THE SILENT SERVICE "The Loss of the Perch" 1957
This is the 38th 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 is about the last patrol the USS "Perch". This submarine was the first submarine of this name to serve in WW2. The "Perch" was undergoing repair work at Manila when the Japanese attack happened. She was forced to submerge and wait out the air attack on the city.
Two weeks later, now in fighting trim the "Perch" heads out to hunt Japanese shipping. Off of Formosa, the submarine sights a Japanese merchant ship. The "Perch" closes in and fires four torpedoes. The first three miss the target while the fourth circles back and just misses sinking the "Perch". Several nights later the "Perch" manages to sink a cargo ship but is forced under by the escort.
After a quick trip to Darwin for fuel and torpedoes, the "Perch" is soon back on patrol. On this patrol, after an attack on a large merchantman the "Perch" is hit in the conning tower by a round. The round wreaks the periscope gear and destroys the radio antenna.
The "Perch" has to dive when two prowling Japanese destroyer appear. The submarine hits bottom causing further damage to the ship. The ship is taking on water, leaking oil and the batteries have shorted out. The men manage to make enough repairs to surface that night.
The submarine is a mess with only one engine working. The Captain orders the ship to head to Java hoping to make emergency repairs there. This plan goes sideways as several Japanese heavy cruisers show. The Japanese quickly shell the "Perch" which is soon on her way to the bottom.
The crew is picked up by the Japanese destroyer "Ushio". The 54 men and 5 officers ended up in Japanese POW camps. All but five survived the war.
On November 23rd, 2006, the wreck of "Perch" was located by accident by divers off the coast of Java. The divers had been looking for the wreck of HMS "Exeter" which had been sunk in 1942 during the Battle of the Java Sea.
The Japanese destroyer, "Ushio", which had picked up the "Perch" crew, was the only Japanese vessel involved in the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor to survive the war.
The cast includes, Jack Lord, Ron Foster, Ray Montgomery and Eric Morris.
This is the 38th 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 is about the last patrol the USS "Perch". This submarine was the first submarine of this name to serve in WW2. The "Perch" was undergoing repair work at Manila when the Japanese attack happened. She was forced to submerge and wait out the air attack on the city.
Two weeks later, now in fighting trim the "Perch" heads out to hunt Japanese shipping. Off of Formosa, the submarine sights a Japanese merchant ship. The "Perch" closes in and fires four torpedoes. The first three miss the target while the fourth circles back and just misses sinking the "Perch". Several nights later the "Perch" manages to sink a cargo ship but is forced under by the escort.
After a quick trip to Darwin for fuel and torpedoes, the "Perch" is soon back on patrol. On this patrol, after an attack on a large merchantman the "Perch" is hit in the conning tower by a round. The round wreaks the periscope gear and destroys the radio antenna.
The "Perch" has to dive when two prowling Japanese destroyer appear. The submarine hits bottom causing further damage to the ship. The ship is taking on water, leaking oil and the batteries have shorted out. The men manage to make enough repairs to surface that night.
The submarine is a mess with only one engine working. The Captain orders the ship to head to Java hoping to make emergency repairs there. This plan goes sideways as several Japanese heavy cruisers show. The Japanese quickly shell the "Perch" which is soon on her way to the bottom.
The crew is picked up by the Japanese destroyer "Ushio". The 54 men and 5 officers ended up in Japanese POW camps. All but five survived the war.
On November 23rd, 2006, the wreck of "Perch" was located by accident by divers off the coast of Java. The divers had been looking for the wreck of HMS "Exeter" which had been sunk in 1942 during the Battle of the Java Sea.
The Japanese destroyer, "Ushio", which had picked up the "Perch" crew, was the only Japanese vessel involved in the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor to survive the war.
The cast includes, Jack Lord, Ron Foster, Ray Montgomery and Eric Morris.