The Submarine Japan Would Stop at Nothing to Destroy
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- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2022
- After two months patrolling the Pacific, the Gato-class USS Wahoo submarine had exhibited an underwhelming performance. She had missed an opportunity to engage a Japanese seaplane tender and an aircraft carrier, both precious targets, and had also missed every single torpedo shot she fired. Even fishing boats had escaped her grasp!
Wahoo's commander was eventually relieved of his post, and the new one, Lieutenant Commander Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton, was determined to turn the tables on the submarine’s legacy.
For the following months, USS Wahoo became one of the most aggressive and formidable American submarines serving in World War 2. Her fearless assaults, unrelenting pursuits, and ruthless approach to combat soon became the subject of much fear within the Japanese Navy.
However, Morton and his crew would soon deliver a blow so devastating that it would enrage the enemy to the point of no return. At the height of her run, Wahoo's success would become her undoing…
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O'Kane's own assessment of the Wahoo's demise was connected to two facts. 1, Mush Morton's reputation was such that he was seen as a naval genius who could make no errors no matter how aggressive his actions, but his officers, on many occasions, tempered his brashness with common sense. 2, before leaving on its final patrol, all of Morton's officers were sent to other commands, and brand new officers were brought on board. O'Kane theorized that because of Morton's god-like reputation, these new officers knew nothing of the tempering the previous officers gave to Morton. Thus, Morton's boldness ultimately became his undoing.
@TryNDoxMe Normally yes, but if these jr officers could take Morton’s successful formula and apply it to new subs then it would be a force multiplier.
@TryNDoxMe Patton did walk on water! 😉
Yeah, Morton sounds so aggressive as to be reckless. The first commander kept them from being rammed or sunk from the air long enough to be field trained. Morton was then fortunate to have a trained crew at the right time.
@@Greg-yu4ij Which bring up a good point, did Morton bring out the best of the crew or did the crew bring out the best of Morton? Or could it be a little of each? After all, all of the talent in a sports team is moot if a coach cannot best exploit that talent. Normally, in our society, our leadership is what brings out our best. They show us what we are capable of even when we think it’s over or was never there. Morton gave the crew an out from the very beginning and the crew stayed. I’d blame our (US) torpedoes for faults more than any captain. How many dud torpedoes brought harm to our subs from ships that should have been at the bottom or on their way to the bottom?
@@oldrabidus2230 Like Dick O"kane.
There is a book written by a sailor that was on the successful missions. Just as Wahoo was about to leave on what would be her last mission, the sailor received orders to transfer off Wahoo. He wrote of the experience on the Wahoo. The title of the book is "Wake of the Wahoo" and is a great read. It was originally published about 60 years ago and is a highly sought after book
better than LAYTON"s book [?] c. 1985 '& I was there, Pearl Harbor, Midway & their secrets . . . 940'52.46 on how C.i.c.pac was helped by 'hypo' intercepts to sink I J military in Ww I I, pacific.
I've read it and it is a fascinating book. Well worth anybody's time.
yes, have read it and have a copy. One can find great reading on cheap used books on amazon. There is also a book on Wahoo written by the exec- , Richard O'Kane. I would read both at the same time to get 2 perspectives.
I believe that the name of the author is or was Forrest Sterling.
For anyone interested.
Wake of the Wahoo: The Heroic Story of America's Most Daring WWII Submarine, USS Wahoo
Robert J Sawyer, Forest J Sterling, Charles A Lockwood
Every Sunday I pass by a marker in my church's cemetery in memory of Kindred Bernelle Johnson, one of the sailors lost aboard Wahoo. This brave man gave his life for our country.
I served in the SubPac Fleet in the 80s stationed at _Mare Island Naval Shipyard._ At that time, the foundations of the launch ramps were still in place, the ramps themselves long gone. Here and there around the shipyard you could still see the history of boat building during the war.
When you talk about the MK14 torpedo, a story worthy of its own video, the is a lot you didn't cover. In testing in the Chesapeake Bay conducted by the Naval Weapons Command, the weapon had a 50% fail rate. They only fired two, one failed and they shipped them anyway.
The MK14 was _contact_ warhead, much like a bullet today: a hammer hits the firing pin, the firing pin hits the primer, the primer goes (POP), the charge in the bullet goes BOOM and the bullet goes _Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_ all the way down range. Except in a torpedo, the hammer in the hull of the target ship, the firing pin is that the firing pin, the primer in now the detonator and the charge is a couple hundred pounds of High-Explosives and it goes *_KABOOOM._*
The problem was that the firing pin was to weak to sustain the blow of impact. With little or no support or authorization from Washington, and _Admiral Nimitz_ doing his damned level best to look anywhere, anywhere at all but the direction of the sub base, submarine officers (Engineers all) and the munitions shop started to play around with the problem.
The rigged a small crane to lift the business end of the MK14 about 30 ft. up nose down with guidewires to keep it straight and then dropped it on a piece of three-foot square armor plating. What they the found was that the firing pin was the problem, so they started making new firing pins until the worked consistently. Then they war tested them.
Now the legend is that neither SubPac or CincPac and that the squadron commanders and captains did it on their lonesome. Then after several months of highly successful submarine operations, Nimitz mentioned the improvement in a routing battle damage report.
Naval Weapons Command had a melt down. Then took their angst to their buddy down the road, a former Secnav no less, President Roosevelt. FDR had a melt down too, and fired lots of people in and restructured the Naval Weapons Command. It seems he didn't like the idea of sending his men out with 50/50 torpedoes.
USS Wahoo SS-238 was one of the first boats to take the improved weapons on a run.
Rest in Peace, Brothers.
There's a movie out there with this story. I think it's "Operation Pacific" with John Wayne.
Watch the YT Vid on the Mark XIV by *Drachinifel* that is subtitled *Failure is like Onions* and is absolutely worth 45 minutes if your time.
I recommend this video as a study in Failure Analysis for *ALL* engineers! I’d rate the USN BuOrd at the time as follows: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
You got part of this story right. Fleet Admiral Nimitz was a submariner. You will see the dolphins on his uniform in any picture of him. He was not complicit in sending fellow submariners out to die with faulty weapons.
Thanks for the info, and to other commenters for their recommendations on sources.
@@georgeherod4252 That is correct. That scene was filmed at the same location, using the same gear as the original testing.
in 1987 (when I got out) it was all still there.
An ironic story. The yeoman of the Wahoo was assigned to another boat right before its last patrol. He was then taken off that sub and assigned to another and then that sub was lost. One of the officers when finding this out told the yeoman that there was no way he was leaving that boat before him.
Wahoo is still on patrol in La Peruse Strait north of Hokkaido.
Mush Morton continued to hurt the Japanese after his death. His former XO, Richard O'Kane, commanded USS Tang (SS-306). Tang finished the war as the most successful US submarine with 116,454 tonnes sunk.
Unfortunately, the *Tang* was a victim of the Mark XIV torpedoes’ tendency to run in a circle. She sank with Only a few survivors.
@@drcovell including O’Kane. He survived the war to
@@drcovell Tang was actually sunk by the Mark 18 torpedo.
How could he have hurt the Japanese after his death? He was dead.
@@BattlestarDamocles Because O'Kane, whom he trained, and Tang sank 116,454 tonnes of Japanese ships. That amounted to almost a tenth of the total Japanese shipping built during the war. I would say that is some serious hurt.
After being relieved of the Wahoo, Kennedy went on to command the destroyer USS Guest in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He was awarded the Silver Star twice, retired as a Rear Admiral, and died in 1997 at age 91.
It is good to hear that the USN found the correct slot for this man, and used his strengths after discovering his weakness. Respect.
@@aegrotattoo9018 Maybe he changed his ways.Didn't want not to able to tell Great War stories..
[David Marks] Nice to know about his accomplishments. The problem I have with kids (I use that term loosely) is they produce a channel like this and DON'T CARE about doing any research to authenticate the facts they present. If they had done any reading they would understand how unprepared we were for WWII. The record of our submarines was dismal at best after that first year, not only because of the failure of our torpedoes but because of tactics. My guess is Kennedy and alot of the skippers in that time period followed protocol, that is approach underwater and other such tactics established long before WWII began which brought about those poor results. Morton threw away the book and developed his own tactics like running on the surface to better position himself in front of a convoy. This is what I recall from reading about the USS Wahoo several decades ago.
Yeah, this guy makes entertaining videos but easy to check facts are often misrepresented. Sloppy.
@@brgilbert2 I've read about those f**king torpedoes quite a bit, but have no idea if someone's head ever rolled for putting so many submariners in harm's way for zero results. I know a lot of officers were banging their heads against the wall trying to overcome someone's malevolent stupidity. Now if i could just find a spare small fortune , could afford Morison's series of volumes on the Pacific naval history.
My father in law was a submariner in WW2 Pac. The USS Shad (Gato class), my icon is the patch of that sub. (A Japanese sailor being clubbed by a torpedo held by a Shad.) Those were truly Iron Men. Depth charge attacks were absolute hell.
I am saddened to hear of the shooting of the enemy and Allies in Lifeboats!
And today? Not much has changed if you look at the civilian casualties of the MEA activities. Sadly the war atrocities by the USA are never brought to the light. Many will refrain from being critical on this matter as it cuts too close to the bone or the media propaganda has poisoned their minds to the truth.
it's not a warcrime if we do it
-US
Wouldn't be a little hard to tell, on who is who? But for sure a sad state of affairs. That's why one general said. War is hell.
I seem to remember watching "smithonian " footage of intense warfare?, it clearly shows US submariners shooting survivors, not a great thing to watch? But still its not a war crime?? Wtf?. Also read a book on British submarines and it clearly states that a UK commander ordered his men to shoot survivors of a torpedo attack in their lifeboats? Nobody in the war came out clean??? But the victors write history? Sooo?
@@mikeloghry9521 that's a load of crap. Wrong is wrong.
Back in the 50s or 60s there was a weekly TV show on Saturday mornings called “Silent Service “. It chronicled the exploits of Wahoo, Tang and other great subs.
I never missed that show.
There are a lot of episodes of that show on RUclips. Search it out.
I read alot of ww2 stuff in school ,morton took a run right into the sea of japan and every torpedo they shot didnt explode.l always wondered how many u.s. ww2 subs were lost because they couldnt defend themselves against destroyers chasing them down after their torpedos turned out to be faulty.
In the early to mid years of the war in the Pacific, American submariners had torpedoes with defective exploder mechanisms. It took a while, there were people high up in the U.S. Navy who believed that the magnetic exploder device would work in spite of reports by submariners that it didn't, before that issue was resolved. Also, the firing pin that would trigger the detonation of the torpedoes was found to be weak and, in testing, would often bend rather than trigger the explosives. With those two problems out of the way, the Silent Service would go on to be very successful in the Pacific.
There was a documentary I watched a while back, where a Congressman boasted to reporters that the Japanese weren't sinking U.S. subs because they set their depth charges too shallow. THAT little tidbit of info got into the newspapers, the Japanese found out about it, the IJN adjusted their tactics and something like 5 U.S. subs were lost in the following months. There is no doubt that U.S. subs with defective weapons sure as hell didn't help our sailors, but a loose-lipped Congressman did something much worse in tipping off the Japanese.
@@Darthbelal i read all about it study hall and a good library ,the wahoo story by george grider war fish was about wahoo and other subs in the pacific. They got caught in shallow water and atolls and didnt have a chance. The library was full of ww2 stuff.
Not only didn't they go boom, but they took a long time to get there. If an enemy ship was fired on, they would have time for a tea ceremony while waiting for the clang of a dud impacting their hull.
I've always had a fascination for all things to do with submarines, thanks for posting this.
Thank you Sir
RIP to those Indian Pows who despite having nothing to do with both the world wars had to pay the price with their lives, i wonder why the commander ordered his men to shoot at then like were t they both on the same side fighting the Japanese, the least we can do is to remember their brave sacrifices and to atleast not ignore their contributions made in the war
Thank you for keeping the memory of our children alive .
"Mush" was the prototype submarine commander. Richard "Dick" O'Kane was the production version, O'Kane learned so many lessons from Morton.
Don't give him too much credit. He ordered his men to machine gun helpless sailors in their lifeboats. Pretty sure that's a war crime.
You are aware of the Dick O'Kane method of torpedo targeting, right?
O'Kane brought much of his own to the table too. Taught plenty as well. Both are considered to have contributed greatly to the US submarine force.
@@michaelwilliams9574 that's why I refer to Mush being the prototype he was a bit to blood thirsty about the enemy. O'Kane on the other hand was methodical about dealing with the enemy. If the Tang had not been done in by her own torpedo O'Kane would have become even more of a legend.
@@SturmGewehr1944x Mush innovated with having the XO conduct the intercept and the skipper would command the launching of the torpedos.
It wasn't the Wermacht (Army) that built the submarines. It was the Kriegsmarine (Navy). You didn't mention the time the Wahoo was forced to take a "Down the throat" shot at a IJN destroyer headed straight for the the Wahoo.
A great boat and a great crew. The executive officer O'Kane, went on to win the Medal of Honor.
Yeah, that is such an unnecessary and Stupid mistake, don't even know how he missed that himself. I give him credit for finally slowing down his Rapid Fire narration after Many complaints. Not having to lower the speed of the video or backing it up is appreciated and his skills are getting better too.
Glad you caught that. It's not his first Blunder.
In point of fact, the term Wehrmacht does not refer exclusively to the Army, albeit this is a widely held misconception; it refered to the Armed Forces of Germany as a whole, including the Heer, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe.
@@nolanolivier6791 My bad, you are correct. I learned something today. Thanks
@@goldendragons382 no biggie. I believed the same thing for years. It's a pretty deeply entrenched misconception...
I thought official USN policy is that a submarine is listed as "Still On Patrol" unless and until it is recovered. Maybe only if a ship is lost at sea, with its fate technically unknown...Who knows
When this was first instituted, yes, ...but since, finding these sites is considered a grave site and cannot be disturbed. Much like the wreck of the USS Arizona now is. Spiritually they are still considered on patrol, standing their post, where they died, in remembrance. God bless all those who gave all as we remember their plight, ...lest we forget.
Sorry if I say something wrong here… if still on Patrol do they still get paid ???
Such a weird and romantic way of saying it. They don't say that Soldiers who died on the battlefield are still on eternal combat patrol or anything like that. They are simply considered K.I.A.
The Arizona was never decommissioned and flies her flag every day. In 1986 I was standing at the center mast of the memorial having a private moment when a color guard who was changing the flag approached me and asked if I would help fold the flag. Third most moving moment in my life next to seeing my two kids being born. Plenty of pictures and tears. Never forgotten
A US submarine that fails to return is on Eternal Patrol.
I had the pleasure of touring the USS Cobia. It was an incredible boat!
In Wisconsin, pretty good shape too.
Manitowoc, WI 🇺🇸
I suggest a video of an Infamous Submarine Captain and Medal of Honor recipient Eugene "Lucky" Flucky. His exploits are legendary and most certainly Reckless but effective 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
This is the tale of some of the most courageous men of WWII. And Dick O'Kane went on in Tang to be one of two or three other top sub skippers in history.
To the brave sailors who made their ultimate sacrifice, thank you from a deeply grateful nation.
The commander whould have been regarded as a war criminal for opening fire on the lifeboats with POWs if he was commanding a German U-boat. Proof of history is written by victors.
Eh. Almost all the famous German generals that we view as honorable definitely committed war crimes (The Honorable Wehrmacht Myth). Not to mention how most of the Japanese got off scott free. It's the exception that war criminals get held accountable, not the rule.
Yeah that shit was disgusting without it being largely friendly POWs it's insane how few comments mention this.
Good video , just imagine the destruction if the subs had decent torpedoes !!!!
Morton commited a war crime when he shelled the the survivors on the life boats. That is unexcusable.
Had you had friends or family killed at Pearl harbor when the Japanese launched a air attack by surprise without a declaration of war, or had you been privy to how the Japanese treated American POWS, or watched as a Japanese soldier pulled out of the water produced a hand grenade to blow you up when you helped them, you might not be so quick to condemn.
Yep
Sometimes war can bring out the worse in people.
Nice presentation, thank you. The USS Silverside and museum is in Muskegon , Mi. is very cool to see. They occasionally start the diesels which is awesome.
War is "HECK", no quarter given, But machine -gunning, survivor's, is "NOT-HONORABLE". The Captain, of a Japanese, Cruiser, saved many, British Sailors, in 1942, Name was, "KUDO", Japan, still honor's him.
Gr8 quality of pics and video. Gr8 channel. Thank everyone involved. These are stories only true historians would know. These stories are so important we remember. God Bless 🙏. Lest we never forget...
Interesting choice of words - “Controversial move” in attacking the life boats. Pretty sure that’s a war crime.
It is...
The Victor is never guilty of war crimes...only Controversial
@@vvr881 there are a few fellows in Leavenworth who would probably disagree with you? There are a number of folks who have been prosecuted over the last few years for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
True, however... as it is well documented how the Japanese behaved in general .. a slight slap on the wrist should just be enough for this one. If that .. at all ..
@SteveNegley FJB when's the last time someone jumps from a sinking ship carrying around a 20 lb machine gun?
Amazing history, keep up the great content!
Thank you for posting this vid to us.
So is no one going to point out that the USS Drum was 17th Gato class sub and that the Gato class is named for the 1st ship in the class The USS Gato?
Doesn't matter this channel is constantly incorrect on its facts. Nothing anyone posts is going to make them actually do decent research.
This channel notoriously botches details like that. The theory is that they do it intentionally to get people to comment about it.
A Submarine is more correctly referred to as a "Boat", rather than a ship. That's how we sail in our bathtub Navy.
@@MrSpartanicus it wasnt like that when it was just dark5 and dark docs
Lol the theory to create conversation
I always loved the Gato class subs. Thought they were cool looking and they saw lots of action making them legendary! I got to go on one once when I was a kid. It was a museum but looked ready to go. That same sub is now abandoned in the Hackensack River New Jersey languishing there for years now. It makes me sick! What a crime!
Yeah the USS Ling is in bad shape, and hope for repair seems to be fading.
Fascinating story 👍🏻 Enjoyed watching this.
YES!!! my first experience with submarines was the USS Silversides in MI. I got to sleep on it for a weekend with the boy scouts! It was a Gato class sub just like this one, and you could SMELL the history in it. One of my most memorable experiences as a kid.
What did the history smell like, BO? Old guy I worked with called the diesel sub he was on a pigboat
Wow your stuff is always top notch and a pleasure to watch in terms of quality despite the subject matter being grim in some ways. 😊
Thanks for Sharing this with us
The problem was training before the war. Commanders had been punished, or even removed from command, if they were "too aggressive". That caused a lot of problems in 1942.
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
That voice is like nails on a blackboard! Melodramatic to the max!
She didn't miss, the torpedoes were not exploding.
A year and half from the start of the war the idiots at the Naval Bureau kept telling the Sub captain's they were cowards.
Come to find out the Naval Bureau mfg the worst, most untested ,most unreliable torpedoes in the entire world of Naval warfare.
Fun fact, the detonator was a brass pin that was too thin, and set perpendicular to the forward impact physics.
When the torpedo hit the side of a ship the impact would bend the thin metal detonator over and jam the mechanism, and fail to iniate the striker.
The Navy finally admitted they had not tested the torpedo because " they were expensive" ,before the war very little was done to solve the obvious problems because of incompetence,combined with arrogance.
Finally after multiple reports from the Pacific overwhelmed the Navy brass, they hired Einstein to solve the problem,but he only succeeded in over complicating the detonator even more.
Finally, a lowly Sub torpedoman looked at the problem and suggested they just make the brass detonator thicker,so it wouldn't bend on impact.
That worked excellently.
The alcohol steam turbine motor produced 330 hp,instantly.
You can hold the motor In your hand.
It is a fascinating energy system.
Draw backs were the significant bubble trail the Japanese commanders could see coming and take evasive maneuvers.
But it was never as good as the Japanese Long Lance that was powered with compressed oxygen which left no bubble trail, making it almost impossible to see coming,as it was faster and had a much larger warhead.
Also it sucked when Long Lance's were stowed in on deck torpedo launchers in Japanese cruisers and destroyers.
A hit from a .50 cal incindiary round from an Allied fighter would light them up and resulted in the loss of a number of Japanese surface ships.
This is most likely what contributed to the loss of the Russian flagship Moskva,
which had a dozen massive rockets on deck in external Launch tubes.
An outstanding history lesson. I never knew they had even searched for them, let alone found them ! RIP heroes. 🙏♥️ 🇺🇸
I love the history of "whao" and Mush Morton. :)
The failure of the Navy BuOrd with faulty torpedo's early in WWII was legendary. Even appreciated by the Japanese. Morton ended one war patrol early because after multiple successful setups, the torpedoes failed to function. They actually performed a documented torpedo test under combat conditions to Prove to the BUORD that it was the torpedoes faulty depth controls and magnetic detonators that were preventing success. Despite all that evidence it still took the Navy years to correct a fatal defect in the US submarines primary weapon system. Bureaucracy at it's finest,,,
Drachinifel has a whole episode on it.
Not much different than Boeing and the 737 Max.
Fantastic video. I love all the dark docs
Shoot the lifeboat???
A real classic move by a war criminal
As a former USN sailor, one of our traditions is that any ship lost at sea is just that lost until there is confirmation otherwise. We know these boats and their crews are never coming home and I know the relatives want to know where their loved ones are but as a sailor who went out in a sub and might never have come home I wish people would stop looking for these. Let them stay on patrol.
I was gonna write a very stern tirade to you about your sacka hammers brain fart but you putting your name to such a dumbbass post....well I reckon you should get more than enough attention for being heartlessly....well heartless🤨
Oh and as a former Navy man meself I say to you shipmate whut kinda navy you serve in.🤔. I think if "Fair Winds and Following Seas", delivered in to person by family to the multitude of real heroes found by diligent historians is offensive to you well I guess you wern't a good sailor either.
What is the meaning of the black POW-MIA flag?
That was very good, thanks!
Sinking life boats and shooting men in parachutes should earn the perpetrators a trip to the gallows. Those WWII subs had to be a nightmare to serve aboard from all I've read.
May God Bless these brave men souls.
I love the part of the video when all the men followed the captan and never wimped out.
Mute with caption is the only way this guy's videos can be endured. Even then the frequent and sometimes appalling errors make them simply unendurable.
excellent vid
Wow
I read that book back in 1989
Thank you
Got to be good at maths, vectors, physics - instinctive, to be a good attack submarine commander.
First wartime Captain of the Wahoo, as many others in the first period of WW2 fought as they were taught in peacetime.
There was no new rules of engagement. And those "First Generation" Skippers didnt want Courts Marshall's.
The way Dark Skies declars in the beginning, leaves the unlearned viewer the first Skipper was not up to snuff.
Hello from Wahoo, Nebraska. Come visit the Wahoo memorial.
As soon as you said "Wahoo," I knew what you were talking about.
GREAT VIDEO
Shooting people in lifeboats? That's a war crime!
Excellent.
In 1942 the Mark 14 torpedoes being used had defective fuses and would not explode. I doubt they "missed".
They did miss.... because they frequently would change depths due to faulty depth mechanisms. Think of a sine wave. It wasn't just the firing pins. They had numerous issues that needed to be corrected. Hell, sometimes the pins would work but would only detonate the air flask, not the warhead.
Eventually, they were fixed; the magnetic seekers were replaced, the depth change aspect.... I think they just removed that capability, meaning the fish were locked in when they were fired. And they eventually re-made the pins, supposedly out of the aluminum from busted up aircraft propellers. Once torpedo performance improved, the silent service really laid into the enemy.
OVER 5,100 LIKES IN 9 HOURS.! I especially enjoy the LINKS to your other videos...THANKS.!.
Always fun videos to watch. Still, I have a few questions/thoughts. For Germany I thought the Kriegsmarine was responsible for naval assets, not the Wehrmact (army). Also, I thought USS Tang was the mist successful US sub during the war, at least based on number of ships sunk. If Wahoo’s tonnage sunk exceeds Tang, she must have sunk a lot more heavy ships.
Don't forget the Barb or the Parche? Every one of those boats is a legend in their own right.
The Wehrmacht is not a synonym for army but for armed forces in total. The army is called Heer. That’s why army license plates read WH meaning Wehrmacht Heer. The navy is called Marine, license plate WM Wehrmacht Marine, as it is also a part of the Wehrmacht as is the Luftwaffe
USS Flasher SS 249 sank over 100,000 tons and 21 ships!
Mush was also known for an unusual style having the executive officer man the periscope during the attack. Mush also had one dud patrol due to faulty torpedo performance. Having a top skipper have this problem made the navy rethink this subject as most of the failures were blamed on the captains. As Patrick Radcliff said the Wahoo's executive officer went on to becoming another legend in the submarine fleet. having his sub sunk by another failure, it circled back and sunk the USS Tang .O'kane was taken prisoner, tortured and after the war he got the Congressional Medal of Honor.
At the end you say he has four torpedoes left and uses two on first ship and two on second ship. “But second ship has four torpedoes before being sunk ?”
Note: the American torpedoes had an 80% failure rate until mid 1943.
Most probably many glancing blows, maybe.
Submarine duty was damned dangerous.
unreal..Was on the U-505 and I think Silver side ? in Chicago docked at Navy Pier like 35 years ago .THANKS
Love these videos. Have you guys covered the Barb under the command of flucky
A lot of people don't know that the US MISSOURI is now next to the USS ARIZONA in PEARL HARBOR and her last mission was the gulf
2 books worth reading (or listening on Audible) "Wahoo" and "Clear The Bridge" both by Dick O'Kane. Great insights by a man who was there and in command.
Fascinating
Us Navy had a real problem with the torpedos in WW2...
So, the thing that stuck out to me most was that Morton is a criminal for firing at and undoubtedly killing defenseless people in life rafts.
Imagine how these would have performed if they hadn't been hampered by the Mark 14 torpedo.
Opening fire on helpless sailors in lifeboats is a despicable action to me. Absolutely despicable. Such a blemish on a otherwise fine career. Really makes me shake my head.
Make the other poor SOB (s) die for his country (& the Emperor), instead of your own. Unbeknownst to Morton & other sub commanders, was US Pacific Fleet Command probably knew which Japanese ships had Allied POWs on board but did tell the sub Commanders. Had the Japanese figured out merchant ships loaded w/POWs were being let go, then they would have realized we’d broken their code. The Japanese not marking ships carrying POWs (in addition to all of their other atrocities during & leading up to the war) was worse; the fact these were Allied POWs made it seem worse. I think it was well known Japan wasn’t going to try & rescue any of their men, anyway; nor was it in the character of the average Japanese servicemen to surrender peacefully.
I realize that "two wrongs don't make a right" but the Bataan Death March & several other acts of Japanese brutality really stuck in the American mind. During the Guadalcanal Campaign, wounded Japanese would call to the Americans for help, grab their leg & pull out a hand grenade killing themselves & the American. If they had no grenade, they would use a dagger & attempt to disembowel the American. I was raised in a VA neighborhood. One of the Former Marines told us kids, "They made the rules, we just went by them".
Sorry. I can't see the two replies. Only notification that they are there.
I agree
I agree. But such things were unfortunately very common on the seven seas. Especially the strafing of downed pilots
There were some better stories about Mush Morton where he twice in three days sunk a destroyer by firing a torpedo "down the throat". O'Kane who was XO wrote about this in his book.
Our torpedo sunk another one! Crew yells out Wahoo !
Mush the Magnificent!
No mention of O'kane at all? That's too bad, because Morton's doctrine was unique, having the 2nd in command (O'kane) do all the periscope spotting while Morton would sit there undistracted, calculating in his own mind the attack as it unfolded. It was akin to playing chess without a board, and noone else in the navy did that at the time.
U should do one about lucky flucky on the uss barb. It would be nice to see some1 do an in depth [no pun intended] on the m.o.h. recipient who launched the 1st attack on the Japan mainland.
DBF, on Eternal Patrol. RIP 🙏 shipmates
Thanks bud
I had to check Google to find out what Gato meant, and it translates quite aptly to Cat from the Spanish, however it could be an American-English slang word or a word I don’t know, but ‘cat’ makes sense. Very interesting and informative video, thanks for sharing it with us all. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴🇺🇦🇺🇸
Sorry but in my opinion it is one think to torpedo an enemy vessel, but shooting at the lifeboats, and by logical progression the survivors in and around the LIFEboats is a war crime, even if they are enemies of you they pose absolutely no threat to your boat or the crew, and in the first successful attack the survivors being allied forces makes it even worse (if that’s possible), just because someone else sinks the boats in a cold blooded act it does NOT give anyone the right to do the same in retaliation. I am not trying to denigrate anyone in person, but it was and still is a war crime in my opinion, and just because we, the allies, were the victors of WWII (NOBODY WINS A WAR) that doesn’t give us the right to sweep it under the carpet, even now war crimes are being unearthed (for want of a better word) from as far back as WWI and up to the current war in Ukraine 🇺🇦, just because things happen in the heat of battle it doesn’t make it right, or the old standby “I was just obeying orders” does not and should not be deemed a valid excuse. Ok, rant over (for now), soapbox put away and spleen vented, thanks for reading this far.
During the first Wahoo patrol they had huge issues with the torpedoes due to a rod in the warhead system breaking on impact with anything stronger the Aluminium foil, so blaming the commander was just him being used as a scapegoat in the higher echelons of the submarine service and the ordinance department, it was a fleet wide issue that took some costly time to resolve, it seems to me that somebody somewhere got away with being held responsible, probably one the design team that got his tensile strength calculation wrong.
I heard an interview of an American Merchant Marine sailor whose ship was sunk in the Indian Ocean. The Japanese sub picked up survivors, who were forced to run the length of the subs deck between 2 lines of crew swinging fists, clubs and knives. If they lived through this gauntlet, they could jump off to take their chances with the sharks. 🦈 🦈 🦈
The difference in leadership!
That sub was a tasty fish alright!
This Gato class sub reminds me of the p47 Thunderbolt….largest, best equipped in existence at the time. Built like a rock. The p47 even had a.c….wonder if the sub did?
Sounds like ol' Mush would be considered a war criminal today.
i loved the part where they started mowing down the POW's haha
You find something humorous?
Also try to highlight all the heros from that era, be them from either side.
Awesome
Wahoo a great boat
Captain Mush Morton had an Executive Officer who learned from Mush & later became Captain of Tang, earning the Medal of Honor. Know who???
RIP Wahoo crew.
Mush has a great writeup on bad ass of the week. Would have been cool to mention the fire bomb attack he pulled off.
Nice!!!!
The Wahoo would display a broom attached to it's periscope as it pulled into port after every tour showing a "clean sweep" by returning without any torpedoes.
I think America lost around 50 or 52 submarines in the Pacific. Most were lost with all hands. Many were unexplained even after the war when Japanese records were reviewed
Our torpedoes sucked. Some of them returned to sender.
@@ferky123 Yikes. Glad we got that one sorted out.
I was born and raised in Vallejo, ca. And have been able to see every inch of mare island including its naval base. My grandfather was a electrician for the naval subs after serving on a boat. I am inside of any names unfortunately. Mare island is So rich in ww2 history.
Lived in in Vallejo 1970-1972. 1st and 2nd grade.