How many aircraft carriers sunk the submarine?
Sea giants capable of bombing targets at a distance of hundreds of kilometers. With dozens of aircraft on their decks - universal and powerful wing. Every time they are helpless when they encounter an underwater threat.
Now there is no chance of AUG at all.
There was no chance even in those times when submarines were primitive shells that spent 90% of their time on the surface. Deprived of the ability to quickly dive and change the depth. Without homing torpedoes and modern gas with spherical and conformal antennas. Without a means of measuring the speed of sound in the layers of water. Without GPS and GLONASS. With unstable radio communication and ridiculous analog devices in the central post. Without space means of targeting and data from meteorological satellites. Submariners went to sea, relying only on blind luck. And luck did not let them down!
British losses
Koreijjes. Converted battle-cruiser, length 240 m, displacement 23 thousand tons.
When: September 17 1939
The culprit: U-29.
Acting as part of a search and shock antisubmarine group, the heavy aircraft carrier Koreyjes was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland. The victims of the attack were 519 sailors (10 times more than the crew of a U-boat that sank him!), And the Koreyjes itself became the first ship of the Royal Navy sunk during World War II.
The tragedy forced the British to reconsider the concept of application fleet. From now on, it was forbidden to involve aircraft carriers in anti-submarine operations.
“Eagle”
When: 11 August 1941
The culprit: U-73
Former dreadnought “Almirante Cochrane”, completed as an aircraft carrier (203 meters, 27 thousand tons). Sunk in the Mediterranean, 130 km south of Mallorca while escorting a convoy to Malta (Operation Pedestal). The victims of the wreck were the 130 sailors.
Eagle was the only British ship whose design was calculated in metric units, since the ship was originally built for the Chilean Navy.
“Ark Royal”
When: November 14 1941
The culprit: U-81
In November, 1941, making the next delivery of fighters to Malta, the Arc Royal was torpedoed in the Mediterranean. The only torpedo hit the aircraft carrier, but that was enough. The struggle for vitality lasted more than 10 hours. When the roll reached 35 °, the destroyers took off the crew, and two hours later the Arc Royal sank.
It is worthwhile to pay tribute to the competent operation to rescue the crew: only one person died from the 1500 crew members of Ark Royal.
In addition to the three heavy aircraft carriers, in the period 1941-42. British have lost two "escort" - “Odessite” и “Avenger”. Particularly grave consequences had a second case in which more than 500 people died (the result of the attack U-751).
Total - minus five floating airfields. Great consequences have been avoided, only surpassing the remaining aviaufli to the Pacific Ocean. From sin away.
And in European waters, a complete nightmare was happening. Wolf Packs bitten 123 warships and 2700 oil transports, tanks, thousands of tons of food and other important and expensive goods.
American casualties
“Wasp”
The Japanese submarine I-19 was sunk off San Cristobal Island in September 1942.
Permanent losses - 193 people.
The most effective salvo in stories submarine fleet. Of the six torpedoes fired, four hit the “Wasp”, one in the destroyer, the last, sixth, damaged the nose of the battleship “North Caroline”. The aircraft carrier immediately exploded, the destroyer O'Brien sank. The battleship suffered a blow without serious consequences.
Torpedo hit the destroyer. Far off, "Wasp"
“Yorktown” - the wounded hero of the Midway battle retreated in tow until his course intersected with the Japanese I-168. Four torpedoes released - and “Yorktown” went to the bottom, along with members of his team 80.
By the time of drowning, “Yorktown” was no longer a combat-ready unit. Which, however, does not negate the fact that the meeting with the Japanese submarine was fatal for him.
In addition to the two high-profile cases of sinking aircraft carriers, the Americans lost their escort “Lai Bay” with an air group of 28 aircraft (torpedoed by I-175 in November 1943, 644 dead) and the same escort “Block Island” (torpedoed by the German U-549 in the Canary Islands region in 1944). It is curious that the latter himself was the leader of an antisubmarine group of a dozen destroyers and frigates.
Such a modest loss was due to the presence of two factors:
a) the complete absence of the mighty “Essex” and “Yorktown” on communications in the Atlantic; where they would come to a complete end from the U-bots;
b) objective weakness of the Japanese submarine fleet. Not a single Japanese submarine could dive deeper than 75 meters. And the first Japanese submarine radar appeared only in 1945 year.
Japanese losses
First, a few facts about the forces of the opposing sides.
The Yankees had 200 excellent submarines, which did not serve the latest people. The typical American “Gatou” was three times larger than the German U-bot: a real ocean cruiser capable of passing 20 000 km, with ten torpedo tubes, the latest radar and sonar.
As a result, the Japanese AUGs did not even have time to get to the combat zone.
Statistics on the Pacific Theater. Submarines sank more ships and ships than aircraft carriers, the base aviation and surface ships combined.
In one day, 19 June 1944, the Imperial fleet lost two aircraft carriers at once.
Submarine "Cavella" torpedoed heavy “Sekaku” (237 meters, 32 thousand tons), avenging the Japanese for Pearl Harbor. The victims of the attack were 1272 Japanese pilot and sailor.
Even more terrible consequences have been the sinking “Taiho” (newest, 260 meters, 37 thousand tons). The pride of the Imperial fleet went to the bottom, never having managed to strike a single blow to the enemy. Along with him, the 1650 man has gone to the bottom.
An interesting legend is connected with the death of “Taiho”: at the moment of the attack, the plane of the warrant officer Sakio Komatsu took off from his deck. The pilot saw six terrible breakers aimed at the side of his ship - and without hesitation threw the bomber at a deadly peak. Of the five remaining torpedoes, four passed by. The only torpedo caught in Taiho became fatal for him.
Six hours later, on the “Taiho” because of the erroneous actions of the crew detonated a pair of gasoline. However, this does not negate the fact of his sinking by the “Albacore” boat. And to burn and explode aircraft carriers is no stranger, so these "crystal" ships are arranged.
In November 1944, the Archerfish boat sank “Shinano” (265 meters, 70 thousand tons). The largest ship ever sunk in a naval battle. The victims of the shipwreck were 1435 people.
Yes, “Shinano” was not completed. Came with unsealed bulkheads. The crew did not know the plan of the compartments of their ship, but he sank for long 7 hours. But how does this change the point? Had the Shinano been in combat readiness, he would have died instantly: one of four hits fell into the area of the aviation gas storage (fortunately for the Japanese, not yet filled with fuel).
Meanwhile, the beating continued.
In December 1944, the Redfish submarine sank the aircraft carrier “Unryu” (227 meters, 20 thousand tons). Permanent loss - 1238 man.
Together with four strike aircraft carriers, American submariners sank four "escort":
“Chiyo” (December 1943 g., boat “Sailfish”). The victims - 1350 people.
“Akitsu Maru” (November 1944 g., “Quinfish” boat). As a result of a powerful shipwreck, the Japanese 2046 died.
“Shinyou” (November 1944 g., “Spadefish”). East China Sea, 1130 dead.
“Unyyo” (September 1944 g., boat “Barb”). 239 dead.
Epilogue. “I’ll hit hard but surely.”
17 aircraft carrier (9 shock, 8 escort). 12,5 thousands of dead sailors and pilots.
Such was the “catch” of submariners during the years of the Second World War.
The last lost aircraft carrier was the unfinished Japanese “Amagi”, which sank near the mooring wall after a raid by bombers on the Kure naval base (July 29 1945). Since then, no one has managed to destroy an aircraft carrier in combat conditions. Due to the absence of any serious maritime conflicts involving aircraft carriers.
During the Fokland crisis (1982), the Argentinean “Venticisco de Mayo” hid in the base and did not leave from there until the end of the war. Otherwise, I would repeat the fate of “General Belgrano”.
Modern “Nimitz” prefer to keep at a considerable distance from the coast, performing secondary tasks in local conflicts.
But what happens if they need to engage in battle with a modern submarine fleet?
This is eloquently testified by numerous facts:
The emblem of the Dutch submarine “Valrus” (“walrus”), which broke through the defense of AUG and conditionally “sank” the aircraft carrier “T. Roosevelt ”at the international exercise JTFEX-99.
Similar incidents were recorded at joint exercises with the Australian Navy (“Collins” type boats) and the Israeli Navy (“Dolphin” type boats). In December 2005, the joint Task Force Exercise 06-2 demonstration exercises were held with the participation of the Swedish submarine “Gotland” specially deployed on the Pacific Ocean.
"Gotland" was fast, powerful and most hidden. Six torpedo tubes, 18 torpedoes, the ability to set up 48 min.
Tiny crew, high automation and advanced detection tools.
The low mass of the hull, low-magnetic steel and 27 compensating electromagnets completely excluded the detection of the boat by magnetic anomaly detectors. Thanks to a single all-electric motor and vibration isolation of all mechanisms, the Gotland was hardly detected even in the immediate vicinity of American ships, and the special hull cover, together with its small size, made it difficult to detect the Gotland by active sonars. The boat simply merged with the natural thermal and noise background of the ocean.
Tiny crew, high automation and advanced detection tools.
The low mass of the hull, low-magnetic steel and 27 compensating electromagnets completely excluded the detection of the boat by magnetic anomaly detectors. Thanks to a single all-electric motor and vibration isolation of all mechanisms, the Gotland was hardly detected even in the immediate vicinity of American ships, and the special hull cover, together with its small size, made it difficult to detect the Gotland by active sonars. The boat simply merged with the natural thermal and noise background of the ocean.
Where did the “Gotland”, no one understood. He just plunged and disappeared. And then the Swedes showed pictures of all AUG ships, led by the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. The boat passed through the squadron like a knife through butter, taking a picture of each of the ships at close range.
Similar stories happened during the Cold War. When the K-10 went unnoticed by the 13 hours under the bottom of the aircraft carrier Enterprise.
A stir in the Sixth Fleet, when C-360 raised the periscope near De Moine. At the time of the cruiser was President D. Eisenhower.
Propeller-packed secret anti-submarine antenna (K-324 incident). Modern legends about “Pikes” in the Gulf of Mexico ...
Deck anti-submarine aircraft S-3 "Viking". Dismissed in 2006 year. There is no replacement and is not expected.
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