In the Solomon Islands, the decorated destroyer, USS O'Bannon, cuts through black Pacific waters, closing in within 100 yards of a Japanese submarine.

But now, Lucky O is a little too close.

MacDonald quickly grasps the tactical nightmare, his eyes widening with the potential disaster. His five-inch guns can’t angle down far enough. The torpedoes need distance to arm. Depth charges would kill them both. Years of naval drills had never accounted for this kind of fight. Close-range. No margin for error.

The fate of 320 American sailors now depends on a vegetable