Japanese submarine I-124

Coordinates: 12°07′12.328″S 130°06′23.619″E / 12.12009111°S 130.10656083°E / -12.12009111; 130.10656083
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the submarine launched in 1927 and originally numbered I-24. For the submarine I-24 launched in 1939, see Japanese submarine I-24 (1939).

History
NameSubmarine Minelayer No. 52 or Submarine No. 60 (see text)
BuilderKawasaki Corporation, Kobe, Japan
Laid down17 April 1926
Launched12 December 1927
RenamedI-24 on 12 December 1927
Completed10 December 1928
Decommissioned25 May 1935
Recommissioned15 November 1935
RenamedI-124 on 1 June 1938
Decommissioned20 March 1940
Recommissioned24 April 1940
FateSunk 20 January 1942
Stricken30 April 1942
General characteristics
Class and typeI-121-class submarine
Displacement
  • 1,142 long tons (1,160 t) surfaced
  • 1,768 long tons (1,796 t) submerged
Length85.20 m (279 ft 6 in) overall
Beam7.52 m (24 ft 8 in)
Draft4.42 m (14 ft 6 in)
Propulsion
  • 2 × Rauschenbach Mk.1 diesels
  • 2,400 bhp surfaced
  • 1,100 shp submerged
  • 2 shafts
Speed
  • 14.9 knots (27.6 km/h; 17.1 mph) surfaced
  • 6.5 knots (12.0 km/h; 7.5 mph) submerged
Range
  • 10,500 nmi (19,400 km; 12,100 mi) at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 40 nmi (74 km; 46 mi) at 4.5 knots (8.3 km/h; 5.2 mph) submerged
Test depth
  • 75 m (246 ft) (as built)
  • 55 m (180 ft) (from 1936)
Complement80
Armament

I-124, originally named Submarine Minelayer No. 52 and then named I-24 from before her launch until June 1938, was an I-121-class submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she operated in support of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and was sunk during anti-shipping operations off Australia in January 1942.

After she was renumbered I-124 in 1938, the number I-24 was assigned to a later submarine which also served during World War II.

Design

I-124 and her three sister ships — I-21 (later renumbered I-121), I-22 (later renumbered I-122) and I-23 (later renumbered I-123) — were the Imperial Japanese Navy's only submarine minelayers.[2] They were known in Japan by the type name Kirai Fusetsu Sensuikan (機雷敷設潜水艦, minelaying submarine), commonly shortened to "Kiraisen"-type submarine (機雷潜型潜水艦, Kiraisen-gata sensuikan).[2]

The Kiraisen-type design was based on that of the

war reparation after World War I and served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as O-6 from 1920 to 1921.[2] Like UB-125, the Kiraisen-type submarines had two diesel engines producing a combined 2,400 horsepower (1,790 kW), could carry 42 mines and had four torpedo tubes and a single deck gun — a 5.5-inch (140 mm) gun on the Japanese submarines in contrast to a 5.9-inch (150 mm) gun on UB-125.[2] Compared to the German submarine, they were larger — 10 feet (3 m) longer and displacing 220 more tons on the surface and 300 more tons submerged — and had a longer range both on the surface — 970 nautical miles (1,800 km; 1,120 mi) farther at 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) — and submerged — 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) farther at 4.5 knots (8.3 km/h; 5.2 mph).[2] They were 0.2 knots (0.37 km/h; 0.23 mph) slower than UB-125 both surfaced and submerged, carried two fewer torpedoes and could dive to only 200 feet (61 m) compared to 250 feet (76 m) for UB-125.[2]

Construction and commissioning

Built by

laid down on 17 April 1926 with either the name Submarine No. 60[3] or Submarine Minelayer No. 52,[4] according to different sources. She was launched on 12 December 1927 and renamed I-24 that day.[3][4] She was completed and commissioned on 10 December 1928.[3][4]

Service history

1928–1937

Upon commissioning, I-24 was attached to the Yokosuka Naval District[3][4] and assigned to Submarine Division 9 in the Yokosuka Defense Division in the district.[3] On 11 December 1933, Submarine Division 9 was reassigned to the Yokosuka Guard Unit[4] or Yokosuka Guard Squadron[3] in the Yokosuka Naval District.[3]

While conducting deep diving trials with her sister ship I-23 on 25 May 1935, I-24 suffered damage to her main ballast tanks.[4] She was placed in reserve that day[3][4] to have her ballast tanks reinforced.[4] On 15 November 1935, Submarine Division 9 was reassigned to the Yokosuka Defense Squadron in the Yokosuka Naval District,[3] and, with her ballast tank work complete, I-24 returned to active service that day,[3] but in 1936 all four submarines of her class had their designed diving depth limited to 180 feet (55 m).[4]

Second Sino-Japanese War

On 7 July 1937 the first day of the

Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War.[4] In September 1937, Submarine Division 9, consisting of I-23 and I-24,[4] moved to a base at Qingdao, China and began operations in northern Chinese waters as part of a Japanese blockade of China.[5] On 1 December 1937, Submarine Division 13 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 3 in the 4th Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet,[3] and in December 1937, the light cruiser Kuma arrived at Qingdao to serve as flagship of Submarine Squadron 3, which consisted of Submarine Division 13 (made up of I-21 and I-22) as well as Submarine Division 9 (I-23 and I-24).[5]

I-24 was renumbered I-124 on 1 June 1938,[3][4] freeing up her previous number for the new submarine I-24, whose keel was laid that year.[6][7] On 20 June 1938, Submarine Division 9 was assigned to the Gunnery School in the Yokosuka Naval District.[3] In an effort to reduce international tensions over the conflict in China, Japan withdrew its submarines from Chinese waters in December 1938,[5]

1939–1941

On 1 May 1939, Submarine Division 9 was placed in the Third Reserve in the Yokosuka Naval District,

aviation gasoline with which to refuel flying boats,[2][4] allowing the flying boats to extend their range during reconnaissance and bombing missions by meeting the submarines in harbors and lagoons for more fuel.[2]

I-124 was recommissioned on 24 April 1940,

Yokohama Bay for an Imperial fleet review — the largest fleet review in Japanese history — in honor of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthronement of the Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor.[3][11][12]

Submarine Division 9 was reassigned directly to the Yokosuka Naval District on 15 November 1940.

3rd Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet, and I-123 and I-124 were based at Kure.[3][4] From 7 to 9 April 1941, I-123 temporarily substituted for I-124 as flagship of Submarine Division 9.[4] I-123 again took over from I-124 as flagship of Submarine Division 9 on 2 August 1941.[4]

As the Imperial Japanese Navy began to deploy in preparation for the impending

Hainan Island in China,[13] where I-124 arrived on 27 November 1941 in company with the submarine tender Chōgei.[3][4] She received the message "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208" (Japanese: Niitakayama nobore 1208) from the Combined Fleet on 2 December 1941, indicating that war with the Allies would commence on 8 December 1941 Japan time (7 December 1941 on the other side of the International Date Line in Hawaii, where the war would begin with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor).[4]

World War II

First war patrol

On 7 December 1941, I-124 laid 39 Type 88 Mark 1

Formosa after hostilities began.[4]

On 8 December 1941,

gross register ton British cargo ship Hareldawns — which was on a voyage from Hong Kong to Singapore — 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) off western Luzon at 15°N 120°E / 15°N 120°E / 15; 120 (Hareldawns) and took her captain prisoner.[3][4] She concluded her patrol with her arrival at Cam Ranh Bay in Japanese-occupied French Indochina on 14 December 1941.[4]

The mines I-124 laid off Manila Bay sank the 1,881-gross register ton American merchant ship Corregidor on 17 December 1941 at 14°N 120°E / 14°N 120°E / 14; 120 (Corregidor)[3] and the 1,976-gross register ton Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Daylite on 10 January 1942, also at 14°N 120°E / 14°N 120°E / 14; 120 (Daylite).[3][4]

Second war patrol

I-124 got back underway from Cam Ranh Bay on 18 December 1941 to begin her second war patrol.[4] By 22 December she was patrolling off the entrance to Manila Bay.[4] She then proceeded via Mindoro Strait to the Sulu Sea. Reassigned with I-121, I-122 and I-123 to Submarine Group "A" on 26 December 1941, she concluded her uneventful patrol on 31 December 1941, arriving at newly captured Davao on Mindanao in company with I-122.[4] The rest of Submarine Squadron 6 — I-121, I-123 and Chōgei — soon joined them there.[4]

Third war patrol

Submarine Squadron 6 received orders to operate next in the Flores Sea and the Torres Strait north of Australia. On 10 January 1942, the four submarines departed Davao, commencing I-124's third war patrol.[4] I-124 reached her patrol area off the western entrance of the Clarence Strait off Australia′s Northern Territory on 14 January 1942.[4] That day, she sighted the United States Navy heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) and destroyers USS Alden (DD-211) and USS Edsall (DD-219), which were returning to Australia from a sweep in the Banda Sea, but was unable to gain an attack position.[4] On 16 January she laid 27 mines near Darwin, Australia.[4] Four Japanese mines that washed ashore near Darwin on 11 February 1942 may have been laid by I-124.[4]

On 18 January 1942, Houston reported sighting two Japanese submarines — probably I-123 and I-124 — 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) west of Darwin.

transports escorted by a destroyer.[4] She repeated the report at 22:36,[4] which was the last time the Japanese ever heard from her.[4] Allied codebreakers intercepted the signal and warned Allied forces that I-124 was off Darwin.[4]

Loss

On 20 January 1942, I-124's sister ship I-123 conducted an unsuccessful torpedo attack in the

fleet oiler USS Trinity (AO-13), escorted by Alden and Edsall.[13] Trinity sighted the wakes of three of I-123's torpedoes and reported the attack, after which Alden carried out a depth charge attack. Alden soon lost contact with I-123, which escaped unscathed and departed the area.[13]
Trinity, Alden and Edsall continued their voyage and reached Darwin safely.

When news of the attack reached Darwin, the

OS2U Kingfisher floatplane from the seaplane tender USS Langley (AV-3) arrived on the scene and dropped a bomb at the same spot.[4] When I-124 submerged, she settled on the seabed in 150 feet (46 m) of water.[4] Deloraine again depth-charged the stationary submarine at 13:56, then noted more oil, bubbles and particles of TNT on the surface.[4] At 14:30 she made another underwater contact to the southeast and conducted two more attacks there, expending the last of her depth charges and noting more oil and bubbles rising to the surface.[4]

Lithgow relieved Deloraine on the scene by 17:10.

grapnel to drag the bottom for I-124.[4] The grapnel made contact, but broke off when Katoomba attempted to recover it.[4] Alden and Edsall joined the Australian ships at 18:59.[4] Edsall detected a contact at the edge of the oil slick and dropped five depth charges at 19:40, noting three explosions.[4] Alden attacked a contact of her own after 19:55.[4]

Deloraine, which had departed the area, returned at 03:05 on 21 January 1942 and made another submarine detection, which she attacked three times.

boom defence vessel HMAS Kookaburra joined her and began a series of attempts to locate I-124 on the ocean floor.[4] Katoomba, which also had left the scene, returned around 11:55, but at midday, the weather in the area deteriorated and no further attacks took place.[4] Delorainee claimed two submarines sunk and Katoomba claimed one.[4] In reality, I-124, sunk with the loss of all 80 men on board,[3] was the only submarine present and she was the first Japanese warship sunk by the Royal Australian Navy[4]
and fourth Japanese submarine lost in World War II.

On 26 January 1942, Kookaburra returned to the scene with a team of 16 U.S. Navy divers from the submarine tender USS Holland (AS-3).[4] The fourth and fifth divers identified a large submarine on the sea bottom with one hatch apparently blown open.[4] It was the first confirmation of the demise of I-124.[4] The divers recorded the location of her wreck as 12°03′S 130°09′E / 12.050°S 130.150°E / -12.050; 130.150 (I-124).[4]

The Japanese struck I-124 from the Navy List on 30 April 1942.[4]

Attempted salvage and protection as war grave

I-124 has been surrounded by controversy since her loss. During World War II there were claims that two submarines had been lost in the operations off Darwin; that her crew remained alive for some time; and that divers heard crew movement inside her

maritime archaeologist Dr M. McCarthy in his unpublished departmental report.[15] This was published with additional information, including details about the Japanese crew by naval historian Dr. Tom Lewis
in his book Sensuikan I-124, later re-published as Darwin's Submarine I-124.

McCarthy and Lewis set out how the submarine was indeed the subject of diving attempts soon after the action, with the Royal Australian Navy and United States Navy both trying to access it to recover codebooks. However, the initial dives did not enter the wreck and diving later was curtailed because the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942 made it seem too dangerous to anchor ships over the site to support divers.

Though relatives of the crew attempted to organise the recovery of the crew's remains for

consul-general in Australia advised T&L Salvage that any salvage required the approval of the Japanese government, which it was not willing to give as it considered the site to be war grave
. The Australian government found that it legally held no control over the wrecked submarine. The matter was further complicated by infighting within the salvage company, which led to a split in April 1973 when one of the salvors threatened to drop explosives on the submarine if a Japanese decision was slow in forthcoming. The controversy gained much media attention. Both salvage groups attempted to claim the right to salvage I-124, but withdrew their claims by the end of 1974, one willingly, the other after pressure from the Australian government, which had come to join the Japanese in considering the shipwreck a war grave.

In December 1976, the matter of I-124 was raised in the

bill that would protect all shipwrecks in Australian waters.[17] The bill was enacted as the Historic Shipwrecks Act at the end of 1976. The salvor, Harry Baxter, carried through on a threat to use explosives on the wreck, damaging the conning tower and causing its aft section to come loose. In response, I-124 was placed under the enhanced level of protection offered by the legislation, with an exclusion zone placed around the wreck in July 1977.[17] The salvage team reports indicated that the submarine still carried mines, which led to the Royal Australian Navy sending the minehunter HMAS Curlew to locate and defuse them. Divers from the minehunter found no mines or explosives at the wreck site.[15]

A team from the Western Australian Museum led by Dr. M. "Mack" McCarthy aboard the research vessel Flamingo Bay carried out a subsequent investigation of the wreck in March 1989. The expedition found that the location of the submarine was incorrectly recorded on charts and corrected it to 12°07′12.328″S 130°06′23.619″E / 12.12009111°S 130.10656083°E / -12.12009111; 130.10656083, a point 18 nautical miles (33 km; 21 mi) due south of Penguin Hill on Bathurst Island. The researchers also disproved rumours that a second submarine had been sunk off Darwin at the same time, that the U.S. Navy had salvaged Japanese codebooks from the wreck, and that mercury was aboard I-124 when she sank, which was the reason given in the 1970s for removing the wreck.[18] Subsequent research by Tom Lewis further disproved these rumours, as well as claims that I-124 was involved in the sinking of the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in November 1941.[19]

In November 2022, the ABC reported that a team of divers had completed a three-year mission to create a 3D map of I-124.[20]

Memorial

In 2017, the

Consul General to Australia.[21]

Virtual dive experience

In October 2021, the Government of Australia's Northern Territory and the Australian Institute of Marine Science collaborated to map the wreck of I-124 using remote sonar sensing equipment.[23] Dr John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, then collaborated with the Northern Territory Heritage Branch to use the sonar data to create a "virtual dive experience" on the wreck, with narration in both English and Japanese.[23] Both the English- and Japanese-narrated versions of the video were posted on YouTube and the Oculus platform ahead of the 80th anniversary of the sinking of I-124 on 20 January 2022.[23]

References

  1. ISBN 0-87021-459-4
    p.191
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Boyd and Yoshida, p. 18.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab I-124 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 8 February 2022[usurped]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2017). "IJN Submarine I-124: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Boyd and Yoshida, p. 54.
  6. ^ I-24 ijnsubsite.com 20 April 2018 Accessed 8 February 2022[usurped]
  7. ^ Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (20 July 2017). "IJN Submarine I-24: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  8. ^ a b I-123 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 7 February 2022[usurped]
  9. ^ a b I-121 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 7 February 2022[usurped]
  10. ^ a b I-122 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 6 February 2022[usurped]
  11. ^ Tully, Anthony (19 May 2014). "IJN Seaplane Carrier CHITOSE: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  12. ^ "2012 Fleet Review" (PDF). Japan Defense Focus. December 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  13. ^ a b c Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2015). "IJN Submarine I-123: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  14. ^ Hiroyuki Agawa. (nd) The Reluctant Admiral. Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy. Kodansha International. Tokyo, p. 307 & Carpenter, D. and Polmar, N., (1986), Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Conway, NY, Cha. 2
  15. ^ a b McCarthy, M., 1990. Japanese Submarine I 124. Report Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Maritime Museum, No 43. Available in PDF format.
  16. ^ The Sun, 9/5/1973
  17. ^ a b c An excerpt from a report 'History'. A copy of which is in the Flamingo Bay Research Pty Ltd archives and on AFP I 124 file. See precis in McCarthy, M., 1990. Japanese Submarine I 124. Report_ Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Maritime Museum, No 43
  18. ^ McCarthy, M (1991, The Flamingo Bay Voyage. Report Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Museum, No 4. Available in PDF Form.
  19. ^ Lewis, T., 1997. Sensuikan I-124. Darwin: Tall Stories, 1997
  20. ^ Morgan, Thomas (20 November 2022). "Team of divers complete three-year mission to create 3D map of sunken World War II Japanese submarine". ABC News. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  21. ^ a b c d "Australian Japanese Association of the Northern Territory: I-124 Japanese Submarine Memorial Plaque Accessed 7 May 2022". Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  22. ^ Clure, Elias, and Bridget Judd, "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pays tribute to 'forgotten' crew killed off Darwin in World War II," ABC News, 17 November 2018 Accessed 7 May 2022
  23. ^ a b c Anonymous, "Take a Virtual Dive to Sunken Sub," World War II, June 2022, p. 11.

Bibliography

  • Boyd, Carl, and Akihiko Yoshida. The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
    ISBN 1-55750-015-0
    .
  • Lewis, Tom. Sensuikan I-124. Darwin: Tall Stories, 1997.
  • Lewis, Tom. Darwin's Submarine I-124. South Australia: Avonmore Books, 2011.
  • Viglietti, Brian M. & Wright, David L. (2000). "Question 4/99: Loss of the Submarine I-124". Warship International. XXXVII (2): 201, 203.
  • Wright, David L. (2001). "Question 4/99: Loss of Japanese Submarine I-124". Warship International. XXXVIII (2). International Naval Research Organization: 149–150.
    ISSN 0043-0374
    .
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