Richard O'Kane

Richard Hetherington O'Kane (February 2, 1911 – February 16, 1994) was a United States Navy submarine commander in World War II, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding in the Pacific War against Japan to the most successful record of any United States submarine ever. He also received three Navy Crosses and three Silver Stars, for a total of seven awards of the United States military's three highest decorations for valor in combat. Before commanding Tang, O'Kane served in the highly successful as executive officer and approach officer under noted Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton. In his ten combat patrols, five in Wahoo and five commanding Tang, O'Kane participated in more successful attacks on Japanese shipping than any other submarine officer during the war.

Early life and education O'Kane was born in Dover, New Hampshire, on February 2, 1911. He was the youngest of four children of University of New Hampshire entomology professor Walter Collins O'Kane, of Irish ancestry, and his wife, Clifford Hetherington. O'Kane graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover in 1930 and the United States Naval Academy in May 1934, upon which he was commissioned an officer in the United States Navy.

Naval career O'Kane spent his first years of active duty on the heavy cruiser and destroyer . He received submarine instruction in 1938 and was then assigned to the . O'Kane qualified for submarines aboard the Argonaut in 1938 and remained aboard until her overhaul at Mare Island, California in 1942.

In July 1943, following his fifth patrol in Wahoo, O'Kane was detached, promoted to lieutenant commander, and shortly made prospective commanding officer of , which was then under construction. He placed her in commission on the 15th of October, 1943 and commanded her for her entire career. Unbeknownst to O'Kane, only four days prior, the USS Wahoo would be sunk in the La Perouse Strait by Japanese forces, killing all 79 crew members, including Lieutenant Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton.

O’Kane was an innovator, developing several operational tactics that markedly increased his ship's effectiveness. Among these were daylight surface cruising with extra lookouts; periscope recognition and range drills (enabling clear tactical sureness when seconds counted); drifting when not bound somewhere; and methods of night surface attacks, one of his favorite techniques to obtain and maintain the initiative in battle.

In five war patrols on the Tang, O'Kane was originally recognized for sinking a total of 24 Japanese ships – the second-highest total for a single American submarine and the highest for a single commanding officer. Postwar reviews of Japanese war records, corroborated by Tangs surviving logs and crewmen, revised the totals to 33 ships totalling over sunk. This placed Tang first for both number of ships and tonnage (ahead of s 26 ships and s 100,231 long tons). Several times during the war, he took Tang into the middle of a convoy and attacked ships ahead and behind – counting on Tangs relative position, speed, and low profile to keep clear of enemy escorts.

Tangs third patrol, into the Yellow Sea, sank more Japanese ships than any other submarine patrol of the war. O'Kane claimed eight ships sunk; post-war analysis increased this to 10 ships. During one attack, he fired six torpedoes at two large ships. Japanese records showed the torpedoes actually hit four ships. This number of sinkings surpassed the next highest patrol, Wahoos (with O'Kane as executive officer) in the same area the year before.

Under O'Kane, Tang also performed "lifeguard duty", a common joint operation, with a Fast Carrier Task Force, of positioning one or more submarines in a "ditching station" off an enemy island under air attack in order to rescue downed pilots. Off Truk, he and the Tang rescued 22 airmen in one mission, for which they earned a Presidential Unit Citation.

O'Kane was captured by the Japanese when Tang was sunk in the Formosa Strait by her own flawed torpedo (a circular run of a Mark 18) during a surface night attack on October 24–25, 1944. O'Kane lost all but eight members of his crew, and was at first secretly held captive at the Ōfuna navy detention center, then later moved to the regular army Omori POW camp. At the time of his release, O'Kane was near death; his weight was less than 100 pounds. He was immediately transferred to the hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13).

Following his release, O'Kane received the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" during his submarine's final operations against Japanese shipping.

Post-war appointments In the years following World War II, O'Kane served with the Pacific Reserve Fleet as commanding officer of the submarine tender , testified at Japanese war crimes trials, was executive officer of the submarine tender and was Commander, Submarine Division 32 (ComSubDiv 32). He was a student at the Armed Forces Staff College in 1950–51 and was subsequently assigned to the Submarine School at New London, Connecticut, initially as an instructor and, in 1952–53, as the commanding officer.

Promoted to the rank of captain in July 1953, O'Kane commanded the submarine tender until June 1954 and then became Commander, Submarine Squadron Seven (ComSubRon 7). Following studies at the Naval War College in 1955–56, he served in Washington, D.C., with the Ship Characteristics Board. O'Kane retired from active duty in July 1957 and, on the basis of his extensive combat record and under the tombstone promotion rule in effect at the time, was simultaneously advanced to the rank of rear admiral on the Retired List. O'Kane and his wife Ernestine are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.

In 1998, the was named in his honor.

The O'Kane Cribbage board The O'Kane Cribbage board has a storied history that dates back to World War II, during Kane's service aboard the USS Wahoo, under the command of LtCmdr Morton. In 1943, as the submarine headed to the Yellow Sea, Morton and O'Kane took out a cribbage board to calm tensions onboard. Morton dealt O'Kane a perfect 29, and that night, the Wahoo sank two Japanese freighters. A few days later, Morton dealt O'Kane a 28-point hand, and in the next two days, the Wahoo sunk three freighters. When O'Kane became commander of the USS Tang, it subsequently broke the record for most ships sunk in a patrol. So began the lore of the lucky O'Kane Cribbage board.

Since 1994, after the death of O'Kane, the wardroom of the oldest fast-attack submarine in the United States Pacific fleet carries O'Kane's personal cribbage board. Upon decommissioning, the board is transferred to the next oldest boat. The cribbage game set has passed between the following boats: , as of 1994 , as of 2 April 2002 , as of 19 October 2004 , as of 4 February 2011 , as of 21 May 2018 , as of 29 October 2019 , as of 25 July 2023 , as of March 28, 2025

Summary of war patrols With a total of 31 ships and 227,824t sunk during five patrols with (24 ships and 93,824t, per JANAC), O'Kane ranks number one compared to all United States Navy skippers. +Summary of Richard O'Kane's War Patrols

Awards and decorations

Works He wrote books about his service on Tang and Wahoo, titled Clear the Bridge!: The War Patrols of the USS Tang and Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous World War II Submarine, respectively.