Allied submarines in the Pacific War
Allied submarines were used extensively during the Pacific War and were a key contributor to the defeat of the Empire of Japan.
During the war, submarines of the
They also conducted reconnaissance patrols, landed special forces and guerrilla troops and performed search and rescue tasks.[2] The majority of the submarines involved were from the U.S. Navy, with the British Royal Navy committing the second largest number of boats and the Royal Netherlands Navy contributing smaller numbers of boats.
The Allied submarine campaign is one of the least-publicized feats in
A major reason why the U.S. submarine campaign is little known is the defective
Background
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The U.S. had the largest and most powerful submarine force of all the Allied countries in the Pacific at the outbreak of war.[
While
The
Strategic implications
Throughout the war, Japan was dependent on sea transport to provide adequate resources, including food, to the
At the start of the war, the U.S. submarine fleet was ineffective, for multiple reasons:[16]
- A high proportion of the submarines deployed against the Japanese were obsolete.
- U.S. boats were hampered by defects in their primary weapon, the Mark 14 torpedo.
- Poor training led to an excessive reliance on sonar.
- Skippers were insufficiently aggressive,[17] and they exhibited an undue fear of destroyers' sonar and aircraft.[18]
- Poor dispositions – the fleet were scattered on close surveillance of Japan's major bases.[19]
- Command was divided, which kept submarines out of one of the best hunting areas, the Luzon Strait, for fear of friendly fire.[20]
Despite an awareness that shipping was vital, the Japanese military seriously underestimated the (eventual) threat from Allied submarines. This overconfidence was reinforced by the ineffectiveness of Allied submarines in the early part of the war.[21] Anti-submarine warfare was accorded a low priority and few warships and aircraft were allocated to protecting merchant shipping.[22] Japanese destroyers formed the bulk of convoy protection; they had impressive night fighting capabilities, but had deficiencies in sonar and radar compared to equivalents of other navies.[23] Moreover, Japanese Navy doctrine in relation to commerce defense was very bad.[24]
The size and effectiveness of the Allied submarine force increased greatly during the Pacific War. The U.S. increased production of modern submarines from 1942 onward. The efforts of Admiral
Poor torpedoes claimed at least two U.S. submarines[27] out of 48 lost on patrol.[28]
Countering the Japanese offensive
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In a break with pre-war doctrine (which, like Japan's, had presumed a rush across the Pacific and a
The
British, and U.S. submarines took part in
War of attrition
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After the Battle of the Coral Sea, the U.S. Navy detached eight submarines to finish off the damaged aircraft carrier Shōkaku, but she evaded all of them. At the Battle of Midway, although the attack on the battleship Kirishima by USS Nautilus had been unsuccessful, it drew the destroyer Arashi temporarily away from the main fleet to drop depth charges, and the destroyer's return was traced by USS Enterprise's VB-6 to the Japanese task force, where the dive bombers promptly set on fire the fleet carriers Akagi and Kaga.[41][42][43] Overall in 1942, U.S. submarines had managed to sink the heavy cruiser Kako and the light cruiser Tenryū.
As a result of several key improvements the previous year, U.S. submarines inflicted tremendous losses to the heavy units of the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1944. They destroyed the Japanese fleet carriers Shōkaku and
From 1943, Allied submarines waged an increasingly effective campaign against Japanese merchant shipping and the IJN. By the end of the war in August 1945, the Japanese merchant marine had less than a quarter of the tonnage it had in December 1941. Overall, U.S. Navy submarines sank around 1,300 Japanese merchant ships, as well as roughly 200 warships.[44] Despite the need to maintain sea lanes for its empire, the Japanese never successfully developed a cost-effective destroyer escort better suited for convoy duties, while it also did not have the industrial might to replace the losses of its heavily armed destroyers,[45][46] nor of its ill-protected merchantmen.
In 1943, U.S. Congressman Andrew J. May revealed the fact that Japanese depth charges were not set deep enough to destroy U.S. submarines. While it has never been definitively established that May's disclosure actually prompted the Japanese to augment their strategy,[47] Japanese anti-submarine warfare grew in effectiveness, particularly after the debut of radar in the IJN.[citation needed]
British and Dutch submarine operations
The British submarine force in the Far East was greatly expanded from August 1943 onward. The British
The British submarine force expanded its areas of operation in the last months of the war. In late 1944, the 8th Flotilla—with 11 British and Dutch submarines—was transferred to Fremantle and operated in the Java Sea and surrounding areas under the command of the U.S 7th Fleet. The 4th Flotilla and the newly formed 2nd Flotilla remained at Ceylon.
By March 1945, British boats had gained control of the Strait of Malacca, preventing any supplies from reaching the Japanese forces in Burma by sea. By this time, there were few large Japanese ships in the region, and the submarines mainly operated against small ships which they attacked with their deck guns.
In April the 8th Flotilla moved to Subic Bay in the Philippines and the 4th Flotilla replaced it at Fremantle. At this time, there were 38 British and Dutch submarines in the theater, and an additional five boats on their way from Europe. The submarine HMS Trenchant torpedoed and sank the heavy cruiser Ashigara in the Bangka Strait, taking down some 1,200 Japanese army troops.
Three British submarines were sunk by the Japanese during the war: HMS Stratagem, HMS Porpoise, and HMS Stonehenge (which was mined).[50]
Merchant shipping losses
Different sources provide varying figures for the size of the Japanese merchant marine and its wartime losses.
Size of the Japanese merchant fleet during World War II (all figures in tons)[51]
Date | Additions | Losses | Net change | End of period total |
Index |
12/07/1941 | 6,384,000 | 100 | |||
12/1941 | 44,200 | 51,600 | −7,400 | 6,376,600 | 99 |
1942 | 661,800 | 1,095,800 | −434,000 | 5,942,600 | 93 |
1943 | 1,067,100 | 2,065,700 | −998,600 | 4,494,400 | 77 |
1944 | 1,735,100 | 4,115,100 | −2,380,000 | 2,564,000 | 40 |
1/45 – 8/45 | 465,000 | 1,562,100 | −1,097,100 | 1,466,900 | 23 |
Japanese merchant fleet losses during World War II (all figures in tons, taken from
Date | Starting tonnage | Additions | Losses | Net change | End of period total |
1942 (including 12/41) | 5,975,000 | 111,000 | 725,000 | −89,000 | 5,886,000 |
1943 | 5,886,000 | 177,000 | 1,500,000 | −1,323,000 | 4,963,000 |
1944 | 4,963,000 | 624,000 | 2,700,000 | −2,076,000 | 2,887,000 |
1945 | 2,887,000 | ? | 415,000 | −415,000 | 2,472,000 |
end of war | -3,903,000 | 1,983,000 |
One Japanese reference reports 15,518 civilian ships lost.[53] JANAC reports 2,117 Japanese merchant ships lost with a total tonnage of 7,913,858 long tons (8,040,851 t) and 611 IJN ships lost with a total tonnage of 1,822,210 long tons (1,851,450 t).[54]
Attacks on IJA troopships and hell ships
In addition to taking a heavy toll on Japan's merchant shipping, a large number of troopships were also sunk. This resulted in the loss of thousands of Japanese troops, who were being transported to bolster Japan's already declining manpower on land in the final years of the war. Allied submarines sank an estimated 44 Japanese troopships with greater than 1,000 casualties in 33 of them.[55] The threat of submarine attack seriously hampered the ability of the Japanese Army to move troops.
Allied submarines also sank a number of hell ships, which were transporting Allied POWs and rōmusha slave labourers. It is estimated that 10,800 POWs died at sea. Most of these deaths were the result of an Allied submarine attack.[56] Donald L. Miller has estimated the loss of life among POWs was twice that, asserting "approximately 21,000 Allied POWs died at sea, about 19,000 of them killed by friendly fire."[57]
Other duties
Allied submarines served in a range of other duties during the Pacific War. U.S. Navy submarines were often used for surveillance. This included taking photos of areas of interest (such as potential beaches for amphibious landings), and reporting on the movements of IJN warships. U.S. submarines landed and supplied reconnaissance and guerrilla forces and played a role in sustaining the guerrilla movement in the Philippines,[58] at the cost of their diversion from attacks on Japanese commerce.[59]
In late 1944 and 1945 several submarines were fitted with a newly developed FM (frequency modulated) sonar that was intended for detection of submerged mines, first Tinosa and Spadefish, and later Flying Fish, Skate, Bonefish, Crevalle, and Sea Dog. Tinosa surveyed and mapped the minefields around Okinawa prior to the US invasion, and the boats of Operation Barney used the sonar to map and penetrate the minefields of Tsushima Strait prior to operating inside the Sea of Japan.
They also occasionally transported commandos, such as Nautilus and Argonaut landing Marine Raiders for an abortive raid on Makin Atoll.[60]
From early 1944 U.S. submarines were also used to rescue the crews of aircraft which had been forced down over the ocean. By the end of the war, submarines had rescued 504 airmen (including George H. W. Bush, who later became the 41st President of the United States).[61]
British and Dutch submarines also landed and supplied special forces troops, rescued airmen, and shelled shore installations on nine occasions.[62]
Britain also deployed a flotilla of
Submarine captain Medal of Honor awards
- Samuel D. Dealey
- Sculpin • John P. Cromwell
- Barb • Eugene B. Fluckey
- Parche • Lawson P. Ramage
- Tang • Richard O'Kane
- Growler • Howard W. Gilmore
- George L. Street
Post-war
Allied actions in the Pacific are believed to have been a mitigating factor in reducing the sentence of Großadmiral
See also
- Hell ship
- Imperial Japanese Army shipping artillery – Gun crews for Japanese troop transports and defensively equipped merchant ships
- Japanese submarines in the Pacific War
- List of ships sunk by submarines by death toll
- List of most successful American submarines in World War II
- List of lost United States submarines
- Operation Starvation
- United States Submarine Operations in World War II by Theodore Roscoe
Notes
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-35640-4.
- ^ Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (Bantam, 1947), pp.508, 521–2, 568, 574, 576, 609, 646, 724, 745–6, 784, 806, 818, 825, 827, 829, 842, 865–6, & 868–9.
- ^ Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, pp.212–217 & 232–249 passim.
- ^ Holwitt, passim.
- ^ a b Holwitt, p.6.
- ^ Dönitz, Karl. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days; von der Poorten, Edward P. The German Navy in World War II (T. Y. Crowell, 1969); Milner, Marc. North Atlantic run: the Royal Canadian Navy and the battle for the convoys (Vanwell Publishing, 2006)
- ^ Roscoe, Theodore. Pig Boats: The True Story of the Fighting Submariners of World War II. pp. 29–48
- ^ Matthews, David F. (26 February 2011). "Mark XIV Torpedo Case Study" (PDF). apps.dtic.mil. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
- ^ Spector (1984), pp.480–483.
- ^ Morison (1949), p.188.
- ^ Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (Navies of the Second World War Series; New York: Doubleday, 1973), p.5 table.
- ^ Mars (1971), pg 27, 62 and 64.
- ^ Mars (1971), pg 212.
- ^ "Dutch submarines in Australian waters". Allies in Adversity. Australia and the Dutch in the Pacific War. Australian War Memorial. 2006. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Parillo (1993), pg 37–38.
- ^ a b Blair, Silent Victory, p.439.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.361, 553, & passim.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, p.156.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.361 & 551.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.509 et al..
- ^ Parillo.
- ^ Parillo (1993), pg 63–73.
- ^ Japanese Destroyers
- ^ Parillo; Peattie & Evans, Kaigun.
- ^ Blair; Farago, Broken Seal.
- ^ Blair, pp.819 & 967ff.
- ^ Tullibee to the Mk14, Tang to the Mk18, both from circular runs; given the prevalence of circulars, there were probably others. Blair, Silent Victory.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.991–92.
- ^ Miller, Edward S. (1991). War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897–1945. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute Press.
- ^ Spector (1984), pp.478–479; Blair, Silent Victory, p.106; Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005.(page needed).
- ^ Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, pp.212–217 passim.
- ^ a b Blair, Silent Victory.
- ^ Christley (2006), p.39.
- ^ Willmott, H. P. Barrier and the Javelin?
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.157–158.
- ^ Blair, Silent Victory, pp.156–8.
- ^ Morison (1948), p.303.
- ^ Mars (1971), pp.211–213.
- ^ Morison (1948), pp.303–305.
- ^ Mars (1971), pp.214–215.
- ^ "IJN KIRISHIMA: Tabular Record of Movement". Senkan!. combinedfleet.com. 2006. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ Bicheno, Hugh. Midway (Sterling Publishing Company, 2001), p.134.
- ^ Lord, Incredible Victory p. 213; Parshall & Tully, Shattered Sword, pp.302–303.
- ^ World War 2 Submarines
- ^ Long Lancers | Nihon Kaigun
- ^ Matsu-class Destroyer | Nihon Kaigun
- ^ Norman Friedman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945. Naval Institute Press. p. 355. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- ^ Mars (1971), p.216.
- ^ McCartney (2006), pp.40–42.
- ^ McCartney (2006), pp.42–43.
- ^ Parillo (1993), pg 242.
- ^ Blair, pp.360, 552, 816, 878, 970, 975, 977, 979, 980, & 982.
- ^ Axis History Forum • View topic – Questions concerning the IJA merchant fleet
- ^ HyperWar: Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses [Chapter 2]
- ^ Wrecksite List of Casualties - Japanese
- ^ Britain at war - Hell ships
- ^ "Donald L. Miller "D-Days in the Pacific", p. 317"
- ^ Adamson, Hans Christian. Guerrilla Submarines
- ^ Blair, p.357.
- ^ Blair, pp.308–9. This had unintended consequences, drawing Japanese attention to the weak defenses, which were strengthened when the U.S. invaded the atoll in November 1943.
- ^ Christley (2006), pp.42–44.
- ^ McCartney (2006), p.42.
- ^ Jones and Nunan (2005), pp.239–242.
- ^ McCartney (2006), p.43.
- ^ Mars (1971), p.225.
- ^ Dönitz, Karl. Memoirs: Ten Years and Twenty Days.
- ^ Blair, passim;Judgement: Dönitz the Avalon Project at the Yale Law School.
References
- ISBN 978-1-55750-217-9.
- Christley, Jim; Tony Bryan (2006-01-31). US Submarines 1941–45. Oxford: Ospery Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-859-5.
- Jones, David; Nunan, Peter (2005). U.S. Subs Down Under. Brisbane, 1942–1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-644-5.
- Mars, Alastair (1971). British Submarines at War 1939–1945. London: William Kimber. ISBN 0-7183-0202-8.
- McCartney, Innes (2006-11-28). British Submarines 1939–45. Oxford: Ospery Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-007-9.
- ISBN 978-0-252-06973-4.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (2001) [1949]. Coral Sea, Midway and Submarine Actions. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06995-6.
- Parillo, Mark P. (1993). The Japanese Merchant Marine in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-677-1.
- Poirier, Michel Thomas (1999). "Results of the American Pacific Submarine Campaign of World War II". Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Operations Division. Archived from the original on 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ISBN 978-0-304-35979-0.
- United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) (1946). "United States Strategic Bombing Survey Summary Report (Pacific War)". Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
Further reading
- Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (1947). "Japanese Naval and Merchant Shipping Losses During World War II by All Causes". Hyperwar. Archived from the original on 17 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- "Submarine war patrol reports". Historical Naval Ships Association. Retrieved 2009-06-12.