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00:00During the Second World War, an entire generation recorded their personal experiences for posterity.
00:08Combat cameramen braved enemy fire to send home moving images, many of them in color.
00:15They captured history, and in the process they captured ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events,
00:22bearing witness to the color of war.
00:30History of World War II
00:52As the battles of World War II raged in Europe and across the Pacific,
00:57one branch of the U.S. military went quietly about its business,
01:01with few headlines or newsreel reports to record its accomplishments.
01:07It was a small branch of the U.S. Navy known as the Submarine Force.
01:14It moved with such secrecy that it was dubbed the Silent Service.
01:21The elite sailors who manned the submarines were chosen for their intelligence
01:25and ability to cope with the claustrophobic and often frightful living conditions
01:30aboard a thick-skinned steel cylinder.
01:34Their days were filled with long periods of boredom and sudden intense bursts of all-out combat.
01:43It was a kind of battle that was different from any other in the Second World War,
01:48one where there was little chance of escape when disaster struck,
01:52and the submarine itself often became a steel coffin.
02:06Many patrols for U.S. submarines in World War II began when the crew cast off lines
02:11at the main U.S. subbase at Pearl Harbor and began the long journey to the Eastern Hemisphere.
02:19At the beginning of the conflict, they were given a single order,
02:23commence unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan.
02:28In the dark days following the attack on Pearl Harbor,
02:31subs were among the only warships America had left that could strike back at the Japanese.
02:37But because the assignment required absolute secrecy,
02:41few were aware of what these men experienced in the service of their country.
02:48Being accepted for submarine duty was a testament to these sailors' abilities.
02:53Comprised solely of volunteers, this elite group of men made up only 1.6% of the entire U.S. Navy.
03:02All had finished at the top of their classes, a prerequisite for being eligible for submarine duty,
03:08and each was given 50% more pay than the rest of their Navy comrades.
03:15One of these men was Lieutenant Harold Todd of the USS Legato.
03:21Throughout his assignment to submarine duty, he wrote faithfully to his wife, Helen Ray.
03:28You know, I'm proud as hell to be part of the submarine force.
03:33You don't realize how much it's respected by the other branches
03:37until you get ashore and meet guys from the other ships and bases.
03:41Even though I haven't done anything to earn that respect,
03:44I can't help sticking out my chest and pushing my head up and my chin out,
03:49just because I'm lucky enough to be part of it.
03:55For many of these sailors, it was their first war patrol,
03:58and some clung to the dubious notion that a sub was the safest duty in the U.S. Navy.
04:06I have absorbed a lot of stuff from listening to fellows that have been in naval engagements,
04:10and from their descriptions, I'll take a sub any day.
04:14When you get out on one of those tin can destroyers, all you are is meat for the fish.
04:22Japanese propagandist Tokyo Rose offered a more ominous assessment for the submariner
04:28in one of her famous daily broadcasts to U.S. servicemen.
04:33We know very well that American submarines have headed west from Pearl Harbor.
04:38If American submariners are wise, you will turn back.
04:43Certain death awaits you over here.
04:46And now I'll play for you unfortunate Americans a popular recording.
05:00The naivete of the recent submarine school graduates was not lost on their veteran shipmates,
05:06who were expected to show them the ropes.
05:13Replacements are all recruits with less than six months in the service.
05:17It makes it hard on the rest of the crew as they don't know a damn thing.
05:21Hate to operate with men, or rather kids, that don't know one vowel from another.
05:26They will whip into shape soon, though.
05:30And whip into shape they did,
05:33for there was no other choice if a submarine was to survive the rigors of combat.
05:39Throughout the war patrol, the men continued their training.
05:46In order to attain the highly respected rating qualified in submarines,
05:51each man had to learn how to perform every single job aboard a U.S. submarine,
05:56the most complex and sophisticated man of war at the time.
06:00Designed to withstand enormous pressure at depth,
06:03the boat relied upon diesel engines for surface speed
06:06and battery-powered electric motors for submerged running.
06:13The first Gato-class subs, which were the mainstay of the U.S. submarine force during the war,
06:19were 312 feet long, could operate at a depth of 300 feet,
06:24and carried enough fuel to cruise 11,000 miles with a top speed of 20 knots on the surface.
06:34Their submerged top speed was 9 knots,
06:37which could be sustained for only one hour before draining the vessel's batteries.
06:42Running at lower speed, a sub could remain submerged for over 36 hours.
06:49To operate efficiently, either submerged or on the surface,
06:53a crew of approximately 75 officers and men had to undergo regular training drills.
07:12The captain came below and said,
07:14''Take her down!''
07:15And the diving alarm was sounded.
07:17What had been a grinning, joking, lazy bunch of fellas
07:20turned suddenly into an alert, precise, efficient team of experts.
07:26Nobody spoke,
07:27but all through the boat you could hear air rushing through the lines
07:30and big valves being spun closed.
07:33All this time you could hear the sea slapping against the hull like a chambermaid spanking pillows.
07:39The deck tilted,
07:40the power of steering gear gnashed its teeth,
07:43and the world stopped.
07:45No noise.
07:47No pitching.
07:49No sense of movement whatsoever.
07:52It almost gives a guy a sense of reverence when you're down there.
07:56There's a sudden peacefulness that can only be duplicated in church.
08:04On a typical war patrol of six to ten weeks,
08:08a submariner could expect to not once set foot on land,
08:13with only a rare glimpse of sky or taste of fresh air.
08:18Under such abnormal conditions,
08:20the military decorum on board was far less formal than on a surface ship.
08:26Beards and mustaches were allowed,
08:28as were shorts and sandals.
08:31Due to the cramped living conditions
08:33and the closeness in age between officers and enlisted men,
08:36discipline was also more relaxed.
08:40Another aspect of submarine life was the envy of the U.S. military.
08:45Subs were stocked with the best food,
08:47at least in the early stages of a patrol.
08:52Should have seen the chow we brought aboard this pig iron.
08:56Chickens,
08:57frozen vegetables,
08:58ham,
08:59bacon,
09:00tuna,
09:01and a lot of other delicacies.
09:04I guess we'll eat good.
09:05I'm eating more than I ever ate before and living like a king.
09:09A slightly cramped king.
09:12The more inventive crewmen sometimes found ways to add variety to the menu.
09:21On my morning watch,
09:22I found several flying fish on the deck that had landed there during the night.
09:27I couldn't pass up such a treat.
09:29The stewards made Cleo bolognese,
09:31I couldn't pass up such a treat.
09:33The stewards made Cleo bolognese,
09:35picked up the fish and prepared them for my breakfast.
09:38Poached flying fish,
09:39soft boiled eggs,
09:40strips of bacon,
09:41and grits.
09:45However, as appetizing as the food often was,
09:48the duration of the patrols and the limited storage space aboard a sub
09:52meant that it couldn't last forever.
09:58As the patrol wore on,
09:59the deterioration in food quality was exceeded
10:02only by the foulness of the atmosphere.
10:06The mixture of diesel oil,
10:08battery gas,
10:09cigarette smoke,
10:10and sweat
10:11permeated the cramped and windowless vessel,
10:13leading the men to dream of life on the other side of the hatch.
10:22That is about the only thing I dislike about submarines.
10:26The lack of air and sunlight.
10:28I don't mind taking a bath in a pitcher of water
10:31or getting up in the middle of the night,
10:33but there's a musty odor that grows on you for lack of air.
10:37When this is over and I'm still in the Navy,
10:40it's going to be a light cruiser for yours truly.
10:45It was for these reasons that the first submarines
10:47were often called pig boats by their crews.
10:53When the subs finally entered the battle zone,
10:55many skippers imposed a work schedule called reversa,
10:59whereby the entire crew worked through the night.
11:04This allowed the boat to run on the surface at maximum speed
11:07and charge the batteries needed to power the electric motors
11:10used for underwater operations.
11:15During daylight hours, the sub submerged,
11:18and the crew slept until a target was sighted.
11:22This helped to avoid detection by the enemy.
11:26Now in distant waters controlled by a determined Japanese Navy,
11:31the endless drills and periods of boredom were almost over.
11:41Mom asked in her last letter to inscribe one torpedo,
11:45from Becky.
11:47The first reload will contain the answer to that request.
11:50It is inscribed to Tojo, from Becky, Banzai.
11:55We'll have to tell her the result.
12:07In the early days of the war,
12:09U.S. submarines were instructed to concentrate their attacks
12:12on Japanese warships,
12:14including aircraft carriers, destroyers,
12:17and other vessels that made up the backbone of the enemy fleet.
12:22The results were disappointing.
12:24Some blamed the overly conservative tactics of the skippers.
12:28Others attributed the poor performance to inexperienced crews.
12:35September 7th gave us our first action.
12:38Battle stations at 4.15 a.m.
12:41Made our approach on the surface in terrible style,
12:43which showed us that if captain and executive officer didn't have a talk,
12:46we're going to be behind the eight ball.
12:49Inexperience and stubbornness stood out all over in these two leading offices.
12:57Another pervasive problem was the performance of the Mark 14 torpedo,
13:02which often failed to explode or ran deeper than intended.
13:08In 1943, after a long process of testing,
13:11the torpedo's detonator was finally replaced with a better model,
13:15and the success of U.S. subs began to increase.
13:24But this didn't alter the extreme tension the crews struggled with
13:28while hunting for enemy ships.
13:33It's not making attacks that's the strain.
13:36Hell no.
13:38When you pray for them to give you something to release the energy you've stored up,
13:42it's building up to them.
13:45And when you put four or five such days together consecutively,
13:49you really get worn down.
13:51I know I came as close to a nervous breakdown or battle fatigue as a guy can
13:55without actually having it.
13:59When a lookout spotted a target, the stress quickly evaporated.
14:05An attack by the USS Wahoo in a protected bay off New Guinea
14:09illustrates the extraordinary lengths to which a U.S. sub occasionally went
14:13in an attempt to sink Japanese warships.
14:18Sunday, January 24th, 1943.
14:24Word came over the loudspeakers that a destroyer and three Jap subs were tied up.
14:29The captain said,
14:30Boys, we're gonna get them.
14:33Everyone had a smile on their face, but
14:35actually every man on board expected this time was their last time,
14:39because we got so far up the bay and
14:42because of the shallow water, we could not dive very deep.
14:46We were trapped.
14:48Suddenly a slight jar was felt and the first torpedo was on its way.
14:52Then in rapid succession, two, three, four, and five were fired.
14:58Twenty-five seconds later, a loud explosion was heard.
15:01The captain said that the Jap destroyer dodged the number four torpedo
15:05right into the number five, which struck her amidst ship breaking her in two.
15:09And the men were even climbing the mast because she was sinking so fast.
15:17For some of the crew,
15:18the confirmed sinking of an enemy ship was a moment of tremendous joy,
15:22but the elation was frequently short-lived.
15:25For virtually every ship attacked,
15:27the Japanese counterattacked with depth charges,
15:30which were canisters of high explosives set to go off at a predetermined depth.
15:39The sound of a depth charge going off close cannot be described.
15:44There is no other sound like it,
15:46worse than the loudest thunder,
15:48ten times louder than a large bomb,
15:51a sound so powerful that it goes through the spectrum of physical sound
15:56that the ear can hear and turns into a pressure wave.
16:03The crew's best chance to avoid death during a depth charging
16:07was a tactic known as silent running.
16:10In this state of complete quiet,
16:12man and machine barely moved
16:15for fear of betraying the boat's position
16:17to enemy underwater sound detection gear.
16:21When a crew is in silent running condition,
16:24you have no air conditioning, no cooking, no sleeping,
16:28and the air gets very foul.
16:32The internal temperature after eight hours was 120 degrees,
16:35and they were still dropping depth charges.
16:37The crew had discarded their clothes except for undershorts.
16:41One diary entry reveals the long hours
16:44of a desperate cat-and-mouse game with enemy surface ships.
16:50For the next 20 hours, we went through hell.
16:53Practically all of the time, we were running silent.
16:56I was worried as to whether I could hold out.
16:59Lord, will it ever end?
17:03I've given up all hope myself, though I'm trying not to show it.
17:07Why I'm writing this, I will probably never know.
17:11All I want to do is lay down someplace
17:13and wait for the water to come in.
17:15I feel like a rat in a trap.
17:17I can't breathe. I'm getting desperate,
17:20ready to surface and fight it out, anything.
17:26Due to excellent discipline and command,
17:29the majority of U.S. submarines survived depth charging
17:32and made it back to the surface.
17:38That first gush of fresh air coming into the boat makes you feel drunk.
17:42Our bodies were screaming for oxygen,
17:45and now it was like a drug we couldn't handle all at once.
17:50In 1943, with the sub-campaign against Japanese warships
17:54failing to make a significant impact,
17:58the U.S. Navy High Command shifted its tactics
18:01to more closely resemble those of the extremely successful
18:04German U-boats in the Atlantic.
18:08Submarine skippers were now instructed
18:10to focus on sinking Japanese merchant ships called Marus.
18:17It was calculated that by drastically reducing
18:19the tonnage of supplies and raw materials reaching Japan,
18:23U.S. subs could strangle the Japanese war machine.
18:27Marus would also be considerably easier targets than warships
18:31due to their slower speed and lack of armament.
18:36The campaign was an immediate success.
18:39By the end of 1944, enemy sinkings totaled 2.7 million tons,
18:45more than in the first two years of the war combined.
18:49These dramatic images were captured through the periscope
18:52by Navy cameramen during an actual attack
18:55by a U.S. sub on a Japanese merchantman.
19:01March 21st, 1943.
19:04At 0500 we got a contact on a 7500 ton freighter.
19:08We went to our battle stations,
19:10and at 0650 we got in position to fire our fish at her.
19:14Two fish struck her,
19:16one on the bow and one underneath the stack.
19:19Debris and water flew 500 feet in the air,
19:22and in four minutes another ship of the rising sun
19:25had settled beneath the yellow sea.
19:28There's about 35 Japs left floating on the surface,
19:31and the water temperature was 36 degrees Fahrenheit.
19:36So they didn't last long.
19:40On some occasions, submarine crews were faced
19:43with the survivors of their own attacks.
19:46The position was a difficult one.
19:48There was little room aboard a submarine for prisoners.
19:52Also, stranded Japanese military personnel,
19:55like their counterparts on land,
19:57were often reluctant to surrender.
20:02Regardless of the circumstances,
20:04it was not always easy to watch another human being
20:07facing certain death.
20:09When they were still aboard ship, they were the enemy.
20:12Once they were in the water,
20:14they had become fellow mariners in distress.
20:21Not all U.S. submariners shared this ethic.
20:24Some considered all persons aboard Japanese ships
20:27to be the enemy.
20:29On January 26, 1943,
20:31the USS Wahoo put this code into action
20:36when it sank a large transport
20:38carrying thousands of Japanese soldiers
20:40destined for combat.
20:46We figured that there were about 7,000 troops in lifeboats
20:49and swimming around off the transport,
20:51so we got word to surface.
20:56After a half an hour of firing,
20:58we just about cleared the sea of Japs.
21:00It was like swatting flies.
21:02One Jap floated to about 12 feet from the sub,
21:05and we could tell he was playing possum.
21:07We wanted to get him alive,
21:09but the captain said,
21:11Shoot the son of a bitch!
21:13So a Tommy gun put him out of commission.
21:22The captain of the Wahoo made no attempt
21:25to hide the details of the incident.
21:27No disciplinary action was forthcoming.
21:30For many, including the commanders of the submarine force,
21:33it was simply the business of war.
21:37It was a grim business that was far from over.
21:40Indeed, the submarine campaign was about to enter a new phase,
21:44one that would inflict fresh hardships
21:47on the men of the silent service.
21:49Started Christmas Day with a bang.
21:51Fired two fish at a big I-type Jap submarine.
21:54Hit him just aft of Conning Tower.
21:56Enough said.
21:58It sort of dampened the spirits of the crew
22:00who blasted another sub to hell.
22:02But when we remember Pearl Harbor,
22:04what the chancy yellow bastards gave them,
22:07any vestige of pity fades.
22:09It was the end of the war.
22:11It was the end of the war.
22:13It was the end of the war.
22:15It was the end of the war.
22:17Any vestige of pity fades.
22:19And quickly.
22:34Sinkings of Japanese submarines were rare,
22:37as was sub-to-sub combat throughout the war.
22:40What had become common by the later stages of the conflict
22:44was the sinking of enemy merchant men.
22:47By the summer of 1945,
22:49U.S. submarines had managed to destroy the majority of large marines.
22:55Unable to make up the losses with new production,
22:58Japan was in desperate straits.
23:01As a last gasp measure,
23:03the Japanese decided to employ the sampan, or junk,
23:07a small boat traditionally used by native fishermen.
23:10By conscripting the fishermen and their boats,
23:13the Japanese believed they could run supplies
23:15through the gauntlet of U.S. forces.
23:18To counter this, American submariners began to board
23:21all vessels suspected of carrying military cargo.
23:32Pulled alongside sampan, six men boarded vessel,
23:36removed their radio, alt charts, flags,
23:39anything else that was loose and we could pick up.
23:42The sampans got a souvenir.
23:44There were nine men alive aboard.
23:47McGreen wanted to shoot them all, but Cap'n said no.
23:50We left them in a sinking condition.
23:53Cap'n didn't have the heart to sink them outright.
23:56They looked so helpless there with their boat half underwater.
24:03Over time, the sub crews had to carefully determine
24:06which sampans were working for the Japanese and which were not.
24:13We battle surfaced at 5,000 yards and rapidly overhauled them.
24:17All guns were trained on them and they appeared badly scared.
24:20Who wouldn't to see something rise out of nowhere and pull alongside?
24:25Our Filipino mess boy hailed them and identified them as friendly.
24:29We gave the men food and clothing consisting of horse cloth,
24:32cheese and dungarees.
24:34They were badly dressed and say that the Japs
24:37have taken their women from them.
24:43Throughout late 1944 and early 1945,
24:47submarines acted primarily as submersible gunboats,
24:51surfacing to attack the smaller sampans with their deck guns.
24:55Occasionally, prisoners were taken from the crewed boats.
25:01At 0800, we saw a man clinging to a log, waving to be picked up.
25:05When we got alongside, it was a Jap,
25:08so we brought him aboard for questioning.
25:10He sleeps in a sack next to mine,
25:12and there's a guard with a .45 all the time.
25:15He can say, thank you, fireman, cigarette and American.
25:21He professes to be a Korean, but any Jap would say that to get treated better.
25:28This experience was not unique.
25:31Film taken by Navy photographer's mate, Paul Southwick,
25:35reveals the crew of the USS Skate
25:38bringing three Japanese merchant sailors aboard.
25:42The men were taken below deck, clothed and fed a hot meal.
25:46For the camera's sake, a crewman attempted some light-hearted interrogation
25:50with the help of a wire recorder.
25:57Usually, the actions against sampans were not hazardous for the subs,
26:01but that wasn't always the case,
26:03as Franklin Kimble aboard the USS Cod experienced.
26:09We boarded a junk about 9.30 a.m.
26:12I went aboard this one with no flashlight, signal gun or interest in the job.
26:17My men broke open the cases in the hold and found it was entirely a military cargo.
26:23Then I heard an enemy plane and yelled at the captain.
26:26By that time, the plane was on its strafing run.
26:29I told the bowman to throw off the lines just as the Cod submerged.
26:41The Cod escaped, but Kimble and the other four crewmen were left behind,
26:46adrift in the Gulf of Siam with the native crew
26:49and their meager supply of rice and fried locusts.
26:55The men sailed aimlessly for two days,
26:58and just as they were trying to decide between heading to the Philippines
27:01or going ashore in Borneo, they were spotted by the sub USS Blenny.
27:09This actual footage, shot by cameraman Norman Jensen, shows the rescue by the Blenny.
27:18And later, the return of the crewmen to the USS Cod via a breeches buoy.
27:29A happy ending for Frank Kimble and the lost boarding party.
27:38But the submarine war was still far from over.
27:41Days of endless submerging and surfacing, manning battle stations and standing watches
27:46took a severe toll on the men and their boats.
27:51This looks like the last run I'll have to make, and I'm damn glad.
27:55My nerves are getting pretty jumpy.
27:57This sort of life has a hell of a strain on a guy, morally, more than anything else.
28:03When a guy starts thinking too much, it's time to stop.
28:10The men needed a break, and the Navy was equipped to give it to them.
28:15We have finally got some fresh air, and even saw the daylight for the first time in 52 days.
28:21My eyes can't stand the sunlight. Fresh air makes me dizzy.
28:25I feel a mental and physical wreck.
28:27We've been out of tobacco for weeks, and at the end, one cigarette was sold for $22.
28:34We've been out of tobacco for weeks, and at the end, one cigarette was sold for $22.
28:50At the end of a boat's war patrol, the captain would receive orders
28:54detailing where and when his boat and her crew would get a well-deserved rest.
29:00Depending on its location and the condition of the submarine,
29:04the boats were sent to any one of the various designated submarine refit locations.
29:11For the men, the R&R break was a vacation beyond comparison.
29:17Guam, Fremantle, and Perth, Australia, hosted scores of weary submarine crews throughout the war.
29:25Another common stop for the boats coming to and from the United States was Midway Island.
29:35Midway is like a big sand dune, pure white and hot as blazes.
29:40Marine pillboxes, Seabees, and submarine-based personnel are stationed there.
29:45Also as a rest and recuperation center for sub-sailors off of a patrol.
29:49The awkward goonie bird is the only female inhabitant.
29:57But one location was particularly special, Pearl Harbor.
30:02The return of a submarine to Pearl Harbor was a true spectacle.
30:06Typically, the boat would arrive proudly displaying her battle flag,
30:10a banner carefully sewn by the crewmen.
30:14The pennants were a record of the boat's successes against Japanese ships.
30:19The replica Japanese naval ensign signified warships.
30:23The solid white flags with red rising suns represented Marus and Sampans sunk.
30:32When the mooring lines were set, the crews rushed to participate in the ritual of welcome
30:37offered to all returning boats.
30:41They welcomed us with broad smiles, handshakes, congratulations, and much back slapping.
30:47Crates of fresh fruit and containers of ice cream were passed aboard.
30:50We were starved for fresh things and wasted no time in devouring our treats as we talked to our welcomers,
30:56who understood and urged us on.
31:02As they devoured these sorely missed foods, they joined in the next ritual, mail call.
31:10For the long, isolated submariner, letters from home were a joy beyond words.
31:19The men lingered, munching fresh foods, re-reading letters,
31:23and writing hasty replies to reassure their loved ones at home.
31:29Dear Mother, I guess by now you are pretty anxious to hear from me.
31:33I am now back in Hawaii.
31:35Finally, we were successful again, dealing punches to two more rising suns,
31:41sending them to a watery grave.
31:44I am glad that I am still able to write and tell you about it.
31:51As the men relaxed, any prisoners were unloaded and led away.
31:57The final act in the homecoming ceremony focused on the Navy brass.
32:02On most returns, admirals and other high-ranking Navy officers came aboard to pass out commendations.
32:10Many sailors received promotions to higher rank on the spot.
32:16But one submariner thought little of these activities.
32:23Headquarters at 1630.
32:25The captain was awarded the Navy cross for last patrol.
32:29Sievert, Jones, McGill, and Hill made chief out of the deal.
32:34The crew did not even get a word of praise.
32:37For a presentation ceremony, it was by far the flattest I have seen in 14 years.
32:45As the festivities ended, attention shifted to the submarine itself.
32:51The boat was committed to the care of the submarine tender,
32:54a vessel specially designed and equipped as the sub's support ship.
33:00Cracks were mended and damaged equipment repaired or replaced.
33:05With the boat under good care, the men prepared for their long-awaited liberty ashore,
33:10which often revolved around special rest centers reserved for the submarine crews,
33:15as this Navy film reveals.
33:21Patrols were tough on bodies and nerves,
33:23so we arranged a program of relaxation and rehabilitation between runs
33:27that were the envy of every branch of service.
33:30With the approval and backing of Fleet Admiral Nimitz, our commander-in-chief,
33:34we took over the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu, lock, stock, and barrel,
33:38and we said to the submarine men, it's all yours.
33:46The foul stench of submarine life was replaced with everything paradise could offer,
33:51including women and liquor.
33:54A poem composed by signalman Charles Moore of the USS Flasher
33:58offers a portrait of the overindulging sub crewman on leave.
34:06When that run is finished, and you're finally back,
34:09they pay you money, six hundred a crack.
34:12You shove off on liberty, full of good cheer,
34:15and four hours later, you're chock full of beer.
34:19A week on the beach, you're nearly a wreck.
34:22Living in gin mills, sleeping on deck.
34:26That girl that you met, she's really a honey.
34:29She has lots of experience and most of your money.
34:37Inevitably, the rest period ended, and the men reported back aboard their boats.
34:43In the final days before departure,
34:46provisions were loaded into place and final touches were made to ready the boat for war.
34:53The careful loading of the 24 torpedoes carried by most Gato-class subs
34:58was one of the most difficult parts of this process.
35:02With the boat reprovisioned and the men refreshed,
35:05the submarine once again set sail for the war zone.
35:11As important as the subs were as warships,
35:14it was another extremely valuable duty they performed.
35:19It was a job that often meant the difference between life and death
35:23to the men who patrolled the skies.
35:31When you have the deck, you go nuts trying to keep your eyes open for everything.
35:36Porpoises are torpedoes, and their fins are periscopes.
35:39Every dark cloud either hides a plane or makes you think there's one there.
35:44Even a harmless little bird flying along damn near makes you jump off the bridge.
35:49But just so porpoises stay porpoises and fins stay fins, we'll be happy.
36:04Throughout their long war patrols against enemy ships,
36:07submariners were also called upon to undertake a wide variety of other missions.
36:14These included launching sabotage raids against key shore installations,
36:22performing photo reconnaissance of potential invasion beaches,
36:28and clearing mines from shipping lanes, one at a time.
36:36One of the most critical missions was called lifeguard duty.
36:41Whenever the Navy planned large-scale fleet offensives against the Japanese,
36:46submarines were ordered into position to pick up any downed aviators.
36:54Cast adrift on the vast Pacific, these men faced certain death.
36:59Often submarines were their only chance for rescue.
37:04The flyers sometimes marked their position with a huge pool of green dye.
37:10Patrol planes saw the dye and the pilot's position was radioed in code to the submarines.
37:23The USS Tang was specifically noted for its proficiency as a lifeguard,
37:29rescuing 22 aviators in a two-day period in April of 1944.
37:37All told, 504 American flyers were rescued by U.S. submarines during the war.
37:44One of these rescued pilots would later become President of the United States.
37:52September 3, 1944.
37:54September 3, 1944.
37:57I floated around for a couple of hours, during which time I was violently sick to my stomach.
38:02And then the plane started zooming me, pointing out my position to my rescuers.
38:08You can imagine how happy I was when I saw the submarine hove into view.
38:13They pulled me out of the raft and took me below, where they fixed me up in grand style.
38:19As I write this, I'm aboard the sub.
38:22I don't know how long I will be here, or when I will get back to the squadron.
38:32The mutual admiration between the sub crews and the aviators, who they nicknamed zoomies, was deep,
38:39as Lt. Harold Todd points out in this letter to his wife and unborn son.
38:44By the way, darling, you can tell Mike that his pop is one of the glamour boys of the service.
38:50The submarine boys.
38:52I was surprised to learn that myself, but it came straight from the zoomies that get picked up by submarines.
38:58They think we're in the most adventurous racket in the service,
39:02and have a lot of so-called guts to battle surface and go into shallow waters.
39:06I guess they don't realize we think they're in a rough game themselves.
39:10On September 15th, 1944, the business of saving lives took on a new meaning
39:16for the crews of the USS Pampanito and the USS Sea Lion.
39:21While patrolling in the waters between Singapore and Formosa,
39:25Pampanito spotted a large field of wreckage and debris.
39:29This film footage that was shot by combat cameramen at the time,
39:33documents the unfolding drama.
39:401605. A bridge lookout sighted some men on a raft,
39:44so stood by with small arms and clothes to investigate.
39:48The men were covered with oil and filth, and we could not make them out.
39:53Black, curly hair. Didn't look like Japs.
39:57The men were armed and armed.
39:59Black, curly hair. Didn't look like Japs.
40:03They were shouting, but we couldn't understand what they were saying.
40:07Except we made out words.
40:09Pick us up, please.
40:14One of the men in the water told a story from his perspective.
40:21That afternoon between four and five, a marvellous and wonderful thing happened.
40:25A submarine was making straight for us, but we did not know to whom it belonged.
40:30When it was right opposite, I saw a couple of men with machine guns, pointing them at us.
40:35I didn't care, because it would have been a quicker way out.
40:41The men were British and Australian prisoners of war,
40:45who'd been forced to work on the Burma-Thailand Railroad.
40:49Three days earlier, Pampanito and Sea Lion had torpedoed a large Japanese ship,
40:53not knowing that it was a prison ship.
40:59More than 1,300 prisoners had been aboard.
41:03These men were the survivors.
41:09I can remember lifting my hands up, but pleading with the sailors not to grab my abs,
41:14because they were just blisters and sores.
41:17They got us on deck, and surprisingly, we could walk.
41:24Together, the Pampanito and Sea Lion crews rescued 127 men.
41:32The amazing story of the rescued POWs is one of the better documented efforts of the submarine force.
41:40What were not as well recorded were the extreme dangers faced by the submariners every day.
41:45Nevertheless, most of these men, including Lieutenant Harold Todd,
41:50had a deep feeling of optimism about their chances for survival.
41:58The main thing is that we're really a hot-shot outfit,
42:02just capable as hell of taking good care of ourselves.
42:05We've got lots of potent reasons why we're coming back,
42:08and if we've got anything at all to do with it, we're going to come back in a blaze of glory.
42:13In one of his many letters to his wife, Helen Ray,
42:16Lieutenant Todd included a poem in anticipation of the birth of their child.
42:22Dolphins, guard thy infant slumbers.
42:26Davy Jones, thy sandmen be,
42:29For thy father's gone a-hunting
42:32In the jungles of the sea.
42:35With darker magic tuned to hear,
42:37The pulse of foeman drawing near,
42:40He'll come to thee at last,
42:43Broom triumphant at the mast.
42:48But Lieutenant Todd and his unborn son were destined never to meet.
42:53Post-war accounts surmised that on May 3rd, 1945,
42:58USS Legato was depth-charged by a Japanese mine layer in the Gulf.
43:02The entire crew perished.
43:05She was among the last of the 52 U.S. submarines lost in World War II.
43:16Throughout the war, 3,506 submariners lost their lives,
43:22one out of every five men in the silent service.
43:25But the deeds of these sailors were far from silent.
43:29Indeed, they played a pivotal role in fighting and winning
43:34the largest naval campaign ever fought.
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