[cdrsubron7]

Originally Posted by max-peck

And I just finish here with this quote from Historynet

What must never be forgotten is the fact that just over 50 years ago, submariners were forced to engage the enemy for 18 months with ordnance that proved to be at least 70 percent unreliable.
Often, Japanese merchantmen would enter port with unexploded Mark XIV torpedoes thrust into their hulls.
Despite the problems with ordnance, American submariners, a mere two percent of U.S. naval personnel, sank more than 1,178 merchant vessels and 214 warships, totalling more than 5,600,000 tons.
They sacrificed 52 submarines, 374 officers and 3,131 enlisted men from their close-knit ranks.
The Silent Service suffered 40 percent of all naval casualties in the Pacific, yet managed to destroy 55 percent of all Japanese ships.
American submarines succeeded where the Germans had twice failed–in the systematic and complete blockade of an island nation.

One can only speculate as to the war’s outcome had there been reliable torpedoes available from the onset.
As for the American submarine campaign against Japan, we must always honor its sacrifices, take pride in its accomplishments and continue to learn from its mistakes–mistakes that fostered a scandal described by Clay Blair, Jr., as ‘the worst in the history of any kind of warfare.’

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