Tang was a Balao-class submarine, SS-306, the first ship of the name. The name is a surgeonfish. Mare Island Navy Yard laid her down on 15 January 1943, launched her on 17 August 1943, and the Navy commissioned her on 15 October 1943. Richard H. O'Kane had her from that day. He had been the executive officer of Wahoo and had left that boat before she was lost.
She made five war patrols. The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships follows her from the Carolines to the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, and then, on the fifth patrol, into Formosa Strait. On the night of 10 and 11 October 1944 she sank the cargo ships Joshu Go and Oita Maru.
On the night of 24 October she attacked a convoy off Formosa. The account says that attack sank Kogen Maru and Matsumoto Maru. She still had one torpedo. It broached, curved to the left, and circled. She fishtailed under emergency power. About twenty seconds after she fired, the torpedo hit her abreast the after torpedo room. She sank by the stern.
Nine men got out, O'Kane among them. A Japanese destroyer escort picked them up the next morning. They were prisoners for the rest of the war. O'Kane's Medal of Honor is for Tang's last action, not for Wahoo. She was struck on 8 February 1945. She received four battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations.