carlucci thought she was three times as large. whatever her actual size, the japanese sub loomed over the baa lay owe class boat. johnson knew they'd stumbled across something unusual, but what he didn't realize was that he faced the largest submarine in the world. a sub so huge she would remain the largest until the uss try tan was commissioned in 1959. johnson's men had ever reason to feel small. it wasn't just the jap sub's size that made for such a menacing spectacle, she also bristled with weaponry. with a five-and-a-half inch gun on her aft dick, three triple barrel and a single millimeter mount on the bridge, the japanese sub was all business. there were also eight torpedo tubes in her bow, two more than the segundo had, and it was reasonable to assume she carried the deadliest to have pee toes of the -- to have pee toe -- torpedoes of the war that had nearly three times the range and were faster to boot. if captain johnson felt alarm at the enemy sub's contradictory behavior, he didn't show it. you could never underestimat