Posted on 12/03/2013 8:27:28 PM PST by Utilizer
Scientists plumbing the Pacific Ocean off the Hawaii coast have discovered a Second World War era Japanese submarine, a technological marvel that had been preparing to attack the Panama Canal before being scuttled by U.S. forces.
The 122-metre "Sen-Toku" class vessel — among the largest pre-nuclear submarines ever built — was found in August off the southwest coast of Oahu and had been missing since 1946, scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa said.
The I-400 and its sister ship, the I-401, which was found off Oahu in 2005, were able to travel one and a half times around the world without refuelling and could hold up to three folding-wing bombers that could be launched minutes after resurfacing, the scientists said.
The accidental discovery of the I-400, an aircraft-toting I-400 mega sub, on the rock- and debris-littered ocean floor, some 701 metres beneath the surface, has solved the mystery surrounding a ship long thought to be farther afield.
-snip-
U.S. forces sank the submarines and claimed to have no information on their precise location, in an apparent bid to prevent their technology falling into the hands of the Soviet Union, which had demanded the ships be returned to Japan.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
Thanks. Bookmarked for later...
Welcome. I found this info truly fascinating. The things you find out you don’t know!
“There was an immense amount of ocean dumping of really neat stuff after the war was over.”
They bulldozed aircraft into piles on Pacific islands and pushed new aircraft off the decks of carriers, rather than bring them back. Those that were stateside were declared surplus and sold. Corsairs, Mustangs, B-17s, B-25s, etc.
Oh, and forgot to mention: the term coined for that style back then was “Baggies”. Or “Baggys”, depending on personal preference. I have seen it spelled both ways in newspapers, back when newspapers still had some respect and editors that actually did more than select articles -and proofreaders to correct blatant errors.
I was thinking maybe they just opened the seacocks and let in water, but nooooo....
Why not test your torpedoes while you are at it...
“Why not test your torpedoes while you are at it...”
Yeah, I understand that logic, but I always hope something that cool might still be mostly intact.
I dream of P-51 Mustangs and Avengers and Hurricanes free for the asking!
...though Corsairs might be nice as well.
“I dream of P-51 Mustangs and Avengers and Hurricanes free for the asking!”
This one is more like ‘if you have to ask, you can’t afford it’ :
Meanwhile...off an island nation on the otherside of the world:
http://uboat.net/fates/deadlight_hist.htm
Ping for possible interest.
I was always very partial to the Corsair.
how does a catapult work on a diesel electric boat?
Never priced any of that vintage stuff. Seeing that one showed me that I was 50% off and low.
Saw some nice 51s and other stuff of the same era at EAA. The 51s were usually running in the morning.
If it's under your control, and you then deliberately sink it, it's a scuttle.
That's because we have, by world standards, an unlimited procurement budget. For decades, the Israelis have reused Soviet equipment captured from the Arabs. North Vietnam kept RVN equipment captured after Saigon's collapse in operation for a couple of decades.
My father was the machine shop NCOIC for an engineer regiment on Okinawa at the end of the war. MacArthur had the regiment supplied with entirely new heavy equipment, machine tools and all the rest, with the idea that the regiment was going to Japan with him.
That plan was dropped because the army sent the regiment home, instead. They left all of the brand new hardware behind on Okinawa to rust. Some of it was never even unpacked from the shipping crates.
I have that one.
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