The US submarine service in WWII made up only 2% of the US Navy, however it accounted for 55% of the Japanese maritime losses.
The price of such success was high: out of a total of 16,000 Submariners, 375 officers, and 3,131 enlisted men died at the sea. A 22% casuality rate, the highest of all US Armed Forces.
The US submarine service in WWII made up only 2% of the US Navy, however it accounted for 55% of the Japanese maritime losses.
The price of such success was high: out of a total of 16,000 Submariners, 375 officers, and 3,131 enlisted men died at the sea. A 22% casuality rate, the highest of all US Armed Forces.
Ironically, unlike the IJN, the US Navy's submarine arm placed hunting warships secondary to hunting transport and tanker ships.
The Allies implemented the Unrestricted Submarine Warfare which allow their submarines to hunt any targets and sink them without warning, and USN Submarines use more aggressive tactics compare to the IJN counterpart. Also submarine kills were keep classified in public.
But their tactics has a downside, Paddle had to committed something that is extremely regrettable, though it was the IJN's fault for not marking their PoW Ships.
Epic showdown : IJN Subs VS USN Subs - Who will win !?!?
US Submarines crush them. Utterly.
US subs sank 23 Japanese submarines, plus 2 German boats operating in the Pacific. The Japanese subs sank... one. The US submarines had radar, warning receivers, and better sound gear and were quieter. They routinely stalked and killed surfaced Japanese submarines particularly at night. In fact the Japanese may even have confused the repeated losses of their submarines to radar equipped units at night to aircraft, unaware the real culprit.
This is before we even get into the fact that late war submarines could've been carrying acoustic homing weapons making even an underwater attack theoretically possible.
JsTuCkEy said:
Ironically, unlike the IJN, the US Navy's submarine arm placed hunting warships secondary to hunting transport and tanker ships.
This is a bit of a simplification, the priorities shifted depending on circumstances and area.
It might be more accurate to say that between major operations it focused on destruction of merchant shipping while Japan largely horded it's submarines and didn't use them at all during these periods. When it undertook major fleet operations the US deployed submarines in a manner not entirely unlike it or Japan's pre-war plans. Namely posting them near enemy anchorages, spreading out picket screens, and actively hunting enemy warships in advance of the battle. Submarines deployed forward provided important warnings of enemy movements at both Leyte and the Philippines Sea and destroyed major enemy units at both for instance.
Another example was when it became clear Japan could not replace the losses of it's big fleet destroyers effectively and the submarine's commanders issued directives making destruction of destroyers a very high priority. (In the end they'd kill about 45 of these ships) There were less successful examples too. There was a major attempt made to kill Ise and Hyuuga with submarines as they retreated to Japan involving deploying massive numbers of them being along their projected route, but they failed to score.
Another example was when it became clear Japan could not replace the losses of it's big fleet destroyers effectively and the submarine's commanders issued directives making destruction of destroyers a very high priority. (In the end they'd kill about 45 of these ships)
Just to add to this...
After the US did the math and found that Japan was totally incapable of replacing the critical destroyers it was losing to attrition, USN Submarines managed to sink roughly 1/3rd of the IJN destroyer fleet. Another 1/3rd were sunk due to aircraft. Surface ships got most of the rest.
Keep in mind that of the destroyer shipgirls in the game, only three are survivors. Most of the destroyers not shipgirled that survived were hopelessly obsolete WW1 leftovers mostly relegated to harbor patrols that the US largely only didn't bomb due to lack of time to sink them/lack of interest in sinking them before the armistice was signed.
In a sense, it's kinda cruel that the ships with the most brutal casualty rates are the ones made out to be cute kids...
After the US did the math and found that Japan was totally incapable of replacing the critical destroyers it was losing to attrition, USN Submarines managed to sink roughly 1/3rd of the IJN destroyer fleet. Another 1/3rd were sunk due to aircraft. Surface ships got most of the rest.
Keep in mind that of the destroyer shipgirls in the game, only three are survivors. Most of the destroyers not shipgirled that survived were hopelessly obsolete WW1 leftovers mostly relegated to harbor patrols that the US largely only didn't bomb due to lack of time to sink them/lack of interest in sinking them before the armistice was signed.
In a sense, it's kinda cruel that the ships with the most brutal casualty rates are the ones made out to be cute kids...
If you want to get a sense of how life was for the IJN's DD and CL force, read "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Hara Tameichi. He was the only Pre-War DD captain of the IJN to survive the war (scary, isn't it?) and his account as CO of some notable Kancolle names deserves attention.
Also, to add onto the accomplishments of the USN's Submarine Force, they fought a very good chunk of the war with highly defective torpedoes that the Navy's Ordnance Bureau refused to acknowledge have problems. Even a report of a USN Submarine getting destroyed because of it's P.O.S. torpedo being fired circled around to strike its own submarine. You can read about a brief summary about it at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo
Also, to add onto the accomplishments of the USN's Submarine Force, they fought a very good chunk of the war with highly defective torpedoes that the Navy's Ordnance Bureau refused to acknowledge have problems. Even a report of a USN Submarine getting destroyed because of it's P.O.S. torpedo being fired circled around to strike its own submarine. You can read about a brief summary about it at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo
Most naval gaming rulesets have rules for early US torpedoes in WWII. General Quarters 3 goes as far at t have it be even or odd on a twelve sided die roll. Odd rolls are good, even rolls are duds. 12 means it has a chance of circling back and hitting your ship. If you manage to score a hit with a number that is under the number of torpedoes in the spread, you get to roll again for another hit (even if it was a dud). Most I've seen is four hits from a quad American bank. One was a dud, one hit a Japanese heavy cruiser...and two hit American destroyers that were on the other side of the heavy cruiser.
Is it me, or did the artist include November's two subs from Pacific Vol 1. One of them has a peaked capped like USS Dolphin (post #1877008), and another has the baseball cap and what seems like headphones similar to USS Narwhal (post #1877007).
ArcherfishDo not underestimate US submarines, their record is much more abundant than carriers, they are the "invisible assassins"USS Albacore SS-218 sunk Taihou
USS Cavalla SS-244 sunk Shoukaku
USS Darter SS-227 sunk Atago
USS Dace SS-247 sunk Maya
USS Charr SS-328 sunk Isuzu
USS Jallao SS-368 sunk Tama
USS Redfish SS-395 sunk Unryuu
USS Spadefish SS-411 sunk Shinyo
USS Archerfish SS-311 sunk Shinano
too many IJN ships sunk...
etc etc etcAmerica
Uses the Japanese spelling γη±³ε½γ instead of the Chinese βηΎε½β. This is a running gag on Chinese internet since the Chinese find the Japanese spelling funny, as it literally means "Rice Country".