Night adaptation googles:
Worn for an hour before the mission; once on the submarine’s deck the Special Mission Unit's (SMU) night vision would develop within a few minutes versus 20-30 minutes. After a successful pioneering submarine launched night recon at Peleliu, UDTs Black, MacMahon and Roeder were unable to rendezvous with Burrfish on their second mission together off the coast of Yap Island.
Naked warriors:
Characteristic of their bare bones load out, for the hazardous recons launched off the USS Burrfish the only additional specialized equipment the men carried for this pioneering mission were an additional knife and 2 hand grenades each. A small penlight wrapped in a condom and their luminous dialed watch were their only links to safety. Their watch would let them know how much time they had left before the submarine was due to return to pick them up and the penlights would be their way to signal the submarine. In the darkness of the Pacific and with the penlights pointed away from the island they could safely signal the out to sea where the Burrfish would be.
Behind the Scenes:
The photo above was shot on location in the crew mess aboard the USS Becuna, a WW2 Balao class submarine like the USS Burrfish. We took the photo above in the crew mess because the men of the SMU would have exited the Burrfish from the escape trunk in that section which is just aft of the submarine's sail. Located on the deck of the Burrfish, aft of the sail, were two containers that held the rubber boats they used for their recon missions.
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