Forest:

BTW, I finished reading "Gallant Lady", a book about the history of the Archerfish (which as we know sank the Shinano) which was a surprisingly good read.

Contrary to my expectations, the book spent an adequate but not great amount of time on the Archerfish's claim to history: the sinking of the Shinano. Instead it spent most of the book telling of her post-war adventures conducting ocean surveys in the 50's and 60's as one of the last unguppy-ized fleet boats in US service.

At one point during a visit to Japan (long after the war ended) the zillionth gawking tourist and family comes through during one of those seemingly endless open-to-the-public tour days. Well, this one last family is going through, everyone is impatient for him to leave as they make the usual small talk..

'your submarine is so small, so much smaller than the ship I served on..'
'oh, were you in the war?'...
'yes' says the Japanese gentleman, as he quietly stared at the torpedo tubes... 'I was the executive officer of the Shinano'

Needless to say, no one was impatient for them to leave anymore....one of many good stories in the book....

Kurt