THE TROUT AT RAINBOW'S END

i'm rear admiral thomas m dyke as retired we call this chapter the silent service the trout at the rainbow's end it deals with one of the few submarine exploits which the navy department allowed to be publicized during the war because after the fall of corrigador it could hurt no one many of you may know the bare bones of this story but very few people know why the uss trout accomplished what it did you and i are going to join her crew the easy way from a comfortable chair let's get underway at pearl harbor in early january 1942 the uss trout was making frantic preparations for a special mission they were loading anti-aircraft ammunition plenty of them all of her extra top pitas had been removed to make room for it the only fish she carried were in the torpedo tubes even a rugged old girl like this needs some protection hey marshall he's getting around child time maybe i better knock off and light off that galley what do you mean light off the gallon you know the exact order cold chow for lunch yeah i know i'll tell you when to knock off this is a rotten job for a ship's cook maybe the pharmacist mate will put you on the sick list hey how about that mcdonald's sure as soon as we finish up here i'll lift you over cookie hey you're a big help come on pass him cans hey you got lots of good childboard cookie you like porterhouse steak fried chicken and roast turkey you ain't gonna be in trouble how about pickled pig's feet or case up oh hey remind me when we get back cookie i want to marry you yeah come on quit thinking of your bellies and think of those dudes that need this high-flying ammunition where we can unload it now the captain hasn't confided in me yet sonny but i'll give you two guests who do you think needs to do most you mean corregidor that's right hey you really think we don't care about them guys what kind of lugs you think we are just the ordinary kind because he kind of needs a little reminder every once in a while you know he ain't such a bad guy oh yeah when he ain't breaking your back stewart tell mr clark mr gonna mr hoffman i want to see them in the wardroom right away all right ken just put them in the phone locker mr gunn captain saying please come wardroom thank you mr clark captain say please come wardroom well thanks i'll be there right away here's the latest chart of the minefield off corregidor better keep that locked up until we get underway this chart is six months old captain well that's the latest available the army says they have no information to indicate that this channel for the minefield has been changed they're going to check by radio where things are going out there they have no way of knowing from one day to the next where anything's going to be well this is going to be a tricky channel to get through in a dark night with everything blacked out well i asked you to come in for one more check on the ballasting you satisfied with it now it's all okay now captain the base has removed 20 tons of lead blocks from around the keel it'll just about compensate for the weight of this ammunition i want to carry every round that we can get aboard get rid of more lead if necessary captain what do we do about ballast after we unload this stuff at corregidor yeah we'll be 20 times light too light to dive i know it let's deliver the goods first then we'll worry about ballots later right now i'm interested in ammo yes sir we're cramming it in we're putting it in the passageways lashing it to the overhead we're even putting a small arm stuff in your personal lockers nobody minds i hope night's going fritz just don't cover up my toothbrush will you how soon you have it all aboard we'll have it down the hatches and secure it for sea by midnight good and i'll tell the admiral we'll be ready to get underway tomorrow on january 12 1942 the uss trout departed for pearl harbor she was a floating keg of dynamite no one worried about what a torpedo would do to her it was a mindset that bothered the crew the captain was lieutenant commander frank w fenno of westminster massachusetts the executive officer was lieutenant albert h clark of norway maine the engineering officer was lieutenant frederick a gun of kansas city missouri lieutenant frederick j harfinger of albany new york was a gunnery officer and maurice l mcconnell of honolulu was pharmacist mate they zigzag trusted the luck and made plans for the big hurdle where's the chart martha's bringing it now hurry up with the charge here's what i want to do we'll dive right at this point at daybreak and head straight toward the entrance to the minefield during the day i'll keep our position on these peaks then we'll know exactly where we are after dark yeah dark i want to surface one mile from the entrance to the minefield and run straight in that way we shouldn't have too much trouble finding the channel how much light are we gonna have no moon and cloudy it'll be dark on the inside of a cow we'll have to make these two turns here and here at exactly the right point if we don't we'll be in the minefield well fort drum will give us a good bearing to turn on here and the right tangent of corregidor is pretty sharp for this one fritz will take bearings from the bridge he's been in here before you'll get the dope if i can see him you've been taking your vitamin a double doses ever since i got my first look at this child my uh night vision ought to be very sharp it better be boy that's not what's worrying me what if the enemies mined this channel if you're taking a pounding on the rock we're one mile from the entrance captain i'm going to service now al be ready to take her down again in case we have to die eyes are ready to service full rides all ballast tanks keep that up we won't have any trouble finding pork drum if they don't keep it up we will have trouble it's plenty dark tell the captain rendering the channel in the minefield right now bridge we entering the channel now very well hear a steady course steady course helpful steady on 133 i'm hearing the first turn i need a bearing of fort drum i can't see it captain give us another flash one more just one more flash it should be a 507 true i'm looking that pot but i can't see it there's on the hull i think i see it captain there's something there it is mark bearing mark bearing zero five five turn right turn right to one eight zero now now right full runner steady on course one eight zero if i ever get out of this i'm gonna give everything i own to the poor and i mean it it'll be easy for you cookie you ain't got nothing i'm with you cookie i'm with you we're through the field now the dark is one mile dead ahead just confess for a while there i had my doubts oh what was it you wanted to tell me monsters two minds just bumped down the hull what well i tried to tell you captain i have to go short to see the general don't you boys do anything that will keep us from diving at daybreak make nice meat for those bombers you better get him somebody cookie these guys are starving yeah you're right how you doing now maybe good maybe bad we got some fuel oil marshall swam over to a second barge and hooked up the oil line swam over yeah it was a great piece of work but i got problems when we get this ammunition off the ship's going to be too light to die so let's get those sandbags we were talking about 20 tons of them i'll fix that you come with me mcconnell i know this island like a book there you are bub this is a canned ham here's one for you eat hardy here you go live without me hey everybody you take this roast you like porterhouse okay there you are he's ought to do it yes sir they're close to the ship go back and ask us the gun for a working party yes sir stan where you are who are you i'm lieutenant hall thing of them that submarine over there this is our pharmacist mate mcconnell don't you know you're liable to get shot wandering around like this oh we have to have some sandbags the ballast that ship and i figured i'm taking this pile here you did huh well what do you think we use to stay alive around here these are our only supply we might give you our food if we had any but if you touch any of these sandbags you'll have to fight every man on this rock it's that bad huh it's worse and if you're still around here when the shelling starts tomorrow you'll find out well mcconnell guess we have to think of something else sorry lieutenant if they can't find some bags we're gonna be in real trouble in daylight we're whipping this ammo out pretty fast gun we'll be ready to start on those sandbags about a half hour nice going marston mr halfing is a sure looking for him oh he's coming aboard now he must have found him easy did you get him fritz get him we almost got shot even asking about every bag they have they want for protection what well they got to give them to us yeah well they're willing to take us and the enemy on to keep well i don't blame the poor devils but it sure puts the uss trout in the end of a long limb we get ourselves in this spot to bring them some ammo and this is a spot they leave us in say i've been thinking you know about those sandbags is there anything else that might help well not unless you've got some cement bags or rocks oh we're using both of those for shoring up the fortifications seems to me you guys ought to be grateful enough to give us some of that gold bullion they sent you up from manila man you must be crazy hey hey gold gold it's perfect heavy is led but we're being paid to guard it not give it away well it's millions a regular treasury yeah but you can't spend it you can't eat it or shoot it and we need it to dive tonight i'm afraid the general wouldn't say how much do you need 20 tons 20 tons to do it well i think there's two tons of gold bullion and more than 18 tons of silver pesos plenty of silver what are we waiting for let's go talk to the general oh all right but it wasn't my idea nice going mcconnell hey this wasn't my idea i was just kidding mr harlefinger this is your idea this is the last of us tell the rest of upstairs that's all i can give i get many more which started death before we got back to pearl besides i've got a lot of work to do kill a few of them for me huh here you guys take this turkey huh you give it away yeah these guys are starving how much oh not much just a couple dozen turkeys some steaks chicken here buddy you take this chicken we got plenty oh no get him back get him back all right stack them right here fellas we haven't got room for the boxes below be careful then johnny we may have to eat it before we get back what'd you say uh nothing not a thing here comes another house a lot i could just see myself on river street with just one of these oh that marty hey let me see them before you pass them forward i gotta keep a record of all of this money back coming down heavy here comes a bundle of old papers all papers what kind of ballasts do they call this bank of the philippines united states government bonds car value three million five hundred thousand oh they're sending us everything all right come on snap it up let's get this stuff oh we're running out of room sir every compartment is loaded well there's not much more in the truck this is the last load oh here comes the captain the general thinks this is a good idea there must be a billion dollars here billion 10 billion right now it all looks like ballast to me how long before it's all loaded another 20 minutes ought to do it you all set out top top with fuel ready to go at any time let's get out of here clear of the minefield again the trout headed for the east china sea figuring she might as well deliver a few torpedoes where they'd do the most good before heading home meanwhile the high breast was not yet aware of the nature of the trout's ballast they would have had apoplexy between enemy contacts las vegas was just penny andy i've got a hundred here's your 100 and up your two it's not a cookie bro are you kidding it's the first game i've ever been in wherever nickel i had wasn't showing i haven't had time to consult my broker but uh a hundred shares of asiatic petroleum should cover the bet wait a minute there's your 200 and i'll raise your fire there she is mark bearing bearing 0-1-1 set higher everything's alright we just floated alone it's one thing you're good for cook captain said please come wardrobe oh coming you sent for me captain you sure did it's a matter in the galley since when is bread and gravy and cherries a meal well captain i i guess i'll have to tell you i'm in a bind when i saw those poor devils over on corregidor i just couldn't help but give them something to eat you felt the same way too didn't you kevin sure nobody blames you for that but how much did you give them well see i knew how much we had i figured it wouldn't hurt us to tighten our belts a little bit and then i find out that crest was up forward doing the same thing captain we're practically out of chow why captain here's an urgent dispatch from the force commander state department strongly objects risking your balance depart area for pearl at best possible speed how do you like that worrying about money at a time like this oh well at least we'll be eating better in about 10 days in the meanwhile captain i hope you like bread and gravy funny how important you get when you come into a little money yeah usually they send a little pc boat out to guide us but look at this look at that well so long as they keep our trigger happy guys off us i won't complain the trout arrived at pearl harbor she was met by the usual navy crowd when the unloading of the millions was finished the amount delivered checked exactly with totals call quickly with totals call far in radio dispatches from corrigador the paperwork was signed and completed and the crew of the trout went off to the royal hawaiian hotel for two weeks of well-earned rest while a relief crew outfitted the ship yeah they had some leave what it boy yeah it's gonna take me this whole next patrol to recoup say uh i didn't see you with maji what happened to her she go back to states no no she found some chief off the redfin he makes a little more dough you know yeah dames are all alike find the guy that makes the most dough and we can't keep it on board what are we supposed to do with it now looks like we're stuck with a gold break same answer yeah all the stuff that was supposed to have received has been delivered all the paperwork's closed nobody will take it but the navy department failed to agree that the matter was closed dispatches flashed back and forth across the ocean between hawaii and washington the case of the golden bar pyramided into a headache of red tape nobody seemed to want that golden bar but somebody had to be stuck with well captain they finally found a goat there's a cruiser leaving tonight for the west coast we are authorized to turn over this gold brick to her supply officer and he will take it from there don't say it's all yours fritz and the supply officer doesn't even know about this yet just get it out of here thank you i'll be back in a moment with our special guest it is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you the commanding office of the uss trout on this memorable patrol rear admiral frank w fenno known since his naval academy days as mike mike good to see you mike this experience is certainly one that will be told in your family for generations to come well it wasn't what you might call routine you're one of the few people alive who bumped into mines and lived to tell about it it must have given you quite a scare on the bridge we were so busy trying to navigate through the channel in the minefield that we didn't realize we'd hit anything all i can say is that the shock of finding out about it later was bad enough how did it feel to be up to your elbows in gold in one way it felt mighty good it made wonderful ballast when we really needed it otherwise it was a real headache well mike you've had a truly remarkable experience it's a real honor to have had you with us good to be here silly thank you i regret to say that the uss trout was lost later in the war some of those who made the patrol you have just seen went down with her among them was lieutenant commander a.h clark our engineering officer who was then a skipper i hope that you will come aboard with us again when the silence service brings you another outstanding submarine story so you