Operation Pacific Page #4

No curfew. No shore patrol.

No Royal Hawaiian. No hula-hula girls.

And no trouble.

When you have more experience

you'll understand about dames.

They are nothing but trouble.

When you've got a headache,

you take an aspirin.

When you've got a bellyache,

you take a sea-sea pill.

When you ache all over, that's dames.

And there ain't no cure for it, either.

Boy, have I got an ache.

-Now what?

-I don't know.

The torpedoes ran through, hit head-on,

no explosion.

Haul out the rest of the torpedoes

and check the settings.

Check all torpedo settings.

There goes a lot of aviation gasoline.

To the wrong planes.

Torpedo still running.

Those fish had time to get to Hoboken.

More duds.

-Down scope. Secure tubes.

-Secure the tubes.

Take over. Duke, let's get some coffee.

If I got a kind of a half-baked idea

about this thing that...

might get it cleared up.

So I could tell it to somebody,

and help them to work it out.

I wish I'd had the time

to take one of these warheads apart...

and play around with the firing pin.

Get this off, urgent priority, COMSUBPAC.

"In attack on two freighters,

torpedoes fired at ideal angle...

"hit target but failed to explode.

"Torpedoes fired at wide angle,

sank target.

"All torpedoes issued Pearl Harbor.

Will keep trying."

I charted the last four attacks.

By the way,

I got answer to my torpedo message.

I've been ordered back home

to help them find the bugs.

It will be kind of tough

to leave the Thunder.

But I really think I can do some good.

I recommended you

to command the next patrol.

The old girl deserves a chance, Duke.

See that she gets it.

-Sound?

-Bearing 040.

62 feet, sir.

All ahead one-third.

Put me on 045.

Suggest we change course

to 135 to intercept, sir.

Right rudder course, 135.

Battle stations manned.

Stand by to fire!

-Here goes Uncas!

-Uncas?

Yeah, the last of the Mohicans!

Fire!

Hit right under the stack

and nothing happens!

Wait a minute. What's this?

-The colors are coming down!

-What?

Get the Exec up here.

Executive officer

report to the conning tower.

Captain wants you in the conning tower.

-Take over, Mr. Caldwell.

-Aye, aye sir.

What is it, Captain?

Nice fat freighter,

and our last torpedo was another dud.

A dud?

He's running up the white flag.

Now I've seen everything!

What do you make of it?

Must've punched a hole in it.

Try and contact her. Find out who she is.

Radio room.

Try and contact Jap freighter close aboard.

Aye, aye.

Raise the antennae.

No reply, sir.

They're preparing to abandon ship!

Take her up fast.

Down scope.

Stand by with machine guns!

-The hatch is cracked, sir.

-Open the hatch.

Here we go.

Take her down fast.

Run negative!

Take her down.

Up scope.

Up the conning tower,

we're fighting an open hatch.

Hatch secure, sir.

All hands.

A Jap decoy ship flying a white flag

opened up on us.

Pop never left the bridge.

The Jap is beginning a depth charge run.

I intend to dive under and come up astern.

Stand by for battle surface.

Break out helmets!

-Is she still coming?

-Yes.

Good. Steady on course.

-Ammunition passers ready?

-Yes, sir.

Helmet, Captain?

I want to be in action when the guns clear.

All stations ready for battle surface!

Pour it to him!

I'll give you a hand with this gun!

Lay it in there.

Steady on that.40, Chief!

Engine room, give me all you got.

Hang on!

All back full!

Report on bow damage.

Forward torpedo room's flooding, sir.

Put air pressure in that compartment.

There she goes.

Nothing from the Thunder?

Nothing, sir.

Notify all patrol vessels

she is overdue and maybe damaged.

Report immediate contact

and render assistance.

Aye, aye, sir.

Mary Stuart is here again, sir.

Wish I had something to tell her.

Have her come in.

The Admiral is in the plotting room.

I'm sorry to bother you this way--

That's all right. Come in any time.

No word, sir?

That doesn't mean she's lost.

But no word?

She's a sturdy boat with a fine crew.

They'll bring her in if she's afloat.

Thank you, sir.

No luck, sir. The set's damaged too bad.

Keep trying.

Engineer and

First Lieutenant's reports, sir.

All hands!

Here's the story.

The damage to our bow

has cut our surface speed in half.

We can submerge,

but we can't make much headway.

That means we'll do most

of our running at night.

We'll be a little late, getting back to Pearl

but sit tight, we'll make it.

That's all.

"And Ma in her kerchief and I in my cap

had just settled ourselves...

"for a long winter's nap."

What are we waiting for,

that huddle in the wardroom?

The board of investigation

has to decide what happened...

before anybody goes ashore.

A faulty torpedo cost

Captain Perry his life...

otherwise the target would

have been disabled.

The Thunder wouldn't have been

forced into an emergency dive.

After the dive...

I acted according to my understanding

of the Thunder's mission...

which was to destroy enemy shipping.

After the Jap ship went down, we...

cruised the area for the rest of the day...

searching for Captain Perry.

What was the condition

of the Thunder at that time?

Heavily damaged. Barely able

to make headway, sir.

You and your men performed

an outstanding submarine feat...

in getting the Thunder back to port.

We realize you had a rough patrol

and need little time to unwind.

We're recommending that

you be sent back to the States for a while.

I'd rather stay here

and see to the Thunder's refit.

Sorry. That's our recommendation.

Good day.

-I've been waiting--

-Another day.

I've got a little business

that'll keep me busy for days.

Hey, Camel!

Sorry, I'm headed for

a hot bath and a bottle.

Hey, Mosconi.

Look, I'd love to go with you, baby,

but I'm always booked solid.

-Hey, Chief.

-Not now, Junior.

Why didn't you tell me?

I didn't know all these guys would be here.

I just dropped in.

Looks like...

a lot of us had the same idea.

I guess it's up to me to say something.

The most appropriate thing

I can think of is...

the last part of the burial at sea.

In the Navy prayer book...

it goes like this:

"We commend their souls to God and

commit their bodies to the deep...

"in sure and certain

hope of the resurrection...

"into eternal life through Jesus Christ,

at whose coming to judge the world...

"the sea shall give up her dead."

Pop wasn't killed in action!

Duke took that boat down from under him.

I know how you must feel.

But how do you suppose Duke feels?

He's second-in-command.

He was responsible for the safety

of the Thunder and the lives of the crew.

So he took it down where it was safe.

But he didn't stay down where it was safe!

He brought it up again to fight! Why?

I'm not the only one asking questions.

They're sending

him back to the States? Why?

I don't know, Bob.

But I'm sure Duke did

what he thought was the right thing.

Don't try to defend him, Mary Stuart.

Nothing means a thing to Duke

except the chance to be a hero again!

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