When the first torpedo struck the aft part of the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano, no one could even imagine that the poker royal flush and the insolent tactics of the game were to blame. But nevertheless, everything was exactly like that.
Let's go in order.
So, the torpedo hit the stern of the aircraft carrier, and within 30 seconds there were explosions of three more torpedoes. It got lucky, immediately began flooding of several compartments, where the crew members of the "Shinano" were. Explosions and water killed several dozen people at once.
On the bridge, of course, everyone was aware of what was happening, but they did not take the hits seriously. The crew was manned by experienced sailors, many of whom survived enemy torpedo attacks on smaller ships than the giant Shinano. Therefore, even when the aircraft carrier began to lurch, the officers remained calm and confident that they could cope with the damage.
Small historical digression.
The aircraft carrier Shinano was laid down as the third component of a planned trio of 70,000-ton super-battleships. Musashi, Shinano and Yamato.
However, after the devastating loss of aircraft carriers inflicted on the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway, the design of the Shinano was changed, and the battleship began to be converted into the largest aircraft carrier at that time.
Toshio Abe, a graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy, was appointed captain.
Abe was a participant in the Battle of Midway, where he commanded a destroyer. Colleagues noted that Abe was a very competent officer, but completely undiplomatic (this is a sin for a Japanese) and completely devoid of a sense of humor. But the strong-willed qualities of the captain won the respect of the crew.
However, we are interested not so much in the person of the Shinano commander as in his adversary. And here everything is much more interesting.
Abe and Shinano's future adversary, Joseph Francis Enright, was a complete and unconditional … failure!
Graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1933. As a lieutenant, he received his first command, the C-22 submarine, immediately after Midway. It was, in general, training and combat junk, which was thrown into battle, because it was necessary to torment the Japanese fleet. Accordingly, Enright simply transferred the fuel, fighting not so much with the enemy as with the ancient submarine.
In the spring of 1943, Enright was promoted to lieutenant commander and appointed commander of the submarine USS Dace. The first military campaign was the last for Enright, because, being too cautious, Enright did not fire a single volley, although he had a real opportunity to attack the aircraft carrier "Shokaku" with torpedoes.
Enright was removed from command and sent to serve as a senior officer at the Midway submarine base. The coastal service had not yet brought a single naval officer to anything good, and, frankly weighed down by such service, Enright began to walk a little down the slope. That is, drinking whiskey in high doses and playing cards.
Oddly enough, this led him back to the submarine's wheelhouse.
This is not to say that Joseph Enright just sour, no. He wrote several reports with the aim of getting on the warship, but for some reason, the commander of the Midway base, Admiral Charles Lockwood, did not give a move to Enright's requests. Either he didn’t trust, or, in spite of the drunkenness, Enright was doing his duties quite well.
Personally, it seems to me that the second option, otherwise they would have been expelled from service long ago, the war is still …
And on one of the evenings in the summer of 1944, the very event took place that became a key event in our history. Enright played cards with officers from the inner circle of Admiral Lockwood and beat them.
One of the players, Captain Pace, who was impressed by Enright's aggressive and risky style, asked if Enright could command a submarine in that style. To which Enright, naturally, answered in the affirmative.
It's funny, but this is how, with the help of a game of poker, the career of a naval officer and everything else that followed poker was saved.
On September 24, 1944, Enright was dismissed from his post and assigned to command the submarine "Archer-Fish", which, having taken over a new command and reserves, on October 30, 1944 went on combat patrol.
No one on board could even imagine what events awaited the boat and crew …
And the two ships went there, to a point beyond the horizon, at which their meeting was to take place.
Archer Fish, a Balao-class submarine, displacing 1,526 tons, traveling at 20 knots above water and 8.75 knots under water. The cruising range was 11,000 nautical miles at 10 knots. The crew consisted of 10 officers and 70 junior ranks.
The boat was armed with 10 533-mm torpedo tubes and 24 torpedoes. In addition, the crew had a 127-mm gun and an anti-aircraft machine gun from Bofors at their disposal.
With Shinano, things were more complicated. In general, the ship was built and rebuilt in an atmosphere of such secrecy that the photographs were not only not preserved, they were not taken at all! The only one that has survived to this day was made during sea trials in Tokyo Bay.
So the Shinano proved to be a record holder of sorts: the only major warship built in the 20th century that was never officially photographed during construction.
With a total displacement of 71,890 tons, the Shinano was the largest aircraft carrier built at the time. Only in 1961, when the American nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise was launched, Shinano lost the palm.
The speed of the Shinano was 27.3 knots (50.6 km / h), which was quite good for such a whopper (266 m long). The cruising range was 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots.
Crew of 2,400 people.
The armament was impressive. 16 universal 127-mm guns, 12 120-mm guns, 85 25-mm assault rifles, 22 13-mm machine guns, and 12 launchers of 120-mm unguided anti-aircraft missiles, 28 barrels each.
The air group was planned from 18 A7M2 fighters, 12 B7A strike aircraft and 6 C6N1 reconnaissance aircraft.
The process of completing the conversion of the super-battleship into a super-aircraft carrier took place in a terrible hurry, since the Japanese were really stormy on all fronts. All this led to the fact that "Shinano" snapped so hard against the walls of the dock, wounding and crippling more than a dozen people.
But despite the fact that the ship had to be repaired before it was put into operation, on November 11, Shinano went for trials, and nine days later the shipbuilders handed it over to the fleet.
Captain Abe was given the task of secretly transferring the aircraft carrier from Tokyo harbor to the Kure Sea on November 28, where the ship could be safely retrofitted and taken over by the air group. Three destroyers were assigned as escort: "Isokadze", "Yukikaze" and "Hamakadze" type "Kagero".
It's worth mentioning the escort right away. He was nominal. All three destroyers took part in the battle in Leyte Gulf and only the Yukikaze left without damage. Radar was broken on "Khamakadze", "Isokadze" lost its sonar. In general, out of three destroyers it was possible to assemble two, no more. Plus, the crews that suffered losses were, to put it mildly, tired. In general, the escort was very so-so.
On the night of November 28, the weather was perfect. The nearly full moon provided excellent visibility from both sides. At 10:48 pm, a radar operator aboard the Archer Fish sighted a large surface vessel 12 miles northeastward traveling at a speed of about 20 knots.
Commander Enright suspected it was a Japanese oil tanker from the so-called Tokyo Express with a small escort. Eager to prove himself, Enright gave the command to surface and catch up with the convoy.
In the meantime, Shinano got worried because they were able to detect the operation of the Archer-Fish radar. It became clear that the Shinano had been found, besides, the Japanese could not take the bearing of the boat, so they were not sure that it was not acting alone. Captain Abe ordered the ships to increase their vigilance. But since there was no more activity on the part of the enemy, little by little everyone calmed down.
Enright, meanwhile, was desperately trying to catch up with the tanker. The radars of that time did not give any idea about the size of the ships, but it was clear that from a distance of 12 miles, the small ship simply would not see the radar. So the boat was sure that the goal was more than worthy.
The chase was very exciting. In general, if the Shinano were in full swing, the Archer-Fish simply had no chance of catching up with the aircraft carrier. 18 knots versus 27 - you know. But the unregulated Shinano boilers did not deliver that speed. In general, out of 12 boilers, the aircraft carrier could use only 8, respectively, the speed that the ship could develop was only 21 knots.
True, this speed was more than enough to feel safe, and the American submarine would only have to go back ingloriously, but …
But the pedantic captain Abe strictly followed the instructions received from the command. In principle, an officer of the Japanese Imperial Navy could not have done otherwise. Therefore, having received information that the aircraft carrier was within the radius of the radar, Abe gave the order to go anti-submarine zigzag!
In general, the Americans are incredibly lucky.
In general, an instruction is a very useful thing if you know and understand it. And understand when you can move away and when you can't. Abe was the right Japanese officer, and therefore instructions were sacred to him.
According to the instructions received, instructing the escort, Abe stressed that destroyers should not move away from the escorted aircraft carrier.
“If I see that the escort has left his assigned place, I will immediately order to return. The signal to return to the order will be given by the red light of the Shinano spotlight, which will turn on and off for about 10 seconds. I strongly recommend that you do not make this signal necessary."
And here are the events that happened.
At 10.45, the observation bridge reported the discovery of a supposedly enemy submarine. At the same time, "Isokadze" left the formation and at full speed headed towards an unidentified object.
The Archer Fish, the crew of which was sure that the Japanese could not see them, surfaced, and the commander with the officers went to the bridge to try again to determine who they were hunting. At that moment, the Isokadze also noticed a boat and rushed towards it.
The situation was tense for the Americans, it was only about five miles to the convoy, while the officers would have poured into the boat, until they took water into the ballast tanks - Japanese depth charges would have exploded next to the boat.
Yes, at that moment the Archer-Fish officers realized that their target was a large aircraft carrier, not a tanker, which was guarded not by boats, but by full-fledged destroyers! And the lead destroyer goes to them very quickly!
But then another incomprehensible event happened. A red searchlight flashed on the mast of the aircraft carrier, and … the destroyer turned away! The Americans were really stunned, because on the Japanese destroyer, which was only three miles away, they could not help but see the boats! But the fact is - by interrupting what could have been a successful attack, because from a distance of three miles, the destroyer's six 127-mm guns could make a pile of sinking metal out of a boat. Thoroughly ripped open.
But obeying the shout from "Shinano", "Isokadze" turned away and returned to duty.
The Americans realized that here it is, luck, and went ahead. Enright, apparently remembering how he had missed the opportunity to attack the "Sekaku", sent everything to the sea devil and decided to attack at all costs. Together with his assistant Bobchinski, Enright came to the conclusion that the Shinano was heading for internal bases, that is, an approximate course of 210 degrees.
And therefore, leaving the Japanese to write out the anti-submarine web, the boat went exactly this course, hoping that the calculation of Enright and Bobchinski was correct.
There was a chance, if after the next lapel on "Shinano" they did not see the boats, then they might think that the Americans were behind. And they will calmly return to their true course, where the Archer-Fish will await them.
On the Shinano, Captain Abe was confident that he was not dealing with a single boat, but with an entire group. And the actions of the crew of "Archer-Fish", who were just trying to understand the situation and understand who they stumbled upon, took it for a cunning plan to take the escort ships away from the escorted aircraft carrier.
Abe probably believed that American torpedoes, which were actually inferior in power to Japanese ones, would not be able to do anything to the Shinano, but if several boats shoot out without interference … There was logic, because Captain Shintani, the commander of Iskadze, was hauled for unauthorized actions.
In addition, the aircraft carrier commander was confident that the superiority in speed and anti-submarine maneuver gave the convoy such an advantage that it was virtually impossible to neutralize.
But then a report came from the chief of the engine room, Lieutenant Miura, who reported that the bearing of the main shaft was overheated and for some time it was necessary to reduce the speed to 18 knots.
Truly "sailed".
Meanwhile, on the American boat, the commander continued to reflect on the incomprehensible show that unfolded before his eyes. Thoughts swarmed differently, as Enright himself later admitted, to the point that they were his own.
However, all thoughts were left overboard when the radar operator stuck his head into the command compartment and announced: “We are lucky, captain! According to the radar data, the target has abruptly changed course. Almost straight west. The firing range is 13,000 yards, the azimuth is 060!"
Enright and his officers were huddled around the checkout table, calculating the approach of the aircraft carrier and planning an attack. Enright ran up the ladder to the bridge again. The Japanese ships were clearly visible in the bright moonlight.
Unaware that a faulty shaft bearing was slowing down the Shinano, the Americans suggested that they might not catch up with the aircraft carrier. Perhaps Enright imagined the Sekaku eluding him a year ago. Probably, the American captain was, to put it mildly, not thrilled with the prospect of losing the second aircraft carrier.
His plan of attack depended primarily on whether the ship would return to a base course of 210 degrees. If the aircraft carrier did so, the Archer Fish would be in an optimal position to attack, and the Shinano would head straight for the boat.
However, if the Archer Fish gets close to the Japanese on the surface, they may notice it, but if the boat goes under water, it will lose speed and the aircraft carrier may overtake it. So Enright had to continue his most secretive movements behind the convoy and pray that the aircraft carrier turned in his direction.
Plus (or rather, minus) was that summer nights are short. The moon was supposed to set at 4:30 in the morning, and stop illuminating the Japanese convoy, and then the sun would make an attack impossible at all, giving out the position of the boat on the surface.
However, everything went according to the American scenario. At 2 hours 56 minutes at night on November 29, 1944, the convoy turned on a 210-degree course and went straight to the boat. The Archer Fish sank, and the crew began to prepare for the attack.
When "Shinano" once again turned in an anti-submarine zigzag, it unwittingly found itself sideways to the submarine, and Enright watched the aircraft carrier through the periscope in all its glory and made a sketch of the ship to determine the type.
The Americans were surprised that nothing of the kind was found in the military identifier of ships. Ensign Gordon Crosby, noting the unusual roundness of the ship's bow, remarked:
- The Japanese have nothing like that.
- Well, yes, damn it, what am I looking at then? Enright objected.
At 3 hours 22 minutes in the morning on November 29, 1944, the Archer-Fish bow torpedo tubes spat out six torpedoes at eight-second intervals. Enright watched with great pleasure through the periscope how the smoke balls of the explosions of his torpedoes swelled up near the side of the ship …
Then "Archer-Fish" went into depth, reasonably fearing a blow from Japanese destroyers.
On the Shinano's bridge, Captain Abe contemplated how the approaching dawn would sweep away all obstacles to American bombers. But it was not American bombs but torpedoes that hit the side of the ship that caused the events that followed.
The first torpedo punctured the empty fuel storage tank and refrigeration unit of the ship, causing flooding. The second torpedo damaged the right engine room, which also flooded. The third exploded in area 3 of the ammunition depot, killing all the attendants there, as well as flooding warehouses No. 1 and No. 7. The last torpedo hit the starboard air compressor compartment, causing it to instantly flood and damage control station No. 2. This hit also detonated the starboard fuel tank.
Abe had already realized that after all the American torpedoes hit the ship, but did not believe that the damage was fatal. However, the fact that "Shinano" began to heel, he was probably struck to the depths of his soul.
It is worth mentioning here that due to the rush to bring the Shinano into operation, the High Command canceled the standard air pressure tests, which usually ensured the tightness of the compartments.
Plus, the design of the aircraft carrier itself was very different from the usual. Instead of the usual single main passage, Shinano was built with two internal highways. The crew was not trained in emergency evacuation procedures, moreover, it was very motley, recruited from other ships, and there was a real possibility that some of the crew simply could not escape, simply getting lost in the bowels of the ship.
And so it happened, crowds of distraught Korean workers who did not understand the commands in Japanese, and civilian personnel made it difficult for the emergency teams to act.
Meanwhile, the ship's roll increased to 13 degrees. The pumps were running at full capacity, but the water continued to flow. Abe gave the order to try to cope with the roll with the help of counter-flooding.
However, it was not possible to fully straighten the ship, since the Shinano was still moving, and the water under pressure entered the interior of the ship. Soon, due to power shortages caused by flooding, all pumps stopped.
Surprisingly, Abe still thought the Shinano could survive. The captain ordered to send a message to the Yokosuka Naval Station:
"Shinano is torpedoed at position 0317 X 108 miles at 198 degrees from Omae Zaki's lighthouse."
Meanwhile, Japanese destroyers began searching for an enemy submarine. It is worth remembering how good things were with the sonar of these ships. So the destroyers stopped at dropping 14 depth charges in the approximate area of the enemy's boat, and that was all.
An hour after the American torpedoes hit the Shinano, Abe realized the tragedy of the situation. The aircraft carrier's roll was now 20 degrees, and the speed dropped to 10 knots. At 6 am Abe ordered a change in course to the northwest in the hopes of landing the Shinano aground at Cape Ushio.
"Hamakaze" and "Isokadze" made a generally miserable attempt to tow the aircraft carrier in shallow water, but with a total mass of only 5,000 tons, they simply could not budge the ship with a displacement of 71,000 tons, and even quite a lot of water.
At 10:18 am Abe gave the order to leave the ship.
On board the Yukikaze, Captain Terauti ordered his senior mate in a classic order:
- Lieutenant, do not raise sailors who are shouting or calling for help. Such weak hearts can do no good to the navy. Pick only the strong who remain calm and courageous.
In general, many more people drowned than were saved. Captain Abe remained in his wheelhouse and went to the bottom with the ship. As well as 1435 other people who could not be saved.
The Shinano went down in history as the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine. On Wednesday, November 29, 1944, 65 miles off the coast of the Japanese island of Honshu, the ship sank after 17 hours of its maiden voyage.
The Archer Fish arrived at the base on the island of Guam on December 15th.
After her crew disembarked, Commander John Corbus, an operational officer of the local command, shocked Enright by telling him:
“I'm sorry Joe, but naval intelligence does not support your claim that you sunk an aircraft carrier. They say there was no aircraft carrier in Tokyo Bay, so how could you sink one? Maybe you will settle for a cruiser?
Enright began to argue and handed the pencil sketches of Shinano, which he himself had drawn through the periscope. Plus, the radio intercept service was able to record a message from the Japanese services that the Shinano was sunk.
For his triumph, Enright was awarded the Naval Cross and his submarine received the Presidential award.
In peacetime, the Archer Fish served as an oceanographic research vessel and was decommissioned only on May 1, 1968.
Later that year, the Navy used the submarine as a target when testing an experimental torpedo fired by the nuclear submarine Snook. The Archer Fish was towed to a point a few miles off the coast of San Diego and anchored. An experimental torpedo tore the boat in two.
This is how the story of the game of poker that cost Japan the largest aircraft carrier ended.
