American Submarines in the Pacific

In this episode, James and Scott take a break from the narrative of battles to take a deep dive (pun intended!) into the topic of American submarines in the Pacific War. Due to technical problems, early submarine torpedoes seldom destroyed their targets. By mid-1944, however, these problems had largely been solved, with devastating results for Japanese merchant vessels. From then on, US submarines destroyed 200,000 tons of Japanese shipping per month and were threatening Japan’s war industries. According to historian Max Hastings, “No other combatant force as small as the U. S. Navy’s submarine flotillas and their 16,000 men achieved a comparable impact upon the war anywhere in the world.” Join James and Scott as they discuss the fascinating world of submarines.