Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: WWII Submarine Tactics......A Good Book
Message-ID: <1990Oct29.034219.11504@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 29 Oct 90 03:42:19 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.151528.16305@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
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Organization: New York State Institute for Sebastian Cabot Studies
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From: welty@lewis.crd.ge.com (richard welty)

In article <1990Oct24.151528.16305@cbnews.att.com>, Bob McCormick writes: 
*By the way, O'Kane was the highest scoring (I assume in number
*of ships sunk, or maybe tons) WWII sub commander, I believe.  
*Cmdr Morton, who is largely the focus of the book, was second.

O'Kane's book on his own experiences as CO of Tang is
_Clear the Bridge_.  it's a very good read, well worth
looking up.  I don't know if O'Kane scored most tonnage,
but he certainly got most ships; he averaged twice as many
per patrol as Wahoo, and Wahoo was second by a very large
margin.  Edward Beach (_Submarine!_) suggests that the
agressive patrolling of O'Kane was partially due to the desire
to revenge the loss of Morton and Wahoo; his old skipper and
sub were lost shortly before he took Tang out on her first
war patrol.

as skippers, both Morton and O'Kane believed in making
their own opportunities.  neither of them ever `sat around'
waiting for the enemy.  this was probably a large reason
for their success.  both subs were lost in high-risk areas
of the Pacific; the agressive are always in the most danger
too (and before anyone asks how O'Kane could write a book
after his sub was lost, he was one of 9 survivors of the
loss of Tang and subsequent imprisonment by the Japanese;
Tang was sunk in shallow water while making a night surface
attack -- the last torpedo she launched ran circular and hit
her in the engine room.)

richard
-- 
richard welty         518-387-6346, GE R&D, K1-5C39, Niskayuna, New York
welty@lewis.crd.ge.com                 ...!crdgw1!lewis.crd.ge.com!welty            
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