USS Cavalla sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
On 19 June 1944, USS Cavalla attacked the Japanese carrier Shōkaku during the major naval battle known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” Cavalla fired torpedoes that struck the carrier, which later sank. Shōkaku had been one of Japan’s important fleet carriers and had taken part in the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Cavalla was a Gato-class submarine commissioned by the United States Navy in 1944. Its attack came during a crucial stage of the Pacific War, when American forces were advancing across the central Pacific and Japanese carrier aviation was increasingly weakened.
The submarine is sometimes confused with USS Albacore, which sank the Japanese carrier Taihō during the same battle. Cavalla’s target was Shōkaku, while Albacore’s attack destroyed Taihō. USS Cavalla is preserved as a museum ship in Galveston, Texas.