Retribution_ The Battle For Japan, 1944-45 Part 10

Neither then nor later did the Americans perceive much useful to be learned from Iwo Jima and its notorious killing grounds-Turkey k.n.o.b, the Amphitheater, Charlie-Dog Ridge, the Meat Grinder-save about man's capacity to inflict and endure suffering. The experience renewed the usual fierce criticism from the army about the Marines' allegedly sacrificial tactics. Maj.-Gen. Joseph Swing of the 11th Airborne Division, for instance, wrote an angry letter home on 8 March in response to rumours that Nimitz rather than MacArthur was to command the invasion of j.a.pan. Swing regarded the admiral as standard-bearer for Marine methods which he held in low esteem: "It makes me sick520 when I read about the casualties on Iwo Jima. It can be done more scientifically. We laugh at the fruitless method of the j.a.p in his banzai attacks and yet allow that fanatic"-he referred to Lt.-Gen. Holland Smith of the Marines-"to barge in using up men as if they were a dime a dozen." when I read about the casualties on Iwo Jima. It can be done more scientifically. We laugh at the fruitless method of the j.a.p in his banzai attacks and yet allow that fanatic"-he referred to Lt.-Gen. Holland Smith of the Marines-"to barge in using up men as if they were a dime a dozen."

There were those, including Holland Smith, who persuaded themselves that a longer preliminary bombardment of Iwo Jima would have made the early days, especially, less costly. There was agreement that more heavy artillery was needed, especially eight-inch howitzers. Yet there is no reason to suppose that any alternative tactical method would have changed anything, in that close and densely fortified area. Many Marines argued that the only effective means of shortening the battle would have been to pump poison gas into the j.a.panese underground complexes. They derided the bra.s.s in Was.h.i.+ngton for being squeamish about such methods. Even Nimitz later expressed regret that gas was not used.

Though it often seemed to the Americans that the battle would never end, they prevailed at last, occupying the entire wretched island. A Marine had fallen for every j.a.panese, a most unusual balance of loss in Pacific battles. On 26 March, some 350 j.a.panese staged a final banzai charge in the north-west. Startled Americans found themselves fighting hand-to-hand with swordsmen. The a.s.sault was broken up, the j.a.panese killed. General Kuribayas.h.i.+ emerged from his headquarters bunker one night, marvelling to see that the trees and foliage which had once covered the hillside were all gone, leaving only blackened rock and scorched stumps. He sent a last signal to Horie, his staff officer on neighbouring Chichi Jima: "It's five days since we ate or drank, but our spirits are still high, and we shall fight to the last." Then, on 27 March, he and his staff killed themselves. The senior naval officer, Admiral Tos.h.i.+nosuke Ichimaru, walked at the head of sixty men into the path of American machine guns outside his cave-yet survived, probably to his own disappointment. Having failed to get the enemy to kill him, he shot himself soon after Kuribayas.h.i.+'s death.

In the struggle for Iwo Jima 6,821 U.S. Marines and 363 navy men died. A further 17,372 were wounded. Such a toll would have seemed negligible to the Red Army, fighting the Germans in Europe, but represented an extraordinary intensity of loss for a battle conducted over an area only a third the size of Manhattan Island. More than one in three of the Marines committed became casualties, including nineteen of the original twenty-four battalion commanders. In Maj. Albert a.r.s.enault's battalion, 760 men were killed or wounded. The 5th Division had required twenty-two transports to bring its men to the island, but was carried away in just eight. All but a few hundred of the 21,000 defenders perished.

It was six weeks before American troops addressed themselves systematically to clearing the caves in which such survivors as Harunori Ohkos.h.i.+ clung on. First, they tried teargas. Then they sent captured j.a.panese to broadcast by loudspeaker, who sometimes called on men by name to come out. One POW approached Ohkos.h.i.+'s tunnel entrance, bearing water and chocolate, only to be shot by the occupants. "We were doing him a favour," claimed Ohkos.h.i.+ laconically. "His honour was lost." On 7 May, in bright suns.h.i.+ne, men of the army's 147th Infantry poured a hideous c.o.c.ktail. They pumped 700 gallons of salt water into one of the biggest tunnel complex entrances, then added 110 gallons of gasoline and 55 of oil. The deadly flow, ignited by flamethrower, raced through the underground pa.s.sages, starting a string of ammunition fires, incinerating many j.a.panese and causing others to kill themselves amid the choking, clogging smoke. Some men embraced each other, then pulled pins on grenades held between their bodies. Ohkos.h.i.+ finished off several dying men with his pistol. Yet after three months of subterranean animal existence, he decided that he himself would rather die in the sun. The Americans had sealed the tunnel entrances, but by frenzied labour some j.a.panese clawed pa.s.sages to the surface. Ohkos.h.i.+ was the first to burst forth, like a s.h.a.ggy, blackened mole. He was at once seen and shot by an American, and fell writhing with two bullets in the leg. His surviving companions were more fortunate-or not, as the case might be-and were captured uninjured. Nursing shame and exhaustion, they were taken away into captivity. When Ohkos.h.i.+ saw his own features in a mirror on Guam, he did not recognise the skeletal ruin of a human being which he represented. A U.S. officer's report on the episode concluded dryly: "Fifty-four were eventually taken into custody with some difficulty. Two of these subsequently committed suicide."

Captain Kouichi Ito, an army officer521 who remained a lifelong student of j.a.pan's wartime campaigns, believed that Iwo Jima was the best-conducted defensive operation of the j.a.panese war, much more impressive militarily than the defence of Guadalca.n.a.l, or the subsequent action in which he himself partic.i.p.ated on Okinawa. Yet it would be mistaken to suppose that most j.a.panese defenders of the island found their experience, or their sacrifice, acceptable. A survivor from the 26th Tank Regiment, Lieutenant Yamasaki, wrote afterwards to the widow of his commanding officer, in a letter which reflected a sense of the futility of what he and his comrades had endured: "In ancient times who remained a lifelong student of j.a.pan's wartime campaigns, believed that Iwo Jima was the best-conducted defensive operation of the j.a.panese war, much more impressive militarily than the defence of Guadalca.n.a.l, or the subsequent action in which he himself partic.i.p.ated on Okinawa. Yet it would be mistaken to suppose that most j.a.panese defenders of the island found their experience, or their sacrifice, acceptable. A survivor from the 26th Tank Regiment, Lieutenant Yamasaki, wrote afterwards to the widow of his commanding officer, in a letter which reflected a sense of the futility of what he and his comrades had endured: "In ancient times522 our ancestors said: ' our ancestors said: 'Bus.h.i.+do, the way of the warrior, is to die.' This may have sounded wonderful to knights of old, but represents too easy a path. For both the living and the dead Iwo Jima was, I think, the worst of battlefields. Casual words about 'bus.h.i.+do' did not apply, for modern war does not make matters so easy. Unfeeling metal is mightier than warriors' flesh. Where, when, how, who died n.o.body knew. They just fell by the wayside."

When Marine veterans got back to Hawaii, one group marched triumphantly down the street waving a j.a.panese skull and taunting local j.a.panese-Americans: "There's your uncle523 on the pole!" The experience of Iwo Jima had drained some survivors of all human sensitivity. Was the island worth the American blood sacrifice? Some historians highlight a simple statistic: more American aircrew landed safely on its airstrips in damaged or fuelless B-29s than Marines died in seizing it. This calculation of profit and loss, first offered after the battle to a.s.suage public anger about the cost of taking Iwo Jima, ignores the obvious fact that, if the strips had not been there, fuel margins would have been increased, some aircraft would have reached the Marianas, some crews could have been rescued from the sea. Even if Iwo Jima had remained in j.a.panese hands, it could have contributed little further service to the homeland's air defence. The Americans made no important use of its bases for offensive operations. on the pole!" The experience of Iwo Jima had drained some survivors of all human sensitivity. Was the island worth the American blood sacrifice? Some historians highlight a simple statistic: more American aircrew landed safely on its airstrips in damaged or fuelless B-29s than Marines died in seizing it. This calculation of profit and loss, first offered after the battle to a.s.suage public anger about the cost of taking Iwo Jima, ignores the obvious fact that, if the strips had not been there, fuel margins would have been increased, some aircraft would have reached the Marianas, some crews could have been rescued from the sea. Even if Iwo Jima had remained in j.a.panese hands, it could have contributed little further service to the homeland's air defence. The Americans made no important use of its bases for offensive operations.

Yet to say this is to ignore the fact that in every campaign in every war, sacrifices are routinely made that are out of all proportion to the significance of objectives. Unless Nimitz had made an implausible decision, to forgo land engagement while the army fought for the Philippines, to await the collapse of the enemy through bombing, blockade, industrial and human starvation, the a.s.sault on Iwo Jima was almost inevitable. Whether wisely or no, the enemy valued the island, and took great pains for its defence. It would have required a strategic judgement of remarkable forbearance to resist the urge to destroy the garrison of the rock, a rare solid foothold in the midst of the ocean. If some historians judge that America's warlords erred in taking Iwo Jima, the commitment seemed natural in the context of the grand design for America's a.s.sault on the j.a.panese homeland.

ELEVEN.

Blockade: War Underwater

BY EARLY 1945, j.a.pan's ability to provide raw materials for its industries, and even to feed itself, was fatally crippled. The nation could import by sea no more than a fraction of its requirements. An invisible ring of steel extended around the waters of the home islands, created by the submarines of the U.S. Navy. In the course of 1944, a large part of j.a.pan's merchant s.h.i.+pping, and especially of its tanker fleet, was dispatched to the sea bottom by a force which gained less contemporary prominence, and indeed subsequent historical attention, than the Marines on Iwo Jima or Nimitz's carrier task groups. Yet it imposed economic strangulation on j.a.pan in a fas.h.i.+on Germany's U-boats had been unable to inflict on Britain. An April report by MacArthur's staff concluded: "The entire question of j.a.panese 1945, j.a.pan's ability to provide raw materials for its industries, and even to feed itself, was fatally crippled. The nation could import by sea no more than a fraction of its requirements. An invisible ring of steel extended around the waters of the home islands, created by the submarines of the U.S. Navy. In the course of 1944, a large part of j.a.pan's merchant s.h.i.+pping, and especially of its tanker fleet, was dispatched to the sea bottom by a force which gained less contemporary prominence, and indeed subsequent historical attention, than the Marines on Iwo Jima or Nimitz's carrier task groups. Yet it imposed economic strangulation on j.a.pan in a fas.h.i.+on Germany's U-boats had been unable to inflict on Britain. An April report by MacArthur's staff concluded: "The entire question of j.a.panese524 merchant s.h.i.+pping requirements may soon be academic, if losses continue at anything like the present rate. That this possibility has occurred to the j.a.panese is indicated by a Tokyo broadcast on 17 February, in which the j.a.panese forces in China and other overseas garrisons were warned that they might have to operate without help from the homeland." Only 1.6 percent of the U.S. Navy's wartime strength-16,000 men-served in its submarines. Yet these accounted for 55 percent of all j.a.pan's wartime s.h.i.+pping losses, 1,300 vessels including a battles.h.i.+p, eight carriers and eleven cruisers, a total of 6.1 million tons. The achievement of America's submarines reached its apogee in October 1944, when they sank 322,265 tons of enemy vessels. merchant s.h.i.+pping requirements may soon be academic, if losses continue at anything like the present rate. That this possibility has occurred to the j.a.panese is indicated by a Tokyo broadcast on 17 February, in which the j.a.panese forces in China and other overseas garrisons were warned that they might have to operate without help from the homeland." Only 1.6 percent of the U.S. Navy's wartime strength-16,000 men-served in its submarines. Yet these accounted for 55 percent of all j.a.pan's wartime s.h.i.+pping losses, 1,300 vessels including a battles.h.i.+p, eight carriers and eleven cruisers, a total of 6.1 million tons. The achievement of America's submarines reached its apogee in October 1944, when they sank 322,265 tons of enemy vessels.

For those who manned the navy's crowded, stinking underwater torpedo platforms, the exhilaration of hunting prey was matched by the terrors experienced when they themselves became the hunted. Cmdr. Richard O'Kane's experience of forty-eight hours off the Philippines in October 1944 was not untypical. His submarine, Tang Tang, on its fifth war patrol, was operating alone in the Formosa Channel. Off Turnabout Island in the early hours of the twenty-fourth, first day of the Leyte Gulf battle and fourth after MacArthur's landing, he spotted a j.a.panese reinforcement convoy: four freighters with planes on deck, a transport, a destroyer and some smaller escorts. In a few devastating minutes, O'Kane fired torpedoes which sank three freighters. The surviving freighter and destroyer closed on the surfaced submarine in an attempt to ram. Tang Tang slipped between them-and the two j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps collided. O'Kane fired four more torpedoes from his stern tubes, which missed, then cleared the area at full speed. slipped between them-and the two j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps collided. O'Kane fired four more torpedoes from his stern tubes, which missed, then cleared the area at full speed.

The next night, in the same hunting ground, he encountered the largest convoy he had ever seen, "a solid line of pips across the screen." An escort rashly switched on its searchlight, illuminating a transport. O'Kane sank this, together with a tanker which blew up, leaving the surviving vessels milling in chaos. Two hours after midnight, however, Tang Tang's luck changed drastically. One of its torpedoes fired at a transport ran amok, circled, and by fantastic ill-luck struck the surfaced submarine abreast of the aft torpedo room. Following the explosion, O'Kane himself and two sailors with him in the conning tower were thrown alive into the water, and retrieved by the j.a.panese. Tang Tang, mortally damaged, plunged 180 feet to the sea bottom. The men in the hull somehow succeeded in closing the conning-tower hatch. Some thirty surviving officers and men reached the temporary safety of the forward torpedo room, where choking smoke from burning doc.u.ments soon rendered half of them unconscious.

For the next four hours, j.a.panese escorts depth-charged ineffectually. At 0600, some men began to escape using Momsen Lung breathing apparatus, of whom eight reached the surface. Five were still clinging to a buoy when a j.a.panese s.h.i.+p picked them up four hours later. The surviving Americans were trussed and laid on deck, then kicked and clubbed by burnt and injured enemy sailors who had suffered grievously from their torpedoes. Statistics may help to explain such behaviour: in the course of the war 116,000 of 122,000 seamen serving j.a.pan's pre-war merchant fleet were killed or wounded, most by American submarines. Yos.h.i.+o Otsu, a survivor of a stricken merchantman, was enraged to find himself under fire from American planes: "Seeing no one on board525, they strafed those in the water. The swine! Not satisfied with sinking the s.h.i.+p, they must kill those swimming in the sea! Was this being done by human beings? We were utterly helpless." Seven officers and seventy-one men were lost with Tang Tang, which had accounted for 22,000 tons of j.a.panese s.h.i.+pping.

EVERY NATION'S soldiers instinctively believe that wars are won by engaging the armies of the enemy and seizing terrain. Yet the most critical single contribution to the American defeat of j.a.pan was made far out of sight of any general, or indeed admiral. The j.a.panese empire was uniquely vulnerable to blockade. Its economy was dependent upon fuel and raw materials s.h.i.+pped from China, Malaya, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies. Yet, unlike the British, who faced a similar threat to their Atlantic lifeline, the j.a.panese failed to equip themselves with a credible anti-submarine force to defend their commerce. Here was one of the major causes of j.a.pan's downfall. The admirals of the Imperial Navy fixed their minds almost exclusively upon power projection by surface and air forces. Vice-Admiral Inoue s.h.i.+geyos.h.i.+ was one of the few pre-war j.a.panese naval officers who urged dismissing the concept of "decisive battle" between surface wars.h.i.+ps. Instead, he proposed planning for a submarine war against commerce, together with a long amphibious and air campaign in the central Pacific. His views were thrust aside. With extraordinary myopia, the j.a.panese failed to address the obvious likelihood that their enemies might also project naval power through a submarine offensive. j.a.pan possessed only a tiny force of anti-submarine escorts, whose technology and tactics remained primitive. soldiers instinctively believe that wars are won by engaging the armies of the enemy and seizing terrain. Yet the most critical single contribution to the American defeat of j.a.pan was made far out of sight of any general, or indeed admiral. The j.a.panese empire was uniquely vulnerable to blockade. Its economy was dependent upon fuel and raw materials s.h.i.+pped from China, Malaya, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies. Yet, unlike the British, who faced a similar threat to their Atlantic lifeline, the j.a.panese failed to equip themselves with a credible anti-submarine force to defend their commerce. Here was one of the major causes of j.a.pan's downfall. The admirals of the Imperial Navy fixed their minds almost exclusively upon power projection by surface and air forces. Vice-Admiral Inoue s.h.i.+geyos.h.i.+ was one of the few pre-war j.a.panese naval officers who urged dismissing the concept of "decisive battle" between surface wars.h.i.+ps. Instead, he proposed planning for a submarine war against commerce, together with a long amphibious and air campaign in the central Pacific. His views were thrust aside. With extraordinary myopia, the j.a.panese failed to address the obvious likelihood that their enemies might also project naval power through a submarine offensive. j.a.pan possessed only a tiny force of anti-submarine escorts, whose technology and tactics remained primitive.

At the outbreak of war, the United States possessed the finest submarines in the world, the 1,500-ton Tambor Tambor cla.s.s, later refined as the cla.s.s, later refined as the Gato Gato and and Balao Balao cla.s.ses. These had air-conditioning-a priceless virtue in the tropics-a top speed close to twenty-one knots, a range of 10,000 miles, and the ability to crash-dive in thirty-five seconds. Yet for almost two torrid years their effectiveness was crippled: first, by chronic torpedo technical failure; second, by over-cautious commanders-30 percent were removed by the end of 1942; and third, by a doctrinal preoccupation with sinking enemy wars.h.i.+ps which almost matched that of the j.a.panese. Ronald Spector has remarked cla.s.ses. These had air-conditioning-a priceless virtue in the tropics-a top speed close to twenty-one knots, a range of 10,000 miles, and the ability to crash-dive in thirty-five seconds. Yet for almost two torrid years their effectiveness was crippled: first, by chronic torpedo technical failure; second, by over-cautious commanders-30 percent were removed by the end of 1942; and third, by a doctrinal preoccupation with sinking enemy wars.h.i.+ps which almost matched that of the j.a.panese. Ronald Spector has remarked526 on the irony that the U.S., which joined World War I in large measure out of revulsion towards Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, entered World War II committed to wage such a campaign. Yet while the U.S. Navy had no moral scruple about sinking unarmed merchant s.h.i.+ps, until relatively late in the war it regarded these as a lesser target priority than the j.a.panese fleet. on the irony that the U.S., which joined World War I in large measure out of revulsion towards Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, entered World War II committed to wage such a campaign. Yet while the U.S. Navy had no moral scruple about sinking unarmed merchant s.h.i.+ps, until relatively late in the war it regarded these as a lesser target priority than the j.a.panese fleet.

In February 1944, the U.S. Navy's submarine operational textbook Current Doctrine Current Doctrine was extensively rewritten. The new manual devoted much more attention than earlier editions to the blockade of commerce. Yet a remarkable number of its pages still concerned procedures for submarines operating in support of surface wars.h.i.+ps, in a fleet action. The cult of the "decisive battle" exercised a febrile influence on American as well as j.a.panese naval imaginations. "It is the opinion of most submarine officers that any combatant s.h.i.+p is worth a full nest torpedo salvo," declared Chapter 2 of the 1944 was extensively rewritten. The new manual devoted much more attention than earlier editions to the blockade of commerce. Yet a remarkable number of its pages still concerned procedures for submarines operating in support of surface wars.h.i.+ps, in a fleet action. The cult of the "decisive battle" exercised a febrile influence on American as well as j.a.panese naval imaginations. "It is the opinion of most submarine officers that any combatant s.h.i.+p is worth a full nest torpedo salvo," declared Chapter 2 of the 1944 Doctrine Doctrine-implying that a merchant s.h.i.+p might not be. To the end of the war, submarine captains' accounts of their successes dwelt most proudly upon sinkings of wars.h.i.+ps, rather than cargo vessels. Only in 1944, after more than two years of American involvement in the war, were submarine captains explicitly directed to target enemy tankers.

Even at this relatively late stage, Doctrine Doctrine included oddly anachronistic pa.s.sages: "In battle, submarines may, through threat or actual attack, serve as the anvil against which own battle line may attack enemy battle line." Here was an injunction which sounds more relevant to Nelson's navy than Nimitz's. included oddly anachronistic pa.s.sages: "In battle, submarines may, through threat or actual attack, serve as the anvil against which own battle line may attack enemy battle line." Here was an injunction which sounds more relevant to Nelson's navy than Nimitz's. Doctrine Doctrine's foreword a.s.serted grudgingly: "During probable long periods before fleet action occurs, submarines may usefully be employed in the following tasks: (a) Patrol (including commerce destruction) (b) Scouting (c) Screening," and so on. Yet, while America's carrier-led surface forces turned the tide of the Pacific war at Midway and the Coral Sea, then progressively destroyed the j.a.panese fleet, it was the undersea flotillas which struck at the heart of j.a.pan's war-making capacity. If the U.S. Navy had addressed itself earlier in the war to systematic blockade, j.a.pan's collapse might have been significantly accelerated. As it was, only in 1944 did America's commerce campaign begin in earnest, after torpedo shortcomings had been belatedly addressed, and deployments were better directed.

This became the submarines' year of triumph. In 520 war patrols, 6,092 torpedoes were fired. The j.a.panese merchant fleet lost 212,907 tons of s.h.i.+pping in July; 245,348 in August; 181,363 in September. Sinkings declined to 103,836 tons in December, only because the enemy began to run out of s.h.i.+ps to attack. In 1944 as a whole, American submarines dispatched over 600 j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps, totalling 2.7 million tons-more than the combined totals for 1942 and 1943. j.a.pan's bulk imports fell by 40 percent. A hundred American submarines operated out of Pearl Harbor and advanced bases at Eniwetok, Majuro and Guam, a further forty from Australia. Pearl's boats worked patrol zones around j.a.pan and the Philippines with such nicknames as "Hit Parade," "Marus' Morgue" and "Convoy College." Fremantle-and Brisbane-based boats operated in the South China Sea and off the Netherlands East Indies.

Submariners complained that the navy library at Pearl would never lend its best movies to their boats, because these were either kept out for the sixty-day duration of a patrol, or never returned at all. In the course of the war, Germany lost 781 submarines, j.a.pan 128. By contrast, the j.a.panese navy sank only 41 American submarines, 18 percent of those which saw combat duty. Six more were lost accidentally on Pacific patrols. Even these relatively modest casualties meant that 22 percent of all American sailors who experienced submarine operations perished-375 officers and 3,131 enlisted men-the highest loss rate of any branch of the wartime U.S. armed forces. Yet there was never a shortage of volunteers for the submarine service, with its extraordinary pride and buccaneering spirit. It was not merely extra money-a 50 percent increase on base pay, matching the premium paid to aviators-which kept crews coming. It was their just conviction that they were an elite. It is a tribute to the quality of personnel that, by August 1945, almost half of all surviving enlisted men from the December 1941 U.S. submarine service had been commissioned.

The long pa.s.sage from home base to a patrol area, cruising on the surface at fifteen knots, was seldom hazardous, and gave crews a chance to shake down. A quarter of the eighty-odd sailors in a boat on each mission were newcomers, replacing experienced hands sent on leave, transferred to training duties or a.s.signed to new commissions. Freshmen had to master the delicate art of using submarine toilets inside a pressure hull: "It was hard to flush527 below a hundred feet and keep a clean face," wrote one. Even submariners sometimes got seasick, as did aviators whom they rescued. Overcrowding was worst in the early days of a patrol, because every square inch of s.p.a.ce, including sleeping s.p.a.ces and shower stalls, was crammed with supplies. Submarine food was famously the best in the navy, and some boats carried a baker as well as a cook. Crews needed every small indulgence that could be provided, to compensate for the discomforts of two months aboard a giant sealed cigar tube packed with machinery, fuel and explosives, dominated by the stench of the "three Fs"-Feet, Farts and Fannies. "We were essentially a steel bubble below a hundred feet and keep a clean face," wrote one. Even submariners sometimes got seasick, as did aviators whom they rescued. Overcrowding was worst in the early days of a patrol, because every square inch of s.p.a.ce, including sleeping s.p.a.ces and shower stalls, was crammed with supplies. Submarine food was famously the best in the navy, and some boats carried a baker as well as a cook. Crews needed every small indulgence that could be provided, to compensate for the discomforts of two months aboard a giant sealed cigar tube packed with machinery, fuel and explosives, dominated by the stench of the "three Fs"-Feet, Farts and Fannies. "We were essentially a steel bubble528, with only one small hole left for the furiously probing fingers of the sea-the conning tower hatch," in the words of a submarine officer.

Once they reached their appointed operational areas, boats awaited either radio intelligence of an enemy s.h.i.+pping movement, or a chance visual sighting. American submarines in the Pacific not only spent almost every night on the surface, but could also take risks in daylight. The j.a.panese never matched the Allies' formidable radar-equipped anti-submarine air forces. "We had almost disdain for the threat529 which aircraft posed for submarines," wrote an American captain. "This was more a mark of j.a.pan's inferiority in anti-submarine warfare, of her poor airborne electronics, than a tribute to our boldness." which aircraft posed for submarines," wrote an American captain. "This was more a mark of j.a.pan's inferiority in anti-submarine warfare, of her poor airborne electronics, than a tribute to our boldness."

j.a.panese pilot Masas.h.i.+ko Ando agreed. He flew anti-submarine patrols out of Cam Ranh Bay, Indochina. Only once in all their years of patrolling did his crew sight an American submarine. Flying at 6,000 feet off the coast of Indonesia one day in May 1945, they glimpsed a wake far below. As they descended, with intense excitement they identified a submarine proceeding heedless on the surface. They fell steeply from the sky behind it, closing fast until the conning-tower lookouts spotted them, leapt for the hatches, and began a crash dive. At 600 feet, Ando released his depth charge. Triumphantly, he and his crew watched a great spout of water ascend from the explosion point, close to where the submarine had disappeared. They flew home to report that they had achieved a sinking. Only after the war did they learn that the American vessel had suffered merely superficial damage. This was a characteristic experience for j.a.panese anti-submarine patrols.

On the boats, hour after hour, often day after day, lookouts scanned empty horizons, while in the hull the crew went about their domestic routines. Watchkeepers at the hydroplanes maintained trim, technicians performed maintenance, off-duty men played chess or cribbage, or more often slept. Even when there was no enemy in sight, conning a submarine was a relentlessly demanding activity, especially in shallow waters. Diving officers and planesmen ended their watches exhausted by the strain of maintaining the boat's delicate balance in swells or stiff currents. In the engine and battery compartments, amazing feats of improvisation were performed by electricians and engineers. When Pampanito Pampanito sprung a "squeaking leak" in her forward trim tank, two men made a hazardous entry into the tank. A third, an amateur diver, finally repaired the leak underwater using a face mask. Without such ingenuity, on a sixty-day patrol glitches and breakdowns were liable to render a boat toothless, or even doomed. sprung a "squeaking leak" in her forward trim tank, two men made a hazardous entry into the tank. A third, an amateur diver, finally repaired the leak underwater using a face mask. Without such ingenuity, on a sixty-day patrol glitches and breakdowns were liable to render a boat toothless, or even doomed.

Informality was the rule in all things save operational disciplines. Men manned their stations in shorts, affected beards if they chose. They ate when they could, or when they felt like it: submarines operated an "open icebox" policy. There was a little authorised drinking. Each boat was issued six bottles of medicinal alcohol, which one unpopular captain reserved for himself. Some crewmen smuggled liquor aboard, or made their own. Pampanito Pampanito suffered an engine-room fire when a raisin-jack still overturned. Most radio operators monitored the daily news transmitted in Morse by RCA, and compiled a s.h.i.+p's newspaper. Some captains imposed their own whimsical disciplines: for instance, Sam Dealey suffered an engine-room fire when a raisin-jack still overturned. Most radio operators monitored the daily news transmitted in Morse by RCA, and compiled a s.h.i.+p's newspaper. Some captains imposed their own whimsical disciplines: for instance, Sam Dealey530 of of Harder Harder prohibited pin-ups, and would allow no "dirty talk" among his crew. prohibited pin-ups, and would allow no "dirty talk" among his crew.

After hours or days of monotony and discomfort, routine would suddenly be interrupted by the heart-stopping moan of the klaxon, "Aa-oogah, aa-oo-gah," and the broadcast order: "Clear the bridge! Dive! Dive!" War is full of exclamation marks, and submariners experienced more of them than most. A sudden descent might be prompted by a sighting of an enemy aircraft, or a glimpse of funnel smoke. Since a submarine could move more swiftly than most convoys, it was normal procedure to shadow enemy merchant vessels until they could be engaged in darkness. Once night fell, it was often possible to attack on the surface, the preferred option. A submarine manoeuvred to achieve a position ahead of the target, which was tracked on the control-room TDC-Torpedo Data Computer, an early a.n.a.logue computer resembling a vertical pinball machine.

In a submerged attack, the captain bent over the periscope lens below the conning tower, while cl.u.s.ters of sweat-streaked figures watched their dials in the control room, calling off details of target and orders for the approach: "Angle on the bow, starboard thirty-five. Mark the range! Down periscope! All ahead two-thirds! Steer two six five." Submarine captains were taught: surprise is fundamental. Use the periscope as little as possible531, and remember that the higher your underwater speed, the more conspicuous a periscope's wake. Always pick a s.h.i.+p, rather than "firing into the brown" at a convoy or formation. Set a salvo of torpedoes to run in a spread which will cover 80 percent of a vessel's length. The straighter the firing angle, the better the chance of a hit. The bane of every attacking skipper was a target's sudden alteration of course, which was why every prudent surface s.h.i.+p zigzagged. So poor were j.a.panese sonar and radar, however, that it was rare for an escort to interrupt an attack before it was launched.

It was a curiosity of the war at sea that the j.a.panese, so often extravagantly bold, showed themselves far less aggressive submariners than the Americans. Many j.a.panese boats were diverted from attacking U.S. s.h.i.+ps to transporting supplies to beleaguered Pacific garrisons. The Imperial Navy had better torpedoes than the Americans, yet its operations against the USN were seldom better than halfhearted. By contrast, many of Nimitz's captains were tigers. America's submarine admirals had no patience with timidity. They sacked every captain who seemed to lack aggression, which meant those who came home without sinking s.h.i.+ps. In 1943, 25 out of 178 skippers were dismissed for the cardinal sin of "non-productivity." Even in 1944, 35 out of 250 were transferred out.

Crews held good commanders in deep respect. Radioman Artie Akers of Angelfish Angelfish wrote: "I don't believe that any officer in the armed forces has a more difficult a.s.signment than a good submarine commander." Few captains achieved more than two hours' consecutive sleep in operational areas. A patrol skipper had absolute responsibility for the key decisions of when, where and how to attack. Akers's first two commanding officers, pre-war Annapolis graduates, survived only one patrol apiece before being relieved. He wrote of the second: "This man seemed to know wrote: "I don't believe that any officer in the armed forces has a more difficult a.s.signment than a good submarine commander." Few captains achieved more than two hours' consecutive sleep in operational areas. A patrol skipper had absolute responsibility for the key decisions of when, where and how to attack. Akers's first two commanding officers, pre-war Annapolis graduates, survived only one patrol apiece before being relieved. He wrote of the second: "This man seemed to know532 how to attack. He did not seem to be scared. He simply would not attack." He held his submarine submerged and pa.s.sive, even when sonar indicated a tanker or freighter above-and was sacked on returning to Pearl. An excess of imagination was thought a handicap to good submarine commanders, as indeed it is to all successful warriors. how to attack. He did not seem to be scared. He simply would not attack." He held his submarine submerged and pa.s.sive, even when sonar indicated a tanker or freighter above-and was sacked on returning to Pearl. An excess of imagination was thought a handicap to good submarine commanders, as indeed it is to all successful warriors.

By 1944, many attacks were carried out by American wolfpacks, three or more boats working in concord. When this technique was first introduced, few captains relished the sacrifice of independence which it entailed. Yet once the j.a.panese abandoned lone sailings and dispatched almost all s.h.i.+ps in convoy, submariners recognised that group tactics, so skilfully exploited by the Germans since 1942, were the logical response. In the Pacific, Cmdr. George Donaho's pack eliminated 64,456 tons of enemy s.h.i.+pping during a single patrol in the autumn of 1944. Of this total, Spadefish Spadefish alone accounted for 26,812 tons, sinking three or four merchantmen from one convoy. alone accounted for 26,812 tons, sinking three or four merchantmen from one convoy.

A key factor in submarine operations, as in so much else, was the flood of information gathered by intelligence, through enemy signals decrypted at the magnificent Naval Joint Intelligence Center on Hawaii-"the Salt Mines," or "the Zoo," as it was known to its 1,800 staff. By 1944, working seven days a week, in three s.h.i.+fts around the clock, JICPOA was monitoring and translating a high proportion of key j.a.panese naval and military signal traffic. Most movements of enemy wars.h.i.+ps and merchantmen were known at Pearl within hours, and were pa.s.sed to American boats within range. The j.a.panese submarine I- I-29 provided a spectacular example of target tracking. In July 1944, U.S. signals intelligence located I- I-29, on the last leg of a long pa.s.sage from Germany carrying scientific instruments, moving from Singapore through the South China Sea. Three American submarines took up ambush positions, and I- I-29 was dispatched by Sawfish Sawfish. "It was an impersonal war533," wrote Cmdr. Pete Galantin, skipper of Halibut Halibut. "Naval warfare had evolved to the point that sailors no longer saw their enemy as people; they saw only the steel or aluminum vehicles in which their enemy sailed or flew, trying to bring their own weapons to bear...In war at sea, only rarely does one see the human flotsam marking the scene of battle: the oil-soaked survivor, the burned seaman, the scalded boiler tender, the drowned soldier."

After the surge as a salvo of torpedoes left the tubes, there was an agonising wait, an officer monitoring a stopwatch, until crews heard either the thud of distant explosions, the horrible sounds of a s.h.i.+p breaking up underwater, or the silence which indicated failure. By 1944, American submarines were sinking a s.h.i.+p for every ten torpedoes they fired. Old compressed-air types travelled at forty-five knots. Their Mark 18 electric successors were slower, but emitted no telltale streams of bubbles. Occasionally, the firing submarine experienced the nightmare of a "hot run," a live torpedo jammed in its tube, which demanded immense delicacy to unload.

When an attack went right, it was extraordinary how much havoc a single boat could wreak. For instance, on 8 January 1945, Barb Barb's Cmdr. Eugene "Lucky" Fluckey tracked a big convoy for five hours in the north Formosa Strait. After destroying several cargo s.h.i.+ps in his first attack, he hastened preparations for a second: "Can feel aggressiveness surging through my veins, since the escorts are more scared than we are," wrote Fluckey. "...Destroyer suddenly turned towards us!...Aggressiveness evaporated. a.s.sumed deep submergence at 140 feet." Barb Barb finally surfaced to launch a second salvo, with Fluckey on the bridge: "Three hits observed finally surfaced to launch a second salvo, with Fluckey on the bridge: "Three hits observed534, followed by a stupendous earth-shaking eruption. This far surpa.s.sed Hollywood, and was one of the biggest explosions of the war. The rarefaction following the first pressure wave was breathtaking. A high vacuum resulted in the boat. Personnel in the control room said they felt as if they were being sucked up the hatch." A little cl.u.s.ter of men on the bridge gazed at the carnage they had wreaked upon the j.a.panese: "We alternately gawked and ducked."

After an attack, a submarine either fled at full speed or, if in danger of being pinpointed by escorts, went deep. A destroyer could move at least fifteen knots faster than a submarine using its diesels on the surface, more against a submerged vessel dependent on electric motors. Submarine captains were told: never try to fight it out on the surface. A single manually trained deck gun was woefully inadequate against almost any j.a.panese wars.h.i.+p. The slightest hull damage could make it impossible to submerge. In September 1944, the surfaced Growler Growler launched torpedoes head-to-head with a j.a.panese destroyer attacking at full speed-the chanciest shot of all, because angles were so tight. Miraculously, the submarine scored a hit, and the j.a.panese wars.h.i.+p sank two hundred yards short of the American one. Navy opinion held that launched torpedoes head-to-head with a j.a.panese destroyer attacking at full speed-the chanciest shot of all, because angles were so tight. Miraculously, the submarine scored a hit, and the j.a.panese wars.h.i.+p sank two hundred yards short of the American one. Navy opinion held that Growler Growler's captain had taken a suicidal risk. If the "fish" had missed, his boat would have been rammed seconds later.

Being depth-charged was a terrifying experience for all those who experienced it, hearing detonations unleashed by wars.h.i.+ps which might spend hours groping for their unseen victim. The j.a.panese, however, never addressed the critical issue, that of throwing charges in geometrically schemed patterns. An American boat would seek refuge far beneath the surface, if possible in a friendly thermal which deflected sonar signals, with all non-essential equipment closed down to reduce the submarine's sound profile. Without air-conditioners, the atmosphere in the hull grew relentlessly more foul. Perspiration poured down men's bodies. Under attack, more than anything Pete Galantin found himself craving a cold shower.

A pattern of charges sent dull thuds echoing through the boat: brr-oomp, brr-oomp, brr-oomp brr-oomp, brr-oomp, brr-oomp. The radioman of Angelfish Angelfish, Artie Akers, recorded that during ten war patrols he was depth-charged forty times, albeit sometimes briefly. When obliged to stay deep for long periods, crews scattered air-purifying powder on bunks, a feeble means of mitigating the stench. Vice-Admiral Charles Lockwood535, submarine commander at Pearl, was enraged by a government official's indiscretion to the press in 1943, a.s.serting that American boats cared nothing for j.a.panese depth-charging, because the enemy always used shallow settings, which exploded above their quarry. Thereafter, claimed Lockwood, the j.a.panese began to detonate charges deeper, and sank more boats.

Under depth-charging, which often continued for hours, submariners envisaged with hideous clarity the implosion of their frail hull, the crus.h.i.+ng of the thin steel that held out the ocean. The father of a newly joined Halibut Halibut officer had once visited the boat at San Francisco, and observed sagely that he thought "submarine duty would be a good experience for a young man." A few weeks later, as chlorine gas leaked through the boat during a depth-charge attack, the young man wryly repeated his parent's words to the control room. Pete Galantin wrote: "Heads ached officer had once visited the boat at San Francisco, and observed sagely that he thought "submarine duty would be a good experience for a young man." A few weeks later, as chlorine gas leaked through the boat during a depth-charge attack, the young man wryly repeated his parent's words to the control room. Pete Galantin wrote: "Heads ached536, lungs burned, and eyes smarted from the hours trapped in stagnant, foul air." Men sniffed for the scent of burning insulation in the vital electrical control cubicle, sought to guard against leaks of oil or air from the hull which might provide deadly clues for the enemy. When a depth charge exploded nearby, the shock rendered a boat's interior a shambles of falling cork, loose gear, sprung pipes, with oil or water spurting forth until leaks could be staunched.

If a charge came closer than that, there was simply a devastating crash as the hull burst open, the sea surged in, and the crew experienced a few seconds of horror before oblivion overtook them. The crews of stricken submarines were seldom granted an opportunity to escape. When they were, some declined to take it. In a legendary 1943 episode, Cmdr. John Cromwell refused to quit his boat, Sculpin Sculpin, lying fatally damaged on the surface. A second officer, Ensign Fiedler, sat down at the wardroom table and began to lay out a solitaire hand. In a manner a j.a.panese would have respected, Cromwell told s.h.i.+pmates: "I can't go with you. I know too much." As the boat foundered, forty-two others from Sculpin Sculpin were picked up by an enemy destroyer. Most of those men survived the war as prisoners, but others were less fortunate. Four submariners who swam from a sinking boat to reach the sh.o.r.e at Robaloto in the Philippines were summarily executed by their j.a.panese captors. were picked up by an enemy destroyer. Most of those men survived the war as prisoners, but others were less fortunate. Four submariners who swam from a sinking boat to reach the sh.o.r.e at Robaloto in the Philippines were summarily executed by their j.a.panese captors.

As always in war, luck was a decisive factor in submariners' survival. William Soczek served nine Pacific patrols, first as fire controlman, then as chief of boat on Growler Growler, before being transferred ash.o.r.e. Growler Growler was lost soon after. A seaman on was lost soon after. A seaman on Trout Trout became due for Stateside leave. When he received a letter from his wife demanding a divorce, however, he chose to stay with the boat-and perished when it was sunk on its next patrol. became due for Stateside leave. When he received a letter from his wife demanding a divorce, however, he chose to stay with the boat-and perished when it was sunk on its next patrol. Seawolf Seawolf, one of the most famous and successful of all U.S. submarines, was lost with all hands on 3 October 1944, after an attack by an American destroyer.

The overwhelming majority of submarines sunk met their fates west of the Philippines or around j.a.pan, in the sea-lanes where they engaged s.h.i.+pping. Retribution by enemy escorts was not the only hazard crews faced. On 31 October 1944 off western Luzon, Guitarro Guitarro torpedoed an ammunition s.h.i.+p "which must have gone in the air almost as far as Manila." Nineteen hundred yards away, the submarine was hurled aside by blast and driven fifty feet underwater, with vents springing and fuel oil spraying through the boat's working s.p.a.ces. Several boats were sunk in the same fas.h.i.+on as torpedoed an ammunition s.h.i.+p "which must have gone in the air almost as far as Manila." Nineteen hundred yards away, the submarine was hurled aside by blast and driven fifty feet underwater, with vents springing and fuel oil spraying through the boat's working s.p.a.ces. Several boats were sunk in the same fas.h.i.+on as Seawolf Seawolf, by "friendly fire" from U.S. s.h.i.+ps or aircraft. Some grounded in shallow water, as did Darter Darter following its triumph against Kurita's fleet during the Leyte Gulf battle. The boat was scuttled after its crew was rescued by following its triumph against Kurita's fleet during the Leyte Gulf battle. The boat was scuttled after its crew was rescued by Dace Dace. Others experienced horrors in minefields. Manuel Mendez of Pampanito Pampanito said: "Many will tell you that depth-charging said: "Many will tell you that depth-charging537 is the most frightening experience, but unless you have found yourself submerged in a minefield and heard the cable lines sc.r.a.ping along the hull, you haven't lived." is the most frightening experience, but unless you have found yourself submerged in a minefield and heard the cable lines sc.r.a.ping along the hull, you haven't lived." Harder Harder, commanded by the legendary Texan Sam Dealey, was sunk by a j.a.panese patrol boat on 24 August 1944, after sinking sixteen j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps totalling 54,000 tons. The fate of some lost boats was never known.

Salmon defied the odds off Kyushu on the night of 30 October 1944, and miraculously survived. After torpedoing a tanker, the submarine was crippled by depth charges, and descended five hundred feet before her dive could be checked. The captain decided the boat must take its chance on the surface. At first they found the surrounding sea empty, the nearest enemy vessel 7,000 yards away. The submarine's crew worked furiously in the darkness to plug holes and pump the bilges. After almost four hours, an enemy frigate approached. defied the odds off Kyushu on the night of 30 October 1944, and miraculously survived. After torpedoing a tanker, the submarine was crippled by depth charges, and descended five hundred feet before her dive could be checked. The captain decided the boat must take its chance on the surface. At first they found the surrounding sea empty, the nearest enemy vessel 7,000 yards away. The submarine's crew worked furiously in the darkness to plug holes and pump the bilges. After almost four hours, an enemy frigate approached. Salmon Salmon raked the j.a.panese with fire from its deck gun before escaping into a rain squall. Having radioed for aid, with the help of nearby sister boats and air cover, the submarine eventually reached Saipan. raked the j.a.panese with fire from its deck gun before escaping into a rain squall. Having radioed for aid, with the help of nearby sister boats and air cover, the submarine eventually reached Saipan.

A TRAGIC TRAGIC side effect of the submarine war was that it cost the lives of around 10,000 Allied prisoners, indeed perhaps as many as one-third of all those who perished in captivity. Nimitz's captains had no means of identifying transports carrying POWs, on pa.s.sage to become slave labourers in the j.a.panese home islands, though in the latter part of the war Magic decrypts did indicate that certain convoys were carrying prisoners. The U.S. Navy adopted a ruthless view, that destruction of the enemy must take priority over any attempt to safeguard POW lives. It is hard to see how commanders could have done otherwise: if the j.a.panese had perceived that prison s.h.i.+ps were spared, they would certainly have started to carry Allied personnel as hostages. Most of the hapless victims simply vanished, their fates unknown to their attackers. In a few cases, however, there were survivors to tell terrible stories. The j.a.panese guard commander on the old tramp side effect of the submarine war was that it cost the lives of around 10,000 Allied prisoners, indeed perhaps as many as one-third of all those who perished in captivity. Nimitz's captains had no means of identifying transports carrying POWs, on pa.s.sage to become slave labourers in the j.a.panese home islands, though in the latter part of the war Magic decrypts did indicate that certain convoys were carrying prisoners. The U.S. Navy adopted a ruthless view, that destruction of the enemy must take priority over any attempt to safeguard POW lives. It is hard to see how commanders could have done otherwise: if the j.a.panese had perceived that prison s.h.i.+ps were spared, they would certainly have started to carry Allied personnel as hostages. Most of the hapless victims simply vanished, their fates unknown to their attackers. In a few cases, however, there were survivors to tell terrible stories. The j.a.panese guard commander on the old tramp s.h.i.+n'yo Maru s.h.i.+n'yo Maru told prisoners being transported from Mindanao that if the s.h.i.+p was attacked, he would kill them all. On 7 September 1944, told prisoners being transported from Mindanao that if the s.h.i.+p was attacked, he would kill them all. On 7 September 1944, s.h.i.+n'yo Maru s.h.i.+n'yo Maru was indeed sunk by the submarine was indeed sunk by the submarine Paddle Paddle. As promised, guards mowed down all those who tried to flee the wreck. Some twenty POWs were mistakenly rescued by j.a.panese craft picking up their own people, but when the prisoners were taken aboard another vessel, each in turn was shot. One man jumped overboard and got ash.o.r.e on Mindanao, as did a handful of others from the wreck, who were cared for by local people until picked up by Narwhal Narwhal.

Two 10,000-ton freighters were carrying 1,800 British and 718 Australian POWs in a convoy from Singapore when one was sunk by the submarine Sealion Sealion on 12 September 1944. On the sinking vessel and in the water afterwards, some prisoners seized the opportunity to kill such j.a.panese as they could lay hands on. Their behaviour was shown to be prescient when j.a.panese escorts returned to pick up their own survivors, abandoning the prisoners to drown. "Gentlemen, I am sorry," a j.a.panese officer told his desperate neighbours in the water before he himself accepted rescue. "This is the way of my people. May you be spared." Next night, on 12 September 1944. On the sinking vessel and in the water afterwards, some prisoners seized the opportunity to kill such j.a.panese as they could lay hands on. Their behaviour was shown to be prescient when j.a.panese escorts returned to pick up their own survivors, abandoning the prisoners to drown. "Gentlemen, I am sorry," a j.a.panese officer told his desperate neighbours in the water before he himself accepted rescue. "This is the way of my people. May you be spared." Next night, Pampanito Pampanito sank a tanker and the second freighter. Six hundred more prisoners were left in the sea, dying in scores by the hour. An Australian was deeply moved to hear a cl.u.s.ter of British feebly singing "Rule, Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!" as they waited their turn to perish. sank a tanker and the second freighter. Six hundred more prisoners were left in the sea, dying in scores by the hour. An Australian was deeply moved to hear a cl.u.s.ter of British feebly singing "Rule, Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!" as they waited their turn to perish.

Three nights later, Pampanito Pampanito returned to the area, and glimpsed a cl.u.s.ter of men on a raft. a.s.suming they were j.a.panese, the boat closed in to collect a sample captive for intelligence purposes. Confronted instead by Allied prisoners in the most desperate state, the Americans picked up seventy-three, radioed returned to the area, and glimpsed a cl.u.s.ter of men on a raft. a.s.suming they were j.a.panese, the boat closed in to collect a sample captive for intelligence purposes. Confronted instead by Allied prisoners in the most desperate state, the Americans picked up seventy-three, radioed Sealion Sealion to join the rescue, and headed for Saipan: "It was heartbreaking to leave so many dying men behind," said the skipper. Thirty-two more POWs were recovered by the second submarine, of whom seven died on the pa.s.sage to Saipan. The oddest feature of these rescue operations was that the U.S. submarines made no attempt to provide food or water for the men whom they were obliged to leave in the sea. Perhaps it was thought that quick deaths were more merciful. Of 1,518 prisoners who left Singapore, just 159 survived. It is hard to regard the POWs' fate as anything save a tragedy of war, compounded by the customary inhumanity of the j.a.panese. to join the rescue, and headed for Saipan: "It was heartbreaking to leave so many dying men behind," said the skipper. Thirty-two more POWs were recovered by the second submarine, of whom seven died on the pa.s.sage to Saipan. The oddest feature of these rescue operations was that the U.S. submarines made no attempt to provide food or water for the men whom they were obliged to leave in the sea. Perhaps it was thought that quick deaths were more merciful. Of 1,518 prisoners who left Singapore, just 159 survived. It is hard to regard the POWs' fate as anything save a tragedy of war, compounded by the customary inhumanity of the j.a.panese.

GOING HOME at the end of a patrol, most submarine captains allowed their tired, pallid crews to sunbathe on deck. At Pearl, the much-beloved Admiral Lockwood, "Prince Charley," personally greeted each of the boats under his command when it returned from patrol, while a band on the dockside played "Happy Days Are Here Again." Crews clambered a little unsteadily ash.o.r.e. After something between five and ten Pacific war patrols, most of those who survived were transferred to less demanding Atlantic postings, or to sh.o.r.e jobs. Those who landed at Pearl and were destined to sail again retired to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikiki Beach for R and R. After a week or two ash.o.r.e, replenishment and maintenance, they went back to do it all again. at the end of a patrol, most submarine captains allowed their tired, pallid crews to sunbathe on deck. At Pearl, the much-beloved Admiral Lockwood, "Prince Charley," personally greeted each of the boats under his command when it returned from patrol, while a band on the dockside played "Happy Days Are Here Again." Crews clambered a little unsteadily ash.o.r.e. After something between five and ten Pacific war patrols, most of those who survived were transferred to less demanding Atlantic postings, or to sh.o.r.e jobs. Those who landed at Pearl and were destined to sail again retired to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikiki Beach for R and R. After a week or two ash.o.r.e, replenishment and maintenance, they went back to do it all again.

"By the fall of 1944538," wrote Cmdr. Pete Galantin, "the mood in headquarters at Pearl was almost euphoric." In November, patrol skippers found the supply of targets shrinking, but submarines continued to wreak devastation upon such s.h.i.+ps as they met. On the sixth, a four-boat wolfpack attacked the heavy cruiser k.u.mano k.u.mano, escorting a convoy to j.a.pan. Guitarro Guitarro fired nine torpedoes and scored three hits. Two further torpedoes from fired nine torpedoes and scored three hits. Two further torpedoes from Bream Bream exploded against the cruiser's hull, as did three more from other submarines. The big s.h.i.+p was able to beach herself on Luzon, where she was finished off by carrier aircraft three weeks later. On 15 November, a wolfpack led by Cmdr. Charles Loughlin of exploded against the cruiser's hull, as did three more from other submarines. The big s.h.i.+p was able to beach herself on Luzon, where she was finished off by carrier aircraft three weeks later. On 15 November, a wolfpack led by Cmdr. Charles Loughlin of Queenfish Queenfish attacked a convoy transporting the j.a.panese 23rd Division from Manchuria to Luzon. One s.h.i.+p, carrying two battalions and the divisional artillery, was immediately sunk. Two days later, Loughlin's group again caught the same convoy in the Yellow Sea, sinking a second transport and damaging a tanker. Shortly afterwards, attacked a convoy transporting the j.a.panese 23rd Division from Manchuria to Luzon. One s.h.i.+p, carrying two battalions and the divisional artillery, was immediately sunk. Two days later, Loughlin's group again caught the same convoy in the Yellow Sea, sinking a second transport and damaging a tanker. Shortly afterwards, Spadefish Spadefish hit an escort carrier, the 21,000-ton hit an escort carrier, the 21,000-ton Jinyo Jinyo, and watched her planes slide into the sea as she listed and foundered.

On 21 November, Sealion Sealion sank the battles.h.i.+p sank the battles.h.i.+p Kongo Kongo with a single torpedo hit. with a single torpedo hit. Archerfish Archerfish was on lifeguard duty a hundred miles south of Tokyo Bay, when she was released for attack operations because no air force sorties were scheduled. The submarine promptly sighted and sank the aircraft carrier was on lifeguard duty a hundred miles south of Tokyo Bay, when she was released for attack operations because no air force sorties were scheduled. The submarine promptly sighted and sank the aircraft carrier s.h.i.+nano s.h.i.+nano, a 59,000-ton converted battles.h.i.+p-of the same cla.s.s as Yamato Yamato and and Musas.h.i.+- Musas.h.i.+-which had been commissioned only ten days earlier. The most successful of all Pacific submarines was Flasher Flasher, which achieved twenty-one sinkings, totalling over 100,000 tons. On its fifth war patrol in December 1944, it accounted for four tankers and two destroyers between the Philippines and Indochina. Each carried 100,000 barrels of oil. Only 300,000 barrels finally reached j.a.pan that month. Thus, this one action by Flasher Flasher cut December's j.a.panese oil imports by two-thirds. On the same patrol, off Indochina on the night of 22 December, the submarine dispatched three more tankers. Such was the extraordinary impact of blockade. cut December's j.a.panese oil imports by two-thirds. On the same patrol, off Indochina on the night of 22 December, the submarine dispatched three more tankers. Such was the extraordinary impact of blockade.

Yet the campaign was now tailing off. This was not due to any decline in the intensity of submarine effort, but because the j.a.panese merchant fleet had shrunk so dramatically. j.a.pan's commanders were unwilling to expose their remaining tonnage on suicidal deep-sea pa.s.sages. "It had become an aviator's539 not a submariner's war," said Cmdr. Pete Galantin. The submarines had almost completed the isolation of j.a.pan's home islands from her shrinking empire. Undersea craft could not operate in the shallow waters of the Yellow Sea and the Sea of j.a.pan. Long-range Liberators and carrier aircraft took over the task of attacking j.a.panese s.h.i.+pping beyond reach of the submarines. The USAAF devoted only a small number of B-29 sorties to mining j.a.panese insh.o.r.e waters, but these made an extraordinary impact. January 1945 became the first month for more than two years in which American planes sank more j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps than did submarines. not a submariner's war," said Cmdr. Pete Galantin. The submarines had almost completed the isolation of j.a.pan's home islands from her shrinking empire. Undersea craft could not operate in the shallow waters of the Yellow Sea and the Sea of j.a.pan. Long-range Liberators and carrier aircraft took over the task of attacking j.a.panese s.h.i.+pping beyond reach of the submarines. The USAAF devoted only a small number of B-29 sorties to mining j.a.panese insh.o.r.e waters, but these made an extraordinary impact. January 1945 became the first month for more than two years in which American planes sank more j.a.panese s.h.i.+ps than did submarines.

It was the strong opinion of submarine officers that in the last months of the war the carrier armadas devoted excessive attention to impotent or immobilised j.a.panese wars.h.i.+ps, when they could more usefully have completed the destruction of the enemy's merchant fleet. Here was the U.S. Navy's old problem-an instinctive perception of a battle fleet as the foremost objective of any das.h.i.+ng commander, rather than dirty old coasters and tramp steamers, plying their frightened courses around the sh.o.r.es of j.a.pan.

The Imperial Navy now lacked ability to influence the course of the war. The duration of j.a.pan's resistance would be far more importantly affected by deprivation of fuel, food and raw materials. Only 4 percent of American naval air sorties were directed against merchant s.h.i.+pping, yet these destroyed 16 percent of j.a.panese merchant tonnage-an average of just nine sorties and four tons of bombs per thousand tons sunk. If American carriers had cruised south of Java and Sumatra, they might have achieved extraordinary results. That they did not do so reflected the preoccupation of Nimitz's commanders with engaging enemy wars.h.i.+ps and-in the last months of the war-hitting the j.a.panese home islands. It does not diminish the extraordinary wartime achievement of the U.S. Navy to a.s.sert that some of its admirals should have studied economics as well as tactics.

There were never more than fifty boats on operational duty in the Pacific at any one moment, of which twenty-two were on pa.s.sage to or from their patrol areas. By comparison, the German navy at its zenith deployed over a hundred U-boats, and achieved peak sinkings in November 1942 of 636,907 tons of Allied s.h.i.+pping-106 vessels. This was far higher than the best American performan