Escape From the Deep (29 page)
Read Escape From the Deep Online
Authors: Alex Kershaw
For some reason, the sound of foghorns brought the past flooding back with particularly traumatic force. Then O’Kane would grab his daughter by the arm and start to pull her toward the ocean.
“We have to go,” O’Kane would say. “We have to go. . . . We have to go save them.”
35
SURVIVORS OF THE USS
TANG
Commander Richard H. O’Kane, Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Lawrence Savadkin, Engineering Officer
Lieutenant (jg) Henry J. Flanagan, Torpedo Officer
Radio Technician’s Mate Floyd Caverly
Chief Boatswain’s Mate William Leibold
Motor Machinist’s Mate Jesse DaSilva
Motor Machinist’s Mate Clayton Decker
Torpedoman’s Mate Hayes Trukke
Torpedoman’s Mate Pete Narowanski
USS
Tang
NOTES
Chapter 1
1
Daniel Ford, “Audacity and Heroism, Underwater,”
Wall Street Journal
, December 31, 2001.
2
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
3
Ibid.
4
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man: The Story of Richard O’Kane & U.S. Submariners in the Pacific War
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 282.
5
William Leibold, interview with the author.
6
http://www.lafayette.edu/news.php/viewnc/40-print
.
7
Edward L. Beach,
Submarine!
(Annapolis, Maryland: Bluejacket Books, 2003), p. 164.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Caverly.
11
Beach, p. 164.
12
Dick O’Kane, quoted in James F. DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare: How a New Breed of Officers Led the Submarine Force to Victory in World War II
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 192.
13
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
Beach, p. 166.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge! The War Patrols of the U.S.S.
Tang (New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), pp. 320-321.
21
Decker.
22
Murray Frazee, “We Never Looked Back” (
Navy Times,
July 1994).
23
Frazee, unpublished autobiography, p. 54.
24
Frazee, “We Never Looked Back.”
25
Frazee, unpublished autobiography, p. 53.
26
Frazee, interview with the author.
27
Leibold, letter to the author.
28
Caverly.
Chapter 2
1
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
2
The
Tang
was the first boat in the U.S. Navy to be named after a surgeonfish.
3
Decker.
4
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
5
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 375.
6
Murray Frazee, unpublished autobiography, pp. 51-52.
7
Marsha O. Allen, interview with the author.
8
More than one in ten of his graduating class would be lost during the war.
9
William Leibold, interview with the author.
10
Caverly.
11
Leibold, interview with the author.
12
Ibid.
13
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 166.
14
O’Kane, p. 472.
15
Tuohy, p. 167.
16
Lookout
(June 19, 2006, Vol. 51, No. 25).
17
Ibid.
18
Tuohy, pp. 172-174.
19
Chief Boatswain’s Mate Bill Leibold was another of the crew who had been surprised by just how far O’Kane was willing to go in readying the
Tang
and her crew for war. Leibold, letter to the author.
20
Murray Frazee, interview with the author.
21
Leibold, interview with the author.
22
Edward L. Beach,
Submarine!
(Annapolis, Maryland: Bluejacket Books, 2003), pp. 170-171.
23
O’Kane, pp. 372-373.
24
O’Kane was always trying to minimize the time needed for a refit. Murray Frazee, unpublished autobiography, p. 53.
25
Caverly.
26
Tuohy, p. 305.
Chapter 3
1
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 373.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid. pp. 373-374.
4
In another incident, Chief Quartermaster Sidney Jones had almost thrown Walker overboard because he looked as if he had fallen asleep during a watch. Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
5
Ibid.
6
O’Kane, pp. 376-377.
7
J. T. MacDaniel, ed.,
USS
Tang
(SS-306) American Submarine War Patrol Reports
(Georgia: Riverdale Books, 2005), p. 132.
8
It had taken just six hours after the Japanese attack for all American naval commanders to be ordered to “execute unrestricted air and submarine warfare against Japan.”
9
O’Kane, pp. 376-377.
10
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
11
Caverly.
12
O’Kane, p. 380.
13
Chris Stout, letter to the author.
14
MacDaniel, p. 132.
15
Murray Frazee, “We Never Looked Back” (
Navy Times
, July 1994).
16
MacDaniel, p. 132.
17
Hervie Haufler,
Codebreakers’ Victory
(New York: New American Library, 2003), p. 219.
18
MacDaniel, p. 133.
19
Caverly.
20
O’Kane, p. 383.
21
Caverly.
22
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), 2001, p. 308.
23
O’Kane, p. 385.
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
William Leibold, interview with the author.
27
O’Kane, p. 386.
28
Ibid.
29
Leibold.
30
Ibid.
31
Allowing the
Tang
to be buffeted along by the storm was out of the question. The storm could last for days, well beyond the reserves of battery power.
32
O’Kane, p. 388.
33
Caverly.
34
O’Kane, p. 389.
35
All the torpedoes hit their targets.
36
Cindy Adams, “USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
Chapter 4
1
J. T. MacDaniel, ed.,
USS
Tang
(SS-306) American Submarine War Patrol Reports
(Georgia: Riverdale Books, 2005), p. 133.
2
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 244.
3
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
4
William Leibold, letter to the author.
5
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
6
MacDaniel, p. 133.
7
Edward L. Beach,
Submarine!
(Annapolis, Maryland: Bluejacket Books, 2003), p. 154.
8
Robin Enos, letter to the author.
9
MacDaniel, p. 134.
10
Ibid.
11
Leibold, interview with the author.
12
Tuohy, p. 312.
13
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 406.
14
Murray Frazee, unpublished autobiography, p. 53.
15
George Grider,
Warfish
(New York: Little Brown, 1958), p. 56.
16
Ibid., p. 57.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid., p. 62.
19
Clay Blair,
Silent Victory
(Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001), p. 383.
20
It was a failure that had left many captains such as Morton deeply embittered and had caused a grave crisis in the navy that was resolved only when Vice Admiral Lockwood campaigned relentlessly for proper testing. Finally, after thousands of lives had been risked only to see torpedoes fail to explode, continual problems with dud and faulty torpedoes and their exploders were overcome when Lockwood forced the introduction of new, lightweight firing pins for Mark 14 torpedoes set to explode on impact.
21
Blair, p. 384.
22
Grider, p. 73.
23
Blair, p. 384.
24
James F. DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 84.
25
Ibid.
26
Grider, p. 73.
27
Ibid.
28
Beach, p. 152.
29
Ibid.
Chapter 5
1
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 433.
2
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 315.
3
William Leibold, letter to the author.
4
Charles A. Lockwood,
Sink ’em All
(New York: Bantam Books, 1984), p. 218.
5
Leibold, interview with the author.
6
Edward L. Beach,
Submarine!
(Annapolis, Maryland: Bluejacket Books, 2003), p. 174.
7
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
8
Beach, p. 175.
9
James F. DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 209.
10
Beach, p. 175.
11
Caverly, interview with the author.
12
Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
13
Lockwood, p. 220.
14
Tuohy, p. 318.
15
Lockwood, p. 220.
16
DeRose, p. 212.
17
Leibold, interview with the author.
18
Torpedo 24 broached as soon as it left the
Tang.
DeRose, p. 212.
19
Leibold, interview with the author.
20
Jesse DaSilva, interview with Douglas E. Clanin. Indiana Historical Society.
21
Beach, p. 178.
22
Floyd Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
23
O’Kane
,
p. 456.
24
Leibold, interview with the author.
25
O’Kane
,
p. 456.
Chapter 6
1
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
2
Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
3
Ibid.
4
Cindy Adams,
“
USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
5
“Loss of the U.S.S.
Tang
” (ComSubPac report, 1946), p. 252.
6
This was not always the case. A crewmember and an officer had to be restrained during a depth-charging on
Tang
’s first patrol; both had been quickly disqualified for submarine duty. William Leibold, letter to the author.
7
“Loss of the U.S.S.
Tang,
” p. 252.
8
Ibid.
9
Leibold, interview with the author.
10
Caverly, interview with the author.
11
Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
12
Caverly, interview with the author.
13
Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
14
Leibold, interview with the author.
15
Ibid.
16
Caverly, interview with the author.
17
Ibid.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid.
20
Richard O’Kane
, Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2003), p. 456.
21
Wall Street Journal
, December 31, 2001.
22
Leibold, interview with the author.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid.
25
“Submarine Personnel and Depth Charges” (ComSubPac report, 1946), p. 185.
26
Ibid.
27
Caverly, oral history, University of Minnesota.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid.
30
Caverly, interview with the author.