Sink 'Em All: The Story of the USS Wahoo Quiz

Answer: Gato Class

Wahoo was one of 77 Gato class submarines built during WWII. Twenty of these ships were lost in action against the Japanese. The Gato class was the largest class of U.S. submarines, and included some of the most famous of all the submarines to participate in WWII.

The Wahoo was laid down on June 28, 1941 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, launched on February 14, 1942, and commissioned on May 15, 1942.

Answer: Marvin Granville Kennedy

Marvin Granville Kennedy was a member of the U.S. Naval Academy's Class of 1929. He had a strong engineering background, and had extensive pre-war service in submarines. Because of his pale complexion, his nickname was "Pinky." As a wartime submarine commander, Kennedy was a complete washout.

He was nervous, overly-cautious when it came to attacking enemy ships, and was not well-liked by his fellow officers or crew. After two fairly unsuccessful war patrols on Wahoo, Kennedy was relieved of command.

He later compiled a good war record as the commanding officer of the USS Guest (DD-472), a destroyer that participated in many Pacific operations, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Kennedy retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1952.

Answer: Mush

Dudley "Mush" Morton was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on July 17, 1907. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1930. His nickname, Mush, supposedly came either from his Southern accent, or his resemblance to a character named Mushmouth in the "Moon Mullins" comic strip. Morton made the Wahoo's second patrol as a "Prospective Commanding Officer." He was supposed to observe and learn how to command a submarine.

After Wahoo returned from patrol, he declared that Marvin Kennedy was "a yellow-bellied son-of-a-____," and should be surfaced, i.e., removed from submarine duty. Morton's superiors agreed, and replaced Kennedy with Morton.

It was one of the best decisions they made during the war.

Answer: Dick O'Kane

O'Kane made two war patrols as executive officer (second-in-command) on Wahoo under Marvin Kennedy, and three under Mush Morton. Under Morton, O'Kane proved an apt pupil. Cool and fearless in battle, Morton called O'Kane "the bravest man I know." Later in the war, as commanding officer of the USS Tang (SS-306), O'Kane would become one of the war's top submarine aces and won the Medal of Honor.

Answer: Expendable

On January 15, 1943 Morton ordered his entire crew to muster on deck, and gave the following speech: "Wahoo is expendable. Our mission is to sink enemy shipping. We are going out there to search for Japs. Every smoke trace on the horizon, every contact on watch will be investigated. If it turns out to be the enemy, we are going to hunt him down and kill him. If anyone doesn't want to go along under these conditions, just see the Yeoman. I am giving him verbal authority to transfer anyone who is not a volunteer." There were no requests for transfers.

As commanding officer of Wahoo, Morton broke almost every rule in the Navy's lengthy list of regulations. He encouraged the other officers and senior enlisted men to call him Mush instead of "Captain." He spent much of his time underway dressed in his skivvies or an old red bathrobe, instead of his uniform. He took down the silhouettes of enemy ships that were posted on Wahoo's bulkheads to aid in target identification and had them replaced with "girlie" pictures. He even ordered his officers to buy liquor and smuggle it onboard for distribution to the crew while on patrol. The effect on Wahoo's morale was immediate. As one of his junior officers later wrote, "The men were not merely ready to follow him, they were eager to."

Answer: Destroyer

On way to her hunting grounds, Wahoo had been order to reconnoiter Wewak Harbor on the north coast of New Guinea; the Japanese were suspected of using it as a supply base. The problem was that Wewak did not show up on any of the official Navy charts, so they did not know where to look for it. By an incredible stroke of luck, one of Wahoo's crew, Motor Machinist's Mate First Class Dalton Keeter, had purchased an atlas for his daughter while in Australia that clearly showed the location of Wewak.

To most submarine commanders, reconnoiter meant to surface several miles away and take a quick look through the periscope. Not to Mush Morton. He told the crew, "Would you guys like to go in and look around? Maybe we'll find a submarine tender with a lot of submarines alongside. I sure would like that." Wahoo cautiously threaded her way through the islands surrounding Wewak Harbor, taking notes of depths and plotting a course for her return to the open sea. Eventually she spotted a Japanese destroyer, with several submarines or other vessels moored alongside. As Wahoo was maneuvering into position to get a shot off at these "sitting ducks," the destroyer suddenly got underway, and headed straight towards the American submarine. There was nowhere to flee, and the water was too shallow to dive, so Morton decided to fight it out. He sent two spreads of three torpedoes each towards the oncoming destroyer. They all missed. So did a third shot of a single "fish" With only one torpedo remaining in his forward tubes, Morton let the destroyer approach within 800 yards before giving the order to fire. The torpedo struck the just forward of the target's stack. The destroyer Harusame began sinking rapidly.

Although several members of Wahoo's crew reported Harusame "broken in two," the Japanese managed to beach and repair the ship. She was sunk a second time by U.S. Army Air Force bombers on June 8, 1944.

Answer: Fired on enemy survivors in the water

Early on the morning on January 26, Wahoo sighted two Japanese ships and maneuvered into attack position. A short time later, two additional ships were sighted. Wahoo fired a spread of torpedoes at the first two ships, both freighters, sinking the Fukuei Maru, and damaging Pacific Maru. (Maru is the Japanese word for merchant ship). It then turned its attention to the third ship, a transport named Buyo Maru. The first torpedo fired at it failed to explode, but a second hit the transport amidships and blew it apart. Meanwhile, the crippled Pacific Maru and an unknown tanker had joined up and were rapidly sailing away from the scene of the combat.

What happened next remains a controversy. Morton wanted to pursue the the fleeing Japanese ships, but his Chief Electrician's Mate, EMC Ralph Pruett, informed him that the boat's batteries were nearly entirely depleted. That meant Wahoo would have to spend some time on the surface, running at slow speed while her diesel generators recharged the batteries. Sailing near the wreckage of Buyo Maru, Morton saw 20 large lifeboats filled with Japanese troops. Some reports say that the Japanese in the lifeboats opened fire with machine guns and small arms; others say that Wahoo fired first. At any rate, Morton ordered his crew to open fire with Wahoo's 4" gun and blow the the life boats out of the water. Some also say he ordered his crew to fire on men swimming in the water.

Morton did not try to hide what he had done. The incident was included in his patrol report, and he was never disciplined or reprimanded for it. Still, his actions are said to have angered some of the Navy brass, and the Buyo Maru incident is usually given as the reason Morton never received the Medal of Honor. To add to the tragedy, many of the men Morton thought were Japanese troops were actually Indian prisoners of war, being transported to New Britain on Buyo Maru. 195 Indian POWs and 87 Japanese died in the attack. Since many of these were undoubtedly killed during the sinking of the ship, and it is well documented that the Japanese made little or no effort to rescue the Indian prisoners, it is probable that the Wahoo's guns killed very few of the survivors.

Wahoo got underway again after charging her batteries, and sank one of the fleeing ships, and damaged the other. Morton was convinced that he had sunk the entire convoy, but post-war records give Wahoo credit for only three sinkings; she wasn't given credit for sinking Harusame, either. Still, it was a highly successful patrol by any standard, and a harbinger of even better things to come.

Answer: Attempted to surface attack with her deck gun

Morton was livid at having no torpedoes left, but he quickly surmised that while he knew they were out of "fish," the Japanese didn't. He deliberately allowed the convoy to spot Wahoo, and waited to see what would happen. As he had hoped, the convoy scattered, and one vessel, evidently undergoing mechanical difficulty, lagged behind. Morton ordered "battle surface," and resolved to try to sink it with Wahoo's 4" deck gun.

This was something no other submarine skipper would have dreamed of doing at this stage of the war.

As Wahoo approached the target, however, an escort suddenly appeared "out of nowhere," forcing Wahoo to retreat. At first it was thought to be a small patrol craft, but it turned out to be a Japanese destroyer. A lengthy chase followed, with Wahoo forced to dive below 300 feet and endure a severe depth charging before the destroyer broke off the attack, That night, Morton sent one of his famous messages to ComSubPac: "Another running gun battle today . . . Wahoo running, destroyer gunning."

Answer: A broom

The tradition of tying a broom to the mast - or, the case of a submarine, her periscope - to indicate a successful mission dates back to Admiral Maarten Tromp in the first Anglo-Dutch War. In 1652 he tied a broom to the mast of his flagship to indicate he had "swept the English from the sea." In the case of Wahoo, it indicated that she had sunk an entire convoy (or so she thought).

Wahoo returned to Pearl Harbor on February 7, 1943 to a hero's welcome. Word of Wahoo's exploits had reached the press, who were eager snap photos of the handsome young officers Morton and O'Kane, and write stories about the now-famous boat. A week later Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, Commander, Submarines, Pacific Fleet, returned to Hawaii from Australia, and pinned the Navy Cross (second only to the Medal of Honor for valor) on Morton's chest. It was the first of four Navy Crosses Morton would earn during his brief career.

Answer: 9

After only 16 days of refit in Hawaii, Wahoo got underway on February 23, 1943 for her fourth war patrol. She stopped off at Midway to take on additional fuel, and then departed for her patrol area: the Yellow Sea. The Yellow Sea is a branch of the South China Sea that lies between Korea and the Chinese mainland. It had never been assigned as a patrol area before because the Yellow Sea is very shallow, with an average depth of only about 120 feet (37 meters). That is not deep enough for a submarine to dive to avoid a depth charge attack if detected, so this was an especially dangerous mission. Wahoo arrived on station on March 11, 1943.

The first week was uneventful and yielded few targets. On March 19, however, Wahoo sighted a freighter and a transport, and sank them both. Over the next ten days, Wahoo would send nine large Japanese merchant vessels to the bottom of the sea, as well as sinking numerous sampans and fishing vessels with her deck gun. Nine kills on a single patrol was a new record for a U.S. submarine, and one that would stand until Dick O'Kane, Wahoo's executive officer, broke it while commanding the USS Tang (SS-306) a year later. On March 29, her supply of torpedoes exhausted, Wahoo headed back to Midway. She had earned the nickname of "the one boat wolf-pack."

Answer: The Sea of Okhotsk

Wahoo's crew was disappointed that they would spend their refit period on Midway Island. There was virtually nothing for them to do in the way of recreation except drink beer and go swimming. And, of course, there were no women. They also were not overjoyed that their fifth war patrol would take them to the Sea of Okhotsk, where they were to reconnoiter the Kuril Islands, just south of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in anticipation of the American invasion of Attu in the Aleutians. It was thought the Japanese might send a major naval force north in an attempt to halt the invasion. Wahoo got underway on April 25, 1943.

For sailors who were used to operating in tropical waters, the sub-Arctic conditions were brutal. Lookouts would often finish their watches covered in ice. But this did not stop the submarine from dealing further damage to the Japanese. On May 4, she attacked the seaplane tender Kamikawa Maru, and severely damaged her. (Kamikawa Maru would be sunk by the USS Scamp (SS-277) a few weeks later). On May 7 she sank a cargo ship, and added two more cargo ships to her score on May 9. She finished her patrol and returned to Pearl Harbor on May 21, 1943.

Answer: Flew a pennant containing some "salty language"

Morton was something of a showman. In addition, he liked to sew. He decided that Wahoo would arrive decked out in flags representing all the enemy vessels that had fallen victim to her torpedoes, with his crew in their dress white uniforms, manning the rail. And during the week-long trip from Hawaii to California, he put his sewing skills to use, making a special pennant that would fly from Wahoo's periscope enclosure. A huge crowd of dignitaries, high-ranking officers, and curious onlookers were on hand at Mare Island to welcome America's most famous submarine. There was even a Navy band, playing "California Here I Come."

Just before she pulled alongside the pier, Morton unfurled his pennant. It said, in large letters, "SHOOT THE SUNZA BI___ES!" The crowd cheered, but the Navy Yard Commandant's wife was shocked. Mush had to haul down his pennant.

Answer: Destination Tokyo

Morton was forced into doing a lot of public relations work while Wahoo was undergoing overhaul. The Navy asked Morton and Chief Machinist's Mate Andy Lennox to serve as technical advisors on the film. Publicity photos were taken of Morton together with the film's star, Cary Grant. "Destination Tokyo" is about the exploits of the fictitious submarine "Copperfin," and many of the scenes in the movie were based on real events. Grant wasn't the only star that crossed paths with Wahoo.

When her overhaul was complete, Errol Flynn threw a party for the entire crew, and when the ship was ready to return to Pearl Harbor, he rode on the cigarette deck as far as the breakwater, where he transferred to the pilot boat that was guiding Wahoo out to sea.

Answer: Faulty torpedoes

Wahoo lost many of her officers and senior enlisted personnel due to transfers during her overhaul, most notably her outstanding executive officer, Dick O'Kane. Still, Mush Morton had every reason to be optimistic when Wahoo left Pearl Harbor on August 2, 1943 for her sixth war patrol. One reason was that she would be patrolling in the Sea of Japan, where targets were certain to be plentiful.

At the beginning of WWII, U.S. Navy submarines were equipped with the Mark 14 torpedo, which was armed using a magnetic exploder. Because of inadequate testing, the Mark 14 had a plethora of problems. It tended to run about 10 feet deeper than its settings; the magnetic exploder caused the torpedoes to explode prematurely or not all; and the torpedoes had a tendency to broach, or to circle and threaten to sink the submarine that fired them. At least two submarines were sunk by circular runs of their own torpedoes during WWII; the Tullibee and the famous Tang. There may have been others.

Submarine skippers began reporting problems with their torpedoes as early as 1941. Their complaints fell on deaf ears. A major problem was that Admiral Ralph Christie, who commanded all the submarines operating out of Australia, had been instrumental in developing the faulty magnetic exploder; any skipper who complained that it did not function properly was relieved of his command. The Bureau of Ordnance also continued to insist that there was nothing wrong with its torpedoes, blaming the submarine crews.

Eventually submarines were given permission to disable the magnetic exploder, but the contact exploder was found to be defective as well. The most famous example of poor performance was recorded by USS Tinosa (SS-283). On July 24, 1943 she caught the gigantic Tonan Maru No. 3, at 19,262 tons one of the largest tankers in the Japanese fleet, and fired a spread of four torpedoes at the target. All missed. The next day, Tinosa attacked again, and this time two of her torpedoes exploded, crippling, but not sinking the Japanese ship. As the tanker lay dead in the water, Tinosa positioned herself and maneuvered into an ideal attack position only 800 yards from her target. She fired nine torpedoes in succession at the crippled Japanese ship at point blank range. All were duds. It was later determined that the contact exploder would only work if the target was struck at an oblique angle; a head-on shot collapsed the firing pin before it could cause detonation.

Wahoo sighted her first target on May 15, 1943, and closed in for the kill. The torpedo missed. Over the next three days Wahoo made repeated attacks, and fired ten torpedoes. All missed or were duds. Wahoo cut short her patrol and returned to Pearl Harbor with nothing to show for her efforts but three sampans sunk by her deck guns on the way home. She made Pearl Harbor on August 29.

Morton convinced Admiral Lockwood to allow Wahoo to return to the Sea of Japan, this time armed with the new experimental Mark XVIII electric torpedo. Morton was determined to get revenge for his "zero run."

Answer: Combined air and surface attack

After leaving Pearl Harbor, Wahoo touched at Midway on September 13, 1943 to take on additional fuel and water. While at Midway, Captain Morton unexpectedly transferred Yeoman Second Class Forest J. Sterling off Wahoo so he could attend stenographer's school. Sterling's book, "The Wake of the Wahoo," provides a wealth of information about the boat and her crew.

Wahoo arrived in the Sea of Japan on September 20. She was supposed to return to Pearl Harbor on October 26, 1943, but she was never heard from again. In 2006, Russian divers located the wreckage of Wahoo in the La Pérouse Strait between the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin and the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidô.

The finding of the wreck site led to new efforts to determine the cause of her sinking. It was discovered that Wahoo had been spotted by a Japanese plane at 9:20 on October 11, 1943 while attempting to navigate the La Pérouse Strait,. The ship was just below the surface, and leaking oil, indicating that she may have been damaged earlier. The plane dropped two bombs on Wahoo, one of which struck just behind the conning tower. Over the next eight hours, Wahoo was subjected to continuous attacks from Japanese planes and three patrol craft, which dropped forty bombs and sixty depth charges on the doomed submarine. Fighting until the last, Wahoo executed a 180 degree turn and headed west, presumably in an attempt to beach herself on Sakhalin Island in Russian territory. She never made it. Today she lies at the bottom of the La Pérouse Strait, along with all 80 members of her gallant crew.

After the end of WWII, Japanese records revealed that Wahoo had sunk at least four Japanese ships during her final patrol. She is officially given credit for sinking 20 Japanese ships, and damaging several others. The actual total may be higher. But more important than the damage she did to Japan's fleet was the role she played in showing American submarines how to successfully attack enemy shipping. Boldness replaced timidity when it came to submarine tactics, and Wahoo showed the way. Wherever submariners gather, they still speak of Wahoo in terms of awe and admiration.