 However, these important principles of the convoy system and the lessons of anti-submarine warfare, learned by a handful of Japanese officers and men on a distant station were quickly forgotten.The operations in the Mediterranean were considered unremarkable by the naval staff in Tokyo, this oversight undoubtedly played some part in the disastrous failure of the Japanese to develop an effective counter to the operations of American submarines in the Pacific War.A memorial at the Kalkara Naval Cemetery in Malta was dedicated to the 72 Japanese sailors who died in action during the Mediterranean convoy patrols.