Tag: submarine warfare

Tinosa’s Target

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” →
0

Sixteen Year Old Sub Vet

At just sixteen years old, Timothy A. Boone of Muskegon, Wisconsin, returned home a wounded veteran of the Pacific submarine war. With three broken ribs, burns, and a cast on his arm, Boone limped off the front lines of World War II not with fanfare, but with the quiet resolve of someone who had seen too much, too soon. The Navy had tried to say he was too young. He insisted otherwise. After slipping past the red tape, training hard, and deploying into the teeth of the Pacific theater, Boone found himself on the wrong end of a Japanese depth charge attack during a tense submarine patrol between Saipan and the Philippines. His actions—gunning topside and surviving the brutal concussion of an underwater barrage—earned him an honorable discharge and a quiet seat at the table of submarine legends, though he wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot.

Continue reading “Sixteen Year Old Sub Vet” →
0

Wartime Glimpses into the Silent Service

On June 23, 1943, the Norfolk Ledger-Star published a rare look into one of the most secretive corners of the American war effort. Titled “Submarine Crews Submerge, Sweat, When Depth Charges Are Dropped,” the article gave readers at home a dramatic, carefully curated peek into life aboard a U.S. Navy submarine during World War II. For a service built entirely on secrecy, it was a surprising choice.

The story brings readers just close enough to the action. It describes the chaos and claustrophobia of a depth charge attack. The lights go out. The sub tilts and groans. Officers calculate courses, speeds, and firing angles in tense silence. Crewmembers hold their breath, literally and figuratively, as enemy destroyers hunt above them. And all of this unfolds without giving up a single operational detail.

Continue reading “Wartime Glimpses into the Silent Service” →
0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑