19Nov 2020

Military.com | By PatriciaKime

 University of Virginia fans rejoice: The Navy'snewest submarine will be a Wahoo.

Well, not exactly. The newest Virginia-class submarine will be namedthe USS Wahoo in honor of the legacies of two previous submarines, including astoried World War II vessel that was sunk by a torpedo on Oct. 11, 1943.

Along with the Wahoo, the Navy also announcedWednesday that another future Virginia-class submarine will be named Tang, alsoin honor of a World War II boat, whose commander was awarded the Medal of Honor, and a Vietnam-era submarine.

Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite has made apoint of naming vessels after others with historical Navy legacies, and Wahooand Tang certainly fit the bill.

"The success in battle both previousnamesakes endured will undoubtedly bring great pride to the future crews of USSTang and USS Wahoo," Braithwaite said in a release. "Along withthe previously named USS Barb (SSN 804), theseboats will honor the strong traditions and heritage of the silentservice."

Commissioned shortly after the U.S. entered WorldWar II, the Wahoo, SS-238, was a Gato-class submarine and the "moststoried boat in the fleet" at the time of its sinking, according to theNaval History and Heritage Command.

In seven patrols in the Pacific, Wahoo earned sixbattle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation, having sunk 20 Japanese ships --19 of which were destroyed in the boat's last five combat patrols. Wahoo'sskipper, Lt. Cmdr. Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton, is considered thethird most successful submarine commander of the war, having earned four NavyCrosses. The last was awarded posthumously.

The last days aboard the Wahoo must have beenharrowing: Six days before the vessel was sunk, it attacked a Japanese convoyand sank the 8,100-ton troop transport Konron Maru, killing 544 people,including two members of the Japanese House of Representatives.

Revenge followed: The Wahoo was stalked byJapanese forces. According to Japanese records reviewed by Navy historians,when it surfaced the morning of Oct. 11, possibly already having sustaineddamage, it was fired on by Japanese shore batteries. It then submerged andreversed course, possibly striking a mine in the process.

It was then attacked by five aircraft and surfacedepth charges, enduring at least 40 bombs and 69 depth charges. When the attackwas over, 79 souls aboard were gone.

The boat was located in 2005 by a private groupin the La Perouse Strait, between Japanese-owned Hokkaido and Russian-ownedSakhalin, sitting upright in 212 feet of water, largely intact. It had suffereda direct bombing hit to its conning tower.

The second USS Wahoo, SS-565, was commissioned onMemorial Day 1952 and decommissioned in 1988, after serving in the Pacific aspart of Seventh Fleet and completing two tours in Vietnam.

The World War II-era USS Tang was commanded byCmdr. Richard O'Kane, who cut his teeth as executive officer of the Wahooduring that boat's first five patrols, according to the Navy. O'Kane isconsidered the most successful submarine officer in World War II and earned theMedal of Honor, three Navy Crosses, three Silver Stars and the Legion of Meritwith Combat "V" device.

At the height of its operations, the Balo-classsubmarine Tang, SS-306, sank a Japanese vessel roughly every 11 days. Launchedin 1943, the Tang is credited with sinking 31 ships totaling 227,800 tons and damagingtwo for 4,100 tons.

On Oct. 24, 1944, the Tang fired on a Japaneseconvoy, striking a tanker and sinking a Japanese destroyer. As it launched afinal strike to finish off the tanker, however, the last torpedo, an electricMark 18, turned around and began heading toward the Tang. Despite an avoidancemaneuver by O'Kane, the explosive struck the Tang near its stern.

Nine personnel from the bridge, including O'Kane,were able to swim to the surface. Thirteen sailors inside the submarine alsoescaped, but only five made it through the night. The remainder of the crewperished. Survivors were picked up by the crews of the vessels Tang had beenattacking; they became prisoners of war.

The second USS Tang, SS-563, was the first shipin its class of diesel submarines, commissioned in October 1951. It went on toearn four battle stars for service in Vietnamese waters and later became atraining vessel in Groton, Connecticut. It was decommissioned in February 1980.That Tang eventually was transferred to the Turkish Navy and is now a museumattraction.

"Naming Virginia-class submarines is aunique opportunity to reclaim submarine names that carry inspirational recordsof achievement," Braithwaite said.

Several variants of the Virginia class, projectedto include 37 boats, are being built by General Dynamics Electric Boat andHuntington Ingalls Industries. Eighteen submarines that have already beencommissioned are named for states; one has been named for a person -- retiredVirginia Sen. John Warner.

Ten subs under construction or on order are to benamed for states. One is to be named for the father of the nuclear Navy,retired Adm. Hyman Rickover, and one will be named USS Barb, in honor of aWorld War II submarine whose crew conducted the only ground combat operation ofthe war on the Japanese homeland at the time, blowing up a train on KarafutoPrefecture.

The original Barb, Tang and Wahoo were all namedfor fish: Barb is a derivation of Barbus, a ray-finned fish; tangs aresurgeonfish found in the Pacific; and wahoos are a highly prized sport fishthat are native to tropical and subtropical seas.

As an aside, the University of Virginia'sofficial mascot is the Cavalier, but the unofficial nickname for its sportteams, fans, students and alumni is the Wahoos -- a moniker that dates to thelate 19th century when "wa-hoo-wa" was a common rallying cry atsporting events, originating at Dartmouth College.

Go'Hoos.