Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II (64 page)

BOOK: Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Its Plan to Change the Course of World War II
3.52Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Chapter 21. Adversity

1.
Tsugio Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
[
Phantom Submarine Carrier
] (Tokyo: Kabushiki Gaisha Kojin-sha, 1989), p. 145.

2.
Fukumaru Koshimoto, interview by author. Sato, in
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, says only one man, the
I-400
’s machine gunner, was killed (p. 145).

3.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, says the
I-14
departed Kure on March 19 (p. 147). However, since this is the day the Allies attacked Kure, it probably left on March 18. The difference in dates might also be ascribed to U.S. versus Japan time.

4.
Kazuo Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
[
Divine Dragon Special Attack Unit
] (Tokyo: Koujinsha, 2001), p.180.

5.
Max Hastings,
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944–1945
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), p. 305.

6.
Robert C. Mikesh,
Aichi M6A1 Seiran: Japan
’s
Submarine Launched Panama Canal Bomber
, Close-Up 13 (Boylston, Mass.: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1975), p. 7.

7.
Hastings,
Retribution
, p. 310.

8.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, chap. 5

9.
Hastings,
Retribution
, p. 310.

10.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 146, 168.

11.
U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan,
Reports of the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan
, Series S:
Ship and Related Targets
, Index no. S-17,
Japanese Submarine Operations
(Washington, D.C.: Operational Archives, U.S. Navy History Division, 1946), chap. 2.

12.
Zenji Orita with Joseph D. Harrington,
I-Boat Captain: How Japan
’s
Submarine Force Almost Defeated the U.S. Navy in the Pacific!
(Canoga Park, Calif.: Major Books, 1976), p. 298.

13.
Nobukiyo Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo: Sensuikuubo I-401 Kanchou No Shuki
[
Surprise Attack on the American Fleet! Memoir of the I-401 Aircraft-Carrying Submarine by Its Captain
] (Tokyo: Fuami Shobo, 1988), p. 201.

14.
Ibid.

15.
Ibid., p. 202; Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 142.

16.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 202; Henry Sakaida, Gary Nila, and Koji Takaki,
I-400: Japan’s Secret Aircraft-Carrying Strike Submarine, Objective Panama Canal
(East Sussex, U.K.: Hikoki, 2006), p. 28.

17.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 202.

18.
Ibid.

19.
Atsushi Asamura, “
I-401
Sensuikan to Seiran to Watashi to [The
I-401
Submarine,
Seiran
and Me],”
Maru
Special,
Japanese Naval Vessels
, no. 13, 1977, pp. 42–43.

20.
Ikuhiko Hata,
Dainiji Taisen Koukuju Shiwa
[
Historical Aviation Stories of World War II
], trans. Shojo Jonda and Sandy Kita (Japan: Chuukou Bunko, n.d.), chap. 10.

21.
Satoru Fukuoka, oral interview transcript, Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, March 12, 1998.

22.
Sakaida, Nila, and Takaki,
I-400
, p. 45.

23.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, pp. 182–83.

24.
Charles A. Lockwood and Hans Christian Adamson,
Hellcats of the Sea
(New York: Bantam Books, 1988), p. 67.

25.
Dan Kurzman,
Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
(New York: Broadway Books, 2001), pp. 45–46.

26.
Hata,
Dainiji Taisen Koukuju Shiwa
, chap. 10.

27.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 206.

28.
Philip Henshall,
Vengeance: Hitler
’s
Nuclear Weapon—Fact or Fiction?
(Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton, 1998), p. 154.

29.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 167.

30.
Richard Compton-Hall,
Submarine Warfare: Monsters and Midgets
(Dorset, U.K.: Blanford Press, 1985), p. 71.

31.
U.S. Naval Technical Mission,
Japanese Submarine Operations
, chap. 2; W. J. Holmes,
Undersea Victory: The Influence of Submarine Operations on the War in the Pacific
(Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966), pp. 472, 478, 485.

32.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 189.

33.
M. G. Sheftall,
Blossoms in the Wind: Human Legacies of the Kamikaze
(New York: NAL Caliber, 2006), p. 34.

34.
Holmes,
Undersea Victory
, p. 478.

35.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 167.

36.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 203; Tsugio Yata, “SubRon 1 … Aims for U.S. Fleet at Ulithi and Panama Canal,”
I-401 History, I-401
Submarine Society, Japan.

37.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207; Yata, “SubRon1.”

38.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207.

39.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

40.
Yata, “SubRon1.”

41.
Ibid.; Muneo Bando, interview by author.

42.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

Chapter 22. Attacking the Canal

1.
Nobukiyo Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo: Sensuikuubo I-401 Kanchou No Shuki
[
Surprise Attack on the American Fleet! Memoir of the I-401 Aircraft-Carrying Submarine by Its Captain
] (Tokyo: Fuami Shobo, 1988), p. 207; Tsugio Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
[
Phantom Submarine Carrier
] (Tokyo: Kabushiki Gaisha Kojin-sha, 1989), p. 168.

2.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207.

3.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

4.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207.

5.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

6.
Muneo Bando, interview by author.

7.
Henry Sakaida, Gary Nila, and Koji Takaki,
I-400: Japan’s Secret Aircraft-Carrying Strike Submarine, Objective Panama Canal
(East Sussex, U.K.: Hikoki, 2006), pp. 37–38.

8.
Ibid., p. 38.

9.
United States of America v. Hisashi Ichioka et al.
, Case no. 339, March 30, 1949, p. 45. Kusaka sank the
Richard Hovey
on March 29, 1944.

10.
Kazuo Nishijima, interview by author.

11.
Haruo Sugiyama, interview by author.

12.
Kazuo Nishijima, interview by author.

13.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207; Robert C. Mikesh,
Aichi
M6A1 Seiran: Japan
’s
Submarine Launched Panama Canal Bomber
, Close-Up 13 (Boylston, Mass.: Monogram Aviation Publications, 1975), p. 12.

14.
Kazuo Takatsuka,
Memories of the I-400
(Japan: privately published, 1996), pt. 1, September 1, 1973.

15.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 168.

16.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 207.

17.
Takatsuka,
Memories of the I-400
, pt. 1, September 1, 1973.

18.
The
I-400
’s original fuel requirements may have been reduced with their redesign, from 1,750 tons to 1,660 tons. See Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 101, and Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 189.

19.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 208; Takatsuka,
Memories of the I-400
, pt. 1, September 1, 1973.

20.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 208.

21.
Takatsuka,
Memories of the I-400
, pt. 1, September 1, 1973.

22.
Mikesh,
Aichi M6A1 Seiran
, p. 12.

23.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, says that the
I-400
returned to Kure on April 27. However, other sources indicate that the
I-400
was back in port as early as April 25, just another example of how difficult it is to pin down exact dates given conflicting memories and the destruction of records.

24.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 208.

25.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 169.

26.
John D. Alden,
The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy: A Design and Construction History
(Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p. 3:91.

27.
“History: 20th Century,” Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,
http://www.navsea.navy.mil/shipyards/portsmouth/Pages/20th%20Century.aspx
.

28.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 209; Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 169; Tsugio Yata, “SubRon 1 … Aims for U.S. Fleet at Ulithi and Panama Canal,”
I-401 History, I-401
Submarine Society, Japan.

29.
Ikuhiko Hata,
Dainiji Taisen Koukuju Shiwa
[
Historical Aviation Stories of World War II
], trans. Shojo Jonda and Sandy Kita (Japan: Chuukou Bunko, n.d.), chap. 10.

30.
Kazuo Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
[
Divine Dragon Special Attack Unit
] (Tokyo: Koujinsha, 2001), p. 185. The meeting date varies by source.

31.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 205.

32.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 185.

33.
Sakaida, Nila, and Takaki,
I-400
, p. 45.

34.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
p. 185.

35.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 205.

36.
Sakaida, Nila, and Takaki,
I-400
, p. 46.

37.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 158.

38.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 186.

39.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 205.

40.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 186.

41.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, pp. 159–62.

42.
Ibid., pp. 164–66.

43.
Atsushi Asamura, “
I-401
Sensuikan to Seiran to Watashi to [The
I-401
Submarine,
Seiran
and Me],”
Maru
Special,
Japanese Naval Vessels
, no. 13, 1977, pp. 42–43.

44.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, pp. 187, 188.

45.
Sakaida, Nila, and Takaki,
I-400
, p. 49.

46.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 188.

47.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 162.

48.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 188.

49.
Ibid.

50.
Ibid.

Chapter 23. Green Light

1.
Tsugio Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
[
Phantom Submarine Carrier
] (Tokyo: Kabushiki Gaisha Kojin-sha, 1989), pp. 151, 160.

2.
Henry Sakaida, Gary Nila, and Koji Takaki,
I-400: Japan’s Secret Aircraft-Carrying Strike Submarine, Objective Panama Canal
(East Sussex, U.K.: Hikoki, 2006), p. 45.

3.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 160.

4.
Kazuo Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
[
Divine Dragon Special Attack Unit
] (Tokyo: Koujinsha, 2001), p. 189.

5.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 173.

6.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 189.

7.
Nobukiyo Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo: Sensuikuubo I-401 Kanchou No Shuki
[
Surprise Attack on the American Fleet! Memoir of the I-401 Aircraft-Carrying Submarine by Its Captain
] (Tokyo: Fuami Shobo, 1988), p. 209.

8.
Takahashi,
Shinryu Tokubetsu Kogekitai
, p. 190.

9.
Sato,
Maboroshi no Sensui Kubo
, p. 175.

10.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 174.

11.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

12.
Ibid.

13.
Ibid.

14.
R. Kissinger, Jr.,
I-400, I-401 Japanese Submarines, Description of Hull, General Arrangement and Characteristics
(U.S. Navy, 1946), p. 1.

15.
Chin-Ji Inouye, interview by author.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 209; Zenji Orita with Joseph D. Harrington,
I-Boat Captain: How Japan
’s
Submarine Force Almost Defeated
the U.S. Navy in the Pacific!
(Canoga Park, Calif.: Major Books, 1976), p. 276.

18.
Ikuhiko Hata,
Dainiji Taisen Koukuju Shiwa
[
Historical Aviation Stories of World War II
], trans. Shojo Jonda and Sandy Kita (Japan: Chuukou Bunko, n.d.), chap. 10.

19.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 209.

20.
Ibid.

21.
Hata,
Dainiji Taisen Koukuju Shiwa
, chap. 10.

22.
Nambu,
Beikidoukantai wo Kishuseyo
, p. 210.

Other books

Love Everlasting by Tracie Peterson
The Downstairs Maid by Rosie Clarke
Salammbo by Gustave Flaubert
Cat Striking Back by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Nowhere Safe by Nancy Bush
Finding Her Son by Perini, Robin
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Dance By Midnight by Phaedra Weldon