Dark Seas | America’s Jaw-Dropping Submarine Tactic That Totally Shocked Japan @DarkDocsSeas | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 56 minutes ago.
If the Japanese Navy had one shot to crush the Allies and seize control of the Pacific, it was now or never. Vice Admiral Takao Kurita’s plan was audacious and brutal: unleash Japan’s First Striking Force, including the colossal Yamato and Musashi, the largest warships afloat. His fleet would sneak past Palawan, skirt Mindoro, slip through the San Bernardino Strait, and pounce on Leyte from the north.
The target? A completely unprepared U.S. force. General Douglas MacArthur’s landings on Leyte were in full swing, and 420 American transports were ripe for the picking—sitting ducks for Japan’s naval power.
This perfect plan aimed to cripple the Americans permanently, ensuring Japanese troops in the Philippines could stay linked with their bases in Malaysia and Indonesia, including Singapore. The operation was codenamed SHO-1, the first phase of Operation Victory.
But this grand scheme hit a snag: the tenacious USS Darter and USS Dace. These American submarines stumbled upon the massive Japanese fleet on October 23, 1944, and immediately relayed its position to Allied Command. Yet, the crew of Darter wasn’t content with just delivering the: (QUOTE) “most significant reports of the Pacific War.”
They craved action. Without waiting for reinforcements, Darter launched a daring attack on Kurita’s fleet, setting off a chain of events that would place her in one of the strangest, most dangerous situations of any vessel in the war.
If the Japanese Navy had one shot to crush the Allies and seize control of the Pacific, it was now or never. Vice Admiral Takao Kurita’s plan was audacious and brutal: unleash Japan’s First Striking Force, including the colossal Yamato and Musashi, the largest warships afloat. His fleet would sneak past Palawan, skirt Mindoro, slip through the San Bernardino Strait, and pounce on Leyte from the north.
The target? A completely unprepared U.S. force. General Douglas MacArthur’s landings on Leyte were in full swing, and 420 American transports were ripe for the picking—sitting ducks for Japan’s naval power.
This perfect plan aimed to cripple the Americans permanently, ensuring Japanese troops in the Philippines could stay linked with their bases in Malaysia and Indonesia, including Singapore. The operation was codenamed SHO-1, the first phase of Operation Victory.
But this grand scheme hit a snag: the tenacious USS Darter and USS Dace. These American submarines stumbled upon the massive Japanese fleet on October 23, 1944, and immediately relayed its position to Allied Command. Yet, the crew of Darter wasn’t content with just delivering the: (QUOTE) “most significant reports of the Pacific War.”
They craved action. Without waiting for reinforcements, Darter launched a daring attack on Kurita’s fleet, setting off a chain of events that would place her in one of the strangest, most dangerous situations of any vessel in the war.
