Aftermath, Reconciliation and Rebirth
A Continuing Menace:
The mining of Japanese home waters at the close of World War II saw the dropping of 25,000 mines as part of Operation Starvation. Despite years of mine-sweeping efforts, an untold number, likely thousands, were never recovered or detonated. These remained in the water long afterwards were still dangerous decades later. What makes sea mines so insidious is that mine designers found a way of keeping the mines effective after years of saltwater immersion. The mines dropped by the United States Navy and Army Air Forces utilized the Hertz Horn. This type of sea mine relied on protrusions functioning as contact fuses that were filled with sufluric acid. When the mine is contacted the fuse shatters and detonates the sea mine. These mines, as well as magnetic mines, literred Japanese coastal waters after World War II ended. Twenty-six years after the war, over 2,000 mines remained despite continuous Japanese sweeping efforts. Despite these efforts, there have been casualties in the channel. In August 1965 a dredger struck a mine and eight workmen were injured
As for the Japanese merchant fleet, it would take decades to rebuild. However, the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF) saw a quick restructure after WWII ended. Due to the need to sweep the thousands of mines around Japanese coastal waters, it was reformed before the new Japanese constitution was even put in place. When the Korean war broke out in 1950, the US Navy had only one operational minesweeper and six support minesweepers without the appropriate equipment for minesweeping in the Far East, and although they quickly sent mine sweepers from Philippines, Guam, and the American west coast, by November 30, there were only 19 minesweepers altogether. In contrast, Japan contributed 32 ships to the minesweeping operations. This has been a staple of MSDF operations, and their minesweepers have assisted in numerous clearing efforts worldwide since then.
After the war, many experts agreed that had this mining campaign commenced earlier, the war might have finished earlier, without atomic bombs. Operation Starvation showed the value of strategic mining in helping to bring a war to an end. Operation Starvation, combined with the systemic attacks on Japanese merchant shipping, remains a tantalizing "what if" scenario that could have provided a different historical alternative to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Allied Losses:
U.S. and Allied submarines exacted a high toll upon the Japanese merchant fleet and, in turn, accumulated the highest causality rate of any Allied service component. Ultimately, Allied submarines, aircraft and surface ships were credited with sinking over 2,000 Japanese merchant vessels and over eight million tons of shipping, over half of which was sent to the bottom by Allied submarines. This staggering figure was achieved despite the submarine force making up less than two percent of manpower of the total U.S. naval force. American submariners paid a high price for their success. Fifty-two American submarines were lost to Japan during the war, taking with them 374 officers and 3,131 enlisted men.
In addition to these losses, between 10,000 and 20,000 Allied civilian detainees and military prisoners of war died as the result of fratricide while being transported by the Japanese merchant fleet. Exact numbers are difficult to determine due to incomplete or missing passenger records and the overlapping horror of Japanese mistreatment while ashore.
The final locations and circumstances of many sunken U.S. submarines remain a mystery. In recent years some vessels have been found due to the tireless efforts of surviving family members and interested researchers. The USS Wahoo (SS-238) was discovered by a Russian dive team at the bottom of La Perouse Strait in 2006. The USS Grunion (SS-216) was discovered in 2010 off the coast of Kiska island, Alaska. The location and commemoration of these vessels has become a means of personal closure and national cooperation among former adversaries.
Calculating the Human Toll:
Precise causality numbers or estimates remain elusive for Japan's civilian sailors or military personnel killed during the campaign against the Japanese merchant fleet. A brief survey of the greatest losses offers a terrible insight into the overall loss of life. The sinking of the civilian troop transport Toyama Maru by the USS Sturgeon (SS-187) on 29 June 1944 killed over 5,400 Japanese soldiers. Similarly, the sinking of the Ryūsei Maru by the USS Rasher (SS-269) took nearly 5,000 lives. These high casualty events occurred at a significantly higher rate during 1944 as the Japanese merchant fleet moved Allied POWs, slave laborers and civilians towards the interior of the empire and Japanese soldiers to the front. These mass casualty events constituted 127,941 estimated causalities, 84% of the estimated loss of life during the Allied campaign to sink the Japanese merchant fleet. The remaining 16% perished during the daily war of attrition, going down with their vessels between 1 to 50 at a time. A conservative estimate of Japanese civilian and military casualties from this facet of the war total between between 120,000 and 150,000 souls.
The Japanese Shipping Industry Rebounds:
The Japanese shipping industry rebounded quickly after the war, ironically in large part due to the demands of their former enemy. The United States, along with the United Nations, helped to revive the sealift capability of Japan in order to supply their forces fighting in the Korean War. This new war would aid in the revival of the Japanese economy, to include the shipping industry. Necessities of the Korean War coupled with U.S. government aid and private investment quickly rebuilt the Japanese shipping industry. By 1956 Japan would surpass the United Kingdom as the world’s largest shipbuilder and, by 1973, it would surpass all western nations combined. An increasingly interconnected world, liberalized trade and American protective guarantees provided the Japanese a means of building a new maritime empire.