THE SILENT SERVICE "The Bowfin Story" 1958
This is the 74th episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.
Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.
This episode deals with the U.S.S. "Bowfin". The episode starts with the "Bowfin" setting out on her second wartime patrol. It is Nov 1943, and the "Bowfin" is in the South China Sea looking for Japanese shipping along the coast of Indochina. They come up on a group of five Japanese sailing schooners and sink four of the ships before being attacked by a Japanese aircraft.
During the next few days they luck onto several convoys of tankers and send three of the bunch to the bottom. They also add a cargo ship and a coastal steamer to their scorecard. On Nov 26th they get involved in a surface duel with a pair of Japanese ships. They sink both but receive some battle damage from return fire. The submarine slowly makes its way back to Freemantle Australia for repairs.
The "Bowfin" would complete a total of nine wartime patrols sinking at least 16 Japanese ships, including an escort Frigate. They also sank about a dozen Japanese sailing vessels. The submarine also served in the Korean War conflict. She then served as a training vessel based in Seattle Wash. till 1971. The "Bowfin" was then moved to Pearl Harbor as a museum ship. She is open to the public near the USS "Arizona".
One of her patrol exploits was shown in the Cary Grant and Tony Curtis film, Operation Petticoat. The bit used is where a torpedo is misfired and hits a truck on a beach.
The cast includes Brett Halsey, John Hudson, Harry Jackson and James Franciscus in an early role.
This is the 74th episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.
Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.
This episode deals with the U.S.S. "Bowfin". The episode starts with the "Bowfin" setting out on her second wartime patrol. It is Nov 1943, and the "Bowfin" is in the South China Sea looking for Japanese shipping along the coast of Indochina. They come up on a group of five Japanese sailing schooners and sink four of the ships before being attacked by a Japanese aircraft.
During the next few days they luck onto several convoys of tankers and send three of the bunch to the bottom. They also add a cargo ship and a coastal steamer to their scorecard. On Nov 26th they get involved in a surface duel with a pair of Japanese ships. They sink both but receive some battle damage from return fire. The submarine slowly makes its way back to Freemantle Australia for repairs.
The "Bowfin" would complete a total of nine wartime patrols sinking at least 16 Japanese ships, including an escort Frigate. They also sank about a dozen Japanese sailing vessels. The submarine also served in the Korean War conflict. She then served as a training vessel based in Seattle Wash. till 1971. The "Bowfin" was then moved to Pearl Harbor as a museum ship. She is open to the public near the USS "Arizona".
One of her patrol exploits was shown in the Cary Grant and Tony Curtis film, Operation Petticoat. The bit used is where a torpedo is misfired and hits a truck on a beach.
The cast includes Brett Halsey, John Hudson, Harry Jackson and James Franciscus in an early role.
