Evening star., 1952-11-13
SUBMARINE:
By comdr. Edword l. Beech, U. S. N.
CHAPTER Nv.
WAHOO.

red-letter day.
The smoke. resolves itself into
two freighters on steady course.
no zigzag-which makes the prob
lem easier. Shortly before 0900
Wahoo dives with the two vessels
coming over the HILL" masts in
line. Then she lies in ambush,
her crew at battle stations. tor
pedoeS ready.
Wahoo's plan is to lie a little of
the track of the two ships. and
fire at both almost at once in a
single attack. so that torpedoes
fired at the second ship will have
nearly arrived before hits in the
leading ship might give the second
sufficient warning to maneuver to
avoid.
Closer and closer come the two
unsuspecting ships. Summarizing
is exactly like hunting, for you
stalk your prey. lay a trap for
him, and then wait for him to fall
into it. Granted that merchant
ships do not have an equal chance
against a submarine, a skillfully
handled ship can escape once the
submarine has been detected, and
an exceptionally well-handled one
might even do damage to the
undersea craft.
1t. Comdr. Dudley w. (MuSh)
Morton, Wahoo'S commanding Of
f1cer. takes a final look at all dials.
checks the bearings. and pro-
nounces the word they have all
carefully avoided saying until this
moment:
"Fire!" The first torpedo speeds
on it's way. Ten seconds later,
I"Fire!" again.
Check fire! Shift targets!"
Fire" and, 10 seconds later,
Fire"
Total time to fire all four tor
pedoes has been 81 seconds.
Sees Two Hits.
Dick OKane. executive officer.
had lowered his periscope to avoid
being seen. knowing the approx
mate time required for the tor
Ipedoes to reach the first target,
he now raises it just in time to
see the two hits. one near the bow
of the leading ship, the other in
his stern. He swings to the second
ship, and sees thudding hit in
the stern of that one also, an in
slant before the sound and shock
wave of that explosion reaches
Wahoo.
] Three hits for four torpedoes.
Not bad shooting. Mush. Now
let's see if they sink, or if you
have to polish these cripples off.
Now three ships are seen, in
stead of the original two! The
newcomer is a large transport
type vessel. and troops can be seen
crowding the decks. He must have
been behind the larger freighter.
hidden from the limited view of
the periscope eye. So there are
two damaged ships and one un-
damaged.
Three torpedoes fash out to-
ward the transport, and the last
two hit him. with the familiar
Itinny, high-pitched explosion.
| That will hold him for a while.
Now back to the two other ships!
A quick look around shows that
one is dead in the water, listed to
Istarboard, and down by the stern.
He's on his way to Davy Jones
Locker.
=. The freighter is still underway,
but the transport is stopped dead
in the water. his topsides boiling
with soldiers. Wahoo bores in,
lines him up. and shoots one
torpedo.
A bull's-eye!
Two down out of three, and time
out is taken to get a few pictures.
Besides. the remaining torpedoes
have to be loaded into the tubes
and checked. 1t is now noon,
and in the coming tower, Morton
and O'Kane continue to watch +he
fleeing ship, munching sandwiches
land drinking coffee between looks
/ Suddenly. a pair of heavy masts
is sighted over the horizon. This
fellow looks like a warship. So
much the better!
Freighter Staggers Away.
Wahoo proceeds at maximum
Sustained submerged speed in the
direction of the unidentified YES
sci. Unfortunately. she has so
badly depleted her storage battery
during the mornings action that
Ishe cannot chase at high speed.
and hence cannot get into posi-
tion to attack the new arrival
In the meantime. the crippled
Ifreighter has been staggering
away from the scene as rapidly
: as his engines can drive his bat
; tered hull.
| 1t is soon obvious that Wahoo
) cannot hope to catch either YES
, sci. She continues to watch
through the periscope, and sees
1.-THE newcomer revealed as a large
tanker. instead of a warship. He
joins up with the cripple. and the
two proceed away at the maxi
mum speed of the latter. black
smoke pouring from stacks of both
ships. All this time the undersea
raider watches helplessly. too far
D away to interfere and too low in
battery power to give chase.
r There is a hasty council in the
S coming tower. Then, the COM
= putations completed, Wahoo
r changes course and proceeds di-
i rectly away from the fleeing ships
as rapidly as her waning battery
tS
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