USS Redfish
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USS Redfish (レッドフィッシュ Reddofisshu) was a Balao-class submarine built for the United States Navy in 1944. Entering into service in the latter half of World War II, Redfish conducted raids on Japanese military vessels in the Pacific theater, and remained in service into the late 1960s, finally being sunk as a target ship off the coast of San Diego, California, in 1969. USS Redfish plays a small but significant role in the 2023 Godzilla film Godzilla Minus One, where it is one of a number of American vessels disabled or destroyed following the mutation of Godzilla during Operation Crossroads.
History
- Godzilla Minus One (2023) [diagrams]
Reiwa era
Godzilla Minus One
In 1947, following Godzilla's disabling of the destroyer USS Lancaster, Redfish was tasked with pursuing and engaging the monster. However, at the location where Godzilla's and Redfish's paths intersected, the latter was critically damaged when one of its torpedoes suffered a gyroscope malfunction after being fired and carried out a circular run, looping back around and impacting the stern before exploding. With both its hull and one of its airtight compartments ruptured, Redfish sank by the stern in 180 feet of water; however, its remaining intact airtight compartments retained enough buoyancy to prevent the submarine from completely sinking, leaving 25 feet of its bow projecting above the surface of the water.
With Redfish incapacitated, Godzilla continued on his route towards Japan, destroying several more American vessels along the way. The loss of Redfish and the other vessels precluded the United States' ability to involve themselves any further in the growing crisis, as it was feared that more direct military involvement would risk attracting the ire of the Soviet Union and inflame the developing Cold War tensions between the two countries.
Trivia
- The diagram of the sunken USS Redfish in Godzilla Minus One is taken directly from the Bureau of Ships' report on the real-life destruction of a different Balao-class submarine, USS Tang. Tang was sunk in the Taiwan Strait on October 24, 1944, as a result of a malfunctioning torpedo conducting a circular run, killing 78 men.[2] The Mark 14 and Mark 18 torpedoes used during WWII were infamous for their numerous technical issues that plagued them in operational service, with circular runs also causing the loss of the Gato-class submarines Grunion and Tulibee,[3] and the near-destruction of the Gato-class submarine Flying Fish[4] and Sargo-class submarine Sargo.[3]
- Outside of its role in World War II, Redfish is best known for its numerous appearances in films during the postwar period, including as the Nautilus in the 1954 adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
External links
References
This is a list of references for USS Redfish. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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