THE NARWHAL'S PASSENGER FROM MINDANAO

[Music] I'm rear admiral Thomas M Titus retired the USS Narwhal was one of the older boats in the submarine service she was built in 1930 and was larger than her sisters butts law her top speed was only about 17 knots despite her infirmities however the old lady made fifteen war patrols one of the high points of this amazing career was a dramatic rescue and that is our story during her long service the narwhal had a succession of captains in July of 1944 in Fremantle Australia Lieutenant Commander Jack C Titus affixed the California assume command she handles very smartly at see particularly in rough weather another nice feature a bridge stays fairly dry does she maneuver pretty well for a big boat you might have a little trouble in port not much power on the motors but she's got a good heavy bottom if you should nudge the beach sometime chances are you wouldn't hurt her much but how is she submerged Oh a little sluggish maybe but you should have no worries about fuel number 2mb has been converted I think you'll find it improves diving time shall we go below carry on this is your new skipper commander Titus we'll get to the introductions later how many men attached to this boat 90 men 10 officers she's a big boat jack you'll need every one of them and they're all good men now I'm sure they aren't no spare torpedoes haven't been carrying anything the wrecks were removed to get more room for cargo space you can carry a hundred tons or a hundred passengers not both of course she may be an old boat but she's sturdy and she's roomy slap a coat of paint on her and you've got yourself a submarine all right captain you've sold me I believe you top tell me what's wrong you won't back out the deals already made let's have it she's haunted what something haywire in the stern planes none of her commanding officers has been able to figure it out so I'll pass the word along to you don't give her a down angle of more than eight degrees if you do the stern planes will stick and stand you right on your nose well that's just fine what do you do for emergency dives I can answer that in two words yes avoid them she's all yours captain good hunting and remember eight degrees no more the narwhal departed from Darwin Australia on September the 14th for a 14th the stern planes have been overhauled but was still undependable Lieutenant Commander kept part of Woodbury Connecticut was executive officer the diving officer was lieutenant Nick Aniston Knoxville Tennessee while the narwhal was engaged in operations in the Sulu Sea events it but to affect her destiny were taking place off the north coast of Mindanao in the Philippines following the capture of the island of Moro Thai by American troops the Japanese had decided to move their prisoners of war to safer areas the prisoners were loaded into the holes of several small rusty freighters for transportation [Music] [Music] the convoy had been attacked by an American submarine and three freighters with some many of the prisoners of war escaped and got ashore on Mindanao [Music] [Music] during the attack on the convoy the narwhal was off the could point far to the south unloading supplies for guerrilla forces in the jungle mission to come to the bridge sir mission granted captain this monsoon worries me you could drift into a mud Bank you think we have to drop anchor no it takes too long to pull it in if we're surprised I want to be able to move out in a hurry we've got pretty good cover here should have time to reach deep water maybe we need plenty of time to dive I'll take my chance than the mud banks what's it kuba bottoms up okay thanks captain captain radio message sir marked urgent I'll be right down Nick don't write yourself too hard huh take over the deck hi sir come in buzz what do you got there tuba compliments of the shore party let's never try it captain once tasted like medicine Oh should I give everybody a drink yeah if we want it no harm in it I can see yes sir one here buzz soon as we finish on loading you proceed to the west coast of Mindanao Oh what's up captain 80 escaped prisoners of war hiding out in the jungle and we gotta get up there and rescue them well the cargo up we've got room for them you better check the medical supplies some of those fellows have been prisoners since a time they're in bad shape around the bullet line boy in point but of course that'll put a sail the soonest time I'll get right on the captain yeah Oh mrs. torpedo juice well you don't smell it stupid to drink it here you drinking maybe we better have the pharmacist may stand by just hold out I got a better idea we'll make him drink it first then if he don't go into convulsions you have our course well serega straight would be the quickest captain however it's been mine Basilan straight and the other passages through the hula archipelago probably have been - what's that leave us saguru passage that a put us offline boy in point about sunrise on the 27th wish if you'd let those fellows know we're coming for them [Music] [Music] this one's in pretty bad shape we'll have to carry him [Music] you're alright now take it easy papa where's papa we were together we found him - you were carrying a dead man we came so far there's no place to go now you're going home fella I'm captain martin army sound here to organize the guerillas we've radioed for a submarine to come and evacuate all of you he'll never pay for garbage you see there's a sub on its way here now I hope anything yet well captain we didn't go aground after all maybe I've got mud bangs in my brain just picked up a message from the Nautilus wasn't so lucky they're hard and fast on a reef of sebou are they calling for help not yet I'm waiting for a high tide and blowing fuel over the side to lighten ship although enemy airfields on Cebu any other submarines in the area no we're the nearest we'd lose a good three days captain that's not all this bothering me can we accommodate a hundred men off the Nautilus and the 80 prisoners of war 280 old told yous offer oxygen pretty fast and long dive that's a rough choice the captain's a friend of yours isn't anomalous is our sister ship but some of those men have been prisoners since 1942 guess they've got something coming too but of course it'll give us a chance to go either way heaven help us if we have to choose the narwhal continued its run towards land boy and point on a course that would permitted of their off towards Cebu if the Nautilus failed to get off the reef as they are of high tide approach captain Titus waited in the Radio Shack for the Nautilus message at 1800 Caine [Music] where do we go can't land boy in point and not let's load it off in high tide give the officer of the deck the new course aye aye sir two hours before sunrise in the morning of September 29th the narwhal was a flamboyant point captain Titus submerged and worked his way in close to the shore the prearranged signal on the point was to be a red and white claw tacked to a frame the combination of colors had been selected so that the narwhal would not mistake it for washing take a look [Music] I don't see you thinking either tonight we'll take a look every 20 minutes down school [Music] captain sighted no enemy ships [Music] what do you make of a captain so coincidence they know something's up we just get the signal we could handle those babies with our dick guns are carrying antennas in our planes here in 20 minutes and we'll just have to stay down until dark wait and dark the narwhal surface to charge batteries and wait for the next day japanese seat trucks had continued to patrol the shore from land buoyant point on a southwesterly course Dylan donggun point there had been no signals on the beach and no sign of any activity just after sunrise a Japanese plane circled over the area and then flew away the seat trucks had disappeared during the night captain native boat standing this way from a beach prepare to surface [Music] I'm the captain named Titus gab Markman army I'm sorry to be late but I guess you saw everything secure ashore yes sir I'd suggest you move the CRE Bay there's some shelter there and it's a shorter run for the boats and it pretty shallow it's not too good augment currents and shoal water not too much protection from the southwest monsoon we've got a number of stretcher cases as the pharmacist make breakout as medical supplies hi sir we'll move in just as close as we can captain [Music] when you see those men you begin to get a faint idea why I was called a death launch at the town [Music] it gets worse here come the stretcher cases [Music] Thanks sure we had a plane don't worry about him he'll be running out of here soon that's all I've done on this war run we didn't have a chance at the tent haven't got a chance now I'm tired of being pushed around I want a gun I want to fight back your fighting days are over friend they were over before they started we never had a chance to fight [Music] ship bearing three for two [Music] all ahead flank oh hello the rudder the surface as long as we can but a full seat trucks get help Sam buddy take her down he's a good lookout for plane [Music] captain plain dead astern clear the bridge die die [Music] take it out let her off I can't mr aniss you won't level off the stern plane is stuck captain the stern fleet is stuck in full died blows ball buoyancy tanks in making an emergency dive to escape the Japanese plane the narwhal had taken a down angle of 22 degrees far beyond the safety margin of 8 degrees the stern plane had stuck 4,000 tons of ship and ballast moving down at 13 knots had been too much momentum blowing the tanks had no effect whatever the narwhal past 120 feet in less time than usual it took to reach periscope depth all hell's not a diving stations move apps [Music] all stop all stop [Music] [Music] all back full all back full captain Titus stop then back full at 170 feet she started back though Stern first all stop all stop holy now she's gonna pop right out of the water [Music] as a narwhal broach the stern plane loosen that she lost excessive down angle in three minutes she'd gone from the surface to 170 feet back to the surface and then settled placidly at 120 feet it happened so fast the plane couldn't drop a single bomb I think we'll just stay down here the rest of the day shake up your patient stop it's not too bad nobody even mentioned it maybe they think it's always this way no casualties level I'm kind of worried about that one captain some bad shape worse than the others physically no of course he's bad enough but I might be able to hold him together till he gets to a doctor me fight you know what I mean captain yeah I know broke his spirit doesn't seem to care I tried talking to him all he says is what's he use funny you'd think he'd be happy just to be out of this mess that's a different war for him he was knocked down the first round and it's been taking it ever since it's pretty rough never to land one of your own you know what he said when I told him we'd gotten away from that plane one more glorious retreat under the best to California keep me informed I iced Thompkins yes sir you think he could move him up to the conning tower you can put him in my chair well we could rig a sling and lift him up through the hatch do it that will give him something to think about it where are you gonna sleep captain we've already got somebody in your room I'll make out don't worry [Music] what is it ship of some kind captain looks like a small freighter that's it a tiny freighter we're swinging around a hit for him you mean pickings Oh hardly worth wasting a pickle on let's let him have it anyway too small we can throw him back steady on course one seven zero see if we can wake him up in the shooting starts barring mark zero three two range mark 950 yards starboard 60 stand by forward stand by forward we're ready captain shoot maybe our guest would like to have a look captain Thanks on the 5th of October the narwhal came alongside the CP face on Neos Wendy Island and unloaded the 81 evacuees there was one casualty despite captain Titus efforts the feeling was that this survivor patan had not died defeated for once he had seen the enemy run the following day another commanding officer boarded the narwhal to relieve Titus Xi'an was very well enough whether the bridge stays drier than most don't worry about running a ground with a heavy keel she'll back off what's this I heard about her Stern plane sticking out hard dives I was getting around to that don't give her a down angle of more than eight degrees suppose I have to what happens I can tell you bill but you'll never believe it I'll be back in a moment with our special guests it is our pleasure to have Captain Jack see Titus who is a real skipper the narwhal with us Jack it looks like things both inside and outside the ship gave you an interesting time on this patrol it certainly had its moments but aside from the tendency to act like an elevator the old lady got us there and brought us baggage I understand those presence of law didn't complain no they didn't Admiral after what they went through the narwhal looks better than the Queen Mary to them just one more question Jack what is this stuff - but really like well it doesn't taste too good but if you can get a couple of drinks down you'll feel just like your Stern plane has stuck well after watching the way the narwhal acted I think I'll have a cup of tea Jack thanks very much for being our guest it was a pleasure thanks for giving me a second look at a nightmare please join us again for another true and exciting chapter the silent service [Music] the [Music] Oh [Music]