What was the name of the weapon that the Japanese used so effectively in the naval battles of the Solomon Islands?

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Ancient One Profile
Ancient One answered

Memory a little off but I believe it was a one or two man submarine that also acted as a human driven torpedo if necessary. US military called them, I think, "coffin boats".

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Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
Close but they didn't use those in the battles of the Solomons.
Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
That was a Kaiten
Didge Doo
Didge Doo commented
They used them in Sydney Harbour. It was the only east coast attack of the war. Sank a couple of smallish ships including a Manly Ferry which was moored at the time and being used as a troop ship.
Virginia Lou Profile
Virginia Lou answered

Dear Rooster,

In the Solomon Islands campaign, I am finding description of aerial torpedoes...torpedo bombing of American ships from Japanese dive bomber airplanes...

http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=8

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...and different topic, but this statement was on the website also, regarding the Battle for the Eastern Solomons: "Strategically, the Japanese had an opportunity for a decisive victory but failed to achieve it."

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Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
Aw, because with the computers and satellites, we can "see" everything now and plan accordingly. GPS and computers changed the way the military works ! With a good hacker for example, one could hack the entire U.S. electric grid and make us powerless. The computer games take all of this into consideration. The ones I play? I'm in command.
Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
That is extremely intriguing...not only the computers "seeing" everything, but the fact that our brains interpret all this as real, and "learn" accordingly.

And I had read that about hacking the U.S. electric grid... Scientific American or something wrote it up... actually sounds like it is only a matter of time...

And the grid not out for a few days only, but according to the article I read it would be months...
Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn commented
The country would collapse !

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