This was printed in the August 1973 Railroad Magazine-
The USS Torsk, the only submarine known to have sunk a train, is now on display in the Inner Harbour, Baltimore, Maryland. The boat, given to Maryland Naval Militia after it’s decommissioning last fall, also is on record as being the sub that sank the last two Japanese ships of World War Two.
While in Tokyo Bay the Torsk maneuvered to fire her rear torpedoes to sink a Japanese tanker docked for unloading.The torpedos missed the tanker but struck a railroad bridge. An ammunition-laden train was crossing the bridge at the time and fell into the bay, lighting the sky with explosives.
Is this sub still in the harbour, and is it close to the B&O Museum…
Set safeties. Flood tubes one and two and open outer doors. Match bearings and fire. Down scope!
In the movie Operation Pettycoat, didn’t Cary Grant who was the captian, aim for a ship and end up sinking a truck or bus??? Oh and lets not forget that the sub was pink!!!
Well, allegedy one LT (now Senator) Randy Cunningham destroyed a NVA truck with a sidewinder heat seeking missile accidently on purpose.
Last month my wife and I were in Baltimore. When we walked thru the Inner Harbor there was a submarine berthed there, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.
As to being close to the B & O Museum, it’s a short drive to the west of the harbor. But it would be a lengthy walk, probably about 25 blocks.
Be very careful about parking. The museum has its own lot, but downtown Baltimore has new electronic parking meters which no one seems to understand. I wasn’t in the city two hours before I was ticketed even though I was legally parked. When we visited the harbor, I parked in a garage. That cost $15 after two hours.
Not quite as far as 25 blocks (maybe 12-15?), but it is a bit of a walk. And, in response to earlier comments in another thread, one should keep eyes open for the shadier characters in the area, though all I saw were homeless folks poring through trash, and two others guys selling papers on the corner of King/Pratt.
The Torsk has been anchored in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor for over 20 years and is open for guided tours if I remember correctly. Also anchored in the Inner Harbor are the Lightship Chesapeake and the USS Constellation.
I dunno, I know a few “U-boats” that have sunk some trains over the years.
Dave H.
The Torsk should still be in the harbor.
For parking, I always parked at the Owings Mills Subway station outside of the city and rode subway into downtown. Everything can be covered on foot or by bus and day parking is free and without any issues regarding parking tickets.
On the other side of the Aquarium should be the last survivor or Pearl Harbor if memory serves.
During the Korean war their was an entire squadron of US Destroyers Desron 7 became known as the train busters. They traveled along the North Korean coast and destroyed any trains traveling along the coastal routes up to seven miles inland. They earned a distinguished service cross for their actions against the North Korean railroad system.
During the thirties, the Battleship USS. Arizona, while on trails in Puget Sound after drydocking rammed a barge transporting rail equiptment, barge and tug survived, but several boxcars were knocked off the barge to a watery grave…oops!
A US Navy submarine (I don’t remember the name) used its deck gun to shell a passing train along the shore of one of the Japanese islands in the last days of WW2.
Marty:
In OPeration Petticoat, Cary Grant was aiming for a ship when his future wife came up into the control room, stumbled and fell against the firing button, and launched the torpedo. Because it was fired prematurely , it ran up onto the beach and hit a truck. Cary Grant was the captain, but he wasn’t aiming for the truck.
Now I don’t care who you are, that’s funny. hahahahahaa
Adrianspeeder
" We sunk…a Truck !!.."
Great Scene
The US Coast Guard Cutter Taney, WHEC 37, is the Pearl Harbor survivor referred to in HighIron2003ar’s post.
www.baltomaritimemuseum.org has info on the Torsk and Taney.
How in the world did they miss a DOCKED ship ? [?][:0][:I]
They might have rushed things a bit, being in Tokyo Harbour during a war.
Or, maybe they had a wife on board ?
Are those dangerous rear tubes facing the B&O museum ?
If you read about the history of the U.S. torpedoes during WWII, you will find out how lousy they (torpedoes) were. It is really very sickening. Later in the war things got better but a few duds still got through.
I beleive it was in the book “Thunder Below”, that a team of men went ashore and blew up a train.
Until 1943 50% of the torpedos used had a faulty detanator and rand as much as 10 feet deeper than set. The fix for the torps detanator was simple the firing pin broke as it was so big and heavy. It was replaced with an aluminum one from bent aircraft propellers and that solved that probelm. The depth was solved by setting them 10 ft shallower than what the capatin set the depth for. Plus Tokyo bay in WWII was the best protected harbor that the Japaneese had so trust me the captian of the sub set it up in a hurry.