The H.I.J.M.S. I-400 Submarine-Aircraft Carrier
Posted on 03/20/2005 6:47:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HONOLULU (AP) - The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii.
A research team from the University of Hawaii 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 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.
When the bacteriological bombs could not be prepared in time, the mission was reportedly changed to bomb the Panama Canal.
Both submarines were ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor and were deliberately sunk later, partly because Russian scientists were demanding access to them.
The submarine found Thursday is the second Japanese vessel discovered off Oahu by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory. In 2002, researchers found the wreckage of a much smaller Japanese sub that was sunk on Dec. 7, 1941, off Pearl Harbor.
BTTT
Thank the Lord they were not able to complete their mission
and that even today He restrains the hands and plans of our enemies...
.................get the 'gold'..........and......'silver'....etc.
The H.I.J.M.S. I-400 Submarine-Aircraft Carrier
I'm glad Truman ended the war when and how he did.
ping
A research team from the University of Hawaii 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 crew that sank the mini-sub and fired the 1st retaliatory shot of WW2 was from St.Paul, MN. The gun from the USS Ward is now in front of our Capitol building.
http://www.specwarnet.com/USSWard/crew.htm
Thanks!
The people at HURL need a new name for their organization. NUMA is available.
ping
> ... reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats
> and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera,
> typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities.
I didn't see the whole History Channel show on these
subs, but they interviewed one pilot who claimed his
mission was to attack the locks at the Panama Canal.
Whatever the use, the planes sure look as if they are
configured for one-way use (no recovery at sub, other
than ditching).
I-401
3 I-400 class submarines being examined by the U.S Navy after the war.
Ver-ry interesting.
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