The Day A U.S. Submarine Was Sunk By Its Personal Torpedo

The USS Tang was a Balao-class submarine designed to sink ships, and in her quick profession, that is exactly what she did. The Tang has a formidable struggle file, having sunk 33 enemy ships from the day it was commissioned on October 15, 1943, to the day it sank simply over two years later. This ship alone accounted for the sinking of 116,454 tons of enemy transport, which is spectacular, seeing as she solely sailed for 2 years.

The Tang’s success earned Commander Richard O’Kane the Medal of Honor. O’Kane and the Tang had been acknowledged for sinking a Japanese ship each 11 days she operated all through 5 patrol missions. On prime of that, she rescued quite a few airmen from the ocean, so she was a busy submarine. Though they might be her final, the Tang’s remaining two days of operation had been a part of what made her a legendary ship.

The Tang went up towards a number of vessels on October 24, 1944. She ran right into a Japanese convoy and engaged by firing off a slew of torpedoes. Two tankers tried to ram her, however the Tang managed to keep away from them, inflicting them to slam into each other. She additionally engaged a destroyer, a transport, a freighter, and a number of other escort ships. Whereas she survived that engagement, she would not survive the next one.