Admiral Robot, USN

[Pigboatcook]

(Clipped from the war diary of Captain Quackers, USS Grouper, SS-214.
Page dated February 9th, 1943)

I didn't much care for the idea. Oh, sure, it is supposed to be our
friend but the little fella in tube 10 makes me nervous. "Try it,
you'll love it" the admiral told me. All I could picture in my head
was those robots my son had shown me in some comic books. Every single
one of them had turned on it's master in those fantastic tales of
supermen and evil robot machines. I told the chief torpedoman if it
knocked on the tube door to never ever ever let it out. Friend or foe
that little fella wasn't going to get out of his prison if I could
help it. The Navy called it Mark 27. I named it Mark 666.

Is this what my Navy was headed toward? Machines over men? Bits and
pieces of clockwork and voodoo electrics ruling the waves? In the
future will we pin the medals on the metal or the men? It made my head
hurt thinking about it.

We pointed the Grouper north as we departed Brisbane. Formosa lay far
ahead and I had a sneaking suspicion our little friend wouldn't care
at all if it scattered it's makers all over the floor of the Pacific.
I'll follow the admiral's orders and fire it, but it will be the last
fish off the boat and good riddance to it.

On the passage I had the XO confiscate every sorry comic book on the
boat and toss them into the Coral Sea. The men can groan all they like
because the last thing we needed was the robot to get it's hands on
even one of them. Not on my watch, anyway.
.....................
(The following was clipped from the after action report, USS Grouper,
SS-214. Action location 80 nm WNW of Peleliu, 28 February 1943)

Fired the Mark 27 at a pursuing sub chaser closing at a range of 1200
yards then dove the boat to 380 feet to escape both the enemy and the
torpedo. Five minutes later, as the enemy vessle was depth charging
us, the weapon found it's target, despite the sub chaser's twisting and turning
during the attack run on us, and it sank quickly. Soon afterwards the captain was served
up a large portion of crow by the officers and crew.

[Sailor Steve]

Great story! Excellent report!

[TorpX]

Yes, nice story there.

[adrians69]

I bet that changed his mind about "robot" weapons!