- 2 days ago
The USS Narwhal rescues escaped POW survivors of Bataan from the island of Mindanao.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Music
00:26I'm Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykus, retired.
00:29The USS Narwhal was one of the older boats in the submarine service.
00:34She was built in 1930 and was larger than her sisters, but slower.
00:39Her top speed was only about 17 knots.
00:43Despite her infirmities, however, the old lady made 15 war patrols.
00:48One of the high points of this amazing career was a dramatic rescue, and that is our story.
00:59During her long service, the Narwhal had a succession of captains.
01:06In July of 1944, in Fremantle, Australia, Lieutenant Commander Jack C. Titus of Fixley, California assumed command.
01:13She handles very smartly at sea, particularly in rough weather.
01:18Another nice feature. The bridge stays barely dry.
01:30Does she maneuver pretty well?
01:32For a big boat, you might have a little trouble in port.
01:35Not much power on the motors.
01:37But she's got a good heavy bottom.
01:39If you should nudge the beach sometime, chances are you wouldn't hurt her much.
01:43But how is she submerged?
01:45Oh, a little sluggish, maybe.
01:48But you should have no worries about fuel.
01:50Number 2 MB has been converted.
01:52I think you'll find it improves diving time.
01:54Shall we go below?
01:57Carry on.
02:00This is your new skipper, Commander Titus.
02:03We'll get to the introductions later.
02:04How many men attached to this boat?
02:06Ninety men, ten officers.
02:08She's a big boat, Jack.
02:10You'll need every one of them.
02:11And...
02:12They're all good men.
02:13I'm sure they are.
02:17No spare torpedoes?
02:18Haven't been carrying any.
02:20The racks were removed to give more room for cargo space.
02:23You can carry a hundred tons or a hundred passengers.
02:26Not both, of course.
02:28She may be an old boat, but she's sturdy and she's roomy.
02:32Slap a coat of paint on her and you've got yourself a submarine.
02:35All right, Captain. You've sold me. I believe you.
02:37Now tell me what's wrong.
02:40You won't back out?
02:41The deal's already made. Let's have it.
02:43She's haunted.
02:45What?
02:46Something haywire in the stern planes.
02:49None of her commanding officers has been able to figure it out.
02:52So I'll pass the word along to you.
02:54Don't give her a down angle of more than eight degrees.
02:58If you do, the stern planes will stick and stand you right on your nose.
03:02Well, that's just fine. What do you do for emergency dives?
03:05I can answer that in two words.
03:07Yes?
03:08Avoid them.
03:11She's all yours, Captain. Good hunting.
03:13And remember, eight degrees, no more.
03:16The narwhal departed from Darwin, Australia on September the 14th for her 14th War Patrol.
03:26The stern planes had been overhauled, but were still undependable.
03:30Lieutenant Commander Gebhardt of Woodbury, Connecticut, was executive officer.
03:35The diving officer was Lieutenant Nick Annist of Knoxville, Tennessee.
03:40While the narwhal was engaged in operations in the Sulu Sea, events that were to affect her destiny were taking place off the north coast of Mindanao in the Philippines.
03:49Following the capture of the island of Muratai by American troops, the Japanese had decided to move their prisoners of war to safer areas.
03:57The prisoners were loaded into the holes of several small, rusty freighters for transportation.
04:19Now, one hour is overhauled.
04:21Look at her.
04:23Come on, let's get in.
04:24We'll get her.
04:28Welcome, let's get in.
04:32Where are we?
04:33We're all alone.
04:38We're all alone.
04:40What?
04:42You're all alone.
04:45We're all alone.
04:48The convoy had been attacked by an American submarine, and three freighters were sunk.
05:03Many of the prisoners of war escaped and got ashore on Mindanao.
05:11I can't stay here. Patrols! I can't. I can't make it. You've got to. Just a little farther.
05:25We can make it to the jungle. We've got a chance. Come on. At least we can run some more. Come on, you can make it.
05:36During the attack on the convoy, the narwhal was off for Good Point, far to the south, unloading supplies for guerrilla forces in the jungle.
05:49Permission to come to the bridge, sir? Permission granted.
05:52Captain, this monsoon worries me. He could drift into a mud bank. You think we ought to drop anchor?
05:59No, it takes too long to pull it in. If we're surprised, I want to be able to move out in a hurry.
06:03We've got pretty good cover here. We should have time to reach deep water.
06:06Maybe. We need plenty of time to dive. I'll take my chances on the mud banks.
06:15What's this? Tuba. Good. Bottoms up.
06:18Okay, thanks.
06:24Captain.
06:25Captain.
06:26Radio message, sir. Mark Durgent.
06:28I'll be right down.
06:31Nick, don't ride yourself too hard, huh? We'll take over the deck.
06:33Aye, aye, sir.
06:39Come in, Buzz.
06:41What do you got there?
06:42Tuba.
06:43Compliments of the shore party.
06:44Have you ever tried it, Captain?
06:46Once. Tasted like medicine.
06:48Hmm. Should I give everybody a drink?
06:50Yeah, if they want it, no harm in it, I can see.
06:52Yes, sir.
06:53We've got a hot one here, Buzz.
06:55Soon as we finish unloading, we proceed to the west coast of Mindanao.
06:59Oh, what's up, Captain?
07:0180 escaped prisoners of war hiding out in the jungle there.
07:04We've got to get up there and rescue them.
07:06Well, with the cargo off, we've got room for them.
07:08You'd better check the medical supplies.
07:10Some of those fellows have been prisoners since a time.
07:13They're in bad shape.
07:14They're in bad shape.
07:15Our rendezvous is l'amboyant point.
07:17About a course that'll put us there the soonest, huh?
07:19I'll get right on it, Captain.
07:33Oh, this is torpedo juice.
07:35Well, you don't smell it, stupid. You drink it.
07:37Here, you drink it.
07:44Maybe we'd better have the pharmacist's mate stand by just in case.
07:50Hold it, hold it.
07:51I've got a better idea.
07:52We'll make him drink it first.
07:54Then if he don't go into convulsions, we'll try it.
07:57I like my idea.
07:58Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!
08:07Do you have our course?
08:09Well, Surigao straight would be the quickest, Captain.
08:11However, it's been mine.
08:13The Basalan Strait and the other passages through the Hulu Archipelago probably have been too.
08:17What's that leave us?
08:18Subutu Passage.
08:19That'll put us off l'amboyant point about sunrise on the 27th.
08:23Wish you could let those fellows know we're coming for them.
08:43This one's in pretty bad shape.
08:55We'll have to carry him.
08:57You're all right now. Take it easy.
08:58Hopper.
08:59Where's Hopper?
09:01Where's Hopper?
09:02We were together.
09:03We found him too.
09:04You were carrying a dead man.
09:05We came so far.
09:06We came so far.
09:07There's no place inかった...
09:09There's no place in the front next.
09:10I mean it's not tooけれp.
09:11You're all right now.
09:14Take it easy.
09:16Hopper.
09:17Where's Hopper?
09:18We were together.
09:19We found him too.
09:20You were carrying a dead man.
09:22They're all right now. Take it easy.
09:24Hopper. Where's Hopper?
09:27We were together.
09:29We found him, too. You were carrying a dead man.
09:32We came so far.
09:35There's no place to go now.
09:38You're going home, fellow.
09:40I'm Captain Martin, Army, sent here to organize the guerrillas.
09:44We've radioed for a submarine to come and evacuate all of you.
09:47They'll never come.
09:50They forgot us.
09:52You'll see. There's a sub on its way here now.
09:59I hope.
10:04Anything yet?
10:15Well, Captain, we didn't go to ground after all.
10:18Maybe I've got mud bangs in my brain.
10:20Just picked up a message from the Nautilus.
10:22She wasn't so lucky.
10:23They're hard and fast on a reef off Cebu.
10:26Are they calling for help?
10:28Not yet. They're waiting for high tide and blowing fuel over the side to lighten ship.
10:32A little enemy airfields on Cebu.
10:35Any other submarines in the area?
10:37No, we're the nearest.
10:38We'd lose a good three days, Captain.
10:41That's not all that's bothering me.
10:43Can we accommodate a hundred men off the Nautilus and the eighty prisoners of war?
10:47Two hundred and eighty old toad.
10:52You'd use upper oxygen pretty fast in a long dive.
10:56That's a rough choice.
11:00The Captain's a friend of yours, isn't he?
11:06The Nautilus is our sister ship.
11:10But some of those men have been prisoners since 1942.
11:14I guess they've got something coming, too.
11:16But, of course, it'll give us a chance to go either way.
11:23Evan, help us if we have to choose.
11:32The Narwhal continued its run towards Lanboyan Point on a course that would permit her to veer off towards Cebu
11:38if the Nautilus failed to get off the reef.
11:41As the hour of high tide approached, Captain Titus waited in the radio shack for the Nautilus' message.
11:46At eighteen hundred it came.
11:58Where do we go, Captain?
11:59Lanboyan Point.
12:01The Nautilus floated off at high tide.
12:04Give the officer of the deck the new course.
12:06Aye, aye, sir.
12:07Two hours before sunrise in the morning of September 29th, the Narwhal was off Lanboyan Point.
12:21Captain Titus submerged and worked his way in close to the shore.
12:25The prearranged signal on the point was to be a red and white cloth tacked to a frame.
12:29The combination of colors had been selected so that the Narwhal would not mistake it for washing.
12:34Take a look.
12:35I don't see anything, Captain.
12:45Neither did I. We'll take a look every twenty minutes.
12:47Downscope.
12:56Captain.
12:58Sighted?
12:59No.
12:59Enemy ships.
13:10What do you make of it, Captain?
13:11It's no coincidence.
13:12They know something's up.
13:13We just get the signal.
13:15We could handle those babies with our deck guns.
13:17They're carrying antennas.
13:18They'd have planes here in twenty minutes.
13:19We'll just have to stay down until dark and wait.
13:25At dark, the Narwhal surfaced to charge batteries and wait for the next day.
13:29The Japanese sea trucks had continued to patrol the shore from Lanboyan Point on the southwest of the course to Lindongan Point.
13:36There had been no signals on the beach and no sign of any activity.
13:40Just after sunrise, a Japanese plane circled over the area and then flew away.
13:46The sea trucks had disappeared during the night.
13:48Captain, a native boat is standing this way from the beach.
14:04Prepare to surface.
14:18I'm the captain named Titus.
14:24Captain Martin, Army.
14:25I'm sorry to be late, but I guess you saw him.
14:28Everything secure ashore?
14:29Yes, sir.
14:30I'd suggest you move to Sierra Bay.
14:32There's some shelter there and it's a shorter run for the boats.
14:34Isn't it pretty shallow?
14:35Well, it's not too good, I'll admit.
14:37Currents and shoal water, not too much protection from the southwest monsoon.
14:41We've got a number of stretcher cases.
14:44Have the pharmacist's mate break out his medical supplies.
14:46Aye, aye, sir.
14:47We'll move in just as close as we can, Captain.
14:50When you see those men, you begin to get a faint idea of why it was called the Death March in Bataan.
15:14Well, it gets worse.
15:34Here come the stretcher cases.
15:35Thanks.
15:49Sure.
15:50We had a plane.
15:52Don't worry about them.
15:53We'll be running out of here soon.
15:55That's all I've done on this war.
15:57Run.
15:58We didn't have a chance at Bataan.
16:01Haven't got a chance now.
16:04I'm tired of being pushed around.
16:09I want a gun.
16:12I want to fight back.
16:15Your fighting days are over, friend.
16:17They were over before they started.
16:21We never had a chance to fight.
16:34Ships, bearing 342.
16:44All ahead, flank.
16:45All ahead, flank.
16:46Below.
16:47We'll run on the surface as long as we can, but if those sea trucks get help, stand by to
16:51take her down.
16:52Keep a good lookout for planes.
16:54Captain, plane dead astern.
17:01Clear the bridge.
17:03Dive.
17:04Dive.
17:05Dive.
17:06Dive.
17:07Dive.
17:08Dive.
17:23She's coming in on us, Captain.
17:24Take her down.
17:25Take her down, fast.
17:26level her off i can't mr hannish you won't level off the stern plane is stuck
17:39captain the stern plane is stuck in full drive blow valve buoyancy tanks
17:45in making an emergency dive to escape the japanese plane the narwhal had taken a down
17:53angle of 22 degrees far beyond the safety margin of eight degrees the stern plane had stuck
17:59four thousand tons of ship and ballast moving down at 13 knots had been too much momentum
18:04blowing the tank had no effect whatever the narwhal passed 120 feet and less time than
18:09it usually took to reach periscope depth all hands not at diving stations move aft
18:18all stop all stop
18:41all back full all back full
18:57captain titus stopped and then back full at 170 feet she started back up stern first
19:06all stop all stop
19:15hold it now she's gonna pop right out of the water
19:21as the narwhal broached the stern plane loosened that she lost the excessive down angle
19:32in three minutes she'd gone from the surface to 170 feet back to the surface and then settled
19:37placidly at 120 feet it happened so fast the plane couldn't drop a single bomb
19:43i think we'll just stay down here the rest of the day
19:53shake up your patience tomkins
19:55not too bad nobody even mentioned it maybe they think it's always this way no casualties either
20:02i'm kind of worried about that one captain it's in bad shape worse than the others physically no of course
20:10he's bad enough
20:13but i might be able to hold them together till he gets to a doctor
20:16only fight you know what i mean captain yeah i know
20:21broke his spirit doesn't seem to care
20:23i tried talking to him all he says is what's the use
20:29it's funny you'd think he'd be happy just to be out of this mess
20:35that was a different war for him
20:36he was knocked down in the first round and he's been taking it ever since
20:41it's pretty rough never to land one of your own
20:44you know what he said when i told him we'd gotten away from that plane
20:47one more glorious retreat
20:52i'll do the best you can for him keep me informed
20:54aye aye sir
20:58uh tomkins
20:59yes sir
21:01you think you could move them up to the conning tower you can put him in my chair
21:05well we could rig a sling and lift him up through the hatch do it then
21:10it'll give him something to think about
21:12where are you gonna sleep captain we've already got somebody in your room i'll make out don't worry
21:26what is it ship of some kind captain looks like a small freighter
21:33that's it army freighter we're swinging around ahead for him pretty lean picking so
21:38hardly worth wasting a pickle on well let's let him have it anyway
21:41it's too small we can throw him back steady on course one seven zero
21:51see if we can wake him up when the shooting starts
21:59bearing mark zero three two range
22:07mark nine hundred fifty yards
22:09starboard sixty stand by forward stand by forward we're ready captain shoot
22:28maybe our guest would like to have a look
22:39we're ready to go
22:56captain
22:59thanks
23:00on the fifth of october the narwhal came alongside the cb base on neos wendy island
23:10and unloaded the 81 evacuees there was one casualty despite captain titus efforts the
23:17feeling was however that this survivor of bataan had not died defeated for once he had
23:22seen the enemy run the following day another commanding officer boarded the narwhal to
23:27relieve titus she handles very well in rough weather the bridge stays drier than most don't
23:33worry about running aground with a heavy keel she'll back off what's this i heard about her
23:38stern plane sticking on hard dives i was getting around to that don't give her a down angle of
23:43more than eight degrees well suppose i have to what happens i could tell you bill but you'd never
23:49believe it i'll be back in a moment with our special guest it is our pleasure to have captain jack c titus
24:04who is a real skipper the narwhal with us jack it looks like things both inside and outside the ship
24:10gave you an interesting time on this patrol it certainly had its moments but aside from a tendency
24:16to act like an elevator the old lady got us there and brought us back i understand those prisoners
24:22of war didn't complain no they didn't admiral after what they went through the narwhal looked better
24:27than the queen mary to them just one more question jack what is this stuff tuba really like well it
24:35doesn't taste too good but if you can get a couple of drinks down you feel just like your stern plane has stuck
24:41well after watching the way the narwhal acted i think i'll have a cup of tea jack thanks very much
24:47for being our guest it was a pleasure thanks for giving me a second look at a nightmare
24:55please join us again for another true and exciting chapter of the silent service
25:09we'll
25:14from down
25:15down
25:16underneath the sea
25:18they've proposed
25:20we'll pass the word
25:22in the future
25:23the end will be
25:26that we'll stay
25:28as long as there's
25:30a submarine
25:32underneath the sea
25:34we'll
25:48in
25:50Let's see!
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