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WWII Hell Under The Sea S04E06
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面白系トランスクリプション
00:01February 1945.
00:08While an American submarine commander works to calculate the perfect solution to sink an enemy
00:13submarine, he dives and he has no way to track it. Out of sight, it could now be coming for
00:23them.
00:23It's almost a game of blind man's bluff and everybody's got torpedoes.
00:33In World War II, a subsea weapon allows warriors to fight from beneath the waves.
00:43With cunning, force and tenacity, their enemies strike back.
00:51Revolutionary but still sometimes primitive,
00:55it's a desperate bid to change the course of war.
01:00Here's stories, our legend.
01:11October 19th, 1944.
01:15The Flores Sea, around the Indonesian archipelago.
01:21Aboard the American submarine USS Batfish, the crew uses radar to collect information about a distant
01:29target. The operator considers the size of the pit and its relative distance to their current position.
01:38The detection range, that's a pretty good proxy for the size of the target, which is a good indicator
01:43of whether or not it would be worthwhile to approach and try to sink it.
01:48As the submarine closes in, two smaller pips also appear in close proximity on the radar screen.
02:00The three ships sail east at an estimated nine and a half knots.
02:06The two smaller vessels appear to be escorts,
02:08which flanked the large ship, about 900 meters off either side.
02:16The fact that there are two escorts suggests that that one ship may in fact be relatively important.
02:23That probably triggers Fife to say, huh, that's interesting.
02:30Lieutenant Commander John Fife served on submarines before the United States entered the war.
02:38On December 7th, 1941, he and his crewmates onboard USS Dolphin,
02:45fired their deck guns at Japanese aircraft from their berth at Pearl Harbor,
02:49and had a front row seat for the attack on Battleship Row.
02:59This experience forged a fierce determination.
03:05Fife was more of the up-and-coming, more aggressive skippers.
03:10He was executive officer in the USS Sandlance, and they have sunk several ships outside of Tokyo Bay.
03:18He had that mentality that we're going to do what we need to do,
03:22and we're going to sink Japanese ships.
03:27Now, USS Batfish creeps toward its target at four knots.
03:33A little more than four kilometers out, the target becomes visible from the submarine.
03:39Its large silhouette is consistent with that of a cargo ship or a fuel tanker.
03:49This war was started for oil. Oil is the key to everything around modern warfare.
03:55The Japanese have got to have it, or their war machine stops working.
03:59And so that makes a tanker an extremely high-priority target.
04:04As Batfish hunts in the waters of Indonesia during its fifth war patrol,
04:09the goal is to disrupt the Japanese transport of fuel and other goods via networks of shipping lanes.
04:16If you look at the trade routes within the Japanese empire, you'll see that they're mostly north to south.
04:21They're running south from the home islands down to places like Java and Borneo, where petrochemicals are to be had.
04:28That's where the tanker traffic is located.
04:31And that means that if there are any submarines in there,
04:34it's a knife at the jugular for all of the oil that's going back to the home islands.
04:42Once at a range of nearly 2,400 meters, and convinced of the importance of his target,
04:49John Fyfe plans to commit six torpedoes to sink the tanker.
04:54Unsure of how much of the ship's hull rides below the surface,
04:58Fyfe sets three torpedoes to run at a depth of 120 centimeters,
05:02and three more for a depth of 180 centimeters.
05:07He thought it was a tanker. He wanted to cover the depth range in order to make sure he hit
05:13it.
05:14He thinks he has the perfect setup.
05:30Fyfe fires all of the torpedoes loaded in his forward tubes.
05:37Each appears to run true.
05:43But the sea remains quiet and dark.
05:48Captain Fyfe is confused. He can't understand why the torpedoes did not hit.
05:53He had them hot, straight and normal. They weren't running erratic. They didn't broach.
05:59Fyfe observes that the vessel appears to ride high in the water.
06:09Out of curiosity, he decides to fire one more torpedo.
06:18Set to a depth of 30 centimeters.
06:24At this point, Fyfe thinks the first six had underrun the target.
06:31So he wanted to take that element out of the equation and say,
06:35this is the shallowest I can set it. Let's shoot it and see what happens.
06:44But again, he fails to hit his mark.
06:49When the second attack misses the target, he's mad enough to chew nails.
06:54He can't figure out what's going on.
06:57Fyfe orders the submarine to keep pace with the ship.
07:01He will try again in the morning.
07:04So he's going to go to his bunk and sleep it off for a few hours and see if maybe
07:08some rest will help clear his head.
07:15After the vessel makes a course change,
07:19Fyfe is called to the conning tower.
07:23He watches closely and observes something strange.
07:29It doesn't zigzag, a standard evasive tactic used by merchant ships.
07:37Fyfe's studying this target and he thinks there's something up.
07:41The term I think he used was, I smell a rat.
07:45But he's invested so many torpedoes on this target so far, he just doesn't want to let it go.
07:52Surface the sub.
07:57Fyfe decides to surface the submarine for a riskier daytime attack.
08:10He's motivated. After using up seven torpedoes the night before, he wants a kill.
08:18Fyfe switches tactics.
08:21Confident that a fuel tanker wouldn't be armed.
08:24The American crew races to battle stations to prepare the submarine's deck guns.
08:37Ammunition at the ready when the unexpected happens.
08:43The Japanese ship alters course.
08:52They turn toward Batfish and come at the submarine at high speed.
09:03The Americans quickly realize this isn't a tanker.
09:10It's a sucker plate.
09:13It is a ship that looks like it is an innocent, unarmed vessel.
09:18But it actually has a lot of guns on it. In some cases, depth charges.
09:31Fyfe and his crew have stumbled into an ambush.
09:45On the morning of October 20th, 1944,
09:51the American submarine USS Batfish comes under attack from a vessel called a Q-shoot.
09:58A Q-ship is a deception and it is trying to lure that submarine in close enough and hopefully on
10:05the surface.
10:06Then all of a sudden drop my panels and open up with my guns on it and put that submarine
10:11out of business.
10:13The British were the first to experiment with Q-ships in World War I to dupe German U-boat commanders.
10:20The Q stands for Queen.
10:23Along with the concealed weapons, it's loaded with buoyant cargo to make them less vulnerable to torpedo strikes.
10:30One of the things that a Q-ship has is passive defenses. You'll see that they'll fill the holds
10:35with barrels, empty barrels, to give it as much flotation value as possible.
10:40Which helps the ship sit high in the water and further thwart the submarine commander.
10:46And so he's going to be setting his torpedoes for a depth that he thinks is reasonable for a burdened
10:51of the tanker and they're going to go right under the ship.
10:58For Lieutenant Commander John Fyfe, the Japanese Q-ship's surprise armament and speed changes the game.
11:05When those panels drop and they open up on Fyfe, there's got to be a, oh my god, you know,
11:12what have I gotten myself into? And now he's got to get out of dodge.
11:16A single bullet could mean Batfish is unable to submerge.
11:20It only takes one lucky hit against my submarine, and now I'm in a world of hurt.
11:27But their timing must be right.
11:31Fyfe knows that his speed will be much slower below the surface.
11:35He's going to be catching up to me, so I have to have a good amount of room before I'm
11:39actually
11:39going to feel safe in diving. This is a really scary time. I'm probably, you know, zigzagging between
11:44his salvos trying to avoid getting hit.
11:56Fyfe finally yields, and Batfish dives in just 28 seconds.
12:15With deck guns and a hunter's speed, the Japanese also possess depth charges.
12:22Underwater bombs that explode at preset depths.
12:40Being on a submerged submarine during depth charge attack has to be one of the worst things you can
12:44probably go through.
12:52You're basically trapped in a steel tube, no escape, and you just have to sit there and take it.
13:00Batfish goes deeper.
13:04Submerged, its top speed is only around nine knots,
13:07but usually much less to conserve battery power.
13:16Another round of explosives follows it down.
13:24And detonates even closer than the salvo before.
13:32The shock waves damage a gasket which seals one of the torpedoed loading hatches.
13:38Water begins to stream in.
13:46More than 100 meters below the surface, all of the submarine's parts are under enormous pressure,
13:53and it could get worse fast.
13:55If they don't stop it, the front of the submarine is going to be filled with water,
14:02and it will plunge to the bottom.
14:05USS Batfish is an American Baleo-class submarine, typical of those commissioned during the war years.
14:13Baleos have a thicker hull than their Gato-class predecessors, and are made of stronger steel.
14:22Crewmen wrangle a block and tackle to cinch the hatch tight to stop the flow.
14:37But in the control room, the dive team also grapples with a problem.
14:42The depth charge attack knocked their gauges offline.
14:47At this point, Fife is missing his depth. He doesn't know how deep the Batfish is.
14:55Without this critical information, Fife doesn't know how close he is to crush depth.
15:06On board the American submarine USS Batfish,
15:12Lieutenant Commander John Fife faces two different threats.
15:17As they go deeper, the metal of the submarine creaks and groans, and the external water pressure builds.
15:29Valves burst and allowing more water.
15:36While above them, depth charges continue to explode.
15:40He has to maintain a position of strength and that he's in control, and no problem is too big for
15:46him.
15:47Fife calls off the dive.
15:59The sound of Japanese depth charges continues to penetrate the hull.
16:05But they can't guess how deep relative to their own position.
16:11The crew remains silent.
16:15Any noise could allow enemy ships to home in on Batfish's location.
16:27Hours pass.
16:29The air becomes clammy.
16:32And smells of stress and fear.
16:36The oxygen within the submarine is consumed.
16:41The carbon dioxide builds up in the air.
16:45It becomes impossible to light a cigarette.
16:48Not that you'd really want to smoke one under those conditions.
16:52Finally, Fife believes they've shaken the enemy.
17:00USS Batfish creeps back to the surface.
17:06More than seven hours after being driven down.
17:13The watch crew ascends and fresh air rushes in.
17:19Lookouts scan the area.
17:23There are no ships in sight.
17:26USS Batfish was lucky to survive its encounter with the Japanese ship.
17:31But even without a kill, the Q ship did its job by keeping Fife busy.
17:36And so in that sense, this Q ship is absolutely doing its job perfectly.
17:40It is suckering this guy in and making him expend torpedoes to absolutely no effect.
17:54Months later, in early 1945,
17:59American forces fight to retake the Philippines.
18:02After General Douglas MacArthur's humiliating defeat and expulsion nearly three years before.
18:10U.S. forces are now north of Manila.
18:13And the Imperial Japanese Army is in retreat.
18:18Tokyo needs a strategy to evacuate officials and transport air crews who will be needed elsewhere.
18:25Senior military authorities in Japan are hoarding aircraft, in many cases for kamikaze missions.
18:32If I already have a trained aviator, I want to get that person back to Japan,
18:39so that they can sell their lives dearly later on.
18:43With heavy Allied air coverage,
18:48submarines are the best option to undertake the evacuation.
18:55The Imperial Japanese Navy developed a range of submarines,
19:00from two-person midget subs in only 17 meters,
19:05to the I-400 class, which could launch up to three aircraft and stretch a staggering 120 meters.
19:13The RO-100 class submarines assigned to this mission extend only 60 meters.
19:21Ro-class submarines were originally designed for coast defense.
19:26They dive more quickly and they're more maneuverable.
19:29So they're actually in some ways more suited to this sort of mission than a big lumbering fleet boat would
19:35be.
19:39By February of 1945, USS Batfish has sailed under John Fyfe for more than eight months.
19:50On its sixth war patrol, Batfish joins other American submarines to prowl the waters between the Philippines and the island
19:58of Formosa.
20:07On February 6, 1945, Fyfe receives a message from an ultra-intelligence intercept.
20:15It contains instructions intended for a Japanese submarine.
20:20The Japanese, unlike the Germans, used code books, not cryptologic devices.
20:25And so this was susceptible to the kind of pattern matching that the allies employ.
20:32With American forces advancing across the Philippines,
20:36the decrypted message reveals the pickup point for the Japanese submarine,
20:41ordered to provide safe passage north to Formosa.
20:51Along with the potential VIP passengers,
20:53some believe these submarines will also carry valuable cargo.
20:58There's all sorts of rumors going around.
21:00There was gold and other precious artifacts that the Japanese were trying to bring home.
21:09Fyfe takes advantage of the intelligence to position Batfish close to the pickup point.
21:15The crew is watchful.
21:20On the evening of February 9, 1945, the radar operator notices something odd.
21:30Not a normal radar pip, but a shimmer or wobble of the scopes, timed to the rotation of the radar
21:36head.
21:38The wobble suggests another radar system operates nearby.
21:44Fyfe orders they secure the radar, turn it off, to not reveal their presence to the other scanning ship.
21:53It's interesting, but the commander requires more information.
21:57He wondered, could this be an American sub?
22:01And he had to be careful to identify the target, because he didn't want to shoot one of his own.
22:07He directs his radio man to transmit a query to the other American submarines nearby,
22:13to determine if the signal belongs to them.
22:19But the information comes at a risk.
22:23If it is a Japanese sub, the radio messages could act like locator beacons.
22:30Radioing might alert the submarine to their presence, and stealth is the Batfish's greatest ally at this point.
22:40One by one, the other American ships reply.
22:46No friendly submarine matches the coordinates.
22:54The failure to identify the source sets off a record-breaking hunt.
23:08Near the northern coast of the Philippines.
23:13Commander John Fyfe scans the seas for visual confirmation of the signal they've been monitoring.
23:23But discerns nothing in the darkness.
23:28His past experience would make him wary.
23:31It's got to be fresh in his mind about the Q ship from the last patrol.
23:35So he's wondering, is this another trap I'm walking into?
23:40They continue to monitor the radar return from the target.
23:45But also pick up the sound of propellers.
23:50The Batsh.
23:51Batfish speeds up to track their target.
23:53When the contact makes a sudden course change.
23:57Any sort of anomaly like that is going to trigger
24:01Fyfe's warning receiver, if you will, to think, yeah, something could be up here.
24:06Right pole rudder.
24:07All ahead flight.
24:07But Fyfe believes he hasn't been seen.
24:10With no visible moon, the overcast sky cloaks his submarine.
24:18Now using regular readings from the radar, they estimate a speed and range.
24:23The target is approximately 1,700 meters away.
24:32Batfish's torpedo data computer calculates a firing solution.
24:37Fire one.
24:38Fyfe orders a quick attack.
24:42They fire four torpedoes.
24:45He has no idea how low the target sits in the water, or what it is exactly.
24:51Fyfe doesn't know 100% if this is a surface ship or a submarine.
24:54So he sets his spread and sets his depth to cover both bases, ship or sub.
25:03Seconds turn to minutes.
25:07There's no sign of a hit.
25:12Eight minutes later, the bridge crew hears far off explosions.
25:15They assume our end of run detonations.
25:21They miss with those four torpedoes.
25:24At this point, Fyfe is frustrated.
25:26He wants to sink this really bad.
25:30Fyfe suspects their calculations were off.
25:33He consults the crew.
25:36With updated information, they figure out the contact's estimated speed is 14, not 12 knots.
25:43It's kind of like using a calculator.
25:46Three times three is nine, but if you enter three times two, you won't get the right answer.
25:53They monitor the target for a reaction.
25:59But it maintains the same speed and course, despite the explosions.
26:05Normally, a ship would try to take some type of evasive action.
26:09They just kept on going, same speed, same direction, no zigzag.
26:15Fyfe decides to close in on the enemy's coordinates.
26:20While they reload the bow torpedo tubes to try again.
26:28He wants to get close enough to visually identify the target.
26:34This will give him an estimate of the length, the speed, and the range to the target so he can
26:39enter those new values into the torpedo data computer to ensure a hit.
26:46Near midnight, the bridge crew sights a dark shape just above the waves.
26:52At a range of about 1,400 meters, the commander gets his first look at the enemy submarine.
27:03Fyfe has got to be thinking to himself, you know, this is a whole different type of engagement.
27:07And now I'm up against an opponent that is really very much like me.
27:11Knowing that Japanese submarines are armed with torpedoes and deck guns, just like their American rivals,
27:18Fyfe prepares for the worst and clears the bridge.
27:22He'll remain alone on Batfish's deck to cut the time required for an emergency dive if the attack goes wrong.
27:30Fyfe has got to be very, very wary because he never knows whether or not he is now being actively
27:38hunted as well.
27:44Fyfe orders a salvo of three torpedoes set at two different depths.
27:57Immediately after they fired the first, there's something wrong.
28:01Hot run, hot run, hot run!
28:03The torpedo has failed to launch and might have begun a countdown to detonation.
28:10The torpedo is lodged in the torpedo tube. I mean, that's a recipe for disaster.
28:23In the forward torpedo room of USS Batfish, the crew has a serious problem.
28:30They've fired a torpedo, but it hasn't left the submarine. It's impossible to know for sure if it's armed.
28:38It could explode. And so they need to get that out of the tube as soon as possible.
28:44The entire crew and Commander John Fyfe understand the risk as they continue to track their attack against the Japanese
28:52submarine.
28:58With the torpedo still stuck, non-essential submariners evacuate the forward torpedo room
29:05and seal off the water-tight hatches.
29:08In case of an explosion, they want to protect the men and the rest of the submarine from any damage
29:13that might cause.
29:15Fyfe works to stay focused.
29:17It would probably be unnerving, but he can't let that on. He's got to rely on his men to get
29:22the job done.
29:23He orders that they fire the next torpedo.
29:28After a torpedo is loaded into its tube and the interior hatch sealed,
29:32the tube is filled with water to equalize the pressure difference and allow the muzzle door at the front to
29:38open.
29:41Compressed air released into the tube forces the torpedo out.
29:51Fortunately, the second torpedo leaves the tubes without incident.
29:59Rather than continuing to relaunch the first torpedo, they try to nudge it back into the tube.
30:05So the front door can close and they can build up enough pressure to fully launch it.
30:12The danger is hitting the nose of the torpedo with the door.
30:15The force could set it off.
30:17I think they would be scared and they've isolated from the rest of the crew with the risk that they
30:22could die at any moment.
30:27Finally, the torpedo slides back in and the door closes.
30:31Ready to fire. Ready to fire.
30:33They try to fire it again.
30:38This time, the torpedo ejects from the tube.
30:42Then they launch the third torpedo, the Salvo.
30:50Topside, Commander Fyfe rests his hopes on the two properly fired torpedoes,
30:55which race towards the Japanese submarine.
31:01Just after midnight, Fyfe sees a massive explosion.
31:07The enemy submarine no longer poses a threat.
31:14Fyfe's bridge crew re-emerges to take in the scene.
31:19It's an unusual achievement.
31:23Of approximately 1,300 submarines sunk in World War II,
31:28only 6% were sunk by another submersible.
31:32Fyfe believed it was a Japanese I-class sub.
31:36There's not much left of it to identify.
31:38So for this submarine in particular, there were so many different theories on which one it is.
31:45Japanese records weren't conclusive, but the radar return Batfish detected is a clue.
31:51One of the key things I found was that certain submarines had air search radar.
31:57And one of them was the RO-100 class submarines.
32:00So it couldn't have been an RO-55 or an I-boat.
32:07Because of their stealth, navies often lost track of their subsea vessels.
32:13I used the process of elimination to determine which ones could not have been there.
32:18They were sunk previously. They were on assignment somewhere else.
32:21I believe that on February 10th, Batfish sank the RO-115.
32:26That was the only R-100 class submarine in the area at that time.
32:32The next morning, Batfish still lurks at periscope depth,
32:38hoping to return to the surface and investigate the scene further.
32:43But just before 10 a.m., Fife's sweep reveals a cluster of U.S. Navy planes.
32:50Spotting an American aircraft overhead can be a good thing and a bad thing.
32:54Good is that you have air cover. The bad thing is that these American pilots
32:59could mistake an American sub for a Japanese sub and then attack it.
33:07That's a good thing.
33:08While Fife continues his observations,
33:14his sound operator reports a loud splash and the rotations of a propeller.
33:20The evidence indicates it's a torpedo drop from one of their own planes, targeting them.
33:26Down vertical.
33:33Aviators are not particularly well known for being discriminating in their target selection.
33:38Sub looks like a sub looks like a sub.
33:42To evade friendly fire, Batfish goes deeper.
33:48At around 30 meters, the crew listens in silence.
33:52They don't know whether it's a homing torpedo that can circle back to follow Batfish down.
34:11Fortunately, it passes harmlessly overhead.
34:17The next day after sunset, Batfish surfaces once more off the northern coast of the Philippines.
34:30Almost immediately, they pick up a radar signature like the one before.
34:44To the northwest, Japanese submarine R0112 participates in the same critical mission.
34:54Assigned to evacuate dignitaries and stranded pilots from the Philippines.
35:04They need every pilot that they can get.
35:07Among other things, they don't have enough gasoline left in the home islands to do pilot training.
35:15They don't have enough gasoline left in the home islands to do pilot training.
35:16Batfish closes in.
35:18And just after 8.30 p.m. on February 11th,
35:22the crew makes visual contact with the source of the new radar returns.
35:28Pull ahead, pull.
35:38At a range of about 1200 meters from the target, Fife begins his calculations.
35:46He takes his time to obtain a perfect solution just to make sure.
35:50When he's ready to fire, the target disappears.
36:00You have an unseen and potentially very dangerous opponent.
36:06It's almost a game of blind man's bluff.
36:09And everybody's got torpedoes.
36:21When the submarine that USS Batfish had been tracking dives,
36:26Commander John Fife regrets that he didn't take a quicker shot.
36:31Instead, he's put his own submarine at risk.
36:36Fife is worried that he might have been spotted and that that Japanese submarine is now making an approach on
36:41him.
36:42But then, Batfish's hydrophone operator reports a swishing noise.
36:49It's the distinct sound of submarine ballast tanks being blown.
36:55When the Japanese submarine surfaces, it maintains its same speed and course.
37:02This suggests that Fife may still possess the element of surprise.
37:07A course change may indicate that the Japanese submarine is aware of batfishes out there.
37:13This tells Fife that he hasn't been spotted yet and gives him good confidence in his submarine's camouflage.
37:19But he can't be sure.
37:22So for this approach, Fife opts for a more cautious strategy.
37:26The commander will stalk his prey with the American sub mostly below the surface.
37:34In a position known as radar depth.
37:37Radar depth, he's a little deeper in the water, which reduces his silhouette.
37:42He is underwater, so he's at his stealthiest.
37:47But he also has one of his best sensors, his radar set, above the water.
37:53It almost gives Fife, in a way, sort of the best of both worlds.
37:59Range and bearing readings indicate that the target has increased its speed by five knots.
38:07Fife must make his move.
38:15A little after 10 p.m.
38:18Fire!
38:21A salvo of torpedoes race toward the target.
38:25A little after 10 p.m.
38:47Less than a minute later, the first torpedo strikes true.
38:53Fife, looking through the periscope, sees a torpedo hit and sees a bright orange fireball.
39:00Japanese submarine RO-112 is lost with all hands.
39:17Days later, the same radar interference reveals the presence of another submarine to the crew of Batfish.
39:29So after sending two Japanese submarines to the depths, USS Batfish attacks and destroys a third,
39:36RO-113.
39:39A feat unmatched by any American submarine during the war.
39:46They wait for morning to scan the seas for any evidence from the lost enemy sub.
39:56They found a wooden box, and they didn't know what was in it.
40:08The men discover proof of RO-113's track before its encounter with Batfish,
40:15humanizing their Japanese counterparts.
40:32In the aftermath, Fife addresses his own crew and acknowledges the sense of duty they each shared
40:38with the enemy.
40:41There was a particular poignancy to these attacks.
40:45Sinking another submarine is like sinking another vessel that has your same identity.
40:51I think it brings home their mortality and their vulnerability in a way that sinking a surface
40:56ship would not.
40:58They were fellow submariners, and there was some type of a brotherhood.
41:02This could have easily just as happened to us as it did to them.
41:07It will be a fate shared with countless other Japanese submariners.
41:15One of the things that doesn't get talked about a lot, Japanese submarine force was annihilated
41:21during this war. I don't know the exact percentage, but it's got to be north of 80
41:26or 90 percent of their boats get sunk, and all of those sailors are lost. So this was tremendously
41:33dangerous duty for them, and they didn't have a lot to show for that sacrifice.
41:42Commander John Fife earns the Navy Cross for the unprecedented accomplishment of sinking
41:48three enemy submarines in less than 77 hours.
41:53The crew of USS Batfish earns the Presidential Unit Citation for the 6th War Patrol
42:00and a trip stateside for leave and a full overhaul.
42:07Batfish would sail just one final patrol in Japanese waters before the war's end.
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