On the naval battlefield, destroyers and submarines are a rival between you and each other, especially during world war II, when the contest between the two reached its peak, when anti-submarine was already one of the basic tasks of destroyers, and the destroyers of various navies were equipped with anti-submarine weapons, and because they enjoyed mobility advantages, destroyers often had the upper hand in duels.
Although submarines can use underwater concealment to evade destroyer attacks and even counterattack, in most cases they will try to avoid confronting destroyers head-on.
However, in the Pacific Theater, this confrontation situation was reversed, and the Japanese destroyers, which were supposed to be anti-submarine hunters, were repeatedly preyed upon by U.S. submarines, and by the end of the war, the priority of destroyers was higher than that of merchant ships on the list of targets of U.S. submarines.
During the war, more than 30 Japanese destroyers were sunk by U.S. submarines, while only 7 U.S. submarines were destroyed by Japanese destroyers! This exchange ratio is also unique in the history of anti-submarine warfare, and the reason is the weak anti-submarine capability of japanese destroyers.
Why is the daily drive anti-submarine poor
Heavy lightning artillery warfare, light air defense and anti-submarine warfare, this is already the inherent impression of military fans on the Destroyers of the Japanese Fleet in World War II, this strong and weak technical characteristics are determined by the Offensive Thinking and Decisive Battle Ideas that have been solidified by the Japanese Navy since the Meiji era, but this does not mean that the Japanese will ignore the threat of submarines, but they will put anti-submarine in a secondary position in the destroyer combat mission.
Technically speaking, the Japanese Navy destroyers, like the destroyers of other countries in the same period, have the potential to become excellent anti-submarine platforms, they have high speed, good range and powerful naval gun firepower, which are deadly to any submarine that floats, and are equipped with Japan's best sonar equipment and anti-submarine weapons, thus having basic anti-submarine capabilities.
The Japanese destroyers performed poorly in anti-submarine warfare for two reasons: first, they neglected to train anti-submarine tactics; second, anti-submarine armament performance was insufficient.
■ Japanese Navy destroyers who conducted formation maneuver and artillery training before the war.
The number one task of the Japanese Navy destroyers was naturally to launch a torpedo assault on the main American fleet in the envisaged fleet showdown, so lightning strike tactics, night tactics, and artillery warfare tactics accounted for a high proportion of the destroyer's training subjects.
Relatively smaller proportions of anti-submarine tactical exercises as secondary missions, and the purpose of such training is first and foremost to ensure the safety of one's own capital ships in the fleet, while the protection of sea lines of communication and merchant fleets is far from a priority in the eyes of the staff of the Naval Command.
After the outbreak of war, the Japanese destroyers were exhausted on a wide front, undertaking heavy combat tasks, and even engaged in fire line transport operations as the "Tokyo Express", and the continuous war damage led to a decline in the number of available ships and a large number of casualties among skilled sailors, which further compressed the training time of the Japanese destroyers, making the already low level of anti-submarine technology and tactics even more low, even the "Snow Wind", a lucky ship that retained more skilled sailors, performed quite poorly in anti-submarine escort operations. The "Shinano" aircraft carrier was tragically sunk by the US submarine under the eyes of the "Snow Wind".
■ A model of the Japanese Navy's destroyer "Snow Wind" is covered, and the sinking aircraft carrier "Shinano" can be seen in the background by the torpedo of the US submarine.
Deep bombs were the only weapons of Japanese destroyers against underwater submarines, the most common deep-shell delivery device was the stern rail, in addition to being equipped with deep-shell throwers, including the Type 94 projectile launched to two sides and the type Bayi projectile launched from a single port, equivalent to the Y guns and K guns on Allied anti-submarine ships, of which the type 94 had a maximum range of 105 meters, but there was no forward-firing anti-submarine weapon similar to the "hedgehog gun".
During World War II, the standard deep bomb of the Japanese army was the 95-type deep bomb and the type II deep bomb, compared with the similar weapons of the United Kingdom and the United States, the Japanese-made deep bomb had the defect of small charge, low settlement rate and shallow depth, the early type 95 deep bomb charge was only 100 kg, the settlement rate was 1.9 m / s, the maximum detonation depth was 90 meters, and most of the US submarines could dive below 90 meters, successfully dodging the Japanese deep bomb attack, and the improved type II deep bomb increased the detonation depth to 145 meters, but the charge was less. The problem of slow settling has not changed much.
In addition, the Japanese destroyers carried a small amount of deep bombs, usually around 30 pieces, limiting their ability to carry out intensive attacks on suspicious target areas and affecting the continuity of anti-submarine operations.
■ A reconstruction of the Japanese Navy's Type 94 deep-bomb projectile, which can fire deep-shells at both sides.
In addition to poor deep elasticity, the Japanese Navy's sonar equipment also has mediocre performance. The Japanese destroyers were equipped with passive sonar for the Type 93 hydrophone, which could capture a minimum of 35 decibels of sound signals, and the detection distance under normal conditions was only 900 meters!
The active sonar of the Japanese army includes the 93rd and 3rd type of finders, the theoretical maximum detection distance is 5900 meters, the positioning accuracy is 3 degrees, but under actual combat conditions, affected by background noise and the navigation state of the ship, the actual detection distance is much lower than the theoretical value, the Japanese report shows that when the anti-submarine ship sails at 14 knots, the probe can only capture underwater targets within 1800 meters. The late-stage sonar improved by using German technology has improved the positioning accuracy, but the detection distance has not improved.
Mountain clouds are alert to shark tracks
Although the anti-submarine capability of Japanese destroyers is recognized as poor, it is still a real threat to American submarines, and if Japanese destroyers are alert enough and can grasp the timing in some specific battles, they can still cause enough damage to American submarines and even sink their opponents. In the Pacific War, Japanese destroyers sank seven U.S. submarines, and the november 1943 sinking of the U.S. submarine "Dufuyu" by the destroyer "Shanyun" was one of the few successful examples of Japanese destroyer anti-submarine warfare.
■ The U.S. Navy's "Dubu fish" submarine, belonging to the White Perch class, entered service in 1939 and sank in 1943.
In November 1943, the U.S. military prepared to launch Operation "Current" to attack Tarawa and Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, the first U.S. counteroffensive in the direction of the Central Pacific.
As part of the campaign deployment, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Command dispatched a fleet of submarines from the Dubu, Gobies, and Tianzhu Snapper to the waters between Truk and Tarawa to prepare to ambush the Japanese fleet that might reinforce Tarawa.
The Dubhu was designated as the flagship of the squadron, commanded by Colonel John Cromwell. The Dufuyu was a Bais perch-class fleet submarine, completed and commissioned in January 1939, with an underwater displacement of 2350 tons, a surface speed of 21 knots, an underwater speed of 8.75 knots, and eight 533 mm torpedo tubes (first four tails 4) and a 76 mm deck gun.
At the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Dufuyu was stationed in the Philippines as a member of the 22nd Submarine Detachment and was immediately in combat, and by November 1943, the Dufuyu had completed eight cruises and confirmed the sinking of 13 Japanese merchant ships and 3 warships.
■ In May 1943, the crew of the Dufuyu submarine displayed their battle flag.
On November 5, 1943, the Dubu fish, under the command of its captain, Major Fred Conaway, left Pearl Harbor for its ninth combat cruise.
Before leaving, the commander of the formation, Colonel Cromwell, went to the Submarine Force Command to receive instructions, where he learned the details of Operation Current, and the commander of the Submarine Force, Major General Charles Lockwood, warned him not to reveal it to anyone, to keep it a secret, and did not think that this advice would eventually become a slur!
On November 29, it was planned that Cromwell should issue a rally order to the group of boats to search for targets in the waters of Truk, but the submarine command did not receive any information from the Dubu fish, and after waiting for two days, there was still no response, and another submarine could only be assigned to take command, and the "Dufuyu" was repeatedly called, but the submarine was like a stone sinking into the sea, there was no news, and finally it was found to be missing, and it was delisted on March 25, 1944.
It was not until the end of the war in August 1945 that the surviving crew of the Dubu fish, who had returned from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, reported the outcome of the submarine, which had been damaged by a Japanese attack on November 19, 1943, and was forced to sink itself.
■ Major Fred Connaway, the last captain of the Dubu fish submarine.
On the night of November 18, 1943, the Dubu fish used radar to capture the trail of a high-speed convoy in the waters off Truk, and tracked it in a floating state, planning to attack at dawn the next day.
The convoy discovered by the "Dufuyu" was centered on the training cruiser Kashima and the diving mothership "Long Whale", both of which were returning to the Japanese mainland, escorted by the destroyers "Wakzuki" and "Yamaun", the latter being The Asashio-class 6 ships, which entered service in January 1938, with a displacement of 2,000 tons, a speed of 35 knots, equipped with six 127 mm naval guns and eight 610 mm torpedo tubes, which could carry 36 deep bombs, and was part of the 4th Destroyer Squadron in 1943, with the captain Shiro Ono.
■ The Japanese Navy destroyer "Yamaun", belonging to the Asami class, entered service in 1938 and sank in 1944.
At dawn on November 19, the "DuFuyu" approached the torpedo attack range, and the Japanese fleet that took the Z-shaped anti-submarine route when occupying the firing position suddenly turned and approached head-on, forcing the Dufuyu to dive to evade.
About an hour later, the "Du Father Fish" floated up again but was shocked to find that there was a Japanese destroyer just 550 meters away! It turned out that the "Shanyun" had already found the traces of the "DuFuYu" and was ordered to delay and wait for the opportunity to kill this dangerous tail!
Sink the true hero with the boat
The "Shanyun" saw the US submarine reappear and accelerated to rush over, and the "Du Father Fish" immediately and urgently dived. Because the contact distance was too close, the high-speed noise of the "Mountain Cloud" propeller soon enveloped the head of the "DuFuyu", followed by the terrifying sound of deep bullets into the water.
The Shanyun seemed to be very patient with its prey, first dropping 3 deep bombs in two parts, and then dropping 10 in a row after a while, and the violent shock wave stirred through the sea on the hull, and the crew felt the shaking of the earth. The Dufu fish successfully dodged the first round of deep bomb attack, and after the inspection, the hull was only slightly damaged, but the depth gauge was broken, and the pointer was stuck at a depth of 38 meters, which made the submarine lose its most important operational parameters.
■May 1943. Close-up of the command tower and deck taken by the "Dufuyu" submarine when it returned to port for repairs, noting the 76 mm deck gun.
Just when the "Du Father Fish" tried to rise to the depth of the periscope, the depth control device suddenly failed, the submarine plunged rapidly, once approaching the safe diving depth limit, after emergency disposal, the submarine stopped diving and began to rise, but due to the damage to the depth gauge, the submarine could not accurately obtain the depth data, and even at 11:09 directly surfaced, once again exposed to the "Mountain Cloud" field of vision, had to dive again.
This time, the "Shanyun" unceremoniously dropped 17 deep bombs in three times near the whirlpool under the submarine, and a series of explosions caused more serious damage to the "Dufuyu", the hull was bent and deformed, the pipeline was broken, the water leaked everywhere, the steering rudder surface did not listen to the call, and more importantly, the sonar was also reimbursed, and the submarine became completely blind and deaf!
In order to maintain depth, the submarine can only dive at the highest speed, and the noise generated makes it easy for the Shanyun to lock on to the target. After receiving reports that the damage could not be repaired, the captain, Major Connaway, decided to float up and engage in surface combat with the Japanese ships, knowing that there was no chance of success, but at least it would give the crew a chance to escape.
■A painting depicting a surface gun battle between the submarine Dufuyu and the destroyer Shanyun on November 19, 1943.
At 12:56 a.m., the Du Father floated out of the sea like a wounded whale, and Major Conaway ascended the command tower to lead the crew in a desperate battle with deck guns and machine guns, firing at the Mountain Cloud.
With the weak firepower of the submarine, it was not the opponent of the destroyer in any case, and the "Shanyun" faced the target on the side of the ship, firing fiercely with a 127 mm main gun and a 25 mm machine gun, and large and small water columns surrounded the "DuFuyu". Soon after the exchange of fire, the Shells of the Japanese ships directly hit the submarine command tower, captain Conaway, deputy captain and gunnery commander and other officers fell in a pool of blood, splashing shrapnel caused many casualties on the deck crew, the deck gun was silent, and only one machine gun was still stubbornly firing.
Captain Brown, who had taken over as commander, reluctantly ordered all of them to abandon the ship, and when he told Colonel Cromwell of this decision, the latter said, "I can't go with you, I know too much." In order to keep the secret, he resolutely chose to sink with the boat, and was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. In addition to Colonel Cromwell, Lieutenant Fidler and 10 other crew members also slept on the sea floor with the Dubhu. Captain Brown ordered all the sea valves to be turned on, and the engines remained at high speed, allowing the submarine to sink as quickly as possible, and the surviving crew described it as the most beautiful speed dive of the "Du Father Fish" career.
Colonel Cromwell (left), who sank with the submarine DuFuyu, was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor (right).
Just as the Du Father Fish broke off on its own, a dispute occurred on the Shanyun.
Previously, the "Yamaun" had personally experienced the tragedy of the sinking of the large transport ship "Ryutamaru" by the US submarine, when 1500 people were killed, so the crew demanded to shoot the US survivors to avenge the "Ryuda Maru", but Captain Ono refused this cold-blooded behavior, ordered the rescue of 42 crew members, including Captain Brown, and entertained them with coffee and bread. Except for one seriously wounded man who died on the way, the remaining 41 people were sent to Truk for 10 days of interrogation, and later escorted to Japan on the aircraft carriers "Cloud Eagle" and "Oki Eagle", unfortunately, the "Oki Eagle" was sunk by the US submarine "Sailfish" on the way, and only 1 of the 20 survivors of the "Du Father Fish" was rescued.
The 21 survivors transported by the Cloud Eagle arrived in Japan and were sent to the Ashgas tailings copper mine to do studded labor until the end of the war. As for the fate of the Sanun, which did not change because of the good deeds of rescuing the survivors, she was sunk in the Battle of Surigao on October 25, 1944, killing all but 2 people, including Captain Ono.
■ The aircraft carrier OKI Eagle, which was sinking after being hit by the US submarine "Sailfish" on December 4, 1943.