Two WWII "Samurai Subs" scuttled by the U.S. Navy off Hawaii in 1946 - found !

[teufelhunde.ret]

By Thomas H. Maugh II

November 13, 2009

 

U.S. researchers said Thursday that they have located the remains of two high-tech Japanese submarines that were scuttled by the U.S. Navy off Hawaii in 1946 to prevent the technology from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War.

 

One of the craft was the largest non-nuclear sub ever built and had the ability to circle the globe 1 1/2 times without refueling. Called the I-14, the behemoth was 400 feet long and 40 feet high and carried a crew of 144. It was designed to launch two folding-wing bombers on kamikaze missions against U.S. cities such as New York and Washington, D.C., although changes in tactics, and the end of the war, prevented such attacks.

 

The second, which also never entered the war, was an attack submarine called the I-201 whose design foreshadowed the sleek submarines of today. It was thought to be more than twice as fast as any U.S. subs used in the war.

 

"In their time, they were very revolutionary," said retired Col. Robert D. Hackett, a military historian with CombinedFleet.com, an online collection of information about the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was not involved in the new find. "We were quite interested in the technology."

 

The two subs are among five that were captured at war's end and brought to Hawaii, then sunk off Oahu after U.S. technicians had gleaned all their secrets. One of the five, the I-401, which carried three aircraft, was discovered on St. Patrick's Day in 2005, but the search for the others had proved futile.

 

rest of story here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...0,2197281.story

 

 

ON TV Hunt for the Samurai Subs premieres Tuesday, November 17, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel

[ROCKET]

Fascinating!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

John

[J_Andrews]

My understanding -- gained from an unrecalled source -- was that these were scuttled only because the Soviets were demanding to inspect/analyze them.

[ww2_1943]

I hope I'm home from work on-time to watch that.

[bleujacket34]

Thanks for the post! Sadly I will be in class will have to record it.

Andrew