US Subs sink 2 Carriers in 1 Day - Sinking of Shokaku and Taiho

[@historigraph]

Thank you all for watching Historigraph in 2025! It's been a tough year at times in terms of view counts, but I'm proud of what we made and hope you all enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed creating. If you wanted to help support the creation of documentaries into 2025, I'd love it if you checked out the new histoigraph poster store or our patreon! Buy a Poster! www.historigraph.media/store Get Early Access to Videos: www.patreon.com/historigraph

[@MrNicoJac]

It's not 2025 yet 😅

[@QuizmasterLaw]

though i can understand their poor damage control how the hell did the submarines consistently get through the destroyer screen? poor radar? fatique? inadequate numbers of escorts? wtf.

[@oneshotme]

I haven't missed one video and as always I liked and commented on them

[@Snoopsthecat]

It's already almost 2026?😂

[@Stella-gm7bo]

Taiho is a reminder for all navies that no matter how good your ships are, if you don’t have a good well trained crew, you’re still screwed.

[@lumiiyyyy]

great example is during the age of sail the British had smaller ships generally, but much more well trained sailors than the French and Spanish, who built some of the biggest ships during the Napoleonic Wars

[@anzaca1]

​@@lumiiyyyy British ships nearly always produced more effective firepower. While they tended to have fewer guns, their crews could fire roughly twice as quickly.

[@Nainara32]

Was the spread of the gasoline fumes a crew training issue, or a ship design issue? Seems like there should have been some sort of failsafe in place for that contingency.

[@Stella-gm7bo]

@@Nainara32 I don’t actually remember maybe it’s a little bit of both. There is an excellent video on drachinifel’s channel about damage control. Go watch that.

[@jeko32]

@@Nainara32 Both, but more a crew training issue. Taiho's flight deck lacked ventilation, but it was the damage control officer's decision to open all the interior hatches that allowed fumes to spread through the entire ship.

[@rupertbaskerville]

Pretty incredible move by that Japanese pilot in diving straight into the torpedo though, never heard of such a thing before.

[@shingshongshamalama]

Kind of encapsulates one of the core problems with the IJN's cultural dogma, that it trained its men to throw their lives away, but didn't bother trying very hard to make that unnecessary.

[@kuhniberti]

​​@@shingshongshamalamaHe didn't just throw his life away like the admiral going down with Hiryu. He was trying to save hundreds of his comrades.

[@Randomfactsofwar]

@@shingshongshamalamathat pilot didn’t really have any other options to reliably stop the torpedo

[@minamagdy4126]

@ I don't think any navy would. In fact, what he did was, if things were slightly different, the only way to stop the ship's eventual demise from starting.

[@Nainara32]

@@minamagdy4126 Seems like the pilot picked the wrong torpedo.

[@parkertitle1923]

Imagine losing an aircraft carrier to one torpedo and a gas leak.

[@samgooding-matthews3175]

It’s that Goliath mentality “we’re too big to worry about a single torpedo”

[@biffbobfred]

Slight more detail - because of oil bans they had to rush unrefined fuel to the ships, fuel that had a lot more volatile organic compounds in it, much more likely to blow up. It wasn’t _just_ the torpedo but torpedo + shitty fuel that months of boycott and subs downing merchant ships. Maybe that was the captain’s thinking too - he didn’t realize how much different the fuel composition made to the ship. Oil is oil, right?

[@jackroutledge352]

HMS Ark Royal was lost in a similar way. A single torpedo hit, followed by almost non-existent damage control, as they considered whether to abandon ship. Her CO was court martialed and found guilty of negligence.

[@johnhallett5846]

@@biffbobfred There was some knowledge about the oil from Borneo having volatile elements in it but it was limited and only those that worked at the refineries knew about it. I have not seen anything that indicates the IJN knew about how dangerous it was

[@redbirdsrising]

Akagi was doomed by a single 1000lb bomb during the Battle of Midway. Because of the morning action, there were a bunch of planes, fuel, and ammo exposed on the hanger deck when it hit, and the whole thing went up like a roman candle.

[@gareththompson2708]

The bit about switching to the backup aiming device, the Mk-1 eyeball, had me snorting my coffee.

[@GaijinBaseball]

One of the survivors of Shokaku was a man named Eikichi Nagamochi. Nagamochi would recover in Kure and when he did he re-discovered his first love, baseball. He'd been a pretty good player in high school so he elected to try out for one of the 4 new teams that were joining the JPBL (now NPB) when it re-started after the war. He ended up being signed by the Tokyo Senators (now the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters). In 1950 he'd join the newly founded Taiyo Whales (now the Yokohama BayStars) and would hit the first home run in franchise history. Then he would join the Hiroshima Carp and helped save the franchise from potential contraction in 1952. He described joining the Carp as giving back to the people of Kure (which is in Hiroshima prefecture) who'd healed the wounds he'd received in the sinking. E: S&G

[@natetwehues2428]

Having 15 carriers for a strike vs having to hurry and scrape together just 3 carriers for the Battle of Midway is such a difference it's almost unbelievable. If you tried to put such a turn around into fiction people would say it was unrealistic.

[@General_Dane]

And only if you count museum vessels too, the US barely has 15 fleet carriers today (iirc 3 Essex’s, 1 Midway, and 11 active carriers, with at least 2 (Enterprise CVN-80 included) under construction)

[@TonyChan-eh3nz]

​@@General_Danewell, each one of those carriers are >3x larger than an Essex, and that's not including our totally not aircraft carriers in the "amphibious assault ships"

[@General_Dane]

@@TonyChan-eh3nz Yes that’s true, but if you *only* look at the total amount of aircraft they are capable of carrying they are basically the same size as an Essex. Now, the planes today are a lot more powerful than 100 years ago, but still about 90 planes in a Gerald R Ford class, and between 90 and 100 (originally) on a Midway

[@grantmcfarland3690]

The Cavalla is preserved in Galveston, Texas at Seawolf Park. It is a real hidden gem and a great tour

[@christophermartinez7985]

I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing

[@christophermartinez7985]

I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing

[@grantplazb1648]

@@christophermartinez7985i don’t know if you meant to but you replied twice

[@marckyle5895]

And thus, Wasp (CV-7) was avenged.

[@richtea615]

'The backup aiming device.' 😂

[@Cheeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

The “mark one eyeball” got me dead

[@pufffincrazy5275]

wait what’s the joke? Is it just a periscope?

[@willmorosoff3191]

@pufffincrazy5275 without the computer, the sailors needed to fire just by looking and estimating, otherwise known as "eyeballing" it. There was no backup aiming "device," they were just aiming by themselves.

[@firebanner6424]

@pufffincrazy5275 "eyeball it"

[@lwnf360]

@pufffincrazy5275"Mk-1 eyeball" is an old military joke for naked eye. The tone and script in the video leads me to believe that historigraph didn't get it either.

[@Kwaj]

*US Navy:* _(sends into battle 15 aircraft carriers with 850+ planes, 7 battleships, 20+ cruisers, 65+ destroyers, and 25+ submarines)_ *Imperial Japanese Navy:* Ha! We got'em right where we want'em!

[@Rammstein0963.]

Reminds me of the Parlay scene from Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End where the pirates sail to meet the East India Trading Co. fleet, they start cheering, until the fleet keeps coming...and coming...and.. 😂

[@johnhallett5846]

One of the great what ifs of the Pacific War was WHAT IF the US Navy had good torpedoes to start the war.

[@thehighhegemon2199]

The mk-1 eyeball ? But im not even watching the orange powerpoint man

[@Paludion]

I'm used to hear Drachinifel say it, personally.

[@thehighhegemon2199]

@@Paludion Oh wow, you're right. I guess its a far more common term than I thought xD

[@Dramaticuser]

awesome video! its crazy to see how underrated the US silent service's impact on the pacific war is, sinking two carriers before a major battle seems so incredible. unrelated but it'd be interesting to see a video on the scapa flow raid by u 47, i find that attack really fascinating(especially how, from what i heard, u-47 didnt submerge once during the raid)

[@thecombatwombat7652]

Pretty sure he has already done the attack on Scapa Flow, just go have a quick look for it

[@thehighhegemon2199]

There is a great video on the scapa flow raid done by House of History

[@Cheeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

13:31 I do love it when KZbinrs sneak those in there

[@trentvlak]

Excellent presentation, sir.

[@legoeasycompany]

It's pretty crazy that it took until 1944 for the USN submarines to do what the IJN's had in 1942, namely sinking enemy capital units. How no one was demoted/sacked/shot for the outright incompetence of the Mk14 debacle I'll never understand

[@phillipjohnson9861]

Unlike the Japaneses of ww2 our leaders don't take personal responsibility for there actions

[@HansLasser]

Drachinifel made a full vid on the Mk14. The cockup is more than shameful!

[@biffbobfred]

Midway (2019) has a great scene on that torpedo. That Roland Emmerich was able to make a mostly historically accurate story is the greatest miracle for that movie.

[@johnhallett5846]

a lot of influential admirals, a corrupt Congressman, an unwillingness to admit such a huge mistake, and so on. Congress had part of the blame for refusing to fund a good testing program. I have always thought that the MK 14 torpedo scandal the worst US military scandal of ww2. To this day it has never been properly exposed and names named as it should have been.

[@allangibson8494]

It wasn’t just the Mk 14. The aircraft Mk 13 (used at Midway) and surface vessel Mk 15 had the same defects (but didn’t have the more complicated gyroscopic guidance system that sank at least two U.S. submarines when it malfunctioned).

[@ph89787]

When they found out about Shokaku’s loss. The crew on USS Enterprise (CV-6) celebrated it. As she was a huge pain for them during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

[@maxtokarev1688]

Well done guys. The only significant mistake is the order of Japanese carriers formation of A Force: initially it was just single column, Zuikaku at the lead (since she had the most powerful carrier air group, HI323, aboard), then flagship Taiho (HI311), then Shokaku with the mostly reconnaissance/scout air unit, HI322, hence such order. When USS Albacore attacked Taiho, this damaged carrier veered to port quarter of Zuikaku while Shokaku simultaneously shifted to starboard quarter of her leading sister. The reason is quite simple: damaged ship may lose its power at any given time so this arrowhead-like formation prevents collision in such a case. Thus the real formation was rather inverted: Zuikaku in the lead, then Shokaku to her starboard and slowly roasting Taiho to Zuikaku's port quarter. Why both subs had let the leading Zuikaku escape? This carrier had very profitable habit: to have a cruiser or at least large destroyer on each of her beams, starting from Coral Sea battle till this June'44. Just her last fight in October same year was different since very few cruisers left in IJN active list by then. But generally good work, thanks again.

[@methanoid]

Your videos are bloody good. Not watched one I haven't found riveting, informative and detailed. Great job ❤

[@timothy7729]

New video lets go! Thank you as always for making such great historical content!

[@localNPCboy]

Merry Christmas Historigraph, this vid was very much a pleasant surprise :D

[@sankyu3950]

I cant believe they sank my waifu 😭 All in all its very sad for me having to hear the tragedy of this war, im a huge naval history fan and knowing thousands of people dying for such a pointless war really hits hard and also shokaku and zuikaku has a place in my heart from kancolle

[@adamtruong1759]

Submarines, especially in WW2, are so interesting to hear about when you can recognize all their names. Each one of them has their own achievements and in extension formed their own identity from their war service.

[@bigsarge2085]

Incredible history, thank you!

[@biffbobfred]

The Operations Room has a good vid that touches on some of this too, with their “battle of the Philippines, pt 1”. Part of the issue was unrefined fuel. The boycott of selling American oil and the blockade of other sources made the Japanese desperate, and they had oil that was unrefined and had a lot more light carbon vapors than they wanted to. Any realistic hit was a fuel air bomb waiting to happen. I recommend both videos, this has a lot of things the other vid doesn’t have, because of a different focus. Both excellent historically.

[@F.R.E.D.D2986]

11:58 Taiho be like: "This place about to BLOW UP!"

[@stanleydomalewski8497]

Great Video, Thanks for Sharing!

[@carlodelacruz2552]

@Historigraph, at timestamp 1:10 the video flickered for a short moment. I do not know if this is intentional, or KZbin's video policy to force viewers to blink.

[@historigraph]

Not sure what that is! Probably an error I made in editing

[@coyote4237]

Thank you. Fantastic content, as always.

[@TankerBricks]

Excellent video!

[@8l0550m]

oh this is a new upload- amazing content!

[@academyofshem]

0:19 Commander Joseph Enright has something to say about that...

[@tombirmingham7354]

Enjoy your videos and narration.

[@rickj.9202]

This is a terrific video. It felt like I was on scene watching as it happened. Thank you! #Subscribed

[@ph89787]

There's a certain irony with the Philippine Sea. In that, the IJN was fielding 4 Carriers: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Jun'yo and Zuiho, who had fought against other carriers before. The US Navy was only bringing in one, the ever-present and vengeful Enterprise. Yet because of the downgrade in pilot training and throwing away most of their surviving veterans in the Solomons during 1943. The IJN wasn't able to leverage the experience. Whereas the USN were able to rotate their veteran pilots back and after some time, transfer them back to the front. We’re able to bring their all-powerful Essex-Class and Independence-Class Light Carriers up to speed.

[@anzyroadside2374]

Mk. 1 Eyeball is such a wonderful piece of equipment. I wonder if every ship was equipped with at least one of those.

[@organickevinlondon]

The Mk 1 eyeball, was much akin to, oversized spheres of metallic substance, BOTH of which were war winners.

[@red_d849]

thank you historigraph, i never heard of the taiho before, i think i heard of the pilot sacrificing to destroy the torpedo but not the taiho

[@Siltarius]

Taiho (Great Phoneix) really did live up to its namesake, blowing up in a great fireball, but unlike her mythological namesake, she never rose up from the ashes. Shokaku (Soaring Crane) is really ironic here as well, sinking bow-first into the bottom like her Empire. Her service was also very much inseparable from her sister Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane), the two ships of the class were really twins in a packaged deal. When the sisters were together, Shokaku would always seemingly take the damage meant for both of them, leaving Zuikaku undamaged in battle. After Shokaku sank, fate would catch up to Zuikaku as well, as she suffered her first battle wound the very next day. Zuikaku would soon join her sister, as history knows, her first mission without her sister would be her last, as she would be sunk during the Battle off Cape Engaño, sinking stern-first mirroring her sister Shokaku.

[@robinkoenjer1030]

I agree,there is a really good vid about that other one out there

[@tdestroyer1882]

The thing with Tiaho and the fumes building up is like that scene in midway where the carrier explodes due to built up fumes and the flame

[@aluminumfalcon552]

On Silent Hunter 4, I sank two Kongo battleships, two Carriers, and a Mogami heavy cruiser in one battle. (Midway) Another time I sank 5 Shiratsuyu destroyers with deck gun only. (Leyte) To do that in a video game is easy, doing it in real life is just amazing.

[@aquila3958]

How the Japanese did not try to evade submarine attacks after the strike on Taiho and how the damage control crews were so unbelievably inept at their jobs is unreal

[@shingshongshamalama]

That's what happens when you do a crap job of keeping your servicemen alive and have to replace so many of them so rapidly they barely have time for training, never mind how much the upper levels of the organization just didn't seem to care about things like damage control protocol.

[@JHruby]

The Japanese strategy called for decisive large scale victories. The conquest of China and the Pacific islands, and finally the attack on Pearl Harbor gave the illusion that this strategy was working at the same time that the war shifted to a battle of attrition. Overstretched supply lines fought to deliver dwindling supplies to declining forces that could not be replaced. IMO the military planning lesson is what is your plan if you assume Plan A will fail? Is Plan B likely to succeed? For the Japanese that answer would have been a resounding no.

[@sfjuhispst8144]

​@@JHrubyAnd my understanding is that the japanese knew that perfectly well, they simply neither had the eggs or the baskets to disperse the risk.

[@kon8459]

I find it ironic how the battle of the Philippine Sea went for the Americans like how Yamamoto wanted to do in the battle of Midway. Wherein the invading force attacks a place the defenders are forced to commit, and using submarines to provide early warning and first strike, Also the use of land based aviation.

[@CRIMSON434AV]

So, Taiho got the title of: "First day in combat already sunk" medal?

[@msa4548]

The thing about tonnage sunk, two submarines made up the 61k. It was a solo sub on the 57k, and took the lead for tonnage sunk by a single sub in the pacific.

[@bradkempton7905]

I have nothing but respect for sailors fighting on the open ocean. When I was deciding which branch to join, the Navy wasn't just a no, but a HELL NO because of stories like this and countless others about naval combat. Burning to death and drowning are my top 2 worst ways to die. They just so happen to both be options on a ship. F that!

[@stuartaaron613]

Two things. First was in one reading on the loss of the Taiho was when the explosion happened the flight deck bucked upwards, almost like a wave, and the sides blew outwards and bottom the blew downwards. Second, Shinano displaced far more than the 59,000 you show here on this video. She displaced between 65,000 and 72,000 short tons, making her larger in displacement than the combined displacements of Taiho and Shokaku.

[@historigraph]

Yeah Shinano's displacement is given variously at lots of different tonnages. The figure I used in this video is the one from JANAC, which compiled a comprehensive list of every japanese ship sunk during the war - so its a consistent set of data across the whole war. That makes it the best candidate to draw from for the graph in that section in my opinion

[@andy4an]

i had to rewind twice, and listen to "mark 1 eyeball" three ties before I understood he was just sticking his head out of the hatch to line up!

[@Bishop1664]

Interesting having the aviation fuel storage compartment so close to the magazine..

[@sooflower_183]

Yes new video

[@oldhag2881]

Actually, this tonnage record was surpassed when Archer-Fish sank Shinano in November of 1944. Shinano had a displacement of ~72000 Tons.

[@historigraph]

I've seen Shinano's displacement given as a variety of different numbers. The figure used in this video is from the JANAC post war assessment which I think is the most consistent data set to form that graph from

[@ph89787]

Albacore: Hi best buddy. Taihou: Ahhhhh!!!

[@tcsmagicbox]

Something about the sections inside Japanese ships were not properly segregated from one another to save on construction time. This often turned minor problems in one section into enormous problems for the whole ship.

[@Bishop1664]

I thought that when I saw how close the aviation fuel storage was to the magazine...

[@tag4042]

I really wanna see you cover some aerial battles

[@QuizmasterLaw]

that day when everything went bad for the bad guys everything that could go bad went bad on that day.

[@georgewright3949]

660 men whilst a lot of death is honestly a lot less thsn i thought would be produced from such a catastrophic explosion

[@biffbobfred]

13:35 I’ve played that vid a few times…. Now to use my Mk1 Eyeball Photon Detecting Device to see who made it….

[@baragon01]

Since I presume, that this might be your last Video of this Year.... MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 😁 May the New Year gets your Videos better in Views 👍

[@sid2112]

Komatsu. That's a name that should be remembered.

[@Adiscretefirm]

Shokaku was the 5th of the Dishonorable 6 to be sent to the bottom. They got the 6th a few months later in the Leyte campaign

[@ISawABear]

Mrk 1 - Eyeball, someone has been watching Perun

[@Snailman3516]

Taiho became what was essentially the world's largest thermobaric bomb.

[@eri3726]

Taihou's casualty numbers seem to be hard to precisely determine, every source notes a different number of officers and men that went down with her. That being I sort of find it hard to fathom how only 660 out of 2000+ men went down from an internal explosion that large, would there be any particular reason for casualty rates being only around 1/3 of the crew?

[@Martin77641]

Great video. Must say that the japanese destroyed more the Taiho itself because they didn't pay much attentiont to the fuel leaks and that caused later the destruction of the whole ship.

[@YC88888]

When are you doing one on Operation Focus?

[@ppumpkin3282]

Was this the same battle of the great marianas turkery shoot

[@GreyWolfLeaderTW]

The Battle of the Philippines Sea is ironically the only time in the entire Second World War where American subs got to do what the original planners had wanted American subs to be used for in a naval campaign involving war with the Japanese (rather than be relegated to the unsporting task of obliterating Japanese merchant shipping), attack Japanese warships steaming at speed in fleet maneuvers just before a battle was joined. The fact that this was the only time it happened had a lot to do with the fact that the American submariners knew where their prey would be steaming thanks to constant shadowing reports from other American subs and thus could set up in the perfect ambush positions. Because otherwise, the high speed of Japanese capital ships made the overarching strategy for American subs pretty much worthless, as underwater trying to sneak up on a Japanese fleet, the average American sub could only make 8.75 knots, as opposed to the 30+ knots Japanese carriers and their battleship/cruiser escorts could make.

[@johnemerson1363]

Sorry, but the first time Cavalla spotted the Japanese carriers he was under orders to report first, then attack later. This was Cavalla's first patrol and his crew was very upset he did not attack the first time. With his second attack, well, the rest is history.

[@ondrajaros6426]

"About as subtle as a fuel-air explosive"

[@andrewhicks982]

Oh snap!

[@bigbrain7788]

early christmas present i see

[@Del_S]

"Herman Kossler" US Navy captain, but the most German sounding name there is. Wonder why he had a command in the pacific? :D

[@vicbittertoo]

US damage control was way superior to IJNs, much better training and backup equipment, very brave blokes :), respect

[@heidimatthiesen8120]

Oh hello!

[@shingshongshamalama]

"A-a-a-a-albacore?!!?!? W-where?"

[@ericrawlins6849]

Mark-1 eyeball😂

[@morganhalfyard6266]

Didn’t the shinano weight more than

[@AltCtrlSpud]

Guys guys guys guys this year's holiday dates have been LEAKED: Christmas Eve - December 24 (TOMORROW) Christmas - December 25 New Year's Eve - December 31 New Year's Day - January 1

[@MonsPubis7]

I find it fascinating how US commanders and troops have always overcome other forces, by magnitudes other countries couldn't fathom. When you're fighting for global freedom, I guess a wave of liberation and faith comes over you and can help you accomplish anything.

[@CountCristo]

I think perhaps having the largest navy in the world might have helped more than faith.

[@aerow2965]

Midway is probably the one big time where they really punched above their weight. And it was a hard punch at that. After this battle, the US progressively gained the upper hand in training, equipment, tactics and numbers. By 1944 when this event happened they were basically seal-clubbing the japanese navy and air force.

[@connorferguson2269]

They couldn't have just opened more vent holes in the wood construct, could they : /

[@ThatTallGuy0]

Say “sank” next time 😂 I was like “THEY WHAT”

[@Fantastic_Mr_Fox]

What did he say? Capsized?

[@ThatTallGuy0]

@@Fantastic_Mr_Fox when I read the title pop up it said “US subs sink 2 carriers in…” as if it had just happened

[@Fantastic_Mr_Fox]

@ThatTallGuy0 Well, aren't all his videos titled that way?

[@QuizmasterLaw]

REMEMBER TO LIKE COMMENT SUBSCRIBE AND SHARE IT HELPS THE CHANNEL GROW!

[@zachschenk5941]

I'm a simple guy. I see a new Historigraph video, I turn my adblocker off and I click.

[@BlandSpagetti]

The taihos loss is a case were the Japanese commanders should have pulled back but they were so insistent on hit the American forces they let common sense get the better of the them, not helped by poor damage control training

[@andy4an]

a nice companion piece to this video is drachinifel's video on the Taiho kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJzGmaaEedKehMUsi=JNCq7VzlmVjOAbtQ it includes a bit more historical information about the Taiho, it's design decisions, and their consequences in this attack.

[@dacousinscousin]

boat

[@heidimatthiesen8120]

Im first? Wow

[@micahistory]

100th like!

[@johnsmith-jq1uc]

i still don't get how Japan's navy did so incredibl poorly

[@otten5666]

They didn't have a single advantage over the US, except maybe that they enjoyed doing war crimes.

[@Born2bwire]

I feel that there are two distinct periods in the Pacific war. The first is 1942-1943 and then 1944-1945. All things considered, the Japanese navy did very well before 1944. Strategically, they made serious blunders in Coral Sea, Midway, and the Solomons. But they often would come out on top in surface engagements. The problem was that they were being attrited just as badly as the allies. Both the Japanese and Allied fleets that existed in the beginning of 1942 were decimated by the end of 1943. The start of 1944 saw the commitments of both sides' reconstituted navies. But the industrial might of the US saw a new Navy that completely eclipsed the navy of 1942 in every way. While the Japanese failed to even materially recover from their losses and saw huge loss in capability in personnel. Their brand new naval air arm, on its first serious outing, was destroyed at Saipan. Take a look at the Guadacanal campaign to see how good the Japanese could be in a fight. Despite their prowess, they were not willing to commit everything to the campaign like the Americans, and in the end, they blinked first.

[@MangoTroubles-007]

​@@Born2bwire Too long dork

[@MangoTroubles-007]

Merry Christmas to all from Christmas Island 🇨🇽 🎄