Evening star., 1952-11-26

recovered from Japanese prison
camps.
A Tragic Story.
And what of the men who re.
manned alive inside the submarine.
who leveled her of on the bottom
to make 1t possible for them to
escape? Their story Is equally
tragic.
By quick action they had man
aged to seal the afterpart of the
ship. confine the flooding to the
after engine room. maneuvering
room. and after torpedo room.
The men in the control room.
directly beneath the coming
tower. had been able to close the
hatch between those two compart-
mentS. thus localizing the flooding
through the open upper coming
tower hatch to that compartment
alone. but not before considerable
water had found its way into the
control room: and since the lower
coming tower hatch had been
sprung by the terrific force of the
explosion, it leaked badly and
could not be made tight.
Then they opened the vent valve
to number two main ballast tank.
using the hand operating gear,
since hydraulic power had also
been lost. and by this means low
cred the bow of the ship to the
bottom. They were thus in an ex-
cellent position for escape. Tho
ship was in 180 feet of water, not
too far from the coast of China.
They had by no means despaired.
The next operation was to burn
all the confidential and secret
papers, which was accomplished
at the expense of filling the con-
troll room and forward battery
compartment with smoke.
At about this time depth charg-
ing commenced. and all escape
operations came to q standstill
for several hours until it ceased.
In the meantime, all survivors
gathered in the forward torpedo
room, about 30 In all, and they
were forced to seal of the door to
the battery compartment and the
rest Of the ship because Of pro-
gressive flooding from the control
room and an electrical fire which
had started in the forward battery
compartment. This fire increased
in intensity, and finally prevented
successful escape of many men
who otherwise could have got out.
Four Parties Leave Ship.
In all. four parties left the ship.
using the Momsen lung, via the
escape hatch built into the for
ward torpedo room. Owing to the
great pressure due to the depth,
this process was laborous, and the
men, already debilitated from the
effects of the foul air and smoke
fumes they had been breathing.
suffered exceedingly.
Toward the end, the heat from
the fire in the forward battery
compartment had begun to blister
the paint on the after bulkhead of
the torpedo room, and puffs Of
acrid smoke were coming past the
door. where the rubber gasket
itself was burning. Steadily In
creasing pressure In the battery
compartment. due to slow food
ing, also helped to destroy this
gaSket.
Finally, the inevitable happened
the gasket blew out, or was
burned out, and all men remain
ing in the forward torpedo room
were asphyxiated.
Thirteen men made an UNDER
water escape from Tang's forward
torpedo room several hours after
she went down, but only five were
picked up by the Japs the next
morning. Five Of them had never
reached the surface, and three,
evidently suffering some form Of
the bends, had been unable to
afloat.
OF the crew Of 90 men and
officers. only nine in all came
back
Copyright. 1852. By Edward L. Beach,
published by Henry Holt and Co.. Inc.
distributed By the Register and Tribune
Syndicate.)
(To Be Continued Tomorrow