The LARGEST Warship Sinking in HISTORY by a Submarine 

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As a former sailor, I have the greatest admiration for my brothers who served on subs. That took real guts in wartime service.

One of my favorites stories. They didn't sink the most ships but sunk the most tonnage. Basically the equivalent of going to a carnival and winning that giant stuffed Teddy Bear first try.

Sunk on her maiden voyage by USS Archer Fish...Joe Enright was a true submariner captain. Him and his crew worked together as a cohesive unit and came out as victors.

My nephew served on a Sub based at Guam. God bless these mariners, the underwater sailors of the seas. Great admiration for Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz that helped develop the Submarine for the U.S. Navy before and during WW1.

This is the book I read and gave to my friend who served on the Nuclear Archerfish. It had a distinguished career after the war as well.

This telling made me really appreciate all the strategy and reasoning required of these captains at sea

Biggest ship done in by one of the Smallest ships. Well done.

Spent 4 months in Yokosuka Japan in 1986 while deployed on USS Cape Cod AD 43. Visited Atami City, Tokyo, and Beppu.

What an ignominious end for the submarine.

It's astounding how rarely military history channels cover the Shinano. Thanks for shining light on this story. You've earned my subscription!

Excellent content. This channel is an example of why I no longer have cable. Thanks and keep it coming!

Archerfish was also one of the three Balao-class boats used for the production of the movie “Operation Petticoat” with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis in 1960. It’s a pretty funny movie and has a surprising level of detail in the operation of a WWII fleet sub for a comedy.

Admiral Charles Lockwood was not a CO of a naval station at Midway Island ( 5:07 ). At that period of time Admiral Lockwood was commander of all U.S. Navy submarine forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations (COMSUBPAC) located at Headquarters, Pacific Fleet Submarines, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A small naval station like Midway Island was be run by a mire commander or some junior captain (not having been captain very long) at the most.

US Naval submarine force was the most effective and efficient of any nation, including the German U-boats, ultimately starving Japan of its overseas resources. The aggressive US sub commanders also sunk Japanese warships including their aircraft carriers. I believe they are the most underrated of all Allied forces in WWII.

Great video! I'd never even heard of the Shinano before.

Shinano? Theres a girl at work named Sha-Nay-Nay.....

To Shinano's crew, the presence of Yukikaze was also a bad omen...

Unfortunately for the Japanese there really weren’t any trained aircrews left . A new large carrier will just be a torpedo magnet. Shinano was meant to be a support carrier, replenishing the existing fleet carriers

Your channel has become one of my favorites on the platform, irrespective of genre. The work you put in editing all of the clips is together in a seemless smooth way is incredibly impressive. It’s big channel quality we’re blessed to have found before you blow up! I’m just glad to be able to say I’ve been here from the beginning and will continue to do my small part in your success by liking, commenting, and sharing great videos like this one. Keep up the great work mate, you’ll hit 100K subs before you know it. God speed !

Watching the reenactment of this victory on the old TV show the Silent Service really helped put this story into perspective. If y'all have the time, look up Richard Damm. He has most of the episodes of that old 1950s TV show on his channel.

So the Archerfish succeeded in sinking a record carrier. It is a shame that the submarine was rewarded by using her for a target. Seems to me that she could have been set up on shore somewhere as an exhibit. These boats did a grand job of winning the war and needs not to be forgotten. These exhibits serve the purpose of reminding the future generations of our history. D.Booker USN Submarine service retired.

This story is a very important life lesson, especially young men. It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog!!!!!

Archerfish had six forward torpedo tubes. There was no "fire four, reload, fire two more."

Good video, but one thing you got wrong was the Shinano was never going to be a threat to the U.S and would have done nothing to come close to trying to turn the tide of war - it wasn't even a factor - nothing more than a white elephant. When it started construction, the Japanese Carrier air arm was still large, albeit with inexperienced pilots. The Battle of the Philippine Sea decimated their carrier air arm for good and the Battle of Leyte Gulf took out most of what was left of their active carrier fleet. The Shinano was not going to be a front like carrier, but rather a support vessel carrying extra aircraft, fuel and such. So by the time it was launched, there was nothing for it to support. Even if it had been launched much earlier and used as front line carrier with a full aircrew, the pilots would have been blown out of the sky just like all their other pilots.

I Love Watching These WWII Documentaries! ⚓ I Never Knew The Shinano Was Converted From A Yamato Class Battleship!

Good video and great info, thanks. As an ex ground-pounder army paratrooper 🪖, I cant even imagine serving in a steel tube under the sea to fight a war. No thanks lol. Respect to the navy guys who served. ⚓🚢

I love the story I read the book many years ago just sticks out my mind is one of the best submarine takedowns ever

The decision to not build Shinano as a battleship actually came months before Midway, mere weeks after Pearl Harbour, as the Japanese began to shift away from battleship construction. By this point Yamato was fully operational and Musashi had been launched, so it was already too late to back out entirely (then again, literally nobody during WWII got the memo of battleships being outdated in time to not waste resources on them). Shinano, however, had been laid down far more recently (three years later) than her sister ships, so the decision was made to only complete her to the point she could be launched, so they could use her drydock for other things, and then figure out what to do with her after the war.

Excellent presentation, factormg in all elements, including the (increasing) pressure(s) and tension on both sides. Thank you., full marks.

Nice job Archerfish, sorry bout the lost crew of the Shinano. Another ship I's love to have walked around.

It has to be heartbreaking to know that the submarine you served on to sink a giant carrier which resulted in honors was used for target practice and sunk.

would say that carrier also has the record for having the shortest service life in history.

As. A lover of the pacific war your videos are very interesting. Thank you . I am a subscriber.

Excellent, balanced coverage of this amazing submarine exploit. Amongst other feats, hugely contributing to defeating an enemy that could not get tolerated. But then again, what a waste. It is more than high time that humankind uses the dedication of all combatants in these wars to achieve our potential. Then again, as a 20th Century human, I greatly enjoy watching these episodes of achievement, notwithstanding the deaths and losses of loved ones.

At 1:34 you see a bunch of crapped out aircraft. Look closely. One is a Curtiss P-40E Warhawk..

As a Radarman 3rd class on a Coast Guard Cutter in Vietnam I really enjoyed this video and can't help feeling bad about the way The Navy destroyed The Archer Fish and as a sailor there is nothing more horrible than to witness a sinking ship with mostly all hands aboard~!! And as Peter, Paul and Mary sang once-"When will they ever learn"?? (Ukraine)

Awesome video!!! I ......."presumably assume"!!! Thank you for all your hard work.

I recommend the great war of archimedies

Naval Intelligence's question as to whether Enright would "settle for a cruiser" wasn't out of the blue; as the video notes, they had intercepted transmissions reading "Shinano sunk". As in the US Navy, there were "naming conventions" in use in the Japanese Navy: -- battleships: Japanese provinces (ie, Yamato, Nagato, Fuso, etc.) -- heavy cruisers: mountains (Kirishima, Kongo) -- light cruisers: rivers (Tone, Chikuma, Chokai) -- aircraft carriers: real or mythical flying creatures (Shokaku ("flying crane"), Hiryu ("flying dragon"), Taiho ("great phoenix") Shinano, having started life as a battleship, was named for the Shinano province; however, there is also a Shinano River. Since Enright wasn't claiming a battleship (ruling out a ship named for the province), Intel concluded the Shinano referenced in the intercepts must therefore refer to a light cruiser named for the Shinano River. It took them a while to figure out that this was the missing third ship of the Yamato-class, and that (also keeping with Japanese tradition) she had retained the name under which she had originally begun construction.

Love it. Second picture shouldve plowed the next dude

As a submariner the skill of this sailors was amazing in very harsh times. You wanted a shower, wait until it rains and surface. Might be cold, but at least you got clean for at least 5 more days.

the U.S. had no knowledge of the shinano, as i recall, the archerfish was credited with the sinking of a unryu class aircraft carrier at the time of the sinking, only after the war ended was it found out what it was, and as stated below, what was the point anyways, japan still had carriers, just no planes and pilots to man them,

This is a most interesting video. Well done!

YA RIGHT !! He had the essence of a Samurai !! A dead one !!

Her 'watertight doors' were never watertight - due to Japan's chronic shortage of rubber - a problem that also crippled later designs of German U-boats, too, in the construction phase, especially the Type XX1s..

This is an outstanding video in every respect. Great audio, great visuals, and a compelling story. Your voice is well-modulated and pleasing. This should be the model for other content creators! 👍🏼

Certainly not the largest tonnage ratio in history: Small UB Types of WWI for example had a sinking tonnage ratio of 1/400 or 1/700 tonnes for example. But largest warship sunk by a sub, certainly. One of these 270t subs sunk the French 11,000 tons battleship Gaulois for example. The Gato class was 1600 tonnes, Shinano 62,000, thats pretty close.

Good vid. Nicely done.

The IJN Shinano was *NOT*, as you put it, “the pride of the Japanese Navy.” For one thing, it was never planned as a “fleet carrier” that would engage in battle with the enemy. The Shinano was going to be a ferry carrier that moved planes from place to place in a kind of “back-up” capacity. Secondly, when the USS Archerfish sank the Shinano, it wasn’t even finished being built! Several of its water-tight doors hadn’t yet been installed, as well as several other crucial components. If you want to talk about an aircraft carrier that the Japanese thought of as “the pride of their Navy,” it would probably be the great carrier that served as the original flagship of the kido butai: the IJN Akagi, Admiral Nagumo’s flagship at the Battle of Midway. Its sinking by American dive bombers had a powerfully negative psychological effect on Japanese naval personnel.

Superb Video, have many thanks!!! Thumbs up and subscribed immediately Love and peace.

Significant sinking of a warship before her sea trials. If that carrier could of entered the war fully capable and fully manned, she would of caused problems. Manning the Shinino with rookie pilots is a challenge of the desperate…

Outstanding account of actions and tactics used by subs during WW II. Thank you from an old Airedale.

Great storytelling, subscribed, looking forward to more videos.

Thanks for not using stock photos from European Theater or a modern aircraft carrier. It's fine to show the same relevant photos over.

Forty-seven airplanes would not have been that difficult for an American carrier to deal with. Remember at this point tin the war there were not a lot of experienced pilots left for the Japanese.

History will repeat itself... just a matter of time.

Thank you!!!

One of the strategies that some subs were doing was to run on the Surface full speed parallel to the targets but in addition to the lookouts both periscopes were put up ALL way to keep an eye on the target yet being completely invisible to the Carrier as the periscopes are so small , fresh eyes were cycled on these scopes to make sure that the targets would not spot the submarine body , as they were able to get far enough in front of the target they then submerge and then go in for the attack. I forget the name of the sub and captain that was successfuly doing this .

Never underestimate your opponent.

The Shinano isn't the largest warship in history. That would be the Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carriers currently in service.

Excellent video. Well done. ++

The japonese merchant ships didin't have 1/5 of the escorts has the allied convoys on the atlantic. Some japonese convoys didin't have any escort at all, specialy after 1943. Sitting ducks.

You know it had to be awkward between the kamikaze pilots and the guys who had to practice landings

Torpedoes used by the U.S. during WW-2 blew 30-foot holes in the hulls of ships struck by them. Bad news for a vessel rushed to sea that was not seaworthy. The carrier's captain choosing not to stop the ship's engines only finished Shinano off.

As far as carriers go, I always wondered if either the Americans or Japanese ever looked into the possibility of a super-carrier, one capable of carrying and recovering the medium bombers of the time. Perhaps, slightly smaller twin-engine planes like the A-20, which was about 10% bigger than an Avenger.

This is a great storyline ❤

Great story!! Thank you.

Dedicated to the crew of the USS Archerfish - who sunk a flawed ship that was rushed into service and who's escort were not equipped to counter a submarine threat. Never mind the near 1500 who went down with her.

Common man everywere, we look after idiots. Thanks guys. Dave

Great account of a classic war story.

Who in their right mind gives that kind of order about survivors?

Hope they find her wreck one day, imagine being able to see an intact Yamato class hull?!

great video govna!

Wonderful video

Just serving in a submarine and Generals is a rough deal

17 hours! 😮

This is a great story of a fantastic US submarine. They could have easily turned it into a WW2 museum as they did with other subs. Why did they use the Archerfish as target practice.

A David and Goliath episode. One good fatal shot.

They didn't sink the largest warship in history, that would be the USS Gerald ford if I'm not mistaken. They sank what would be the largest ship ever sunk by a submarine.

Shinano would not have turned the tide against USS Enterprise, 6 Essex Class fleet Carriers, and 9 Independence Class Light carriers.

the old black and white movie Operation Petticoat [1959] with Tony Curtis and Cary Grant is based on the USS Archerfish which led me to reading a book called Gallant Lady i believe was written by 2 of its crew.

Heroes

Seems like Japan was showing a bit of apathy like the Americans when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, although they were supposed to inform us 30 minutes before attack. So is this a little bit of retribution??

God bless you all from Australia with love and gratitude ❤️🕊️🦘🙏🇦🇺😊

The Bismarck of the Pacific. Doomed from the word Go.

Enright went all Buster Douglass on Shinano (inspired by death of his mother)

Wow.

Awesome video!! I...... presumably

I was a member of the SubVets of WWII central Connecticut chapter as an associate. I was good friend with Ed Zilinsky (now passed) who manned the tdc in the forward torpedoe room. nright had called check fire Ed didnt hear him and manually fired a torpedoe and scored a hit. Ed told me this story at one of the meetings. Also had the honory of Meetin Enright and having him sign my book "SHinano" which he wrote.

The Shinano had the shortest lifespan of any carrier ever built thanks to the Archerfish

Great video thanks

The Shinano is the military version of the Titanic,both sunk on their maiden Voyage.

That was awesome

She was not, nor intended to be a fleet carrier, she was too far along in her original construction for that purpose. Her role was a support carrier. This warship was only finished when her nation was in desperate straights. It is likely the IJN cared little to nothing about the safety of her crew by this time in the war.

I enjoyed this telling of history , especially by someone without a accent, not that I

A vessel not yet finished and sailing solo, without the protection of other vessels, doesn't appear to be worth being stressed here. By the some token, the sinking of the Cruiser USS Indianapolis should be emphasized as major war accomplishment by the japonese . And the Indianapolis was fully operational, capable of reaching fantastic cruising seeps -- something that the "LARGEST Warship sunk in HISTORY by a Submarine" was unable to accomplish. Let´s imagine that the Indianapolis had been sunk a few days earlier. In route to delivering the first atomic bomb to the air base... Obviously, the tragic saga of the cruiser's crew was a terrible ordeal. However, I never read anything reagarding similar, comparable situations endured by surviving members of the Imperial Navy -- or other navies acting in WWII -- thrown into the water after their vessels' demise. Movies, books, were made about the Indianapolis and its crew -- lacking a scientific perspective of history. From a historical view point, this video also lacks historical rigor The war was over in 1945 -- widening the discussion and including a vast array of diversified facts and perspectives is in order. Note: Regarding the Atomic bomb: Facing the circumstances, I regret do assume that it had to be used. Brought the war to an end, saving American and even japonese lives -- in terms of casualties, the attacks on Dresden, Berlin and all major German cities killed a great more deal of civilians. Germany was already defeated, the air-attacks didn't destroy the population moral. Attacks pursued by 1.000 and even 1.500 bombers? An over-killing...

I love a god underdog story. Well done.

It was arrogant or maybe desperate of the Japanese to think they could move such a large vessel unnoticed through home waters teeming with enemy submarines.

...for the HELL of it-(?)