View Full Version : I asked a vet once...
Q: what was it like when you were silent running?
A: It was horrible. It would keep getting hotter until it would get up to 120 degrees or more. It was so humid you could see the air.
Q. How quiet was it for you inside the boat?
A: You couldn't hear anything at all except the other guys breathing.
Q. Not even the motors or screws?
A: No. Unless we went to flank then you could kind of hear the screws sometimes. And the only time you did that was to evade a depth charge run. The only things you heard were those you really didn't want to, pinging, the approach of an escort and then--finally--depth charges. And then we'd go quiet again and wait.
Q. Did you have any idea what was going on in the control room?
A: Yes. The torpedo rooms were allowed to leave their 7MC's on in case we needed to get ready to shoot. I always felt sorry for the other guys that didn't even have that. They had no idea what was happening.
Q. How close was the closest depth charge you experienced?
A: {laughs} We had one land on the bow. It rolled down the deck and settled by the conning tower. We could hear it bouncing along.
Q. What did you do?
A: Well, I think it was the COB's idea. We knew that if it rolled off the side, it would go off under us and that would be it. So he said we needed to be turning when we got rid of it so our stern would be swinging away from the explosion. We also were worried that the next salvo might create enough pressure to detonate it so we had to do something.
We came up to 200 feet and went to flank speed and then went hard on the rudder. It dislodged it alright but it didn't go over the side--which was probably lucky. Instead, it rolled all the way down the deck and dropped off the stern.
Q. And you were in the after torpedo room?
A: Yes. When it went off it was the last thing I heard for about a week. The engine room reported a flash from around the propeller packings which started a very small fire in the bilge but it wasn't bad and they got it out right away.
When we talked about it later, we realized that that was the best place for it to go off.
Q. Why?
A: Well, the boat's stern is rounded and that's what took the main force of the explosion. If it had hit a flatter surface, it may have breached the hull.
Q. How badly damaged were you?
A: That was worst pounding I ever took. Not just from that 1 depth charge but from the whole attack. We came back to the States for refit after that run.
Q. How long were you held down that time?
A: About 17 hours, I think.
Peto salutes All submarine veterans of all nationalities.
mcarlsonus
12-03-07, 02:04 AM
Peto, you're a person of many talents! We're lucky to have you in our midst.
(hearkening back to "ancient post": wonder if your vet's ventilation fans worked when they weren't in silent running?)
Very interesting story.
BTW, putting the ability to collide for DCs is on my list of things to do.
:D
tater
CodyLang
12-03-07, 02:39 AM
Great story...thanks much for sharing!
Ducimus
12-03-07, 02:45 AM
You know, you never really hear much in the way of first hand accounts of what went on in the pacific submarine war. The moniker "the Silent service" applied in several ways.
AVGWarhawk
12-03-07, 10:33 AM
WOW:o......I probably would have filled my trousers hearing the that rolling down the deck. Thanks for sharing Peto.
SteamWake
12-03-07, 10:51 AM
Very interesting read.
I can imagine the pressure trying to decide the best way to dislodge a Depth Charge.
Talk about choosing your poision.
Thanks for sharing.
kylesplanet
12-03-07, 10:59 AM
WOW:o......I probably would have filled my trousers hearing the that rolling down the deck. Thanks for sharing Peto.
Yaeh there would have been a foul odor emitted from my pants about the time that thing rolled down the deck and stopped. :arrgh!: "Sir can we fire up the washing machine yet?":arrgh!:
claybirdd
12-03-07, 12:30 PM
What got me was the part about being pinned down for 17 hours. If That were to happen to me in my campaign and with my patience level i would be out of torps in 4 hours. Just the thought of having to be deathly quiet for 17 hours will put a weight in the pit of your stomach. I liken it to hiding under your bed while an escaped seriel killer is laying there above you, watching tv.
Ducimus if your reading this it may be someting to consider for the future.
What got me was the part about being pinned down for 17 hours.... Just the thought of having to be deathly quiet for 17 hours will put a weight in the pit of your stomach. I liken it to hiding under your bed while an escaped seriel killer is laying there above you, watching tv.
Exactly. Great Analogy! :up:
We go to the Pearl Harbor ceremony every year (wife goes whether I am in port or not). The numbers of those who where there are of course becoming smaller. It is also interesting to note that Japanese Vets who participated in the attack also attend - last year it was a group of ZERO Pilots who were overhead here in Pearl on that day. They too are vanishing. Take some time and sit with one of these gents - regardless of nationality, regardless of where they fought during the war - They thank me for my service and I feel so insignificant to what they did and gave - one of the toughest things to do for me personally is to go to the ARIZONA and watch these vets look into the water at there ship, to know that she was and is a part of their lives. So if you have a moment - ask one of these gents (or gals) about what it was like.
AVGWarhawk
12-03-07, 02:26 PM
What got me was the part about being pinned down for 17 hours. If That were to happen to me in my campaign and with my patience level i would be out of torps in 4 hours. Just the thought of having to be deathly quiet for 17 hours will put a weight in the pit of your stomach. I liken it to hiding under your bed while an escaped seriel killer is laying there above you, watching tv.
Ducimus if your reading this it may be someting to consider for the future.
Ask and you shall received:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=126070
Peto who started this post is working towards that. :up: Load it up and try it out. He is looking for feedback. I hope it works out and I think it will.
kylesplanet
12-03-07, 03:45 PM
Wouldn't it be great to sit down with a group of these vets, buy them all the beer and chicken wings they could consume and just listen to the stories. The WW2 vets are disappearing at a rate of 1200 per day and the time we have with them is definately in its twilight.:cry: Each time one of these courageous people die, it's kinda like a library, full of original books, burning down. We should make an effort to hear as many of these stories as possible, while we still can. Long live all you salty ole sailors!!:arrgh!:
Iron Budokan
12-03-07, 06:13 PM
Q: what was it like when you were silent running?
A: It was horrible. It would keep getting hotter until it would get up to 120 degrees or more. It was so humid you could see the air.
Q. How quiet was it for you inside the boat?
A: You couldn't hear anything at all except the other guys breathing.
Q. Not even the motors or screws?
A: No. Unless we went to flank then you could kind of hear the screws sometimes. And the only time you did that was to evade a depth charge run. The only things you heard were those you really didn't want to, pinging, the approach of an escort and then--finally--depth charges. And then we'd go quiet again and wait.
Q. Did you have any idea what was going on in the control room?
A: Yes. The torpedo rooms were allowed to leave their 7MC's on in case we needed to get ready to shoot. I always felt sorry for the other guys that didn't even have that. They had no idea what was happening.
Q. How close was the closest depth charge you experienced?
A: {laughs} We had one land on the bow. It rolled down the deck and settled by the conning tower. We could hear it bouncing along.
Q. What did you do?
A: Well, I think it was the COB's idea. We knew that if it rolled off the side, it would go off under us and that would be it. So he said we needed to be turning when we got rid of it so our stern would be swinging away from the explosion. We also were worried that the next salvo might create enough pressure to detonate it so we had to do something.
We came up to 200 feet and went to flank speed and then went hard on the rudder. It dislodged it alright but it didn't go over the side--which was probably lucky. Instead, it rolled all the way down the deck and dropped off the stern.
Q. And you were in the after torpedo room?
A: Yes. When it went off it was the last thing I heard for about a week. The engine room reported a flash from around the propeller packings which started a very small fire in the bilge but it wasn't bad and they got it out right away.
When we talked about it later, we realized that that was the best place for it to go off.
Q. Why?
A: Well, the boat's stern is rounded and that's what took the main force of the explosion. If it had hit a flatter surface, it may have breached the hull.
Q. How badly damaged were you?
A: That was worst pounding I ever took. Not just from that 1 depth charge but from the whole attack. We came back to the States for refit after that run.
Q. How long were you held down that time?
A: About 17 hours, I think.
Peto salutes All submarine veterans of all nationalities.
:hmm:
shoot-kill-win
12-03-07, 06:45 PM
While at the Batfish, I was watching a crewman interview he was a motor mac, and he said one time they got too close to a sea mine and could hear the chain of the mine scraping against the hull right around the fore and aft engine rooms
^^^ something else to add a collision node to...
V.C. Sniper
12-03-07, 07:46 PM
I wonder what was the deepest they've gone during that 17 hours silent running. :hmm:
Very interesting story btw!
Overboard
12-03-07, 07:56 PM
Nice reading Thank you.
I wonder what was the deepest they've gone during that 17 hours silent running. :hmm:
Gato Class>400 feet
Steeltrap
12-03-07, 08:06 PM
I wonder what was the deepest they've gone during that 17 hours silent running. :hmm:
Gato Class>400 feet
I suspect they would answer "neck deep in the brown stuff".....
V.C. Sniper
12-03-07, 08:25 PM
I wonder what was the deepest they've gone during that 17 hours silent running. :hmm:
Gato Class>400 feetAhh! I see thanks!!
odjig292
12-03-07, 10:14 PM
Great post! It's hard to get them to talk. I hang out with a group of vets (mostly destroyers and corvette people) at the local naval museum and they will answer direct questions, but rarely do they reminisce. After hearing that the SH4 Add-on would have Type XXI U-boats, I asked if any of them had any experience with them. Only one had heard one of them in the last days of the war off the English coast, and it was moving so fast they couldn't get a fix on it. They got one ping and it was gone. It makes me look forward to trying one out.
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