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WW2 is full of great stories, here is one I read yesterday-US Naval Sub related
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:17 pm
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:17 pm
The USS Squalfish saga.
The USS Squalus was a submarine that sunk after a ballast induction line failed to seal, during a training exercise on May 24th 1939. Her sister ship the Sculpin found the boat in 240 feet of water off the New Hampshire coast (training area) and dropped a rescue bell.
They were able to save 33 men, but 23 passed away.
The Navy sent out a 400 man salvage team two days later and began the monumental task of raising the sub from the shoals. The first attempt was by using pontoons and filling the boat with compressed air. This caused the sub to rocket to the surface, breach and then quickly sink back to the bottom. On August 12th, the salvage started over again from scratch. This time they drug the boat underwater until it was in much shallower water. The sub was floated and towed, then went under an 11 month refit and was rechristened the Sailfish, but superstitious sailors, who were unnerved by the history and the name change called the boat the Squailfish.
So years go by and the boat is now in the war in the pacific on patrol. A massive typhoon hits and the Sailfish surfaces in the middle of it. Checking radar a giant blip appears on the radar. Using the sea to hide, the commander, Robert Ward, ordered the sub to pursue on surface. Blinded by the weather the sub fired multiple torpedoes just using radar bearing and listening for explosions and diving to reload. Each torpedo volley was followed by depth charges and heavy gunning. Later as the sun was out and the sky clearing the commander was able to see his target was an aircraft carrier. The captain's log noted "The carrier had enough people on it's deck to populate a village". The sub fired three more torpedoes, two hit.
The aircraft carrier broke apart, and this once sunken sub had scored the first Japanese carrier sinking of the war, by submarine or torpedo.
That isn't what makes this story interesting. The interesting part comes after the war, when Japanese records are open to US viewing. The Imperial carrier Chuyo was holding 33 Americans*. From the submarine Sculpin, the one who had rescued the Squalus in 1939.
Davy Jones got back the lives taken from him previously.
---- compiled from information from
"War Under The Pacific"
Time Life Publishing
1984. wheeler, Keith
*this number was claimed to be 20 by other sources, many contend the number 33 was given by ex-sailors telling a tall tale. The ships and incidents are verified though.
The USS Squalus was a submarine that sunk after a ballast induction line failed to seal, during a training exercise on May 24th 1939. Her sister ship the Sculpin found the boat in 240 feet of water off the New Hampshire coast (training area) and dropped a rescue bell.
They were able to save 33 men, but 23 passed away.
The Navy sent out a 400 man salvage team two days later and began the monumental task of raising the sub from the shoals. The first attempt was by using pontoons and filling the boat with compressed air. This caused the sub to rocket to the surface, breach and then quickly sink back to the bottom. On August 12th, the salvage started over again from scratch. This time they drug the boat underwater until it was in much shallower water. The sub was floated and towed, then went under an 11 month refit and was rechristened the Sailfish, but superstitious sailors, who were unnerved by the history and the name change called the boat the Squailfish.
So years go by and the boat is now in the war in the pacific on patrol. A massive typhoon hits and the Sailfish surfaces in the middle of it. Checking radar a giant blip appears on the radar. Using the sea to hide, the commander, Robert Ward, ordered the sub to pursue on surface. Blinded by the weather the sub fired multiple torpedoes just using radar bearing and listening for explosions and diving to reload. Each torpedo volley was followed by depth charges and heavy gunning. Later as the sun was out and the sky clearing the commander was able to see his target was an aircraft carrier. The captain's log noted "The carrier had enough people on it's deck to populate a village". The sub fired three more torpedoes, two hit.
The aircraft carrier broke apart, and this once sunken sub had scored the first Japanese carrier sinking of the war, by submarine or torpedo.
That isn't what makes this story interesting. The interesting part comes after the war, when Japanese records are open to US viewing. The Imperial carrier Chuyo was holding 33 Americans*. From the submarine Sculpin, the one who had rescued the Squalus in 1939.
Davy Jones got back the lives taken from him previously.
---- compiled from information from
"War Under The Pacific"
Time Life Publishing
1984. wheeler, Keith
*this number was claimed to be 20 by other sources, many contend the number 33 was given by ex-sailors telling a tall tale. The ships and incidents are verified though.
This post was edited on 2/15/17 at 12:32 pm
13
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:20 pm to Napoleon
That's awesome
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:23 pm to Napoleon
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:23 pm to Napoleon
That is a really good story.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:23 pm to Napoleon
Damn that's crazy.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:24 pm to Napoleon
Literal CSB
Thanks for posting
Thanks for posting
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:25 pm to Napoleon
Crazy. I made a model of that sub with my son. Had no idea about the history.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:28 pm to Napoleon
If you want another interesting sub story you should check out the sinking of the USS S-5. She went down in shallow waters with her arse end sticking up out of the water. The crew worked for days trying to cut through the hull to escape before finally being rescued by a merchant vessel that happened across them. A lot of luck saved that crew. Any number of things could have killed them all but they managed to get out.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:36 pm to Napoleon
another ww2 CSB.
War History online - link -
quote:
The American WWII Ace Who Shot Down 7 German, 1 Italian, 1 Japanese, And 1 American Plane!
War History online - link -
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:42 pm to Napoleon
Oh hold on now... you want to get into aviation then I've got the most BAMF story evAr.
Robert "Balls of Steel" Klingman
Robert "Balls of Steel" Klingman
quote:
The flight had a good idea who the culprit was. For several days that week, several squadrons took turns trying to intercept a a Ki-45 -known by the allies as a “Nick”- that followed the same flight plan. Intelligence believed the plane was on photo reconnaissance of the ships in the harbor, for use in planning kamikaze raids. Several attempts to catch and down the plane had failed, due to the speed and altitude the Nick flew at. One instance resulted in all but one aircraft in a flight being lost due to mechanical problems associated with flying at such high altitude.
With his initial altitude advantage, the Nick easily outran his pursuers. The Marines tried to close distance while climbing at their best speed.
“We were turning inside him to try and join up, but we were so far below him we had little chance of reaching him”, Reusser said. “I just pulled the nose up and held the trigger down… no aim, no accuracy, just trying to loop it up there. I saw a couple of glints, but I remember I didn’t think anything of it at the time. He leveled off and headed back toward Japan.”
Unwilling to let the Nick escape, the flight threw their throttles into a climb, falling out one by one as their battle-weary aircraft struggled to climb in the thin air. Eventually, Klingman and Reusser were alone, their allies a thousand feet below them.
At 38,000 feet, the two Corsairs were at their service ceiling. With the Nick a mile ahead of them, the two Americans grew hungry for the prey.
Due to the high altitude, maneuvers had to be small, precise and thought out- the slightest over-correction would result in an uncontrollable stall or spin and bailing out at such an altitude would have killed them. Still, the pilots pursued until they finally got into gun range.
“As we got closer, (Ken Reusser) was firing, and I guess the bogey was firing at us,” Klingman said. “I had a few small bullet holes in the plane. My plane had no gun heaters and the guns were frozen, but I was pretty eager to get me a Japanese plane. My plane was faster because it was a brand new so I went on ahead of Ken at max speed and streamlined as much as I could.”
Realizing their prey had more range than the Corsairs and unable to use his machine guns, Klingman made a make-or-break decision.
He decided to his plane into the enemy fighter.
Getting within 20 feet of the enemy plane, Klingman struggled through the Nick’s prop wash to catch up. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to reach from directly behind the Nick, he nosed over, ramming the tail of the Nick with his Corsair’s propeller.
“I only had enough extra speed to chew off some of his rudder and elevator before being blown away,” Klingman said. “Since he was still flying, I climbed above him for a second run. I nosed down and I pulled out too soon and only got some of his rudder and part of the top of the rear canopy. At this time I remember seeing the rear seat gunner frantically looking around and trying to operate his machine gun. I imagine at this altitude he was probably freezing to death.”
Realizing it was time for the finishing blow, Klingman climbed above the Nate, chopping the right side of the Japanese plane and causing both planes to go into a spin.
Spiralling out of control, Klingman regained command of his aircraft after dropping 1,000 feet.
As Klingman regained control, Reusser joined him just in time to watch the Nick disintegrate in the sky. “Ken was alongside me by then,” recalled Klingman. “We both observed the enemy plane in a spin with both wings coming off at about 15,000 feet.”
Klingman’s plane was shaking so badly that his instruments were unreadable. Running low on fuel and unable to determine his direction, Klingman relied on Reusser to guide him home.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 12:54 pm to Napoleon
Legit cool story, bro.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 1:30 pm to Jack Daniel
wtf is wrong with some of you people? how is it cool or awesome that americans were murdered because the japs committed war crimes by putting americans on their ships and sending them to their watery graves? frick the japs. frick them.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 1:36 pm to terd ferguson
"The encounter was a victory but I think we've shown it as an example of what not to do" ~Charlie
Posted on 2/15/17 at 1:42 pm to Napoleon
There is a great book on this called The Terrible Hours.
The rescue people that went down in the Rescue bell had cast iron nuts.
Imagine a cup that you turn upside down and push underwater. That's all the bell was. They welded a bench near the bottom to sit on. The rescuers and victims rode back and forth in this thing and the bottom was open to the ocean. Only air pressure keeping the the sea water from rushing in.
The rescue people that went down in the Rescue bell had cast iron nuts.
Imagine a cup that you turn upside down and push underwater. That's all the bell was. They welded a bench near the bottom to sit on. The rescuers and victims rode back and forth in this thing and the bottom was open to the ocean. Only air pressure keeping the the sea water from rushing in.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 1:47 pm to Switzerland
quote:ironic username
Switzerland
Posted on 2/15/17 at 1:50 pm to Napoleon
interesting read
Posted on 2/15/17 at 2:06 pm to Switzerland
Actually the Japanese had rescued the sailors and were taking them to a pow camp. As bad as that was, it beat floating in the ocean. Just a shame Americans died. Actually one of the pows survived.
This post was edited on 2/15/17 at 2:08 pm
Posted on 2/15/17 at 2:11 pm to Napoleon
Life can be stranger than fiction. Thanks for sharing this story.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 2:17 pm to Napoleon
quote:oh how humanitarian of the japs for transporting pow's to the bataan death march or the other countless war crimes they committed like putting pow's in the middle of their towns during bombing raids. again, frick those racist pieces of shite.
Actually the Japanese had rescued the sailors and were taking them to a pow camp. As bad as that was, it beat floating in the ocean. Just a shame Americans died. Actually one of the pows survived.
Posted on 2/15/17 at 2:29 pm to Napoleon
Mary Ellen Moffat.
She broke my heart.
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