# Have submarines ever hunted and killed

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 7, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670 "2006-08-07T11:28:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670/1 "2006-08-07T11:28:25Z")

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Just a thought spurred on by [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7651510&postcount=12) from the thread on machine gunning torpedos.

Have submarines ever hunted _and_ “killed” each other in history? Not in the sense of Cold War manouevres as in The Hunt For Red October, but in actual combat where the intention is to track down and kill your opponent. I’m assuming not or else the History channel would have covered it in its “Sharks and Nazis” programming 😉

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**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670/2 "2006-08-07T11:29:59Z")

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:smack: And apologies for the idiotic thread title, I meant to add “each other” in there :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670/3 "2006-08-07T12:22:53Z")

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I do not think any sub v. sub battles have occurred since WWII (excepting cold war stuff but no one shot at each other). In WWII it did happen though.

> [@](#):
>
> At any rate, JANAC credited Batfish with the sinking of 3 enemy submarines. But even here, the records are confused, particularly as to the identity of the first submarine Batfish sank on February 9, 1945. Some records indicated I-41, others the RO-115, others the RO-55. To the best available information, there is general agreement about the second and third submarines: RO-112 and RO- 113.
> 
> SOURCE: [USS Batfish (SS 310) War History & Statistics](http://www.ussbatfish.com/batfish-stats2.html)

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**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-submarines-ever-hunted-and-killed/367670/4 "2006-08-07T12:23:06Z")

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I’ve read about submarine vs. submarine battles in World War II. They seemed to be a matter of chance encounters, not planned hunts. A World War II era submarine is more accurately described as a submersible boat, they spent most of their time on the surface. Before radar became common and of sufficient quality, night surface attacks were the most effective way of employing submarines. Zip in, shoot, zip out.