Escape from the Deep, by Alex Kershaw

[CT-Rich]

Just finished listening to this on CD. Really interesting history of the USS Tang, the top US Submarine in the Pacific in WWII. On her last patrol she sank five Japanese ships in a single engagement in the Formosa Straight before being hit with her own circle running Torpedo.

The book tells the tale of her last cruise, her sinking and the escape and survival of crew members through the end of the war. The tale is notable for her sinking being the only successful use of an escape trunk from a sunken sub in combat. It was particularly interesting how they described the escape and what the men were taught and believed about escaping from a sunken vessel during training. Very limited faith in the gear and they faced many pressure related problems once the sub landed on the bottom.

A good read and interesting history, especially if you have heard John Chatterton's theory that U-Who was killed by a circle running torpedo.

 

[CT-Rich]

One of the things I thought was interesting about the story was hearing how the crew members that escaped were instructed to get to the surface. the had to breath through there escape lung at intervals of ten feet. They were to climb up a rope knotted at ten foot intervals. Inhale when they reached a knot and slowly exhale as they went rose up. They were warned about embolisms and the bends. A number of them appeared to have died from embolisms on the way to the surface, but that any of them making it out from one hundred- eighty feet is pretty damn amazing.

 

[AfterDark]

One of the things I thought was interesting about the story was hearing how the crew members that escaped were instructed to get to the surface. the had to breath through there escape lung at intervals of ten feet. They were to climb up a rope knotted at ten foot intervals. Inhale when they reached a knot and slowly exhale as they went rose up. They were warned about embolisms and the bends. A number of them appeared to have died from embolisms on the way to the surface, but that any of them making it out from one hundred- eighty feet is pretty damn amazing.

Right there in New London there is a 90' deep training tank at the sub base. One hundred and eighty must have felt like forever!