On the night of August 18, 1944, the Pacific Ocean erupted into chaos. USS Rasher, a Gato class submarine, prowled off the coast of Luzon under black skies and driving rain. What she found was one of the largest Japanese convoys of the war, a formation of tankers, transports, and escorts moving through the darkness. The conditions were perfect for a submarine on the hunt. The storm and overcast skies gave cover, the convoy was big, and Rasher had torpedoes ready.
Commander Henry Munson ordered his boat in close, weaving through the night as his crew manned every station. What followed was a brutal series of attacks that shattered the convoy and lit the ocean with fire. It was the kind of night submariners never forgot, a moment when training, timing, and nerve all came together. August 18 became Rasher’s defining chapter in the war beneath the sea.
