Young Richard Jaeckel makes a fine, dynamic, submarine Skipper. As a 4-year US Navy veteran his concise commands and bearing cannot be all acting. Captain Smith must have been proud of his portrayal. It is evident that servicemen are less than comfortable with a camera pointed at them. God alone knows what might befall the Man the screws the pooch on Admiral Dykers' TV show!
I realize that I'm replying to a 2 yr old thread but I just discovered this series. I wanted to add that Richard Jaeckel, in addition to his well-portrayed sense of bearing as a sub commander is also much more in line with the typical age of many who served in that position.
Everyone of these Contract actors would run circles around todays talent ! Two notables Warren Oats Harry Stanton I wish Jack Elam would have played this part It would have lost its seriousness Cool Hand Luke just passed He was Cool too ? Warden ? I served on Forresta;l famous 81 cruise US 2 Libya 0
Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, and Jack Elam are all giants of their profession in my book. Didn't matter what genre they were performing in, they absolutely nailed it every single time. Any film would be improved by casting them.
Normally, in waters where you're uncertain about the depth (and therefor the clearance of your keel), you try to go in with the bow trim slightly lower than normal. That way, if you run aground, you shift cargo aft (or in a submarine, you do a minor shot of air to blow out some of the water (not a full blow out of all the ballast tanks forward!) and you float off! The other thing, if it can be done, is to go in at low tide, that way the rising sea helps you get free. Very bad if you get high and dry and the peak of high tide!!!
Man, that kind of thing just goes to show the incredible risks involved and the sheer bravery of these submariners. Betting their lives on every mission - then doing something just as dangerous again and again. I can't imagine the stress and the emotional toll it took on these young people and frankly I'm glad I was never called on to do it.
@@usaturnuranus Not to mention the possibility of finding an enemy minefield (or even a unmarked Dutch minefield that they laid as they retreated!)....
@@usaturnuranus Also, around the 14:20 mark, there could be currents in that strait that could cause big issues with your attempt to keep the sub in the middle of the channel...
CQM William E Russell, joined SS193 USS Swordfish, on her 8th War Patrol, was lost with the Swordfish on their 13th War Patrol Jan 1945, somewhere off Kyushu, on Eternal Patrol. Swordfish was sister boat of SS192 USS Squalus. Squalus was renamed USS Sailfish after she was raised from her tragic sinking off the East Coast.
@@dickylobster Just watched a film noire movie on TCM Alexander Scouby was the bad guy, but as soon as he spoke I would flashback to his narration of the Victory at Seas episodes! Was nice to put a face to the voice!
My brother was an EM2 on AS 12 USS Sperry at Pt. Loma. finish with with a WESTPAC on the USS Cimarron AO 22 1968, she was decommision after that tour. My dad turned periscope tubes on horizontal lathe at Mare isalnd in WW 2.
Non-cat people don't understand the "Black Cat" rules; if you take in the cat, love it and feed it, let it sleep in your bunk, ,you OWN the cat and are immune to the bad-luck curse. It is then directed at your enemies!
@donald tarr: One mistake. You do not own a cat. The cat owns YOU! I've been owned by two cats, I speak from experience. My understanding is that, for obvious reasons, Jesus Christ can own a cat, no one else.
I adopted Shadow who is very much a black cat after a very good friend's son passed do to heart issues and his mother could not stay in the house. His sister because of cat allergies asked me to take him. He was ten when I let him adopt me and he is now 13 and I would not know what to do without him around.
Continue to be surprised at the actors I see in these. Just watched one with DeForest Kelly from Star Trek. Werner Klemperer in U-47 story. Think the last thing Jaeckel did was Capt. Quirk in Spenser: For Hire.
Early TV, there were no guidelines for how you interview people (for instance JFK shaved and wore makeup while Nixon didn't and had a major 5 o'clock shadow... made a lot of people think that JFK would perhaps a better president.)
@@timengineman2nd714 Well it turned out that Kennedy was a better president than nixon, just like Biden is turning out to be a better president than trump.
@@GermanShepherd1983, man, whatever you're smoking must be some mighty powerful stuff! Biden couldn't hit his butt with a 2x4 and an instruction manual!
According to a Reference Book, "United States and Allied Submarine Successes in the Pacific and Far East During World War 2" by John D Alden & Craig R. McDonald, the Swordfish sunk one ship during this attack. It was the Myoken Maru, 4,124 tons. Even so this is a very good accomplishment because at this time there were 3 major defects in our torpedoes.
I would be more inclined to believe the story as presented, considering that a crew member was interviewed at the end. Historical accounts written after the fact by armchair analysts are frequently fraught with errors and personal opinions.
I always love the shows but I have to admit, making the guest read prepared responses from cue cards at the end is pretty hard to take. It would have been nice to hear them recounting their experiences in their own words and not sounding like 4th graders reading out loud in class.
I grew up with WWI, WWII, KOREA, VIETNAM vets. Some genuinely didn't talk much about it, certainly not on cue. Others, you wouldn't want to broadcast what they had to say.
@@garyletterle9412 That's perfect because I don't expect them to "act", just to be able to respond to questions like sailors instead of having prepared scripted answers that they read off of cue cards.
@@jimlaguardia8185 Actually this has more to do with the way network TV was produced at the time rather than Navy culture. There was nothing related to Navy culture that involved reading cue cards on TV.
Boy my Bubba cat is just sittin here sething sayin he hopes he never meets that guy in his dark alley of trash cans. Bubba's been known to hand out some real good butt kickings on regular basis....
@@wilfredruffian8429 Pretty easy to surmise, as he was introduced as an original officer, but thanks for helping the "ignorant foreigner" with the curious moniker to understand. I've nominated you for the No Shitter Of The Week award - if you win this week, you're automatically forwarded to the No Shitter Of The Month contest, and so on.
JAECKEL did an impressive acting job as a young hothead who is killed by MR RINGO...AKA GREGORY PECK...in a bar room gunfight. PECK shoots left handed...quickly!
I love the cat and there is a long history of cats going to sea with man such as Unsinkable Sam en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsinkable_Sam who the Royal Navy retired to shore duty after two RN ships went down and he survived after his surviving the Bismarck.
My dad worked at Mare Island NSY 1940-1946, was there when the Cruiser USS San Francisco came in all shot up. Worked on British ships also, said they were the most filthy, vermin, bugs and rodent infested ships he'd ever seen, probably agood reason to ahve car aboard!
Here's a link to his "On eternal patrol" listing- www.oneternalpatrol.com/mayfield-j-m.htm . They also have the whole story of the Swordfish, her loss, and a crew picture www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-swordfish-193-loss.html
correction the USS Enterprise dive bomb wing sunk the first ship it nailed one of the mother subs that lunched the midget subs at pearl that qualifies as first ship sunk
If we are counting midget subs, then the destroyer USS Ward sunk the first ship of the war, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor at the mouth of the Harbor.
Technically THE War Was Not Declared Yet , And A Midget Submarine Is Not A Ship, God Bless Them All Especially The Older Men And Women ☆Patriot's ☆That Sayed To Teach The Boys, The ABC's Of Fighting A War. ☆ Sincere Patriot ☆ ☆ Semper Fi.☆ ☆ God Bless America.☆
Good old fashion Flush Deck Four Piper ala vintage WW1 design, roguh riding and a "wet ship"! Iconic photo of gun crew and the deck gun that hit the sub conning tower, she was unk later in the war I believe. What was the first US warship sunk Before we got into the War, exluding the USS Panay which happened in the 1930's.
Incorrect ! USS Swordfish SS 193 is "Still on Patrol" off Southern Japan MIA Jan 1945, we had relative that was Chief of the Boat, they were on their 13th War Patrol. You are thinking of the USS Bowfin SS 287 at Pearl.
i like this show but you can tell that the actors are stiff, not really flowing into their rolls. and the guest that come in at the end are reading a cue cards with what they need to say. they are like robots. my god they look afraid. but the stories are true facts. i cked on a couple of them. but thanks for posting them
Think about it, early days of TV programing, many of these actor's were kinda still learning their craft, if you recognise some of these young guys later in their careers.
@@jimlaguardia8185 Kittens are normally ok, but as they grow older (at 6 months?), most cats become lactose intolerant. Milk then will give them diarrhea....
