On this day in 1944, the USS Archerfish remained in the vicinity of the wreckage of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano. Shortly after that, an American crew sighted a trawler and a sub chaser, likely working for survivors, stated in the ship’s log.
A day before, on November 29th, the Archerfish had sunk the Shinano, a brand-new Japanese carrier commissioned less than two weeks earlier. The Shinano was underway to the Inland Sea to complete its fitting out when it was spotted by the Archerfish. The Japanese had placed so much hope in securing the Pacific on the enormous ship, which was built in absolute secrecy. When Captain Joseph Enright of the Archerfish launched his torpedoes, he hadn’t even been quite sure what he was hitting.
For Captain Enright, the sinking of Shinano was redemption Earlier he had resigned his post for missing an opportunity to sink a Japanese ship. The Japanese carrier had left Tokyo Bay on November 28 with its watertight doors unwatertight and lacking many essential articles, including pumps. The crew was inexperienced and the Japanese commander, Toshio Abe made a spate of critical errors. Abe thought he was being pursued by a pack of submarines, and that the Archerfish was merely a decoy. As it happens, the Archerfish was the only submarine in the area. Thus, Abe’s zig-zag tactics, designed to throw submarines off his tail, instead steered him directly into the Archerfish’s path.
Feeling he was chasing something big, Enright decided to fire his torpedoes higher than usual—a measure that was against procedure. His gut instinct turned out right. At least four of the six torpedoes hit the Shinano. It sank in hours with more than 1,400 crew members on board, including Commander Abe.
To this day, Shinano remains the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine. Later, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was to comment, “It is fitting that an American submarine should climax the undersea campaign against Japanese warships by sending down the new queen of the Imperial Navy before she had an opportunity to come into action.”
The story of the Shinano does not stop there but is continued both by the victors and the vanquished. Accounts from Japanese survivors shed light on the minds of the foes and the factors that caused the battle’s result. The Shinano was originally designed as the third Yamato-class battleship but was converted into an aircraft carrier because the Japanese finally realized the need for air cover in sea battles. It had a capacity of 71,890 tons and was the largest aircraft carrier during World War II. She not only served as a carrier but also as a supply ship to the Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
On November 28, 1944, Shinano put to sea for sea trials with 2,515 officers and crew, 40 civilian employees, and 300 construction workers. Unfortunately, it was sighted by the USS Archerfish. Acting contrary to US Naval Intelligence, Captain Enright believed that such a large carrier as the Shinano was under construction and proved himself right, firing six torpedoes at the Shinano, four of which hit her and brought her dead in mid-sea. In the panic that followed, with the crew abandoning ship, the three escorting destroyers focused on saving survivors rather than hunting the Archerfish. In just 17 hours at sea, the Shinano sank, taking 1,435 officers, sailors, and civilians with it.
The loss of the Shinano marked a turn in the story of naval warfare—a strategic indication of the submarine’s role in war and the weaknesses of even large warships.