Japanese Could Not Believe U.S. Submarines Sank Over 5 Million Tons of Their Shipping Explore how ⚓🐋 silent steel hunters beneath the Pacific waves sealed Japan’s fate in World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, just **52 U.S. submarines** sank over **5.3 million tons** of Japanese shipping—more than **55% of Japan’s merchant fleet**—crippling its war economy. Yet, astonishingly, Japan’s military command dismissed submarines as a *“minor threat.”* Through verified archives from the **Joint Army-Nav