Dudley Walker Morton (July 17, 1907 – October 11, 1943),
nicknamed
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
"Mushmouth" or "Mush", was a
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
commander of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He was commander of the during its third through seventh patrols. ''Wahoo'' was one of the most-celebrated submarines of World War II, as it sank at least 19 Japanese ships, more than any other submarine of the time. Morton and ''Wahoo'' disappeared in 1943 during a transit of
La Pérouse Strait
La Pérouse Strait (russian: пролив Лаперуза), or Sōya Strait, is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on t ...
. He was legally declared deceased three years later.
Early life
Morton was born in
Owensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lou ...
, on July 17, 1907. He graduated from the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
in 1930. There he received the nickname "Mushmouth", after a character in the cartoon strip ''
Moon Mullins
''Moon Mullins'' is an American comic strip which had a run as both a daily and Sunday feature from June 19, 1923 to June 2, 1991. Syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the strip depicts the lives of diverse lowbrow characte ...
'' whose large square jaw and prominent mouth resembled Morton's. The nickname was shortened to "Mush", by which he was known for much of his life. One of his classmates was
Lance Edward Massey.
Naval career
Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Morton served on the , , , , and the submarines and , which he commanded from August 19, 1940 to April 23, 1942.
Morton was promoted to
lieutenant commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
on October 15, 1942, and was in nominal command of while it underwent extended repairs at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
. He was relieved to make a war patrol in between November 8 and December 26 as prospective commanding officer, a supernumerary position to prepare him for command of a fleet boat. Morton took command of ''Wahoo'' on December 31 in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, Australia. Between January 26, 1943 and October 11, he carried out four offensive patrols, during which ''Wahoo'' was responsible for sinking 19 cargo and transport ships for a combined total of 55,000 tons.
''Buyo Maru'' incident
During ''Wahoo''s third war patrol, Morton was responsible for an incident which resulted in shipwrecked soldiers in about twenty lifeboats of sunken
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese transport ''
Buyo Maru'' being fired on while in the water. The transport was torpedoed by ''Wahoo'' on 26 January 1943. Morton was responsible for ordering the machine gunning of the shipwrecked survivors in the water.
[Bridgland p115-129.][Holwitt, Joel I. ''"Execute Against Japan"'', Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, p.287.] Morton and his executive officer,
Richard O'Kane
Richard Hetherington O'Kane (February 2, 1911 – February 16, 1994) was a United States Navy submarine commander in World War II, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for commanding in the Pacific War against Japan to the most successful record of ...
, had misidentified the survivors as solely Japanese. In fact, they were mainly Indian POWs of 2nd Battalion,
16th Punjab Regiment
The 16th Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamated ...
, plus escorting forces from the Japanese 26th Field Ordnance Depot.
![Morton and OKane 1943](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Morton_and_OKane_1943.jpg)
O'Kane's account describes Morton explaining that he should prevent enemy troops from getting ashore to fight again - as each one of them could cost an American life.
However, the
Hague Convention of 1907
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were amo ...
bans the killing of shipwreck survivors under any circumstances. O'Kane further explained that the fire from ''Wahoo'' was intended to force the troops to abandon their boats and no troops were deliberately targeted.
Vice Admiral
Charles A. Lockwood
Charles Andrews Lockwood (May 6, 1890 – June 6, 1967) was a vice-admiral and flag officer of the United States Navy. He is known in submarine history as the commander of ComSubPac, Submarine Force Pacific Fleet during World War II. He devised ...
, the
Commander of the Submarine Force for the U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) asserted that the survivors were army troops and turned machinegun and rifle fire on ''Wahoo'' while she maneuvered on the surface. He further stated that such resistance was common in submarine warfare. In 1975, historian
Clay Blair
Clay Drewry Blair Jr. (May 1, 1925 – December 16, 1998) was an American journalist and author, best known for his books on military history. Blair wrote some two dozen history books and hundreds of magazine articles that reached a popular audien ...
claimed Morton opened fire first and the shipwrecked returned fire with handguns.
Disappearance
After three arduous war patrols, Morton was given the highly dangerous assignment of penetrating the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
for the second time, in October 1943. Morton was reported missing in action that December, when his submarine was presumed lost. After the war, it was determined from Japanese records that, on October 11, in the time frame in which the ''Wahoo'' was expected to exit through
La Pérouse Strait
La Pérouse Strait (russian: пролив Лаперуза), or Sōya Strait, is a strait dividing the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin from the northern part of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, and connecting the Sea of Japan on t ...
, an antisubmarine aircraft found a surfaced submarine and attacked, dropping three
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s.
Declared deceased on January 7, 1946, Morton's decorations included the
Navy Cross
The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...
with three gold stars in lieu of a second, third, and fourth awards, and the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
Distinguished Service Cross The Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) is a military decoration for courage. Different versions exist for different countries.
*Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is a military decoration awarded to ...
.
O'Kane believed the ''Buyo Maru'' POW shootings prevented Morton from being awarded the
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...
. The
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
was named in his honor.
Summary of war patrols
With six war patrols, Morton ranked third among the Navy's top skippers, credited with 19 ships and 54,683 tons sunk, per
JANAC (alternatively recorded as 17 ships/100,400 tons, per Blair
[Blair (1995) pp. 984–987])
In popular culture
In 1960, Vice Admiral
Charles A. Lockwood, Jr., ComSubPac during World War II, was asked to write the foreword for former ''Wahoo'' crewmember Forest Sterling's book, ''Wake of the Wahoo''. He wrote about Morton: "When a natural leader and born daredevil such as Mush Morton is given command of a submarine, the result can only be a fighting ship of the highest order, with officers and men who would follow their skipper to the Gates of Hell... And they did." Added Lockwood: "Morton lined up an impressive number of 'firsts' during the short ten months that he commanded ''Wahoo'': first to penetrate an enemy harbor and sink a ship therein; first to use successfully a
down the throat shot; and first to wipe out an entire
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
single-handed."
In
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk ( ; May 27, 1915 – May 17, 2019) was an American author best known for historical fiction such as ''The Caine Mutiny'' (1951) for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
His other major works include ''The Winds of War'' and ' ...
's novel ''
War and Remembrance
''War and Remembrance'' is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in October 1978 as the sequel to Wouk's ''The Winds of War'' (1971). ''The Winds of War'' covers the period 1939 to 1941, and ''War and Remembrance'' continues the story of the extended ...
'', and the
mini-series based on it, the ''Buyo Maru'' incident is prominently fictionalized as a scene for a major character's development.
Awards and decorations
Notes
References
*
*
*
External links
history.navy.mil: USS ''Morton''*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080512052803/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lawofwar/hague10.htm Geneva Convention Article 16br>
Submarine atrocitiesArchived
2009-10-25)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Dudley
1907 births
1943 deaths
People from Owensboro, Kentucky
United States Navy officers
United States Naval Academy alumni
Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
United States submarine commanders
United States Navy personnel killed in World War II
Missing in action of World War II
Deaths by airstrike during World War II