DDH - Circles of Death

Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show Podcast · Oct 25, 2022 · 38m

At 2:30am on October 25, 1944, USS Tang, one of the highest scoring US Submarines in the war, launched the final torpedo of her patrol. After attacking a convoy all through the previous evening, she was hoping to finish off one last ship before turning for home with a broom lashed to her periscopes.

The real horror of war is how many things can go wrong. Usually with deadly consequences. As that last torpedo sped away from Tang, it held in its circuits and parts, flaws that had not yet been overcome, even as it had been rushed into production. As it cleared the tube of the vaunted Balao Class…