Posted on 02/19/2023 10:43:13 AM PST by BenLurkin
War sucks.
I’m pretty sure those sailors wouldn’t give a rip what you have difficulty “squaring”.
A person could ask the civilians on Wake if any had survived the Japanese taking the island.
"About an hour before dawn on December 18, I-17 was moving quietly along the surface 15 miles off Cape Mendocino when one of her lookouts spotted a ship approaching. Kozo Nishino, captain of the 2,500-ton sub, ordered an attack on the American freighter Samoa, which was on her way to San Diego with a load of lumber. "
"Over a seven-day period, from December 18 to 24, 1941, nine Japanese submarines positioned at strategic points along the U.S. west coast attacked eight American merchant ships, of which two were sunk and two damaged".
American Ideals?
I don’t think so.
You assume the sub knew they were all civilians. There was little sympathy for them after what had occurred in the war by then.
As Sledge said in “The Pacific”:
“WE WERE ALL SENT HERE TO KILL JAPS, WEREN’T WE?! SO WHAT THE HELL DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHAT WEAPON WE USE? [leans in] I’d use my goddamn hands if I had to.”
When I was in the boats, we figured if it’s bigger than a shitcan it’s a target. A aircraft carrier in the periscope was bonus.
Captain Sakibara of the Japanese garrison on Wake was tried for war crimes, convicted and hanged in Guam. He never got nor deserved the dignity of being hanged at home.
Total war.
“An American submarine that went missing in World War II is found off of Japan’s coast”
All those still alive, were rescued.
The The USS Albacore to be renamed Davey Jones’ Locker.
The island of Chi Chi Jima’s commander got a similar fate I think. Cannablism was frowned on back then by our military men.
Sounds about right. Only question back then, for the smaller targets, was "torpedo or guns?"
I doubt guys in my generation thought that up. Probably a hand me down from the old boat guys. They lived and died proving it. Wahoo and Trepang are still on patrol.
Sorry not Trepang, the Tang. Commander Richard O’Kane and his lookouts were knocked off the conning tower when their own torpedo circled back on them and sunk the boat off Japan they were picked up by a Japanese destroyer and treated less than favorably. His book Clear The Bridge recounts his experiences. He served on the Wahoo under Mush Morton as exec. It’s good reading. Eugene Sedges book With The Old Breed is good too. US Marines got to know the Japanese soldiers very well.
Forever young, forever honored.
WTF is your point?
That was their job... A very important job in shutting off the supply spigots to the jap home islands...
I grew up reading my Dad’s (COL, USAF) military books.
For a sub, sinking a tanker or an ammunition ship did more damage to the Japanese war effort than sinking a warship.
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