Editing Depth charge (section)

===Pacific theater and the May Incident===
In the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theater]] during [[World War II]], Japanese depth charge attacks were initially unsuccessful because they were unaware that the latest United States Navy submarines could dive so deep. Unless caught in shallow water, an American submarine could dive below the Japanese depth charge attack. The Japanese had used attack patterns based on the older [[United States S-class submarine]]s (1918–1925) that had a [[Submarine depth ratings|test depth]] of {{cvt|200|ft}}; while the WWII [[Balao-class submarine]]s (1943) could reach {{cvt|400|ft}}.

This changed in June 1943 when [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Congressman]] [[Andrew J. May]] of the [[United States House Committee on Armed Services|House Military Affairs Committee]] caused [[Andrew J. May#The May Incident|The May Incident]]. The congressman, who had just returned from the Pacific theater where he had received confidential intelligence and operational briefings from the US Navy, revealed at a press conference that there were deficiencies in Japanese depth-charge tactics.<ref>{{harvnb|Blair|2001|p=397}} May stated publicly that American submarines had a high survival rate in combat with Japanese destroyers because Japanese depth charges were fuzed to explode at too shallow a depth. Admiral Edwards Lockwood wrote, "I hear ... Congressman May ... said the Jap depth charges ... are not set deep enough. ... He would be pleased to know the Japs set'em deeper now."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kershaw|2008|p=22}}</ref> After various press associations reported the depth issue, the [[Japanese Imperial Navy]] began setting their depth charges to explode at a more effective average depth of {{cvt|75|m|order=flip}}. Vice Admiral [[Charles A. Lockwood]], commander of the U.S. submarine fleet in the Pacific, later estimated that May's ill-advised comments cost the US Navy as many as ten submarines and 800 seamen [[killed in action]].<ref>{{harvnb|Blair|2001|p=397}}</ref>