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The Bungo Straits
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Destination Tokyo and Up Periscope coming on later. Must be a Memorial day thing.
Enframe
Member
Had a nice (short) talk with RADM O'Kane in 1977 or 78 when he was in Charleston SC at a book signing for Clear the Bridge. He and I were both big fans of the Fairbanks-Morse engine.
Great book, but like most US Sub Officers, he cleaned things up for public consumption. Nothing wrong with that, but Das Boot was a bit more accurate from the personal side.
Another great submarine movie was "The Enemy Below" (1957) with Robert Mitchum and Curd Jurgens.
Froggy044
US Veteran
Faulkner
Member
I've read Wahoo and Clear the Bridge at least half a dozen times each. I started reading about Mush Morton and Dick O'Kane and Slade Cutter and Sam Dealy when I first read Silent Victory back in the '70's. It's amazing what our submarine forces in the Pacific went through and what they accomplished.
Even more so if you ever get the opportunity to tour an old sub. Tight quarters, people on top of each other trying to get things done.
imjin138
US Veteran
We went to Manitowac last fall and toured the USS Cobia, pretty neat tour, a few days later the WWII crew had a reunion there wish I could have met them.
I toured the US Puffer fish at Martinez, Ca. Must have been 1945 or early '46. I was in Jr.high school then & the Cadet Corps was invited. It was to be decommissioned later at Mare Island. Real tight quarters as I remember. Galley was in a closet sized place. Crew alternated sleeping berths. Don't remember much more except the big diesel engines or the war record.
BigBill
Absent Comrade
Whats that noise sir i can't make it out???
Smithhound
US Veteran
Back in the late '80s I met a guy working security at a local plant who was on Submarine duty in the Pacific during the war, what a load of information he was.
I asked him if getting depth charged was like what is shown in the movies and was quickly set straight. He told me that they could never recreate that event. He said you basically have two choices when you know its coming, hold on or don't. If you don't you get thrown about and everything in the sub being much harder than you, you get beat to hell.
Hang onto something and you get beat to hell. Kind of like hitting a tree with a baseball bat, as he described it, only bodywide.
He also told me that afterwards there would be broken bones, people bleeding from the ears etc. And the one thing that could never be recreated was the smell.
Apparently, one has a hard time holding onto thier bodily functions during those times of intense terror. He said the smell of blood, sweat, diesel fuel and (you all figure out what else) was just overwhelming.
I'd never thought about that before.
I'm glad we had people like that, ready to step up and take it for us. It's just so sad so many are passing daily now.
Hats off to them.
RD
I asked him if getting depth charged was like what is shown in the movies and was quickly set straight. He told me that they could never recreate that event. He said you basically have two choices when you know its coming, hold on or don't. If you don't you get thrown about and everything in the sub being much harder than you, you get beat to hell.
Hang onto something and you get beat to hell. Kind of like hitting a tree with a baseball bat, as he described it, only bodywide.
He also told me that afterwards there would be broken bones, people bleeding from the ears etc. And the one thing that could never be recreated was the smell.
Apparently, one has a hard time holding onto thier bodily functions during those times of intense terror. He said the smell of blood, sweat, diesel fuel and (you all figure out what else) was just overwhelming.
I'd never thought about that before.
I'm glad we had people like that, ready to step up and take it for us. It's just so sad so many are passing daily now.
Hats off to them.
RD
Faulkner
Member
I agree. Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to tour a number of our old fleet subs and I am always impressed at the sacrifices they went through, and they were all volunteers!
Got me to thinking, here are the ones I specifically remember touring:
USS Bowfin in Pearl Harbor
USS Drum in Mobile, Alabama
USS Batfish in Muskogee, Oklahoma
USS Razorback in North Little Rock, Arkansas
USS Cavalla in Galveston, Texas
Armyphotog
Member
I second the vote for both "the Enemy Below, and Das Boot."
Barnacle Bill
Member
Any one know When,Where & Why Subs were given the nick name of "Pig Boat" ?
Bill
Bill
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