I’m watching a ton of WW2 documentaries and can’t help but think why they didn’t make a counter to the German Uboats other then depth charges and the hedgehog. Surely with the money and resources the US or other countries could of made a sub during that time.
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The US and her allies did have subs, but they were 1) not as big a source of news as the Uboats, hence they didn’t leave a huge mark in the cultural consciousness of the former Allies, and 2) the the foremost use of submarines by the allies was in the Pacific where within 3 years the US virtually sank the entire Japanese merchant marine.
Two of the most decorated USN ships of WWII were submarines. U.S.S. Thresher, and U.S.S. Narwhal who both were awarded 15 battlestars for the war.
Japan never devised a coherent convoy system. Basically 1 admiral was in charge of defending the entire Japanese Merchant fleet and the resources he was given were just a few corvettes and destroyers. Japanese crews didn’t train much in anti-sub warfare either and the Japanese airforce didn’t really devise the use of air power for anti-sub tactics.
American submarines were turkey shooting Japanese shipping from the moment the US entered the war. They basically did everything the Uboats tried to do, except Japan kept putting off the idea of doing anything about it until it was too late.
By the end of the war US subs were sailing into the inner sea of Japan and the Japanese battleship-turned-carrier Shinano was sunk by a submarine in Japanese home waters.
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