US Sub Captain Dove with 20 Japanese Prisoners on Deck – They Drowned

Описание: In 1943, during the brutal Pacific submarine campaign, a US submarine torpedoed and sank a Japanese transport ship. Survivors struggled in the water. Following standard procedure for intelligence gathering, the captain surfaced to take prisoners aboard—pulling 20 Japanese sailors onto the deck for questioning.
Moments later, a Japanese destroyer appeared on the horizon, closing fast. The sub had seconds to dive or be destroyed. With 20 prisoners still unsecured on deck, the captain faced an impossible choice: surface to rescue them (risking his entire crew and boat) or dive immediately and let the prisoners be swept off and drowned.
He ordered the dive. The prisoners were washed away in the crash dive turbulence; all drowned. The crew was horrified by the screams and the sight. The captain later stated he would make the same decision again—his duty was to his men and the mission.
The incident remained classified for decades. After declassification around 1995, families of the drowned sailors attempted to sue the US government. The case was dismissed—courts ruled wartime combat decisions are not subject to peacetime civil judgment.
A haunting example of the moral horrors and split-second choices in submarine warfare during WWII.