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As told by Marshall Dale Smith
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I sat through the movie U-571 with
flashbacks of the war patrol days going
through my mind. Even though the theatre was almost full, I was by myself,
back in those wartime days. Although every depth charge attack was not as
violent as those in the movie, many were. I went through 20 such attacks during
my two+ years in the Trigger. The most unforgettable was the attack by us
when we sank the flag-ship of the Japanese Submarine Admiral, wiping out him and
his staff as they were enroute to the Philippines to establish headquarters
there. We also hit three more ships in that task force and we paid for it
Big Time.
Six Jap destroyers pinned us down for over 17 hours. We took 151 depth
charges. We used up the desiccant powder that takes Co2 out of the air and used
all of the Oxygen releasing candles. We bled air in from the air banks
saving just enough to make it back to the surface. When we came up it was
night again and the ships were gone. When we assessed the damage, we found the
main induction valve was jammed so we had to suck air through the hatches to run
the engines. The radio was out, both sonar's were out, the forward torpedo room
had 3 ft. of water, the antennas had been blown away and 30 ft. of the deck was
missing. Jack, I've gotten drunk on Scotch, but I'll never forget the
giddy, drunken feeling that I experienced when that fresh air came pouring the
hatch that night. |
