THE SEARAVEN STOR

[Music] I'm R Admiral Thomas M ders retired in the spring of 1942 The ussc Raven went through one of the most thrilling episodes of the war she persisted in the face of one bad break after another the success or failure of her Mission rested squarely on the shoulders of a Young anant Who volunteered for a most hazardous assignment in April 1942 it was believed that the Japanese task force was planning a strike at Western Australia one of the Allied ships available to meet this threat was the ussc Raven she came up from her birth at Albany in Southwest Australia to take part in the defense Lieutenant Commander ham Cassidy of Brook Haven Mississippi had taken command of SE Raven just two hours before she sailed a new command suddenly assumed a patrol destined to be different by the time the sea Raven arrived at freem West Australia the situation had changed and so had sea Raven's orders all right C cargo the after the torpedo room is all braced in short thank you George and good morning yes sir or isn't it such a good morning oh oh it's wonderful morning don't get me wrong I'm not exactly a jumping fire readers or anything like that but Al it's almost too bad that Japanese task force did materialize after all isn't it you'll get your shots of them war is Young yes sir I I still hate to see us unloading most of our Torpedoes sir orders are to bring 3-in ammunition to corgador somebody has to do it and those eight Torpedoes we have in our tubes can be fired if necessary oh yes but they can't be serviced uh or can is it no I put 45 tons of 3in shells blocking the tubes I know you're learning George thank you sir uh I just hope I'll be able to stand my own watch as diving officer before the Patrol's over with sir patience to England you'll get there thank you sir on April 9th history arrived at one of its Grand climaxes and With Disaster came change thean has fallen well Iraq won't be needing that 3in stuff for carrying Cruise offensively against enemy then return to Australia a limited Cruise of course considering our reduced Armament reduced Armament sir we're loaded we're a floating bomb exciting isn't it [Music] this is the captain we have received new orders radio from headquarters we will not have present return to Australia I am calling for volunteers to go ashore on the island of timore for special Duty involving considerable personal risk I will interview The Volunteers in the wardro men on watch will be heard when we leave I will need three men George here it is 33 Australian soldiers now ators have been trapped on teore by the Japanese Advance they've been fighting a retreating action there for 80 Days theyve managed to salvage a radio from a plane and have been hollowing for help we've been assigned to take them off qumas markson and Sigman mcgrey are all set to go are you interested yes sir now this uh might be a very dangerous Mission not only is the island heavily occupied by the enemy but they may also have the Cod the AES are using and may be just waiting for us to make our move that sounds like it might be interesting well another good possibility is that they uh May attack the ship while you're as Shore and force of the strin you there you I understand that sir you do and you still want to go yes sir why well lots of reason for it sir it's a like you said a Prem somebody's got to do it yeah and uh what I I guess I'm still S at the Japanese for bombing the tender I on in Manilla chasing us out the melee barrier that was thetis you know and uh what sir I I hope this won't work against me go ahead well there my being a Reserve officer and and never having gone to submarine school well I just don't feel like I'm any value to the submarine as a Submariner I like very much to help get those Australians off sir I see well you did go to Massachusetts Marine Institute and being from the New England coast you'd know small crap and I hear you a very good swimmer yes sir you are the Eager Beaver yes when the beaver looks like First Rate submarine material I'm for him well thank you sir just a moment there's one more thing now this island is swarming with Japanese they've warned these ois to surrender or Expect No Quarter when caught they uh will not be very easy on anyone trying to save it okay New England there she stands now George let's talk about team more approaching tear SE Raven submerged and cruised back and forth a mile and a half off the beach there's a lot of people on the beach four five on horseback there a lot of traffic out there can't make out whether it's Japanese Australians or natives have a look George down go we attempt contact Tuesday night let's hope they show at 2 a.m. the morning of Monday April 13th an enemy submarine fired a torpedo at se R it's but it was near enough for sonar to hear it propell [Music] us at 6:40 p.m. of the appointed Tuesday night SE Raven surfaced one mile off the [Music] beach crew is at Battle Stations and ready for any eventuality the utmost precautions were taken against the possibility that the enemy knew sea Raven's movements and might mount a surprise attack there it is small fire in the jungle at point of Rondo well he hoping the enemy is now the whole scheme Landing Party On Deck mevy and Marin will remain outside the cirf of the boat hon cook will go ashore alone when you find the men bring him back through the surf to the boat is that clear yes sir now whatever you do don't take the boat to the beach you might not be able to get back through the surf then you'll all be captured and remember we're in an exposed position here submerge the surface and we have a cargo of high explosives so work fast all right prouy and cook keep that pistol dry all ready sir good luck thank you sir [Music] [Music] hold it steady right here nothing well we saw their fire sign earlier maybe they're just lying L waiting they know we're coming by building angry what are we th mousy for that surf a drive out a fringe gun it's a lot of gun to swim with sir oh the breakers are carrying me in think the breakers are accommodate you coming back take care of yourselves take care of ourselves he uh if I'm not back by 2:30 go on back to the ship they've got to submerge before [Music] daylight he's supposed to be pretty hot stuff in the water yeah so are sharks [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] all [Music] hey you guys hey hey you [Music] guys [Music] guys [Music] he should have been back an hour [Music] ago not a sign of anything sir they're getting light soon yeah well we'll give another half hour that'll be stretching it these waters are pretty heavily patrolled we' have heard shots if anything was wrong you don't know these Japanese know jungle fighting they could reach out of a tree and clber cooked before he knew what hit him besides he had to go Inland to make contact could have been shooting [Music] hey what he say any luck no sir nobody with him tell him to return his ship immediately getting light well I don't know who they were sir but if they were our Australians why did they run could they have been natives it's kind of hard to say so I if they were Japanese why they have to fear from one American Beat Me Maybe have another chance George I'm sorry sir why you did all you could under the circumstances and you did fine are you sure you're feeling all right just a little bushy I'll get some sleep answer the George cook was annoyed and worried he was annoyed with himself for being green he thought he was worried for 33 Australians trapped on that island at the mercy of an enemy who had promised No Quarter he wondered if he would get another chance and if he got a chance again if he'd be fit he burned with a fever his head throbbed the fact he tried unsuccessfully to hide from the captain Wednesday April 15th SE Raven stood out to sea requesting instructions from submarine headquarters the reply came the following day Thursday April 16th the Australians went to run the boot Point all right you are okay a Japanese Patrol moved in and the Aussies had to lie low you mean it was that patrol around the campfire yeah you must have sounded like an Allied invasion Force to them man well we'll try again tomorrow or Saturday night I'd say the sooner the better tomorrow night we sa is about 7:00 p.m. the enemy permitted are you uh feeling all right you're much better you left marks and do the [Music] swimming remember the same situation prevails orders are the same both outside the breakers I understand sir good [Music] luck no it's just a funny feeling I've got about the Australians to me they're always the ends there there never were really too many of them but what what a reputation those guys have got same way with the Canadians same with the Highlanders got a p for people like that now you'll probably find them in the jungle just beyond the beach take this and secure it to a stump or a tree or something so you can pull your way back to the breakers and if you run any trouble or need any help it's five short flashes with a light good luck to you I sir good luck [Music] [Music] hello y are we glad to see you 80 days we've been on the Run Mighty glad you're here y all right Paulie all right we couldn't have met you at the r Point again yank those blasted patrols are rep put blast them heat nothing but wild rice and roots for 80 Days look at us once will you where the others undercover there H and sick with fever it's been a mess they can't shift for themselves some of them can't it's going to be rough getting to our boat for that [Music] surf [Music] [Music] Shi contact baring 3 0 0 F you might be a destroyer I know something's up he'll pass within 1500 y star ahead 1/3 Port back 1/3 left full Rudder battle station [Music] surface we don't dare try a torpedo if it doesn't go off or it misses the whole mission will be lost all we can do is present the smallest possible outline that DD and [Music] [Music] pray they spot us we haven't got a chance we've got the land behind us maybe they won't see [Music] us maybe didn't see [Music] us [Music] we swim and pull ourselves out by the St line let's just hope the anchor holds a man in worst condition go first I'll uh I'll take this [Applause] [Music] one take it easy William he's back what if about Mark from a guy he's coming oh hey is no good we're never going to get them all in this way we should don't leave them there you kidding if we can get him through those [Music] [Music] Breakers what let surf I don't know what are we going to do this one of the time's going to take all night I don't know the sick Ares are going to live through [Music] this that's the last of them sir makes 33 and all I get the B board I don't want to lose any time getting out of here all sir Captain all 33 men being provided for the uh pharmacist May treating the wounds he says he can take care of some of those bad tropical ers other stuff we get to a hospital in Prem manal the men in the worst condition are in permanent bunks and uh the others are hot bunking us so we can all get some rest you understand my reason for insisting you didn't take that boat to the surf yes sir you and your men could have been lost the boat destroyed an entire Mission hopelessly compromised you realize that yes sir nevertheless you landed that boat last night through those dangerous Breakers you made several trips back and forth why well sir there there was no other way why not well uh our anchor line parted and we lost our anchor you lost your anchor yes sir we lost our anchor oh I see well I just wanted to record the operation exactly as occurred in my Patrol report well done well thank you sir that's all uh oh Mr cook very well done indeed George I'll be back in a moment with our special guest fortunate to have with us the hero of our story that's a George C cook who is now Commander cook United States Navy George when you volunteered for submarines you probably had no idea you'd go through one of your most hair raising experiences ass sure that's right sir and especially in an island as remot as tomor you must be quite a swimmer to have made those trips through the surf particularly carrying a man on your back well I was brought up on the shores of Massachusetts and been swimming practically all my life on the surf how did it feel to have all those strange people scatter for the jungle when you turned the light on your face even before I turned the flashlight out it was one of life's darkest moments you were decorated with a navy cross for this action and you certainly deserve it congratulations to you please be with us again for another true and exciting story of the silent service through the [Music] Deepa the world in the fut to be [Music] theep underneath the sea