WW II Sub Found Off Hawaii

Fox News ^ | Sunday, March 20, 2005

[paudio]

HONOLULU — The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii (search).

A research team from the University of Hawaii (search) discovered the I-401 submarine Thursday during test dives off Oahu.

"We thought it was rocks at first, it was so huge," said Terry Kerby, pilot of the research craft that found the vessel. "But the sides of it kept going up and up and up, three and four stories tall. It's a leviathan down there, a monster."

The submarine is from the I-400 Sensuikan Toku (search) class of subs, the largest built before the nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the 1960s.

They were 400 feet long and nearly 40 feet high and could carry a crew of 144. The submarines were designed to carry three "fold-up" bombers that could be assembled for flight within minutes.

Kerby said the main hull is sitting upright and is in good shape. The I-401 numbers are clearly visible on the sides, and the anti-aircraft guns are in almost perfect condition, he said.

An I-400 and I-401 were captured at sea a week after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Their mission — which was never completed — reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities.

[paudio]

Biological weapons - old style.

[2banana]

I thought they were going to bomb the panama canal...

[Conspiracy Guy]

For WWII that is one big sub!

[billorites]

[1Old Pro]

Their mission — which was never completed — reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities.

Maybe the crew got infected and died before they could lunch their mission.

[billorites]

[Rebelbase]

This sub was surrendered to the US at the end of the war. The US scuttled it when the Russians demanded to inspect it.

[stainlessbanner]

ping

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Their mission — which was never completed — reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities.

Sore Losers!

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Maybe the crew got infected and died before they could lunch their mission.

That is one mission I wouldn't want to lunch. :)

[TXBSAFH]

The war ended before they could complete their mission. The ships were surrendered and later scutled by the US.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Looks tiny. I've seen the stories about the subs on Discovery Channel.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Here's a long, interesting piece on these very large Jap subs and how they ended up on the bottom off Hawaii, "THE TRANSPACIFIC VOYAGE OF H.I.J.M.S. I-400."
One of their bombers still exists, read about it here.

[llevrok]

ping (ping...ping...ping...ping...)

[Pyro7480]

I saw that plane in the Air and Space Museum Annex. It's neat up close.

[Larry Lucido]

"The submarines were designed to carry three "fold-up" bombers that could be assembled for flight within minutes."

Never knew you could launch a bomber from a submarine. I'm impressed!

[Larry Lucido]

Ah, now I see. Thanks.

[Professional Engineer]

PING

[ChewedGum]

Interesting. If it has succeeded, I doubt the campaign would not have been very effective in terms of damaged caused, but the psyops impact would have been huge.

Gum

[yoe]

Saw this on the History channel several weeks ago......