Sinking the Japanese Carrier Shokaku

today we're diving deep into the World War II archives to bring you the fascinating tragic tale of the shokaku The Soaring crane of the Imperial Japanese Navy this formidable aircraft carrier stood as a beacon of Japan's Naval might during the early years of the Pacific conflict but no matter how high a crane soars it is not immune to the talons of War join us as we journey through time peeling back the layers of History to explore the events the drama and the undeniable human stories behind the sinking of the shukaku on the dawn of June 13 1944 the advanced aircraft carrier Tai ho broke away from tawitawi Anchorage in the southwestern Philippines accompanied by Sister carrier zuikaku and shokaku along with a miscellany of Cruisers and destroyers this vessel served as the command ship for vice admiral gisaburo Ozawa they headed Northeast alongside other units of Japan's first mobile Fleet by June 15th U.S forces were breaching Saipan a Pacific island in the Marianas the Japanese empire would suffer a significant setback with the loss of Saipan and neighboring Mariana's Islands as American bombers could now Target Japan's home Islands in response Ozawa conceived operation a go an elaborate strategy aimed at drawing the American Fleet into a favorable position for a Japanese counter-attack not only to protect Saipan but also to strike a significant blow to the U.S Navy however ozawa's plan was hindered by two severe challenges the dwindling strength of his Naval forces and a critical fuel oil shortage the Imperial Japanese Navy had been crippled by substantial losses at Midway Guadalcanal and other battles despite this Ozawa felt that the remaining carriers and battleships were sufficient to carry out his plan the fuel oil deficit a consequence of American submarine strikes on Japanese Merchant vessels forced the Japanese to use crude Borneo oil leading to harmful fumes and engine damage unfazed Ozawa pursued his strategy the Japanese brought together nine carriers five battleships 10 heavy Cruisers two light Cruisers and numerous destroyers of the first mobile Fleet to confront the Americans the potent U.S 7th Fleet led by Admiral Raymond a spruance and boasting 15 aircraft carriers seven modern battleships and 956 carrier planes stood in ozawa's way this Force held approximately twice the aerial strength of the Japanese apprehensive about a possible Japanese Advance towards Saipan spruance prepared for a significant Clash he worried that an enemy Force might circumvent his Fleet to directly Engage The Invasion Force off Saipan so he positioned his carriers accordingly Admiral Ozawa realized that the Americans would need to depend exclusively on carrier-based aircraft around Saipan due to the presence of nearby land bases consequently his strategy leaned on over 500 land-based aircraft operating from Guam Yap and Rhoda these aircraft were instructed to relentlessly bombard the American carriers before the first mobile fleet's arrival Ozawa intended to exploit his carrier plane's Superior range to strike before the Americans could retaliate the Japanese Fleet having refueled in the Philippines started to move Eastward Ozawa and his carriers navigated through the San Bernardino Strait while the battleships took the southern route through Surigao Strait both fleets were detected by Vigilant American submarines guarding the Philippines reporting two significant groups of Japanese ships advancing towards Saipan this confrontation would become known as the battle of the Philippine Sea meanwhile two days prior and several thousand miles east in Pearl Harbor Admiral Charles A Lockwood scrutinized a map of the Philippine Sea the American command was bracing for a potential Japanese retaliation against the Saipan Invasion as head of the American submarine forces Lockwood understood that his submarines could significantly influence the imminent battle Lockwood designated an imaginary Square over the Philippine Sea assuming any Japanese Fleet intending to confront the American Invasion at Saipan would inevitably Traverse this area he assigned four submarines albacore finback bang and Stingray to maintain watchful patrols within 30-mile radius at Each corner of the square based on Fresh intelligence he later repositioned the square 100 miles south another submarine cavalla was not part of the initial Patrol lineup but would play a critical role in the upcoming events she had already been at sea for weeks Kavala had left Midway on her maiden War Patrol on June 4th 1944 following her departure from the submarine tender Holland late in the afternoon she steadily navigated the channel leading to the open ocean with two planes serving as temporary escorts once the channel was cleared she headed towards the Open Sea Westward cavalla was built by the electric boat company in Groton Connecticut and was commissioned on February 29 1944 by Lieutenant Commander Hermann J costler as one of the 73 gato class submarines constructed during the war she was 311 feet long with a standard displacement of 1526 tons her top surface speed was just over 20 knots which dipped to less than nine knots when submerged her primary Weaponry included 10 torpedo tubes six in the front and four in the rear capable of carrying a total of 24 Torpedoes she also had a deck gun and a selection of light anti-aircraft guns for surface engagement foreign following approximately two months of operational Readiness tests trial Dives and crew training Kavala journeyed to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal to join the war she remained in Pearl Harbor for less than a month before heading to Midway for her first war Patrol costler was to keep vigilance along the Eastern Philippines on June 8th cavalla entered the 500 mile radius encompassing Japanese held Marcus Island the submarine's Lookouts remained alert for enemy aircraft as Kavala spent most of the daylight hours cruising on the surface the next day they had a unique encounter a slight impact was felt aft and shortly afterwards a whale breached a Stern in what seemed to be a pool of blood kosler recounted no apparent change in the propeller beat nor any additional vibration has been noted so it is not believed any damage was done to the propellers Kavala then continued her relatively uneventful Westerly voyage in the early hours of June 14th a change in weather became evident increasing Seas steadily dropping barometer logged costler took several waves over the bridge and down the conning Tower hatch with no substantial damage costler drafted a weather update to relay to Pearl Harbor but due to worsening conditions the radio operator was unable to transmit it opting to weather the storm Under the Sea costler submerged for most of the day re-emerging in the mid-afternoon when conditions seemed to be gradually improving around 7 PM Kavala intercepted a message about a surface contact spotted by the submarine flying fish costler promptly adjusted the course towards the reported location the sea had considerably calmed down by this time storm completely passed us he marked just before midnight increased speed to 16 knots to compensate for the delay as the evening of June 15th rolled in cavalla reached her designated Patrol Zone costler started to scrutinize the possible route of the enemy that flying fish had reported she was not alone in her pursuit of the potential Target the following morning the patrolling submarine spotted pipefish after exchanging information with the fellow American submarine it was decided that they would conduct a joint search with each submarine monitoring one side of the target's reported track with no contact by 8 PM costler terminated the search and Kavala continued within her assigned Patrol sector several hours later just before the stroke of midnight cavalla spotted a convoy that was tentatively identified as two tankers escorted by three ships costler couldn't ascertain if it was the same group that pipefish and cavalla had been hunting earlier in the day he spent the early hours of June 17th shadowing the Convoy but had to abandon his torpedo attack when a swift Japanese Destroyer compelled him to dive deep by the time costler was able to bring his submarine back to the surface the Convoy had disappeared he fruitlessly pursued them until about 5 30 PM when he received orders to relocate to a different Patrol Zone unbeknownst to kavala's Commander the Convoy he had been trailing was one of two supplying Admiral ozawa's battle Fleet thanks to the siding reports relayed by the submarines Admiral spruance was certain that the Japanese fleet was mobilizing these reports offered General positions of the Japanese ships but American reconnaissance aircraft were unable to precisely locate the enemy carriers the American planes did spot Japanese float planes signaling that the enemy fleet was Within Reach on June 17th Ozawa spent the day at Sea moving East striving to stay beyond the range of American Carrier aircraft until the conditions were ripe to launch a Counter-Strike costler gave up on his attempt to track down the tanker Convoy but his luck was about to turn earn mere minutes before 8 pm on June 17th cavalla's SD radar identified a ship at first it was merely a small blip on the radar screen the detected contact was moving west southwest approximately 30 000 yards away the blip seemed to fade in and out at this distance so pointed the bow towards the contact and increased to four engine speed costler noted the distance then started to close quickly at 22 000 yards other blips began to emerge on the radar costler deduced that his radar had picked up a substantial task force the formation was executing regular zigzags and moving at a clip of 19 knots by 8 15 PM seven sizable blips were distinct on the radar display costler accurately speculated that one of these was an aircraft carrier and the other six arranged in two parallel lines were likely battleships and cruisers the aircraft carrier was the closest to the submarine approximately fifteen thousand yards away it became clear to kavala's commanding officer that he had chanced upon something significant it was evident at this point that we were tracking a large Swift task force rushing somewhere with urgency he remarked given that we had no information about a previous contact report on this task force we chose to forego the attack and surface as swiftly as possible to deliver a contact report it was a challenging decision but he knew it was necessary for the broader War cause by 9 30 PM All Ships from the task force had moved past Kavala except for two Speedy vessels likely destroyers hovering near the rear of the group after nearly an hour of evasive maneuvers using every trick in my playbook I finally managed to steer clear of the two rear guard vessels and surfaced only then was costler finally able to transmit a comprehensive contact report to Pearl Harbor foreign the following day was uneventful as Kavala unsuccessfully attempted to re-establish contact with the task force at 3 45 a.m on June 19th an aircraft flew low and close over the submerged submarine prompting an immediate crash dive the plane wasn't seen costler recounted But the Roar of its engines was heard in the conning Tower as it flew past from starboard to Port Lieutenant casler the officer of the deck was as pale as a sheet and practically speechless when I arrived in the control room Kavala continued to intermittently spot aircraft throughout the day though mostly at safe distances at 10 39 a.m a group of four small planes were seen through the Periscope circling at a low altitude roughly 15 miles away minutes later the sound of surface ships came from the same direction Mass soon emerged on the distant Horizon directly beneath the Plains and the sonar operator reported additional vessels beyond what could be viewed through the periscope costler called to arms and began a careful advancement towards the enemy formation the site that greeted him during his next Periscope view astounded him when I raised my Periscope at that moment the site was almost too incredible to believe he recounted I spotted four ships a large carrier flanked by two cruisers on the port bow and a destroyer approximately one thousand yards on the starboard beam fortuitously cavalla found itself amid one of the task forces constituting the first mobile Fleet this group consisted of the carriers shukaku zuikaku and taiho the three largest in ozawa's Armada along with three Cruisers and seven destroyers costler invited the executive officer and the Gunnery officer to identify the target carrier through the Periscope the ship was accurately recognized as a shukaku class the aircraft carrier Cavallo was pursuing was indeed the shokaku herself this massive flat top made for an enticing Target launched a in August 1941 the carrier when fully loaded displaced just over 32 100 tons it was manned by a crew of 1660 officers and enlisted men and had the capacity to operate 72 aircraft the rapidly evolving situation compelled costler to make some Swift judgments I observed that the Destroyer on the Cruiser's starboard beam might pose a problem but events were unfolding so swiftly that I had to focus on the carrier and take my chances with the Destroyer he decided the Destroyer was yurikaze and from the Periscope view it was evident that she was in a potentially dangerous position costler noted down some particulars as he meticulously observed the carrier minutes prior to the attack the target featured a large bed spring type radar Mast atop its foremast and was flying a large Japanese Ensign he recorded he noted that the carrier was recovering aircraft at the time of the attack only one plane was left airborne and the forward part of her flight deck was congested with planes my estimate at least 30 possibly more costler's observation was accurate as shikaku was in the process of Landing a reconnaissance Patrol unaware to costler ozawa's task force had already suffered from an American submarine assault earlier that day nearly 60 miles distant albacore had struck ozawa's Flagship Tahoe with a single torpedo the ship's Captain perceived it to be minimal damage with speed reduced by merely one knot and a clear Flight Deck taihoe continued her Advance Into The Fray a casualty of inadequate damage control she later exploded and sank finally it was cavalla's moment to attack costler had such an optimal firing position that he only needed to raise the Periscope Thrice during the Final Approach at 11 18 am with shokaku situated 1200 yards away he commanded to launch a salvo of six Torpedoes set to a depth of 15 feet despite the submarine's undetected approach he remained concerned about the nearby Destroyer the angle on the bow of the Destroyer was zero its range about 1500 yards he marked at the moment costler instructed the submarine to submerge while still launching the Torpedoes I fired the fifth and sixth on the way down he later recollected approximately 50 seconds after launching the first torpedo the crew aboard Kavala heard the resounding boom of an explosion two more detonations immediately followed each with a gap of 8 seconds the last three Torpedoes missed deduced costler upon hearing only three impacts engage left Rudder and prepared for depth charging and quiet maneuvering his priority now was to evade the inevitable Furious counter-attack from the Japanese by the time shukaku's Lookout spotted Torpedoes coming from the starboard side the underwater projectiles were already dangerously near the ship's Captain promptly commanded evasive action but it was futile the Torpedoes hit a midships and towards the bow shaken by the successive impacts shokaku started to list to the starboard and rapidly fell out of formation with yurikaze standing guard close by after orchestrating a crippling assault on an unprepared adversary costler shifted his Focus to a safe Escape he was plunging Kavala deep underwater intending to quietly sneak away the first depth charges detonated a scant two minutes post the torpedo launch two volleys of four depth charges came uncomfortably close the first volley ahead above and to port and the second volley ahead above and Crossing from Port to starboard he documented evaded at Deep submergence at 11 44 a.m a destroyer conducted a near pass high-speed propeller sounds passed directly overhead and reverberated throughout the ship costler recounted however no close charges were dropped during this pass drenched in perspiration and frayed nerves kavalas Sailors maintained absolute silence during the depth charge assault initially three destroyers engaged us but after about an hour and a half only one Destroyer remained there was no sign of sonar pinging at any point by 1 30 PM it seemed cavalla was making Headway in eluding her assailants depth charges began to detonate at greater distances but remained between us and the scene of the attack noted costler around this time JP our only remaining sound detection system started to report loud water noises in the direction of the attack less than 30 minutes later costler began gradually elevating his vessel to Periscope depth sporadic depth charges were still echoing from afar and the underwater sounds persisted in the direction of the torpedo strike on shokaku the scenario took a sudden turn at exactly 208 PM four tremendous explosions resounded from the direction of the attack reported costler these were not depth charges or bombs as their rumbling lasted for several seconds Kavala reached Periscope depth approximately 15 minutes later nothing in sight visibility impaired due to rain squalls all around he observed during his first glance since the attack cease depth charge evasion Silent Running Japanese destroyers had launched 106 depth charges over a span of three hours with 56 detonating close to the submarine shortly before 7 PM Kavala broke the water's surface and commenced retreating from the area after over an hour of travel costler relayed a transmission to Pearl Harbor he declared that they'd hit a shokaku type carrier with three Torpedoes briefly described the subsequent depth charging and mentioned hearing powerful explosions with optimism he concluded I believe we sank that vessel this marked the end of an intensely exhausting day shokaku the battle-hardened veteran had participated in several crucial early War events including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the battles of the Coral Sea and Santa Cruz regrettably the official Japanese Naval records hardly documented her demise while kavala's commanding officer reported that three of his Torpedoes hit the carrier a few Japanese survivors maintained that actually Four had struck the consensus is that the explosions breached a fuel storage tank sparking a fire that was initially controlled despite heroic efforts to salvage the ship she remained afloat for several hours eventually shukaku met her end in a series of cataclysmic explosions heard by costler and his team these blasts could have resulted from a bomb Magazine's detonation or the ignition of fuel Vapors the esteemed aircraft carrier plunged beneath the waves claiming 1272 crew members approximately 570 survivors were rescued by the Light Cruiser yahagi and destroyers yurikaze and hatsuzuki Kavala faced a ferocious depth charging Onslaught after firing the Torpedoes that sealed shokaku's fate but managed to flee without significant damage the counter-attack burned out Motors on two pieces of the submarine's underwater sound equipment and a ventilation Supply pipe was flooded it was a minor cost for the Monumental accomplishment of sinking a Japanese aircraft carrier the submarine continued its Patrol for the remainder of June receiving orders to set course for Saipan later in the month just after 2 30 pm on July 1 1944 Kavala met with the Destroyer Philip which served as her escort for the rest of the journey the break of day found the destroyer and submarine nearing Saipan the emerging light revealed a spectacle we won't forget in a hurry reminisced costler virtually every class of ship was visible one side of the war-torn island was shrouded in Smoke and the sounds and sights of gunfire and blasts were clearly discernible from the submarine cavalla dropped anchor off saipan's Southwest side joining a diverse collection of vessels we were informed that Japanese aircraft typically made their runs only at night costler remembered nevertheless Lookouts were stationed topside and machine guns were manned in anticipation of the rare daylight assault at 1 10 pm cavalla hosted a group of guests as she replenished her fuel supply from the tanker kennebago staff representatives of Admiral spruance Turner and Hill along with six War correspondents and a photographer boarded costler recollected for the next hour I was besieged by inquiries everyone was eager to learn more about his assault on the Japanese Fleet the visitors left around an hour later and preparations to set sail were undertaken on the submarine my stay in Saipan was among the most intriguing experiences I've ever had costler reminisced we were merely a mile from the shore and had a front row view of one of the fiercest battles our Marines have encountered to date Kavala concluded her inaugural War Patrol on the afternoon of August 3rd as she made port in Maduro the patrol spanned 64 days she remained in Maduro for the subsequent month with her crew capitalizing on the time for both training and Leisure as the submarine was subjected to routine maintenance the battle of the Philippine Sea inflicted such a resounding defeat on the Imperial Japanese Navy that it later became known by Americans as the great Mariana's turkey shoot due to the extremely lopsided aerial combat Japanese terrestrial aircraft were unable to hinder the American Fleet Admiral spruance located the enemy in retaliated mercilessly beyond the losses of Tai ho and shukaku to submarines Ozawa suffered the further loss of a third carrier heo and hundreds of aircraft various other Japanese vessels incurred different levels of damage the concluding days of the war sakavala assigned to rescue duties off the coast of Japan she sailed into Tokyo bay on the final day of August and stayed through the official Japanese surrender on September 2nd 1945. she completed six War patrols and is recognized for sinking four Japanese vessels nevertheless it was her first war Patrol in the sinking of shukaku that remained the most notable [Music] thanks for watching Remember to like And subscribe see you soon [Music]

Channel: Hidden History

Views: 426,120

Keywords: hidden history, Sinking the Japanese Carrier Shokaku, shokaku, Japanese navy, ww2, wwii, world war 2, mark felton, dark seas, warships, warship, imperial Japanese navy, shokaku class, shokaku carrier, uss cavalla, uss cavalla ww2, navy, us navy, us navy ww2, silent service, submarine, submarines, ww2 submarines, uboat, uboats, submarine documentary, titanic submarine, uboat documentary, us submarines ww2, american submarine, pacific theater, submarines ww2

Id: CkDcIn8eeDw

Length: 24min 5sec (1445 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023