Richard O'Kane


Richard Hetherington O'Kane 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 [Awards and Awards and decorations of the United States military|decorations of the United States military|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.

World War II

In early 1942, Lieutenant O'Kane joined the pre-commissioning crew of the new submarine and served as its executive officer on five war patrols during World War II, first under Lieutenant Commander Marvin G. "Pinky" Kennedy and later under the legendary Lieutenant Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton. Morton established a record as an excellent tactician, as he preferred to run the demanding analysis and plots while his executive officer manned the periscopes, a reversal of standard practices. Under Morton's tutelage, O'Kane developed the skills that enabled him to become the single most accomplished American submarine commander in history.
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 ; 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. 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 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 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. 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. 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. 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.

Later life and legacy

O'Kane died of pneumonia, on February 16, 1994 in Petaluma, California, at age 83. 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. The original cribbage board was lost when the USS Tang was sunk in 1944. In 1957, the "O'Kane Cribbage Board" was given to Admiral O'Kane by his crew from to replace the lost 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, and upon decommissioning, the board is transferred to the next oldest boat. The cribbage game set has passed between the following boats:
  • , as of March 28, 2025
  • , as of 25 July 2023
  • , as of 29 October 2019
  • , as of 21 May 2018
  • , as of 4 February 2011
  • , as of 19 October 2004
  • , as of 2 April 2002
  • , as of 1994 after the passing of Admiral O'Kane.

Summary of war patrols

With a total of 31 ships and 227,824t sunk during five patrols with, O'Kane ranks number one compared to all United States Navy skippers.

Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Commander, United States Navy, commanding USS Tang. Place and date: Vicinity Philippine Islands, October 23, and October 24, 1944. Entered service at: New Hampshire. Born: February 2, 1911, Dover, N.H.

Works

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