Sinking the Japanese Carrier Shokaku 

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Cavalla was my first submarine duty station, and I qualified in submarines on her in 1964. We continued to proudly fly the Presidential Unit Citation pennant she had been awarded for her first war patrol. We also were honored to host a member of her commissioning crew when as a reserve officer he served his annual two weeks active duty in Cavalla in 1964 - CDR Ernest "Zeke" Zellmer (an Enisgn during that first patrol and retired from USNR as a Captain). We were privileged to hear about Cavalla's exploits first hand. I believe Zeke was instrumental in establishing the old girl as a memorial in Galveston, but sadly I have been unable to visit her (I settle for seeing her on RU-vid videos). Cavalla had been commissioned on 29 Feb 1944 and thus was a leap year boat and dubbed by the crew as the "Lucky Lady." Lucky yes but manned by a brave and well-trained crew.

My father in law was a MM2 aboard the Cavalla during the carriers sinking, his battle station was aft steering since they did not use hydraulics during silent running. he died at age 94 maybe 5 years ago, RIP MM2 Phil Urban.

My late Dad was a fighter pilot with the VBF-1 aboard the USS Bennington. He and his squadron were sent on a mission on July 24th, 1945 to the Kure Naval base. He bombed the IJN Hyuga, with his bomb striking amidship. He was only 22 years old.

During the Battle of Santa Cruz, my father hit the Shokaku with a 1000 lbs. bomb from his SBD. Unfortunately his dive bomber squadron was unable to sink it but it did take Shokaku out the war for approximately 7 months.

Damage control was a thing. After the loss of USS Hornet in October of 1942, the USN lost no more fleet carriers. The were some that were literally pulverized and turned into floating wrecks, but advanced damage control saved them. Imperial Japanese Naval carriers were not so fortunate.

"All Gave Some......Some Gave All" God Bless American and it's Brave Soldiers and Sailors......

My grandpa was a farmer in ww2 and grew corn and wheat for the soldiers, sailors and pilots to eat.

Been aboard her a few times with friends in Galveston, Texas. She is very well preserved and an excellent example of a WWII sub. I highly recommend a visit if you are a history student. The tour is especially nice as you don't go with a tour group. Just pay the entrance fee and go aboard and search around at your leisure.

I have been onboard the Cavalla where she sits now in Sea Wolf park on Galveston Texas. Reconfigured to resemble a modern submarine she is a monument to the brave sailors who maned her.

This commander had a little bit of luck sinking shakako on his first patrol but also alot of skill. Terrific story.

One of the things that the ijn had to do because of their critical fuel shortage was to use crude oil without refining it. This oil gave off an unusually high level of combustible vapors compared to normal bunker. Consequently it was much more combustible and dangerous

"HIT SHOKAKU CLASS CARRIER WITH THREE OUT OF SIX TORPEDOES . . . RECEIVED 105 DEPTH CHARGES DURING THREE HOUR PERIOD . . . HEARD FOUR TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS IN THE DIRECTION OF TARGET TWO AND ONE HALF HOURS AFTER ATTACK . . . BELIEVE THAT BABY SANK" those were his exact words

What a way to go on your first assignment in a submarine and sync, one of the biggest aircraft carriers in existence at that time

We owe so much to so few left now. Our WWII Veterans are passing into history. The best of us without doubt. I have nothing but admiration and respect for them all. The world owes Veterans a debt we could never possibly hope to repay.

Nothing tragic about sinking the Shokaku, unless you had sympathy with Japan in WWII. My dad was out there, happy to see it go down and more sooner would have been better. Lockwood almost certainly had advanced warning of Japanese fleet movements and some of that was not the Japanese fleet code cracking but a hugely underappreciated group of American Women who cracked the support fleet code and they could track fleet ops by what oiler, supplies and ammunition movements went where and when.

An interesting thing about the Pacific War is that Raymond spruance was criticized for not being aggressive enough and Bill Halsey was criticized for being too aggressive.

There was a tv show in the 1950's called The Silent Service. They had an episode about the Cavalla. It's on RU-vid. Worth watching.

What a generation..children collecting scrap, women filling in the factories, nursing and whatever was needed..and the combined military forces..just incredible what they all accomplished,..def are the greatest generation ever..

My father fought the Japanese for 3 years in the south Pacific in WWII. He would in no way considered this a "tragic" story. What was tragic was 400,000 civilians being murdered as the Jaoanese army retreated from Manila,

There was nothing TRAGIC! It was GLORIOUS!

As one who spent time in the engine rooms of three different navy ships back in the '60s, I can imagine the horror and uncertainty of being down "in the hole" while the ship is under attack and fires are raging. That this ship was using unrefined crude oil with combustible vapors, must have been a "horror" on the minds of senior officers who understood the danger...Partially empty fuel tanks or broken fuel lines could be as dangerous as the ammo magazines...

Wow, I love that Submarine.,👍👍👍

I carry same gun I used in Europe, the Army A1 .45. I don't need seven rounds, I only need ONE, any hit with the .45 APC and the perp' is finished, an arm hit can tear his arm off, he's finished.... and so are the other six.

You can tour Cavalla today. She's in a park near Galveston, Texas. If you are claustrophobic don't go aboard. The crew lived in a tiny space.

I recently read the book "Archerfish" detailing the sinking of the Shinano and its career after the war well into the 1960s when the author was a crewmember. I gave the book to a friend who served on the nuclear powered Archerfish which succeeded it. He was very excited to get the book.

I quote,I believe that baby sunk was his words.Thanks hidden history for a superb video.

Taiho was her own class of carrier,not a sister.Zuikaku was the sister to Shoekaku

Nimitz himself cheered when Shokaku went down, given what she'd gotten up to in 1942 alongside her sister.

Pss't! Spruance was the US 5th Fleet with the Fast Fleet Carriers and modern Battleships. The 7th Fleet was the slower moving Invasion Fleet that included all the Marine Landing Ships, the old slow Standard Battleships and some Escort Carriers for close air support of the landings.

Number one, Taiho was not the sister ships of Zuikaku and Shokaku, she was built on similar lines but she was different in a number of ways. One was that she had an enclosed bow which was unusual for carriers at that time. Second she had an armoured flight deck like many RN carriers, and that would be part of her undoing, along with learning the lesson the hard way liked the USN did at the Battle of the Coral Sea with the USS Lexington (CV-2) that you don't try to disperse fumes from a cracked avgas tank by turning on all the fans and blowing the fumes throughout the ship. When Taiho exploded, with the armoured flight deck keeping the explosion from venting in that direction, the explosion blew out her sides and bottom.

These were some of the bravest, most capable men in our nations history. I hope we have more than a few of them in our navy today. We’re going to need them…

My mother's 1st cousin Joseph Schuh, was a Catalina "flying boat" pilot, aboard Enterprise. He survived the war, and later I believe attained the rank of Ltd. Commander aboard the new Enterprise. RIP Joe Schuh!

“Dropped anchor off Saipan”……US subs didn’t take anchors on war patrols, nor stanchions and lifelines due to concerns that the chain locker could be burst open during depth charging and drag the sub to crush depth and no lifelines to due concerns that mines could get snagged on the stanchions and drag the mine onto the sub.

With a target that beautiful and unprepared you'd almost have to suspect a trap. Must have been a hell of a rush.

Great video! I just visited USS Cavalla today

The Cavalla is on display at Seawolf Park in Galveston, Texas. Last time I saw it ( several years ago) wasn’t looking so good but they were working on it

USS Cavalla is on display at Seawolf Park, on Pelican Island in Galveston Texas. She was refurbished not long ago. I have toured her twice. It is amazing to see how small she seems, moored next to USS Stewart (DE-238) The Boy Scouts have hosted sleep overs on both ships.

Submariners, either extremely brave or totally mad. Probably a mixture of both.

Thanks for the video

The destruction of the shokaku is absolutely brutal. Imagine being on the deck as a japanese sailor as the deck slants further and further beneath the waves and then a series of explosions go off and obliterate the ship

Thank you, great content as per usual.

Its tough to sink a Shokaku. Sometimes you have to flush three or four times.

Saipan appears to have changed drastically since I was there in 2000

Another excellent video, thank you

It would have been nice if a few maps were included.

Nice work 👌 thanx for sharing 👍

I remember after joining the US navy in playing a number of WW2 board games I was surprised at how badly Japan stood up against the US navy prior to the US navy. Japan had only 12 battleships, two of which were only completed after the Pearl Harbor attack. The US navy had 22 or so? Japan had only 10 total aircraft carriers leading up to Dec. 7th, 1941. Six fleet & four escort carriers. Japan would lose 5 of these carriers in May-June 1942, 4 fleet & 1 small escort carrier. Admiral Yamamoto was 100% right in his views of going to war with the USA before WW2. Japan never ever really had any chance for victory. Shalom

Well presented. TY

You mentioned surigao strait initially as an element of the Japanese attack forces, but didn’t add it to your summary of the overwhelming defeat the IJN suffered during the campaign. The IJN southern force was decimated at the hands of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf. He had anticipated the IJN’s traverse through the strait, and prepared a night battle (using their vastly superior radar fire-control). As his seventh fleet awaited, spanning across the strait, the Japanese approached in a single line. It was the last time a naval commander ever executed the mythical tactic of “crossing the tee”, and also the last battleship-on-battleship action in history, marking the end of the “battle line era” going back to the 1600’s. The IJN lost two battleships, a heavy cruiser, and three destroyers. The US losses? 39 men. Just as Cavalla had avenged Pearl Harbor with the sinking of Shokaku, West Virginia (who had been SUNK at Pearl Harbor) fired a total of 16 salvos (her first likely hitting the bridge of Yamashiro even at the extreme range and in the dark).

Well done my friend.

By the time of the Battle of the Phillipine Sea Pacific fleet submarines finally had torpedoes that worked!

Excellent 👌 👌 👌

The good ole days

USN subs really went to town after the torpedoes got better.

Great video as always. Habe a good day

1st time viewer, new subscriber...This was really interesting. I'd watched other vids on the topic, but you did a great job of not just illustrating the battle, but the events before & after...Look fwd to future content. 😉👍✌️

Amercan submarines did a great job reporting enemy fleet movements, and also sinking many warships and cargo transports. They did such a good job, Japan was practically defeated before the atomic bombs were released on Japanese soil.

The U boat service was the most UNSUNG of the entire wsr. The American U boat crews were instrumental in the demise of General Ozawas forces sinking 2 of his best carriers before even encountering the american carrier forces. EVERY SINGLE MAN ON THOSE U BOATS DESERVES A MEDAL FOR THEIR INCREDIBLE BRAVERY .

Kossler was a bit eccentric. He knew his subs, but carried around an empty glass everywhere he went 😏

Just looking at those ships I get spooked!

Very interesting documentary.

the narrator says: tragic story of shokaku humm i think many U S sailors would say the only good japanese carrier is one taking on water

Not all of Naval Intelligence analysis was CRACKING codes . Extra tedious and melodramatic at once? I am a IJN Symp.

We should appreciate that the history, when written by their own WWII historians, distort most of how and especially why it happened. Fascinating to me the development further of the culture, in light of the ownership thing. Still veneration toward the Emperor Hirohito felt by a big senior population.

The Japanese had one particular fatal flaw, their service men, whether flyers, sailors, or ground troops owed their lives to the emperor and it was an honor for them to die for the emperor. So every experienced flyer, sailor, and ground troop with that in mind, did not really pass on their training and experience, the battle of midway saw the Japanese lose the cream of their experienced flyers, while this was due to being killed in their cockpits before they could take off, it was a loss that Japan would not recover from, however if these had been rotated out to the flight schools before midway they could have trained the new flyers and passed on their experience.

Visit the USS Cavalla at the Galveston Naval Museum in Galveston, TX.

Great story.

Bravo Zulo.. job well done shipmates..

I think the actual peace treaty was signed in 1952 but it was signed in California I believe San Diego. That's in contrary with Russia and Japan who have never signed a peace treaty from world War II

To the crew "Well Done"

A real hero

nice job

Cavalla was transferred to the Texas Submarine Veterans of World War II. She now resides at Galveston Naval Museum in Seawolf Park on Pelican Island, just north of Galveston, Texas.

I love the Greatest Generation. Sad that they are passing.

You forgot Ozawa had coordinated with the ground units to attack-from airports! That pretty much equaled up the amount of airplanes used!

Excellent leadership

Run silent, run deep!

This was and excellent story about this Japanese Carrier, with only one detail that you got wrong! There was nothing but glory and honorable men that sunk this ship. So when it sunk IT WAS A GREAT DAY FOR AMERICAN NAVAL NAVIGATORS! Glory to the the bottom of the sea! With great reasoning!

Shokaku arguably the best aircraft carrier of its time. With a speed of 34 knots, is the fastest carrier in WW2.

This video gained you a sub

Talk about David slaying Goliath.

love that restaraunt

God bless everyone of those warriors for our freedoms

I want to see CGI movies about Jutland, Cape Matapan, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf and the Falklands war.

THE JAPANESE IN THE SECOND WIRLD WAR WERE GETTUNG TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL.THE MIDWAY PLAN WAS WHAT WAS NEEDED UNDER THE COOL N CALM LEADERSHIP OF ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET CHESTER NIMITZ GOT IN EXACTLY CORRECT.❤❤❤😅

Honor our heroes.

What a transformation. A lot of volunteer trees made the landscape look bad.

Ive always wondered why Subs of that era didnt use some sort of breather/exhaust buoy while they were at periscope depth to gain the diesel engine power and keep speed?

It was not the US 7th Fleet, that was "Dugout Doug's" 'Navy. The US carrier fleet was the 5th Fleet when commanded by Admiral Spruance and the 3rd Fleet under Admiral Halsay. This was done to try to confuse the Japanese. And while I'm here, it probably would have turned out even better for the USN if Halsay had been in command in the Philippine Sea, and Spruance at Leyte Gulf. Spruance was cautious and Halsey a bit of a loose cannon.

American Heroes that turned the tide of the war. God bless America 🇺🇲

Very informative... Nice touch with the Captain's log. I will take one subscription please, and thank you.

Always wondered why the Japanese never seemed to be very good at ASW. If a U boat had lucked into the same position on an allied CV (Post 1943) firing her fish would have been a guaranteed death sentence. Was it radar? training? active/passive sonar or a combination of factors?

A real shame Shinano was the largest carrier of the time, yet she got sunked without sending a single plane to fight.

I just can't take it seriously with that name! "Shokaku" sounds like what a sleazy guy in a trench coat in a bad part of town likes to do to anyone who walks past him...

Your back?

A few maps with animation would have been helpful.

It was the 5th Fleet at the Marianas, not the 7th Fleet.

I was born too late and missed out on all the excitement in the Pacific.

Good times.