#23: USS Tang: The Submarine Sunk by Her Own Torpedo
USS Tang sank 33 enemy ships totaling 116,454 tons in just nine months of combat, the second-highest tonnage of any American submarine in World War II. But her story is defined by one of the most bizarre incidents in naval warfare: on October 24, 1944, Tang's final torpedo malfunctioned, broached, circled back, and struck her own stern, sinking the submarine that fired it.
Under Commander Richard O'Kane, Tang was a killing machine. On her fifth and final patrol alone, she sank 13 ships in the Formosa Strait. O'Kane's aggressive tactics, surfacing at night inside enemy convoys to fire at point-blank range, were terrifyingly effective. When the circular torpedo struck, Tang sank in 180 feet of water. Of her 87-man crew, only nine survived, enduring brutal captivity in Japanese POW camps. O'Kane received the Medal of Honor, and Tang's combat record cemented her as one of the most lethal submarines in military history. Her loss remains a sobering lesson in the dangers of early military technology.
