Effective of weapons systems, an additional comparison!
Thanks to the Strategy Page article by James Dunnigan:
"The Super Weapon Everyone Wants To Ignore"
As extracted from the James D. article that comparison as to effectiveness, the naval sea mine as dropped by the American B-29 bomber in the latter stages of the Second World War
Starvation!.
"For every U.S. submarine sailor lost using submarine launched torpedoes, 560 tons of enemy ships were sunk. During the mine campaign 3,500 tons were sunk for each U.S. fatality. On a cost basis the difference was equally stark. Counting the cost of lost mine laying aircraft (B- 29's at $500,000 each) or torpedo armed submarine ($5 million each), we find that each ton of sunk shipping cost six dollars when using mines and fifty-five dollars when using submarines."
By my quick and dirty calculation the dropping of naval mines by warplane that measure to sink Japanese shipping about sixty times more effective than the submarine campaign.
Starvation referring to Operation Starvation. So much Japanese shipping sent to the bottom the transportation of essential food stuffs more or less curtailed. It is estimated that 10 million Japanese might have died of hunger if the war had not ended as it did as soon as it did..
coolbert.