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The war in the Pacific during World War II, to this day, raises heroic images of Marines storming the seawall at Tarawa or Dauntlesses pushing over against the Japanese carriers at Midway. Few would state that American submarines were decisive in that effort. Yet not only were the submarines a decisive element, the argument can be made that they were the decisive element. Simply stated, Japan, as an overpopulated island nation, went to war when its imports of vital resources were threatened. She made war with the aim of assuring the continued flow of those imports and iost the war when the ships carrying those imports were rotting on the ocean floor. Postwar analysis revealed that it was impending starvation that brought Japan to her knees, with the atomic bomb providing impetus. Contrary to popular belief the island-hopping campaigns of MacArthur and Nimitz and the firebombing of Japan's cities didn't critically affect her will or ability to resist.
If the loss of the shipping war doomed Japan, it was the American sub that won the war. Of the nearly 10 million tons of Japanese naval and merchant shipping lost during the war, US submarines accounted for over 54%. Yet the Submarine Force never comprised more than 1.6% of naval personnel. Had persistent technical and tactical problems not dogged the Submarine Force through most of the war, that score might well have been higher. Under any circumstances, this remarkable performance deserves the recognition it has long been denied.

Название: US Subs in Action (Warships 4002)
Автор: Robert C. Stern
Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications
Год издания: 1983
ISBN: 0897470850
Страниц: 51 Pages
Язык: english
Формат: PDF
Размер: 32 MB