SCUBA/ Submarine Vs CruIser In war. 1945

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Since Drachinifel recently covered this:

As stated, the Takao and Myoko were hors de combat at the time they were attacked in Singapore. Both cruisers had been part of Admiral Kurita's Center Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. Takao was hit by two torpedoes en route to the Philippines in a submarine attack that sank its sister ships Atago and Maya, and was forced to retire to Singapore for repairs. Myoko was hit by an aerial torpedo the next day and also forced to retire; on the way to Cam Ranh Bay she ran into another American sub that blew her stern off with a torpedo and left her to be towed to Singapore. Lacking the needed materials to get either cruiser seaworthy for a return to Japan, they were relegated to service as floating antiaircraft batteries.
 
I don't understand why to send anyone to do the job of a torpedo?

The history isn't interesting to me because the situation seems completely contrived or useless.

While Atomic bombs were obliterating cities...one guy...for a joy-ride? decides to damage an inconsequential cruiser?

Just saying.

"coolness" comes from productivity. Zero productivity = zero cool.
 
I don't understand why to send anyone to do the job of a torpedo?

Because they couldn't get a submarine or PT boat near the target without getting blown out of the water. The few successful attacks on ships by combat swimmers were in heavily guarded enemy harbors. Using swimmers/divers were last resort options in most cases.

It will be interesting to watch the evolution of long range AUVs and torpedo technology merge in the next decade.
 
Because they couldn't get a submarine or PT boat near the target without getting blown out of the water. The few successful attacks on ships by combat swimmers were in heavily guarded enemy harbors. Using swimmers/divers were last resort options in most cases.

It will be interesting to watch the evolution of long range AUVs and torpedo technology merge in the next decade.
Thanks, I may seem like an arse...but I just wanted to understand the reasons why.

This helped a lot.
 
Thanks, I may seem like an arse...

Not at all. It is hard to understand from a modern warfare perspective.

I have been reading books on European and US combat swimmers in World War II. It is amazing how difficult, primitive, and dangerous it was.
 
Because they couldn't get a submarine or PT boat near the target without getting blown out of the water. The few successful attacks on ships by combat swimmers were in heavily guarded enemy harbors. Using swimmers/divers were last resort options in most cases.

It will be interesting to watch the evolution of long range AUVs and torpedo technology merge in the next decade.

Pretty much. In addition, you were arguably risking fewer guys to do it that way - an X-craft had a crew of four, whereas to get the same results with air power you were probably committing a full carrier wing and a full-size sub would be putting something like 70 men at risk.

As far as the value of that particular mission - your mileage may vary. It's arguable that the exact state of the two cruisers was unknown to the Allies, but at the time both the USN and RN were trying to eliminate every Japanese warship still afloat although fuel shortages were confining even the intact ships to port. USN airstrikes on the major Japanese bases in the Home Islands took significant losses and counterattacks from land-based aircraft crippled a number of American ships (the carrier Franklin suffered horrific bomb damage during one such attack on the Japanese fleet base at Kure).
 
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