Posted on 03/21/2005 6:27:32 AM PST by paudio
Oops, that was suppost to be Cussler not Guzzler! Spell check got me!
Give me one ping, and one ping only...
6 January 1946:
Arrives at Pearl Harbor. The I-400, I-401 and the I-14 are met by a Navy band and local celebrities.
18 February 1946:
Dry-docked at Pearl Harbor for evaluation.
26 March 1946:
Washington, DC. At a Submarine Officer's Conference, attended by former ComSubPac Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, it is decided to dispose of all captured Japanese submarines by sinking.
4 June 1946:
The I-400 is a target ship in the Pacific off Pearl Harbor for tests of the Mark 10-3 exploder. At 1210, she sinks by the stern at 21-13N, 158-07W after being hit by three Mark 18-2 electric torpedoes fired by Cdr D. B. Bell's new USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425).
ComSubPac, Rear Admiral Allan R. McCann (former CO of IOWA (BB-61), ComSubRon 5, Captain (later Vice Admiral) Elton W. Greenfell (former CO of GUDGEON (SS-211) and ComSubDiv 52, Cdr/MOH (later Vice Admiral) Lawson P. Ramage (former CO of PARCHE (SS-384) are embarked on the TRUMPETFISH and witness the I-400's sinking.
Most under reported story of WWII was Japan's widespread use of Bio weapons in China and other parts of asia
I just finished that book last week. Amazing sense of timing.
These the subs featured in the Clive Cussler novel "Black Wind"?
FYI
I think it sunk AFTER they completed their mission. Lots of Rats in California, New York and Mass cities today that may have been hatched from the offspring of those disease-riddled rats back in the early forties.
One of the best kept secrets of the war involved the Japanese balloon bomb offensive, prompted by the Doolittle raid on Tokyo on April 18, 1942 as a means of direct reprisal against the U.S. mainland. Some 9,000 balloons made of paper or rubberized silk and carrying anti-personnel and incendiary bombs were launched from Japan during a five-month period, to be carried by high altitude winds more than 6,000 miles eastward across the Pacific to North America. Perhaps a thousand of these reached this continent, but there were only about 285 reported incidents. Most were reported in the northwest U.S., but some balloons traveled as far east as Michigan.
The first operational launches took place on Nov. 3, 1944 and two days later a U.S. Navy patrol boat spotted a balloon floating on the water 66 miles southwest of San Pedro, California. As more sightings occurred, the government, with the cooperation of the news media, adopted a policy of silence to reduce the chance of panic among U.S. residents and to deny the Japanese any information on the success of the launches. Discouraged by the apparent failure of their effort, the Japanese halted their balloon attacks in April 1945.
On May 5, 1945, six picnickers were killed in Oregon when a balloon bomb they dragged from the woods exploded. The U.S. Government quickly publicized the balloon bombs, warning people not to tamper with them. These were the only known fatalities occurring within the U.S. during WWII as a direct result of enemy action.
Actual damage caused by the balloon bombs was minor. However, the incendiaries which they carried did pose a serious threat to the forests of the northwestern U.S. during the dry months. These balloons also offered a vehicle for germ warfare had the Japanese decided to use this weapon.
The balloon attack began after U.S. air defense facilities had been deactivated. To counter this threat, AAF and Navy fighters flew intercept missions to shoot down balloons when sighted and AAF aircraft and Army personnel were stationed at critical points to combat any forest fires which might occur. Also, supplies of decontamination chemicals and sprays to counter any possible use of germ warfare were quietly distributed in the western states. Before detailed AAF defensive plans had been put into effect, the attacks ceased.
Japanese bomb-carrying balloons were 32 feet in diameter and when fully inflated, held about 19,000 cubic feet of hydrogen. Launch sites were located on the east coast of the main Japanese island of Honshu.
Gun camera photos showing balloons being shot down by 11th Air Force fighters near Attu in the Aleutians on April 11, 1945. Nine balloons were downed in two hours. (Note P-38 in lower right frame).
Some pictures here.
The History Channel did a show about this class of Japanese subs.
I knew I had seen it. But I said Discovery Channel by mistake.
The mission these subs were on when the war ended was not to spread plague, or attack the continental U.S. or hit the panama canal, all of those were discussed but the op they were sent on was to attack the Ulithi atholl with their aircraft in a suicide attack since the U.S. had set up a naval base and supply facility there. Both the I-400 and I-401 received the orders to surrender while enroute.
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Bravi Sierra. Surviving crew all state that their mission was to attack the Panama Canel.
I had no idea the Japanese made subs that big.
It was just their way of having a bit of fun, the swines. Strange thing is they make such bloody good cameras.
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