(muffled water rushing)
(dramatic music)
(submarine sonar beeping)
- [Narrator] During the Second World War,
not even the depths of the ocean are at peace.
US Navy submarines patrol the vast Pacific Ocean
during four years of fighting
from 1941 to 1945.
Their commanders are often young, daring risk takers.
Like Richard O'Kane.
He was a 1934 graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
At the age of 32,
he gained command of the submarine USS Tang.
Now, he is on his tenth patrol in the Pacific
and his fifth on the Tang.
On the night of October 10th, 1944,
O'Kane spots two cargo ships
off the northwest coast of Taiwan.
He surfaces, fires torpedoes and sinks them both.
The Tang dives back into enemy waters out of sight.
(waves crashing)
(uplifting war music)
- [Announcer] Hail to the Navy!
Hail to the ships and men
who will fight America's battles on the seven seas.
- [Narrator] During the Second World War,
US submarines had many missions,
but their primary role was to prowl Japanese sea lanes
looking for ships to sink.
American Gato and Balao-class submarines
carried 24 torpedoes
and their decks included a variety of guns.
Japan's economy and military were dependent
upon the seas to move men and material
to distant bases and back to the home islands.
American submarines sought to exploit this vulnerability.
This was dangerous work.
Submerge too deep and the water pressure
could crush your hull.
Uncharted underwater reefs and obstacles loom everywhere.
You could be rammed from above.
Death could come from fast moving destroyers
armed with depth charges, aircraft with bombs.
It was so dangerous
that nearly all on board were volunteers.
As the war progresses,
the Japanese take steps to protect their supply lines.
US submarines must go further
behind enemy lines to find targets.
(dramatic music continues)
By late October 1944,
O'Kane and the men of the USS Tang
have spent two weeks patrolling the waters
of the Taiwan Strait, but have found no enemy targets.
O'Kane ventures further north.
The hunch proves correct.
They spot a large protected convoy.
O'Kane looks for an opportunity to get closer.
Then a destroyer escort accompanying the convoy
begins a circular patrol.
A gap opens.
O'Kane sails into the convoy,
concealed by the darkness of night.
The ships execute a zigzag maneuver
designed to foil enemy torpedoes.
Instead, they turn directly
in front of Tang's forward torpedoes.
(intense music)
The Tang's Mark 18 torpedoes,
strike one freighter, amidships.
A second is hit at the stern.
A third at the engine room.
As Tang aims four stern torpedoes at a tanker,
a transport bears down intending to ram.
O'Kane closes the distance,
gives a hard rudder to clear the stern.
The transport collides with the tanker.
O'Kane fires four torpedoes into the vessel.
(torpedoes exploding)
Chaos erupts.
The destroyer escort flees.
Tang slips away.
Nearby in the Philippines,
the Japanese Navy has mobilized close
to all of its remaining vessels
in an attempt to stem the Allied advance in the Pacific.
While the Battle of Leyte Gulf rages,
the USS Tang patrols due North near Niushan Island.
On the night of October 24th, their search radar lights up.
A convoy travels along the rugged, shallow coastal waters
on the way to reinforce the Japanese navy
in the Philippines.
Tang is almost out of torpedoes.
Just enough for one more attack.
Lookouts aboard the deck
can see the enemy ships packed with cargo.
They must be stopped.
They fire upon a tanker.
A hit!
(torpedoes exploding)
A nearby destroyer escort blows up too.
A troop transport stops dead in the water.
Tang has two torpedoes left.
Two left and then they can finally go home.
O'Kane gives the order.
The first torpedo holds true,
bearing down on the crippled ship,
but the final torpedo malfunctions
and turns back towards the Tang.
(intense music)
It's a circular run.
Their final torpedo is now headed straight for them.
There's no time to evade.
(torpedo exploding)
They're struck at the stern.
On the cusp of victory, catastrophe.
(melancholy music)
In the beginning of 1945,
the Allies are rapidly gaining ground in the Pacific,
while the US Navy persists in strangling
Japanese supply lines.
It's been three months since O'Kane's sub
was lost off the coast of Taiwan.
Commander Eugene Fluckey surveys the waters
of the Taiwan Strait.
Like O'Kane, Fluckey was a graduate
of the United States Naval Academy.
Now he and the crew of the USS Barb
are in their fourth year of combat.
His reputation for finding targets
has earned him the nickname Lucky Fluckey.
Naval Intelligence indicates a Japanese convoy
will pass through the Taiwan Strait.
The Barb, joined by two other submarines,
sets out to investigate.
Their initiative pays off.
They discover nine freighters and tankers.
The trio opens fire, sinking or damaging every single one.
Then nothing.
Traffic in the sea lanes dries up.
Fluckey believes Japan's ships may be staying closer
to shore, where it is too shallow for subs to penetrate.
He leaves his companion subs behind,
going deeper behind enemy lines.
Arriving just outside of Namkwan Harbor,
Fluckey decides to explore further.
Radar confirms Fluckey's suspicions.
Massed groups of ships in the harbor.
30 in all.
But the surrounding waters are too shallow to safely dive.
Tonight, the Barb will make a surface attack,
exposed to the eyes of the enemy.
These volunteers sought a chance to make a difference.
This was that chance.
Bold action now could save countless lives later.
Shorten the war.
This is their moment.
Fluckey gives the order.
Four torpedoes discharge from the bow.
They race toward rows of ships moored.
Perfect targets.
Fluckey orders a hard turnabout.
Barb's stern now points toward the harbor.
Four more torpedoes launch from the stern tubes.
A munitions laden cargo ship detonates.
The harbor lights up.
A patrol boat spots Barb on the surface.
Fluckey orders them all ahead full.
He dodges them.
Chooses a path through an uncharted region on their map.
It's still too shallow to dive to safety.
(intense music)
Search planes give chase.
(plane humming)
For the next hour, they sail on the surface at 150%
of their engine’s rated capacity.
(waves crashing)
They override safety shutoffs and risk a total breakdown.
They set a speed record for submarines,
23 and a half knots.
(suspenseful music)
At last, they've reached deep waters.
They submerge.
(melancholy music)
Commander Fluckey makes a simple note in his log.
"January 23rd, 1945,
6:35 AM.
Life begins at forty fathoms."
Fluckey and his crew return to Pearl Harbor
in February, 1945.
They are met with a hero's welcome.
One month later, he received the Medal of Honor
for his leadership and courage.
He later said that his proudest achievement
was not a single member of his crew was wounded in combat.
In 1946, another Medal of Honor was presented
at the White House to honor the last patrol
of the USS Tang.
There to receive it was Richard O'Kane.
He had been washed from the bridge of the sinking Tang.
Five men out of 80 survived the sinking.
A passing Japanese ship took them captive.
The rest of the war they spent
in a prison camp, endured torture and disease.
Liberation came at the war's end in September, 1945.
16,000 submariners served in the war.
23%, more than 3000, died.
The highest casualty rate of any service branch
in the American military.
But their impact is clear.
In the course of the war, submarines sank 30%
of the Japanese Navy and strangled Japan's war economy.
Today's nuclear powered submarines play a crucial role
in projecting power and protecting the sea's shipping lanes.
As new Virginia and Columbia-class submarines
are being built, familiar names return to service.
Submarines named Tang and Barb will sail again.
A tribute to those storied submarines
and the brave crews who helped win the war in the Pacific.
And their captains, Richard O'Kane and Eugene Fluckey,
whose courage and leadership in those distant waters
went above and beyond the call of duty.