US WWII Submarine Walkthrough & Audio tour - The US Pampanito/SS-383 - Baleo class

throughout this audio tour you'll be hearing the voices of the officers and crew who served on Patton ito and other US submarines during World War two President Franklin D Roosevelt addressed Congress December 8th 1941 Captain Edward L beech naval historian novelist and veteran submarino's in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the United States began a massive submarine building program the United States ship pampanito was built in 1943 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire the role of u.s. submarines was to cut off the flow of raw materials to Japan the submarine fleet was instrumental in the Allied victory in the Pacific far beyond its cost to the United States today the pampanito is being preserved as a memorial to the submarine service of the u.s. Navy which we proudly called the silent service let's head below now to learn more about life aboard a wartime submarine we knew that we would be going into the Pacific we didn't know where our war patrols would take us our survival rate was the least of any group Army Navy or Marine Corps we had about 24% casualties on people that actually went on Patrol it smelled of oil this oil although your clothes the whole ship smells like decent you whatever I was they do with submarines a bird by the smell submarines are tight quarters we all live together I slept in the after torpedo room and if you couldn't get to sleep the rocking the movement of the boat would put you to sleep and I had as my bed fellows a torpedo on one side and the torpedo above me torpedo man first class Robert Bennett we had two kinds of torpedoes the steam torpedoes they're very fast the torpedoes you see here are steam torpedoes they're called mark 14s and had two speed settings 31 and 46 knots the others were what they call mark ii teams they were electric advantage of those was there wasn't any bubbles from the week when they were running and they were quiet but they were slow the mark 8 teens top speed was 29 knots look at the steel skids cradling the torpedoes on either side of this room they were on what we call skids on a track then it describes how torpedoes were loaded take some guys bunks off pull us get out till it line up to the tube and that take about three guys take a look at the four large bronze torpedo tubes we had six tubes in the forward room and four tubes in the afternoon was 24 torpedoes quartermaster third-class Gordon hopper the torpedoes did not explode on a timer mechanism but they had a what we called an impeller a little propeller in the nose of the torpedo that had to make a certain number of revolutions before the torpedo would be armed after the tube was loaded and the breech or inner door sealed seawater was flooded into the tube until the pressure inside the tube equaled the sea pressure outside you could have buried the depth that they would run and also the angle they would assume after they came out of the tube compressed air was used to actually push the torpedo out of the tube but the torpedos own drive mechanism then took over to propel it on its way when I left the gym it was a big shot of air behind it there was a big hook you know you could feel it all over submarine you knew that they fired we'll work our way from here the stern forward to the bow or front of the boat look to your left this side of the boat is known as the port side the right side is called the starboard side just before you leave this compartment to your left one of the four heads or toilets for the crew of up to 85 men sometimes you have to wait that's all there is to it you're looking at the propulsion control stand in a maneuvering room that's where they control the engines speed and the load on the engine is where speed changes and direction changes of the propellers take place these levers were used to switch the electricity from the submarines generators to charge the batteries or to power the main propulsion motors the submarines electric motors drove the twin propellers electrician's mate od Hawkins you have two men that are on the main control cubicle a porn operator and a starboard operators the signal comes from the bridge on speeds like one-third forward one-third reverse charged the batteries so we had control of speed of the engines how the electricity was taken from the generators either to the batteries or to the main motors the submarine was always operated by electrical power the diesel engine generators powered the motors when the sub was on the surface it ran on storage battery power when it was submerged being a battery powered submarine diesel battery we had to surface every night and charge batteries the fastest the boat could go submerged was about nine knots but this would drain the batteries in less than an hour at slower speeds she could go farther look to your left behind the narrow door is the tiny office for the electrical officer on either side of this room are two of the submarines four main engines when she was running on the surface kept Anita's maximum speed was 21 knots or about 24 miles per hour and when the engines were running this room was one of the loudest places on the submarine severing their noise the noise level at that time was so high you basically couldn't hear anybody talk we did everything by signals everything the only time the noise stopped is when the engines were shut down this had to happen in order for the submarine to dive the engines we had was probably the best submarine engine anybody could ever built motor machinist Chester beam Kowski fairbanks-morse 38 d8 the mate there were 10 cylinder a post piston we had to crank shafts one on the upper crank and one on Alaura crank naturally and the Pistons would come together and the pressure of the air being trapped in it generated so much heat that it ignited the diesel fuel at times that heat also circulated throughout the submarine I used to absolutely detest going down on a dive after we'd been running on the surface for six or eight hours with all four main engines on line radar technician George Moffett because by then the boat was hot the engines were hot and with no ventilation guess where all that engine heat came throughout all the rest of the boat and it would get hot look toward the middle of the room you'll see a ladder leading up to a deck access hatch just forward of this is another round opening this is one of the hull valves that supplied the boats air via the main inductor the main induction is a Monstress whole way up front of the ship at the bridge that drew in air through a 36 inch valve just before you exit this compartment look to your right at the space behind the starboard engine there's a narrow walkway their ships cook Joe Agner and we stowed food canned food outboard of the engines and the engine room this is the forward engine room it has the other two main diesel engines Chester B and Kowski the engine room that was the boiler boiler is a guy that does all the paperwork takes water readings on the engines sex auto machinery in the oil once the purifiers makes water look against the wall at the far end of the room you'll see two stainless steel barrel shaped objects the evaporators the subs freshwater had to be made by distilling seawater generally have made the water when you leave a surface offering the number one priority for water aboard the boat was always the battery if it was any leftover we had it for cooking and coffee and then probably lost on the list with shower we couldn't bathe very often water was it a premium showers were not frequent it must have been like 10 days to two weeks we took no baths you know you used a minimum of water nobody you can get a pair of water cold water it's all the people on board that made more frequently where the motor machinist not according to motor machinist Chester Binkowski you didn't shower all the time the cooks and Baker's yes they shower it all the time if we had the water times we would shower and the water comes out of the air conditioner we all smell with each other the crews washroom and shower when we first would depart from port we would have food stashed all over and it wasn't unusual to have some in the showers let's move on directly below this deck was one of the ships two main storage batteries this level is the main enlisted men's berthing area there are 36 bunks in this room we had hotbox we had more men than we had bunks we had two bunks for every three men I mean the third man was always on watch look between the bunks for the small square lockers built into the walls not a lot of storage space for two months at sea sailors would unzip their mattress covers and stow their Navy uniforms inside they didn't use them much on patrol typically you were t-shirt shorts and sandals it was usually hot aboard boat so you dress lightly and that was it at any time of day you could find men in here sleeping reading or writing letters in their bunks OD Hawkins Monday October the 16th 1944 my dearest Muriel well honey as you can tell by my return address I finally gotten on a sub after all of these months so you can probably imagine how thrilled that was well hon I came home to find two letters from you and I shall sort of answer them both mainly I guess because I'm not full of any if you shouldn't hear from me for a month or so at a time which is possible don't worry about it I like to think no news is good news these envelopes all have a censored marking on him so he was very careful what he had to say the expression used during that time as loose lips sink ships look up at the forward end of the room for the ship's medical Locker it has a Red Cross on it pampanito carried no doctor the pharmacist mate took care of the crews health my name is Joseph Eichner and I was one of the cooks aboard the submarine I worked from and let's say from 5:30 in the morning till 6:30 at night well into the night the Baker he would make all cakes and cookies and rolls and that sort of thing they take a summary no a better than anybody in the Navy just forward of the tables is the galley or kitchen this is where all the food was prepared breakfast is french toast or fried eggs and bacon or sausages and unknown mia we'd have four cups or ham or chicken or steak we usually had french fries and when you fed the whole crew 85 man you had to peel a lot of potatoes the crew that was going to relieve the watch that was on ate first and then when they finished the crew that came off eight 24 hours a day we had coffee notice the checker and acey-deucey boards on the tables the crews mess was really the only recreational area on the boat for enlisted men we had records that we played records in there and in the radio that's all you had blue rain I don't know how many times I played that song blue rain falling down on my windowpane we showed movies we'd only have a few movies and we probably go over quite a few time and cards play cards oh I remember listening to Tokyo Rose yes with a grain of salt well she was telling us submarine sailors that so-and-so was sunk and we're gonna be getting you you know you'd listen anything that you could get news I mean of how the war was going find the great between the dining tables we only had a small icebox and a small refrigerator it was underneath there was a trapdoor there and you had the freezer in there till let's move on just before you pass through the doorway that exits this room take a look into the galley if you stood right outside of the galley and the storage room was right underneath it and below the deck the shells were full and the whole well was full all the way up to the top the radio room the top-secret coding machine the ECM mark2 it was used to encode and decode messages radar officer Williams Robert there's always a radio men on watching the Radio Shack anytime we had a contact or head Csonka ship we would report by radio otherwise you just sat there and listened and copied everything the red lights are for the benefit of those who have to stand night look out watches so that your night vision wouldn't be interrupted find the panel of red and green lights on the port side of the room this is the hull opening indicator panel nicknamed the Christmas tree oh the Christmas tree very important the green lights would come on when everything was in its proper position you had to have all green lights of course when you submerge to dive the submarine vents were opened in the top of the ballast tanks this allowed air to escape and sea water to enter through the flood ports in the bottom of the tank as the tanks flooded the boats submerged look at the large white wheels to the left of the Christmas tree the Plainsman sat here during dives and when the boat was submerged the bow planes and the stern planes control the depth of the submarine when it's underwater above the wheels are dials and gauges there were angled indicators on the Y on the plane controls and there was a depth indicator that told you what would happen when you would dive if it was a normal day nothing slid around it would you generally be about a 12 15 degree angle down if it was not normal things slid around 450 feet was a maximum they wanted us to go we went significantly deeper than that to surface the ballast tank vents were shot then compressed air was blown into the tanks from storage banks forcing the water in them back out the flood ports as the tanks filled with air the submarine rose to the surface find the ladder in the middle of the room leading up to an open hatch this goes to the conning tower you can see the pump room through the grating in the floor by the ladder look around the room if you'd like alarms were an everyday part of life aboard the collision alarm meant a collision was imminent the general alarm was the call to battle stations but the most important alarm was the dive alarm whenever there was an occasion to call for the ship to dive the officer of the deck would sound the diving alarm and y'all clear the bridge and dive dive you didn't go down soft and easy you went down fast the three lookout and the officer of the deck had to get from your perch up on the bridge down to the ladder that goes to the conning tower down the ladder to the control room within 30 seconds we tried to get the periscope depth which to be 60 feet in 30 seconds the conning tower was the control center for navigation and battle from here enemy targets were tracked and sunk the SJ radar was located in that conning tower the sonar equipment controls are up in the conic the torpedo data computer the to periscope the steering wheel at the helm sometimes the area is referred to as officers country the ship's office I'm Charlie McGuire first-class and chief yeoman chief human is the ship's cook they I knew everybody aboard yeoman probably knew more than the officers did the yeoman typed everything that went out of that ship and he read all the official mail that came now it's quite a cactus very good radio step forward into the hallway this area housed eight officers plus the executive and commanding officers just ahead are their staterooms radar officer Richard Sherlock the big thing was developing I think a sense of confidence among the true that you were competent as an officer on your right you'll see commanding officer Pete summers stateroom the CEO had a writing desk deep depth gauge and a repeater compass so he could track the subs course at all times further along on the left is the ward room where officers ate met and passed the little free time they had Richard Sherlock I don't remember that being a cross word between the officers most of us back and forth used our first names I'm sure the crew had nicknames for all of us that they didn't use in our presence I mean this joist in grammar they called me the kids good kids at the far end on the left is a small pantry for the stewards mate as a steward mate you served the officers food you really had a know how to set the table the officers ate the same food that the men ate the stewards would come in and take what he needed for the officers and bring it up there they all ate the same food except you could give him a little specialist I would cook some bacon and dye some eggs and make my own baths now the dresser on either side of door are steel posts these allowed the sonar heads to be lowered down below the hall into the water for submerged listening step into the room the so nerman would be the first to hear an approaching enemy ship we were severely depth-charge you know in the wind patrol we had a sound operator and he had his headset on and he could listen you could hear ships like 30,000 yards away or so and he'd say they're pinging on us in other words they were sending a sound when they ping the sonar would come down bounced off when they bounced it off yet they know you're there this guy would be speaking the phone you know they're pinging on us they're making a run and then you could hear the big propellers of that ship above you know the boat would be rigged for what they call silent running everything was turned off that could be turned off you had no air conditioning fans or anything like that the humidity would immediately go over a hundred percent the preparation just went on I've never been really frightened if they're gonna get so they're gonna get you they dropped I think five depth charges which were extremely close that sounds was indescribable it was so loud the light bulbs shattered the court that the boat was lined with flew off the walls little statement about there not being atheists and foxholes it's true there aren't any atheist under depth charge either you pray everybody has to make pray to look up the large hatch overhead in the center of the compartment is the escape trunk it was designed to permit the crew to escape if the submarine were disabled in shallow water you've probably concluded by now that it was tight quarters aboard a submarine now try to imagine this boat with 73 extra men that's how many British and Australian prisoners of war pampanito rescued from the South China Sea in September 1944 pampanito had been part of a submarine Wolfpack that had attacked a Japanese convoy and sunk several ships unbeknownst to the submarines the ships had been carrying Allied prisoners we're now in the forward part of the submarine peponi tows guns including the large wet mount gun to your left were made to be submerged look up at the bridge the periscope shears are the tall gray structures on either side of them surrounded by metal railings are the lookout stands when you're on the surface you're out looking for whatever it may be in any way a hazard to the ship USS threadfin seaman second class Joe Senate and heavy seas the lookout would have to brace his body against the steel rail that surrounds the lookout flat one to keep from being washed overboard if it was really rough weather look at the broom on top of the periscope shears the broom that you see at the top of the periscope shears was used to indicate to people in port that you had had a successful war patrol that clean sweep look out at the bay imagine gazing out over the open sea for hours on end Gordon Hopper describes the first lookouts sighting of the prisoners of war pampanito rescued we began seeing these men on makeshift raft board well anything that would float really we've begun to see them off in the distance and the captain and the lookouts all thought that these were Japanese survivor from the ships that we had sunk as we got up close to this closest raft this big person stood up and started waving this large Australian hat and calling out I still remember what he said this is you bloody Yanks one day you bloody well sick us the next day you bloody well pick us up you think I send you your same as you bloody Yanks look at the submarines rounded home it wasn't easy to get the survivors over it and up onto the deck there were about five or six of us who were among the better swimmer who would swim out to the rafts with a line and pull them in and get these men off the rafts and onto the boat and down below cleaned up they had been in the water for four days they were coated with crude oil Tampa Neto sped to Saipan the nearest American base only one man was lost on the way let's move aft for the gangway when they get off the ship they were grinning from ear to ear they looked like 72 US sailors going on Charlie most of us felt that was the highlight of our time in the service was being able to save these men I wish to thank the officers of men of this sub for saving myself and fellow men from the day god bless them all the Japanese have just officially laid down their arms President Harry Truman announcing the Japanese surrender September 1st 1945 they have signed terms of unconditional surrender four years ago the thoughts and fears of the whole civilized world were centered on another piece of American soil Pearl Harbor the mighty threat to civilization which began there is now laid at rest during World War Two pampanito was credited with sinking six enemy ships Captain Edward Beach submarines like the pampanito played a critical and decisive role during World War two they sank over 1,200 Japanese merchant ships and warships more than half of all Japanese shipping destroyed in war when the rate of sinkings outpaced Japan's ability to build new ships the outcome of the war was assured but this success was not without its cost fifty-two of our submarines never returned most of them disappeared without trace their fate unknown all but a few of their cruise life forever entombed on the ocean floor 3505 men and officers of the silent service gave their lives to the cause of victory the pan Veneto stands as one of a few proud memorials to these men still on patrol on behalf of the papen ito thank you for joining me today thanks to the USS pampanito volunteers veterans and others who made this tour possible naval reserved USS Frank cable a s40 detachment in Sacramento Robert Bennett William brokered Joseph Eichner OD Hawkins gordon hopper jewish a ram charlie McGuire George Moffatt Joe sinister Richard Sherlock Ted Swain Bob Taylor and Chester B and Kowski you

Channel: JbeckJ

Views: 133,139

Rating: 4.8311501 out of 5

Keywords: wwii submarine, wwii, baleo, history, pampanito, submarine tour

Id: OC8XS1lIlaI

Length: 29min 35sec (1775 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 14 2016