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Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Tang (SS-306), 1943-1944

USS Tang, a 1525-ton Balao class submarine, was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Commissioned in October 1943, she deployed to Hawaii in December 1943 to begin an intense and eventful combat career under the leadership of Commander Richard H. O'Kane. Tang's first war patrol, conducted in the central Pacific during January and February 1944, removed five ships from Japan's logistics system. A second patrol, into the Palaus, resulted in no direct losses to the enemy, but was very important in another way. In three days of lifeguard duty during U.S. aircraft carrier raids on the Japanese base at Truk, Tang rescued 22 downed Navy aviators, a "score" of a positive sort that was unsurpassed until very late in the Pacific War.

In June and July 1944, Tang made a very productive patrol into the East China Sea area, sinking ten ships in a series of daring attacks. The next war patrol, her fourth, was in Japanese home waters, where her torpedoes sank at least two more enemy ships during August. Late in September, Tang departed Pearl Harbor to begin her fifth patrol. Operating in the vicinity of the Formosa Strait, she struck a convoy on 10-11 October, sinking two ships. Other convoys were the targets of night surface attacks on the 23rd and 24th, producing five more sinkings. However, Tang's last torpedo made a circular run that the submarine could not evade. She was hit aft and quickly sank in relatively shallow water off the China coast. Nine of her crew, including Commander O'Kane, survived the accident and were taken prisoner.

Tang was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations for her exploits, which included officially recognized sinkings of 24 Japanese ships, totalling nearly 94,000 tons. Among U.S. Pacific War submarines, she thus had the second highest score in terms of numbers and the fourth largest based on tonnage calculations.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Tang (SS-306).

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

Photo #: NH 42273 USS Tang (SS-306) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 December 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 470 pixels
Photo #: 80-G-227990 Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane, from USS North Carolina (BB-55) Off Truk with nine aviators on board, awaiting rescue by USS Tang (SS-306), 1 May 1944. The plane had landed inside Truk lagoon to recover downed airmen. Unable to take off with such a load, it then taxiied out to Tang, which was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 560 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-227991 Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane, from USS North Carolina (BB-55) Off Truk with nine aviators on board, awaiting rescue by USS Tang (SS-306), 1 May 1944. The plane had landed inside Truk lagoon to recover downed airmen. Unable to take off with such a load, it then taxiied out to Tang, which was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 565 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-227989 USS Tang (SS-306) Takes aboard aircrewmen of downed aircraft and of a USS North Carolina (BB-55) OS2U floatplane that had landed to rescue them, off Truk on 1 May 1944. Tang was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 142KB; 740 x 565 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-227992 Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane, from USS North Carolina (BB-55) Afire after it was hit by gunfire from USS Tang (SS-306), off Truk, 1 May 1944. The plane had landed inside Truk lagoon to recover downed airmen. Unable to take off with a load of nine men, it then taxiied out to Tang, which was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk. The plane was destroyed after its crew and passengers were removed. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 555 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-227987 USS Tang (SS-306) The submarine's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. O'Kane (center), poses with the twenty-two aircrewmen that Tang rescued off Truk during the carrier air raids there on 29 April-1 May 1944. The photograph was taken upon Tang's return to Pearl Harbor from her second war patrol, in May 1944. Those present are identified in Photo # 80-G-227987 (complete caption). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 137KB; 585 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: NH 97859 Commander Richard H. O'Kane, USN Oil painting by Commander Albert K. Murray, USNR, Official U.S. Navy Combat Artist, depicting Commander O'Kane on board the submarine Tang (SS-306) in 1944. This photograph was taken to support the Metropolitian Museum of Art exhibition "Your Navy: Its contribution to America from Colonial Days to World Leadership", which opened on 25 October 1948. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 72KB; 655 x 675 pixels

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Page made 6 February 2002