Stories From the US Submarine Force
In the waning days of 1943, Warner Bros. released Destination Tokyo, a submarine adventure film headlined by Cary Grant and John Garfield. Packed with tension and torpedoes, the story followed the fictional USS Copperfin on a secret mission into the heart of enemy territory, gathering weather data to support the Doolittle Raid. The film thrilled audiences and stirred patriotism, delivering a clear message: America’s submariners were silent, bold, and brave.
Continue reading “An El Dorado Boy”
By the summer of 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s I-29 was no ordinary submarine. She was fast, long-ranged, and highly prized, not for the number of ships she had sunk, but for the secrets she carried. She had just returned from Nazi-occupied France, the only Japanese submarine to survive the perilous transoceanic “Yanagi” missions under the Tripartite Pact. These voyages were the Axis powers’ last hope at exchanging technology and critical war materials across submarine lanes, now that surface traffic had become suicidal.
Continue reading “Sighted Sub. Sank Same.”
When people think of naval warfare in the Pacific during World War II, they picture submarine captains locking onto targets, launching their torpedoes, and sending enemy ships to the bottom in a column of smoke and steel. That image, as dramatic as it may be, wasn’t always the truth. At least not early in the war. For nearly two years, American submariners went into battle with a torpedo that refused to do its job. It wasn’t the enemy that nearly broke their spirits. It was the Mark 14.
On July 24, 1943, the submarine USS Tinosa SS-283 faced a golden opportunity and watched it slip away as torpedo after torpedo failed to explode.
Continue reading “Tinosa’s Target”
Patrol Reports 