Japanese submarine I-402
History | |
---|---|
Empire of Japan | |
Name | I-402 |
Builder | Sasebo Naval Arsenal, Sasebo, Japan |
Laid down | 20 October 1943 |
Launched | 5 September 1944 |
Completed | 24 July 1945 |
Commissioned | 24 July 1945[1] |
Fate |
|
General characteristics | |
Class and type | I-400-class submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length | 122 m (400 ft) |
Beam | 12.0 m (39.4 ft) |
Draft | 7.0 m (23.0 ft) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | |
Range | 37,500 nmi (69,400 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
Test depth | 100 m (330 ft) |
Complement | 144 officers and men |
Armament |
|
I-402 (伊号第四百二潜水艦, I-gō-dai yon-hyaku-ni-sensuikan) was an Imperial Japanese Navy Sentoku-type (or I-400-class) submarine commissioned in 1945 for service in World War II. Originally intended to be a submarine aircraft carrier like her sister ships I-400 and I-401, she instead was completed as a submarine tanker, but entered service less than a month before the end of the war and never carried out a tanker voyage. She surrendered to the United States at the end of the war in 1945 and was scuttled in 1946. Until 1965, the Sentaku-type submarines were the largest submarines ever commissioned.
Characteristics
The I-400-class submarines had four 1,680 kW (2,250 hp) diesel engines and carried enough fuel to circumnavigate the world one-and-a-half times. Measuring 122 m (400 ft) long overall, they displaced 5,900 t (6,504 short tons), more than double their typical American contemporaries[3] and much larger than the most common Japanese submarine of the era, the Type B1, which was 109 meters (356 ft) feet long and displaced 2,584 tons. Until the commissioning of the United States Navy ballistic missile submarine USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640) in 1965, the I-400-class were the largest submarines ever commissioned.[4]
The cross-section of the
Like other I-400-class submarines, I-402 was armed with eight 533-millimeter (21 in)
I-400-class submarines had a rather noisy special trim system that allowed them to loiter submerged and stationary while awaiting the return of their aircraft;
Construction and commissioning
Ordered as Submarine No. 5233,
Service history
World War II
Upon commissioning, I-402 was attached to the Kure Naval District and assigned to Submarine Division 1 — which also included her sister ships I-400 and I-401 and the submarines I-13 and I-14 — in the 6th Fleet.[14][15] She was in port at Kure, Japan, on 11 August 1945 when Iwo Jima-based United States Army Air Forces P-51D Mustang fighters raided the area after 10:40.[4] She suffered several near misses from bombs, and bomb fragments punctured her main fuel tanks in two places.[15] Two members of her crew were wounded.[15]
Hostilities between Japan and the
Post-war
Operated by an American crew, I-402 moved from Kure to Sasebo in October 1945.[15] On 30 November 1945, the Japanese struck her from the Navy list.[15]
Disposal
With postwar relations with the
Later events
In 2015, the precise locations of the wrecks of the 24 Japanese submarines scuttled off the Goto Islands, including that of I-402, were confirmed.[17]
References
- ^ "World War II Database : Submarine I-402". ww2db.com. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
- ISBN 0-87021-459-4p.191
- ^ a b c Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2011). "IJN Submarine I-401: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ Sakaida, p.74
- ^ Sakaida, p. 17
- ^ Sakaida, p.100-101
- ^ Layman and McLaughlin, p. 178–179.
- ^ Sakaida, p. 73
- ^ Sakaida, p. 104-107
- ^ ISBN 1557500150, pp. 27, 29
- ^ Sakaida, p. 92
- ^ Sakaida, p. 126
- ^ a b c d e f "I-402 ex No-5233". iijnsubsite.info. 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2016). "IJN Submarine I-402: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ a b Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2019). "IJN Submarine Ha-201: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ "24 scuttled Imperial Japanese Navy submarines found off Goto Islands". Japan Times. 8 August 2015. Archived from the original on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-1-902109-45-9