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Photo # 80-G-35733:  LCdr. Dudley W. Morton at a press conference, circa February 1943

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Commander Dudley W. ("Mush") Morton, USN (1907-1942)

Dudley Walker Morton was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, on 17 July 1907. He attended high school in Miami, Florida, and entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1926. Commissioned in the rank of Ensign upon graduation in June 1930, he initially served in the aircraft carrier Saratoga and cruiser Chicago. In 1933, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Morton reported to the Submarine Base, New London, for instruction as a submarine officer. Subsequently sent to the Asiatic Fleet, he was assigned to the submarine tender Canopus and submarine S-37. Lieutenant Morton returned to the United States in 1937, by way of Siberia and Europe, and took up new duties at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He was Executive Officer of the destroyer Fairfax in 1939-40, followed by a tour as Commanding Officer of the small submarine R-5 that lasted until April 1942.

In mid-1942, Lieutenant Commander Morton joined Submarine Squadron FOUR as a Prospective Commanding Officer and briefly was in charge of the elderly submarine Dolphin. After making a patrol on the much-newer Wahoo as an observer, at year's end he became her Commanding Officer. Morton soon proved himself to be one of World War II's most daring and able submarine commanders, an inspiration to many of his colleagues during a period when the Pacific submarine force was shaking off excessively cautious tactical doctrines while simultaneously suffering under the dispiriting burden of unreliable torpedoes. In January and February 1943, he took Wahoo into the waters off northern New Guinea, where several Japanese ships were sunk or seriously damaged, among them the destroyer Harusame, torpedoed after an almost incredibly bold penetration of Wewak harbor, and the transport Buyo Maru.

From February into October 1943, Commander Morton took Wahoo on four more patrols, covering enemy-controlled waters in the shallow Yellow Sea, off Northern Japan and into the Sea of Japan. Continuing to use innovative attack techniques, including placing his Executive Officer at the periscope, thus allowing the captain to fully visualize the entire situation, he sank another sixteen ships. Only one patrol, in the Sea of Japan in August, was unproductive, with poor torpedo performance as a contributing cause. Morton and Wahoo returned to the same area in September, at a cost to the Japanese cargo fleet of four ships. However, on 11 October 1943 while exiting the Sea of Japan through La Pérouse Strait, Wahoo was lost with all hands.

In his five war patrols, Dudley W. Morton had sunk a total of nineteen enemy ships, of some 55,000 tons, making him one of the Pacific War's top three submarine commanders in terms of ships sunk. His achievements were recognized by the award of no less than four Navy Crosses, the last one posthumous, and a Presidential Unit Citation for Wahoo.

The destroyer USS Morton (DD-948), 1959-1992, was named in honor of Commander Dudley W. Morton.

This page features all the views we have related to Dudley W. Morton.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 47623

Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, USN


Photographic portrait, taken by Bert Longworth, Hollywood, California, circa 1943.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 70KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-35733

Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, USN
,
Commanding Officer, USS Wahoo (SS-238)

Describes his submarine's successful third war patrol, during a press conference at Pearl Harbor, circa mid-February 1943.
He is holding a rough chart of what appears to be a small part of the northern New Guinea coast. On the wall at right are charts of western New Guinea and of the Iron Bottom Sound area between Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 94KB; 595 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-35725

Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, USN
,
Commanding Officer, USS Wahoo (SS-238), at right

With his Executive Officer, Lieutenant Richard H. O'Kane, on Wahoo's open bridge, at Pearl Harbor after her very successful third war patrol, circa 7 February 1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 605 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-37033

USS Wahoo (SS-238)


Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, Commanding Officer, with another officer (probably Lieutenant Richard H. O'Kane), in Wahoo's conning tower during her attack on a Japanese convoy north of New Guinea, 26 January 1943. Several ships, among them the transport Buyo Maru, were sunk in this action.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-35726

USS Wahoo (SS-238)


At Pearl Harbor, soon after the end of her third war patrol, circa 7 February 1943.
Her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, is on the open bridge, in right center. Officer standing at left appears to be the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Richard H. O'Kane.
Note: broom lashed to the periscope head, indicating a "clean sweep" of enemy targets encountered; pennant bearing the slogan "Shoot the sunza bitches" and eight small flags, representing claimed sinkings of two Japanese warships and six merchant vessels.
Note that the forward radar mast, mounted in front of the periscope shears, has been censored out of this photograph.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 76KB; 595 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 80-G-38602

USS Wahoo (SS-238)


Scene in the control room during Wahoo's 27 January 1943 action with a Japanese destroyer. When the photo was taken the submarine was at 300 feet, rigged for depth charges. Six charges had just gone off and the crew was awaiting more. Lieutenant Commander Dudley W. Morton, Wahoo's Commanding Officer, reported this action as: "Another running gun fight ... destroyer gunning ... Wahoo running".
Shaved head on crewman at right is a product of an Equator crossing ceremony three days previously.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 600 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the "Online Library's" digital images, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 6 February 2002
Links added 27 February 2006