morning the minutesdragged. That thedecoding took longer wasno one’s fault, for BasilandMel,whohadgoneaftto help, were using theold-fashioned strip cipher.Therewasnothingunusualabout this, since boatsoperating in salvageablewaters were frequentlyordered to leave theelectriccodingmachinesat

their bases. No one elsewent aft or otherwiseinterfered, so after a fewminutes Basil cameforward with the messageprinted out in continuousblockletters.Verticallinesseparatedthemintowords,andthe firstgroupspelledCARRIER. The followingwords threw a sizablemonkey wrench into thepossibilities, for the

completemessage,lessthepadding, read quitesimply:

CARRIER ANCHORED

APPROXIMATE

CENTERFORMOSABANKS

Frank was standing bywith the chart spread outonthewardroomtableandwith parallel rulers readournewcourse,230.Flank

speed put four engines onthe line.Tang was on herway,butjusthowshewassupposed to reach theenemy remained a bigquestionmark. In fact thepadding, or additionalrandomwordstomakethemessage more difficult tobreak, could well haveincluded GOOD LUCK, for thebanks run 60 miles fromnortheasttosouthwestand

average30milesacross.Insomeinletswecoulddive,but elsewhere approach,attack, and evasionwouldall have to be on thesurface.The mission seemed abit taut, but Ultras werenot sent out lightly, andTangwastheonlyandtheaction addressee. Therewas little use in fussing

over it, for the center ofthe banks still lay 180miles to the southwest.Even with an all-daysubmergedrunatourbestsustained speed, it wouldbe on toward midnightbefore we could attack,and the remaining darkhours of this night weremeantforrest.Sleep was impossible;

the roarof seas racingby,and a harmonic of ourdiesels, setting up apulsing throb,wereTang’swardrums,orsoitseemedtome.Butothersheardit,too, if the congregation inthe wardroom was anindicator.EdandJohnhadraided the great,wide filedrawers under thesideboardandhadanotherchart of the Pescadores

area spread out on thetable. Dick had joinedthem, and the three wereplotting out the possibleroutes for penetrating thebanks. Unfortunately thedeepest was only 12fathoms, but it was fivemiles wide and extendedlikeacrookedfingerinforten miles. Reaching itwould require another 60miles,however,sinceitled

up from the south, but itmightwellbetherouteofthe carrier or where shewasactuallyanchored.Weweighed this against asurface dash and thestrong likelihood that wewould get away with itunsighted but reached nodecision before JonescameforwardtocallFrankforthemorningstars.

When a situation issuddenly thrust upon you,finding the courage to seeit through comesautomatically. Thisoperation was entirelydifferent, for we still hadthree-quarters of a day toplan and also think aboutthe enemy.Of one thing Iamsure,withoutmen likethose in Tang, finding thecourage would have been

impossible.Frank and Jones gottheir stars and I followedthem below. The horizonwas clear, but a sightingwould spoil the wholeeffort. Paul’s “Clear thebridge!” and two blastsinitiated the dive, and 40seconds later we wereleveled off at periscopedepth. Our heading

remained 230, but nowour speed was down to 5knots.The morning watchremained uneventful, butair patrolling commencedshortlyaftertheyhadbeenrelieved. The planes werealmost welcome, for atleast they signified thatTang was no longerpatrolling a dead sea. The

forenoon watch, withLarry in the conningtower,didanexcellentjobofestablishingtheenemy’sair search pattern. Itdefinitely showed that wewere not the object andincreased our hope that apractical commandermight indeed make a runstraight up the slot.Surface patrols in theafternoon added to the

likelihood of comingshipping, and in alltruthfulness,suchashiporconvoy would give us alegitimate reason not totry penetrating the banks,thewaytheappearanceofthe Yamaoka Maru in theYellowSeahadgotusoutof a pending inshorepredicament.Before the first

scheduled Fox after wesurfaced, another Ultracamein.AnyUltrahaditsown highest priority, butthismessage contained anoperational emergencyprocedure sign in itsheading.The last suchuseI could recall concernedtheTambor-Tritonincident.EdandMelsetupthestripcipheronthecontrolroomcharttable,andneverhad

a watch been quieter asthe stripswere inserted inthe prescribed order forthe date. Ed called thefive-letter groups as Melsetthestripsandthenreaddown the prescribedcolumn. The first fourwords were padding, butthenext six letters spelledCANCEL. The remainder ofthe message would beacademic, and right 15

degrees rudderbroughtusto 050, right back towardPakusaPoint.We could only surmise

that at headquarters awell-meaning dutycommander had releasedthe first Ultra withoutpriorreferencetothechiefof staff or AdmiralLockwood. Very probablytheadmiralhadtakenone

lookat thedispatchboardand, seeing the concisemessagecontainingno“forinformation” or othermodifying words,immediately knew theaction Tang would take.The message just decodedwouldbehiscountermand.We were still curiousabout the originalinformation,however,andwonderedifitwasderived

from a sighting or, as thewordUltra signified, froma broken dispatch. And ofcourse, in the latter case,was it a ruse to sucker usinto another type oftyphoon.That it might be a ruse

became more than just apossibility when abloodcurdling “Clear thebridge!” and two blasts

took us down. Frankquestioned the lookouts,and even those who weresupposed to be guardingtheaftersectorsconfirmedthe roar and blue exhaustcrossing our bow. Weconsidered this for a halfhour, for only radar-equipped planes or thosedirected by other radarcould come so close. OurSJ had detected nothing,

sowetriedanothersurfacerun,reluctantlyatreducedspeed since our wake athigher speed could be atelltale.OurnondirectionalAPR-1hadradarsignalsonthe usual frequencies asbefore, but they couldoriginate in thePescadores, Formosa, oranywhereat sea.Only theintensityof the signalwassignificant, but the log

showed no markedincrease in any signalstrength.The slower speedseemedtohavesolvedtheimmediate problem, butjust before midnight twoblaststookusdownagain.The blue exhaust was aftthis time, and we restedbelow for another halfhour,nowquiteconvinced

thattheenemydidindeedpossess a radar-equippedbomber.JustasourSJwasunable to detect planes atany appreciable elevation,so his radar lost us whenthe down-angle increasedduring his approach. Thiswas our theory anyway,but we had no desire toputittofurthertest.Threeblasts and four enginespulled us clear, and we

dived within strikingdistanceofPakusaPointatdawn.We still considered thisour lucky point, but onlytwo patrols came in viewof our scope during theday,andeventheyseemedto retire for thenight.Westuck it out another day,perhaps becoming tooimpatient and completely

forgetting the 26 days ofour first patrol without acontact. Still, over aweekhadgonebysinceourlastattack here, and thisshould be a concentratedarea for shipping. TheJapanese could beshuttlingsuppliestoKiirunfor rail transportationfarther to the south. Itwould be the hard way,but we would have to

admit that it would besafer.Itwaspitchdarkontheevening of October 18when we followed thecontouroftheislandtothenortheast. Rounding FuklPoint, our bow rose togreatswellsrollinginfromanother Pacific storm. Inanticipation, Caverly withthe SJ watch was already

wearing his trademark,and as our bowcommenced plungingdownward others mightneed one, too. Our newcourse of 110would keepour head into the seas aswe skirted the darknorthern coast, and thetroops could at least bethankful that these seaswere not on our quarter.Ourimmediatedestination

wasapointthreemilesoffKeelung To, a small, tallisland that sits just insidethe ten-fathom curve offKiirun.According to ourinformation, Kiirun wasthe best port of Formosa,beingcompletelyshelteredand of recent yearsdredged to accommodateships of all drafts. The

city’s ancient structureswerebuiltby theSpanish,but ithadmodernrailwayconnectiontoTaihoku,thecapital, only 18 milesaway. An additional notethat Frank had addedmade us all chuckle. Thecity boasted three goldmines, discovered by aChinese miner fromCalifornia.

The bits of informationmightnotseemimportant,but those concerning theportandtherailheadwereresponsibleforourpresentcourse,andtherestaddeda bit of interest for allhands. The yearly averageofover200rainydaysand200 inches of rain atKiirun might discouragesome of us from evervisiting the port, but we

would see it from adistanceatdaylight.Frank picked up thephone to his right. It wasDickreportingthatSJhadKeelung To at 12,000yards, and the navigatorwent topside topilotTangtotheselectedpositionoffthe island.Weslowedandmovedincautiously;therewas no hurry. The wavy

interference of 10-centimeter radar appearedon the SJ, probably fromoneofourwolfpacks,anditservedtoremindusthatwewere not alone in thisendeavor. If they couldmake it too hot on thePacific side of Formosa,ships would come ourway.They,ofcourse,wereeven more dependent onTang’s actions within the

strait.At 2330 we turned leftto the least uncomfortablecourse and slowed tosteerageway. The run hadbeenonly45miles, but itcouldbeanimportantone.We did not have long towait before the afterlookouts spotted a patrolmoving out from theharbor across the open

roadstead. We discreetlymoved to the west as thepatrol passed east ofKeelung To. At least theenemywaspatrolling,andwefollowedhimouttothenortheast, as this wouldgive us the distance andtime for predawn trackingofanyinboundships.Onlyan inbound patroldisturbed the night, andFrank piloted us back to

our original positionbeforedawn.Larry took us down to

trim our ship for theseunusualconditionslestthegreat swells push up ourbow,causingustobroach.It was 30 minutes beforehe reported, “Satisfiedwiththetrim.”Hequicklymodified the standardstatement by reporting

that depth control wouldbe difficult. A few of uswere in a position toappreciate the task thatfaced our diving officersthis day, but all of uswould share the results ofany misjudgments. SoLarrycameoff theregularwatch listandstoodby toassist the diving officer ortakeoverifhesawfit.

Only patrols came inview ina long, tiringday.The swells made itnecessary on occasion torunbelowperiscopedepth.Larry would then easeTang up while holdingappreciable down-angle,exaggerating theattitude Ipreferred when firingtorpedoes. After aperiscope sweep, he couldcall forspeedasnecessary

andswimourboatdownifshe were tending to rise.Of course we could stillflood negative, but duringan attack phase thesubmarinemight not thenrecover in time forconstantbearings.Darkness was welcome

thisnight,especiallytotheplanesmen and the divingofficers, who could now

relax as three blasts sentus to the surface. It wasunnecessary to ask for ahealthy blow, and ourdecks were high by thetime we reached thebridge. Astern wereKeelung To, the outerharbor, and then theharbor of Kiirun. Thestrong currents had madeit inadvisable for us topoke very far into the

roadstead, and we couldnot determine the actualpresence of shipping atKiirun. Certainly nonewould be leaving orentering now, for therewerenopatrolsabout.Wecould spend an easiernight in the channel,southeastward towardSakishima Gunto, andreturnpriortodawn.

Jones brought the chartto the wardroom, andFrank laid out a track forthe night for one-enginespeed. We’d need that attimes for goodsteerageway. Frankrelayedmy instructions tothe OOD, and Tang wasjust picking up a new rollfrom the change in coursewhen Bergman came tothewardroom.

“We have a prioritydispatch, Captain,” heannounced. Then turningto Dick and Mel, hecontinued, “It’s all readyforbreaking.”

Dick beat Mel to thepassageway, but onlybecause he was seated atthe end of the transom.The race aft was not allpure dedication, for thewords forming themessage coming clear oneatatimeaddedasuspense

that could never beduplicated elsewhere.Then, being the first toknow, even ahead of thecaptain for a short time,put the members of thecoding board in anexclusiveposition.It was 2200, and whileDick and Mel worked onthe dispatch we came leftto west, put on the spare

engine, and then stoleanother from Larry’sbatterycharge.Asidefromthecontentofthemessage,we could control anythingin our immediate area,even from many milesaway.AracetowardChinaseemed obvious;Tangwason her way, and whilewaitingFrankand I spokeof peacetimecommunications training,

which revolved around aso-called communicationscompetition. Tests wereconducted withstopwatches held by theobservers, and timebecame almost as big afactor as accuracy. Theresult was a thoroughlyboring affair, but therewasnothingdullaboutthemessage Mel and Dickbrought to the wardroom

andplacedonthetable:

TASKFORCEPROCEEDINGNORTH

ALONGCHINACOAST

Larrypleadedforhislastmain engine, and wecompromised on anotherhalf hour since a fullycharged battery wouldsurely be required. Thetimingfittedinwell,sincethe nearly ten miles we

would travel should bringustocalmerseas.Nowweconsidered the messageitself.Ithadnotcontainedthe Ultra designation, andthis removed a bit of theapprehension we wouldhave felt in view of ourlast two experiences. Onfurther thought, Ipersonally believed thatAdmiralLockwoodhimselfhad dictated the message

form,sincetheUltraprefixwould have again beendemanding. Tackling atask force was quite anundertaking, even for asubmarine,anddoingsoin20 fathomsmight well beontheborderofthosetautdemandsofourArticles fortheGovernmentoftheNavy.ButTangwoulddoallthatI felt shecouldreasonablyget awaywith, and I kept

all of these thoughts tomyself, including mydoubt that an enemy taskforce would be steamingnorth, away from pendingaction.Theincreasedspeed,the

change in the motion ofour ship, and changeswithin the watch sectionquickly alerted the ship’scompany.Onewouldthink

that we already had theenemy in hand, for anunusually largenumberofmen had gathered in thecrew’s mess, and onsecond thought, the samehad been true of thewardroom when I left togotopside.Our course remained

due west for TurnaboutIsland, as this should

insure intercepting theenemy. As soon as the SJpresentation wassufficiently detailed toshow that no ships weregettingby,wewould turndown the coast to gaincontact and attack indarkness. The plan waslogical and flexible, and Iwent on topside, for onlytheweather could cause achange. The seas had

continued to moderate onthis black night, andwithcomplete confidence inHankwiththedeck,Iwentbelow.The midwatch relieved

and then came the 0230call in time for the firstpossible SJ contact onshipsortheisland.Withinminutes the return fromTurnabout appeared on

thescreen,followedbythepipsofthesmallerislands.Nomajor ships couldpassunnoticed, and we cameleft30degreesto240soastoclosethecoastofChinaobliquely.Anhourpassedwithno

contacts other than theislands,thoughourSJwasturning in its peakperformance as each new

pip was tracked at zerospeed. Ed came to theconning tower; Caverlyswitched on the old A-scope, said nothing as hecranked the range step,then calmly announced,“Ship bearing four zero,range thirty thousand.”Thatwouldbe280true.The A-scope now hadtwo dancing pips where

there had been only oneislandpipmomentsbefore.One of them was a ship,moving away from theisland, but determiningwhich would take aminute. We crossed ourfingersthattheshipmightbetheonetotheright,forthat would mean she washeading northeast, puttingus on her bow. Successiveranges would tell, for

radar could notimmediatelydeterminethesmall bearing change. Nochange in range on theleft-hand pip told thestory: We had a fast shipheading southwest atapproximately Tang’sspeed, and we werealready well abaft herbeam.Culp conjured up a few

more turns and Tangcommenced closing therange slowly, too slowly.Wewouldneverbeabletodraw ahead to an attackpositionbeforedawn.Twomore pips, obviouslyescorts, most surelymarked the enemy as awarship and added to theurgency of getting in toattack. Plot now had theapproximate track of the

enemy,withfrequentzigs,and therein lay our onlychance. The Bells of St.Mary’s held reveille forthose few hands notalready at their battlestations, and we cameright to converge on theenemy’strack.With the decision, I

accepted the loss ofbearing. Plot already had

aninitialspeedestimateof20knots,andwecouldnototherwise close the range.There would berefinements in our courseas more accurateinformation came fromplotandTDC,butonlythevery remote possibilitythat the enemy wouldassistbychanginghisbasecourse to the left couldreally help our taut

situation. The range wasclosing however, and Iwent topside to joinJonesandLeibold,whohadnowspotted the blurps broadon our starboard bow.Though indistinct, theaspect was broad andconfirmedwhat I had justseen on plot; Tang washolding her own, losinglittlebearing, and literallywalking inon theenemy’s

quarter.Detailsofthesilhouettessharpened as we movedinsideof10,000yards;wehadacruisertypeandtwodestroyers, not exactly atask force and heading inthewrong direction as faras our priority dispatchwas concerned, butSubPac’s message wasresponsible for this

contact.Thecruiserwouldberadar-equipped,andwehoped that her operatorswouldsearchahead,inthesectors where a surfacedenemy submarine wassupposed to be, at leastuntil Tang had gained aposition astern of thewidely spaced destroyers.Thenourpipcouldbelostamid theconfusionof sea,wake, and own ship’s

returns,whichwouldbuildup an incandescent hubabout the center of theenemy’sPPIscreen.The range decreased

slowly past 5,000 yards,and now I could call theenemy’sfrequentzigswithsome accuracy. Thoughthey often left Tangpractically astern, Frankreportedthatwewerestill

holdingbearingrelativetotheenemy’sadvancealongthe base course.No doubtwithothers,Ifoundmyselftaking shallow breaths aswe passed astern of theport destroyer,which plothad at 2,000yards on thecruiser’sbow.Weoccupiedan identical position onthe port quarter, and nowat a glance identified heras a Katori class cruiser,

oneoftheenemy’sbest.Jones kept his eyesglued on the destroyer’sstern and Leibold on thecruiser to instantly detectany change in either’sattitude.Frankreportedalltubes ready for firing,andI called angles as wecontinued to slidediagonally toward thecruiser. The range was

1,650 yards, and withsteam torpedoes we couldhave opened the outerdoors and fired Our poorMark 18-1s at 27 knotsofferedonlyamaximumof7 knots speed differential;itwasprobablycloserto6knots.Oncelaunched,theywere strictly on their ownand could not reach theenemy for eight minutes.Not only was this almost

threeminutesbeyondtheirbest endurance, but thecruiser, with zigs everythree to four minutes,would be off on anothercourselongbeforethen.Wewouldnot leave the

whole task to ourtorpedoesbutwouldcounton the cruiser’s reducingthe torpedo run with herfirst zig in our direction.

Even thenwewould haveone additional problem,for these torpedoes wereknown to tumble andotherwise run erratic iffired with submarinespeeds above 12 knots.Backing full and firingwould coincide, and so asnot to add another detailat that time, Iorderedtheouter doors openedforward.

We rehearsed theprocedure,allbackfullonthezig,mysingleestimateof her angle, followedinstantly by firing. Itwould be a somewhatmore complicated firingthan that on the freighterof the two ship anddestroyer convoy west ofSaipan. But we’d firedonce backing down andaground;thiswouldnotbe

too complicated. Perhapsthethoughtsweretobuildup my courage a bit, forthoughthiscruiserwasnomore lethal than the twoescorts off Nagasaki, shelooked big, mean, andmore forbidding as weslowly crept toward herport beam. The zig couldcomeatanyinstant.Frankcalleduptherange,1,400;itseemedcloser.

“She’szigging,Captain!”It was Boats, whose solejobwas to spot just this. Idid not slow; the cruiserwas zigging away and weneeded all the speed wecould muster to regainposition, for she had putus nearly astern. Boatschuckled; we neededsomething to break thetension, and withencouragement he

explainedwhathethoughtwassofunny.“Ijustneverexpected to bemaneuvering with enemywarships,” he said, and Iguess it’s well to havesomeone around who canseethelighterside.Zig plans do not simplymeander back and forthalongabasecourseatoddintervals, at least good

ones don’t. The Japanesecommander had selectedthe best, with severalchanges of course in thesamedirectionandthenanindeterminate numberback. On top of this, hewould likely throw in achange of base course, sowe could not afford tohead on down the linehoping for his return. Thefight to stay with the

cruiser continued everyminute, and three legslatercameanotherchance,withTangagainwelluponher port quarter. Thetorpedo tube outer doorswere opened for thesecond time, and wewaited with 7 × 50s tocatch the enemy’s firstmovement.“She’sturning,Captain,”

called Jones, who hadswapped positions withLeibold, and again wecontinuedonatfullpowerastheenemyturnedaway.Aseriesofzigsdefinitely

indicatedachangeofbasecourse straight for Amoy.Frank stepped off thedistance, and the enemywouldbeoffthewidebayleading to the harbor at

dawn.Ihaddroppeddownfor a quick look andagreed. We commencedworking up on thecruiser’sstarboardquarter,and two legs later thedoors were again opened,but the enemy ziggedaway. A fourth attemptconvincedusthattheslanttoward Amoy was just apart of the enemy’s zigplan or a ruse. There was

nothingunusualaboutthisplan, at least from ourpoint of view, and from asubmerged position aheadthat was anywhere nearthe enemy’s base course,we would have been ableto gain an attack positionand hit no matter whichway he zigged.Here, ableto fire fromoneendonly,andwiththeequivalentof7-knot torpedoes, we had

to guess which way hewouldziganddosobeforegaining position for thefiring. We guessed port,and were again rolling atsomething over 23 knotsto reach the requiredposition on the cruiser’sport quarter. This wouldhave to be the last suchmaneuver, since the startof morning twilight wasbut20minutes away, and

the situation was furthercomplicated by the fast-approaching FormosaBanks.The range remainednearly constant as wemoved from 1,500 yardsnearly astern toward thequarter, but the speeddifferentialofonly3knotsmadeourmovement seemaggravatingly slow. The

sharpest eyes Tangpossessed had 7 × 50ssteady on the destroyerwell ahead and on theKatori, but having gainedthis position four timesduring the past two hoursquite unnoticed, weexpected to do so onceagain. The bridge wasquiet, and no one wouldspeakother than to reportan enemy movement.

Frank reported the outerdoors open a bit ahead oftime. It was good, for wewould fireonanearly zigeven from our presentposition.I continued to callbearingsandanoccasionalangle as we passed thecruiser’s quarter andcontinued on toward thebeam. Her zig was late,

but it came suddenly—away!“Right twenty degreesrudder. Steady us on thistrue bearing, Frank.” Imarkedabearingaheadofthe cruiser. “Keep theouterdoorsopen.We’lltryanup-the-kiltshot.”Frank replied with aready“Aye,aye,Captain,”but then added a caution;

the crack of dawn wouldcomeinfiveminutes.Wewere stillagood20degrees on the cruiser’sport quarter, and as Tangslid diagonally toward theenemy’s stern the rangedropped to 1,200 yards,then 1,100 as concommenced callingup theranges regularly. Theenemy’s angle was 180,

andFranksteadiedusdeadon. I glanced to the east,no tattletale gray; therange was 900 and Iordered, “All back full,”forfiring.“They won’t reach him,

Captain. I’ve held up themaneuveringorder.”Frankwas right on two counts,our torpedoes would beclosingatonly200yardsa

minute, and the enemywould be opening therangewhile we killed ourway.“Whatrange,Frank?”“Six hundred yards,Captain.”My thoughts escaped,and I heard my ownmuffled“JesusChrist”asIslid my right hand alongthe bridge cowl to the

diving alarm. The rangewas800yardsandsecondsseemed like minutes.Sevenhundredyardswasaminuteawayandthenonemoreminutewouldputusatthefiringpoint.Ablindingflashhitus;itwas a battery of enemysearchlights.Mytwoblastssoundedbeforesomelightshad completely struck

their arcs, and no onecould have missed my“Clear the bridge!” for Ihad years of training inhookingthemupinseries.Leibold and Jones clearedfirst, four lookouts racedby, and I rode John’sshoulders down the hatchwhile hanging onto thehatchlanyard.Welchgavethe wheel a twirl, settingthe dogs, and Tang was

below before the firstbullets landed.Therewerestill two orders tocomplete this evolution:“Rigshipfordepthcharge.Rigforsilentrunning.”

If theKatori detached oneof her destroyers to workTangover,ourbestdefensein these 20 fathoms afterdaylight might well be asalvoofwakelessMark18-1s.We remained at battlestations, waiting, whileCaverly followed the

enemy’s screws. Loud andon a broad band, theirintensity was nonethelessdecreasing as the cruiserhightailed to thesouthwest. An all-aroundsearch found no separateset of props nor echo-ranging, and the enemycommander had beensmart in all respects,figuringthatwemightstillbe inamood toshoot,no

doubt.After the first periscope

search at daylight, weassumed normalsubmergedcruising,exceptthat the smoking lamp,which was dousedautomatically at battlestations, remained out.Now defense called fordistance, andnormallywewouldbeheadingupfora

dash on the surface.Withthe aid of the current,however, Tang had runfivemiles from the divingposition; we were nearenemy bases, and asighting would throwawayour advantage.Withanother five miles theenemy would have 150square miles to search inthe northeast semicirclealone, an almost

impossible task. We’dleave well enough strictlyalone, and chow wentdownforallhands.Frank and I paused in

control to brief Ballingerconcerning the expectedplans.Ittookbutaminute,andthenthechiefpointedwith a turn of his thumbtoward the messroom.Frank steppedoverby the

doorandlistenedaminutebeforereturning.“Iwastemptedtogoon

in and learn what reallywent on topside,” hecommented and thenexplainedthatthelookoutswereholdingforth,cuttingtheir shipmates in on thedetails. It was theirmoment; few adjectiveswould be needed, and at

least the troops wouldhave a hot topic forconversationthisday.We found it littledifferent inthewardroom,with John giving hisimpressions. Frank tookmy customary chair, butonlysoIcouldpropupmyfoot on one of the chartdrawers, and then thediscussioncontinuedinthe

cheeriest of moods. I hadexpected the opposite, forcruisers were oftremendous importance totheenemy.Sincetheearlydays of thewar, Japanesecruisers had shown theirmettle. And now thisKatoriwas freeand racingto help oppose ourimminent landings atLeyte, in the Philippines.Butwecouldn’tfightawar

if down in the mouthabout a failure, and Iwasthankful for these youngmen and their optimism.Wehaddoneourverybestand still had ourtorpedoes; to them thatwasenough.“I wonder what the

Katori’s captain would doif he knew that five timesin a row he’d missed

getting six pickles in theside?” Dick asked. “And ahalf dozen up the fanny,”Paul added. This vein ofconversation tapered offwith the suggestion ofadding bicyclist’s springmetal pants clips to thesubmarineallowancelist,asetforeachmemberofthetopside watch at battlestations. I trusted thisincludedthecaptain.

Thoughthemoodmightnot indicate it, we hadseriousbusiness.Ourdeadreckoning indicator couldbesomewhatinerrorafterthe high-speed chase andearly-morning gyrations,and trying to run up ourposition from all of theentries in theQuartermaster’s Notebookwould be almostimpossible. But what we

really needed to knowcouldbefoundfromafewsoundings. If they wereclose to 30 fathoms, ourcourse of 040 would betakingusacrossoneofthedeeper areas of thesubmerged plateauconnecting Formosa toChina. Ahead, halfwayacross the strait and dueeast of Amoy,would be atrench about 20 miles

widewith a small area of40fathomsatitscenter.Itwasalogicalplacetohide,perhaps too obvious, forno sooner had thesoundings shown us oncourse than air patrolscommenced a persistentsearch. They were joinedbefore noon by surfacepatrols,anditwasatonceapparent that they werepaying little attention to

all of the areas where wemighthavegoneandwereconcentratingontheroutetowardthedeeperwater.The enemy search

succeeded only in makingthisOctober20seemabitlonger, and we were gladwe had spent the initialtwo hours of the dive atstandard speed, thuskeeping out ahead of the

enemy. There were noevening stars for Frankand Jones, for the enemyon the horizon kept usdown until it was quitedark. Three patrols werestill there when wesurfacedandbecamemoremenacing when our radarstarted acting up. Beforethey made contact orcalled in night bombers,three engines started us

north. The move was justintime,forEdcametomycabintoreportthattheSJhadgivenup the ghost.Aday north of the straitwouldgiveallhandssomerest and permituninterruptedrepairs.The night orders

congratulated the troopson giving the Katori thescare of her life and did

not contain any tersecautions; such wereunneeded. Our course of040, changing to 050 andslowing to standard atmidnight, completed theentries. Frank would beabout, trying his hand atcelestial navigation on atrulyblackhorizon.The last 24 hours had

been taut and tiring, but

now with almost normalsurface night cruising inpullingclearofthestrait,Icouldconsiderthefortunesthathadalsoaccompaniedourship.Thechasewasfarmoredangerousthanmostany submerged approachand attack, but since itdidn’t pay off wouldreceive no note. But weknew, and I believed theexperience would further

cement our ship’scompany. Frankinterrupted my thoughts,bringing the chart andhisplottingsheettomycabin.His star lines had givenhim a triangle with aboutfour-mile sides. He hadconservatively drawn acircleabout itscenter thatencompassed all of thepoints. Tang wassomewhere within this

circle, near the middle ofthe strait and slightlysoutheast of Oksu Island,andthatwasallweneededtoknow.We were greeted withrain and increasing seasbeforedawn.Suchweatherseemed a characteristic ofthenorthernmouthof thestrait,probablydue to thewarm current from the

south emptying into theEast China Sea. JK or JPwould pick up the propbeats of any substantialships long before theycould be seen in thereduced visibility, soTangdived during morningtwilight.Itwascomfortingto become a truesubmarine again, listeningand searching as possiblewith the scopes for any

ships;theywereallenemy.Thentoo,Ed,Caverly,andBergman could spread theSJ’s parts out on the deckwith no seasickness tointerrupttheirprobing.Others no doubt had

tasks that had beenpending, and we changedthe Plan of the Day tomake this October 21 aropeyarnSunday. Itwasa

date I had been waitingfor, since the luncheonmenu called for a NewEnglandboileddinner.Theideahadsurfacedwiththediscovery of two long-forgotten cases of S. S.Piercecannedclams.Theyhad come aboard at SanFranciscowhensupplyhadlet us down during ourprovisioning forsea. Ihadreadily signed a bunch of

specialpurchasechits,andthe whole commissarydepartment,exceptfortheduty cook,had leftwithatruck from Hunter’s Pointshipyard to fill out ourallowance or procurereasonable substitutes.They must have had agrand spree,waving thosechits and picking upwhatever struck theirfancy. Though most was

substantial chow, SanFranciscocansupplyweirditems,too.Thetotalwasabitstaggering;Iexpecteditto come to $1,000 orperhaps a bit more, butnottonearly$5,000.Aftereach patrol a reminderwould bewaiting, a letterfrom the Bureau ofSupplies and Accountswanting to know bywhatauthority these purchases

had been made. Theanswers just added morereferences to be listed insucceedinglettersuntilthewhole thing became quiteridiculous.But we had our clams,

and I had providedsecurity for those twocasesthatwouldmatchtheradiomen and theirWelch’sgrapejuice.Itwas

midmorning when Isauntered aft, for NewEngland clam chowder,not any adulteratedManhattan stuff withtomatoes,wouldintroducethe main course. Now forsome reason, ship’s cooksinsistonopeningcanswithacleaver. In thegalley46cans were lined up inranks, each with a deepcleaver cut in the top,

rightnexttotheedge.Theduty cook had the finaltwocans inhand,pouringthe last of the clam juicedownthedrain!Ifounditdifficulttosaygood morning, but onecan’t saw sawdust, and Icontinued my turn aft.Everything was in fineshape, and no number ofreports could ever replace

the complete knowledgethat could be gained froma few minutes’ walk andbrief exchanges with thewatch. Back in themessroom, the aroma ofthe dinner was alreadyattracting a number oftroops, most of whomwould be eating earlyprior to relieving thewatch, but there wasnothing about a boiled

dinner that any one of uscould filch ahead of theserving. Surprising tosome, the meal did turnout well, as frankly doesany chow that has meatand potatoes as the mainingredients. The clamchowder was somethingelse, rather resemblingcorn chowder mixed withchewynodules, but itwasprobably preferred that

way by our lads from theMidwest.Tang had been movingsteadily due westthroughouttheday,forweanticipated that with thesum total of theirexperience,ourradargangwouldhavetheSJbackonits feet by dark. They didnot disappoint us, andthough we surfaced with

no reflections but seareturn, the wavespresented a mottled,luminous disk spreadingout from the centerof thetube and not completelydisappearing for somemiles.TheSJwashot,andTurnabout Island shouldcome on the screen earlyin the evening watch. Asingle tall pip on the A-scope preceded the

expectedislandcontact.The time was exactly

2000, andwewere off onanother chase to thesouthwest but in a dark,stormynight.Ourpredawnexperience of the daybefore immediatelyconjured up expectationsof another cruiser, butadditional pips of escortsdidnotappear,thoughthe

enemy was similarlyziggingandheadingdownthe coast. Closing therange this time offered noreal problem, for sectiontracking showed usforward of the enemy’sbeam and gave a speedestimateof15knots.Ourswas awet bridge as threeengines drove our shipthrough the rough seas,somewavesbreakinghigh

on the conning towerfairwater and threateningtocomesolidlyaboard.At our 2115 position,

the true plot showed anenemyangleof20degreesport, assuming that theshipwasatthemomentonthe base course. It wastime to slow and let hercome on, and battlestations sounded. The

enemy became visible forthe first time at 2,500yards;itwasawarshipbutmaking much too heavyweather to be a cruiser.Frank reported the tubesreadyforwardandaft,andat the same time throughour7×50swecouldseethe waves crashing whiteonher forecastle. Shewasa DE-PC type patrol, wellarmed, but she could not

possibly man her guns inthese seas. We were inlittle better shape, fortorpedoes set to runshallow enough to hit herwould surely tumble andrun erratic. It was astandoff, but the rangecontinued to close asneitherofusgaveground.We were not this hardup for targets so early in

the patrol, especially onethat stumped us like this.We came left to put herasternandwentaheadfull.As if by mutual consent,theenemyreversedcourseandhightailedit,probablyashappyasweweretogetout of a nasty situation.Whenclearweslowedtoacomfortable two-enginespeedandatthesametimegave Larry the engines he

needed to continue thebatterycharge.Theregularwatch section was posted,and since our evasioncourse had taken ustoward Formosa, wecontinued on towardwhere the lee of hermountains would providesome shelter from thePacific’sfallgales.Tang was still pounding

intoheadseaswhenItookaturntopsideatmidnight.We would not reach thecoast anyway, so droppedtoone-enginespeedfortheremainder of the night.Scuddy weather at dawnlet us continue on thesurface with littlelikelihood of beingsighted, but with the firstdistant plane, perhaps abird, we dived without

question. Aircraft activityincreased throughout theday, the numbers andtypes indicating an influxof planes to replace thosedestroyed during thecarrierairstrike.Thisalsomeant a concentration toopposeU.S.fleetactionsinsupport of the Leytecampaign,ifnottodisrupttheinvasionofLeyteitself.Perhaps the invasion was

already in progress thisvery Sunday the 22d; butthiswasjustaguess,sinceonly thosewho needed toknow were privy to suchinformation.The planes gave us notrouble, but neither didanyenemyshipscomeourway. By 1800 all of thepatrols seemed to havegone on or returned to

their fields, and threeblasts took us up into aquiet night. It did notremain so, however, forfollowing the report of apipwith a range rate thatcouldonlybea low-flyingplane, our SJ, which hadbeen performing sobeautifully, becametemperamental and quitagain.Weheadednorth,aswe had found this area

unhealthy after ouraborted run for theanchored carrier. Withoutthe SJ it could quicklybecome untenable. It did,with blue exhaust roaringoverhead.

Tang’sship’scompany,duringrefitatMidwayfollowingherfirstpatrol.Fromright,frontrank:DivisionengineerwhoaccompaniedTangonpost-repair

training,MurrayFrazee,MelEnos,ChiefoftheBoatWilliamBallinger.Rearrank:HankFlanagan,ScottyAnderson,FrankSpringer.AUTHOR’SCOLLECTION

Tangrescuingairmen,fromadrawingbycrewmanJohnT.

Kassube.

AdmiralNimitzpresentingtheauthorhisfirstNavyCrossfor

Tang’sfirstpatrol.

ViceAdmiralCharlesA.Lockwood,CommanderSubmarineForce,Pacific,fromFebruary,1943,toDecember,1945.Theinscriptionreads:“ToComdr.DickO’Kane—Whenandifbettersubmarinersarebuilt,they’llbeconstructedofmaterialstobefoundinDickO’KaneandhisTang.”AUTHOR’SCOLLECTION.

Fromleft:RichardO’Kane,WilliamLeibold,andFloydCaverlyholdapressconferencein1947.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH

TangwasoneofonlythreeshipsintheU.S.NavytoreceivetwoPresidentialUnitCitations.NotetheerrormadebythecitationwriterincreditingTangwithsinkingeveryshipofthelastconvoy,whichconsistedof14majorshipswith13escorts.

March,1946.CommanderRichardO’KaneisawardedtheCongressionalMedalofHonorbyPresidentHarryTruman.U.S.NAVYPHOTOGRAPH

Navigators and radiorepairmen can work attheir own methodicalspeed, and anyinterference or insistenceonfastersolutionsleadstoerrors and omissions thatcause unnecessary delay.Thetwoblaststhatsentus

down were perhapsdisturbance enough, butthe triumvirate continuedon the SJ withoutinterruption, pausing onlyto grab parts that weresliding forwarddue toourrathersteepdive.Exceptforthepossibilityof air-dropped torpedoes,andtheenemyhadprovenhimself good at that,

sightingtheexhaustmeantthat he had missed.Stayingaroundforanotherpass without any radartrackingfacilitieswouldbewarrantedonlyifwehadashipinsight.Werannorthan hour, andwith the oldSD warmed up andapparently working wellaccordingtotheechobox,its mast went up to catchthe enemy for the first

time since our secondpatrol. The skies appearedclear on a five-secondobservation, and threeblastsfollowedinstantly.Again we moved northat a modest two-enginespeed so as not to churnup a luminous wake. Theremainder of the eveningwatch was uneventfultopside, and the first

movieinsomedaysplayedallthewaythroughbelow.For all appearance, Tangcould be on a peacetimeinterisland cruise. Anencouraging report camedown from Ed, but we’dcontinueourrunoutofthestraitandgive theradarashakedownallitsown.Wehad done this for ourtorpedoesoffHonshu,andnow Ed and his gang

deservedthesame.The midwatch relieved

with Larry the seniorofficer.I’dhatetolosehimas an engineering officer,but he should be fleetinguptoexec;someonewouldget a gold mine. Thesethoughts were interruptedby his report that theywere firing off therevamped SJ. There was

no “Fixit Book” in Tang,and these men had spentmore hours than anyothersinstayingwiththeirgear until it worked. Iflipped on theeavesdropping switch toheartheresults,andinthebackground cameCaverly’s unmistakablereport of good sea return.SwitchingofftheVoycall,Iconsideredachangeinthe

nightordersbutdecidedtostickwiththeoriginalplanto clear the strait. Thedecision was barely firmwhen the duty chief’smessenger literally burstintomycabin.“We’ve got a convoy,

Captain!” he almostshouted, and then addedtotheofficialreportinhisenthusiasm, “The chief

saysit’s thebestonesincetheYellowSea.”Ithankedthemessenger

whilealreadytyingupmysand shoes, and hecontinued on forward.That convoy was in theEast China Sea, not theYellow Sea, I thought,though most everyone inTangcalledourthirdforaythe Yellow Sea patrol.

Whatatimefornitpicking.I raced aft and up theladder to the conningtower. Caverly hadreported the cluster ofblopsasanislandgroupat14,000yardsaftertheveryfirstsweepoftheSJ.No such islands, other

thanthePescadores, lie inthe strait, and Larry’sturning south to put the

convoy on our quarter assoon as the range wasshown to be closing wasabsolutely correct. We’dneedtimetothinkthisoneover, and not just theminutes that would beavailable had wecontinued to close theenemy. Fortune had notbeenwithussincethefirsttwoattacks,forthecarrierpossibilitymightwellhave

resulted in an attack, andsurelynowarshiphadevergiven more than Tang inherefforttochasedownacruiser. But in each case,so unlike our last patrol,westillhadthetorpedoes,and this convoy offeredanother chance to reallyhurttheenemy.We had two options.

Onewouldbetostaywith

the enemy for an alwayssuccessful, as far as Tangwas concerned, crack-of-dawn submerged attack.Withasplitsalvowecouldsinktwoshipsand, if luckwereonour side,possiblya third. The other wouldbe night surface firing,though I shuddered at thethought of anotherpenetration betweentrailingescorts.Thatmight

notbenecessary,however,for the best count fromCaverly had been tenships, half of themprobably escorts based ontheheightoftheirpipsontheA-scope,orfiveescortscompared to the 12 southof Nagasaki. This night,timewasonour side, too,for the convoy had nonearby port, and a nightsurface attack, which

could be deliberate anddevastating, would notpreclude an additionalsubmergedattackatdawn.A smaller pip moving

swiftly from the convoydirectly toward ourposition,now12,000yardson the enemy’s bow, wasto make the decision forme.Itwasnow0050,only20minutesaftertheinitial

contact, and two moreengines pulled us away,but not before the enemypatrol had closed half thedistance. She then turnedback, according to ourplot, and was proceedingon a parallel but oppositecourse to thatof themainbody. Itappeared thatshehad a radar contact thatshe lost, or perhaps shehadsidelobetroubles,too.

ThenFrankthoughtoftheblue exhaust; that planecould have reported ourpresence, and this escortcould just be making acautionarywidesweep.Whatever the case, we

turned to follow her, andthe Bells of St. Mary’schimed for the sixth timeon this patrol. First thingsfirst,andWalkerpreceded

those coming up to theirbattlestationswithmycupof coffee. He was fastindeedifthegeneralalarmhad turnedhimout of hisbunk. Then I rememberedthe chief’s messengerproceeding on forward. IfWalkerhadastandingcallevery time Iwas called, itwould account for hispromptnessinmanythingsand on numerous

occasions. I’d have to askBallinger—but on furtherthought, why inquireabout a good thing andmaybespoilit.The patrol had slowed,

and we moved inside5,000 yards for a goodobservation. Her narrowthough tall silhouettepositively marked her asan escort but larger than

any we had previouslyencountered,perhapsclosetothesizeofourDEs.Ourbusinesswasnotwithher,and we came right 30degrees so we could closethe convoy and cross itsbow.Itwasstillaprobingoperation to size up theenemy and thus see howwe could best attack. TheSJ screen showed threeshipsincolumnflankedby

two other large ships, oneto port and the other tostarboard.Foursmallpips,presumed to be escorts,surrounded the convoy.The fifth, which we hadjust observed, wouldprobably make up a five-shipcircularscreen.The frequent zigs,placingoneortheotherofthe forward flanking

escortsinthelead,madeitimpossibletotell fromtheSJjustwhatpositionifanyhadbeenleftuncoveredbythe patrol that we hadfollowed back halfway tothe convoy. But findingout was our immediatetask, andwewould do sowith the eyes the goodLord gave us, albeit withan assist from our 7 ×50s.

The range to the mainbody closed quickly withour combined speeds, andwe came right to passbroadside to the enemywhile still outside ofpossible visual sighting.Now with the convoy onour port quarter, weslowed to let the rangeclose as we slid silentlyacrossitsvan.LeiboldandJones were to starboard

and port as I markedbearingson theafterTBT,and I felt the best of eyesand experience weresearching out the enemy.Thesilhouettesloomedbigas the range closed below4,000 yards, and thoseshipsinthecentershowedlittle freeboard. This andtheir protected positionmarked them as tankers,targets of highest priority

among Japanesemerchantmen, and secondonlytocapitalshipsoftheImperialNavy.They would receive ourfirst salvo, split asnecessary; but movingTang into firing positionundetected offered aproblem. A possiblesolution appeared with areport from Frank during

oursecondpassacrosstheenemy’svan.Larry,onthetrue plot, had the convoynow steaming on its basecourseof210,andthefifthmemberof the screenwasindeed absent from herleading position whilemaking the precautionarysweep. If she continuedaround the convoy shewouldbegoneforanhour.There was our hole, dead

astern of Tang at a rangejustunder3,000yards.Rather than present abroadside silhouette inturning, we stopped andlettheconvoyovertakeus.The range droppedquickly, now 2,300 yards,and the ships took onsharp outlines, allappearing big and black.The situation was

developing more quicklythan it had with theconvoy in the East ChinaSea,andwehadlittletimefor apprehension. At themoment the enemy waszigging, and we ziggedtoo, arriving at the newcourseby an angle on thebow. If any of the shipscould see us, they did notchallenge our presence,but for the moment we

hadtogoaheadatconvoyspeed or lose our selectedslot between the portfreighterandthetankers.Frank would report

when the convoy wasagain on or near its basecourse, and in themeantime Boats hadanother chance tomaneuverwiththeenemy.On the next three legs of

the enemy’s zig plan, wemovedcloser to themajorships till it was myestimate thatwe occupiedthe position of thewayward escort, and wenow identified thestarboard flanking ship asatransport.Frankreportedall tubes ready and outerdoors open, and then onthe next zig that theenemy was close to the

base course. Plot wassurely correct, for ourposition was right on anextended line drawnbetween the tankers andthefreighter.“All stop.” The shipscameonquickly.“Port ahead two-thirds,starboard back two-thirds.”Tang twisted rightfor near zero gyro angles

on the tankers and to gether stern in position for asubsequent attack on thefreighter. It was ourstandard maneuver, butthe first time for ships intwocolumns.Our bow was nicelyahead of the leadingtanker, and shifting thescrews for a momentstopped our swing. The

threelumberingshipswerecoming by on a modestline of bearing, slightlydisadvantageous to ussinceonlytheafterhalfofthe second tankerprotruded beyond theleader. Tankers were notsunk by hits in theirforward section, however,and this vulnerable sternwould be all that weneeded.

Toassistplot,Ihadbeenmarking bearings on eachof the threeships;Caverlywould be supplying thecorrespondingradarrange.Then came Frank’swarning of ten degrees togo. All bearings up tofiringwouldnowbeontheleading tanker’s stack. Imarkedbuttwo.“Everything checks

below. Any time now,Captain.”“Constant bearing—

mark!” The reticle restedonhersuperstructure.“Set!” came

immediately. Her squatstackwascomingon.“Fire!“Constant bearing—

mark!” The wire was onherafterwelldeck.

“Set!” Her aftersuperstructurewascomingon.“Fire!” We shiftedtargets in trying to get alltorpedoes on their waybefore the first would hit,perhapsimpossible,fortherange on the leading shipwas300yards.The third torpedo wentto the stack of the second

tanker at a range of 500yards. The fourth sped tothe stack of the trailingoiler at 800 yards; thefifth, to the forward edgeofheraftersuperstructure,wasdelayedafewsecondsby the first twodetonations.John, Leibold, and thelookouts would have tovouch for the other

detonations, as I wasracing to the after TBT,where Jones was keepingan eye on the freighter.Shewasstillcomingoninspite of the detonationsbeyond our bow and theeerie light of oil fires,whichsurelymustmakeusstand out in silhouette.Perhaps she figured thatthetorpedoeshadcomeinfrom the starboard flank

andthatthetankershadinfact formed a protectivebarrier for her. BetweenTBT bearings, Joneschecked forward for meandwasgonebutseconds.“They all hit as weaimed ’em, Captain.They’reafireandsinking.”Noonecouldhaveaskedfor a better report, but Idid not have time to

acknowledge,asFrankhadasked for one morebearing. I gave a “Mark!”on the freighter’s stack;herbowwasabouttocrossour stern. Impatient, Icalled, “Constant bearing—mark!” with the reticleahead of her midshipssuperstructure,butLeiboldliterally collared me,physically dragging meforward. Iwouldnothave

lefttheTBTotherwise.The transport on theother side of the tankershadspottedusintheglowof the fires and, like amonstrous destroyer, wascomingintoram.Shewasclose; there would not betime to dive, and neverhadflankspeedbeenrungup twice with greaterurgency. Frank must have

phoned maneuveringabout the emergency, forthe black smoke thatpoured from ouroverloaded diesels rivaledadestroyer’ssmokescreen.Thetransportcontinuedtohold the upper hand,however, with her bowbecoming more menacingbythesecond.Iwoulddoubtthatmore

amperes had ever pouredthroughthearmaturesofasubmarine’s four mainmotors; the fields limitingthecurrentwerenearzero,for the props had nowdriven Tang’s bridgeacrossthetransport’sbow.But she was dangerouslyclose,inside100yardsandstill headed to strike usnear amidships. Theenemy now added to our

precarioussituationwithafusillade, apparently ofanythingthatwouldshoot.The gunfire was crackingoverhead as ifwewere inthe butts at a rifle rangepulling and markingtargets.At her 16 knots thetransport would strike usinanother30seconds.Wehad gained a little more,

and in calculateddesperation I ordered,“Left full rudder.”At leastthe blow would beoblique, perhaps glancing,andtherewouldbeballasttanks and frames tocrumple before her bowcouldslice toourpressurehull. For the moment wewere protected from thetransport’s gunfire by theextreme down-angle; a

rifleman standing on herdeck would have to leanout and shoot down. Butmore important, ourstern’s swing to starboardwas fast, nowacceleratingas if it were the endmanon a snap-the-whip, asindeed it was, for asubmarine pivots wellforward.Unbelievably, Tang was

alongside the transport. Ifwehadbeenmooringtoasubmarine tender itwouldhave been a one-belllanding, passing the linesover by hand, but not atourcombinedspeedsof40knots.Inseconds,withthetransport’s continuedswing and Tang pullingaway, the gunfire nowaboveuscouldbebroughttobear.Iyelled,“Clearthe

bridge!” sounded twoblasts, and counted sevenmenprecedemedownthehatch.Outofhabit, I tooka glance aft to be surenobody was being leftbehind. What I sawchanged my mind aboutdiving.“Holdherup!Holdherup!”Ishouted.I was afraid to soundthree blasts to keep Tang

on the surface; someonemight interpret them as aplea to take her downfaster (Mush Morton hadonce used five blasts inWahoo for that verypurpose), and I hadunfinishedbusinesson theafterTBT.Tangbarelygother decks wet—and whowould have thought thatour dunking dives wouldpayoffonpatrol?Abouta

ship’s length astern, thetransport was continuingto turn in an attempt toavoid the freighter, whichhad apparently beencoming in to ram us also.Collision was imminent;the freighter would strikethe transport’s stern. Iyelled,“Standbyaft!”andmarked three consecutivebearingsforaspeedcheckbefore Frank’s call, “Set

below.” The two shipsstretched from quarter toquarter; Imarked a singleconstant bearing on theirmiddle, nearly deadastern, and Larry directedthe spread of fourtorpedoes with the TDCalong their dual length.The departure from ourusualfiringprocedurewasfor speed, since secondswould count in getting us

clear.The four fish left in aseeming single salvo.Small arms fire droppedastern, and larger calibershad obviously lost us inthe night. I called forJohn, Jones, and Leibold,for therewerePCs onourport bowandbeamand alarger DE about 1,000yards on our starboard

quarterwith a zero angle;Tang was far from beingout of the woods. To putthe DE astern we headedfor the PC on our portbow. The Mark 18-1torpedoes commencedhitting, four tremendousexplosions in rapidsequence,andJonescalledthe results, the freightergoing clown almostinstantlybowfirstandthe

transport hanging with a30-degreeup-angle.For some reason the PC

ahead turned left,probably to assist the laststricken ship, and Tangpulled steadily away fromthe pursuing DE, perhapscatching her with oneboiler on the line. Whenwe had opened the rangeto 4,500, she gave up the

chase, and our radartracked her back towardthe sceneof the transport.The battle stationslookoutsnowcametopsidesince diving was notimminent.WefollowedtheDE, however, for the bowof the transport stillshowedonradarandthenbecame visible throughour 7× 50s as the rangeneared 6,000 yards.

Suddenly a violentexplosion lighted theskiesfor a moment, and thenthe transport’s bowdisappearedfromsightandthe radar screen. Thedetonation set off a gunduel between the DE andother escort vessels, whoseemed to be firing atrandom, sometimes ateach other and then outinto the night. Their

confusion wasunderstandablycomplete.

As recorded in theQuartermaster’s Notebook,only ten minutes hadelapsed from the time offiring our first torpedountil the final explosionthatmarkedthesinkingofthe transport’s bow.Frankhad questioned the

multiplewitnesses to eachsinking, since too muchwas going on for any oneof us to have observedeverything. There was nodoubt that all five majorships of the convoy hadsunk.Asafurtherpracticalcheck, we took a turnaround the scene of theholocaust. Assuming thatthebest speedofanyshipwouldbe16knots,thatof

the transport, an escapingship could have traveledonly 5,300 yards till thatfinal explosion andanother 2,650 to thepresent moment fiveminutes later. Our SJ washot,andtherewasnothingon the screen except themilling escorts; but tocovera remotepossibility,wemadeagreathorseshoesweep about the scene to

widen our search in alldirections. Nothing elseappeared on the screen orin our 7 × 50s, and westeadied on north to clearthestrait.The night orderscontained our course of000,thespeed(nowdownto full), a line ofcongratulations to thetroops, and a caution to

those with the morningwatch to get some restbefore 0345. To mentionsleep would have beenmeaningless, for surelythere was no one in theship’s company who wasnot too keyedup for that.In fact, the rehash hadalreadystartedbythetimeFrank and I reached thewardroom. Mel wasextolling his torpedoes,

already a jump ahead intaking over from Hank,which was tentatively intheworks,whileJohnwastakinghimdownapegbyremarking thatBenHoganwith a driver could havebisected each ship exceptthe second and thirdtankers,andeventhoseonthesecondorthirdstrokes.Dick was listening, butwith Larry’s order it was

actually his hand on thespread knob of the anglesolver that had directed aperfect divergent spreadaccountingforthelasttwoships. Itwouldbedifficultto single out anymemberof the ship’s company thisnight,forallhadobviouslycarried out their taskswithoutmistake.We spokeof theenemy,

too,oftheapparentfailureof the escorts and thebrave attempt to retaliate.In the first instance,sending the leading patrolon a scouting missionwithout covering herstationwasanerror.Mostlikely Tang’s camouflage,which was now dulledfrom 25,000 miles at seaandat itspeak,hadmadethe penetration possible,

while the ensuingineffectiveness of theescortscouldbeattributedto the very suddenness ofthe attack. The action ofthe transport led us tobelievethatshecarriedtheconvoy commander, whoseized upon anopportunity that probablyshouldhavebeenassignedto an escort, though hiseffort had very nearly

saved the freighter. Somany times we hadobserved ships stayingtogether following aninitial attack, whenscattering would havesaved most of them.“Perhaps the constantpossibility of a wolf packhas influenced them,”John injected, and thiscertainly could be one ofthe reasons. But attacking

ashadthetransportwasinthe Japanese tradition.One thing we had clearlyproved this night: Mark18-1 torpedoes could befired astern at anysubmarinespeed.The wardroom clock

read 0350, and there wasno indication that thesession would fold in ahurry. The same was not

trueofme,buta last turntopside was in order onsuch a night. Tiny was inthe conning towersupervisingthewatch,andeverdependableHankwason the bridge. They hadjust relieved and wouldhave the watch throughour dawn dive. TheQuartermasters Notebooklayopenonthechartdesk,with its entries since the

contact covering fourpages. Our maneuversuntil in position ahead ofthe convoy had taken anhour and 20 minutes.Dropping back andtwisting to shoot requiredanothertenminutes,whileshooting and pulling clearadded ten minutes more.Next came the 40-minutehorseshoesweep,andnowa full hour’s run

northward.On topside thenight was moonless, andour wake seemed brighterthan the stars. It told ofour rush, but where werewe going in such a hurrywhenthedeeperwatersofthe East China Sea werelessthan50milesahead?“Slowtostandardspeed,

Hank. I’ll see that thenavigator has the word.”

Tang lost her excess wayquickly and settled intothequiet,easyaspectofasubmarineontheprowl.Duty Chief Hudson had

apparently taken my turntopside as an indicationthat the bull sessionsshouldclose for thenight.At least all below deckswasasquiet as thebridgeand seas topside. Nearly

two hours slipped by, andthen Chief Jones cameforwardtogetFrank.Aftertheirmorning stars, FrankwouldhaveTinyorHank,whichever was topside astheOOD,diveourshipforthe day, and not manyminutes later two blastsfollowed by a modestangletookTangunder.It would have been

Hank with the deck andnowwith the dive, for heliked the smaller, steadyangle. Not as spectacularasasteepone,butitnevertookourshipintoagallopandatleastontheaveragewas just as fast as diveswithlargeanglesandalotmore comfortable. Thebacon had been friedbeforethedivesothehullventilationwouldcarryoff

any smoke. The odorinvariably drove those onthe bridge with themorning watch into nearpains of hunger, and nowwith Tang submerged itlightlypermeatedtheboat.NoreveillewasincludedinFrank’s Plan of the Day,and it would not havebeennecessaryanyway.Justoveronehalfofour

torpedoes had been fired,andbeforeournextattackall understudies wouldhave exchanged placeswith thosemen scheduledfor new-constructionsubmarines. A drill atsome time during the dayseemed in order,specifically for the fewwho might not yet havestepped into their newroles.Frankbroughtmeup

to date onwhat had beengoingonbelowdecks;ourlast four torpedoes hadbeen fired by the partythat would control Tang’storpedoes on our nextpatrol, sometime afterChristmas.Withtheresultsof last night, John’sremarks notwithstanding,we’d leave well enoughalone. Since our eveningsseemed destined to be

busy, scheduling anafternoon movie was ourbigdecision.The day provided goodtraining of another sort,for shortly after daylightthe first air patrol passedby, and breakfast wasaccompanied by the tuneof distant echo-ranging.Frank returned to reportthat the search covered a

very broad front, whichshowedthattheenemydidnot know our location orthought that there wereseveral submarines. Wewould find out which, nodoubt, before many hourscould pass, and one scopeconcentratedon thebroadarc off our starboardquarter.Before lunch the first

thinsticks,thetopmastsofpatrols, poked above thehorizon. Larry woulddetermine their track.Having him in our ship’scompany was almost likehavingthesecondexecwehad enjoyed when MortwaswithusontheYellowSeapatrol.Larrysoonhadthe patrols crossing wellasternandheadingfortheChinacoast, andourmeal

proceeded withoutinterruption. Neither wasour afternoon moviedelayed, and we recalledearly patrol reportswherein submarines hadremainedatbattlestationsunder identicalcircumstances. Ourcomments were not inderision, for only theexperiencegainedonthosepatrols permitted Tang’s

methodsofoperation.Withtheenemyabouttoslipbelowthehorizonandthe movie going, I took aturn through the aftercompartments anddidnotattempt to conceal mypride in the men withwhom I spoke and in ourship.Thetroopsseemedtoshare my feelings, and Ifound further evidence in

themessroomonreturningforward, for Tang’s scorehad been brought up todateandunderlined.Asofthe moment, she wasundoubtedly leading theforce in ships on thebottom, and the troopsknewit.Alsopostedwasacopy of therecommendations forawards covering our lastpatrol, which I had

submitted at Pearl. Theindividuals knew, ofcourse, but others,especially our new hands,mightnot. Iglanceddownthesecondpage,wherethemen’s names were listed.Ed, Mel, and Ballingerwould receive Silver Starmedals; Gulp, Hudson, DeLapp, and Fraz wererecommended for BronzeStarmedals.Nextcamethe

Secretary of the Navy’sLetter of Commendationwith ribbon: FireControlman Brincken,Torpedoman’sMateFoster,Electrician’sMate Kanagy,Radioman Schroeder,Radioman Bergman, andfinally Motor Machinist’sMate Zofcin. Thesubsequent sheetscontaining the individualcitations were well-

thumbed,andIthoughtofFraz’srequestingthelesseraward so that anothermightreceiveaSilverStar.Frank, and probablyBallinger also, were ofcourse responsible for theposting, which not onlyadded to each man’sprestige but also providedincentive for others. Sinceawards were pegged toships on the bottom,Tang

wasveryprobably leadingothers in individualawards,too,butwewouldkeep these things withintheship’scompany.The sound screen

returned in lateafternoon,passing about the samedistance astern, andpinged its way on towardFormosa. It was a curiousmaneuver the enemy had

conducted, as if trying tosweep out the wholeFormosa Strait well intothe East China Sea, likesweeping out a barn. Thepatrols continued to lagwell behind us, however,and we surfaced near theend of evening twilightontoacalmsea.FrankandJones caught their roundof stars, the eveningroutines upwind were

completed, and then thequietended.Theheatwasstillon,firstwithnightairpatrols and then air andsurface patrols incombination, apparentlythe same surface patrolsthat had crossed eastwardduringtheday.Theywerenowonourstarboardbow,however, and we bent onturns for deeper seas toavoidwhatatleasthadthe

appearance of a trap. Itturnedout tobeageneralharassment that lasted tillnear the end of theevening watch. With theaction starting at 0030 onthis October 23, it hadbeenanexciting,long,andtiring day, but the hourstill dawn brought neededrest. We were still notready to seek out theenemy, though should he

cross our path that wouldbeanothermatter.Dick’stwoblastsat0600

tookusdownforaroutinesubmerged patrol in aposition 30 miles to thewest of our last contactwith the antisubmarineforces. It was not a likelyspot for enemy shipping,but neither had wenecessarily found the

enemy in logical places.Low and high periscopesearches lured no ships tothis side of the horizonduring the forenoonwatch,but thehourswerewellused inroutineship’sworkandamildfieldday.After lunch Frank

droppedbymycabinwiththechartinhandsothatImightdecideonourpatrol

for the night. Beforegetting down to thatbusiness, we talked aboutour patrol to date. Thisquite understandably ledto a discussion ofcommand and specificallysubmarine command, fortherewasadifference.Thesurfaceshipcommanderina task forceoperationhadto await deploymentorders and then even the

order to commence firingon joining the enemy.Operating generally withothers, his duty was tocarry out orders even iftheyseemedtobeinerror,atleastuntiltheycouldbeverified. And in battle, aconfirmation becamepractically impossible.Such an incident hadoccurred in the Battle ofGuadalcanal, when an

inadvertent cease-fire wasgivenwhileourshipswereengaged. The respitepermitted the enemy toinflict devastatingdestruction.By contrast, our actionswere guided only by thebroad directives issued inourOperationOrder,withrareexceptionssuchasourredeploymentforlifeguard

or toDavaoGulf, and theordersissuedtoDonWeissin the East China Sea.Even in our wolf packs,though better designatedasgrouppatrols,thesenioronly assigned sectors. Thefreedomtodeviseourownstrategy and employ thetactics best suited to thesituation and thesubmarine’s particularcapability carried also a

deep responsibility. Foreachattack, it approachedthe wing commander’sactionwehadwitnessedatTruk, when the bombersheaded down through theholeinthecloudsintotheflak. But we had theadvantageofbeingabletoturnbackanddoitoverifall was not goingwell, orevenofusingourweaponselsewhere when the odds

becameprohibitive.We had each requestedsubmarine duty, as haveall submariners, and bythat very request hadprobably, thoughunwittingly, markedourselvesascandidatesforthat category ofmenwhowould likely put asidehumane and humanconsiderations of an

enemy in carrying outattacks. Evaluation of myabilities had continuedduring four years ofpeacetime submarineoperations, throughqualification and thenqualificationforcommand.Frank’s qualification forcommand had comequickly, for he could bejudged in the face of theenemy. Frank and I

checked off thecommanders of leadingboats whom we knewpersonally, Slade Cutter,Dusty Dornin, Eli Reich,and the list went on. Notone of them, in ouropinion, would waver,have doubts, or let theinevitable holocaust deterhim from operating withthe judicious daring thatput the enemy on the

bottom.It was time to get onwithourbusiness, andwefirst reviewed the enemy’sactions till just beforemidnight. We hadconsidered previously thatthe patrols might bedriving us toward theminefields detailed in theJICPOAsupplementtoourOperationOrder,butIhad

discounted that, for nofield could withstand atyphoon that evenapproached the intensityof the one we hadencountered. Further, thesea, though shallow, wasmuch too deep formagnetic mines. Thepatrolling did show thatsubmarinepresencewasatleast expected along thiscentral shipping route.

Surely enemy shipswouldavoid the area of our lastattack and passage ondown the strait, and thatleft only the shallowwaters of the China coastfortheirtransit.Movetheymust, for the Leytecampaign would surelybring out forces of theImperial fleet, with theirvastsupportrequirements.

Frank drew a line fromourpresentpositiontothesouthofTurnaboutIsland,directly to the location ofour original patrol there,which still showed on thechart.Perhapswehadjustbeentooearlyonourfirstvisit.Frankreadthecoursefromthecompassroseandat my nod picked up thephone and ordered theOOD to steer 257 degrees

true.

The lookouts were in theconning tower, the ventswereclosed,andPaulhadreported Tang ready forsurfacing. A sweep withthe search scope verifiedJones’scalculatedtimeforthe midpoint of eveningtwilight, but it also

showed the top of a thinmast broad on our portbow.Thenexttruebearingwas slightlygreateras theshipdrewtotheright,andwhile Paul and Franktracked her movement, Iattended to the nightorders.Again they were brief,couching in general termswhatwemightexpectthis

night and concludingwitha caution that wasprobablyunnecessary.Thetracking continued, and Iturned back to the left-hand page where I hadlisted the sinkings of thelast convoy. Identificationhadmade a good attemptby questioning lookoutsand others who had beentopside during that flail.Afterrecordingdetailsand

narrowing the choices,they had confronted theindividuals with thecorresponding picturesfrom ONI-208J, similar topolice with mug shots. Itwas a good approach buthad proved inconclusive,and I read again theirfrank results as I hadrecordedthem:

3large 30,000 Lat.24°

tankers tons 58′N.

Long.120°31′E.

1mediumtransport

7,500tons

Lat.24°58′N.

Long.120°31′

E.

1largefreighter

7,500tons

Lat.24°58′N.

Long.120°31′E.

The patrol hadcontinued slowly acrossour track and was lost inthe night at the end of

evening twilight. Herpassage at this time wasconvenient, for otherwisewe could well haveintercepted her on thesurface. Now with the SJwarmed up, we eased upfor a sweep. The patrolwasoutat9,000yardsonour starboard bow, and afew more ranges showedher continuing slowly onher way. We had lost the

escort handily, but so hadthenavigatorlosthissharphorizon when three blastsfinallysentTangupintoaquiet night with the first-quartermoontothewest.Thebatterychargecame

first, three engines for theinitial rate, while thefourth drove us along theselected track at asatisfactory speed. We

were not rushed, for ourdestinationwas but a fewhours away even at thisspeed. With the chargenow starting at 2015, wewould regulate ouradvancesoastoarriveoffthecoastonitscompletioninaboutfourhours.TheSJappearedhot,for

Bergman continued toreport the patrol, now

back at 18,000 yards. AnearlycontactonTurnaboutwould verify our position,butJonesandFrankcameto the cigarette deckwithsextant, stopwatch, andshielded penlightnonetheless. Apparentlythe challenge of obtainingposition lines on a darkhorizonhadcaughtFrank’sfancy,too.

The ballast tanks weredry, safety and negativeflooded, and Hudsonreportedourshipreadyfordiving below. We wereready topside, but divingwould be a purelydefensive measure, forthen our only means ofattack on a night like thiswould be on broad soundbearings. But we wouldcross thatbridgewhenwe

cametoit.Ourimmediatetask was to find theenemy,preferablyaftertheengineers and electricianshad stored away a goodlysupply of juice. Thelookouts—and, as I wentbelow, thewholewatch—seemed exceptionallyintent.Within the hour, SJ

made contact at 50,000

yards on what was mostlikely a distantmountaintop giving apeskysecondpulsereturn.Ed went to the conningtower to check it out andtotryforthefirsttimehisprivate alteration to ourSJ,whichvariedthepulserate. In no more than aminute he had checkedthis contact as being real,and the navigator

confirmeditasTurnabout.The radar performanceaugeredwell forTang thisnight should the enemydaretomove,andshowhemight, for in courage theJapanesewerenotlacking.Our track joined the

China coast obliquely,withtheprevailingcurrenton our port bow. At ourlow speed, the component

toward the coast wasconsiderable and soonbrought the lesser islandswithin range of the SJ. Abit at a time the landcontours became clear astheymight in an irregularfacsimile transmission,butFrank was the navigatorand insuring that our shipwas heading for the spotwashistask.

Belowdecks,thebatteryventilation blowers hadbeen speeded up as thecharge progressed.Kanagy,emergingfromthebattery well through theoval hatch in thepassageway, extended fivefingers. Five more pointsin specific gravity wouldbring it to the finishingrate. All was goingaccording to plan, and I

followed my owninstructions by trying togetsomerest.Only the report of

reaching the finishing ratedisturbed the followinghour. The final gravity ofeach pilot cell wasgratifying.Itwasthesameas that which we hadreached on ourshakedown. I thought of

the contrast to Wahoo’sbatteryonherfifthpatrol,whenwewere sent to theKurils and down to themainislandsoftheEmpirewith only half of ourbattery capacityremaining.Itmadefortautpatrolling, as did the lowfog bank slowlysurrounding us in the SeaofOkhotskthatturnedouttobefloeice.Arushinthe

passageway brought mebacktothepresent.“We’ve got another

convoy, Captain, rangethirty-five thousand, andthe navigator says there’snohurry.”The messenger went

forwardasbefore,and forthe first time my footslipped into its own sandshoe. Maneuvering bells

were followed by a phonecall from Frank to reportcoming to course 260 andgoingaheadstandard.Thechangewouldputourshipwellaheadontheenemy’sprojected track. He hadnot only taken the correctaction but knewwhere toreach me while I had mycupofcoffee.In the conning tower,

the chart showed our DRpositions marked outahead at ten-minuteintervals and the enemy’strack extending from thenorthwest towardTurnabout Island. Theconvoy’s present positionlay near the inscribedrouting from Foochow tothis turning point and asclosetothesmallerislandsas any prudent navigation

wouldpermit.Gunner’s Mate Rector

wasmanningtheSJduringhis normal rotation ofbilletswithinthefour-hourwatch. The very exactspacingof thedistantpipshad been the key to hisdifferentiating them fromthe numerous islands.Consequently, we wouldhave ample time to plan

an approach to the bestpossible scene for attack,and that was the thanksthe Japanese captainswould receive for theirexcellentstation-keeping.It was now only 2242

and we would close therange for an expanded SJviewbefore even guessingat the composition of theenemy convoy, but three

things we already knew:The ships were enemy,they were coming ourway,andtherewerelotsofthem. For the momentthere might be nothingrequired that our sectiontracking could not handleadequately,anditwastooearly to call all the troopsto battle stations. But aconvoy such as nowappeared on the radar

screen deserved the best,andindividualmembersofthebattlestationstrackingpartywerecalledquietly.Thetimewas2300,anda third engine added itshorses in acceleratingTang’s movement to theconvoy’sprojectedtrack.Itwasamovetocountertheremote possibility of theenemy’sturningshoreward

after rounding the islandto hole up in protectedshallowwaters during theremainderofthenightandthentoproceedsouthwardinshore of the coastalislandsduringdaylight.Our tracks converged,

reducingtherangesteadilyuntilCaverlyandBergmanwere able to make theirreportsconsistentlyon the

same ship rather than thegroup. With the moreaccurate information,tracking had arrived at adefinite convoy speed of12 knots. It was anincrease of 2 knots overthe earlier estimate butwould not appreciablyaffect our approach sincethe enemy was still tenmilesaway.

Of greater importancethan the enemy’s correctspeed was the sighting ofthefirstnavigationalaid,adimmedocculting lightonour port bow. My firstinclination had been topass the light off as theriding light of a sampan;butwithbetterheightandperhaps better eyes, thelookoutshadspottedwhatit was, and they deserved

congratulations. Jonescalled the periods ofcontinuous light and theshorterperiodsofdarknessto the conning tower forpossibleidentification.Ithadnotseemedlikely

that the light’scharacteristicswould haveremained unchanged sincethe start of the war, butmoments later Frank

identifieditasthelightonOksu Island, to thesouthwestofTurnabout. Ithadobviouslybeenturnedontofacilitatethepassageof the convoy, and Idroppedbelowtoseewhatadvantage this knowledgemightaffordus.Frankwasa jump ahead, alreadyhavingdrawn the enemy’strack past the island andspun in his favorite circle

as he had northeast ofPakusa Point. There, offthe island, Tang wouldattack.The approach wasdeveloping well, witheverythingfallinginplace,and I paused for a finalglance at the SJ beforereturning to the bridge.The A-scope was on andCaverly trained left,

bringing the reflector onthe bearing of the enemy.A veritable forest of smalland tall dancing pipsspranguptotherightandleft of the range step.Caverlytwistedthehandleontheseparatecylindricalswitch to bring thepresentation to the PPI-scope.Strungout ina linewere 14 large blops,presumed to be major

ships,and12lesserpipstoport and starboard of thecolumn. These wereundoubtedly escorts, andin addition, a singledetached larger pip toshoreward could well bethe ship carrying theconvoycommander.In total, itwasanarray

such as we had not seensinceTaskForce58closed

Truk,andthoughthiswasnot a warship formation,at least a bit of theImperial fleet might havetrouble operating withoutthe supplies this convoycould be carrying. For amoment I regretted thefour torpedoes we hadfired in sinking the firsttwo ships. They wereEmpire-bound,andthoughtheir loss might cause

sometighteningofbeltsoruse of substitutematerialsin war production, nonation is brought to itsknees solely byinterdicting the materialsflowingtoitsshores.Butour taskwasahead,

on our starboard hand tobe exact, and if Caverly’sSJ presentation wasplanned formybenefit by

the complete fire controlparty,whichseemedlikelysincethesteersman’shandwas poised on the generalalarm, it had the desiredeffect.InoddedtoSeamanVaughn on thewheel andhishandswungdown.TheBells of St. Mary’s rangout,andourbattlestationswouldbemannedtoattackthe greatest concentrationof enemy ships Tang had

yetjoined.The enemy was nowrounding thenortheast tipofTurnabouttoseawardofthe outer island, and weslowed to steeragewayuntil the convoy hadsettled on its new course.It quickly became evidentthatthemaneuverentailedmore than the anticipatedturn, for SJ reported the

smaller pips appearing toseaward of the maincolumn. It could be adefensive move while theconvoy rounded the nexttwo promontories of theisland; but the finaldisposition, with theapparent flagship nowoutahead to port, at leastconfirmed the convoycommander’s intention ofproceeding southwest

close to or inside the ten-fathom curve. His choicewould now make littledifference,forTangwasinposition to counter anymove.The range seemed toclose slowly, though theconvoy’s 12 knots wasbringing it 400 yardscloser every minute, evena littlemore counting our

steerageway. We searchedthe general bearing of theconvoywith our 7× 50sand finally had the fuzzyshapes of the leadingships, which hadheretoforeblendedinwiththeisland.Frankcalledupthetimeofsighting,2347,and the current radarrangeontheflagship,nowdown to 8,700 yards. Ourattack could come in 20

minutes shouldwe let theenemy come to us, onehalfofthatifweclosedatthe 12-knot maximumfiring speed for bow shotswith these electrictorpedoes.Battle stations had beenmannedsincefiveminutesafter the alarm, and nowthe decision concerningthe attack was imminent.

For the moment, I onlyordered all tubes madeready for firing; we werein the driver’s seat, butfour engines went on thelineandtemporaryloadtopreclude any unwantedblotches of smoke at thecomingshorterranges.Wewaited as the shadowstook shape and slowlybecame definedsilhouettes. The only

sound was the crisp“Mark!” for each TBTbearing on the flagship asshedreweversoslowlytotheleft.I wondered about the

enemy formationandwhythe commander hadelected to string his shipsout insucha longcolumnwhen he could place dualscreens about a compact

formation. Perhaps theenemy’sexperienceduringour last attack was theanswer, and he mightanticipate that now onlyan attack on one shipwould be possible. For anon-submariner, histhinking would be logicalsinceallexcepttheleadingand trailing vessels couldhave bow, beam, andquarter escorts. They did

pose a problem, but notone that wasinsurmountable.These considerationswere concurrent withcontinuous observation ofthe enemy’s van, but thenthe angles on the leadingships began to open,revealing a two-stacktransportand,immediatelyfollowing, ships with

silhouettes resemblingraised floating dry docks.Further identification wasunnecessary; our prioritynowwastoinsurethatourtorpedoes hit before theenemy became aware ofus.“All ahead standard”

ended our brief period ofimitating a trawler, andWelch steadied on course

330, the bearing thatwould take Tang closeastern of the flagship. Itwould not be our finalcourse, forwewould passkeeping our bow on herstern, as we had done inthe East China Sea, andwithoutaninnerscreentointerfere, the maneuvershould succeed. Joneshadhis 7 × 50s on theflagship as did I, while

Boats kept track of theleading escort tostarboard. It was like oldtimes, up to a point, andthencameJones’swhisper,still keeping his glassesgluedontheflagship.“Her angle issharpening,Captain.”Untilour lastattack,wehad considered itaxiomatic that a

merchantmanturnedawayon sighting a submarineand an escort turnedtowards. One half of ouraxiomhadbeenblastedbythat charging transport,andInowcalledforquickSJrangesonthebearingofthe flagship, for neitherJones nor I could be surewhichwayshehadturned.The passing secondsseemed like minutes, but

Frank had guessed theurgency.“Range constant attwenty-sixfifty,Captain.”The flagship had forsome reason turnedtoward the main column,and we breathed moreeasily for the moment,especially since the waypromised to become clearfor a slice directly toward

the transport. Anycomplacence was short-lived, for two DEs pulledout of the column on ourstarboardhandandmovedtoward the main body,then paralleled it in anopposite direction firingbursts of antiaircrafttracersintotheair.As far as any secrecy

wasconcerned,thejigwas

up, made further evidentwhen the flagshipcommenced signaling tothe ships in the longcolumn. She used theequivalent of a 36- or 48-inch searchlight, however,illuminating the shipsdowntheline.ThusJones,Boats, and I were able topick out the prospectivetargets for our bow tubes.The ship we were

approaching was a three-deck, two-stack transport;the next was a two-deckone-stacker, followed by alarge, modern tanker. Alldeck spaces were piledhighwithenormouscrates,accountingforthefloatingdrydocksilhouettes.Having our presencediscovered was no greatsurprise,fortheAPR-1had

been saturated with radartransmissions since shortlyafter the initial contact.But it had been our hopethat the enemy’s radarscreens were as saturatedasourown,andthatTang,in the middle of it all,would reflect just onemore indistinguishablepip.With the searchlight

display, we had goneahead full to bring on theattack while the path toourtargetsremainedclear,and now came Frank’swelcome advice to slowand come to course 300for firing on a 70 porttrackatthetwo-stacker.Itrequired only thesatisfying order, “Make itso.”

Equally satisfying werethe range of 1,650 andthena fewmoments later,“Ten degrees to go,Captain. The outer doorsareopenforward.”I marked three well-spaced bearings betweenthe transport’s stacks,where all previousbearings had been taken.The time was 0005 on

October25.“It all checks below,

speed twelve, rangefourteen hundred, coursetwo two five. Any time,Captain.” Frank’s reportwas calm, as if he werereading off the footballscores from the pressnews.Buthecouldnotseenor probably hear thegunfire now commencing

onourstarboardhand.“Constant bearing—mark!” The reticle wasagain between the stacks,and I waited for thetransport’s mainmast tocome into the field of thestationary binoculars. Itmoved quickly into view,twice the thickness of thevertical wire, and theysuddenlybecameone.

“Fire!”The first torpedoleftwith the characteristicshudder, but only a slightsemblance of the whinereached thebridge. Itwasenough to assure us thatthisMark 18-1was on itsway,andfivesecondslaterthesecondtorpedospedtohitunderherforemast.“Shift targets. Bearing—mark!”

Tang was running thegauntlet between the twocolumns, and as of themoment the enemy stilldid not know where. Thesolution to bringing ourshipoutinonepiecelayintorpedo hits, for theywould physically andmentally disrupt theenemy’scounterattack.“Setbelow,rangeeleven

hundred.” Frank’s reportcameupinseconds.“Constant bearing—mark!” The wire was onthe midships stack of thesecond transport,with themainmast already cominginto the field. This timeDick’s “Set!” was almostinstantaneous. Themainmast touched thewire.

“Fire!” I could visualizeFrank’s palm hitting thefiringplungerandthenfelttheslightshakeforwardaswhen our bow hit a crosssea; the third torpedowasonitswaytohitunderthepoint of aim. The fourthtorpedo went to herforemast,andweturnedtothe business of the thirdshipincolumn,thetanker.

“Rangeninehundred,allset below.” Frank’s callcame in quick response totheinitialbearing.Shewasa lumbering shipwithheradded deck cargo, andnow seen in her true sizeat one-half the formersighting range, she wasworthyofallouravailableforward torpedoes. We’dmake all two of themcount.

“Constant bearing—mark!” The wire layamidships,waiting forherstack to come on. Theexplosion of the torpedowould flood her engineand fireroom spaces, theonly substantial buoyancyofaloadedoiler.“Set!”camequickly.Hersquat stack lumbered intothefieldrighttothesteady

wire.“Fire!”Ourfifthtorpedo

wasonitsown,astreakofphosphorescence showingthat its initial coursewould lead the tankerproperly.Thesixthelectricfish went to her midshipsto break the ship’s backandsetherafire.“Right twenty degrees

rudder. Frank, steady us

on the reciprocal of theconvoy’s course and getme the range abeam toport.” The reply was acheery “Aye, aye, sir.” Notorpedoes had yet hit, forthough con had called 73secondsasthetimeforourfirst torpedo to completeits 1,100-yard run, onlynow came the warning,“Fivesecondstogo!”

Therewere other thingson our minds topside. Aholocaust of antiaircraftandhorizontalgunfirewasin progress about athousand yards ahead. Amedium freighter waspassingsome500yardsonour port hand; we wouldskip her for the next twoships, and I ordered,“Right full rudder,” topointTang’s stern at their

track. The order wassmothered by the firstdetonation, but our stern,pickingup a fast swing toport,toldthatconhadtheword.The detonations

continued, like a slow-motionstringofmonstrousfirecrackers.Allofthefiveremaining torpedoes hit,apparently as aimed, and

Tang had a holocaust oneither beam. Frankcorrected my rangeestimate to 600 yards andreported the outer doorsopen aft; he forgotnothing. With such atorpedo run on near 90-degree tracks, verifyingbearings wereunnecessary, and neitherwas there time, for salvosfrom the escorts, perhaps

by chance,were splashinguncomfortablyclose.“Constant bearing—mark!” And the fourthtarget,anothertanker,wascrossing the field ofmy 7×50s.“Set!”camefrombelow.Her big stackwas comingon as she unhesitatinglyfollowed the freighter wehad passed up, probably

figuring that the attackwas confined to the firstthree ships. Her stacktouchedthewire.“Fire!” A single electrictorpedo whined on itsway, the whole task ofsinkingtheshipdependingon its 500 pounds oftorpex.Therunwouldtake40 seconds, and topreclude the detonations

serving as a warning, Iswung the TBTimmediatelytothebowofthe next ship, anothertransport, or passengerfreighter with longsuperstructure.“Constant bearing—

mark!” Her foremast wasinthefield,comingon.“Set!”“Fire!” came instantly,

and I left the TBT steadywhile marking anotherconstant bearing to thusspeedupthe firing. Ithadtheoppositeeffect,causingsome confusion until Icalled,“Thisistohitunderthemainmast.”“Set!” came in time. I

mentallykickedmyself forhaving changed theroutine of our firing

sequence at such a time,but coming into mybinoculars’ field from theright was the bow of alargeDEorperhapsafull-fledgeddestroyer.Sheverynearlytookmymindawayfrom the transport’smainmast, now about toreachthewire.“Fire!” and “All ahead

flank!” nearly coincided,

asdidthestreakofourlastafter torpedo and the boilof our screws. There wasbutonepriority,togetthehell out of here, and thistime I blessed the greatblotch of smoke from ourfourdiesels,foritreceivedawell-placed large-calibersalvo from the DE. Otherescorts now directed theirfire our way, and myinquiry revealed that

Frank was pleading withCulp for more turns.Successive blotches ofsmoketoldofthenatureofFrank’s request; I couldalmosthearthewords,“Tohellwiththeoverloadandsmoke,pouronthecoal!”Only seconds hadpassed, but never hadsmoke taken a tougherbeating from large- and

small-caliberfire.Weweregrateful but not laughing,for the DE was stillplowing toward us. Thesingle torpedo had hithome in the tanker, andthefirechangedthewholearea to an eveningtwilight. I consideredclearing the bridge sincewe now had no aftertorpedoes to shoot. Thedecision was made

unnecessary by twotremendous explosionsastern,oneinthetransportand the other completelyobliteratingtheDE.A path to seaward was

clear if theenemydidnotilluminate, andwe slowedto full power to insureleaving no further smoketomarkour route.Behindusfourshipsoftheconvoy

had sunk, a fifth, the lasttransport or passengerfreighter, was at leaststopped,andeitherenemygunfire or our last aftertorpedo had finished offthe DE. The utter finalityof the explosion suggestedour torpedo, but a goodlarge-caliber hit into hermagazinecouldhavedonethe same. Frankly, wewere so relieved by the

DE’s demise that sharingor even giving the enemyfullcreditseemedtheleastwecoulddo.Now5,000yardsastern,

occasionallowfiresontheseawerestillaccompaniedby sporadic gunfire. HankandMel,withtheforwardgang,wouldbepullingourlast two torpedoes, whichhadbeenhurriedly loaded

during the melee. Therewere batteries to beventilated and otherroutines to perform thathad been bypassed duringour battle, and asinsurance against surprisewithtwotonsoftorpedoesloose, we doubled ourdistancetoseaward.TheSJwasstillhotandagain useful now that the

remainder of the convoyhad cleared to thesouthwest.Trackingaswewithdrew, Bergman keptthe transport spotted andthat was all of interest tous except, in a somewhatdifferent way, the twoescorts that were slowlymaneuvering just toseaward of her.With luckshe would sink in duecourse, but with the

probability of one hitforward, this couldnot beacertainty.Therewerenotorpedoes

readyforimmediatefiring,andwestoodeasyatbattlestationssoafewmenatatime could get coffee andotherwiserelaxfromatautevening.Forcertain, therewas plenty to talk about,and the 30 minutes

required for checking andreloading each of the lasttorpedoes passed quickly.The bearing of thetransport had remainedduewestaswewereeach,of course, affected by thesame current, and on thenavigator’srecommendation Welchbrought our bow to 270degreestrue.

It was 0125 on thismorning of October 25,and turns for two-enginespeed moved Tang brisklytoward the enemy. Withradar ranges on thetransport and identifiedpromontories, plot nowhad the ship located fourmiles northeast of OksuIsland. The deeper waterwas welcome, for escortswilling, we could attack

from any quarter. Whenthe range had closed to5,000 yards, two moredieselssharedtheload,allquietly rumbling andready for instant fullpower. We watched thepatrolling of the twoescorts,closetoDEinsize,astheyeffectivelycoveredan arc around thetransport’s seawardexposure but avoided a

smaller sector toward thecoast.Ithadbeeneffectiveuntil the current had setthem out to sea, but nowtheir patrolling patternposed no problem. Wewithdrewathousandyardsand commenced the nine-mile run around thesemicircle. The time was0140.When we were further

clear of the escorts, thefour engines moved Tangon up to 18 knots, andwithin the half hour wehad slowed, turningtoward the enemy’s portbeam.Allwasquietaswemoved in at two-thirds,the speed we used in aharbor. At 4,000 yards allhandswere calledback totheir battle stations andthe outer doors were

opened on tubes 3 and 4.At 3,000 yardswe slowedto steerageway andsearched her over for anytelltale sign that she wassinking.Shewasdark,andwe could discern no signof life, but that did notmean that frantic repairswere not going on belowdecks;wehadbeeninthatfixonourfirstpatrol!

Wekickedaheadattwo-thirds again, slowing tosteerageway whenBergman,ontheSJ,called1,500 yards. She wasdefinitely lower in thewater than weremembered upon firing,but that was a fleetingglimpse at best. I thoughtof a similar incident inWahoo,thoughindaylight,whenatorpedoed,stopped

ship suddenly got way onand left us. What was Isavingthesetwotorpedoesfor! If that ship wasactually sinking, either ofthe escorts could havetowedher aground and atleastsavedhercargo!Tang slidquietly toward

theenemyat6knots,withnot a ripple coming fromher hull or props. The

transport lay athwart theprojected track, as thoughshe had been positionedwithaTsquareonawar-game board. There wouldbe no ship movementsinvolvedintheattack,andneitherwouldtherebeanyadvance or transfer of thetorpedoes; the gyros needonly maintain straightcourses. I bisected Tang’sbullnose with the reticle,

then elevated thebinoculars to the horizon,askingforaTBTcheck.“Right on at zero,”Frank replied. The 7 ×50swould not be touchedagainuntilafterthefiring,andneitherwouldtheTDCand its angle solver berequired to set the gyroangles;theywerezeroandwould remain zero.Tang’s

true alignment underWelch’s experienced hand,myquick“Fire!”whenthewire steadied on, and thenear simultaneousmovementofFrank’spalmagainst the firing plungerwould constitute our totalfire control. Itwould splita degree, and even theMark 18-1s could usenothingmoreaccurate.

The range was 1,100yards as we continuedtoward the enemy. I hadconned to thehalfdegree,and now seldom did thewire even wander off thepoint of aim, thetransport’s mainmast. Shehad been hit forward, ofthiswewere sure,but thecoming detonation wouldflood vital spaces aft andsendheronthewaytothe

bottom.Threeknotsis100yardsaminute,andatourspeedarangeof900yardswasbutoneminuteaway.Beforetheapproach,Ihadinformed Frank that wewouldfirefromjustinsidea thousand, and the firingpoint was now but 50yardsahead.“Stand by below!”

alertedallhands.Thetime

was0230.“Readybelow,Captain,”Frank replied. It merelysignified that nothing hadtaken place to change ourplan. The wire lay just ahair tostarboardandthensteadied on, like the wireinahunter’sscope.“Fire!”The luminous wakestreaked out dead ahead.

At 900 yards the torpedowould hit in just oneminute.Welchwasalreadybringing the lubber’s linetotheleft,andIhadbuttocall when the reticlereached the transport’sforemast. The wiresteadied as if Tang hadeyes,andintruthshedid.“Stand by below!”brought Frank’s expected

reply.“Fire!”The torpedo, our very

last, broached in aphosphorescent froth onlyyardsaheadofTang’sbow,turned sharply left, andcommenced porpoising inanarcoffourportbow.“All ahead emergency!

Right full rudder!”initiated a fishtail

maneuver in a desperateattempt to move our shipoutside of the speedingtorpedo’s turning circle.On our bow, and nowcoming abeam, thetorpedo continued toporpoiseasitheeledintheturn, causing the jammedvertical rudder to becomemomentarilyhorizontal.Inless than ten seconds ithad reached its maximum

distance abeam, about 20yards. It was now comingin.Wehadonlysecondstogetoutofitsway.“Left full rudder!” to

swing our stern clear ofthe warhead offered ouronlychance.Theluminouswakefromourscrews,theblack exhaust from fouroverloaded diesels, eachtold that our engineers

were doing theirdamnedest. The problemwasakintomovingashiplongerthanafootballfieldand proceeding at harborspeed clear of a suddenlycareening speedboat. Itwouldbeclose.The torpedo hit abreast

the after torpedo room,close to the maneuveringroom bulkhead. The

detonation wasdevastating, our sterngoing under before thetopside watch couldrecover. One glance afttold me that there wouldbe insufficient time toclearthebridge.Myorder,“Close the hatch,” wasautomatic, and my heartwent out to those belowand to the young mentopside who must now

facethesea.Our ship sank by thesterninseconds,thewayapendulum might swingdown in a viscous liquid.Theseasrolledinfromaft,washing us from thebridge and shears, and ofsmallconsolationnowwasthe detonation of our 23dtorpedo as it hit home inthetransport.

Tang’s bow hung at asharp angle above thesurface, moving about inthecurrentasdoesabuoyinaseaway.Sheappearedto be struggling like agreat wounded animal, aleviathan, as indeed shewas. I foundmyself orallycheering encouragementand striking outimpulsively to reach her.Closingagainstthecurrent

was painfully slow andinterrupted momentarilybyadepth-chargingpatrol.Now close ahead, Tang’sbow suddenly plunged ondown to Davy Jones’slocker,andthelonelyseasseemed to share in mytotalgrief.

Though the firstparagraphs will beredundant, the brief,official“ReportoftheLossoftheU.S.S.Tang(SS306)”is recorded below exactlyas I penned it at the U.S.Naval Hospital in Aiea,Oahu, in late September,1945.Itformedtheclosing

pages of the “Report ofWar Patrol Number Five,”andbasedonfirstevidenceis considered the mostaccurateaccount.

This report is compiledfrommyobservationandthestones of the eight othersurvivorsasrelatedtomeatthe first opportunity aftercapture.

The U.S.S. Tang took onboard the twenty-fourMark18Mod1electric torpedoesprepared for the U.S.S.TAMBOR who was beingdelayed. All torpedopersonnel in the Tang hadattended electric torpedoschoolanditisassuredthesetorpedoes were properlyroutinedwhileonstation.Infact, theperformanceof thefirst twenty-three in all

running perfectly, withtwenty-two hits, attests tothis.The last two torpedoeswere loaded in tubes threeand four during the finalstern tube attack. Afterpulling clear of the enemyescorts opportunity wasavailable to spend an hourchecking these torpedoesbefore closing the enemy to

sink a cripple. They werepartiallywithdrawnfromthetubes, batteries ventilated,gyro pots inspected andsteeringmechanismobservedtobeoperatingfreely.With the submarine speed

checkingatsixknotsandtheship conned for zero gyro,thetwenty-thirdtorpedowasfired. When itsphosphorescent wake was

observed heading for itspoint of aimon the stoppedtransport, the last torpedowas fired from tube numberfour. This torpedo curvedsharplytotheleft,broachingduring the first part of itsturn and then porpoisingduring the remainder.Emergency speedwas calledfor and answeredimmediatelyonfiring,andafishtail maneuver partially

completed in an attempt toget clear of the torpedo’sturning circle. This resultedonly in the torpedo strikingthe stern abreast the aftertorpedo room instead ofamidships.The explosion was veryviolent, whipping the boat,breaking H. P. air lines,lifting deck plates, etc.Numerous personnel as far

forwardasthecontrolroomreceived broken limbs andother injuries. Theimmediate result to the shipwas to flood the after threecompartments together withnumbersixandsevenballasttanks.Noone escaped fromthese compartments andeven the forward engineroom was half floodedbefore the after door couldbesecured.

The ship, with no normalpositive buoyancy aft andwith three after floodedcompartments, went downinstantly by the stern. Withpersonnel in the conningtower and on the bridgefalling aft due to the angle,therewasinsufficienttimetocarry out the order to closethehatch.Personnel in the control

room succeeded in closingthe conning tower lowerhatch, but it had beenjimmiedintheexplosionandleaked badly. They thenleveled the boat of byflooding number two mainballast tank (opening thevent manually) andproceeded to the forwardtorpedo room carrying theinjuredinblankets.

When the survivors fromthe forward engine roomand after batterycompartments reached themessroom,theyfoundwateralready above the eye-portin the door to the controlroom. On testing thebulkhead flappers in theventilationpipingtheyfoundthe water not yet at thisheight. They thereforeopened the door, letting the

water race through, thenproceededon to the torpedoroom. This made a total ofaboutthirtymentoreachanescapeposition.During this timeall secret

andconfidentialpublicationswere destroyed first byburninginthecontrolroom,and then in the forwardbattery compartment as thecontrol room flooded. This

latter seems unfortunatesince a great deal of smokeentered the forward torpedoroom.Escaping was delayed bythe presence of Japanesepatrols which ran close bydropping occasional depthcharges. This is unfortunatefor an electrical fire in theforward battery wasbecoming severe.

Commencing at about sixo’clock, four parties left theship,butonlywithdifficultyas the pressure at onehundred and eighty feetmade numerous returns tothe torpedo room necessarytoreviveprostratemen.At the time the last party

escaped,theforwardbatteryfire had reached suchintensity that the paint on

the forward torpedo roomafterbulkheadwasscorchingand running down.Considerable pressure hadbuilt up in the forwardbatterymakingitdifficulttosecure the after torpedoroom door sufficiently tighttopreventacridsmokefromseeping by the gasket. It isfeltthatthisgasketblewout,eitherdueto thepressureoran ensuing battery

explosion, and that theremaining personnel wereasphyxiated.Of the thirteen men who

escaped, five were able toclingtothebuoyuntilpickedup.Threeothersreachedthesurface, but were unable tohang on or breathe andfloated off and drowned.Theotherfivewerenotseenafterleavingthetrunk.

Of the nine officers andmen on the bridge, threewere able to swimthroughout the night anduntil picked up eight hourslater. One officer escapedfrom the flooded conningtower and remained afloatuntilrescuedwiththeaidofhis trousers converted to alifebelt.The Destroyer Escort

which picked up all ninesurvivors was one of fourwhich were rescuingJapanese troops andpersonnel.Whenwerealizedthat our clubbings andkickings were beingadministered by the burned,mutilated survivors of ourown handiwork, we foundwe could take it with lessprejudice.

The survivors from theforward torpedo roomwere motor machinist’smates Jesse Dasilva andClaytonDecker,Lieutenant(jg) Hank Flanagan, andtorpedomans mates PeteNarowanski and HayesTrukke. All of them usedMomsen lungs, and theyare the only Americansever to have escaped ontheir own from a sunken

submarine and to havelived. After pulling thesemenintothelifeboatfromaJapaneseescortvessel,P-34, the oarsmen cut thelife ring free from theascending line,whichwasstill attached to oursubmarine, and took thering aboard as a souvenir.It was from the YamaokaMaru and so may havespurred somewonderment

within Japaneseintelligence.Escaping from theflooded conning towerafter it was already about50 feet under water andselflessly bringing ashipmate on toward thesurface was LieutenantLarrySavadkin.Hedidnotsee the shipmate after hereached the surface, but

Larry resourcefully tied aknotinthebottomofeachtrouser leg and, swingingthem above the sea,trapped air and used theinverted trousers as waterwings, repeating theprocedure as necessarywhentheairslowlyleakedout.Besidesme,theotherssweptfromthebridgewhowere able to swim untilpicked up by the same

pulling boat were ChiefBoatswain’s Mate WilliamLeibold and First ClassRadio Technician FloydCaverly.We were all taken

aboardP-34andknowthetime was exactly 1030since Caverly, withoutthinking, leaned down toread a Japanese pettyofficer’s wristwatch and

received his first “knucklesandwich.” He has neverforgottenthetime.Thoughbound on deck, we wereable to see to port. Ourhopes rose with eachsucceeding rescue, butthey were all survivorsfromtheJapaneseships.Atduskwewerestuffedinto a privy-sizeddeckhouse fireroom used

to heat the typicalJapanesebath,andthoughonlytwocouldflakeoutata time, it was a welcomechange fromourplightondeck. Here we exchangedaccounts of the tragedy,and Narowanski’sstatement verified theshort intervalbetween thefiring of our 24th torpedoand the explosion thatsank our ship: “I finished

ventingthetube,aboutsixseconds,thensteppedfrombetween them, hit mypalm with my fist saying,‘Hotdog,coursezeroninezero, head her for theGolden Gate!’ and I wasflatonthedeck.”The P-34 had speeded

up and by a circuitousroute reached Takao,Formosa, the following

evening. Our receptionincluded threats ofbeheading, as expected,but few more lumps. Farworse were themosquitoes, describedaccuratelyinTerry’sGuide,who had a field day sinceour wrists were tied torings set high in the jailwalls. The morningpublicity parade ratherbackfired. Trukke had

somehowmanagedtokeeplong blond hair, but nowall of the slickum hadwashedaway,andhishairbounded down all aroundto the level of his mouth,giving him the exactappearanceofHairlessJoein Al Capp’s comic strip.Theonlookerspointedandlaughed till the wholeaffairtookon—forthem—the nature of a circus

parade.Wewere issued tattered

whites before going northby train, along the samevalley we had observedfrom sea. But the Cook’stour ended in a latemedieval Spanish jail intheportcityofKiirun,andin our predicament wewere truly taken back tothe dark ages: The cells

had great wooden barscomplete with scuttle forfood, a slit high on thewall for light,andanotherslitinthedecktoserveasa head. At dusk, to oursurprise, generous balls ofhot rice and fish wrappedincanehuskswerepushedthrough the scuttles foreachofus.Withinanhoureveryone received ablanket, and after kindly

dubbing our prison theKiirun Clink, we got ourfirst shut-eye since thetragedy.Sometime before dawn,the guard at the KiirunClinkbroughtuspopsicles,saying simply, “I am aChristian.” Within hourswewereenroutetoJapanaboardtwodestroyersandacruiser.TheprotocolasI

boarded one of thedestroyers was exact andcomplete with side boys.The captain, a lieutenantcommander of my age,escorted me to his cabin,sayingthathewouldbeonthebridgemostofthetimebutwouldbedown to seemeonoccasion.Anarmedguardwasstationedatthedoor open onto the maindeck,andthoughmyview

was limited, watchingship’s drills and activitiesmade the time passquickly. The gun crewswere exceptional, theirspeed telling why we hadsufferedsetbacksearlierinthewar.I had been provided

shoes, warm clothes, andmeals on time, but thecaptain’s firstvisitdidnot

comeuntil afterdark.Thediscussions that followedranged from naval tacticsto literature. He correctlydid not believe that abattleship confrontationwasnowpossiblebutthenchanged the subject,asking, “How is it,Commander, that youspeak no Japanese butseem to understand myEnglish?” I answered

truthfully thatwhen Iwasat the Naval Academy,Japaneselanguagewasnottaught, but that had sincechanged. The captainturned his palms up andsaid with feeling, “Howcould we expect tounderstand each other’sproblems when you madenoattempttolearnevenaword of our language?”When discussing literature

—andIwishedIhadbeenbetterread—hereachedtohis bookshelf and broughtdown a copy ofGonewiththe Wind, saying, “Yourecognize Mitchell’s Wentwith the Breeze,” andexpressed theopinion thatif most influential adultshad read this book, ournations might have foundasolution to theproblemsand avoided this war. I

could not disagree, butwhen he returned to hisbridge, my thoughtsreturnedtotorpedoes.The question thatimmediately arose waswhy submarine torpedoeswere not fitted with anti-circular run devices, arelatively simple additionto send them into a diveshouldtheyturnbeyonda

specific limit. Erratic andeven circular runs, thoughrare, did occur inpeacetime torpedoexercises. In fact inwartime,thenCommanderNesmith, V.C., had acircular run in the harborof Constantinople back in1915, but his submarinewas submerged. Perhapsthat was the answer. Asubmarine at periscope

depth was well below therunningdepthoftorpedoesset to hit a surface ship,and submarine surfaceoperationsastheyevolvedfor certain circumstancesduringthewarwithJapancould not have beenenvisaged.Still, in Pruitt the Mark8s and in Argonaut theMark15s,whichwerealso

used by destroyers, hadanti-circular run devices.And then I remembered:Early in the period ofLimited Emergency, somemembers of ComSubPac’sstaff, after witnessing ademonstrationofdestroyerantisubmarine proficiencyat the sound school, wereconvinced that once asubmarinewas detected itwouldhavegreatdifficulty

in escaping. Thesubmarine base wastherefore directed toprovide the boats withrudder clamps that couldbeusedtomaketorpedoescircle as defensiveweapons againstdestroyers that might becamped overhead. InArgonaut we hadconsidered this tobe silly,andtheywouldn’tworkon

our torpedoes with theiranti-circular run devicesanyway. But the staffobtained permission fromtheBureauofOrdnancetodeactivate the anticircularrun devices, thus doingaway with this safetymeasure as a requirementinsubmarinetorpedoes.(Tang was not alone insuch a disaster, for after

repatriationGunner’sMateC.W.Kuykendall,thelonesurvivor of Tullibee,confirmed her loss to acircularrun.ShehadbeentothenortheastofTangatPalau. Given our totalsubmarine losses, anothertwo may have had thesame fate, quite possiblyincluding Wahoo, for onher last patrol she carriedMark 18-1s with their

lethalturningcircle.)As the destroyerapproached Kobe, Ireturned thewarmclothesand shoes, assured by thecaptain that we would beissued replacementsashore.Onthankinghim,Iasked why our treatmenton the P-34 had been sorough and in contrast tothecourtesieshisshiphad

extended. “That ship andthe escort force are not apartoftheImperialNavy,”heansweredashesawmeovertheside.Itwasadrearyday,andwe were thoroughlysoakedandchilledbyrainandsleetaswemarchedtothe naval training station.Inanotherhour,atallrearadmiral looked us over,

stopping in front of ChiefLeibold,whose teethwerechattering with the cold.“Scared,” he said, andwhenBoats replied that itwas the cold and tried toaskforclothes,theadmirallooked him up and downandsaid,“Ofcourseyou’recold,stupid,noshoes.”That finished the

inspection, and we were

offforYokohamabytrain.The countrysidemayhavebeen beautiful, but thefast, loaded trains, thehydroelectric lines comingdown out of themountains, and thebuzzing industry weredepressing to us indeed.ThiswasparticularlysoatNagoya, where wedisembarked for a time. Itwasdark,butthefactories

wereboominglikeKaiser’sshipyards, with the bluishlightofarc-weldingspreadoutthroughthecity.Oncebefore I had beendiscouraged,afterTarawa,when a stalemate in thePacific had seemed a realpossibility. And here IknewthatJapan,withherroutes to China quitedefensible, could bedefeatedonlybyinvasion.

From Yokohama, anhour by bus winding upinto the hills brought usbefore dawn to the secretnavalintelligenceprisonatOfuna. There we wereassigned to cells thatcontainedgrassmatsandablanket. Another prisonerbroughtusbowlsofwarm,lumpy rice, and comparedto our brief experience atKobe, the situation at

Ofuna seemed good. Atmorning quarters welearned that we werecaptives, not prisoners,and as such could be putback into the sea; further,since this was not aworkcamp,ourrationwouldbereduced by one-quarter.On the nicer side wasword that we would startlearning Japanese on thefollowingday.Discounting

the threats, theopportunity to learn aforeignlanguageseemedafair exchange. Pleaseunderstand as I writefurther that neither I norTang’s other survivorswere complaining aboutourlot,forweatleasthadachancetolive.The titular head of the

campwasawarrantofficer

called the Taichō. Hewasseldom seen except whenhe chose to make thenightly rounds. The realpower lay in theKangochō, or camppharmacist, a sadistic,hulkingmanwhoseguardswere misfits from thenavy. Following morningquartersonourseconddayat Ofuna, the nine of us,who were the only

prisoners on thewest sideof the divided compound,weremarchedthroughthegate to the other side.There, LieutenantCommander J. A.Fitzgerald, skipper of ourlost submarine Grenadier,and two others, all threewalking skeletons, werecalled from the otherprisoners’ ranks. Wewatched the largest

guards, three at a time inrotation, club these menintounconsciousnesswhileotherguardsheldthemupso the beatings couldcontinue. Caverly was astough as they come andhad even been aprofessionalboxer,butthissightmadehimvomit.Wewere marched off whilethe Kangochō continuedkicking the limp bodies;

erroneously, we believedthemdead.Onindeterminatenights,sometimes under ordersbutatothertimesontheirown, gangs of guardswould roam the corridorstobeat prisonerswhohadbeen singled out for“special” treatment andothers whom theyapparentlysimplydisliked.

Typical of the daytimepunishments for trumped-upcharges,andsometimesinvolving all hands, wasthe “Ofuna crouch,” inwhich prisoners weremadetostandontheballsof their feet with kneeshalf bent and arms raisedabove their heads whileguards stood by to clubindividuals when theycommenced falling after

anhourorso.The daily ration

consisted of a bowl ofbarley in themorningandevening, about a cupfuleach, and soup at noon.This was made of hotwater, a dash of soyasauce, and two or threeslices of potatoes or somebeanpaste.Sometimes,forvariety,leftoverswouldbe

combined to make “alldumpo” for supper. Fruit,meat, fish, or vegetablesotherthanthepotatosliceswere never provided.During the war crimestrials, this ration wasadjudgedtohaveaveraged300 calories per day, andthiswasactuallyaquarterless than the Japaneseauthorities had planned.Froman inherentlyhonest

race, they did not evensuspect that throughbookkeeping and thievery,staples were beingdiverted before theyreached the prisoners’larder.The object of thestarvation, beatings, andcontinuous threat of themwas, of course, to compelprisoners to reveal useful

information. Fortunately,we knew nothing aboutour forces’ war plans. Wefrom Tang were as wellprepared as possible toendure this, in partbecause of the rigors wehad had to surmount insurviving the sinking; butequally importantwas thelayer of fat and theexcellent health webrought from our ship.

Thisledtoourbeinggivenwork assignments, evendipping privies, whichgave us respite from theguards. When the first B-29s flew over Ofuna wewere digging caves, andappropriately it wasThanksgiving time.Duringthe following weeks, fivesubmariners from H.M.S.Strategem and several U.S.airmen joined us, and

somehow the wonderfulRed Cross delivered thefirstofthreefoodpackagesat Christmas. Januarybrought ever increasingflights of B-29s, but alsoscurvy ulcers that wouldnotheal.There was no further

work, so still in ourtattered whites and withrags for shoes, although

we were each allowed ablanket, we walkedincessantly in the snow tokeep warm and as anantidote for the creepingparalysisofberiberi.Our conversationsranged from boyhood toshipboard just tokeepourthoughts from ourstomachs,andnowhavingsharedtaskswehadnever

dreamed of, the barriersour differing ranks hadimposed were steadilydropping away. I doubtthat any skipper has everlearned more about hisshipfromtheviewpointofthe troops than did I. Thefirst disclosure, sort of atrial balloon,was the truedepth reached while Tangwasbeinghoundedbythedestroyer west of Saipan.

In the pump room a sea-pressure gauge hadactually passed 350poundspersquareinch,or700feet,beforesteadying,butthefewwhoknewthisdecided to keep theinformation to themselves,and I believe theyexercisedgoodjudgment.Having taken that in

stride,Inextwasinformed

that I had conducted toomanyinspections,butthatisprobablyacomplaint inany ship. Some timepassed before I was privyto the most interestinginformation, the truesource of the troops’alcohol at the Royal. AsCaverly described theradio shack still, I clearlyrecalled each element: thesmall fanmounted lowon

the after bulkhead, theSilexcoffeemakersecuredinline,andthemetalringto hold a coffeemug as areceptacle. Even thecondenser now registered,the transmitter’s outputcoil fitted with rubberstoppers and with pinjacksdrilled. Ihad seen itin the transmitter oninspections but suspectednothing.

“Skipper, you officersmust have been snoof,”Caverly observed,borrowing thatword fromDickens, I believe. “If youknewhowmany timesweburned our fingers ingetting that damned coilfrom the Silex to thewastebasket, alwaysexpectingyoutosmellthestuff!”heexclaimed.

With a ready source ofdenatured torpedo alcoholfrom the storage tanks,this had certainly been aneater solution than thehome brew. The outputmust have been drop bydrop,butIcouldseethatatin or so could readilyhavebeenaccumulatedoneven a shortened patrol.Well, the troops had leftsex behind when we

passedthroughtheGoldenGate, but that was justabout all. If this producthadhelpedingettingthemback into fighting trim,then perhaps Secretary oftheNavyJosephusDanielshad erred when he madeournavydry.In February wewitnessed the grandestshow yet, a great carrier

air strike, which signifiedto us that the Philippineswere secure, forotherwiseour carriers could not bethisfarnorth.Asbefore,aglancetotheskiesmeantabeating from the guards,but the sight of torpedobombers just yards awaywasworth it. Sadly,moreairmen arrived, all ofwhom were kept insolitaryconfinement.Mess

cooking at the time, Icould only place the foodinside the cell of anairman who had brokenarms and could not feedhimself. My request thatone of us be allowed tofeed him brought knucklesandwiches;Iwasremovedfrommesscookinganddonotknowhisfate.Inthespringthoseofus

fromTangwerestillstrongon our feet, though theberiberi was becomingvery serious. Twoprisoners on each side ofthe compound who couldno longer walk hadquickly died, and anotherthree on our side werestumbling. Navalintelligence had obviouslyexpected that the physicalterror and the starvation

diet would break mendown, but that the foodwould be sufficient untilthe prisoners weretransferred to registeredcamps. They hadmiscalculated and nowtook alarm, giving us allshotsinanattempttostopthe continuing dysenteryand substituting bread forthebarley, for theywouldbe unable to transfer

prisoners who could notwork.Theremedieshadnoeffect, so they sent MajorGregory (Pappy)Boyington,fromacrossthewall, with a draft thatincluded all of Tang’senlisted men on to thelarge army POW camp onOmori, a causeway-connected island nearYokohama. Two monthslater Hank, Larry, and I

joinedthem.Mentally, the change toOmori was like surfacingafter an all-day dive, forthe 500 prisonersmade itimpossible for the guardsto single out individuals.Rice was a welcomechange, and so was thesoup if we kept our eyesoff its weird-lookingcontents. At least it

provided sufficientnourishment for thereasonable work ofstacking sheet metal androoftilesintheareaacrossthe causeway, which wasburned flat as far as wecouldsee.Thetaskhadanunexpected benefit, forcivilians would hidehandfuls of roastedsoybeans where we mightfindthem.Onceourguard

caught a man doing thisand brutallywhipped himin the face with a pair ofpliers. Only then did werealize the true depth ofthe civilians’ kindness andtheirhateforthemilitary.With invasion

apparently imminent, ourwork was changed todigginggreatcavesforthestorage of staples and as

bombshelters.Thirtyofushad been detailed for thisdaylight-to-darkwork, butby the end of the secondweekonly tenof us couldevenwalk the sixmiles tothe site. Boats hadhepatitis; gyp corn, whichisnormallyahogfeed,hadreplaced the rice; but justwhen everything seemedits darkest, EmperorHirohito’svoicecameover

the 1MC at thework site.We understood one keyexpression—“The war isover.” It was August 15,1945.On the news, the

Japanese slaughtered anold horse at Omori andcarteditwiththemastheywentoverthehill.Butourresourcefulcooksscrubbedouttheintestines,chopped

them up, andwe had gypcorn-horsegut“alldumpo”to celebrate the victory.Withindays,B-29s startedraining assorted cannedgoods till Omori lookedlikeagiantsalad.Another change tookplace while we awaitedevacuation; Boats was onthe mend, but now I hadhis recent symptoms, and

we suspected that theculprit was the singleneedle used for everyoneat Ofuna. It was August28, 1945, when CaptainHarold Stassen’s destroyerdivision anchored offOmori at dusk. He cameashore to makearrangements for thefollowing day, but aftertaking one look he calledaway all boats, and

evacuation startedimmediately. We allweighed in the 90s, butmy high temperature sentme to isolation. For someof us it was a long andtrying voyage home, butonce there our recoverywas complete. Best of all,our prayers had beenanswered and we foundour families and lovedonesfine.

Trukke and Dasilvasettled in Los Angeles;DeckerreturnedtoDenverand Narowanski to NewJersey.Althoughtherewasno assurance that wewould return tosubmarines, the rest of uschose continuing navalcareers. But at sea orashore, none of us wouldever take our wonderfulland with all of its

freedomsforgranted.

CitationsandDecorations

On January 24, 1946,President Harry Trumanawarded Tang the SecondPresidential Unit Citation,for her fourth and fifthpatrols; all of her patrolshadthusbeencitedbyourpresidents. Tang joined

Guardfish, the only othersubmarine to receive twosuchcitations,andbecameone of only three ships intheU.S.Navy sohonored.Affecting me personallywereorderstoWashingtonin March of 1946. On aday most certainly filledwith pride thoughtempered by sadness, IreceivedtheCongressionalMedal of Honor from the

presidentformyactionsinattacking the last twoconvoys. Now I couldrecommend furtherawards.An early inquiry at the

Department of the Navydisclosed that all of thecitations I hadrecommended at the endof our fourth patrol hadbeen approved and

forwarded to thoseindividuals who had beentransferred or to our nextof kin. But not until thewritingofthisaccountdidI learn that therecommendation that Ireceive the Medal ofHonorwasoriginallymadeinearlyMarchof1945. Itseems likely thatintelligence had gleanedsome information

concerning Tang’s attacksin the Formosa Strait, butthe Secretary of the Navyconsideredthecitationtoogeneralanddirectedthatitbe resubmitted after theclose of hostilities, whenmore specific informationmight be available.However, the subordinateawards based on thisrecommendation for theMedal of Honor had clear

sailing at that time sincethey did not go via thesecretary’soffice. IbelieveI see Fraz’s hand in theselections of the men toreceive these decorations,but knowing none of thisat the time, I made myown selections in 1946. Itseems that Fraz and I stillmade a good team; therewere no duplications andall recommendations were

honored.Frank Springer andLarry Savadkin eachreceived the Navy Cross.Silver Star medals wereawarded to Ed Beaumont,FloydCaverly,JamesCulp,Jesse Dasilva, ClaytonDecker, Mel Enos,Lawrence Ericksen, HankFlanagan, John Heubeck,Dick Kroth, Paul Larson,

William Leibold, PeteNarowanski, John Parker,Basil Pearce, HayesTrukke, Leland Weekley,James White, Paul Wines,and George Zofcin. ABronze Star was awardedto Marvin De Lapp, andCharles Andriolo receivedtheSecretaryoftheNavy’sLetterofCommendation.If there had been any

possible doubt, thesecitationsaddedtothoseofthe previous patrols andthe two Presidential UnitCitations moved Tang farto the front of thesubmarine force in totalawards,andquitepossiblyahead of all other ships.Sadly,somanyofhermencould not share in theaccolade of theircountrymen, but down

throughhistorythishassooftenbeenthecase.

PostwarComparison

In Washington, the JointArmy-Navy AssessmentCommittee(JANAC)oftheStrategic Bombing Surveyhad already begun thethankless, and in manyways impossible task oftrying toverifyandassign

to the rightful force anduniteachship sunk in thewar against Japan. In somany cases, verificationwas quite impossible, fortherewerenosurvivorsorJapanese witnesses. TheEmpire convoy system ofpoint-to-point protectionabout promontories andalong dangerous beachesrequiredonlylandlineandshort-range tactical radio.

This accounts for thecomplete lack of Ultrasconcerning any shippingabout the Empire and forthe meager Japaneserecordsofotherindividualshippositions.The JANAC report was

finally published in 1947.From that time on,ComSubPachadnooptionbut to accept, at least

publicly, the officialfindings.Thereductionsinaccredited sinkingsbrought on officialexplanations pointing tothe difficulties ofidentification, poorvisibility, and nightactions,whichcouldaffectthe submarines’ reports,but never questioningJANAC’s infallibility. Insimple truth, it was

impossibletocorrelateandverify each attack andsinking without accuraterecords on both sides.Submarinedatawasexact.At the shorter ranges, therequired visual evidencewas positive and usuallyconfirmed by manywitnesses for all reportedsinkings.But the war was over,

andboats thathad sunkagoodly number of ships,now with newcommanding officers,shrugged off the ships notcredited. In the case ofsome boats who hadjoined the enemy butmonths before V-J Day, itwas quite a differentmatter. Ships had becomeincreasingly hard to find,and the high ratio of

escorts made sinkingsdifficult. To have thesesubmarines strickenentirely from the pages ofhistory by a Washingtonreport did not sit well,especially with theirwartimecrews.Tang probably fared as

well as any othersubmarine, but thecommittee seemed to

delight in disallowing thevery ships for which shehad worked the hardestand for which she hadbeenplacedinthegreatestjeopardy. On the firstpatrol all or similar shipswere credited except thelarge naval tankerwest ofSaipan. In her stead wasthe 1,794-ton cargo shipChokoMaru,aboutthesizeof Tang herself. CinCPac

intelligence certainly hadinformation of the navaltanker, for ithad suppliedthe information for thefirst Ultra and then againforthemessageconcerningthe dawn change of basecourse. Unfortunately,Ultrasremainedsecretandcouldnotbementionedinconfidentialpatrolreports.It seems likely thatthrough clerical error a

zero had been droppedfrom our estimate oftonnage, and thecommittee’s staff thenfound obscurely listed inONI-208JtheChokoMaru,whichfittedthefigureandhadbeen listedasmissingby the Japanese. Butsurely Tang saw no suchship.The JANAC report had

no statistics for rescuednaval aviators, so Tang’srescuesatTrukduringhersecond patrol were notmentioned. But it issatisfying to know thatevery airman whosurvived the crash of hisplanewasrescued.Historyalso shows that Tang’scontact report on the ROclasssubmarine,whichshenearly torpedoed and

possibly vice versa, led toanattackbythedestroyersMacDonough and StephenPotterandaircraftfromtheMonterey, which werecredited with sinking theRO-45.On the fourth patrol,neither the gunboat atanchorinOwashiWannorthe new engine-aft tankerso close inshore at

Nigishima Saki wascredited, and similarly theescort that blew tosmithereens. There wereno survivors or Japanesewitnesses to the gunboat’sdemise, whichundoubtedly accounts forher omission. In the caseofthetankerandescort,atypographical error in thepatrol report listed thelongitude as 136° 18′ east

insteadof136°13′east,orfive miles up the coast,and cost Tang this credit.Similar small errorsundoubtedly affected thecreditstoothersubmarinesaswell.In the last patrol,

lacking specific latitudesand longitudes, whichwere lost with Tang’srecords, the committee

appears to have assignedships to her at random.Perhaps it did not have aTerry’s Guide to theJapanese Empire and itscharts did not show thekeypositionsofPukiKaku,Pakusa Point, norTurnabout and Oksuislands.InplaceofthefirsttwomajorshipssunknearPakusa Point, Tang wascredited with sinking the

JoshuGoof1,658tonsandtheOitaMaru of 711 tonsin a location north ofFormosa where Tang hadnever been. Since therewerenosurvivorsofeithership sunk by Tang norsymbols on the postwarhydrographic chart of thestrait showing wrecks intheseareas, it ispresumedthat the Japanese did notknow where the ships

weresunk.Three ships of the

convoyofOctober23wereallowed, but only twoships of the last convoy.The antiaircraft fire fromthe escorts indicated thatthey believed planes werealso involved in the latterattack. Since escortscontinued to search forsurvivors throughout the

night and most of thefollowing day, there mustcertainlyhavebeenamplewitnesses to the sinkingsand to the bow section ofthe last ship, whichremained sticking straightupsome40or50feetintotheair.On the postwarhydrographic chart of thestrait and lying north of

the Pescadores are 44symbols, each of themrepresenting one or moresunken ships. It isinterestingtonotethatthefoursubmarinesthatmadeforaysintotheareabeforeTang and the three-submarine wolf pack thatfollowedherinJanuaryof1945werecreditedwithagrand total of only sevenof the represented ships.

Perhaps Tang is fortunatetohavebeencreditedwitha like number, thoughwehadonceheardanofficialof Japanese navalintelligence describeOctober losses tosubmarinesinthestraitas“verymany.”No other force was

competing for the shipssunk on Tang’s third

patrol. However, acontroversy that arosebetween the Japanese andthe committee perhapsdemonstrates theimpossibilityofobjectivelypiecing together at a laterdate what actuallyhappened in the heat ofbattle. Tang reportedsinking one freighter andone tanker in the firstattacknorthoftheKoshiki

Strait, though Steward’sMateWalkerhadremainedadamant that “there wasmore.” After the war, theJapanese confirmedWalker’s observation,reporting that they hadindeed lost a tanker andthree freighters. Thecommittee disagreed withthe Japanese, assessingtheir losses in this attackas two freighters and two

passenger-cargomen.Needless to say, thus itwas recorded. Now,however, it is clear whyTangcouldfindnothingtochase other than adestroyer that turned outto be chasing her, andsurely a convoy of fourships sunk by a singlesalvoofsixtorpedoesmustrank as the mostdevastating submarine

salvoinhistory.With the extra two

sinkings,bringingthetotalto ten ships, officially thispatrol ranked first amongU.S. submarine patrols innumber of ships sent toDavy Jones’s locker. Onanother pleasant note,Wahoo picked up anothership for her Yellow Seapatrol, the one following

my 29 cribbage hand,which she had reportedonly damaged. She thuscame in a close second,onlyoneshipbehind.At the time of her loss,

TangwastiedwithTautog,who sank her first ship inApril of 1942 under J. H.Willingham’s commandand then continued hersuccessful patrols with

Barney Sieglaff and TomBaskett as skippers. Tom’stwo ships in January,1945, took Tautog out infront as the top rankingsubmarine with 26 shipsofficially credited, butTang remained in secondplace with her official 24sinkings. In tonnage, Tangplaced fourth, next toGeneFluckey’sBarb,butinsinking rate—one enemy

shipsunkevery11days—shewassecondtonone.

Victory

Tangwasonlyoneofmorethan 250 U.S. submarinesparticipatingintheoverallwareffort,manyofwhomhavebrave storieswewillnever know. But just aswith boats who lived tosee victory, Tang’s story

canbecompleteonlyuponunveiling the results forwhich she and all othersubmarinesfought.Within the U.S. Navyand Marine Corps, thegreat battles and landings—CoralSea,Midway,SavoIsland, Guadalcanal,Tarawa, Saipan, thePhilippine Sea—thoughsome were far from

victories, received thekudos of the time andoccupied the prominentplaces in the news of thedayandinthehistoriestofollow. It is quiteunderstandable that thisshould be the case, foreachoperationandmostofthe ensuing battlesfollowed months ofpreparatory planning andbuildup,andinvolvedtens

of thousands of men andhundreds of ships. Theirexalted place in history isnotdisputed.Months before the warbegan, however,submarines were alreadyonpatrol.Theorderonthenight of Pearl Harbor toconduct unrestrictedsubmarine warfare wasmerely a transition; now

one could hit the plungerwithout first beingattacked. Submarinewarfare continuedrelentlessly as newsubmarines joined in thebattle.Therewerenoslackperiods for planning andbuildup, only the threeweeks or so for refit, andthen the departingsubmarinewas on itswayfor two more months of

seeking out the enemy inhis own yard. Every manknew his boat wouldattack and that therewouldbecounterattacks.Our submarines sentmillions of tons ofshipping to the bottom,the effort reaching acrescendo in 1944. Butpublicity was avoided, forthe boats’ safety and the

effectiveness of theirpatrols continued todemand secrecy. By thetimeofthelastsinking,onAugust 14, 1945, the288th U.S. submarine hadbeen commissioned. Over250 had madeantishipping patrols orparticipatedin300specialmissions, and at least 185submarineshadeach sunkone ormore enemy ships.

The loss of over 1,100merchant ships and over200warshipstosubmarinetorpedoes had beendevastating to the Empireand the Imperial fleet.Whenquestionedafter thewar, Japanese admiralsand generals alike placedlosses to U.S. submarinesfirst in the factors leadingto the fall of the Empire.Exclusive of the valiant

effort by Britishsubmarines,ourboatssankover 5 million tons ofmerchantshipping,orhalfagain the tonnage of allother forces combined. Inwarships, U.S. submarinesinkings of over 600,000tonswerebarelyexceededby U.S. naval air. Surelythis was a remarkableachievement for a forcemanned by under two

percent of the navy’spersonnel.These results were notaccomplished withoutpenalty. From the fourboats who grounded inoperations against theenemy, all hands weremiraculouslysaved.Allbutfour survived the firstSealion, destroyed atCavite in the Philippines.

Twenty-four men weresaved from the R-12, lostin training off Key West.Eight survivors from Flierwere eventually rescued.Three survived the S-26,sunk en route to patrolfrom Panama. From sevenother submarines,including Tang, a total of168 hands wererepatriated from prisonafter thewar.Sadly, there

werenosurvivorsfrom37moreboats,whichbroughtour total losses to 52submarines.Assubmarinersarewontto say, 3,505 shipmatesare still on patrol. Oursubmariners thus sufferedthehighestcasualtyrateinthearmedforces,sixtimesthat of the surface navy,and yet young men were

in line hoping for a billetinthemoredaringboats.The total destructionand loss of life on bothsides may seem appalling,but this was total warwaged against a stalwartand equally dedicatedenemy. Submariners, Iknow, would have settledfor half their sinkings orless if that would have

stopped the war. We are,afterall,marinersfirstandsubmariners second, witha continuing love for allshipsandthesea.The Joint Army-NavyAssessmentCommitteehadno submarinemember. Itsreport had long beenknown to contain errorsand have omissions as itpertained to the sinkings

by our submarines. In1980 this portion of theJANAC report wasofficially replaced by thecredits in the patrolreports. This was just, forall hands knew preciselywhen a ship had beensunk. Thus, Tang’s officialsinkingswereagainthirty-three.FromtheIJNreportof the Imperial JapaneseNavy, recommended to

historians, Tang sank thefollowing two ships westof Saipan: the 16,795-tontransportAsamaMaru andthe 10,033-ton NampaMaru,alarge,armednavaltanker carrying aviationgasoline. In contrast, theJANAC report listed thecargomenEchizenMaru of2,424 tons and the ChokoMaru of 1,794. So Tang’srecordtonnageis116,454.

Our other submarineswere, of course, affectedsimilarly.

After trim. Variableballast tankused toadjustsubmarine’s weight andtiltingmoment.Air banks. Groups oflargeairbottles located inmidships ballast tanks tostore high-pressure air forcharging torpedoes,blowing tanks, and other

services.Angleonthebow. Theangle formed by thelongitudinal axis of a shipand the line of sight fromthe submarine intersectingher.APR-1. Nondirectionalradardetector.A-scope. A viewingscreen of the surface-searchradar.

Auxiliary tanks.Variable ballast tankslocated amidships andused to obtain neutralbuoyancy and adjust trim;one tank generallysegregated for storage ofextrafreshwater.Ballast tanks. Sections

of the space betweenpressure hull and outerhull, and saddle tanks

within torpedo rooms;blown dry to providepositive buoyancy whensubmarine is surfaced andcompletelyfloodedtogiveneutral buoyancy whensubmerged.Bathythermograph. Adevice to record seatemperature andsubmarine depth and toshow any abrupt

temperature change, orgradient.Bendix log. An

underwater device formeasuring own ship’sspeed.Betty. Japanese patrol

bomberortorpedoplane.Bow buoyancy.

Additional ballast tank togive extra buoyancyforwardonsurfacingor in

anemergency.Bowplanes.Thepairof

horizontal rudders atsubmarine’s bow, riggedoutondiving tohelpgiveinitial down-angle, thenused in coordination withstern planes to controldepth.Can.Storagebatteries.Cavitation. The

formation of a partial

vacuum about rotatingpropeller blades; thecollapse of this vacuumcreatespropellernoises.CinCPac. Commander-in-Chief,PacificFleet.Clamp down. Go overthelivingspacedeckswithadampswab.ComSubDiv.Commander SubmarineDivision.

ComSubPac.Commander SubmarineForce,Pacific.ComSubSoWesPac.

Commander SubmarinesSouthwestPacific.Con. The authority

directingthesteersman,orthe act of directing andthusmaneuveringtheship.Conning tower. The

small horizontal hull

directly above the controlroom and below thebridge.Houses thenormalsteering stand, torpedodata computer, firingpanel, surface-searchradar, periscopes, soundreceivers(exceptsonicJP),fathometer, navigationalplot, and receivers fromtarget bearingtransmitters; the heart ofboth shipand torpedo fire

control.Control room. The

midship compartmentcontaining all divingcontrols, the ship’sgyrocompass and itsauxiliary, the air-searchradar,anauxiliarysteeringstand, the interiorcommunicationsswitchboard,andtheradioroom.

CPO.Chiefpettyofficer.DE. A destroyer escort

typewarship.DivCom. Division

Commander.Dogs. The pawls

securingawatertightdoororhatch.Dog watch. Normally

the 1600 to 1800 and1800 to 2000 watches,though any four-hour

watch may be halved, ordogged.DR. Dead reckoning

position,obtainedbyusingship’s course, speed, andelapsedtime.DRI. Dead reckoning

indicator; receives inputsfrom Bendix log andgyrocompass,andhasdialsshowing latitude andlongitude.

End-around.Submerged and surfacemaneuver to pass anenemy and gain positionahead.Engine-air induction.Large mushroom valve toprovideairforthediesels.Fire control. Themechanics of directingtorpedoesorgunfire.Five by five. Loud and

clear (based on system ofindicating a radio signal’sstrength and clarity on aone-to-fivescale).Fix. An accurate ship’s

position obtained by starsights or bearings ofknownlandmarks.Forward trim. Variable

ballast tankused toadjustsubmarine’s weight andtiltingmoment.

Fox. Radio broadcastschedule of messages forU.S.submarines.Front porch. Wahoo’s

and Tang’s name for 20-millimeter gun platformjust forward of bridgecowl.Gaining bearing.

Catching up or drawingahead when pursuing aship.

Gradient.Alayerwherethe temperature ofseawater, and to a lesserdegreeitsdensity,changesabruptly,thusbendingthesound wave of echo-ranging clear of asubmarinebelowthelayer.Gyro angle. The angle

set into each torpedo’sgyro so that its steeringmechanismwillbringitto

the proper course to hitthepointofaim.Hull down. Description

of a ship beyond thehorizonwithonlymastsorsuperstructureinview.IC switchboard.

Interior communicationsswitchboard; handles ACelectricity forgyrocompasses, torpedodata computer, interior

communicationsequipment,andotheruses.JICPOA. Joint

Intelligence Center PacificOceanArea.JK. A listening sound

head for supersonicfrequencies (too high fortheunaidedear).JP. An amplified sonic

receiver.Kuroshio.TheJapanese

current.Limberholes.Scalloped

openings where thesuperstructure joins theballast tanks or pressurehull.Losing bearing.

Dropping behind whenpursuingaship.LST.Landingship,tank.Mark 18. A series of

electric-powered, wakeless

torpedoes with a speed of27 knots and a range of4,000yards.Mark 14. A series oftwo-speed steam-poweredtorpedoes running at 46knots with a range of4,500yardsinhighpoweror at 31½ knots with arange of 9,000 yards inlowpower.Mark 23. A series of

two-speed steam-poweredtorpedoes similar to theMark14s.Maru. A suffix to thenames of most Japanesemerchant ships; hence, insubmarine language, anyJapanese ship except awarship.Momsen lung. Abreathing apparatus topermit an individual to

breathe normally whileescaping from a sunkensubmarine;alsoservesasagasmaskinthesubmarineand as a life preserver onthesurface.Negative. A tank

holding 14,000 pounds ofnegative ballast toacceleratediving.Normal approach

course. An approach

course perpendicular tothebearingoftheenemy.Normal course. An

approach courseperpendicular to the trackoftheenemy.Onebell.Asingleorder

tomaneuvering.1MC. The submarine

announcing system;includes the collision,diving,andgeneralalarms.

ONI-208J.Identification manualused by U.S. submarinesand aircraft to assist inclassifying Japanesemerchantships.PBM. A U.S. Martinpatrolbomber.PC. A patrol craft ofabout half the length of adestroyerescort.PCO. Prospective

commanding officermaking a refresher patrolprior to commanding hisownsubmarine.Pit log. Pitometer log;thescientificnamefor thespeedlogmanufacturedbyBendix.Point. A point of thecompass, accurately 11¼degrees; employed bylookouts to report

direction of a sighting,with each lookout’squadrant divided intoeightpoints.Poppet valve. Valve to

vent residual torpedofiringimpulseairbackintothe boat to reduce telltalebubbleonthesurface.PPI. Plan position

indicator of the surface-searchradar,onwhichthe

image appears as viewedfrom above withsubmarineatitscenter.Pressure hull. Thesubmarine’sinnerhullandconning tower; built towithstand sea pressure atthe stipulated test depthplus a generous safetyfactor.QC. The echo-rangingportionofasoundhead.

Relative bearing.Bearing in degreesmeasured clockwise fromownship’sbow.Safety.A special ballasttank with the strength ofthe pressure hull; blownand sealed off inemergency to compensatefor some flooding withinthepressurehull.S-boat. A numbered

class of post-World War IU.S. submarines stilloperatinginWorldWarII.SC.Submarine-chaser.SD. Nondirectional air-

searchradar.Side lobe. False image

appearing on a radarscreentorightandleftofacontact.SJ.Surface-searchradar;

shows range and bearing

ofcontact.ST.Radarperiscope.Stadimeter. Periscope

range-finder; target’sheight or length must beknowntodeterminerangeor angle on the bow,respectively.Stern planes. The pair

of horizontal rudders atsubmarine’s stern, used tocontrol the angle on the

boat and, in coordinationwith bow planes, tomaintainorchangedepth.TBT. Target bearingtransmitter, one forwardand one aft on bridge;receives binoculars fortransmissionofbearingstotheconningtower.TDC. Torpedo datacomputer.Keepstherangeto the target current and

displays the respectiveaspects of target and ownship; its angle-solversection computes theproper gyro angle andcontinuouslysetstheangleinto all torpedoes readiedforfiring.Torpedo gyro. Theheart of the steeringmechanismofatorpedo.Torpex. The explosive

in torpedo warheads; acombination of TNT andmetalflakes.Trim pump. A dual-

piston pump for shiftingballastandforpumpingtosea.True bearing.

Gyrocompass bearing, orbearing in degreesmeasured clockwise fromearth’struenorth.

Ultra. A prioritymessage with informationderived from a decodedJapanesetransmission.Very star. Signal flare

firedfromapistol.Zeke. A Japanese Zero

fighterplaneorbomber.

APresidioPressBookPublishedbyTheRandomHousePublishingGroup

Copyright©1977byRichardH.O’Kane

Allrightsreserved.

PublishedintheUnitedStatesbyPresidioPress,animprintofTheRandomHousePublishingGroup,adivisionofRandomHouse,Inc.,

NewYork,andsimultaneouslyinCanadabyRandomHouseofCanadaLimited,Toronto.

PresidioPressisatrademarkofRandomHouse,Inc.

www.ballantinebooks.com

LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData

O’Kane,RichardH.,1911–1994Clearthebridge!:thewar

patrolsoftheU.S.S.Tang/byRichardH.O’Kane.p.cm.Reprint.Originallypublished:Chicago:RandMcNally,c1977.eISBN:978-0-307-87428-31.Tang(Ship).2.WorldWar,1939–1945—Navaloperations—Submarine.3.WorldWar,1939–1945—PacificOcean.4.WorldWar,1939–1945—Navaloperations,American.5.O’Kane,RichardH.,1911–1994.6.UnitedStates.Navy

—Biography.7.Admirals—UnitedStates—Biography.I.Title.[D783.5.T350381989]940.54′51—dc1988-27104

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