The legend of the cribbage board began during a patrol in the Yellow Sea by USS Wahoo (SS 283) in April of 1943. Lt. Richard “Dick” O’Kane, Wahoo’s executive officer, was playing a game of cribbage with the commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Dudley Morton, to pass the time before a difficult mission.
Morton dealt O’Kane a perfect cribbage hand of 29 — the odds of which are 1 in 216,580. The crew would take this extremely rare hand as an omen of good luck. The following day, Wahoo sunk two Japanese freighters.
Two days later, Morton and O’Kane played another game of cribbage in the wardroom. This time Morton dealt O’Kane a hand of 28 — these odds being 1 in 15,625. Morton was furious, vowing to never play O’Kane again, according to O’Kane’s book, “Wahoo: The Patrols of America’s Famous WWII Submarine.” The hand proved to be another stroke of good luck as later another enemy freighter was spotted and promptly sunk. Wahoo ended up being one of the most successful submarines during World War II.
O’Kane’s luck with the board would continue as he took it with him to become the commanding officer of USS Tang (SS 306). Tang would go on to set the record of most ships sunk on a patrol. O’Kane received the Medal of Honor for his actions while commanding Tang.
On Oct. 25, 1944, Tang was sunk by its own torpedo. Only nine Sailors survived, O’Kane being one of them. The survivors were picked up by a Japanese frigate and taken as prisoners of war. The original board went down with the submarine.
The crew of the second Tang (SS 563) would present Admiral O’Kane with a replacement board upon his retirement in 1957.
When O’Kane passed away Feb. 16, 1994, his wife Ernestine wanted his memory to live on. She had his Medal of Honor, Prisoner of War Medal, and the cards from the perfect hand, signed by the crew of Wahoo, to be given to the Bowfin Submarine Museum.
His cribbage board, however, would be given to USS Kamehameha (SSBN 642) because it was the oldest submarine in the fleet. From there it would be passed on to USS Parche (SSN 683), USS Los Angeles (SSN 688), USS Bremerton (SSN 698), USS Olympia (SSN 717) and now USS Chicago (SSN 721).
Story by Petty Officer First Class Michael Zingaro
November 8,2019
“The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.”
