[Pitts2112]

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

Nisgeis, you've caused me to go back into "Wahoo" and read for more detail. What I've discovered is that O'Kane did seem to have favored working stern to bow, though not always, and seldom did he shoot from bow to stern. This implies he was shifting his point of aim for each shot. And that makes sense, now that I think about it because if he worked from bow to stern, and simply held the bearing fixed for all shots, then the torpedoes would have all gone down the same track, giving no spread at all.

He does also make mention of the TDC operator "holding the bearing steady" which implies he was doing something to the TDC, maybe that it wouldn't do on it's own, or had shut off the PK. I don't know how the TDC operated well enough to truly understand that passage, though.

To whit:
Page 137, the attack in Wewak harbor, their first attack on a destroyer was stern, midships, bow, in that order. The next attack was the famous "down the throat" shot on another destroyer, so doesn't really apply (but, man, what balls those guys had!).

Page 148, they attacked two freighters, working both from aft forward to hit their masts (main first, foremast second).

Page 261, he again worked from stern forward on another freighter with two torpedoes.

Page 263, this must be the one that stuck out in my mind, because he distinctly worked back and forth, aiming for midships first, mainmast, then foremast, so starting in the middle, shifting point of aim aft, the shifting again the length of the ship to hit foward.

Page 157, a freighter and tanker, again working from aft forward with three torpedoes at stern, midships, and bow on the first target, the tanker. On the second tanker, he again worked aft forward with two torpedoes at midships and bow.

Those are all I looked up but are certainly not all the kills O'Kane and Morton made in Wahoo. Looking them up was actually pretty easy. All you have to do is scan the pages for the words "Anytime, Dick", as those were Morton's words to O'Kane, on every attack, that is was OK to shoot.

And now that I think about it, Morton always seemed to give O'Kane the green light to fire when O'Kane announced a 90 degree AoB, which means all the torpedoes would be chasing the ship slightly from behind. This is possibly how he acheived the 120 degree attack, which had the added benefit of not putting a 90 degree hit on the exploder so he got fewer duds (?).

I really wish these guys were still around to answer questions as to what they were really doing and why it worked so well. Fascinating stuff, this.

Cheers!