Richard O ' Kane Rear Admiral Richard Hetherington “ Dick ” O ' Kane ( February 2 , 1911 – February 16 , 1994 ) was a United States Navy submarine commander in World War II , who received a Medal of Honor for his service on the . Having also served on the near legendary , as Executive Officer and Approach Officer , he participated ( directly ) in more successful attacks on Japanese shipping than any other fighting submarine officer during the war . Biography . O ' Kane was born in Dover , New Hampshire , graduated from Phillips Academy , Andover in 1930 , and the U . S . Naval Academy in May 1934 . He spent his first years of active duty on the heavy cruiser and destroyer . He received submarine instruction in 1938 and was then assigned to the USS . In early 1942 , Lieutenant O ' Kane then joined the precommissioning crew of the new submarine and served as her Executive Officer ( XO ) on five war patrols first under Lieutenant Commander Marvin G . " Pinky " Kennedy and later under the legendary Lieutenant Commander Dudley " Mush " Morton . Morton established a record as an excellent tactician , as he preferred to run the demanding analysis and plots while his XO manned the periscopes , a reversal of standard practices . Under Morton ' s tutelage , O ' Kane developed the skills which enabled him to become the single most accomplished American submarine commander in history . In July 1943 , Lieutenant Commander O ' Kane was detached from " Wahoo " and soon became Prospective Commanding Officer ( PCO ) of the " Tang " , which was then under construction . He placed her in commission in October 1943 and commanded her through her entire career . He was an innovator , and developed several operational tactics that markedly increased his ship ' s efficiency . Among these tactics were daylight surface cruising with extra lookouts , periscope recognition and range drills — enabling clear tactical sureness when seconds counted , and methods of night surface attacks — one of his favorite techniques to obtain and maintain the initiative in battle . In five war patrols , O ' Kane and " Tang " sank an officially recognized total of 24 Japanese ships - the second highest total for a single American submarine and the highest for a single commanding officer . This total was revised in 1980 from a review of Japanese war records corroborated by the " Tang " ′ s surviving logs and crewmembers to 31 ships totalling over sunk . This established one of the Pacific War ' s top records for submarine achievement . Several times during the war he took the " Tang " into the heart of a convoy and attacked ships ahead and behind while coolly steering clear of escorting combatants — counting on " Tang " ′ s relative position , speed , and low profile to keep clear of enemy escorts . He and the " Tang " also performed laudably on " Lifeguard Duty " , which was a practice of positioning one or more submarines off an island to be attacked by planes of the Fast Carrier Task Force s to be in a nearby close - in " ditching station " in position to rescue downed pilots . Off Truk , he and the " Tang " rescued 22 airmen in one mission taking some interesting risks in the process which earned a Presidential Unit Citation . The " Tang " and O ' Kane ' s third patrol , into the Yellow Sea , ranked first in the war patrol records for number of ships sunk in a single patrol . O ' Kane claimed eight ships at the time , but post - war analysis increased this to ten ships . On one attack , he had targeted two large ships with three torpedoes each and assumed three hits in each . Japanese records actually reported two hits in each with the third of each spread hitting smaller ships in the next column . This surpassed the next highest patrol which was for the " Wahoo " , with O ' Kane as XO , in the same area the year before . He was captured by the Japanese when the " Tang " was sunk in the Formosa Strait by her own flawed torpedo ( running in a circle ) during a surface night attack on October 24 – 25 , 1944 . O ' Kane lost all but eight members of his crew , and was secretly ( i . e . illegally ) held prisoner until the war ' s end some ten months later . Following his release , Commander O ' Kane received the Medal of Honor for his " conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity " during his submarine ' s final operations against Japanese shipping . In the years following World War II , O ' Kane served with the Pacific Reserve Fleet as Commanding Officer of the submarine tender , testified at Japanese war crimes trials , was Executive Officer of the submarine tender and was Commander Submarine Division 32 . He was a student at the Armed Forces Staff College in 1950 – 51 and was subsequently assigned to the Submarine School at New London , Connecticut , initially as an instructor and , in 1952 – 53 , as the Officer in Charge . Promoted to the rank of Captain in July 1953 , O ' Kane commanded the submarine tender until June 1954 and then became Commander , Submarine Squadron Seven . Following studies at the Naval War College in 1955 – 56 , he served in Washington , D . C . , with the Ship Characteristics Board . Captain O ' Kane retired from active duty in July 1957 and , on the basis of his extensive combat record , was simultaneously advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral on the Retired List . O ' Kane died in Petaluma , California at the age of 83 . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery , Section 59 , Grave 874 . His wife was later buried beside him . Awards and decorations . In addition to the Medal of Honor , O ' Kane received three Navy Cross es , three Silver Star s , the Legion of Merit with " V " device for valor , the Purple Heart and several other decorations . He wrote books about his service on " Tang " and " Wahoo " , entitled " Clear the Bridge ! : The War Patrols of the USS Tang " and " Wahoo : The Patrols of America ' s Most Famous World War II Submarine " , respectively . Admiral O ' Kane was also awarded the American Defense Service Medal , Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal with nine battle stars , World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal . He was also retroactively entitled to the Prisoner of War Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon . Legacy . In 1998 , the was named in honor of O ' Kane . The wardroom of the oldest submarine in the fleet carries O ' Kane ' s personal cribbage board , and upon decommissioning the board is transferred to the next oldest boat . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Commander , United States Navy , commanding U . S . S . Tang . Place and date : Vicinity Philippine Islands , October 23 , and October 24 , 1944 . Entered service at : New Hampshire . Born : February 2 , 1911 , Dover , N . H . Citation : For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U . S . S . Tang operating against 2 enemy Japanese convoys on 23 October and 24 October 1944 , during her fifth and last war patrol . Boldly maneuvering on the surface into the midst of a heavily escorted convoy , CMDR O ' Kane stood in the fusillade of bullets and shells from all directions to launch smashing hits on 3 tankers , coolly swung his ship to fire at a freighter and , in a split - second decision , shot out of the path of an onrushing transport , missing it by inches . Boxed in by blazing tankers , a freighter , transport , and several destroyers , he blasted 2 of the targets with his remaining torpedoes and , with pyrotechnics bursting on all sides , cleared the area . Twenty - four hours later , he again made contact with a heavily escorted convoy steaming to support the Leyte campaign with reinforcements and supplies and with crated planes piled high on each unit . In defiance of the enemy ' s relentless fire , he closed the concentration of ship and in quick succession sent 2 torpedoes each into the first and second transports and an adjacent tanker , finding his mark with each torpedo in a series of violent explosions at less than 1 , 000 - yard range . With ships bearing down from all sides , he charged the enemy at high speed , exploding the tanker in a burst of flame , smashing the transport dead in the water , and blasting the destroyer with a mighty roar which rocked the Tang from stem to stern . Expending his last 2 torpedoes into the remnants of a once powerful convoy before his own ship went down , Comdr . O ' Kane , aided by his gallant command , achieved an illustrious record of heroism in combat , enhancing the finest traditions of the U . S . Naval Service .