Victory Enabled

<p>The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 destroyed the centerpiece of the United States Navy's Strategic concept the Battleships and left in doubt the ability of any surface craft to openly contest the Japanese Imperial Navy west of Midway Island or north of Australia. The only offensive weapons the United States navy could immediately employ against the Imperial fleet were the airplane and the Submarine. Unfortunately the U.S Submarine Fleet failed to significantly impede the Japanese conquest of the Western Pacific and proved largely ineffective through the middle of 1943. This paper will analyze the factors that contributed to the poor performance of the early World War II Submarine fleet; pre-war training pre-war submarine strategic employment considerations and sub-standard weapons. In addition this paper will analyze the critical contributions during this first part of the war that brought submarine successes that began in late 1943 that continued through the end of the war. The paper will conclude with an examination of the lessons learned from the early World War II submarine force looking for lessons relevant today as the submarine force continues it's transformation to improve its effectiveness in combating the current Global War on Terror (GWOT).</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>