US Navy Fleet Submarines WWII Disc 2 DVD

This DVD is about Fleet Submarines of the US Navy. Starting with the Salmon class, then the Sargo class, the Gato, Balao and finally the Tench-Guppy class. These boats were called Fleet Boats because they could keep up with the big battleships of the day. There is some very rare footage of the Salmon and the Sargo class boats in this DVD plus 21 minutes of miscellaneous submarines of the day, like the launching of the V-6 Nautilus in 1930, and the Submarine Mothball fleet.

1st film: Growler Story - A True Story by the Navy Of the 4th Patrol of the USS Growler SS-215. January 1st, 1943 saw Growler sail to Truk Rabaul shipping lanes. On 11 January, she waited only five days before sighting an enemy convoy. Maneuvering inside the escorts, Growler launched two torpedoes and saw them hit. Then, as her war diary reports, she was in the unfortunate predicament of being about 400 yards (370 m) from a destroyer and had to dive without being able to continue the attack. She was credited with sinking Chifuku Maru, a passenger/cargo ship. The patrol continued as normal with two further attacks, but no sinkings until shortly after 01:00 7 February when Growler stealthily approached a gunboat for a night surface attack. As machine gun fire raked them at point-blank range, Commander Gilmore ordered the bridge cleared. As the commanding officer, Gilmore was the last to leave the bridge, but was grievously wounded before he could get below. Realizing that he was jeopardizing his boat's escape, he ordered "Take her down!". The XO, Lt Cdr. Schade, shut the hatch and dived the boat. By saving his command at the expense of his own life, Gilmore became one of the six submariners to earn the Medal of Honor. A seaman and another officer also lost their lives in this incident. Runtime is about 21 minutes.

2nd Film: Sneak Craft of WW2 - This is a very fascinating rare film of a collection of diving gear, midget subs, mines, early scuba gear, Torpedo Boats, etc. Runtime is about 28 minutes.

3rd Film: Stand By to Dive - This another story of the Gato Fleet Boat Submarine during WW2. This was a TV show (Ford Theater) hosted by Tennessee Ernie Ford that is no longer copyrighted and is complete with Ford Motor Co. commercials. A simple story of a young man assigned to a submarine to go out on his 1st patrol only to find out that the skipper was his long forgotten father. You'll have to see it to find what happens. Runtime is about 30 minutes.

Total runtime for the US Navy Fleet Submarines WWII Disc 2 DVD is about 79 minutes. Format is NTSC DVD and region-free.