The Tang's crew, including Captain Richard H. O'Kane (center), photographed in May 1944 - four months before the catastrophic hit
Posted on 10/18/2025 12:55:39 PM PDT by DFG
Everything appeared to be in slow motion - except the torpedo spearing through the water towards them at 30 knots.
Only five minutes earlier, the USS Tang had been in the middle of a feeding frenzy that would secure its position as the most successful American submarine in the Pacific Ocean.
But its last torpedo had turned sharply left - and was now coming straight back at the Tang.
Of the 87 men on board that early morning in October 1944, as many as 50 were killed instantly when the torpedo hit.
Of the survivors, most were injured.
One of the few unharmed ones was Clayton Decker, who had been stationed in the control room.
He helped Chief Bill Ballinger to his feet. Blood was leaking from a cut on Ballinger’s forehead, but he had enough foresight to know the pair’s only chance of survival was to get to the forward torpedo room, where the escape chamber was.
When they arrived, as many as 30 other men were already packed in there - the more severely injured lying in bunks, fully aware they would never escape.
Ballinger estimated there were no more than four or five hours of air left. They needed an escape plan before the men began to slip into unconsciousness. It would not be easy.
‘Whenever you get a group of men together, you always have a couple of know-it-alls,’ said Decker. ‘We had a couple of them - one in particular.
‘This loudmouth and a chief torpedoman had crawled into the escape chamber before the rest of us got organized. They flooded the chamber, opened the hatch, and went out on their own. We never saw them again.’
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The Tang's crew, including Captain Richard H. O'Kane (center), photographed in May 1944 - four months before the catastrophic hit
Charles “Swede” Momsen invented the Momsen lung a. In 1943, his team fixed the problems with the Mark 14 Torpedo.
Incredible tale of skill and luck in equal measure. Great post.
"Clear The Bridge," O'Kane's book about his time on the Tang and "Wahoo," one he wrote about serving under the incredible Mush Morton on the Wahoo, are fantastic books too. I couldn't put them down.
I have a copy of “Clear The Bridge” in my library...great book.
Agreed!
ping for later
“It took time, but Ballinger explained [use of the Momson lung ascent]carefully enough that he thought most of the men got it.“
I find it hard to believe that they were t briefed on this at some point in submariner training.
Maybe it was a refresher.
That was not the whole crew.
Got me started on a whole new line of study. How do you aim the gyro on a torpedo. Speculation is the rudder on this one got stuck when it steered. How and wy?
They almost got away from it. Just another couple of seconds and it would have passed astern of them, just barely.
A hurried refresher.
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