http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1944
1944
October 25
WWII: Medal of Honor winning submarine ace Richard O'Kane becomes a prisoner of war when Tang is sunk in the Formosa Strait.
http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg77/Pages/ourship.aspx
Commander Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet > USS O'Kane
USS O'Kane
USS O'KANE
"A Tradition of Honor"
Welcome to the web page of the USS O'KANE. She is the twenty-seventh destroyer of the Arleigh Burke class and the sixteenth built by Bath Iron Works. The USS O'KANE is named after the late Admiral Richard H. O'Kane and was launched March 28, 1998 and commissioned October 23, 1999.The USS O’KANE is the second ship to be commissioned in her home port Pearl Harbor, HI.
CREST: The dolphins pay tribute to Rear Admiral O'Kane as a submariner. The reversed star represents the Medal of Honor awarded to O'Kane for his extraordinary actions during his last war patrol. Operating independently in enemy-controlled waters, O'Kane decimated two large and heavily protected convoys before TANG went down. The flaming Naval sword rising from the waves highlights the aggressive naval combat action displayed by O'Kane and his crews on every patrol. Red is emblematic of valor and sacrifice, underscoring Rear Admiral O'Kane's time as a prisoner of war.
Ship's Namesake
The USS O'KANE is named after the late Admiral Richard H. O'Kane and was launched March 28, 1998 and commissioned October 23, 1999.
Rear Admiral Richard H. O'Kane
Richard H. O'Kane was born on February 2, 1911. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover and the University of New Hampshire before entering the United States Naval Academy in 1930. Upon graduation in 1934, O'Kane was commissioned as an Ensign and served on USS CHESTER and USS PRUITT before reporting for instruction in submarines at the Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut in January 1938. After completing his training, O'Kane served on the submarine USS ARGONAUT until 1942, when he reported for duty as Executive Officer of USS WAHOO. For outstanding service on WAHOO, O'Kane was awarded the Silver Star Medal with two Gold Stars, and a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy.
In August 1943, O'Kane returned to the Mare Island Navy Yard where he assumed command of the submarine USS TANG upon her commissioning on October 15, 1943. After undergoing intensive training exercises in the San Diego area, the USS TANG left for the Pacific, arriving in Pearl Harbor on January 8, 1944. Under Commander O'Kane, TANG went on five war patrols, sinking a total of 31 ships, totaling more than 227,000 tons, and damaging two other ships - a record unsurpassed by any American submarine.
During its fifth and final war patrol, which began on September 24 and ended on October 25, 1944, the USS TANG sank 13 enemy ships. In what was to be her final battle, the TANG encountered a heavily escorted enemy convoy. Engaged in a fierce surface battle, Commander O'Kane directed TANG to fire her last two torpedoes at a crippled transport ship. The first torpedo went straight and true and struck its target. The second torpedo was faulty and turned around almost immediately, heading directly for TANG. Ordering emergency speed, TANG tried to pull out of the torpedoes path, but it struck the submarine in the stern, thus causing a violent explosion.
O'Kane was on the bridge at the time and was instantly thrown into the water along with nine other men. Only thirty crew members survived the blast below decks. These men attempted to swim to the surface from the escape trunk in the forward torpedo room. By morning time, only O'Kane, three men from the bridge and five crew members from below decks had survived when the Japanese arrived. The survivors were picked up and taken to a Japanese Prisoner-of-War camp.
Commander O'Kane and the others from the USS TANG were imprisoned on Formosa. He was later transferred to a secret prison camp near Tokyo where he was not registered and was therefore listed as "missing in action" until the camp's liberation two weeks after V-J Day. During his nearly year-long imprisonment, he and the other prisoners survived on a diet of less than 300 calories a day, eating mostly rice or barley, without fruit, vegetables or protein. Upon his release, Commander O'Kane was suffering from scurvy and beriberi. He was evacuated by air to Pearl Harbor, and after a short hospitalization, was transferred to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-o/rh-okane.htm
Naval Historical Center
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --
Rear Admiral Richard H. O'Kane, USN-Retired (1911-1994)
Richard Hetherington O'Kane was born in Dover, New Hampshire, on 2 February 1911. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in May 1934 and spent his first years of active duty in the cruiser Chester and destroyer Pruitt. He received submarine instruction in 1938 and was then assigned to USS Argonaut until 1942. Lieutenant O'Kane then joined the precommissioning crew of the new submarine Wahoo, serving as her Executive Officer under Commanding Officer Dudley W. Morton and establishing a record as a very promising tactician.
In July 1943, Lieutenant Commander O'Kane was detached from Wahoo and soon became Prospective Commanding Officer of USS Tang, which was then under construction. He placed her in commission in October 1943 and commanded her through her entire career. In five war patrols, O'Kane and Tang sank an officially recognized total of 24 Japanese ships, establishing one of the Pacific War's top records for submarine achievement. He was captured by the Japanese when his ship was accidently sunk off China during the night of 24-25 October 1944 and was secretly held prisoner until the war's end some ten months later. Following his release, Commander O'Kane was awarded the Medal of Honor for his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" during his submarine's final operations against Japanese shipping.
In the years following World War II, Commander O'Kane served with the Pacific Reserve Fleet as Commanding Officer of the submarine tender Pelias, testified at Japanese war crimes trials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tang_(SS-306)
USS Tang (SS-306)
USS Tang (SS-306) was a Balao-class submarine of World War II. She was built and launched in 1943.
In her short career, the Tang sank 33 ships displacing 116,454 tons Her commanding officer received the Medal of Honor for her last two engagements (October 23, 1944 and October 24, 1944). Tang was sunk during the last engagement by a circular run of her final torpedo.
The ship sank in 180 feet of water. Several of the crew managed to reach the surface, and some of them survived to be captured by the Japanese. These were the first American submariners to escape a sunken submarine using a Momsen lung.
On the morning of 25 October, Tang began patrolling at periscope level. She surfaced at dark and headed for Turnabout Island (25.431493°N 119.93989°E). On approaching the island, the submarine's surface search radar showed so many blips that it was almost useless. Tang soon identified a large convoy which contained tankers with planes on their decks and transports with crated planes stacked on their bows and sterns. As the submarine tracked the Japanese ships along the coast, the enemy escorts became suspicious, and the escort commander began signaling with a large searchlight. This illuminated the convoy, and Tang chose a large three-deck transport as her first target, a smaller transport as the second, and a large tanker as the third. Their ranges varied from 900–1,400 yd (820–1,300 m). After firing two torpedoes at each target, the submarine paralleled the convoy to choose its next victims. She launched stern torpedoes at another transport and tanker aft.
As Tang poured on full speed to escape the gunfire directed at her, a destroyer passed around the stern of the transport and headed for the submarine. The tanker exploded, and a hit was seen on the transport. A few seconds later, the destroyer exploded, either from intercepting Tang's third torpedo or from shell fire of two escorts closing on the beam. Only the transport remained afloat, and it was dead in the water. The submarine cleared to 240 ft (73 m), rechecked the last two torpedoes which had been loaded in the bow tubes; and returned to finish off the transport.
The 23rd torpedo was fired at 900 yd (820 m) and was observed running "hot, straight, and normal". At 02:30 on the morning of 25 October, the 24th and last torpedo was fired. It broached and curved to the left in a circular run. Tang fishtailed under emergency power to clear the turning circle of the torpedo, but it struck her abreast the aft torpedo room approximately 20 seconds after it was fired. The explosion was violent, and men as far forward as the control room received broken limbs. The ship went down by the stern with the after three compartments flooded. Of the nine officers and men on the bridge, three were able to swim through the night until picked up eight hours later. One officer escaped from the flooded conning tower, and was rescued with the others.
The submarine bottomed at 180 ft (55 m) and the men within crowded forward as the aft compartments flooded. Publications were burned, and all assembled to the forward room to escape. The escape was delayed by a Japanese patrol, which dropped depth charges, and started an electrical fire in the forward battery. Thirteen men escaped from the forward room, and by the time the last made his exit, the heat from the fire was so intense that the paint on the bulkhead was scorching, melting, and running down. Of the 13 men who escaped, only nine reached the surface, and of these, five were able to swim until rescued. A total of 74 men were lost. Those who escaped the submarine were greeted in the morning with the bow of the transport sticking straight out of the water.
Nine survivors, including O'Kane, were picked up the next morning by a Japanese destroyer. There were also victims of Tang's previous sinkings on board, and they tortured the men from Tang. O'Kane stated, "When we realized that our clubbing and kickings were being administered by the burned, mutilated survivors of our handiwork, we found we could take it with less prejudice." The nine captives were retained by the Japanese in prison camps until the end of the war.
