Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II (49 page)

Unfortunately for Kusaka, the torpedoes hadn’t gone very far before circling back. He didn’t have time to dive and wasn’t even sure he could get out of their way, especially since their paths were officially unpredictable. His only choice would have been to make the sub’s profile as small as possible. Careful not to show his starboard or port sides, he would have headed his sub straight into the oncoming weapons.

As the torpedoes began their half circle, the
I-400
’s crew would have rushed to close the watertight hatches. Next, they would have braced for impact. Fortunately, just before the first torpedo reached the sub, it headed for the bottom.
¹
The others soon followed. When it was clear the sub was out of danger, Kusaka hissed a sigh of relief.

The
I-400
had avoided disaster for the time being, but the
Sen-toku
subs still had to get to Ominato without being discovered. A fleet of enemy ships awaited them, many looking for stragglers. To avoid this dragnet, they needed more than just luck—they needed the gods to help them.

Though accounts differ, the
Sen-toku
subs appear to have
received orders to return to Ominato on August 20.
²
If not, it’s a remarkable coincidence that all three subs set sail for the same destination of their own accord (rather than Yokosuka or Kure). There’s no indication that Ariizumi was in contact with his squadron, and even if he was, he seemed more interested in disembarking along the Sanriku coast than docking at Ominato. Either way, none of Ariizumi’s subs were ready to surrender.

L
T
. R
OBERT
T. Mahoney was piloting a Grumman TBM Avenger when he spotted what was later described as a great whale half awash.
³
It was August 27, 1945, and Mahoney was leading an air patrol off the USS
Bennington
(CV-20).
⁴

“Japanese sub flying surrender colors,” he reported.
⁵

The first thing Kusaka did after Mahoney spotted him was put on speed. Hoping to escape before a U.S. ship intercepted him, he ordered 18 knots. Realizing that Kusaka was trying to escape, Mahoney did his best to intercede. But there’s only so much an airplane can do to stop a sub. At first Mahoney used a blinker light to tell the
I-400
to reverse course. When that didn’t work, he dropped a message on her deck ordering her south. Unwilling to concede, Kusaka ignored it.
⁶

Takahashi watched from the
I-400
’s deck as the American pilot repeatedly signaled the sub. He could easily tell the Grumman wanted them to turn around. After circling the
I-400
several times, Mahoney grew so frustrated, he executed a reverse turn 100 feet off the sub’s bow. When that didn’t work, he buzzed the boat, leaned out of his cockpit, and jerked his thumb south.
⁷

Kusaka eventually gave in, but not because of anything Mahoney did. When the
I-400
’s captain radioed Naval Defense Command for instructions, he was told to obey the American pilot.
⁸
Even after Kusaka turned south, he still had thoughts of escaping. Slowing to six knots, he’d drag the voyage out, wait until sunset, then submerge and sneak away.
⁹
In the meantime, he threw his code books overboard.
¹⁰

Mahoney was not alone in pursuit of the
I-400;
the USS
Blue
(DD-744) and USS
Mansfield
(DD-728) were also dispatched. The two Sumner-class destroyers were making 30 knots in an effort to catch the sub. At 5:30 on the evening of August 28, they sighted her 200 miles off the coast of Honshu. The
I-400
was bigger than either destroyer. That didn’t prevent the
Blue
from signaling to “stop or be fired upon.” Having no choice, Kusaka complied. The two destroyers began circling the sub, their deck guns at the ready.
¹¹

Gordon Hiatt was one of at least 37 prize crew members on board the
Blue
. A motor machinist’s mate first class, he’d originally been stationed on a submarine tender in Guam. Every morning for three months, he’d mustered with the relief crew to see what needed to be done. So far there hadn’t been much. Once the call for a prize crew went out,
¹²
Hiatt figured it was his last opportunity to see some action.
¹³
As luck would have it, he soon found himself on the
Blue
speeding toward a Japanese submarine the likes of which he’d never seen.

The
Blue
was first to arrive on the scene. A new 2,200-ton destroyer, she appeared too small to take on the giant enemy sub. Hiatt was in the mess hall when the
Blue
began circling what looked like a floating island. Fortunately, she soon had the
Mansfield
for company.

Nobody knew what to expect from the sub, so both destroyers kept their deck-mounted torpedo tubes armed and ready.
¹⁴
A member of the
Blue
’s gun crew asked rhetorically, “Why don’t we just blow them out of the water?” He wasn’t the only one who felt this way. An officer told him to keep quiet.
¹⁵

After half an hour of circling, the
Blue
’s captain told his boarding party to capture the
I-400
.
¹⁶
Lt. John J. Rowan and 36 other men including Hiatt climbed into a 40-foot whaleboat, which was lowered into the water.
¹⁷
Hiatt had no idea what to expect as they approached the sub. Japanese submariners were thought to be part of a military elite reluctant to surrender. And since the U.S. Navy had little experience boarding enemy subs, Lieutenant Rowan wasn’t sure either.

The sea was calm as the whaleboat approached. A lifeline was dropped over the
I-400
’s side, but only one man at a time could
climb it. Hiatt was one of the first. Handing his rifle to a colleague, he took hold of the rope and began scaling the side. Between the bobbing launch and the slipperiness of the hull, he found it tough going. If it hadn’t been for the sub’s degaussing cables, he might have fallen into the sea.

Japanese sailors watched curiously as the U.S. boarding party climbed on deck. The sailors in the whaleboat kept their guns trained on the enemy crew, but the deck was so high, it was like aiming at the rooftop of a three-story building. P2/c Toshio Azuma felt sorry for the Americans. Although they were armed with Thompson submachine guns, M-1 carbines, and .45-caliber pistols, they looked nervous as they stood around on deck.
¹⁸
Hiatt now found himself surrounded by the enemy without the benefit of his rifle. No wonder Azuma thought they looked scared.

Kusaka met the boarding party on the foredeck.
¹⁹
Accompanied by an interpreter, he listened grimly as Lieutenant Rowan explained his demands. According to a pugnacious account later filed by Rowan, Kusaka “was immediately made to understand that I was in charge and that he would follow my orders.” This included leaving the bridge hatch open, as well as all the interior hatches, so the sub could not submerge. Kusaka was also read the terms of surrender and asked whether he accepted them.
²⁰

Things did not go smoothly, according to Japanese accounts. Takahashi says Kusaka demurred when Rowan ordered the
I-400
to Guam. Arguing they only had fuel to reach Yokosuka, Kusaka refused to back down. Rowan did his best to make himself understood by drawing pictures and writing key words.
²¹
Kusaka remained firm.

Though ComSubPac headquarters was located at Guam, it’s surprising that Rowan suggested the
I-400
should travel there. U.S. Naval Command seemed more intent on corralling Japanese subs at Yokosuka than at U.S. ports in the Pacific. Whatever the reality, it was eventually agreed that the
Blue
would escort the
I-400
to Yokosuka. Not surprisingly, Kusaka proved more cooperative than Ariizumi.
²²

Though some Japanese accounts claim the boarding party never went below deck,
²³
this wasn’t the case. Rowan sent two-man teams
to secure the
I-400
’s radio room, torpedo compartment, conning tower, and bridge. Rowan also assigned Hiatt to find the engine room and stand guard. This wasn’t as easy as one might think. Although the
I-400
’s engines were where you’d expect them, the two compartments were cavernous. It was certainly more than one man could watch on his own.
²⁴

But Hiatt was in for a bigger surprise. As he climbed down the engine room deck hatch M-1 in hand, a Japanese crewman reached for his gun.

“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled.

The
I-400
crewman smiled and bowed, making Hiatt realize he just wanted to help. Still, Hiatt had come so close to shooting the man, he was shaken. The Japanese crewman had only been offering to hold the rifle while Hiatt squeezed through the deck hatch. Azuma was right. The Americans were nervous.
²⁵

Hiatt did his best to keep watch over the engines, but he found them distracting. They were the biggest things he’d ever seen. Additionally, instead of being placed in two sequential compartments, they were located side by side with a hatch between them. Hiatt began to relax though when he realized the Japanese motor machinist’s mates were more curious than hostile. In fact, they were downright friendly. Using an impromptu form of sign language, they happily answered his questions about how the engines functioned. But as Hiatt familiarized himself with their workings, he noticed a rat crawling along a bulkhead. There weren’t any rats aboard a U.S. sub, and this one seemed in no hurry to escape. Hiatt had never seen anything like it.
²⁶

After radio communication was established with the
Blue
, Lieutenant Rowan ordered a weapons search. Swords and small arms were collected and locked inside Kusaka’s cabin. Once the sub was secure, Rowan radioed the
Blue
, and the two vessels got under way for Sagami Bay, near Yokosuka.
²⁷

Surprisingly, the
Blue
wasn’t the only one interested in capturing the
I-400
. Capt. Lew S. Parks of the 20th Submarine Squadron wanted to claim her as well. When Parks intercepted Lieutenant Mahoney’s first message, he immediately contacted the USS
Proteus
(AS-19) about assembling a prize crew to take the sub. When word came back from Admiral Halsey to “go fetch,” Parks assigned Cdr. Hiram H. Cassedy to form a boarding party.
²⁸

“Hi” Cassedy was an experienced sub captain who’d served aboard the USS
Sailfish
(SS 192),
Searaven
(SS 196), and
Tigrone
(SS 419).
²⁹
Overweight, overbearing, and prone to outbursts, he was every bit as gruff as Ariizumi. One thing was for certain—Cassedy had no problem taking risks. As captain of the
Searaven
, he’d distinguished himself by rescuing 31 Royal Australian Air Force personnel from enemy-held Timor.
³⁰
More recently, he’d rescued 31 B-29 airmen downed off the coast of Japan. Since “lifeguarding” wasn’t a sub captain’s favorite duty, Cassedy might have been itching for glory, or he might have simply been reverting to type. Either way, he wasn’t going to let anyone prevent him from “capturing” the
I-400
.

Cassedy had no trouble finding officers to join him. There was so much demand, he had to deal a poker hand to decide the winners.
³¹
But persuading enlisted men to volunteer was problematic. The
Proteus
was loaded with experienced submariners, many of whom just wanted to go home. There was no point risking one’s life now that the war was over, especially since the navy had ceased being a long-term career.
³²
Furthermore, Cassedy wanted men who not only had an intimate knowledge of how subs operated but were familiar with Japanese tactics. Forty men were eventually chosen; still, the operation was hurried and their briefing limited.
³³

Harry Arvidson was one of the men selected for Cassedy’s boarding party. A baker by training, and ship’s cook third class, Arvidson soon found himself along with Cassedy aboard the USS
Weaver
(DE-741). The
Weaver
had been escorting the
Proteus
from Guam to Tokyo when she was assigned to transport Cassedy’s prize crew. Now the Cannon-class destroyer escort steamed at high speed to reach Mahoney’s last reported coordinates.

J
UST AFTER NIGHTFALL
on the evening of August 27, a large black object appeared on the horizon. Cassedy’s spirits must have soared when the object turned out to be a huge Jap sub. His heart sank
though when he realized the sub was already being escorted by a U.S. destroyer. His prize had been claimed. The captured sub was the
I-14
, however, which Mahoney had spotted shortly before finding the I-400.
³⁴
Since the USS
Murray
had the sub under control, the
Weaver
continued through the night toward Kusaka’s sub.
³⁵
When Cassedy reached the
I-400
early the next morning, he was thrilled.

The boat was at least a football field long, with a sail that rose from the port side like the leaning tower of Pisa. On deck, a humongous housing ran more than 100 feet before ending in a mysterious bulge.
³⁶

Cassedy knew he’d bagged “something special.”
³⁷
However, the USS
Blue
already had a prize crew on board and was escorting the sub to Tokyo Bay. But Cassedy was not about to let the
Blue
steal his thunder. Insisting that his orders took precedence, he bullied his way into the situation by claiming the
Blue
’s prize crew had no submarine experience. Though this wasn’t true, the
Blue
’s captain gave way. The photographer Cassedy had brought to record the historic capture probably added some incentive.
³⁸