 Tired of the everyday grind, ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you escape. Escape, designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. You are 400 feet below the surface of the South Pacific. The heavy taste of chlorine gas souring your mouth. While somewhere up above you, searching through the night for you, is an enemy destroyer meant on sending the submarine and you to a murky death. Listen now as escape brings you Richard Chandlee's exciting story, Pressure. November 6, 1944. USS Amberfish, SS593 departed Pearl Harbor for her assigned patrol area, the East China Sea. She carried 82 men and 24 torpedoes. She was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Daniel Hall. Her record was zero. This was her fourth war patrol. On the 32nd day of patrol at 1700 hours, Amberfish surfaced off the southern coast of Japan. Fog. Wouldn't you know it, Mac? If the sea doesn't run heavy, we get fog. What can you find in this? What's the old man got planned for tonight, Lieutenant? Routine, night surface routine. I think the last night of patrol we've been... Hold it, hold it. Hiya, boys. Captain. Evening, sir. It's a lousy night. What speed we making, Frank? About five knots, sir. One and two main engines on battery charge, number four on propulsion. Position? About halfway through Osumi Strait, course zero, four five. Radar has the coast of Kyushu range at approximately 15 miles on the port beam, picking up the usual fishing boats. Aside from that? Yeah. Nothing. 32 days and nothing. Four patrols and nothing. Sir, may I suggest something? Yeah, sure, Mac. What? Well, last night on patrol, sir, maybe we could go after one of those fishing boats, take some prisoners for intelligence, and sink her by gunfire. We got no orders for it. I know that, sir, but... I might do us awesome good, Captain. End of the patrol if it's better than nothing. I'm sorry, boys. We got no orders. That's it. Yes, sir. Only we're off. Only what? Nothing, Captain. Nothing at all. 32 days at sea, cramped living, and thoughts pass between men without being spoken. He knows what the torpedo, the executive officer, the whole crew think. Captain Hall, a book commander. Last night on patrol, and he still goes by the book, got to blame someone for an empty sea, for a tired ship, for bringing back a full load of torpedoes four times in a row. The captain stares at the fog, and into his own thoughts. They need officers behind desks. That's where they'll put him after this patrol, a desk officer. Just a few more hours, and he's headed for it. The fog looks like it's thinning. What? Oh, yeah. What's the time, Mac? All 100, sir. Bridge. This is the conning tower. Radar contact. This is Bridge. What's bearing? Zero, three, three. Captain. Yeah. It's just barely in range. It's funny-looking. I don't think it's a fisherman this time. This is Captain Radar. I'll be right there. Scope's gone crazy, can't be. Keep the bridge, Frank. Yes, sir. Come on, Mac. Yes, sir. Yes, I got a C. Okay, Johnson, what have you got? Yes, sir, Captain. Now, there it is, sir. See? It's a pip, then it goes. Nothing. Scope's gone crazy. Come left to course zero, three, three. Zero, three, three, sir. I'll stop. I'll stop, sir. All right, Mac, what do you hear on the bearing? Nothing, sir. Not a thing. Pip's gone. Nothing on the scope either. Must be the radar, Captain. Must be with our luck. Luck can change. Steady on course zero, three, three. Zero, three, three, sir. All ahead full. You never can tell. There have been false alarms before. The procedure is standard by the book. Maybe one last chance to break the dull, leaden monotony that smothers the boat. In the forward battery, the cruise quarter's another rumor. Hey, we picked up speed. Really moving. Relax, Bergen. I think they got something on the radar again. Cards to the players. Come on, you guys, I got a wife to support. Five, ten, fifteen minutes. All ahead full, the little flurry in the conning tower begins to settle. And then... Captain? There it is, sir. We've got it now, sir. We've got it. Yeah. Man tracking stations. Just one pip, but it's a big one. I don't believe it. The men run. There's excitement, no feeling of obedient drill. Even the engines sound different. In the green eye of the radar, the spot grows stronger and holds a chance. One last glimmering chance for the captain to show he's not a book to keep his job. Out there in the night, there's something big and fast. Three smaller pits now. Captain, one big ship and three escorts. Zigzagging. Still a long way off. Bridge? Yes, sir. You see anything, Frank? Not yet. Bog's gone, but it's Blackest Pitch. Can we come up to him? We'll come up to him. Just keep your eyes open. Maneuvering. Tell those motor-max back there to give it everything. All ahead, Frank. Maneuvering. Make all speed. All ahead, Frank, sir. What do you think we got, Captain? We haven't got him yet. One ship, three escorts. Must be worth something to the Japs. The mode's coming out. We're getting the mode. That's something unsound, sir. Heavy screws during 0-4-1. Frank, got him on sound now. Can you see? I think so, Captain. Wait a minute. Yeah. Yeah, I can just about to see him. Burying 0-4-0. That's him. What do we got, Frank? What is he? Wait a minute. Aircraft carrier coming right down the crew. Battle station torpedo. Make ready all tubes and stand by. 8,000 yards, sir. Closing fast. Lights crews on sound. Destroyer 6,000 yards. He's Echo Ranger, sir. Okay, Hertz. Bridge, what about those escorts? They're moving around, Captain. Looks like they know that stuff. Take it down any time. Keep your eye on them, Frank. We're going to stay up on the firing bearing now. You mean on the surface for the whole attack? They're looking for something submerged. Let's keep those side bearings coming. We'll stay up as long as we can. Okay, Captain. It's your party. Barry. Mark. 0-4-1. Range? Mark. 75, 00 yards. Set. He's right on, Captain. How much time? Learn, sir. Firing point in 15 seconds. All set. Ready to shoot. Another destroyer, sir. Lights crews, high speed. Turning this way. A destroyer coming right at us. Stand by forward. Bridge. I heard you. Shooting observation. Come on, give it to me. Break off, Captain. Diving. Put down his lights. Give me the carriers. Bearing. Bearing. Mark. All right, Frank. Clear the bridge. Get down here. 0-4-9. Set. Emergency. Take her down to 200 feet. Rig for depth charge. Rig for silent running. This destroyer had us cold, Captain. 600 yards won't have any trouble finding us now. Destroyer closer board, 0-5-0. Forget the destroyer. Sound got on that carrier. Listen for those torpedoes to hit. That's him. There he comes. Mark, what's the time on the torpedo run? 70 seconds. Get any second now. Down 40 feet. Come on. Get under. Get under. 75 seconds. That should be a hit. 80. He's trying to ram. Hang on. Missed us. He missed. Harris, did you hear a hit? Did you hear anything? No, sir. I don't know. That destroyer didn't hear anything. Missed. We missed. Down 70 feet. All right, sound. Get on that destroyer. We're playing target now. 200 feet, Captain. How far to the bottom? Another hundred. It's still hot. Echo ranging, sir. He hasn't got us yet. Just poking around. He's slowing down. Turning toward us now. Screws speeding up. Shifting short-scaled. He's got a contact. Here he comes. Coming on range. He's on us. He's dropped his charges. Four. Six. Seven. Eight. Hang on. Nine. Ten. Somebody help him with Harris. Turn down the volume. I get here. Get Harris out of here. Find the pharmacist. Keep him quiet. Those charges were right on. He looked right down at SARS. I guess we ran into an expert. Bergen, check all compartments. Report all damage. Yes, sir. Mac, get somebody on sound. I'll do it, sir. We're in for it, huh, Captain? Just hope she stays together. A beating and for nothing. The Captain tried. He had his chance. Check through the boat and pray none of the damage is beyond small, quiet repairs. Small and particularly quiet. After bilge is flooding, it's the captain's command. Because they thought he knew his job. They let him go to sea four times with seven million dollars in the lives of 82 men. Number one and two air banks emptied. Diving planes damaged. Losing depth control. He listens to the damage. Nothing fatal yet. But it isn't over. There's an expert up there. And he's got all the time in the world. And he's going to take it. We will return to escape in just a moment. But first, tomorrow night on Luxe Radio Theatre, Paul Douglas recreates his original screen role in an adaptation of the film play, 14 Hours, Terry Moore co-stars. Also tomorrow night, Agnes Moorhead stars in suspense's thrilling production of Charles Dickens' eerie tale, The Signal Man. Remember, on Luxe Radio Theatre, Paul Douglas in 14 Hours. On suspense, Agnes Moorhead in The Signal Man, both tomorrow night at the star's address. And now, back to escape. Captain waits. Waits and listens in silence. All operations are done by hand now. No pumps, no motors. All necessary movement by silent hands. No air conditioning, no fans. And the temperature climbs to 125 degrees. The boat slants at an odd angle. A bucket brigade bails endlessly from a flooding bilge. Empties it forward, hoping to level the boat. A working party tries to repair the damaged diving planes. Okay, okay. What's going on? Rest. How's it coming, then, does it? I can't tell, sir. She's jammed good. Might be able to do something bust her boy up there. How do the best you can? Sir, are you walking back to the cunning tower? Yeah. I'm on a good will to it. Fine, sir, but, uh, would you mind taking your shoes off? Make a terrible noise. Yeah, sure, I'm sorry. Silence. Silence means life. Captain Hall walks the ship silently. The men smile weekly as he passes. But underneath, he knows what they think. How much longer, Captain? How much more do we have to take? Captain is the brains. He knows. He should know. Seven. We're gonna get out of this, ain't we? Yeah, Jensen, we'll get out of it. Yeah, sit tight. Captain Hall makes the good will tour. Then back to the cunning tower to wait, wait, in the silent heat and sweat. The ship sweats too thick heavy humidity condensing on every possible surface. Like the steel was porous. Like the sea squeezing in. He's seen the men. He led them into this surface attack on a carrier. Be fast, get in close and make sure. But it didn't work. Now, work hard to breathe the same foul air they breathed for six, ten hours ago. He led them into this and for nothing. Turning this way. Very close again. Not anymore. Not anymore. Must be leaking oil. That's what gives him the spot. 100 feet. Not so bad. Could have been four. It's the oil. That's what he sees. That's all he needs. He's got us perfect. He must see something. That's enough. I said we're not leaking oil. Captain. What, Jensen? Can we get off the bottom, sir? Sure. When they get the diving planes in shape and when our friend clears the area we'll get up. Yeah, sure, we'll get up. Jensen, you want something to do take over the sound watch? Yes, sir. It's getting awful hot. How many depth charges do you think that gap's got? Too many, sir. Just too many. Light screws. He's going way off. Gonna get a good run at it. Maybe he thinks he scored a bullseye. Uh-uh. He's too good to make that kind of mistake. Thanks. You heard a big help. Go on. Get yourself. It's too hard to argue. Captain, maybe... Does he think he got us? Jensen, can you still hear him? Just barely, sir. Just barely. He's gone now, sir. I can't hear him. Captain? He's smart. Lie out there and wait. See if we move. That's the way we got to look at it. There's one thing he doesn't know. He got to wait anyway. All right. Settle down. You're all right. He's sick, sir. So much shit open the window. It smells terrible in there. Shut him up. It's all right. I'm all right. You better go to your bunk. No, sir. I'm all right. I like it here. I wouldn't know what was going on in my bunk. Fourteen hours. Fourteen hours and the destroyer is still up there. Well, he can't be hurt now. But there's a sense, a feel to it, like an animal in the night that isn't seen. He sunk subs before and knows how long a sub can hold out. The physical things, battery power, air. Life is gauged on those. But the men... The captain tells himself that he can hold out if necessary, but the men can take just so much. Which is worse, a depth charge attack or waiting for the next one. Captain, the admin does a diving plane working party just about complete a repair. Oh, what about it? Waiting for an answer, sir. Chief of the party request permission for one smack with a ten-pound sledge. What? Is he crazy? You can hear that through the water for ten miles. Chief says one good smack would free the plane, sir. Sound. Hear anything? Fish, sir. Just fish out there. Captain, maybe he has gone. But the plane's working, sir. We'd be our own boss again. You're the captain, sir. What's the difference? Don't! Don't let him, Captain, hear it. I know he'll hear it. Sound make a full sweep. Nothing, sir. Nothing at all. Okay, Mendoza, permission granted. One smack. Thank you, sir. Diving plane party. Permission granted. One smack. Make it good. Stand by. Echo ranging. I told you! I told you! Shut up! Shut him up! He's turning. Coming at us. He's dropping the way to starboard. He's at the range. He's not sure. He's turned away, sir. Going away at high speed. He lost us, Captain. He lost us. Mendoza, report from that damaged party. Reporting now, sir. Our planes work, sir. It's a jury rig, but they work. Captain, you think we could try to get out of here? Let's do it, Captain. We got the battery, but not much longer. If we can get up there, sir, even if he's still there, we got torpedoes. It's better than being blown apart down here. Battle station surface. Make ready all tubes and stand by. Surface. Surface. 30 feet. Leveling off. Up baroscope. Stand by, looking around. This sounds just setting. Full sweep. Surface, stand by, all tubes ready on all four engines. That's just clear. All right, open it up. Let's get some air. Smell. Smell that old boy. Open the main induction, start the bluers. Can't see anything. We're clear. Nothing to port. Wait a minute. Look at the sea, Captain. Out there. Oil. Oil, as far as you can see. Debris. Take a big ship to put out that much junk, Frank. You see it, Captain? That's why that baby gave us such a working over. You know what it means? Yeah, I see it. That's why the escort broke off attack. Probably went back to pick up survivors. What do you know? Konning Tower. Pass the word. We got the carrier. Right full rudder. Set a course for home. The course is due east. To the captain, the air smells fresh and sweet. Home with 82 men. 18 torpedoes left out of 24. But a captain who sinks a carrier doesn't have to worry about a desk job anymore. December 16. 1944. USS Amberfish, SS 593 completed her fourth war patrol. After experiencing severe depth charging from enemy forces she surfaced and confirmed sinking of large aircraft carrier. Then set course for Pearl Harbor. To the direction of Anthony Ellis, Escape has brought you pressure by Richard Chandlee starring William Conrad as the captain with Larry Thor as the narrator. Featured in the cast were Bob Sweeney, Hi Everback, Herbalus, Jerry Hausner, Frank Gerstle, Kurt Martell and Eddie Firestone. Sound effects were by Gus Bays, Ralph Cummings and Jack Sixsmith. The special music for Escape is composed and directed by Leith Stevens. Next week. You are seated before the dials of your radio receiver listening to a faint voice from the background. While the one who speaks with words of friendship is debating the destruction of your world. So listen next week when Escape brings you Michael Gray's exciting story The Invasion. You want pleasure in the daytime? Here are two things to do about it. For one, join Arthur Godfrey Monday through Friday. For another, you're welcome to CBS Radio's House Party starring Art Linkletter. Yes, Arthur Godfrey time and Art Linkletter's House Party every weekday on CBS Radio. This is Roy Rowan speaking. Remember, America's 45 million families listen most to the CBS Radio Network.