A sad story about a career end

[C DuDe]

Dir Ms. O’Hara,



I’m sorry to inform you that Lt. Commander O’Hara has bin killed in the line of duty.

Upon taking the task to patrol the Java Sea, LT. Commander O’Hara set sail on
February 09 1942.

After 1week out at sea the Capt. received a message from SUB COM telling him an invasion force was making his way to Java.

As we were very close to the reported location of the force the Commander set a course to intercept and after 2 day’s of searching we finally found what we were looking for.
I can not describe the feeling I got when I saw all those ships heading in one direction.

After a last look by the Capt. he ordered periscope depth, I pointed out to him that we were in shallow waters and an assault on a task force this size wouldn’t be a wise thing to do. He disregarded my comment by saying "We can and will help the people of Java, no matter what”.
Looking through the periscope I noticed the task force moving very slowly and in no hurry to get to Java. I asked the Capt. what the primary targets were and again asked him if we could sit this on out. At which point the Capt. dismissed me and there was nothing I could do to make him change is mind.

I could hear the crew from my bunk talking about an Ise Battleship together with some smaller escort cruisers and a lot of troop transport trailing the warships. Also there was screen of 7 destroyers in front and to the side of the task force.

As he couldn’t sink enough troop transports to make a difference he decided to go for the Ise battleship, this in order to help the Air force have a better chance to take out the troop transports and the army repelling the land assault.

With the battleship moving at a very slow pace and us being in shallow waters the Capt. decided to go for the long shot to give us some time to evade detection by the destroyers and get to the relative safety of deeper water.

I could feel the tension rise amongst the crew as we got closer for the kill.

I could hear the tub doors open and was getting ready for some tens few hours.
I’ll never forget when the Capt. called the range “Target 2100 yards” and…”Depth setting on tub 1 at 8 feet, tub 2 at 12 feet, tub 3 at 12 feet and tub 4 at 8 feet”.

Then silence… total silence… I presume the Capt. was taking a last peek through the periscope, and after a few minutes it happened…. “Giro angel Right 2 degrees”...“Fire 1”, “Giro angle Right 1 degree”…“Fire 2”, “Giro angle 0 degree”…“Fire 3”, “Giro angle Left 1 degree”…“Fire 4”…”hard to starboard, Not a noise!” And the sweet words “Lets get the hell out of here”.

The waiting is the worst of it, especially this time as we fired at approximately 2000yrds out, I counted the seconds as they passed and figured we missed as I didn’t hear the muffled sounds of explosions, I kept counting the seconds and heard the sweet call of “torpedo impact, torpedo impact, torpedo is a dud Sir, torpedo impact”.

Soon after the last explosion, the sound all submariners dread most, the pinging of the destroyers searching for us.

It took them some time to locate us but after they did they pounded us relentlessly with their depth charges. Twice the Capt. managed to elude them which gave us hope of survival but then out of nowhere a destroyer came bearing down on us and her depth charges ripped the hull and damaged the bulkheads in the torpedo room and also damaged our batteries. We managed to save all the crew and sealed the compartment but it was already too late we were taking on so much water that the ships started to angle down and her stern kept on rising.
For a brief minute there was hope as the Capt. ordered a 5 degree angle on the bow plain in order to try and level the ship.

It’s almost as I could here his thoughts, “if I can just get her level I might be able to set her to rest on the bottom and maybe wait it out.

By now the other destroyers found us and started their attack which resulted in even more damage with flooding in all compartments. All hope was lost at this point.

I’ll never forget the last words the Capt. spoke to us, “I hope you like Sushi cause we’re going to eat it for a while… blow ballast, lets get her up for a last glance at the sky.


I know this might not be what you need to hear right now but I’m very proud to have served under his command. The Capt. was a hard but fair man who always put his crew and the Navy before himself and when his country called upon him to make the ultimate sacrifice he didn’t hesitate for a second.


I hope for you with these last accounts of your husband’s act of bravery that you can find peace in your hart and may his soul find eternal peace.




Sincerely,

Ensign Dinsdale.
Sol survivor of the USS. Guppy