But the full story remained concealed because JANAC and the other sources from which Blair and others worked rarely included figures on losses among the ship’s crews or human cargo-predominantly Japanese troops. Submarine War Against Japan, mentioned instances in which many Japanese soldiers perished in some of those sinkings. Of that, submarines contributed a huge part, accounting for 201 naval vessels (540,192 tons) and 1,113 merchant vessels (4,779,902 tons)-or about 33 percent of naval vessels by number and 30 percent by tonnage, and 52.5 percent of merchant vessels by number and 60 percent by tonnage.įor decades, published histories, notably Clay Blair’s monumental 1975 work Silent Victory: The U.S. ![]() By JANAC calculations, American forces sank 611 Japanese naval vessels, totaling 1,822,210 tons and 2,117 merchant vessels, of 7,913,858 tons. Despite some gaps in the study-it was limited to merchant vessels over 500 tons, for example, and missed some larger vessels-the assessment still serves as a sturdy reference point. Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) studied the causes behind the loss of Japanese naval and merchant vessels. submarines’ performance emerged shortly after the war, when the U.S. Why this contribution remained obscured for so long is an intriguing storyin itself that requires some background. The grand total may prove to be higher still. Army did in the central Pacific drive from Tarawa in November 1943 to Iwo Jima in February–March 1945. Indeed, American undersea craft killed at least 97,342 Japanese soldiers-more than the Marine Corps and the U.S. Simply stated, the contribution of American submarines in the Pacific War was far greater than previously recognized. ![]() IT’S A STORY more than 75 years old, but revealed in detail here for the first time. American Subs Were a Far More Lethal Force in the Pacific War Than Previously Known Close
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