- 1 week ago
Why USS O'Bannon's crew threw potatoes at a Japanese submarine during WW2 — and received a commemorative plaque from Maine Potato Growers for it. This World War 2 story reveals how desperate improvisation with vegetables bought enough time to turn the tables on Ro-34.
April 5, 1943. Commander Donald J. MacDonald, commanding USS O'Bannon, found his destroyer parallel to Japanese submarine Ro-34 at seventy yards after avoiding a ramming collision. His five-inch guns couldn't depress low enough to fire. Japanese sailors were running toward their deck gun. Every naval doctrine said destroyers fight submarines with depth charges or torpedoes. The crew had neither option.
They were all wrong.
What O'Bannon's sailors discovered that night wasn't about following regulations. It was about using whatever was closest — storage bins full of Maine potatoes — to stop enemy sailors from reaching their weapon. Japanese submariners thought the potatoes were hand grenades, panicked, threw them overboard, and never manned their gun. By the time the potato battle ended, O'Bannon had gained enough range to fire her real weapons and engage the submarine.
This incident spread through the Pacific Flee
April 5, 1943. Commander Donald J. MacDonald, commanding USS O'Bannon, found his destroyer parallel to Japanese submarine Ro-34 at seventy yards after avoiding a ramming collision. His five-inch guns couldn't depress low enough to fire. Japanese sailors were running toward their deck gun. Every naval doctrine said destroyers fight submarines with depth charges or torpedoes. The crew had neither option.
They were all wrong.
What O'Bannon's sailors discovered that night wasn't about following regulations. It was about using whatever was closest — storage bins full of Maine potatoes — to stop enemy sailors from reaching their weapon. Japanese submariners thought the potatoes were hand grenades, panicked, threw them overboard, and never manned their gun. By the time the potato battle ended, O'Bannon had gained enough range to fire her real weapons and engage the submarine.
This incident spread through the Pacific Flee
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00At 2.18 a.m. on April 5, 1943,
00:04Commander Donald McDonald stood in the Combat Information Center of USS O'Bannon,
00:09watching his radar operator track a contact moving at 8 knots on the surface,
00:1440 miles off Russell Islands.
00:1741 years old, 17 months commanding destroyers, zero submarines sunk.
00:23The Japanese Imperial Navy had 73 operational submarines
00:27hunting American convoys in the Solomon Islands.
00:30Each one carried 10 Type 95 torpedoes and a 76-millimeter deck gun
00:36capable of sinking a destroyer at close range.
00:39McDonald's destroyer squadron had just finished shelling Japanese installations at New Georgia.
00:45Now they were steaming back to Tulagi Harbor when the radar contact appeared.
00:509,350 yards.
00:52Moving slowly.
00:54Surfaced.
00:54USS O'Bannon was a Fletcher-class destroyer displacing 2,100 tons.
01:01She carried five 5-inch guns, six depth charge tracks, and 10 21-inch torpedo tubes.
01:0817 Battlestars already.
01:10The most decorated destroyer in the Pacific Fleet.
01:13But submarines were different.
01:15Submarines killed destroyers.
01:17Between January and March 1943, Japanese submarines had sunk four American destroyers in the Solomons,
01:25USS Dehaven, USS Aaron Ward, USS Tucker, USS Jarvis.
01:321,217 sailors dead.
01:35The pattern was always the same.
01:37Destroyer hunting at night.
01:39Submarine waiting submerged.
01:41Torpedoes from below.
01:43Ship gone in three minutes.
01:44McDonnell ordered flank speed.
01:47O'Bannon surged forward.
01:49The range closed.
01:508,000 yards.
01:526,000.
01:534,000.
01:54The contact wasn't diving.
01:56Still on the surface.
01:58Still moving slowly.
01:59Either the Japanese lookouts were asleep or their radar wasn't working.
02:03At 1,000 yards, lookouts identified the target.
02:07Japanese submarine.
02:09Row class.
02:10Medium patrol type.
02:1273 meters long.
02:13Equipped with four torpedo tubes and that deck gun.
02:1766 men aboard.
02:18McDonnell made his decision.
02:20Ram her.
02:21End it fast.
02:23O'Bannon accelerated.
02:2535 knots.
02:26The bow wave rose white in the darkness.
02:29500 yards.
02:30300.
02:31200.
02:32Then someone on the bridge shouted a warning.
02:35What if she's a mine layer?
02:36Japanese submarines in the Solomons had been laying mines for months.
02:40Hitting a submarine loaded with mines would vaporize O'Bannon.
02:4415 officers and 273 enlisted men dead in one explosion.
02:50McDonnell ordered hard left rudder.
02:52O'Bannon groaned.
02:54The destroyer heeled over.
02:56A massive wave surged from her hull and slammed into the submarine's side.
03:01The maneuver worked.
03:02Instead of ramming, O'Bannon slid parallel to the submarine.
03:0670 yards apart.
03:08Now McDonnell saw the problem.
03:10Japanese sailors were on deck.
03:13Dark shorts.
03:14Blue caps.
03:15All of them had been sleeping.
03:17Now they were waking up.
03:18Staring at the American destroyer looming over them.
03:22Scrambling toward their deck gun.
03:24If you want to see how McDonnell's crew stopped those Japanese sailors from reaching that gun,
03:29please hit that like button.
03:30It helps us share more forgotten stories like this one.
03:33Please subscribe.
03:35Back to McDonnell.
03:36O'Bannon's guns couldn't depress low enough to fire.
03:40The submarine was too close.
03:4270 yards.
03:43Maybe 60.
03:44The 5-inch guns needed at least 200 yards minimum depression angle.
03:48The 20-millimeter guns were unmanned.
03:51The crew was at battle stations for surface action, not close combat.
03:56Japanese sailors were running across the submarine's deck, heading for that 76-millimeter gun.
04:01If they reached it, they could fire directly into O'Bannon's hull at point-blank range.
04:07Punch through the thin destroyer armor.
04:09Detonate the forward magazine.
04:11Kill everyone in the bow.
04:13McDonnell ordered engines ahead.
04:16Try to gain distance.
04:17But O'Bannon was a 2,000-ton destroyer.
04:20She couldn't turn on a dime.
04:22The submarine was still there.
04:24Parallel.
04:25Close enough to hit with a thrown wrench.
04:27On O'Bannon's deck, sailors were grabbing anything they could throw.
04:31Wrenches.
04:32Spanners.
04:33Coffee mugs.
04:34Anything to stop those Japanese from reaching their gun.
04:37Then someone opened a storage locker near the forward deckhouse.
04:41Inside were sacks of potatoes.
04:44Maine potatoes.
04:45Part of the crew's food supply.
04:47And someone had an idea that would either buy them 30 seconds or get them all killed.
04:54Seaman First Class Ambrose Harden grabbed the first potato.
04:58Round.
04:59Firm.
05:00About the size of a hand grenade.
05:02He threw it at the nearest Japanese sailor running toward the deck gun.
05:06The potato hit the man in the shoulder.
05:08The sailor stopped.
05:09Stared at the brown object rolling across the submarine's deck.
05:13Then dove for cover.
05:14More O'Bannon sailors grabbed potatoes.
05:18Threw them.
05:19One after another.
05:20The Japanese sailors stopped running.
05:23Started dodging.
05:24Picking up the potatoes.
05:26Examining them.
05:28Then throwing them back at the Americans or heaving them over the side into the black water.
05:32The Japanese thought they were grenades.
05:35They had to be grenades.
05:37What else would Americans throw at them in combat?
05:39Hand grenades looked similar.
05:42Round.
05:43Brown.
05:43About the same weight.
05:45In the darkness at 70 yards, a main potato and a Mark II fragmentation grenade were identical.
05:52Gunner Bud Moreau threw six potatoes in 30 seconds.
05:56Each one hit the submarine's deck.
05:59Japanese sailors scrambled to get rid of them.
06:02Threw them overboard.
06:03Threw them back.
06:04Never reached the deck gun.
06:06The 76mm cannon sat unmanned.
06:09Silent.
06:11George Starkey stood on the amidship searchlight platform.
06:15He had the best angle.
06:16Could see the entire submarine deck.
06:19He watched Japanese sailors running in panic.
06:22Throwing potatoes into the sea.
06:24Waiting for explosions that never came.
06:28The whole scene was insane.
06:30A destroyer fighting a submarine with vegetables.
06:34McDonald used the time.
06:36Ordered engines ahead full.
06:38O'Bannon surged forward.
06:40The range opened.
06:4280 yards.
06:43100.
06:44150.
06:45The potatoes kept flying.
06:47The Japanese kept dodging.
06:50Still hadn't figured out they weren't grenades.
06:52At 200 yards, McDonald ordered cease potato throwing.
06:57The 5-inch guns could depress now.
07:00Gun crews swung the barrels down.
07:02Loaded high explosive shells.
07:04The submarine was still on the surface.
07:07Still parallel.
07:08The Japanese were still throwing potatoes overboard.
07:12McDonald ordered,
07:14Commence firing.
07:15Gun number 2 fired first.
07:175-inch high explosive shell.
07:19Direct hit on the conning tower.
07:21The explosion tore through the submarine's pressure hull.
07:24Metal fragments sprayed across the deck.
07:27Japanese sailors dove for the hatches.
07:29Gun number 4 fired.
07:31Another hit.
07:32The submarine's deck gun mount exploded.
07:35Pieces of the 76-millimeter cannon flew into the water.
07:38The submarine was taking damage.
07:40Real damage.
07:42Not from potatoes.
07:43From 5-inch naval guns firing at 200 yards range.
07:47The Japanese submarine captain made his decision.
07:50Crash dive.
07:51Get underwater.
07:52Escape.
07:53The submarine's bow dipped.
07:55Water flooded over the forward deck.
07:57Japanese sailors were still topside.
07:59Some made it to the hatches.
08:01Some didn't.
08:02The submarine went down fast.
08:05McDonald ordered hard right rudder.
08:07Bring O'Bannon directly over the dive point.
08:10The destroyer turned.
08:11Crossed the swirling water where the submarine had disappeared.
08:14Depth charge crew stood ready.
08:176K type depth charges loaded.
08:19Each one packed 300 pounds of Torpex high explosive.
08:22Set to detonate at 75 feet.
08:25The submarine was diving.
08:26Trying to reach 150 feet.
08:29Get below the depth charge pattern.
08:31But she was damaged.
08:32The conning tower hit had compromised something.
08:35Oil was bubbling to the surface.
08:37Dark streaks in the white foam.
08:39McDonald ordered drop depth charges.
08:41Three charges rolled off the stern racks.
08:44Hit the water.
08:45Sank.
08:46The pattern was perfect.
08:48Straddled the submarine's estimated position.
08:505 seconds.
08:5110 seconds.
08:5215 seconds.
08:53The ocean erupted.
08:56Three massive explosions.
08:58White columns of water shot 200 feet into the air.
09:01The shockwave hit O'Bannon's hull.
09:03Rattled every plate.
09:05Every rivet.
09:06Sailors grabbed handrails to stay upright.
09:09Then silence.
09:11The water settled.
09:12Oil spread across the surface.
09:14Debris floated up.
09:15Wood fragments.
09:17Fabric.
09:17Personal items.
09:19No survivors.
09:20No submarine surfacing.
09:22Just oil and wreckage.
09:23McDonald's studied the debris field.
09:26Had they sunk her?
09:27Or had the submarine escaped damaged?
09:29In three days, another American destroyer would find out.
09:34April 5th, 0600 hours.
09:37Dawn broke over the Solomon Islands.
09:40O'Bannon's crew secured from battle stations.
09:43The radar screen was empty.
09:44No contacts.
09:46No surface submarines.
09:48Just open ocean and the oil slick they'd left behind.
09:51Ernest Herr stood on deck looking at the potato storage locker.
09:55Half empty now.
09:57Maybe 60 potatoes left.
09:59The rest were either in the ocean or scattered across a Japanese submarine's deck.
10:04He'd thrown four himself.
10:06Never thought he'd fight a war with vegetables.
10:08Commander McDonald filed his action report at 0800.
10:12Contact made at 0218.
10:15Guns fired at 0230.
10:17Depth charges dropped at 0235.
10:20Claimed one submarine damaged or sunk.
10:23Oil and debris observed.
10:25No confirmed kill.
10:26The report didn't mention potatoes.
10:28How could it?
10:29McDonald wasn't sure anyone would believe it.
10:32A Fletcher-class destroyer armed with 5-inch guns and depth charges
10:35had used main potatoes as weapons.
10:38The whole thing sounded like a bad joke.
10:40But the crew knew.
10:42Word spread through the ship by breakfast.
10:44The cook who'd first opened that storage locker became a legend.
10:47The men who'd thrown potatoes got backslaps and handshakes.
10:51Someone started calling it the Great Potato Battle.
10:54The name stuck.
10:56O'Bannon arrived at Tulagi Harbor at 1,400 hours.
11:00Destroyer USS Strong was already there.
11:03Commander Joseph Wellings commanding.
11:05Strong had been part of the same night bombardment force.
11:08She'd stood by during O'Bannon's submarine attack.
11:11Watched on radar.
11:13Seen the depth charge explosions.
11:15Wellings came aboard O'Bannon that afternoon.
11:18Met with McDonald.
11:19Discussed the engagement.
11:21McDonald explained the close approach.
11:23The ramming decision.
11:24The hard turn.
11:26The guns that couldn't depress.
11:27Then he mentioned the potatoes.
11:30Wellings stared at him.
11:31Asked him to repeat that.
11:33McDonald did.
11:34Explained how the crew had thrown potatoes to keep Japanese sailors away from their deck gun.
11:39Bought time to gain range.
11:41Fire the five-inch guns.
11:43Wellings didn't laugh.
11:44He'd seen enough combat to know desperation created strange solutions.
11:49The two captains studied charts.
11:51The submarine had been heading southwest when attacked.
11:54Probably returning to Rabool.
11:56If she'd survived the depth charges, she'd be damaged.
12:00Leaking.
12:01Moving slowly.
12:03Vulnerable.
12:04April 7th.
12:0548 hours after the potato incident.
12:08O'Bannon and Strong were on patrol northwest of Russell Islands.
12:12Same area.
12:13Different night.
12:14At 2,200 hours, Strong's radar picked up a surface contact.
12:197,000 yards.
12:20Moving at four knots.
12:22Barely making headway.
12:24Wellings ordered Strong to investigate.
12:26O'Bannon followed.
12:28The range closed.
12:295,000 yards.
12:313,000.
12:32Strong's lookouts identified the contact.
12:35Japanese submarine.
12:36Same class as before.
12:38RO type.
12:39Medium patrol.
12:40And she was damaged.
12:42Moving slow.
12:43Trailing oil.
12:45It was RO-34.
12:47Same submarine.
12:49She'd survived O'Bannon's depth charges two days earlier.
12:52Limped away underwater.
12:54Made emergency repairs.
12:55Now she was trying to reach Rabool on the surface.
12:58600 miles to go.
13:00Heavily damaged.
13:02No chance.
13:03Strong opened fire at 2,000 yards.
13:065-inch guns.
13:07High explosive shells.
13:09The first salvo hit the submarine's pressure hull.
13:12Three direct hits.
13:14Metal screamed.
13:15The conning tower buckled.
13:17Japanese sailors scrambled topside.
13:20Tried to man the deck gun.
13:21Failed.
13:23O'Bannon joined the barrage.
13:25Both destroyers firing.
13:27Ten 5-inch guns hammering the submarine.
13:29Shell after shell.
13:31The submarine's hull was torn apart.
13:33Fires broke out.
13:35The deck gun was destroyed.
13:37Again.
13:38This time there was no crash dive.
13:40No escape.
13:42RO-34 couldn't submerge.
13:44Too much damage.
13:46The pressure hull was compromised in six places.
13:49Water was flooding in.
13:50The submarine was sinking on the surface.
13:53At 2007, RO-34's bow went under.
13:57The stern rose.
13:59Propellers visible.
14:00Still turning.
14:01Then she slid beneath the waves.
14:0466 men aboard.
14:05No survivors.
14:07No rescue.
14:08Just bubbles and oil.
14:10McDonald watched from O'Bannon's bridge.
14:13Same submarine.
14:14Same crew.
14:15He'd fought them with potatoes 48 hours ago.
14:18Now they were gone.
14:19And someone back in the United States was about to turn this into the strangest story of the Pacific War.
14:26April 12, 1943.
14:29One week after the potato incident.
14:32O'Bannon's action report reached Admiral William Halsey's headquarters at Noumea, New Caledonia.
14:37The report mentioned guns, depth charges, damage assessment, standard naval engagement language.
14:45Still no mention of potatoes.
14:47But crew members wrote letters home.
14:49Sailors always wrote letters.
14:50And some of those sailors mentioned the strangest detail from the submarine fight.
14:55They'd thrown potatoes.
14:57Actual potatoes.
14:59At a Japanese submarine.
15:00The letters went through Navy sensors.
15:03The sensors read them.
15:04Laughed.
15:05Then approved them.
15:06What military secret could potatoes reveal?
15:10The letters reached the United States in early May.
15:12Families read them.
15:14Neighbors heard the stories.
15:16Local newspapers picked them up.
15:18Small town papers in Maine and Massachusetts ran headlines.
15:21Local sailor fights submarine with potatoes.
15:25Navy destroyer uses Maine vegetables as weapons.
15:28The story spread.
15:30Bigger newspapers noticed.
15:31The Boston Globe ran it.
15:33The New York Times mentioned it.
15:35By late May, half of America had heard about USS O'Bannon and the potato battle.
15:40The details got bigger with each retelling.
15:43Some versions claimed the potatoes had actually sunk the submarine.
15:47Others said Japanese sailors thought they were bombs.
15:50The Maine Potato Growers Association heard the story in early June.
15:53They held an emergency meeting in Presque Isle, discussed the publicity opportunity.
15:59Maine potatoes had fought in combat, saved American lives.
16:03This was marketing gold.
16:05They voted unanimously.
16:07Create a commemorative plaque.
16:09Send it to USS O'Bannon.
16:11Honor the crew.
16:12Promote Maine agriculture.
16:14Win the war with potatoes.
16:16June 14th, 1943.
16:19The plaque arrived at Noumea.
16:21Solid brass.
16:2212 inches by 18 inches.
16:25Engraved text read,
16:26A tribute to the officers and men of the USS O'Bannon
16:30for their ingenuity in using our now-proud potato
16:33to sink a Japanese submarine in the spring of 1943.
16:37Presented by the potato growers of the state of Maine.
16:40The plaque claimed O'Bannon had sunk the submarine with potatoes.
16:44Not damaged it.
16:46Sunk it.
16:47The Maine potato growers didn't know about USS Strong's follow-up attack.
16:52Didn't know RO-34 had survived two more days.
16:55They'd read the newspaper versions.
16:57The simplified versions.
16:59The versions that made better stories.
17:02O'Bannon's crew mounted the plaque near the mess hall.
17:04Men walked past it daily.
17:07Some smiled.
17:08Some rolled their eyes.
17:09Nobody corrected the text.
17:12If Maine wanted to believe they'd sunk a submarine with vegetables?
17:15Fine.
17:16The war had bigger problems.
17:18Reader's Digest ran a full article in August.
17:22Six pages.
17:23Illustrations.
17:24The title was,
17:25The Navy's Strangest Battle.
17:27The story described O'Bannon charging at full speed.
17:30Japanese sailors sleeping.
17:32The hard turn.
17:33Potatoes flying through the air.
17:35Japanese panic.
17:37Submarine sinking.
17:38The article made it sound like a Hollywood movie.
17:41Commander McDonald read the Reader's Digest piece in September.
17:45He'd returned to Pearl Harbor for maintenance.
17:47Someone handed him the magazine.
17:49He read it twice.
17:50He read it twice.
17:51Shook his head.
17:51This wasn't how it happened.
17:53The potatoes had bought time.
17:55Nothing more.
17:56The five-inch guns and depth charges had done the real work.
18:00He started telling people the truth.
18:01The potatoes were thrown, yes.
18:04But they didn't sink anything.
18:06The submarine had survived.
18:08USS Strong had finished the job two days later.
18:11Some people listened.
18:12Most preferred the legend.
18:14The story kept growing.
18:16New versions appeared.
18:17Some claimed Japanese sailors had abandoned ship because of the potatoes.
18:21Others said the submarine had surfaced with hatches open and flooded.
18:25McDonald spent the next 40 years trying to correct the record.
18:28O'Bannon continued fighting.
18:30Kula Gulf.
18:31Kolumbangara.
18:33Vela Lavella.
18:34More battle stars.
18:35More Japanese ships sunk.
18:37Real sinkings.
18:38With real weapons.
18:39But none of those battles got plaques from agricultural associations.
18:43None made it into Reader's Digest.
18:46By 1944, every sailor in the Pacific Fleet had heard about the potato battle.
18:51Most didn't believe it.
18:53Some did.
18:54And somewhere in the United States, potato sales were probably higher than ever.
19:01June 1943, Imperial Japanese Navy Headquarters at Rabaul.
19:07Vice Admiral Genichi Kusaka studied casualty reports from the Solomon Islands campaign.
19:13Submarine losses were mounting.
19:15I-18 sunk in February.
19:17RO-34 sunk in April.
19:19RO-102 sunk in May.
19:22Three submarines.
19:23212 men.
19:25All dead.
19:26The Americans were getting better at anti-submarine warfare.
19:29Better radar.
19:31Better sonar.
19:32Better death charge patterns.
19:34Japanese submarines that once hunted freely now struggle to survive.
19:39Destroyers like O'Bannon were everywhere.
19:42Fast.
19:42Aggressive.
19:43Deadly.
19:45Kusaka had no idea one of those submarine kills involved potatoes.
19:48The action reports from RO-34's final patrol never mentioned unusual weapons, just American destroyers, gunfire, death charges, standard Pacific
20:00War combat.
20:01The potato detail was an American story, not a Japanese one.
20:05O'Bannon spent July and August on patrol duty, destroyer screening, shore bombardment, anti-aircraft work.
20:13The ship performed exactly as designed.
20:16Five-inch guns, depth charges, torpedoes, real weapons doing real damage.
20:22The crew kept the potato plaque mounted in the mess hall.
20:25New sailors reported aboard.
20:27Saw the plaque.
20:29Asked questions.
20:30Veterans told the story.
20:32Some versions were accurate.
20:34Some were wildly exaggerated.
20:36By September, some crew members claimed they'd thrown 200 potatoes.
20:40Others said the Japanese submarine had surrendered.
20:43August 6th.
20:45Battle of Vela Gulf.
20:46O'Bannon joined six destroyers hunting Japanese reinforcement convoys.
20:51The American force intercepted four Japanese destroyers near Columbangara.
20:57Night surface action.
20:58Torpedoes and gunfire.
21:00Three Japanese destroyers sunk.
21:02O'Bannon launched ten torpedoes.
21:05Scored two hits.
21:07No potatoes required.
21:09September 3rd.
21:10Battle of Vela Lavella.
21:12O'Bannon engaged three Japanese destroyers evacuating troops from Vela Lavella Island.
21:18Close-range gun battle.
21:20Destroyer Yugumo sunk.
21:22O'Bannon collided with sinking destroyer Chevalier.
21:2561 American sailors died in that collision.
21:28The bow was badly damaged.
21:30O'Bannon limped back to Tulagi for emergency repairs.
21:33Commander McDonald stood on the bridge watching damage control teams work.
21:37The collision had crushed 40 feet of the bow.
21:40Water was flooding forward compartments.
21:42Pumps were barely keeping up.
21:44This was real destroyer combat.
21:46Not vegetables.
21:47Not legends.
21:48Just steel and explosives and men dying in the dark.
21:52O'Bannon reached Tulagi on September 5th.
21:54Shipyard workers swarmed the destroyer.
21:57Cut away damaged plates.
21:59Welded temporary patches.
22:00The repairs would take weeks.
22:02Maybe months.
22:03The ship was out of action.
22:05McDonald wrote letters to the families of the 61 dead sailors.
22:08Each letter took 30 minutes.
22:10He explained how their sons and husbands had died serving their country.
22:14Fighting the enemy.
22:15Doing their duty.
22:16He didn't mention potatoes.
22:18These families deserve better than vegetable stories.
22:20October 1943.
22:22O'Bannon departed Tulagi for Pearl Harbor.
22:25Major repairs needed.
22:27New bow section.
22:28New plates.
22:29The voyage took 12 days.
22:31The ship arrived at Pearl Harbor on October 31st.
22:34Went into dry dock immediately.
22:35The Pearl Harbor shipyard workers had heard the potato story.
22:39Everyone had heard it.
22:40When O'Bannon's crew came ashore, sailors from other ships asked about it.
22:44Asked if it was true.
22:46Asked how many potatoes.
22:47Asked if the Japanese really thought they were grenades.
22:50Most of O'Bannon's crew was tired of the story.
22:53They'd fought in eight major surface actions.
22:56Sunk multiple Japanese ships.
22:58Earned 17 Battlestars.
22:59The most decorated destroyer in the Pacific fleet.
23:02But everyone wanted to talk about potatoes.
23:05Seaman Ambrose Hardin gave an interview to a Navy journalist in November.
23:08The journalist asked about the potato incident.
23:11Hardin confirmed it.
23:12Said he'd thrown the first potato.
23:14Said the Japanese had panicked.
23:16The interview was published in Navy newspapers across the Pacific.
23:19Now, official Navy publications were spreading the legend.
23:23Commander McDonald read the interview.
23:25Shook his head.
23:26The story was never going to die.
23:29He'd be explaining this for the rest of his life.
23:33January 1944.
23:36O'Bannon completed repairs at Pearl Harbor.
23:38New bow section.
23:39New plates.
23:40Fresh paint.
23:41The destroyer departed Hawaii on January 15th.
23:45Destination?
23:46Marshall Islands.
23:47Operation Flintlock.
23:49The invasion of Kwajalein Atoll.
23:51February 1st.
23:53O'Bannon provided fire support for marine landings at Kwajalein.
23:565-inch guns bombarded Japanese beach positions for 6 hours.
24:002,000 shells fired.
24:02Enemy bunkers destroyed.
24:04Infantry pushed inland.
24:06No potatoes involved.
24:07Just high-explosive shells and naval gunfire doctrine.
24:10The Marshall Islands campaign continued through February.
24:13O'Bannon screened carriers.
24:15Shot down Japanese aircraft.
24:17Escorted supply convoys.
24:19Standard destroyer work.
24:20The kind that won wars.
24:22The kind that never made headlines back home.
24:25March 19th.
24:26O'Bannon joined Task Force 58 for strikes against Palau.
24:29The fast carrier task force launched 400 aircraft against Japanese airfields and shipping.
24:35O'Bannon's job was air defense.
24:37Protect the carriers.
24:38Shoot down incoming bombers.
24:40At 1420 hours, 12 Japanese bombers attacked the task force.
24:45Betty bombers.
24:46Twin engine.
24:47Carrying torpedoes.
24:48O'Bannon's 5-inch guns opened fire at 8,000 yards.
24:52Radar-directed fire.
24:53The first bomber exploded at 6,000 yards.
24:56The second at 4,000.
24:58The third made it to 2,000 yards before O'Bannon's 40-millimeter guns shredded it.
25:03Three bombers destroyed.
25:04Zero hits on American carriers.
25:06Exactly what destroyers were designed to do.
25:09The engagement lasted four minutes.
25:11Nobody back home would hear about it.
25:13No agricultural associations would send plaques.
25:16June 19th, 1944.
25:18Battle of the Philippine Sea.
25:20The largest carrier battle of the Pacific War.
25:23Nine American carriers against five Japanese carriers.
25:26470 American aircraft against 373 Japanese aircraft.
25:31O'Bannon screened the carrier Hornet.
25:33Japanese aircraft came in waves.
25:35First wave at 1,000 hours.
25:53By sunset, O'Bannon had fired 3,800 rounds of 5-inch ammunition.
25:591,200 rounds of 40-millimeter.
26:024,000 rounds of 20-millimeter.
26:05Nine confirmed aircraft kills.
26:07The deck was littered with spent shell casings.
26:10Gun barrels were glowing red.
26:12Crews were exhausted.
26:14The battle was an American victory.
26:16Japanese naval aviation was destroyed.
26:19Three carriers sunk.
26:20426 aircraft lost.
26:23Japan's carrier force would never recover.
26:25O'Bannon had done her part.
26:27Nine aircraft.
26:29Professional gunnery.
26:30Real combat.
26:32October 1944.
26:34Battle of Leyte Gulf.
26:36O'Bannon joined 7th Fleet destroyers at Surigao Strait.
26:40The last battleship engagement in naval history.
26:43Japanese battleships Yamashiro and Fuso attempting to break through to Leyte Gulf.
26:48American battleships West Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, California, and Pennsylvania waiting in ambush.
26:57O'Bannon launched torpedoes at 2,300 hours.
27:00Range, 4,000 yards.
27:03Two torpedoes hit battleship Yamashiro.
27:05The Japanese battleship was already burning from other torpedo hits.
27:09She capsized at 2,319.
27:111,200 Japanese sailors drowned.
27:15Fuso broke apart under concentrated fire.
27:17Exploded at 2,345.
27:201,500 more dead.
27:22Surigao Strait was a slaughter.
27:23American battleships and destroyers destroyed an entire Japanese force.
27:29O'Bannon contributed two torpedo hits.
27:31Professional destroyer tactics.
27:33The kind Admiral Nimitz would cite in official reports.
27:36By November, O'Bannon had earned 17 battle stars.
27:40More than any other destroyer in the Pacific Fleet.
27:44Guadalcanal.
27:45Kula Gulf.
27:46Vela La Vela.
27:47Philippine Sea.
27:48Leyte Gulf.
27:49Real battles.
27:50Real victories.
27:52Thousands of rounds fired.
27:53Dozens of enemy ships and aircraft destroyed.
27:56And the United States Navy was about to give O'Bannon the highest unit recognition possible.
28:02Not for potatoes.
28:03For everything else.
28:07December 1944.
28:09Pearl Harbor.
28:10Admiral Chester Nimitz reviewed destroyer performance records for the Pacific campaign.
28:15Battle stars.
28:16Enemy ships sunk.
28:18Aircraft destroyed.
28:19Casualties taken.
28:21Service record.
28:22O'Bannon stood out.
28:2417 battle stars.
28:26The most of any destroyer in the United States Navy.
28:29First naval battle of Guadalcanal.
28:32Damage to battleship Hiei.
28:34Three submarines engaged.
28:3623 aircraft destroyed.
28:38Four Japanese destroyers sunk.
28:41Philippine Sea.
28:43Leyte Gulf.
28:4432 months of continuous combat operations.
28:47Nimitz signed the recommendation.
28:50Presidential unit citation.
28:52The highest unit award in the Navy.
28:54Given to ships that displayed extraordinary heroism in action against the enemy.
28:59O'Bannon qualified on every measure.
29:01Performance.
29:03Courage.
29:03Results.
29:04January 5th, 1945.
29:08The citation was official.
29:09Presidential unit citation awarded to USS O'Bannon and her crew.
29:14The citation mentioned Guadalcanal.
29:17Surface actions.
29:18Air defense.
29:19Submarine warfare.
29:21Professional performance under fire.
29:23It did not mention potatoes.
29:25Commander McDonald received the news at sea.
29:28O'Bannon was screening carriers off Luzon.
29:31He read the citation to the crew over the ship's intercom.
29:35290 men listened.
29:37Some had been aboard since Guadalcanal.
29:39Others were replacements.
29:41All of them had earned this.
29:43The war continued.
29:45O'Bannon bombarded Iwo Jima in February.
29:47Supported marine landings.
29:49Provided naval gunfire for three weeks.
29:52Fired 8,000 rounds.
29:54Destroyed Japanese gun positions.
29:56Standard destroyer work.
29:58The kind that won islands.
29:59April through June.
30:02Okinawa campaign.
30:03O'Bannon joined the radar picket line.
30:06The most dangerous assignment in the Pacific.
30:08Destroyers positioned 50 miles from the fleet.
30:11Early warning against kamikaze attacks.
30:14Japanese suicide planes came in waves.
30:17Hundreds of them.
30:18O'Bannon shot down 11 kamikazes at Okinawa.
30:22Radar directed fire.
30:23Proximity fused shells.
30:25The new Mark 32 fire control system worked perfectly.
30:295-inch guns could track aircraft at 12,000 yards.
30:33Engage at 8,000.
30:34Destroy at 4,000.
30:36Professional anti-aircraft gunnery.
30:3916 destroyers were sunk on radar picket duty at Okinawa.
30:43O'Bannon survived.
30:45Luck.
30:46Training.
30:47Equipment.
30:48All three.
30:49The crew called her Lucky-O.
30:51Not because of potatoes.
30:53Because she'd fought in every major battle and brought her crew home.
30:57August 15, 1945.
31:00Japan surrendered.
31:02The war was over.
31:03O'Bannon had been at sea for 40 months.
31:06Steamed 218,000 miles.
31:09Fired 43,000 rounds of 5-inch ammunition.
31:12Launched 90 torpedoes.
31:14Shot down 34 aircraft.
31:16Engaged eight Japanese surface ships.
31:19Three submarines.
31:21September 2nd.
31:22Tokyo Bay.
31:23Admiral William Halsey personally selected O'Bannon to escort Battleship Missouri to the surrender ceremony.
31:30Halsey's message was clear.
31:31He wanted the most decorated destroyer in the Pacific Fleet present.
31:35The ship that had fought from Guadalcanal to Japan's doorstep.
31:39O'Bannon anchored 400 yards from Missouri.
31:42McDonald stood on the bridge watching Japanese officials sign the surrender documents.
31:47He'd commanded O'Bannon for 37 months.
31:49Longer than any other destroyer captain in the war.
31:53Survived when 800 other destroyer skippers had been killed or relieved.
31:57The Navy promoted McDonald to captain in October.
32:00Gave him command of a cruiser.
32:02He left O'Bannon in November.
32:04His replacement was Commander Ralph Hubbard.
32:07Good officer.
32:08Combat experienced.
32:10But he hadn't been there for Guadalcanal.
32:12Hadn't been there for the potato incident.
32:14O'Bannon sailed from Tokyo Bay to San Francisco in November.
32:18Arrived December 2nd.
32:20The crew went on leave.
32:22Most would be discharged within weeks.
32:25The ship would be decommissioned.
32:26Placed in reserve.
32:28The war was over.
32:30The Navy was shrinking.
32:31But that potato plaque was still mounted in the mess hall.
32:34Solid brass.
32:35Still claiming O'Bannon had sunk a submarine with Maine vegetables.
32:39And the legend was about to outlive the ship by 80 years.
32:45March 19th, 1946.
32:48USS O'Bannon was decommissioned at San Diego.
32:51The crew was discharged.
32:53The ship was towed to the reserve fleet.
32:56Mothballed.
32:57Sealed.
32:58Preserved.
32:59Just another Fletcher-class destroyer among hundreds.
33:03That brass potato plaque went into storage somewhere.
33:06Naval records don't specify where.
33:08Some say it stayed mounted in the mess hall when the ship was sealed.
33:12Others claim a crew member took it home.
33:15The Maine Maritime Museum displayed a plaque matching that description until the 1970s.
33:20Then it disappeared.
33:22Lost.
33:23Stolen.
33:24Nobody knows.
33:26Donald McDonald retired from the Navy in 1953.
33:29Captain.
33:30Two Navy crosses.
33:32Three Silver Stars.
33:33Two Legions of Merit.
33:35Two Bronze Stars.
33:36The most decorated destroyer commander of World War II.
33:40He settled in California.
33:42Raised a family.
33:43Worked in defense contracting.
33:45For the next 40 years, people asked him about the potato story.
33:49Journalists.
33:50Historians.
33:51Veterans groups.
33:52He told them the same thing every time.
33:55The potatoes bought us time.
33:58Nothing more.
33:59USS Strong sank that submarine two days later.
34:03We didn't sink anything with vegetables.
34:05Nobody listened.
34:07The legend was better than the truth.
34:10Newspapers kept running the story.
34:12Destroyer sinks submarine with potatoes.
34:15Reader's Digest reprinted the article in 1952.
34:19Coronet magazine ran their version in 1953.
34:22Each retelling made the story bigger.
34:25McDonald died in 1995.
34:28Age 93.
34:30His obituary in the Los Angeles Times mentioned the potato incident.
34:34Not Guadalcanal.
34:35Not Guadalcanal.
34:36Not the Presidential Unit Citation.
34:38Not 17 Battlestars.
34:40Just potatoes.
34:42USS O'Bannon sat in reserve until 1970.
34:46The Navy struck her from the register.
34:48She was sold for scrap in 1971.
34:51Cut apart.
34:53Melted down.
34:54Recycled.
34:55The most decorated destroyer in World War II became razor blades and rebar.
35:00But seaman first class Ambrose Hardin lived until 2006.
35:06He gave interviews in the 1990s.
35:08Confirmed he threw the first potato.
35:10Said the Japanese panicked.
35:12Said they thought they were grenades.
35:13His testimony kept the legend alive.
35:16Gunner Bud Moreau died in 2009.
35:19George Starkey in 2012.
35:22Ernest Herr in 2003.
35:24Each one told the potato story before they died.
35:27Each one confirmed it happened.
35:29Not the way the newspaper said.
35:31But it happened.
35:32The story survives because it's strange.
35:35Because it's funny.
35:36Because in a war that killed 60 million people, one moment of absurd improvisation stands out.
35:42Sailors throwing potatoes at a submarine.
35:45The enemy fleeing in panic.
35:47Nobody dying from vegetables.
35:49But O'Bannon's real legacy isn't potatoes.
35:52It's 32 months of combat.
35:5417 Battlestars.
35:55Presidential Unit Citation.
35:578 major surface actions.
35:5934 aircraft destroyed.
36:02290 men who served.
36:04229 who came home alive.
36:07Those men fought with 5-inch guns.
36:09Depth charges.
36:11Torpedoes.
36:11Professional naval tactics.
36:13They earned their decorations with steel and courage.
36:16Not vegetables.
36:18The potatoes were 30 seconds out of 32 months.
36:21A footnote.
36:22A legend.
36:23A story that grew too big to kill.
36:25If this story moved you the way it moved us, do me a favor.
36:29Hit that like button.
36:30Every single like tells YouTube to show this story to more people.
36:34Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.
36:37We're rescuing forgotten stories from Dusty Archives every single day.
36:42Stories about sailors and soldiers who fought with courage and improvisation.
36:46Real people.
36:47Real heroism.
36:49Drop a comment right now and tell us where you're watching from.
36:52Are you watching from the United States?
36:54United Kingdom?
36:55Canada?
36:56Australia?
36:57Australia?
36:57Our community stretches across the entire world.
37:00You're not just a viewer.
37:02You're part of keeping these memories alive.
37:04Tell us your location.
37:06Tell us if someone in your family served.
37:08Just let us know you're here.
37:11And thank you for making sure the crew of USS O'Bannon doesn't disappear into silence.
37:16These men deserve to be remembered.
37:19And you're helping make that happen.
Comments