Originally Posted by Jerseyboy
It was essential for the air war. The air war beat Japan, even though the air war didn't beat Germany.



I think the submariners would argue that. The shipping they sunk (almost all of Japan's merchant ships) stopped the flow of oil, foodstuffs, coal, ore, everything the Japanese needed to continue the war. They also put a whupping on Japan's lesser warships. That was all after they got all the torpedo issues fixed, of course, but once that happened, the submarines went nuts and sunk everything they saw with a Japanese flag on it. While LeMay did lay waste to the cities, the subs starved them out.

You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.