Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" float plane,from USS North Carolina (BB-55)off Truk with nine aviators on board, awaiting rescue by USS Tang (SS-306), 1 May 1944. The plane had landed inside Truk lagoon to recover downed airmen. Unable to take off with such a load, it then taxied out to Tang, which was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk.

Truk lagoon in the Pacific

USS Tang (SS-306)takes aboard aircrew men of downed aircraft and of a USS North Carolina (BB-55) OS2U float plane that had landed to rescue them, off Truk on 1 May 1944. Tang was serving as lifeguard submarine during the 29 April-1 May carrier strikes on Truk(rudeerude)

Rescuing aircrew men

USS Tang (SS-306)The submarine's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. O'Kane (center), poses with the twenty-two aircrew men that Tang rescued off Truk during the carrier air raids there on 29 April-1 May 1944. The photograph was taken upon Tang's return to Pearl Harbor from her second war patrol, in May 1944.(rudeerude)