Fully illustrated, this book puts U.S. Navy submarines against the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy at the height of World War II. Before World War II, the world's naval forces intended the submarine as a tool for hunting down and destroying cruisers and naval units (aircraft carriers and battleships). Instead, they became primarily known for their abilities as trade raiders. However, hunting naval units remained an important supporting role for the American submarine force during World War II. With specially commissioned artwork and mapping combined with carefully chosen archival illustrations, this absorbing study focuses on five revealing battles between American submarines and Japanese aircraft carriers during the period 1942–44. Initially, a combination of factors – poor torpedoes, poor U.S. tactics, and plain bad luck – failed to score any U.S. submarine attack on a Japanese naval unit in 1942 and 1943. However, over six months in 1944 – from June to November – U.S. submarines sank three of Japan's largest aircraft carriers, as well as a battleship. Thereafter, Japanese naval units were kept in ports or in shelters beyond the reach of submarines. In this book, Mark Lardas explains how the technologies and processes used by both sides determined the winner in five revealing engagements, from the battle of Midway in June 1942 to the sinking of the Shinano, the largest warship sunk by a submarine, in November 1944.