USS Sealion vs. Kongō: The Submarine Attack That Sank a Japanese Battleship

In the pre-dawn hours of November 21, 1944, USS Sealion (SS-315), commanded by Lt. Cmdr. Eli Reich, tracked a powerful Japanese naval force through the Formosa Strait and launched a daring night surface attack on the battleship Kongō. This video reconstructs the long-range radar contact, high-speed approach, torpedo attack that also destroyed the Japanese destroyer Urakaze, the pursuit through worsening seas, Kongō’s progressive flooding and loss of speed, and the final magazine explosion that sent the battleship to the bottom. Using U.S. Navy historical records and Japanese operational chronologies, we examine how Sealion turned a fleeting radar contact into one of the most remarkable American submarine victories of World War II. Sources: https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us... https://www.history.navy.mil/research... https://www.history.navy.mil/today-in... https://www.combinedfleet.com/kongo.htm #WWII #WorldWarII #USSSealion #Kongo #PacificWar #USNavy #SubmarineWarfare #NavalHistory #JapaneseNavy #PacificTheater #WW2History #MilitaryHistory