In this episode: December, 1943. Fueled by the loss of mentor and friend Dudley "Mush" Morton, Richard Hetherington O'Kane and his submarine USS Tang set out to assault Japanese shipping. In four patrols O'Kane rises to the ranks of America's top submarine commander. But in the Formosa Strait his last Mark 18 torpedo turns against him. As O'Kane's submarine meets its end, an unforgettable fight to survive begins.
@briankorbelik28736 ай бұрын
I read that as well. Too bad he wrote another book about how the Wahoo probably also torpedoed herself. Except that a Japanese patrol plane hit Wahoo square with a bomb and sank her.
@joserdiazalmodovar18986 ай бұрын
Those Were Brave Men. A League of their own! They Sailed into Harms way they were the best navigators too no gps radar technology was still beginning using charts and the stars to navigate and compass People I Tip my Hat to those Brave Ladies and Gentlemen who served and keep serving in the U.S Armed Forces
@Ma_Deuce_3386 ай бұрын
@@briankorbelik2873”Too bad” really? I met O’Kane and corresponded with him for quite sometime while he was writing Wahoo. He shared his experiences on that boat with Morton. He was guessing at her loss as he states. The torpedo problem is legendary. Tullibee was another circular run fish with one survivor CW Kuykendahl. While found to be incorrect by the Russian divers that found her… O’Kanes conjecture can be forgiven given the loss of his boat and crew and the loss of Tullibee. How many others may be answer that Project 52 can provide. Floyd Caverly was a friend of mine and the personal insights he shared with me regarding the loss of Tang were inspirational and terrifying.
@BOSSMANN2425 ай бұрын
@@Ma_Deuce_338Thank you for this comment.
@johnmcmickle56855 ай бұрын
The animation of the torpedo is incorrect. the lat torpedo was a type 18 electric torpedo they would not leave the bubble wake. I lost an uncle on the USS Tang.
@Thornbush4346 ай бұрын
I served in the Navy way back when. I was a crewman on the USS Morton DD 948. The warship had a ships flag of the raincoat girl with umbrella of the Morton Salt co. on a light blue silk cloth which said, "When it Rains, it Pours." Cool flag. I never new that Mush Morton was from the family that owned Morton Salt co. until saw this series.
@-.Steven6 ай бұрын
Awesome! Thank you for your service.
@ProgNoizesB5 ай бұрын
Blalblabla, they always come with that. Who cares where you were at. You're on the internet now. No one cares, I was the survivor on that sub that swim to the surface xD Nah man, I wasn't xD I am just messin with ya xD Don't believe everything you read or hear on internet. It's a lying place, full of liars and greedy people.
@kennethprice56286 ай бұрын
What an incredible story and man, with an awesome crew...RIP, SIRS
@charlespeyersen19555 ай бұрын
AMEN
@garyleibitzke41667 ай бұрын
I read his book, "Clear the Bridge". That man had two big brass ones.
@jerryplotts10145 ай бұрын
Agreed. As a former Diesel boat sailor, and retired navy submariner, O'kane was at the top of my list for WW2 heroes. I have an autographed copy of his book "Clear the Bridge"
@romans325kjb7 ай бұрын
Great series. Enjoyed it. Seen every episode.
@FreeDocumentaryHistory7 ай бұрын
excellent!
@switchedon65306 ай бұрын
What an absolute legend and an inspiration. This guy had a true set of balls unlike men of the same age today!
@docholidayoutlaws1042 ай бұрын
You got that right ! These days you have men who want to be women , woke & everything else , WTH my friend ?
@richardkeilig40626 ай бұрын
The sacrifice of those who lost their lives for this nation must never be forgotten. This nation has a chance, the last one, to save this nation and honor those who have it all for our nation. They are all watching from above.
@Josh-hr5mc7 ай бұрын
I wished they did more seasons or someone else make a new series about submarine warfare
@CrashLandon1Ай бұрын
Look into "The Silent Service", a half-hour, 79-episode TV series from 1957-1958, in which each episode depicts an actual story from the patrols of WWII submarines. Hosted/narrated by retired Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, it's not a new series, but it's terrific viewing for submarine fans.
@Peterax7887 ай бұрын
I remember USS Tang being mentioned when I watching the documentary on USS Batfish
@randallcline11766 ай бұрын
I highly recommend reading his book Clear the Bridge. I recently finished reading it for the sixth or seventh time.
@kazkk_875 ай бұрын
My god these ppl have enormous balls. This is a difficult situation
@sonyaskogstad38492 ай бұрын
O’Kane was a legend ❤
@alextownsend86247 ай бұрын
This was an awesome episode, and it is an even more awsome series.. keep them coming! Ive watched every episode so far!
@gavey1003 ай бұрын
Same here 😊
@BOSSMANN2427 ай бұрын
May ALL Souls lost at sea RIP
@charlespeyersen19556 ай бұрын
Amen!!!!
@FrankinJax6 ай бұрын
Happy 4th of July. Thanks for the Freedom.
@waynesworld78046 ай бұрын
What a story. What brave men.
@jonathanwallace66677 ай бұрын
This sub and crew were fearless, so outstanding until the only thing that could sink them were themselves. No doubt feared tremendously by the enemies.
@kennywaller23006 ай бұрын
Excellent show...
@johnmcmickle56856 ай бұрын
The one of thing not mentioned is that O'Kane had the option to work with a wolfpack he chose to go it alone. I lost an uncle on the USS Tang.
@sonyaskogstad38492 ай бұрын
Sad about your uncle though he’s a huge part of history unlike many of us.
@FootballJunk2 ай бұрын
When i was kid i was fascinated by airplanes ✈️ but after growing up made me love submarines and their crew. Men are meant to go to heights but depth kept them charged
@nigellawson86107 ай бұрын
It’s amazing that the survivors of the USS Tang did not lose their heads at the hands of the Japanese? When it to the treatment of POWs the Japanese were notoriously brutal? All I can say, is that the Japanese must have been in a Sunday mood? Falling into Japanese hands would often lead to a painful lingering death.
@dalejarvis21266 ай бұрын
The test depth of Tang was 600 feet, and when hounded by a destroyer near Saipan, the sea pressure gauge passed 700 feet.
@jiyuhong58535 ай бұрын
this is great! if possible could you also upload the longest journey pls?
@FreeDocumentaryHistory5 ай бұрын
@@jiyuhong5853 it’s a video game we don’t do video games
@jiyuhong58535 ай бұрын
@@FreeDocumentaryHistory Hell below Season 3 Ep 3. "The Longest Journey On Christmas morning of 1944, the gun crew of a merchant ship fights back against a German U-boat attack and destroys a torpedo destined for their ship. They struggle to survive as the enemy comes back for another shot.
@FreeDocumentaryHistory5 ай бұрын
@@jiyuhong5853 When we get to season 3, it will be available. Not sure when that will be though right now.
@jiyuhong58535 ай бұрын
@@FreeDocumentaryHistory thx!
@MichaelEllison-jr4wg7 ай бұрын
Complete Terror!!!! Figures the last torpedo malfunctions....
@BellaZuikaku47857 ай бұрын
Sometimes it makes me wonder why didn’t O Kane fight this convoy at periscope depth?
@colonelx1857 ай бұрын
It's so if he destroyed the ship he didn't need to surface and waste electricity/compressed air in order to resume at a normal speed
@BellaZuikaku47857 ай бұрын
@@colonelx185 I mean if Tang was at PD and O Kane fired the erratic torpedo, Kane can just dive her to get out of the way. Sadly Tang couldn’t get out of the way for her final fight.
@colonelx1857 ай бұрын
@BellaZuikaku4785 yeah but poor kane had no idea that the torpedos could do that since they were recently developed
@BellaZuikaku47857 ай бұрын
@@colonelx185 didn’t they do a testing for erratic?
@colonelx1857 ай бұрын
@BellaZuikaku4785 it's dangerous, if a big warhead was shook up it would most likely have blown up in peoples faces. Plus torpedos were in short supply and USA needed updated torpedos quickly to replace faulty ones and to restock submarines. Also it's hard to do testing torpedos inside and submarine due to the confined space. And not every submarine has a naval engineer stationed on them. And it's also difficult to test things during wartime, perhaps the navy was too impatient and didn't bother testing them. By the time the issue was known it would've been too late to stop production.
@kungfuchimp57886 ай бұрын
Read the book. Great, but sad story.
@arturasstatkus86135 ай бұрын
I salute You, Great Wariers!!!
@Ijazulhaq-r5v2 ай бұрын
what a great mind the the captain of tang has he and his crew done a tremendous professional job but unbelievable is 24th torpedo that what was the reason that the tang has been hit by his own torpedo i can not believe that but what a professional job done by the tang crew they live like a line
@alextownsend86247 ай бұрын
So serious question please don't hang me for this l.. but while they were waiting for the worst of the typhoon in the Formosa strait to pass and were forced back inside off lookout from the winds they started to list 70° from the huge waves.. wouldn't it he safer to dive under water a couple hundred feet so the waves wouldnt toss you and it would be calmer?
@lelandcheng91877 ай бұрын
I think at that very moment if they tried to dive with that much list they run the risk of rolling their boat over which is actually unrecoverable.
@willboudreau11873 ай бұрын
In the typhoon, all they had to do is flood tanks and they submerge. Problem solved, crisis averted. The narrator/writer is a landlubber. None of this melodramatic 70 degrees stuff.
@davidnewland255626 күн бұрын
I performed maintanance on the tang in 1975, it's difficult to believe that sub was so old, I guess maybe 34 years old.
@Hew.Jarsol7 ай бұрын
Hollywood should still apologise for U571 etc... Stolen valour.
@Lawrence1203-f7s6 ай бұрын
Almost 1/4 of our brave submariners never came home. May they rest in peace and I hope their families came to terms with it within time'
@Jayjay-qe6um7 ай бұрын
The USS Tang had a brief appearance in the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One in the form of the photo of the damage, used to portray the USS Redfish (SS-395) where instead of being sunk by its own torpedo, it was sunk by Godzilla.
@coodudeman7 ай бұрын
OH NO!! IT'S GORZIRRA!
@HAJDUTI7 күн бұрын
Where can I watch season 3 and 4 please?
@FreeDocumentaryHistory6 күн бұрын
@@HAJDUTI As soon as our channel has the new seasons, we will post on COMMUNITY
@DASISTMONGO7 ай бұрын
Great leadership enables both success and failure all the while teaching and mentoring....
@coodudeman7 ай бұрын
lolol "cocaine and the lookouts" sounds like a band!! thx youtube cc!
@Belows6822 ай бұрын
what a bs way for the Tang to go out. the men aboard that ship were heroes to the fullest.
@Ulani1016 ай бұрын
How many more ships could Tang have claimed, but for a faulty torpedo? Or would a depth charge attack, or mine strike, later in the war have taken her with all hands? Ifs and buts.... who can say what might have been? Would O'Kane have been more useful to the Silent Service ashore, passing on his experience to up-and-coming sub skippers than in the field, sinking ships? Either way, kudos to the man, for doing what he did and doing it so well.
@VistaThaiGuy7 ай бұрын
How many faulty electric torpedoes were there use in WW2??? #24 was the last and most used/trained/demoed/abused one in the war load???🤔
@TheDroppedAnchor7 ай бұрын
It’s a tragic story but there was more than one submarine lost due to torpedoes.
@johnmcmickle56855 ай бұрын
According to the official report that torpedo opened up both engine rooms and the aft torpedo room. I lost an uncle when the tang was lost.
@PrismaticRevolution2 ай бұрын
i know they are just actors but man this guy could not look less like the actual okane
@ΜιχάληςΚουρουπάκης-ι7ν5 ай бұрын
Put the music louder. I still can hear the narrator.
@coodudeman7 ай бұрын
those sneaky bine breakers!
@alextownsend86247 ай бұрын
Let's goooo
@prashanshan71256 ай бұрын
Is there a movie made after this story..!
@shawnfecke43225 ай бұрын
I spent 40 years in manufacturing, including a lot of ordnance. I also spent time in U.S. Army. Failures in the shop kill American Service Men and Women. Its a bomb, a torpedo, a bullet. It only has to work once, but that one time, it better fkn work.
@milwaukeeroadjim92536 ай бұрын
Seems like firing that last torpedo wasn't necessary but skippers like him were motivated to use everything they had. How was he to know the last torpedo would circle back. The Navy only found out about it after the war. Mark 16 torpedoes had a known defect the caused circling but there was no history on the Mark 18 electric torpedo doing so.
@stevesutton19917 ай бұрын
Skip to 42 mins and miss all the recaps.
@MikeHunt-fo3ow7 ай бұрын
really dumb question but how did the get the torpedos down into a sub
@jimjoe99456 ай бұрын
Loading hatches on the deck above the torpedo rooms.
@MikeHunt-fo3ow6 ай бұрын
@@jimjoe9945 are these bolted shut?
@milwaukeeroadjim92536 ай бұрын
@@MikeHunt-fo3ow There is a hatch at an angle on top of the torpedo room that allowed the torpedoes to be lowered one at a time using ropes and pulleys. Once the torpedoes were loaded, the hatch was secured with dogs just like the hatches that the crew use to enter the sub.
@MikeHunt-fo3ow6 ай бұрын
@@milwaukeeroadjim9253 ty i looked up a video on it....the torpedos are so long it looks nuts
@nicholasbowers62522 ай бұрын
Is it just me or does it sound like he keeps saying "death charges"?
@jimjoe99456 ай бұрын
Never mentioned O Kane' s cribbage board.
@johnpavkov24906 ай бұрын
I'm not going to give my dream
@Johnnycdrums6 ай бұрын
I hope that grave is protected.
@truthbtold80407 ай бұрын
I see a captain of great bravery but an ego that cost the lives of his crew.
@paulredinger58305 ай бұрын
Tang. Was that the drink or poon tang? 😂🤷🏼♂️ Sorry I’ll go now…….. 😢
@brettcurtis57106 ай бұрын
How about something from the submarine war in the Mediterranean? British, Italian and German subs turned the Med into a graveyard of their crews!
@Achilles2217 күн бұрын
No rank badges or submariner insignia on Uniforms. Poor attention to detail.Looks as if prop department just issued brown and blue shirts from a surplus store.😢
@metalmyke17 ай бұрын
Should have dived or maneuver when they first seen it.
@docholidayoutlaws1042 ай бұрын
Darn , after all those successful Torpedoes fired , 1 had to start running erratic , what’s the probability of that happening with the sailors thinking they were heading back home ? Dam war is hell !! RIP Sailors , a job well done !!
@Netseer20007 ай бұрын
Brandy and not rum?
@johntimlin66646 ай бұрын
Why didnt they spew oil and Debris to throw the enemy off
@scotthazelton5196 ай бұрын
I wonder if they ever found Wahoo?
@BikramKonwar-v7l4 ай бұрын
Karma strikes
@albertomatos58435 ай бұрын
submarine commander Did cocaine ???
@duniagowes7 ай бұрын
Greedy.
@tannermikal27 ай бұрын
It’s hard to really fathom of being on that sub and in that scenario but our men went through it.. 🫡