Military Officer - October 2008 - (Page 60) The ill-fated Tullibee (SS-284) joins the ranks of the U.S. Navy (right) during the conclusion of commissioning ceremonies at Mare Island Navy Yard in California Feb. 15, 1943. Submarines of the 1960s are showcased (below). which sent 1.7 million tons of Japanese shipping to the ocean bottom during the war, later were joined by the Balao class of submarines, which featured a fortified pressure hull for deeper diving and a larger fuel capacity for longer patrols. MAKING PROGRESS The success of World War II subs especially is impressive because many of their early standard-issue Mark XIV torpedoes either ran too deep, failed to detonate, exploded prematurely — or worse. In March 1944, a torpedo launched by the USS Tullibee ran a circular course and returned to destroy the Gatoclass boat. In all, U.S. submarines sank 4.9 million tons of shipping and 700,000 tons of naval ships during the war — about 60 percent and 30 percent NAUTILUS SEADRAGON SCORPION PERMIT PATRICK HENRY BARB ETHAN ALLEN 60 On that mission, the Spearfish narrowly escaped a missile fired by an American fighter pilot, who mistook the sub for a Japanese boat. Smalling later was assigned to the USS Hackleback, a brand-new sub that shadowed the giant Japanese battleship Yamato as it made its way to Okinawa, Japan, to intercept the Allied invasion fleet. “We were within 4,000 yards but had orders not to attack,” he recalls. “Here you’ve been at war for several years, looking at the biggest target there is, and all you can do is notify [commanders] SEAWOLF SKATE SWORDFISH SARGO that it’s coming.” Less than a decade after the end of World SKIPJACK TRITON HALIBUT SCAMP War II came a quantum leap in submarine propulsion, when the first SCULPIN SHARK SNOOK THRESHER boat with an atomic power plant — the USS POLLACK PLUNGER TULLIBEE GEORGE WASHINGTON Nautilus — set sail on her maiden voyage. Although capable of combat, the ABRAHAM LINCOLN THEODORE ROOSEVELT ROBERT E. LEE Nautilus served mostly as a research platform. The advent of nucleHADDO JACK TINOSA DACE ar engines meant subs no longer had to surSAM HOUSTON THOMAS A. EDISON JOHN MARSHALL face to recharge their OCTOBER 2008 IMAGES: ABOVE, USN PHOTO COURTESY U.S. SUB VETS OF WORLD WAR II; TOP, USN PHOTO/RON TITUS/COURTESY INGERSOLL-RAND CORP. of the total, respectively — although subs comprised less than 2 percent of the U.S. fleet. The victories came at a high cost, however. Of the 288 submarines that went into battle, 52 of them — with a total of 3,506 men aboard — never returned. Jack Smalling is one of the lucky ones. Assigned to the USS Spearfish, he participated in a reconnaissance mission to Iwo Jima, Japan. “When you looked through the periscope, you felt like you were right next to the island,” Smalling remembers. MILITARY OFFICER
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