[TorpX]

Originally Posted by Able Brown

Raiding harbors did happen, so I don't see it as entirely unrealistic.

The USS Barb (SS-220) under Capt. (later Admiral) Fluckey once did it, escaping in broad daylight.

Yes, it happened, but it was at night, and it was not a heavily protected anchorage. At least not in the usual sense.

The reason the Japanese ships were there was that they were moving convoys along the China coast, but realising they could not protect them from night-time sub attacks, they moved during the day, close to shore, and turned into one of several anchorages at a night. Fluckey guessed that they were sheltering at night, along the coast somewhere and made an effort to ferret them out. It wasn't in the nature of trying to raid Truk or Tokyo.