At the end of each war patrol of WW II, submarine commanders created a report on the patrol. These reports were used as the raw material to inform intelligence, improve tactics, evaluate commanders, etc. During WW II, over 1,550 patrol reports containing approximately 63,000 pages were generated.
I have been on the Torsk. It is in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. I lived in the Inner Harbor area for many years. Man, who'd want to go to sea in those dinky tubes? No wonder they were called coffins.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it next to the USCGC Taney?Perhaps theycould put a statue on the bow and the stern !
DeleteProbably safer than living in Baltimore.
DeleteA lot of those reports were used as plot lines in episodes of "The Silent Service", a TV series in 1957-58 that I loved watching.
ReplyDeleteI have both seasons (78 episodes) on DVD.
Well, sca, never saw that. Will have to look for it. Non, I do not think it was there last time I was in the Harbor area, but that was 30 years ago.
DeleteIf you want to read about post-war life as a smoke-boat sailor (what it looked like from underneath) try this site:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.olgoat.com/substuff/abr.htm
If you visit Pearl Harbor, next to the USS Arizona museum there is the memorial to the Submarine Service.
ReplyDeleteA low mound with a winding spiral path; along the way are white stone tablets with the name of US Navy subs lost during WWII, with the date they went missing in action and the crew manifest. It starts with the first boat lost and continues chronologically to the last boat lost in the war.
There are a lot of white stones. I was in tears before I reached the top.