When Her Own Torpedo Sank America’s Deadliest Submarine — After Destroying 33 Japanese Ships

At 2345 on October 24th, 1944, Commander Richard O’Kane stood on the bridge of USS Tang in the Taiwan Strait, watching his radar operator track a Japanese convoy 1500 yards ahead.

He was 33 years old, with five war patrols and 33 enemy ships destroyed under his belt. The convoy ahead held seven transports, three tankers, and five destroyer escorts, moving supplies toward Leyte.

Tang had already fired 22 torpedoes that night, resulting in 22 hits, two burning tankers, three transports dead in the water, and one destroyer blown apart. O’Kane had two torpedoes left before heading home to Pearl Harbor for a hero’s welcome and promotion.

The most successful submarine commander in the United States Navy was about to become a legend. But Tang was hunting with a weapon that carried a fatal flaw. The Mark 18 electric torpedo had revolutionized submarine warfare in 1943.

Unlike the older Mark 14, it ran completely silent without any wake of bubbles or exhaust pointing back to the firing position. Japanese lookouts could not see it coming, and Japanese escorts could not follow the trail.

American submarines could attack from closer ranges, fire more torpedoes, and kill more ships. However, the problem resided inside the guidance system due to a defect in the gyroscope.

Less than one percent of Mark 18s malfunctioned, but when they did, the torpedo turned, curved, and circled back toward the submarine that fired it. The Navy called them circular runs, while submariners referred to them as boomerangs.

Two American submarines had already been lost this way, including USS Tullibee in March, with the identity of the second still classified. Both boats were sunk by their own torpedoes, leaving crews entirely dead except for one survivor from Tullibee.

O’Kane knew the risk, as every submarine commander in the Pacific did. Yet, the Mark 18 advantages outweighed the danger with its silent approach and higher kill rate.

Statistics were clear that Mark 18s had sunk several thousand tons of Japanese shipping. The circular run problem was rare, unpredictable, and ultimately unavoidable. Tang had used Mark 18s on all five patrols without a single prior malfunction.

They had sent 116,454 tons of enemy shipping to the bottom, more than any other American submarine. O’Kane’s tactics were textbook perfect, featuring surface attacks at night, close range engagements, multiple targets, and escapes at full speed.

His third patrol into the Yellow Sea had sunk 10 ships, making it the most successful patrol in the war. Admiral Lockwood called him the submarine force’s most outstanding officer.

Now Tang was finishing her fifth patrol with 13 ships sunk in the last two days and seven tonight alone. O’Kane had maneuvered Tang through the middle of the convoy, firing from both sides.

He watched two tankers collide after trying to ram him and blew up a destroyer at less than 1,000 yards. Two torpedoes remained in the loaded tubes with checked gyros and charged batteries.

One transport still floated, stopped dead, burning, and listing to port. O’Kane wanted to finish her off with one torpedo and save the last one for home.

The crew loaded torpedo number 23 into the forward tubes with a range of 800 yards and a speed setting of 29 knots. The transport was not moving, so the Mark 18 would run hot, straight, and normal.

Impact was expected in 40 seconds, leaving just one final torpedo before heading home. Tang turned to the firing position at 2352 as the transport silhouette filled the periscope.

The forward torpedo room reported ready, and the Mark 18 slid from tube number three, running straight and true.

The crew counted down the seconds before a massive impact shattered the silence. The transport’s bow lifted, broke apart, and settled into the water, marking the 34th ship destroyed.

O’Kane ordered the final torpedo loaded into tube number four as the last Mark 18 on board. The crew performed standard checks, verifying battery voltage, proper gyro spin, free propellers, and correct depth settings.

At 2354 on October 25th, the final Mark 18 torpedo was locked and secured.

O’Kane studied the burning transport through his binoculars as the ship settled by the stern. Standard submarine doctrine required finishing every target and leaving nothing afloat.

The Japanese had pulled survivors from seemingly dead ships before, towing damaged vessels to port for repairs. Tang’s torpedo officer reported final checks complete for the Mark 18.

The transport had drifted 300 yards closer, placing the range at a point-blank distance of 500 yards.

The torpedo would cross the gap in 20 seconds, prompting O’Kane to give the order to fire. The Mark 18 left the tube at 2355 and ran straight for three seconds before its propeller wash appeared at the surface.

The weapon broached, breaking through the water and porpoising instead of running at the proper six-foot depth. The gyroscope had failed completely, causing the torpedo to curve hard to the left in a wide arc.

O’Kane saw it immediately as the classic one percent malfunction turned back toward them.

O’Kane shouted for emergency speed as Tang’s diesel engines roared to maximum power with full right rudder applied. The crew on the bridge saw the white wake in the black water curving toward them at 300 yards, then 200, then 100.

Tang’s propellers bit deep, and the submarine fishtailed in an effort to swing her stern away. A 312-foot submarine could not turn like a destroyer, leaving Tang with neither time nor distance.

The Mark 18 completed its deadly circle in just 20 seconds.

It struck Tang’s stern on the port side, detonating against the after torpedo room with 575 pounds of Torpex explosive. The blast was catastrophic, tearing through the hull plating and instantly flooding the after torpedo room.

The after engine room and maneuvering room flooded next, destroying three compartments in 15 seconds. The 23 men trapped aft died before they could even react to the disaster.

The explosion threw O’Kane and eight other men from the bridge directly into the Taiwan Strait.

Tang’s stern dropped rapidly as the submarine went down by the tail with emergency alarms screaming. Sixty men remained alive inside the forward compartments, including the control room and forward engine room.

They felt the severe deck tilt and heard the roar of water flooding aft, realizing their own torpedo had doomed them. Tang settled firmly on the bottom at a depth of 180 feet.

The pressure hull held, keeping the forward compartments dry, but the men inside were completely trapped.

No surface ship knew their position, and no rescue was coming from the outside world. The only way out was up through 180 feet of black water in an active combat zone.

Japanese destroyers lingered overhead, dropping frequent depth charges to harass the area. The crew possessed only one option, which was the forward escape trunk.

This small vertical chamber was designed for this exact situation, though escaping from 180 feet far exceeded normal training limits.

Submarine school taught escape procedures from 50 or 75 feet, meaning 180 feet carried four times the pressure and risk. Lungs could rupture, blood vessels could burst, and men could black out during the ascent.

Tang’s crew had to use an untested combat device called the Momsun lung, invented 15 years earlier. The rubber bag filled with oxygen recycled exhaled air and removed carbon dioxide with soda lime.

It provided roughly 10 minutes of breathing gas, which might be enough to reach the surface.

Thirty men crowded into the forward torpedo room while publications and classified documents were burned. No sensitive information could be allowed to reach the Japanese military.

The men waited for the depth charging to stop and the electrical fire in the forward battery to die down. The forward battery fire had started at midnight on October 25th from shallow harassing charges.

Explosions cracked battery cells, released chlorine gas, and heated the forward compartment.

Interior paint on the walls began to discolor, bubble, and run down in melted streaks as temperatures climbed past 100 degrees. The 30 men removed their shirts, drank their last water, and breathed as shallowly as possible.

The air grew thick, hot, and heavy with carbon dioxide in the sealed space. Some men began struggling and gasping for breath, knowing the weakest would not survive.

They had to wait because Japanese destroyers overhead were still active with sonar.

Momsun lung equipment was stored in lockers along the torpedo room walls, consisting of a rubberized canvas bag. Inside each bag was a soda lime canister, an oxygen valve, and two breathing tubes.

The bag hung around the neck and strapped around the waist, providing surface flotation if reached successfully. Training had been minimal, with most crew members practicing only once in calm water.

This escape would happen in 180 feet of dark combat water with zero assistance.

The complex procedure required equalizing pressure in the escape trunk and flooding the chamber slowly. Men had to wait for internal pressure to match the outside water before opening the outer hatch.

They would enter the water, breathe from the Momsun lung, and ascend slowly while exhaling continuously. Panic, holding breath, or ascending too fast meant certain death.

Heat in the torpedo room continued rising toward 140 degrees as men began collapsing from exhaustion.

Stronger crew members dragged unconscious men toward the escape trunk area to keep them ready for the attempt. At 0530, Japanese destroyer sonar pings finally faded away as the escort departed.

The crew waited another 30 minutes to be certain before initiating escape preparations. Thirteen men were selected to go based on strength, youth, and survival probability.

The remaining men were too weak or injured to attempt the perilous climb.

The first man entered the escape trunk at 0600 wearing his inflated Momsun lung with a fresh soda lime canister. The escape trunk hatch sealed behind him as cold seawater rushed in from below.

Pressure built rapidly to nearly 80 pounds per square inch at the bottom depth. The outer hatch opened at 0615, and the first man pushed out into the black water.

He ascended while breathing from the lung and exhaling through his nose.

The ascent took three to four minutes of total darkness and intense pressure changes before he broke the surface at 0619. He inflated his flotation bag, started treading water, and looked around for other survivors.

The second man left at 0622, followed by others in a steady sequence. By 0700, 13 men had exited the forward torpedo room and started their grueling ascents.

Only eight of those 13 men reached the surface alive.

Five men died during the climb due to various equipment failures, lung ruptures, or panic attacks. Three of the eight survivors who reached the surface were too injured to stay afloat and drowned.

Only five men remained from the 13 who attempted the escape out of the 30 originally in the torpedo room. Commander O’Kane had spent eight hours swimming and waiting after being thrown from the bridge.

He joined the small group of survivors in the water.

At 0800, a ship appeared on the horizon and moved directly toward the floating group of nine Americans. Hope surged as they waved and shouted, thinking rescue had finally arrived.

The vessel closed in until they could clearly see the flag of a Japanese frigate. On her deck were survivors from the very ships Tang had sunk the night before.

The rescued Japanese sailors recognized the American submariners immediately and fell into a rage.

The Japanese frigate lowered cargo nets, and the nine Americans were hauled aboard in an exhausted, oil-soaked state. Beatings started instantly with kicks to the ribs and rifle butts to the back.

O’Kane took the worst of the violence as the commander who ordered the attacks. Japanese naval crew members eventually intervened to pull the enraged merchant sailors away from the prisoners.

O’Kane suffered broken ribs, a fractured skull, and internal bleeding from the assault.

The frigate transported them to Formosa, then Hong Kong, and onward to Japan over a brutal 10-day journey. On November 4th, they arrived at Ofuna, a secret interrogation facility north of Tokyo.

Ofuna operated outside the normal prisoner of war system where the Red Cross had no knowledge of its existence. Solitary confinement, starvation rations, and constant beatings were designed to break prisoners psychologically.

O’Kane and his crew provided only name, rank, and serial number, withstanding all torture.

After two months at Ofuna, the nine Americans transferred to Omori, a regular prisoner of war camp near Tokyo. Conditions improved slightly with more food, but forced labor and brutal guards remained constant threats.

Japanese authorities viewed submarine crews as war criminals and pirates rather than legal combatants. Winter brought bitter cold, inadequate clothing, and deadly diseases that threatened the surviving men.

American bombing raids on Tokyo began in March 1945, bringing explosions close to the camp.

By August 1945, Omori was surrounded by the ruins of a burned city as air raids continued day and night. On August 6th, guards grew agitated over news of a single bomb destroying Hiroshima.

Three days later, Nagasaki suffered the same fate, causing guards to abandon normal camp routines. Emperor Hirohito’s surrender announcement broadcast across Japan on August 15th brought official word that the war was over.

The nine Tang survivors had outlasted the brutal imprisonment.

American forces reached Omori on August 29th with medical teams and naval personnel to process prisoners. O’Kane weighed only 112 pounds compared to his pre-sinking weight of 170 pounds.

The survivors were evacuated to hospital ships in Tokyo Bay for medical care and proper nutrition. Detailed debriefings began in September, with naval intelligence eager to learn about the Mark 18 defects.

O’Kane provided the only comprehensive record of Tang’s final action and the tragic circular run.

The submarine force was shocked to learn that America’s most successful boat had been destroyed by its own weapon. Tang’s official record stood at 33 confirmed ships sunk, holding the highest total in the fleet.

Seventy-eight men had died with the submarine, leaving a heavy emotional toll on the surviving commander. The Navy classified the Mark 18 circular run problem to prevent public panic and enemy intelligence leaks.

O’Kane was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary leadership and survival.

President Harry Truman presented the Medal of Honor to O’Kane at the White House on March 27th, 1946. O’Kane returned to active duty in administrative and training roles rather than commanding boats.

He served on submarine tenders, taught at the submarine school, and rose to rear admiral before retiring in 1957. He lived until 1994, passing away at age 83 from pneumonia.

The other Tang survivors scattered after the war, rarely speaking of their painful memories.

Only one other crew member survived the war separately after being left behind at Midway due to a thumb infection. Seventy-eight men lost their lives, and their names remain permanently listed on the Pearl Harbor submarine memorial.

Tang rests on the bottom of the Taiwan Strait at a depth of 180 feet, serving as an undisturbed war grave. The Mark 18 torpedo remained in service through the end of the war because its tactical advantages outweighed the risks.

Postwar analysis confirmed Tang’s final score of 33 ships totaling 116,454 tons.

The Momsun lung gained legendary status as the only combat-tested escape device of its kind during World War II. Tang received two Presidential Unit Citations, cementing her legacy in American naval history.

A second USS Tang commissioned in 1951 carried the honored name forward until 1980. Exhibits like the National World War II Museum’s Final Mission recreate Tang’s final patrol for new generations.

O’Kane’s books became essential reading at the Naval Academy, cementing his tactical brilliance.

By 2014, all nine survivors had passed away, leaving Tang’s story entirely to history. The 78 men who perished served on the most successful boat in the Pacific with unmatched bravery.

Commander O’Kane proved that aggressive tactics and precise execution defined the pinnacle of submarine warfare. The tragic circular run does not overshadow the immense contributions made by Tang and her crew.

Their legacy endures as a testament to ultimate sacrifice and unwavering service.