The submarine that sank a train: the U.S.S. Barb

YouTube ^ | May 18, 2017 | The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

[P.O.E.]

That was great, thanks!

[moovova]

What a great video.

Go Navy!

[SoCal Pubbie]

Clinton tried, but he jammed the torpedo tube.

[willk]

The History Guy is one of the few shows I subscribe to on YouTube. He has a lot of interesting stuff and a great presentation.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Towards the end of the war, after the Jap outer perimeter was penetrated and broken up and the Pacific finally seized from them, there were sophisticated top-of-the-line subs prowling around with nothing to do, so the skippers got imaginative as to how to contribute to the war effort. There are a number of interesting stories about the imaginative ways they stirred up trouble.

 

 

[US_MilitaryRules]

He succeeded in that gesture.

[Ahithophel]

Informative and uplifting post. Galloping Ghost of the China Coast - amazing. Re-engineered the faulty detonators on all his torpedoes while on patrol - fascinating. And no one serving on the USS Barb killed or seriously injured while under his command - extraordinary. An 8 minute video worthy of watching.

[sparklite2]

You gotta watch out for those trains.

During the Cold War, the Canadian subsidiary of locomotive builder MLW-Worthington-Studebaker (yes, that Studebaker) contracted to sell some locomotive engines to Cuba. The US government forced the subsidiary to cancel the order, even if the Canadian operation was beyond the legal jurisdiction of the US.

Canadians were pissed/amused by this wondering what the US had to fear from Cuban locomotive engines. Did Washington envision locomotives roaring onto the beaches of Miami with towering rooster tails of sand in their wake?

[Ozark Tom]

As bad-ass as a marine officer who found a way through a surrounding hostile force in order to signal the USS Ballard by flashlight; then, proceeded to direct a close-support gunnery-strike against an overwhelming hostile force, clearing the way for his command to reach a position on the beach for extraction?

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

#27. The US Navy/old DO War asked Einstein if he could help them correct the faulty torpedo detonators because no one else could at that time. He declined saying that he knew nothing about that kind of electronics.

At least someone was thinking about someone else who might help to solve this very real problem.

The same thing happened with PBY’s and PBM’s on sub patrols off the East Coast and Caribbean during WW2. I’ve got copies of AAR’s in which the bombardier reports that he dropped bombs directly on or in front of German subs and there were NO detonations. This happened dozens of times.

Image if only 25% of those attacks had sunk German subs in the Atlantic/Caribbean waters, how many ships and lives would have been saved.

[Ahithophel]

Interesting and something of which I was unaware - dropped bombs on or in front of German boats in WWII and no detonation. For a expose of somewhat more recent gross incompetence, this time in US intelligence, A Good American is a film worth watching on Netflix (OIG report of the incident apparently still classified).