july 31st
1944
with commander lawson ramage fixated on
another target in japanese convoy mi-11
below deck battle helmsman chet stanton
has made the decision to evade an escort
that threatens to ram the american
submarine
the crew of uss parchi wait to see if
stanton acted quickly enough to avoid
disaster
it's incredibly stressful time for these
guys you're not actively involved in a
fight
yet this fight determines whether or not
you're going to live or die
at 0-425 the submarine is halfway across
the bow of the enemy ship
right full runner commander ramage
belatedly orders a hard turn starboard
in time archie stern swings clear
the american submarine narrowly escapes
chet stanton became something of a hero
to the crew because had he not had the
foresight to go ahead and order
emergency all ahead they would probably
have been sliced in half
we're clear archie's crew has
outmaneuvered the japanese escort
but a bigger challenge looms
now deep within the convoy an enemy
transport lies straight ahead
but hemmed in by other vessels
ramage has only one option you must
target the bow
the narrowest part of the ship
called it down the throat shot it is not
recommended if the enemy ship is more
than 1500 yards away
although the distance between party and
its target is greater
fire
ramage decides to risk it
the first torpedo misses
but ramage fires two more
this time
his torpedoes strike true
heavily damaged the ship comes to a
rumbling halt
and there's more good news
ramage sees a gap in the convoy's
vessels that crowded him
he wheels around to take aim at the
wounded ship from its side
a bigger target and much easier shot to
make
[Music]
a single torpedo
finishes the vessel
ramage's perseverance pays off
it turns out it is a transport ship that
carries japanese
troops more than 2
400 soldiers are lost at sea
archie's stunning performance against
convoy mi-11
will become known as ramages rampage
in less than an hour parchee has fired
19 torpedoes
and scored at least 14 hits
as submarine historian clay blair once
said this was the most dramatic
48 minutes of the entire submarine war
as dawn breaks ramage gives the order to
pull clear of the convoy
let's get out of here
as they depart they receive a message
all of a sudden this japanese ship
starts signaling with the
internationally recognized
code for what's your name who are you
and ramage and his debt crew get a real
kick out of that and they're like
well he's probably got paperwork to fill
out too
[Music]
you