Lost WWII Japanese Subs Found off Hawaii

Scuttled by the U.S. Navy in 1946, Super Subs Location Unknown Until Now

(AP)  Two captured Japanese submarines scuttled by the U.S. Navy just after World War II have been discovered in the Pacific Ocean south of Pearl Harbor.

The subs were found in February in 3,000 feet of water by the pilots of two Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory submersibles, according to an announcement made Thursday by the lab and the National Geographic Channel, which partly funded and documented the mission.

One of the subs was 400 feet long and carried planes as well as enough fuel to travel around the world, said Hans Van Tilburg, maritime heritage coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Sanctuaries in the Pacific Islands.

The second sub had a streamlined body, conning tower and retractable guns, making it look more like a Cold War-era submarine, he said.

National Geographic Channel is set to broadcast the special "Hunt for the Samurai Subs" on Nov. 17.

The two were among five Japanese submarines brought to Pearl Harbor after the war for inspection. They were sunk by the U.S. Navy in 1946 when Russian scientists began demanding access to the technology under terms of the treaty that ended the war.

The submersibles, piloted by Terry Kerby, the lab's operations director, and Max Cremer, came upon the subs while conducting test and trial dives.

The ocean bottom south of Oahu "is like a giant underwater museum," Kerby said, who explained his team uses the dives to look for maritime artifacts. "We've been pretty successful."

Kerby began using test dives in 1992 to look for a Japanese midget sub that sank during Japan's Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. The midget sub was found in 2002.

In 2005, lab scientists found the wreckage of a Japanese submarine that carried three aircraft.

[mjlewis6]

I believe even the FRENCH had one of these large submarines, but it had to be scuttled when France surrendered to Germany. The location of that submarine would be of more interest.

[jerrygorton]

Watertight hangers?? Must have been some sub!! Power would have been electrics submerged, technology of the time would not have moved a vessel this large very far or very fast. I suspect it submerged only to hide and had to travel on the surface. Could have had electric enough to maintain steerageway. Wish I could get National Geographic channel!

[Overruled1]

Oh yeah, they Japanese empire had some tricks left, one of them was a secret fleet of carrier submarines.
Yet another was the fact they were launching high altitude ballons towards the US in hopes of causing fires and nuclear sickness from dirty bombs they developed. The only reason they were stopped was the fact Germany had just lost the war, the last sub mission to Japan was to ship radioactive elements to place in the ballons. The war ended for Germany as the ship was on route, the crew mutinied to prevent the officers from continueing the mission.

[gramto8]

Forgot to say....
One version of thought...
They might have been loaded with critters that had bubonic plague to be released over the target areas. Critters, in this case, could be either rats or insects. As long as it got into the vector cycle, it would do its job.

[gramto8]

I DID look this up! These things were ENORMOUS! The planes were evidently equipped with pontoons for water landings and could be picked up by a crane and put back on board to be put back in their hangars. At just over 400 feet long, they must have been fearsome to look at. Had a catapult on top just like any other aircraft carrier. Just amazing!

[rwsmith29456]

Submarine aircraft carriers! I'll have to look this up. I wonder what they planned to do with the planes they launched?

[GTR5]

Bomb the U.S.

[lmartink]

Not really. They were more for spotting U.S. fleet movements and similar missions. The seaplanes carried by these subs were slow, couldn't carry much of a payload, and were not very maneuverable.

They were not designed to be fighers or bombers, but ideal as spotter planes.

The subs were quite large, but plagued with problems, and not many were porduced. Each sub could only carry 1 or 2 planes in the big round hanger on deck.

It would be nice to bring them up, restore them, and put them on display.