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Submarine commander Dick O'Kane participated in the most successful attacks on Japanese ships during World War II, until his luck, and the last torpedo he fired, took a dramatic turn. We track O'Kane's successful career, first as a protege aboard the legendary USS Wahoo, and then as Commander of the short-lived but lethal USS Tang. Through expert testimony, we relive O'Kane's seminal triumphs, and the tragic path of his last warhead.
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00:00Between the shores of occupied China and the island of Formosa,
00:08submarine commander Dick O'Kane attacks five Japanese ships, sinking two.
00:17He drops back to prepare a final assault.
00:21This last torpedo, this is all that stands between Dick O'Kane and another successful patrol.
00:28All he has to do is fire this last shot.
00:33O'Kane and the crew of the USS Tang
00:36New set up! Get ready!
00:39Have executed some of the most daring attacks against the Japanese in the Second World War.
00:45Fire!
00:47Until their luck and a torpedo take a dramatic turn.
00:52Have a battle! Call ahead emergency!
00:55In World War II, a subsea weapon allows warriors to fight from beneath the waves.
01:10With cunning, force, and tenacity.
01:16Their enemies strike back.
01:20Revolutionary, but still sometimes primitive.
01:24It's a desperate bid.
01:27To change the course of war.
01:29Their stories are legend.
01:44June 1944.
01:45Off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, an American submarine discovers a convoy of six ships, guarded by 16 heavily armed escort vessels.
01:58O'Kane is there and he's trying to figure out how best to attack.
02:02And he has this idea.
02:04He says, you know, why not come from the rear?
02:06Because lookouts inherently never look behind.
02:09Falling back, Commander Dick O'Kane discovers that only two destroyers protect the end of the convoy.
02:17He must sneak past to sink the freighters.
02:19O'Kane really falls back on human nature, gambling on the fact that most lookouts, like humans walking down the street, are going to be looking where they're going, not where they've been.
02:30Constant bearing!
02:31He sets up what he thinks is the perfect shot.
02:35Set! Fire!
02:40He fires a spread of six torpedoes.
02:47He sees the detonations.
02:50And it just, it lights up the night sky.
02:54But USS Tang must now escape the convoy.
02:58They're surrounded by enemy ships.
03:01Once those explosions go off, that it's going to draw all the attention of the Japanese escorts to those wounded ships.
03:09In that chaos, he'll be able to slide out.
03:12And it's what he does.
03:14O'Kane thinks he's successfully sunk two ships.
03:17Post-war records reveal that he, in fact, actually sank four ships.
03:21This becomes the most successful American attack in the Pacific during World War II.
03:31By 1944, the U.S. has been fighting Japan for over two years.
03:36And subs have been one of their most successful weapons.
03:40Tang's commander, Dick O'Kane, came of age on another sub, USS Wahoo, under legendary skipper Dudley Mush Morton.
03:53Mush Morton takes command of the Wahoo at the start of its third patrol.
03:55And Dick O'Kane is his executive officer.
03:59These guys are really great friends.
04:01They really see combat in a real eye-to-eye kind of way.
04:04Dick O'Kane is equally as aggressive as Mush Morton.
04:08And so they really, they almost form a perfect fighting team.
04:12Morton gives Tang Skipper his early edge.
04:15He was trained basically by Morton.
04:18And the interesting thing about the training was that normally the submarine commander is the one who looks through the periscope, figures out what's going on, and does the rest.
04:29Morton prefers to do the plotting and figure out what the situation is.
04:34He likes his executive officer, in this case O'Kane, to do the work with the periscope.
04:39That prepares him for being a submarine commander.
04:41He's very aggressive, he's very good at it.
04:48After five patrols on Wahoo, O'Kane remains ashore to take command of newly commissioned Tang.
04:57The promotion probably saves his life.
05:00Three months after O'Kane was reassigned, Morton and Wahoo were declared overdue and presumed lost.
05:11Now in command of his own crew, O'Kane is determined they will not share his mentor's fate.
05:26He puts his new submarine and its crew to a perilous test.
05:29The best tactical thing for a submarine is to go deep, is to get away from the enemy.
05:34And so you really want to increase the depth.
05:37Because that's really your only natural advantage.
05:39USS Tang is an American Vallejo Class submarine.
05:46Made of high tensile steel, about 20 percent thicker than its predecessors.
05:49It's engineered to withstand more pressure than any hull before it.
05:54submarine made of high tensile steel about 20 percent thicker than its
05:59predecessors it's engineered to withstand more pressure than any hull
06:04before it the blaio class submarine was without a doubt the most state-of-the-art
06:08submarine that the United States had in its arsenal as Japanese anti-submarine
06:13technology became more aggressive the ability for American submarines to be
06:18able to escape became paramount the U.S. Navy certifies Tang to dive to 400 feet
06:27nearly 100 feet deeper than previous subclasses
06:36but O'Kane wants to see how far he can safely go the information could be
06:42crucial when they come under attack
06:55some of the delicate equipment does not hold up to crushing ocean pressures as he
07:03pushes the sub 200 feet deeper than it is rated for
07:08all clear surface the boat all right sir surface surface surface
07:12but Tang's test dive proves the sub can survive at 612 feet
07:23as enemy forces mobilize O'Kane will need all the help he can get
07:38the Japanese finally acknowledge the threat posed by American submarines to
07:45their war effort and establish the grand escort fleet which grows to 60 vessels
07:51the grand escort fleet is created to protect Japanese shipping they would
07:58assign a number of ships usually about their four to escort maybe about 12
08:03merchant marine ships and then escort them through some escorts carry up to
08:08300 depth charges underwater bombs rigged to detonate at specific depths the goal
08:16is to compromise the submarine's hull
08:23by August of 1944 fewer merchant ships sail from the Empire's outposts
08:31USS Tang is sent into Japanese home waters to search for targets
08:35Japanese home waters to search for targets
08:42against falling odds
08:47O'Kane locates two freighters
08:54ignoring a small escort that charges to attack
09:01that's it take routine O'Kane orders a dive to avoid the counter barrage
09:05but the waters are very shallow less than 200 feet well within the range of depth charges
09:13on its fourth patrol off of Honshu
09:18Dick O'Kane experiences the worst depth charge attack he's had in 10 patrols on both submarines
09:24in August of 1944 the American submarine USS Tang fire six torpedoes then dives the crew listens as the escort passes overhead
09:51O'Kane
10:01O'Kane describes Tang stalker as a modest 1500 ton gunboat
10:05it's outfitted to drop up to 28 depth charges
10:09after the first salvo rattles the submarine
10:13the gunboat completes four more passes
10:16releasing more bombs each time
10:23lights shatter gauges are busted
10:30sailors are knocked off their feet during this attack
10:33it's worse than being on a battlefield in a lot of cases because you're in a tight confined space
10:39you can't see what's coming at you you can only hear it and you can only feel it as it's shaking the boat
10:46when submarine is lost it's typically lost with everyone on board
10:55when you're lost underwater
10:57you know your chances of survival are so limited
11:00O'Kane and his men know there's only been one case where a sub crew has been rescued
11:08in 1939 33 sailors were recovered with a diving chamber
11:14after the USS Squalus sank during a test dive in the Atlantic
11:18the submarine's location near American shores made the recovery possible
11:25five years later and thousands of miles away
11:32O'Kane orders left full rudder and risks full speed toward the open ocean
11:38worried his submarine can't take much more
11:41thirty-eight minutes after the gunboat charges
11:48the enemy loses contact with the sub
11:51and Tang makes an escape
11:56the prolonged attack rattles the crew
12:02O'Kane and his executive officer Murray Frazee
12:06they're sitting in the wardroom
12:08Frazee looks over at O'Kane and he tips us
12:10he tips his hand back like it's a glass
12:12and that's his signal that maybe it's time to break out the depth charge medicine
12:17depth charge medicine is essentially, it's brandy
12:20it was a way to calm the nerves of the sailors
12:22you know after you go through a really scary depth charge attack
12:25sometimes a shot of alcohol would be just a thing to sort of take the edge off of a long day
12:36two weeks later O'Kane returns to base
12:39through four patrols
12:41through four patrols
12:42Tang's crew averages a sinking every 11 days
12:46twice the kill rate of any other US submarine
12:50in four patrols
12:52Dick O'Kane has already sunk 17 ships
12:54for 72,000 tons
12:56he's hungry for more action
12:58and he's hungry for more action
13:07USS Tang is under the command of Admiral Charles Lockwood
13:11mastermind of Pearl Harbor's submarines
13:14O'Kane returns from his fourth patrol
13:16and he goes to see Admiral Lockwood
13:18and Admiral Lockwood wants to go ahead and send him right back out as soon as possible
13:22he needs to have his best skipper in position to help
13:27Lockwood faces a bold directive
13:31American forces led by General MacArthur rally to charge the Philippines
13:37if they succeed
13:39if they succeed
13:40it will put allied warplanes within striking distance of Japan
13:43McArthur is very hot to attack the Philippines
13:49if we held the Philippines
13:51Japanese couldn't be safe
13:53and by that time the Japanese realized that
13:56unless they stop us
13:58the next stop is Japan
14:00Lockwood has orders to sink enemy ships attempting to reinforce the Japanese garrisons
14:05a key supply route from Japan to the Philippines
14:12is the Formosa strait
14:14both shores of the pass are occupied by the Japanese
14:18the Formosa straits is one of the safest passages
14:24the Japanese merchant marine could take
14:27it was close enough to the shores
14:29they were protected on both sides by land-based aircraft
14:33and so it was a reasonably safe
14:37or probably the safest route that you could take
14:40Lockwood turns to his submarine ace to cut off this critical pass
14:49Tang's fifth patrol will take the crew to the Formosa strait
14:53but before they can leave they must resupply
14:57it proved surprisingly difficult however to source torpedoes
15:02the Mark 14 torpedoes used earlier in the war proved faulty
15:08the failure of the American torpedo in the early parts of World War II
15:12is one of the biggest scandals of the war
15:14where it was most problematic was for aggressive skippers
15:18who would go in and would get in close
15:20and would have these shots that looked like they were the perfect shot
15:23only to have your weapon fail
15:24the submarine service complained for months
15:28before the Navy agreed to test the Mark 14 warheads
15:32there had been this battle inside the Navy
15:34you had the Bureau of Ordinance who manufactured the torpedoes
15:37were blaming the skippers as bad shots
15:39and you had the skippers who were blaming the Bureau of Ordinance
15:41saying we have a faulty weapon
15:42and so there was really this back and forth
15:44and no effort to really solve that problem
15:46of the first ten Mark 14s tested
15:49seven failed to explode
15:51at that point the problem was well known
15:54it was just a matter of who was going to take ownership of this problem
15:57and work to remedy it
16:00the wakeless Mark 18 torpedo aims to replace the defective Mark 14
16:06a Mark 14 is a steam torpedo
16:09steam means that it leaves a trail of bubbles
16:12that means that if it's coming at you
16:15there's a fair chance that you'll see something coming
16:18an electric torpedo doesn't leave any bubbles
16:21so the Germans introduced electric torpedoes for that reason
16:25we recover some
16:27we basically copy it with American features
16:30that's a Mark 18
16:31and the idea is they won't see it coming
16:34so it'll work better
16:36on September 24th 1944
16:40Tang departs for Formosa
16:42with a complement of America's newest torpedoes
16:47Mark 18s initially allocated to a dry dock submarine
16:53American manufacturers were struggling to keep up
16:56and so there was a shortage
16:57so O'Kane has to ultimately scavenge a load of torpedoes
17:02from the submarine tambour
17:04O'Kane and his men have been out on patrol
17:06at double the expected rate
17:08in exchange O'Kane negotiates a break for his overwork crew
17:13and an upgrade for Tang at the end of this mission
17:16some 1500 miles into the journey
17:31typhoon season in the Pacific slows Tang's progress
17:35as the Tang is heading toward the Formosa Strait
17:39it hits these high swells that develop into this raging storm
17:43waves crashing against the boat
17:45Tang is tossing back and forth
17:47O'Kane tours to batten down the ship
17:51the situation takes an alarming turn
17:55O'Kane is doing an inspection
17:58and he steps into an open hatch in the forward engine room
18:01and he falls and his foot snags on the bottom rung of the ladder
18:05he's broken several bones in his foot
18:08so O'Kane is then having to command the ship
18:12from his back in his bunk
18:14October 4th
18:24October 4th
18:26Azo-Kane relies on his crew
18:28to battle the erratic weather that's lasted for days
18:31during a lull in the storming seas
18:35an intercepted Japanese message
18:38drags the skipper from his quarters
18:41the code break is level ultra
18:44there's several different kinds of code breaking
18:46that happened in World War II
18:48ultra is basically used for breaking military codes
18:52much of the allied code breaking in World War II
18:55is joint
18:57there are Americans at Bletchley Park
18:59there are Americans with Australians in Melbourne
19:02there are a lot of those units that work together
19:04and that gives us a fair amount of insight
19:08into the timing of Japanese operations
19:11skippers like O'Kane use this intelligence
19:14to pinpoint the location of enemy ships
19:17based on intelligence
19:19these submarines are literally being directed
19:21right on the point where they expected to have
19:24major Japanese naval units or convoys passing
19:27the ultra transmission reveals the suspected location of a Japanese weather ship
19:39weather ships make a very big difference
19:42if the other side doesn't have access to weather information that you do
19:47they'll do a whole lot better
19:50the coordinates are within reach
19:52but the stormy weather compromises O'Kane's attack plan
20:03the increasingly violent sea makes it difficult
20:06as he tries to hunt the Japanese weather ship
20:10typically in these kinds of situations
20:12submarine skipper would take the boat deep
20:14and just ride it out deep underwater
20:16but Tang's commander refuses to let a shot at the enemy slip away
20:21they surface so lookouts can brave the bridge to search through the rain
20:27it's very dangerous for these sailors to be out topside during a raging storm like this
20:34they can battered around it can be washed overboard
20:37O'Kane's in a tough spot because on the one hand he has to get into position
20:41on the other hand he has run the risk of losing his boat if he's not careful
20:46like O'Kane the weather is unrelenting
20:50around 3.30 a.m. violent winds force lookouts to abandon the bridge
20:57Tang is in the clutches of a typhoon
21:02at its peak the waves were from trough to crest were 95 feet
21:07many of the men on board the Tang were convinced they were done for
21:11the sea batters Tang's port side tilting O'Kane's submarine starboard
21:17at one point he looks over at the inclinometer
21:19and he sees it's got a 70 degree list
21:21and he says is she ever going to come back
21:24and his executive officer says you know sometimes they don't
21:27October 6th 1944
21:40a powerful storm threatens America's top world war 2 submarine
21:46if commander O'Kane attempts to dive now to escape the weather
21:58the waves could capsize USS Tang
22:01so he has to ride on the surface
22:04he has to just push through this storm and that's what he does
22:08when the storm finally ended the crew was hit by immense relief
22:14after surviving this what could be worse
22:19the Japanese weather ship if it was ever there is gone
22:25blown off course O'Kane and his crew set a westerly heading
22:28for Japanese controlled Formosa
22:33where allied forces mobilize a critical blitz
22:36they attack key airfields destroying hundreds of enemy planes
22:42to cripple Japan's ability to repel MacArthur's assault on the Philippines
22:47to cripple Japan's ability to repel MacArthur's assault on the Philippines
22:55the Japanese fight back damaging two aircraft carriers
22:59whose crews are among the first to ever witness a kamikaze attack
23:05USS Tang has arrived amidst the chaos to join the fight
23:24O'Kane's mission is to sink transport ships resupplying Japanese forces in the Philippines
23:36O'Kane's mission is to sink transport ships resupplying Japanese forces in the Philippines
23:38skippers like Nick O'Kane they know what their job is
23:42they know that their success is going to be gauged on how many Japanese ships they've sunk
23:47on how much Japanese tonnage they've put on the bottom of the sea floor
23:51so they leave with 24 torpedoes and they want to come back empty handed
23:55they want to have fired them all
24:05on October 23 1944
24:08Tang's crew finally spots a chance to strike
24:12the Tang's radar men pick up a whole mess of blips
24:15so many that they think they're actually looking at an island chain
24:18until they check the charts and they realize there are no islands in the same position
24:22so Kane's excited he's thrilled at this point
24:25he's got what turns out to be a four-ship convoy led by two destroyers
24:30the convoy steams to bomb ravage Formosa known today as Taiwan
24:40one of the ships is a troop transport that carries enemy reinforcements
24:46the target is a freighter you're cutting off raw materials
24:50if it's a transport you're cutting off troops
24:54and if you believe that the supply of troops isn't endless
24:59anything that can kill the troops on route helps
25:07Tang's crew readies for an attack
25:10sailors man the battle station
25:11O'Kane must get Tang past the screen of escorts
25:20constant bearing mark
25:25he's studying this and trying to determine what's the best way to attack
25:29and he sees his moment of opportunity when one of the destroyers
25:32pulls out of formation and begins a big wide circle around the convoy
25:35checking up and making sure all the ships are in line
25:39the timing is perfect
25:42O'Kane then moves into that destroyer's position
25:46and he knows that on radar for the other Japanese ships
25:49they're going to look and they're going to see what to them is just an escort
25:52and so he's going to blend right in
25:54he's going to become part of the Japanese convoy
25:57at night time on radar
26:00the submarine looks like a destroyer
26:04O'Kane continues the deception
26:07he just slowly pulls out to the side
26:10mimicking the movements of the Japanese escort
26:12and then he allows the other ships to slowly overtake him
26:15at that point he can then turn into position
26:18and he has the broadside of all these ships
26:21all of them targets that he can then shoot at
26:23let's get those ziggas rigged
26:31we don't got time, let's go, let's go, let's go
26:36Constant bearing
26:38O'Kane takes aim at the cargo ships and the convoy as they pass
26:42some at Tang's bow, another on its stern
26:47Mark
26:48he fires three electric torpedoes
26:59now these are wakeless so that they can't see them coming toward them
27:02two ready, fire!
27:04each time he fires
27:06you can feel the jolt, the shudder of the submarine
27:09as the compressed air pushes these torpedoes out
27:12and then he waits less than a minute or so
27:14and then the explosions light up the night sky
27:17O'Kane's bold attack quickly sinks two Japanese ships
27:23but the ambush reveals Tang's presence
27:28at that point actually one of these ships turns and sees the Tang
27:34and he comes in to try and ram O'Kane
27:37radar, give me a reading
27:38the convoy's transport is less than 30 seconds away from smashing into Tang's hull
27:45there's no time to dive
27:48he's boxed in by these burning ships and he can't escape, he can't dive
27:53he orders left full rudder and emergency speed
27:57and he actually goes right down the side of this Japanese ship
27:59O'Kane avoids a collision with the transport
28:09but a fourth cargo ship from the convoy steams in for the kill
28:13these two ships however are on their own collision course
28:17and O'Kane sees an opportunity
28:19Tang's commander maneuvers carefully
28:22he sets up a shot and he fires at the spot where the two ships are going to collide
28:26so into that mix of these two colliding ships go Tang's torpedoes
28:45he's created all this carnage out there
28:48these ships have collided, they've exploded
28:50and so against the glow of these burning ships
28:52he can see the destruction that the Tang has caused
28:54at that point he decides, my work here is done
28:58and he slips back out to sea
29:09as daylight breaks, Japanese patrol units hunt the submarine
29:13give me a new bearing
29:15bearing 272
29:18USS Tang launched the assault along a main shipping route through the Formosa Strait
29:22O'Kane believes the Japanese will reroute their convoys closer to the Chinese coast
29:29in a bid to deter the submarine
29:32the shallower water erodes Tang's deep diving advantage
29:40and leaves it more vulnerable to depth charges
29:43it's a risk Tang's skipper is driven to take
29:48all right sir, surface, surface, surface
29:51if you're a smart, aggressive guy you can get real results
30:01but that's also incredibly dangerous
30:05some of the most successful commanders get killed pushing it too hard
30:10October 1944
30:16America's submarine ace scours the Formosa Strait for Japanese ships
30:23on October 24th the Tang's radar men pick up another convoy
30:27and this is actually a 12 ship convoy and it's departed Sasebo in Japan
30:33and it's guarded by five escorts
30:35and it's strung out in one really long hollow
30:38if the convoy is weakly protected
30:41it becomes a tasty meal rather than a dangerous place
30:45stringing out the formation leaves some of the merchant ships unscreened
30:50O'Kane wonders why would the convoy commander do this
30:53why wouldn't he group them all together and surround them and keep them safer
30:57but he surmises that the convoy commander strung them out so much
31:00so that if they're attacked by American submarines
31:02they'll have enough space and distance that they can separate
31:05they can get out of the way
31:07O'Kane has 11 mark 18 torpedoes left
31:11he must fire as many as he can before his targets scatter
31:15and so O'Kane then has to decide how is he going to attack
31:20all ahead two thirds
31:24O'Kane orders Tang to slink between the convoy's two columns
31:28he's getting in close on this convoy when the searchlights are limited
31:33and the Tang gets spotted
31:34The crew races to attack the cargo ships before their escorts mobilize
31:45Get ready!
31:48He sets a sight on one, he fires
31:51Fire! Five on the way!
31:54He moves on to the next, fires again and again
31:56O'Kane targets five ships before a destroyer closes in
32:08At that point he clears out, he pulls back, he's only got two torpedoes left
32:13One of the ships they've hit has not sunk
32:17It's riding low in the water but it's not actually sinking
32:21And he wonders, are those crews below deck doing damage control to these?
32:26Is it possible that they're going to save the ship?
32:28Escorts protect the damaged ship's seaside
32:33O'Kane decides to creep around and attack from closer to the shore
32:37It's time to regroup, get a cup of coffee
32:40More importantly, reload those last couple of torpedoes
32:43And then it's time to return to the fight
32:45The words of his mentor drive O'Kane back into the fray
32:51It's just as much Morten had told him
32:53Tenacity, Dick, you stick with them until they're on the bottom
32:56At 2.30 a.m. Tang circles in for the kill
33:01The submarine advances at two-thirds speed
33:05Set up! Get ready!
33:07Get ready!
33:12Nine, stand by!
33:13Fire!
33:17Tang fires its 23rd Mark 18 torpedo
33:21Crews ready for the 24th
33:24This last torpedo, this is all that stands between Dick O'Kane and another successful patrol
33:31He's going to head all the way back to San Francisco
33:34The promise of days off, several months in California
33:37A real break from the war for his men
33:39All he has to do is fire this last shot
33:42Fire!
33:44I'm fired electrically
33:45The final warhead fires from Tang's bow
33:51Cheer spreads through the ship
33:54Throughout the submarine, men relax
33:57One of the men shouts, let's head for the barn
33:59There's no more torpedoes to fire
34:02The patrol is done
34:04But seconds later, something goes wrong
34:08Dick O'Kane is up on the bridge at this point
34:10We have an erratic!
34:12And he sees, almost immediately, that he's got a problem
34:15A major problem
34:17The torpedo is running erratically
34:19Tang's last torpedo makes what's called a circular run
34:23Which is what it sounds like
34:24It comes back at her
34:26A vertical rudder steers the 3,154 pound torpedo
34:31It's not running the right way
34:35If the rudder on the torpedo locked
34:37Instead of going onto the new course and staying there
34:41It would just keep turning
34:45570 pounds of explosives race faster than the sub can travel
34:51You can see the phosphorescence trailing behind it
34:54Kind of like the tail of a comet
34:56And so he can chart its course as it's coming in
34:58He's watching with horror as this errant torpedo
35:01Is boomeranging back toward him
35:03The torpedo is on a crash course with Tang's port side
35:07The submarine is the length of a football field
35:10And he has only about 10 seconds to try and fishtail
35:13The submarine out of the way of this torpedo
35:16Tang and similar submarines were so large
35:20They couldn't maneuver as well as, say, a smaller sub might have
35:23All ahead, emergency!
35:25So he immediately orders emergency speed
35:29And left full rudder to try and swing it around
35:32Hold on, hold on!
35:3320 seconds after Tang's final Mark 18 launched
35:3620 seconds after Tang's final Mark 18 launched
35:48The warhead strikes the submarine, which fired at them
35:52The torpedo comes and it slams into the stern of the Tang
35:55And it blows a huge hole in it
35:57And immediately starts flooding this aft compartment
36:08All those men in there are either killed in the explosion
36:11Or they drown
36:12The rest of Tang's crew is thrown into chaos
36:23The explosion is so horrific on board that it literally raises up the deck plates
36:30It ruptures the piping and it shatters equipment and machinery
36:33Their training kicks in like that and they begin to seal those watertight compartment doors to help isolate the flooding
36:46Sailors throughout the boat who just seconds earlier had been celebrating this return to San Francisco
36:51Are now faced with this stunning horror as water is beginning to flood inside of the submarine
36:55Topside, Tang's skipper faces a dark sea
37:05They can see the water racing up
37:08They also can see this huge cloud up above the Tang
37:11And it's that telltale symbol of a destroyed ship that they had seen so often over their own victims
37:15As Tang sinks, O'Kane and the lookouts are swept from the bridge
37:26The boat like a giant pendulum swings down to the bottom
37:30Until it rests on the muddy bottom of the Formosa Strait
37:40The surviving crew have one chance of life
37:42An exit hatch in the torpedo room at the bow of the submarine
37:48That escape chamber is the only thing that stands between these men and death
38:03October 25th, 1944
38:05In the Formosa Strait, dozens of Americans fight to survive a sunken submarine
38:15USS Tang Stern sits on the bottom
38:19The only escape hatch is at the bow of the submarine
38:24The bow, which is still filled with air, is actually jutting out the waves
38:28Sort of like a knife blade, if you will, coming up
38:31But with Japanese escorts on the hunt, the exposed section makes them vulnerable
38:36They were worried that there are still Japanese destroyers out there, in their escorts
38:41And they know that the bow of the submarine is an easy target
38:45And so if they don't level it and hide
38:47Then the Japanese may come in, know exactly where they are, and destroy the tank completely
38:51The men choose to sink their damaged submarine to conceal it
38:56While they prepare to escape
38:58They decide to level the boat
39:00To release all the air from the forward ballast tanks
39:02And to let the bow of the tang come down and rest on the bottom
39:06They release the air, and the tang dives for a final time
39:08At this point, these men who are scattered throughout the submarine
39:12Have to make this march forward to the forward torpedo rim, where the escape chamber is
39:16And it's a journey through a destroyed submarine
39:17There's sparks, some of the men are trying to destroy code books
39:28Some of these men had broken legs, broken arms
39:31Their heads had hit, you know, corners of equipment, and it cut them open
39:34And so they've got to move these injured men all the way forward
39:39An hour after Tang sinks, the last of its crew reaches the bow
39:45And then they get to the forward torpedo rim, several dozen men, they ultimately all crowd inside and they seal that door
39:58And inside that forward torpedo is the escape chamber
40:03And then they get to the forward torpedo rim, several dozen men
40:07They ultimately all crowd inside and they seal that door
40:09And inside that forward torpedo rim is the escape chamber
40:15The entire submarine lies 180 feet below the surface
40:20The crew will use a special issue breathing aid to give them a chance to survive the ascent
40:27A Momsen lung, a canister of soda lime captures carbon dioxide
40:33So air can be recycled and breathed again
40:35It's an experimental device designed to increase the odds of survival
40:46They're supposed to pause after so many feet to go up and sort of equalize, you know, to breathe in, breathe out
40:52Sort of equalize the air in their lungs
40:54In theory it seems like a very simple concept
40:57But typically when a submarine was lost, all hands were lost with it
41:00It was almost an all or nothing
41:01In very few cases were there any survivors
41:07As tanks crew prepares to brave the ocean
41:13Another attack
41:16Stops them short
41:20As these men are there, crowded inside the forward compartment
41:23Terrified about how they're going to make it 180 feet up to the surface
41:26The Japanese are coming over and they're dropping depth charges
41:32So here they are stuck on the bottom
41:35And their boat's still being rattled
41:36The helpless men endure a final depth charge attack
41:45Before the sea falls silent
41:50The helpless men endure a final depth charge attack
41:55Before the sea falls silent
41:57The conditions at this point in the forward torpedo rim of the Tang are awful
42:10The battery compartments are on fire
42:13It's hazy at this point
42:16The air pressure is rising and the heat and humidity are rising
42:17All of these things combined to sap the energy from these men
42:22Who are facing this life or death struggle as to how to get off of the sunken boat
42:28Thirteen men muster the strength to attempt an escape
42:33It's a really daunting task because at 180 feet it's the equivalent of an 18-story building
42:45Others are unwilling
42:47Or unable
42:49And so many more
42:51Finally decide to give up
42:53They lay on their bunks
42:55They've surrendered to their fate
42:56At 8 a.m. Tang's escape hatch closes for the last time
43:08When they first step out, it's very dark
43:11You can't see anything
43:13And the farther they go up toward the surface
43:15The water around them begins to lighten
43:26Only five of the 13 men survived the ascent
43:33Even those who escape and make it all the way to the surface
43:37Aren't necessarily guaranteed to survive
43:39In fact, for some of those men
43:41They watch others come up
43:43Who are vomiting, blood is coming out of their noses
43:46Who are so exhausted and so sick at this point
43:48That they ultimately drown just a few feet away from their friends
43:51Their bodies carried out by the tide
43:53The shallower seas where Tang attacked may have saved their lives
43:59Even slightly deeper water might have proved unsurvivable
44:05Four others from Tang's bridge and conning tower also make it through the night
44:13All are taken prisoner by the Japanese
44:17One of them is Tang's legendary skipper, Richard O'Kane
44:24The Japanese began to punch them, slap them, put out cigarettes on their skin
44:31And O'Kane looks and he realizes that a lot of the people who were inflicting this pain
44:36Are covered in bandages and this white sow, this medicinal sow
44:38And he realizes that the people who are now punishing him are the survivors of the boats that he just sank the night before
44:46And he later says, I could take it better after learning that these were the blows coming from victims of what we had done the night before
44:55Tang survivors spend the rest of the war in Japanese prisoner of war camps
45:02O'Kane lives to be 83
45:06He goes down in history as the most successful skipper of an American submarine
45:13O'Kane's legacy really comes down to tactics and daring
45:18His expertise and what he was best suited for really was fighting
45:22That's what Dick O'Kane was at the end of the day, he was a fighter
45:25Because USS Tang only ever had one commanding officer, Richard O'Kane, it's hard to separate the submarine from the commander
45:34Their legacy is that of one of the most successful fighting submarines of the Second World War
45:42Because it was held in such high regard, the first post-war class of American subs was named after USS Tang
45:50A lasting tribute to the man and the submarine
45:58A lasting tribute to the man and the submarine
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