 Autobiography of a thrice decorated submarine Naval hero of World War II. Names the 52 Submarines Lost in WWII and their 3,617 officers and men.
From page 91.
…we then submerged two miles offshore near Amakusa Shimo Shima, very familiar by now. At 11 A.M. the officer of the watch, while taking his normal 8 second periscope observation every three minutes, sighted the mast and fighting top of a cruiser at 14,000 yards. The estimated base course was North, speed 14 knots. “Battle Stations! Torpedo! Commence Approach!”
The target was making large zigs every three or four minutes. Several sharp turns had to be made as this unescorted KUMA class cruiser was very wary of a submarine threat. The cruiser zigged across our stern and was heading away. The track angle was 140 degrees. A single ping range was taken, 1,000 yards. Skipper ordered, “Fire!” and I released the last four torpedoes from the stern tubes with eight seconds between each fish. Sonar reported the torpedoes running ‘Hot, straight and normal’ but the electric MK-18 at 30 knots (!,000 yards per minute) is slow compared to the steam driven Mark-14 torpedo at 28 knots [1600 yards per minute].
Three minutes passed while all of us in the Conning Tower held our breaths praying that we would not have another miss. Skipper had ordered a turn with the hope of getting another shot from the bow tubes. As we slowed down to 2 knots from the 6 knots on the turn he said, “Herb, take a look.” “Up periscope!” BAM BAM BAM. The target on the regular knuckle of his irregular zig plan had made an unlucky turn to the right. The wing torpedo hit him just under his mainmast. A second or two later the explosions following must have been the ammunition magazines for the two gun turrets in the immediate vicinity of the mainmast. …
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