Ships
- USS Archerfish (SS-311) Captain from 29 September 1944 · In command when she sank Shinano, 29 November 1944 · Relieved on 15 November 1945
Joseph Francis Enright was born in Minot, North Dakota, on 18 September 1910. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1933, spent three years in the battleship Maryland, and qualified in submarines in 1936. In the Second World War he commanded three boats: O-10, Dace and Archerfish.
His first war patrol nearly ended his career. He took command of the new Dace on 23 July 1943 and sailed in October into Japanese home waters. On 15 November an Ultra intercept put him onto the carrier Shōkaku, but he made what the record calls a timid approach and broke off as daylight came. A tanker escaped him too after its escorts drove him down with depth charges. The 49-day patrol sank nothing. Enright blamed himself and asked to be relieved "by an officer who can perform more satisfactorily." Admiral Charles Lockwood agreed and sent him ashore to the submarine base at Midway.
After half a year there Enright asked to go back to sea and got a rare second chance: command of Archerfish in September 1944. She left Pearl Harbor on 30 October, reached Saipan on 9 November and spent two weeks on lifeguard duty for American aviators striking Japan. On 28 November no strikes were scheduled, and he was free to hunt off Tokyo Bay. That night radar found a contact 12 miles away. At first he thought it was a tanker; by 11 p.m. he could see it was an aircraft carrier with three destroyers. He chased it on the surface at full speed for six hours, working ahead of its zigzags.
At 2:41 a.m. on 29 November the carrier turned away and then straight toward him. He dived at 3:05, and at 3:17, from only 1,400 yards, he fired all six bow tubes. He set the torpedoes to run shallow, at 10 feet, hoping to hole her high and make her roll over. Four hit. Enright watched the first two strike, then took Archerfish down to 400 feet to escape the escorts, and for 47 minutes his crew listened to breaking-up noises. Her crew fought the flooding for more than seven hours, but she capsized at 10:57 that morning. Only after the war was she identified as Shinano, the third Yamato-class hull converted to a carrier. At 72,000 tons full load she is the largest warship ever sunk by a submarine. Enright received the Navy Cross.
Years later, researching his book Shinano!, he learned how much had been against her: a weak joint between her armour belt and anti-torpedo bulge, watertight doors not yet fitted, compartments never air-tested, and an escort commander who believed he faced a wolfpack and turned into the submarine's path, finally showing Archerfish the carrier's whole side.
On 2 September 1945 Archerfish was one of the twelve submarines in Tokyo Bay for the surrender on board Missouri. After the war Enright commanded Submarine Division 31, the tender Fulton and Submarine Squadron 8, was chief of staff of the Atlantic Fleet submarine force, and from 1959 to 1963 commanded the cruiser Boston. He retired in 1963, worked for Northrop on the OMEGA navigation system, and died in Fairfax, Virginia, on 20 July 2000. He is buried at Arlington.
Sources
Wikipedia, "Joseph F. Enright" (incl. Navy Cross citation; citing Enright & Ryan, Shinano!; accessed 2 Nov 2026).
Live Pacific Ships page for this officer (Archerfish, loss of Shinano).