Japanese submarine I-29
| History | |
|---|---|
 Japan | |
| Name | I-29 |
| Builder | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal |
| Launched | 29 September 1940 |
| Commissioned | 27 February 1942 |
| Nickname(s) | Matsu |
| Fate | Sunk by USS Sawfish, 26 July 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Type B1 submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 108.5 m (356 ft) |
| Beam | 9.3 m (31 ft) |
| Draught | 5.12 m (16.8 ft) |
| Propulsion | 2-shaft diesel (12,400 hp (9,200 kW)) and electric motor (2,000 hp (1,500 kW)) |
| Speed | 23 knots (43 km/h) surface, 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged |
| Range | 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Test depth | 100 m (330 ft) |
| Complement | 101 officers and men |
| Armament | 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes forward (17 torpedoes) + 1 × 14 cm/40 11th Year Type naval gun[1] |
| Aircraft carried | one Yokosuka E14Y "Glen"'Type 0' reconnaissance seaplane |
I-29, code-named Matsu (松, Japanese for "pine tree"), was a
Construction
This was the most numerous class of Japanese submarines – almost 20 were built, of which only one (I-36) survived. These boats were fast, had a long range, and carried a seaplane, launched via a forward catapult.
The keel of I-29 was laid on 20 September 1939 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and launched on 29 September 1940. She was commissioned on 27 February 1942, into the 14th submarine squadron under the command of Lieutenant Commander (later Captain) Izu Juichi (伊豆壽市).
Yanagi missions
The Yanagi missions fell under the Tripartite Pact which provided for an exchange of personnel, strategic materials and manufactured goods between Germany, Italy and Japan. Initially, cargo ships were used to make the exchanges, but when that was no longer possible submarines were used.
Few submarines attempted this trans-oceanic voyage during World War II:
Service history
Missions
I-29 participated in missions supporting the Operation Mo attack on Port Moresby in New Guinea, and also in the futile search for Task Force 16 which had launched the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942.
I-29's reconnaissance of
First exchange
In April 1943, I-29 was tasked with a Yanagi mission. She was commanded by Captain Masao Teraoka, submarine flotilla commander – indicating the importance of the trip. She left Penang with a cargo that included two tons of gold as payment from Japan for weapons technology. She met Fregattenkapitän Werner Musenberg's Type IXD-1 U-boat, U-180 on 26 April 1943 off the coast of Mozambique.
During this meeting that lasted over 12 hours due to bad weather, the two submarines swapped several important passengers. U-180 transferred Netaji
, to avoid detection by British spies. Bose and Hasan's transfer is the only known record of a civilian transfer between two submarines of two different navies in World War II.Second exchange
On December 17, 1943, I-29 was dispatched on a second Yanagi mission, this time to Lorient, France, under star Japanese submarine Commander Takakazu Kinashi Japan's highest-scoring submarine "ace".[note 1] At Singapore she was loaded with 80 tons of raw rubber, 80 tons of tungsten, 50 tons of tin, two tons of zinc, and three tons of quinine, opium and coffee.
In spite of Allied
She left Lorient 16 April 1944 for the long voyage home with a cargo of 18 passengers, torpedo boat engines,
Sinking
On her way back to Kure, Japan, she was attacked at Balintang Channel, Luzon Strait, near the Philippines by Commander W. D. Wilkins' "Wildcats" submarine task force: Tilefish, Rock and Sawfish, using Ultra signal intelligence. During the evening of 26 July 1944, she was spotted by Sawfish which fired four torpedoes at her. Three hit I-29, which sank immediately at 20°06′N 121°33′E / 20.10°N 121.55°E. Only one of her crewmen survived. Kinashi was honored by a rare two-rank posthumous promotion to rear admiral.
Media
- I-29 is the submarine shown in the 2004 Bollywood film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose travels with the German submarine U-180 around the Cape of Good Hope to the southeast of Madagascar, where he is transferred to the I-29, greeted aboard by her captain Masao Teraoka and continues the rest of the journey to Imperial Japan.
Notes
- ^ Commanding I-19, Kinashi torpedoed and sank the U.S. aircraft carrier Wasp and damaged both the battleship North Carolina and the destroyer O'Brien during the same attack. O'Brien later sank as a result of the torpedo damage and North Carolina was under repair at Pearl Harbor until November 16, 1942
Citations
- ISBN 0-87021-459-4p.191
- ^ Goss 1997, pp. 153–154
Sources
- Milanovich, Kathrin (2021). "The IJN Submarines of the I 15 Class". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2021. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing. pp. 29–43. ISBN 978-1-4728-4779-9.
- Paterson, Lawrence. Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-Boats in the Indian Ocean., Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004, ISBN 1-85367-615-2, 287 pgs. Chapter II
Further reading
- Miller, Vernon. Analysis of Japanese Submarine Losses to Allied Submarines in World War II, Merriam Press Original Publication, 36 pgs.
- Boyd, Carl and Akihiko Yoshida. The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II., Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1995
- Jenkins, David. Battle Surface!: Japan's Submarine War Against Australia, 1942-44. Milsons Point and London: Random House, 1992
- Goss, Chris. Bloody Biscay: The Story of the Luftwaffe's Only Long Range Maritime Fighter Unit, V Gruppe/Kampfgeschwader 40, and its Adversaries, 1942-1944. Manchester, England: Crecy Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-947554-62-9, 254 pgs.
- Clay Blair" Hitler's U-Boats War The Hunted 1942–1945
External links
- Photo of 1/48 scale replica of I-29
- Blueprints of B-1 class Japanese submarine
- Accomplishments of the USS Sawfish
- I-29 pictures of crew stay in France taken by Kriegsmarine. Album stolen by a GI in Lorient in 1945 and found c. 1994 in a Hawaii flea market (French)courtesy www.lazaloeil.com
- View a 1942 German propaganda newsreel on arrival in Lorient and stay of I-30 which inaugurated the Yanagi missions to Europe Courtesy www.lazaloeil.com
