Japan Never Saw It Coming — American Submarines STARVED Them From Below
WW2 Last Stand
1,353 views
From the sinking of Shinano in November 1944 to the final isolation of Japan, American submarines turned darkness, patience, and torpedoes into a war-winning blockade. This documentary follows the commanders and crews who severed Japan's supply lines without an amphibious invasion.
The story begins on November 28, 1944, when Commander Joseph Enright and USS Archerfish pursued and sank the giant carrier Shinano off Honshu. It then returns to the crisis after Pearl Harbor, when Admirals Thomas Hart and Charles Lockwood faced Japanese expansion and the disastrous Mark Fourteen torpedo failures. By 1943, Dudley Morton and Richard O'Kane were using aggressive surface tactics aboard USS Wahoo against shipping near Korea and in the Sea of Japan. The documentary follows Lawson Ramage in USS Parche, Eugene Fluckey in USS Barb, and Samuel Dealey in USS Harder as coordinated attacks crippled convoys, escorts, and oil shipments. In 1944 and 1945, George Street and Lockwood's submarine force carried the blockade into shallow coastal waters, while Barb's crew attacked a railway on Karafuto. The story concludes with Japan isolated, its military immobilized, and the surrender aboard USS Missouri in September 1945.
The submarine campaign cut Japan off from the oil, food, iron, rubber, and other raw materials needed to keep its military and industry operating. By the end of the war, Japan's merchant fleet and vital sea lanes had been devastated, helping bring the conflict to an end without an invasion of the home islands.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Archerfish Hunts Shinano
04:59 The Mark Fourteen Failure
08:44 Morton and Wahoo Break Doctrine
13:17 Convoy College and the Wolfpacks
19:23 Destroying Escorts and Oil
24:16 The South China Sea Chokehold
28:40 The Siege Reaches Japan
32:36 Surrender in Tokyo Bay
Which submarine commander or tactic do you think had the greatest effect on Japan's collapse?
Archival photographs and film: U.S. Navy, U.S. National Archives, Naval History and Heritage Command, Wikimedia Commons and Internet Archive (public domain).
Narration voice and thumbnail artwork are AI-generated.
#WW2 #Submarines #NavalHistory
Japan Never Saw It Coming — American Submarines STARVED Them From Below
WW2 Last Stand
1,353 views
From the sinking of Shinano in November 1944 to the final isolation of Japan, American submarines turned darkness, patience, and torpedoes into a war-winning blockade. This documentary follows the commanders and crews who severed Japan's supply lines without an amphibious invasion.
The story begins on November 28, 1944, when Commander Joseph Enright and USS Archerfish pursued and sank the giant carrier Shinano off Honshu. It then returns to the crisis after Pearl Harbor, when Admirals Thomas Hart and Charles Lockwood faced Japanese expansion and the disastrous Mark Fourteen torpedo failures. By 1943, Dudley Morton and Richard O'Kane were using aggressive surface tactics aboard USS Wahoo against shipping near Korea and in the Sea of Japan. The documentary follows Lawson Ramage in USS Parche, Eugene Fluckey in USS Barb, and Samuel Dealey in USS Harder as coordinated attacks crippled convoys, escorts, and oil shipments. In 1944 and 1945, George Street and Lockwood's submarine force carried the blockade into shallow coastal waters, while Barb's crew attacked a railway on Karafuto. The story concludes with Japan isolated, its military immobilized, and the surrender aboard USS Missouri in September 1945.
The submarine campaign cut Japan off from the oil, food, iron, rubber, and other raw materials needed to keep its military and industry operating. By the end of the war, Japan's merchant fleet and vital sea lanes had been devastated, helping bring the conflict to an end without an invasion of the home islands.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Archerfish Hunts Shinano
04:59 The Mark Fourteen Failure
08:44 Morton and Wahoo Break Doctrine
13:17 Convoy College and the Wolfpacks
19:23 Destroying Escorts and Oil
24:16 The South China Sea Chokehold
28:40 The Siege Reaches Japan
32:36 Surrender in Tokyo Bay
Which submarine commander or tactic do you think had the greatest effect on Japan's collapse?
Archival photographs and film: U.S. Navy, U.S. National Archives, Naval History and Heritage Command, Wikimedia Commons and Internet Archive (public domain).
Narration voice and thumbnail artwork are AI-generated.
#WW2 #Submarines #NavalHistory