Before the Japanese could start firing, the American crew threw as many potatoes as they could at them in an attempt to prevent them from reaching the deck gun.
The potatoes were the only weapons they had. The American sailors thought the effort would prove to be useless, but they were wrong.
The Japanese submarine crew panicked. Some of the crew members picked up the potatoes and quickly tossed them overboard.
Others threw them at the Americans, who hurled them back at the Japanese. It took a little while for the Americans to realize why the Japanese were behaving in such a chaotic and fearful manner—the Japanese most likely thought the potatoes were hand grenades.
The O’Bannon took the opportunity to get away from the submarine. Once the destroyer was at a safe distance, it used its deck guns to take out the Ro-34’s conning tower.
The submarine dove underwater, so the O’Bannon fired depth charges that eventually sank the Japanese vessel.
The potato war spared the lives of 300 American soldiers. The O’Bannon even received a plaque from the Maine Potato Growers’ Association commemorating the event.
The ship went on to serve in the Korean War. When it was decommissioned in 1970, the plaque was still onboard.
