The Imperial Japanese Navy had some interesting aces up their sleeves towards the end of World War II:
The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory’s two submersibles, piloted by Terry Kerby and Max Cremer, have found three of five Japanese submarines with revolutionary technology captured by the U.S. Navy at the end of World War II and sailed to Pearl Harbor for inspection.
The submarines were designed to carry and launch folding-wing float plane bombers by catapult minutes after surfacing so they could attack the mainland United States and Panama. No missions were carried out…
The submersibles found an I-14 submarine in February that carried two aircraft while submerged, and an I-201, one of the fastest WWII attack subs.
Carrying three airplanes, the subs were designed to surface, unfold the wings, and catapult them into the sky for harassment attacks on the West Coast. It does not appear that the planes were meant to be recovered back aboard the submarines after carrying out their attacks.
Some of these vessels were apparently captured by the US at the end of the war, and towed out to sea for destruction when our Soviet “allies” demanded access to them.
Like Dolittle’s raid on Tokyo, such attacks would have been of minimal military value, but could have provided Japan a morale boost. It’s also interesting to note that the I-201 I I-400 (thanks for the corrections) was the largest undersea design anywhere until the US started cranking out Fleet Ballistic Missile boats.
Update: More on the IJN submarine strategy.
The story I read said National Geographic Channel partially sponsored the search for the subs and will run a documentary on it this coming Tuesday.
Interesting stuff as always, but I think you meant to say that “…the I-400 class was the largest undersea design anywhere….”
By the way, the aircraft designed to be carried by the I-400 class, the Aichi M6A Seiran, was able to drop its’ floats after launch so that it would end up being ditched at sea, hopefully close to the launch submarine, after mission completion. Less weight, more range/maneuverability for the mission. A restored aircraft is part of the Smithsonian collection -
http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/GARBER/aichi/aichi.htm
Actually, just reading up on the I-200 class was interesting. 25mm AA guns on retractable mounts, and a max. submerged speed of 19-20 knots. Wowza!
Is my Pedantic Peckerwood Award in the mail?
Yes… a PPA, suitable for framing, is in the mail…congradulations. Best
The I-201 class was actually typical in size and displacement for a World War II submarine. What made them special was that they were designed for submerged performance in order to counter Allied ASW, similar to the German Type XXI and XXIII classes. The 201s were streamlined and had a larger battery than previous classes. The Submarine Force brass weren’t very confident in their safety. The prize crew COs wanted to operate them submerged, but they were never allowed to do so despite a lot of begging.
The big’uns were the I-400 class. Two of those were brought back after the war and scuttled off Hawaii. Those displaced more than a 688-class SSN and carried three Aichi Seiran aircraft.
I’m curious about that picture/painting you posted. Why are the aircraft stowed on deck and not in the hangar?
It came from the linked website, and I believe is meant to show a look “through” the hull.
The picture was taken with X-ray specs placed over the camera lens, just like those advertised for sale in the back pages of comic books.
It’s interesting that the original article states that “No missions were carried out…”. I thought I remembered one in Oregon, and it took about 5 seconds on Google to find it –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookout_Air_Raid.
Wasn’t much of an attack, but still…
I’d always heard that the I-400s were intended to launch an air attack on the Panama Canal locks on the Pacific side, in hopes of knocking the Canal out of service for several months.
Um. I can see how you might launch a plane, but … how do you recover it?
Bushido warrior code: a one way trip.
No need for carrier quals.
The Seiran had floats.
I saw the restoration at the NAASM in 2000-
I believe Tamiya model Co. was a sponsor
for the restoration
Same idea would be useful today using unmanned drones. Alas, we won’t have the money for such expensive toys.
While it is true that the I-400 class subs were never used to deliver aerial attacks, the Japanese did carry out air raids from submarines on the West Coast. The most famous is the Lookout Air Raid at Brookings, OR. There is fairly good evidence that several similar attacks were carried out against California in 42/43 with the goal of igniting forest fires.
Thanks for the info, Skipper – Them boats wuz some BIG sumavaguns!
But I think that you unearthed a more poignant story obliquely: The story of one Japanese Imperial Navy Aviator, who donned his kit and took to the air for what he believed in, and, once the guns had been silenced, returned to the home of his former enemy in the name of peace. Like the Allied pilots who struck up friendships with their former Axis adversaries, there was some degree of honor between them, which allowed them to put the war behind them and create a positive and fulfilling relationship… I imagine that you might have had an opportunity to interact with a former Warsaw Pact strike fighter driver, assured in your own mind that you could take him in a 1V1, but also sure that he would do his best not to make it easy for you – such potential amazing conversation, if it went in the right direction. I know a few fellows who were standing on the other side of the line during my service in the Corps, and later, when we were working together on an engineering project, they found out that I was a Marine – Warsaw Pact propaganda had some interesting things to say about Marines, and it took a little while to convince them that what they had been told wasn’t really the case…
… The recent crop of bad guys, in terms of honorable enemies, elicit no more of a response than that reserved for mosquitoes in summer…
Thanks again for the sub story, looking forward to the NG documentary!
For those wanting to read about the Japanese boats and their trip to Hawaii at the end of WW2, I would recommend “Submarine Commander,” by Paul R. Schratz, CAPT USN (Ret). He was the commanding officer of the prize crew that brought the I-203 to Hawaii from Japan. Very interesting read.
Also, see -
http://www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/
There was an interesting WW2 fiction book that used one of these subs as part of the main plot device. If I remember correctly, it was The Sen-Toku Raid by a guy named Mannock (some sort of pseudonym, former Navy diver). He also wrote one about a U-boat in the Mississippi river delta and one that occurred in Yugoslavia. Pretty interesting books.
And in case you missed it (I did until about 6 months ago while up one night watching the History Channel): They popped off a A-Bomb in Korea for their test…then the war ended.
And to think we think it will take Iran years to make one? Silly wabbits!
Here’s another brief read on the subject, written by one Thomas O. Paine with some interesting names referenced therein.
@Lex: Any chance of getting the comment preview window back? It’d be nice to see how things format, and if links are going to work. Simple inquiry from a simple mind….
v/r
Gotta make a quick correction…I went back to look up Mannock afterwards. He worked as a diver but apparently spent time in the military in some sort of reconnaisance unit.
Those sub-launched planes could have done more than simple harrassment, although it still would not have changed the end of the war.
Just Google: Unit 731
and follow the links
Japanese biological warfare was carried out in China, and there was some planning to hit West Coast population centers with various little goodies like bubonic plague and anthrax.
maybe its because i was a ground pounder, but i don’t see what the big deal is.
i thought the IJN was equipped almost exclusively with undersea aircraft carriers by the end of the war…. %-)
The I400 was the largest sub, surpassing the little known French sub Surcouf, itself carrying an airplane.