VIDEO HERE (45:06 minutes)
Friday, August 15, 2025
The Untold Story of WWII Submariners | The Color of War
As WWII raged across Europe and the Pacific, one branch of the U.S. military went quietly about its business, moving with such secrecy that it was dubbed the "Silent Service". The elite submarine sailors endured an unique type of battle--with little chance of escape if disaster struck, the submarine itself often became a steel coffin. WWII comes alive through a moving tapestry of letters, diaries, color film and photographs unearthed from archives and personal collections.
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Thanks. My dad was a WWII submariner. Lied about his age to volunteer. At the war's end, he and a couple of shipmates found all trains, buses and planes fully booked for the next few weeks with military wanting to get home ASAP. They grabbed a cab, told him they wanted to go to Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan. God Bless the cabbie for saying, "Let’s go!"
ReplyDeleteI watch a lot of films like this one. They fill me with pride, saddness and anger at the enemy. Never will I forget the sacrifice of these brave men.
ReplyDeleteSubs would have done a lot better early on if they had better torpedoes. The early Mk14 torps were shit and it took years for them to be corrected. Bad detonator placement, bad depth port placement, bad everything and before the war they only tested with exercise torpedoes that were 500lbs lighter than war shots... Criminal.
ReplyDeleteMM1(SS)
During my first visit to Patriot's Point in Charleston SC, you could still go aboard the USS Clamagore. How those guys weathered their deployments in those cramped things is beyond me. FYI, The Clamagore was built in 1963, didn't see WWII action, but still...
ReplyDelete- WDS
Cramped is a good way to describe it. I went through the USS Pampanito in San Francisco 30-40 years ago and it was unbelievably tight in there. You couldn't turn around in place without hitting something.
DeleteCouple of summers ago I made the 2+ hour drive to Manitowoc, WI and visited the USS Cobia. That boat is magnificently preserved. It amazes me that 70-odd sailors lived on board for the typical patrol duration of about 75 days.
ReplyDeleteOne thing people forget .. the loss rate for the US Sub service in the pacific .. something like 24% of the boats which went out are still on "eternal patrol."
The boat I was on was built in 1945, USS Greenish SS 351. It was a Balao class sub. It saw service in the Korean War and the Cold War. Our boat was equipped with the snorkel so we could stay submerged much longer but the insides were just as cramped. SN/SS
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