The calm of a Sunday morning in paradise was shattered as Japanese planes descended upon Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Amid the cacophony of explosions, the blazing infernos consuming the battleships of Battleship Row, and the relentless hum of enemy aircraft, a less visible part of the U.S. Navy’s strength lay quietly along the southeastern edge of the harbor. There, the submarines USS Tautog (SS-199), USS Dolphin (SS-169), USS Cuttlefish (SS-171), USS Narwhal (SS-167), and USS Cachalot (SS-170) waited, unprepared for battle but braced for survival. Their actions that day and their escape from destruction would later underscore their importance to a Navy facing a long war in the Pacific. Continue reading “The Pearl Harbor Five”
The Pearl Harbor Five
In the middle of Patrol 5, around late October of 1984, I was handed a paperback copy of “The Hunt for Red October.” It was not required reading, but many of the folks aboard who had already read it were effusive in their praise for it. They assured me that it would “help” with the final days of my ships quals, which were quickly coming to completion.
The South China Sea in December 1944 was a hunting ground, and the USS Flasher (SS-249) was one of its fiercest predators. As the tides of war turned decisively against Japan, Allied submarines prowled beneath the waves, targeting the convoys that were vital to Japan’s survival. On December 4, 1944, under the command of Lieutenant Commander George W. Grider, the Flasher launched a daring attack that would further cement her place in history. In a single engagement, she sank the Yūgumo-class destroyer 
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