Japanese submarine I-4
History | |
---|---|
Imperial Japanese Navy | |
Name | I-4 |
Builder | Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation, Kobe, Japan |
Laid down | 17 April 1926 |
Launched | 22 May 1928 |
Completed | 24 December 1929 |
Commissioned | 24 December 1929 |
Decommissioned | 15 November 1935 |
Recommissioned | by 27 March 1937 |
Decommissioned | 15 November 1939 |
Recommissioned | by 15 November 1940 |
Decommissioned | 19 October 1941 |
Recommissioned | 31 October 1941 |
Fate | Sunk by USS Seadragon, 21 December 1942 |
Stricken | 1 March 1943 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | J1 type submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length | 320 ft (98 m) |
Beam | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
Draught | 16.5 ft (5 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) (surfaced) 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) (submerged) |
Range | 24,400 nmi (45,200 km; 28,100 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Test depth | 80 m (262 ft) |
Boats & landing craft carried | 1 x 46 ft (14 m) Daihatsu (added November 1942) |
Complement | 68 officers and men |
Armament |
|
I-4 was an
Construction and commissioning
Built by
Service history
1929–1937
Upon commissioning, I-4 was attached to the
Submarine Division 8 completed its assignment to Submarine Squadron 1 on 1 October 1932 and again was assigned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District,[2] but it returned to duty in Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet on 15 November 1933.[2] I-4 got underway from Sasebo, Japan, in company with the other vessels of Submarine Squadron 1 — I-1, I-2, and I-3 of Submarine Division 7 and I-5 and I-6 of Submarine Division 8 — for a training cruise in Chinese waters on 29 March 1935.[2][5][6][7][8][9] The six submarines concluded the cruise with their return to Sasebo on 4 April 1935.[2][5][6][7][8][9] On 15 November 1935, Submarine Division 8 again returned to the Yokosuka Defense Division in the Yokosuka Naval District,[2] and that day I-4 was placed in reserve.[2]
Submarine Division 8 returned to service in Submarine Squadron 1 in the 1st Fleet on 1 December 1936.
Second Sino-Japanese War
On 7 July 1937 the first day of the
Submarine Squadron 1 was based at Hong Kong until the autumn of 1938.[10] In an effort to reduce international tensions over the conflict in China, Japan withdrew its submarines from Chinese waters in December 1938.[10]
1939–1941
Submarine Division 8 was placed in Third Reserve in the Yokosuka Naval District on 15 November 1939.[2] The division was resubordinated on 15 November 1940 to Submarine Squadron 2 in the 6th Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet.[3] On 7 January 1941, I-4 became flagship of Submarine Division 8.[3] She briefly was in reserve from 19 to 31 October 1941.[2]
On 10 November 1941 — by which time I-4, I-5, I-6, and the submarine
World War II
First war patrol
On 7 December 1941, the submarines of Submarine Squadron 2 took up patrol stations across a stretch of the
On 9 January 1942, I-4 was ordered to divert from her patrol and search for the
Second war patrol
While I-4 was at Yokosuka, Submarine Squadron 2 — consisting of I-1, I-2, I-3, I-4, I-6, and the squadron flagship, I-7 — was assigned to the
At about 16:15 on 28 February 1942, I-4 sank an unidentified Allied steamship — sometimes identified as the Singapore-based Dutch 1,693-gross register ton merchant steamer Ban Ho Guan, although Ban Ho Guan may have not been in the area at the time — in the Indian Ocean southwest of Bali.[2][3] She bombarded the Cocos Islands on 3 March, and concluded her patrol with her arrival at Penang in Japanese-occupied British Malaya at 12:50 Japan Standard Time on 8 March 1942.[3]
Third war patrol
Orders arrived from the
At the western entrance of Eight Degree Channel at about 15:55 on 6 April 1942 — the day after Japanese carrier planes raided Colombo — I-4 fired two Type 96 torpedoes at the American 6,617-ton steamer Washingtonian, which was on a voyage from Suez, Egypt, to Colombo.[3] Washingtonian sighted one of the torpedoes approaching on her port side at a distance of 500 yards (460 m) and began a slow turn in an attempt to avoid it, but both torpedoes hit, setting Washingtonian′s fuel tanks on fire.[3] Fire soon engulfed the ship, and she had taken on a 25-degree list to port when her crew of 29 and two passengers abandoned ship at 16:05.[3] Washingtonian eventually sank.[3] On 10 April 1942 after 01:00, I-4 surfaced off Colombo in the vicinity of 07°N 79°E / 7°N 79°E and opened fire with both of her deck guns on a 200-ton Maldivian buggalow, firing fourteen 140-millimeter (5.5 in) rounds and heavily damaging the vessel.[3]
I-4′s patrol ended with her arrival at Singapore on 16 April 1942.[3] She departed Singapore on 21 April 1942 to head for Yokosuka, which she reached on 1 May 1942.[3]
Fourth war patrol
While I-4 was at Yokosuka, the Aleutian Islands campaign began on 3–4 June 1942 with a Japanese air raid on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, followed quickly by the unopposed Japanese occupation in the Aleutian Islands of Attu on 5 June and Kiska on 7 June 1942.[3] On 10 June 1942, I-1, I-2, I-3, I-4, I-5, I-6, and I-7 were reassigned to the Northern Force for duty in the Aleutians, and on 11 June 1942 I-4 set out for Aleutian waters in company with I-1, I-2, I-3, and I-7 to begin her fourth war patrol.[3] On 20 June 1942, I-1, I-2, and I-4 joined the "K" patrol line in the North Pacific Ocean between 48°N 178°W / 48°N 178°W and 50°N 178°W / 50°N 178°W.[3] I-4 remained on the patrol line until 3 July 1942.[3] On 20 July 1942, she was reassigned to the Advance Force and ordered to return to Japan.[3] She arrived at Yokosuka on 1 August 1942 and began an overhaul.[3]
Guadalcanal campaign
During I-4′s stay at Yokosuka, the
On 29 September 1942, I-4 was on the surface 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) southwest of
On 5 October 1942, I-4 was reassigned to the "A" patrol group.[3] On 10 October 1942, she and I-7 were resubordinated directly to the Advance Force and she received orders to divert from her patrol and proceed to the Espiritu Santo area, where a submarine-launched raid was scheduled to take place.[3] The raid was cancelled, and I-4 was again assigned to the "A" patrol group on 13 October 1942.[3] On 14 October 1942, she received orders to bombard the airfield on Espiritu Santo, but encountered limited visibility as she approached the island from the east and could not find the airfield.[3] On 16 October 1942, she was ordered to patrol in the waters between the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides.[3] She was 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) west of Espiritu Santo on 25 October 1942 when she sighted a westbound battleship — probably USS Washington (BB-56) — and two destroyers, but she lost them in a rain squall and did not attempt an attack.[3] She returned to Truk on 3 November 1942.[3]
While at Truk, I-4 underwent a conversion between 4 and 16 November 1942 in which her after 140-millimeter (5.5 in) gun was replaced with a mounting abaft her
Assigned to these supply missions, I-4 departed Truk on 20 November 1942 bound for Rabaul.[3] She stopped at Rabaul from 23 to 25 November 1942 and embarked a waterproof Daihatsu on her new mounting, then proceeded to Shortland Island in the Shortland Islands, her commanding officer receiving a briefing on supply procedures at Guadalcanal while she was at sea off Bougainville.[3] She reached Shortland on 26 November 1942.[3] Carrying her Daihatsu, she departed on 28 November with a cargo of 20 tons of food and medicine and reached Kamimbo Bay on the northwest coast of Guadalcanal on 30 November 1942.[3] She quickly unloaded the Daihatsu and got back underway for Rabaul, which she reached on 3 December 1942.[3] On 5 December 1942 at 16:00, she began another supply run to Guadalcanal, again carrying 20 tons of food and medicine, which she unloaded quickly at Kamimbo Bay on 8 December 1942 before stopping at Shortland Island from 10 to 12 December and then moving on to Rabaul, which she reached on 14 December 1942.[3]
New Guinea campaign
On 16 December 1942, I-4 departed Rabaul on an urgent supply run to Buna, New Guinea, to support Japanese forces fighting in the New Guinea campaign.[3] She arrived off the mouth of the Mambare River on the coast of New Guinea at 22:15 on 18 December 1942, but while she was on the surface the U.S. Navy PT boats PT-121 and PT-122 detected her.[3] The PT boats fired two torpedoes at her, both of which missed, but they forced her to withdraw.[3] She returned to the area a few hours later, but was unable to contact Japanese forces on shore.[3] Her commanding officer transmitted a message saying that he had decided to abort the supply mission and return to Rabaul.[3]
Loss
The submarine
On 5 January 1943, the Imperial Japanese Navy officially declared I-4 to be presumed lost with all hands off Rabaul.[3] She was stricken from the Navy list on 1 March 1943.[3]
References
Footnotes
- ISBN 0-87021-459-4p.191
- ^ 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 I-4 ijnsubsite.com 18 May 2018 Accessed 29 January 2022
- ^ 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 bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2012). "IJN Submarine I-4: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ Submarine Division 8 ijnsubsite.com Accessed 29 January 2022
- ^ a b c d e I-3 ijnsubsite.com 3 May 2018 Accessed 29 January 2022
- ^ a b c d I-1 ijnsubsite.com 1 July 2020 Accessed 27 January 2022
- ^ a b c d I-2 ijnsubsite.com 15 April 2018 Accessed 28 January 2022
- ^ a b c d I-5 ijnsubsite.com 18 May 2018 Accessed 27 January 2022
- ^ a b c d I-6 ijnsubsite.com 18 September 2019 Accessed 27 January 2022
- ^ a b c d e f g Boyd and Yoshida, p. 54.
- ^ Naval History and Heritage Command Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Alhena
- ^ Ruhe, p. 97.
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.
- Ruhe, William J. War in the Boats: My WWII Submarine Battles. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, Inc., 1994. ISBN 0-02-881084-8.