Japanese submarine I-44
I-44 sorties on a kaiten mission from the naval base at Otsujima, Japan, on 3 April 1945.
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History | |
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Japan | |
Name | Submarine No. 374 |
Builder | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Yokosuka, Japan |
Laid down | 11 June 1942 |
Renamed | I-44 |
Launched | 5 March 1943 |
Completed | 31 January 1944 |
Commissioned | 31 January 1944 |
Fate |
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Stricken | 10 June 1945 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Type B2 submarine |
Displacement |
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Length | 356.5 ft (108.7 m) |
Beam | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
Test depth | 100 m (330 ft) |
Complement | 114 |
Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 1 x floatplane (removed October 1944–February 1945) |
Aviation facilities | Hangar and catapult (removed October 1944–February 1945) |
I-44 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type B2 submarine. Completed and commissioned in January 1944, she served in the late stages of World War II, she conducted war patrols in the Pacific Ocean as a conventional submarine before she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She then conducted kaiten operations during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa before she was sunk in April 1945.
Construction and commissioning
I-44 was
Service history
Upon commissioning, I-44 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 6th Fleet.[1] Once her workups were complete, she called at the Tokuyama Fuel Depot from 28 to 29 March 1944 to refuel.[1]
First war patrol
On 31 March 1944, I-44 and the submarines I-183, Ro-47, Ro-116, and Ro-117 received orders to deploy in the Pacific Ocean east of Palau to intercept a Palau-bound United States Navy task force.[1] She got underway from Agenosho Bay that day, but received a recall order on 5 April 1944.[1] She arrived at Kure on 14 April 1944.[1] After her arrival at Kure, I-44 became the first Japanese submarine fitted with the Type 13 air-search radar.[1]
Operation Tatsumaki
I-44 was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in Submarine Squadron 1 in the Advance Unit in the 6th Fleet on 28 April 1944.[1] In May 1944, she and the submarines I-36, I-38, I-41 and I-53 and the auxiliary submarine tender Tsukushi Maru began training in the Seto Inland Sea off Nasakejima for Operation Tatsumaki ("Tornado"), which called for the submarines to transport modified Type 4 Ka-Tsu amphibious tracked landing craft, each armed with two 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedoes, from Kure to Majuro.[1][2] After the submarines launched the Ka-Tsu vehicles, the operation called for the vehicles to proceed to shore, move overland across the atoll's islands, then enter the water in the lagoon and attack Allied ships with torpedoes.[1][2] Operation Tatsumaki later was postponed pending the correction of defects found in the Ka-Tsu vehicles[3] and eventually was canceled entirely.[1]
Second war patrol
On 15 May 1944, I-44 departed Kure along with I-41 and I-53 to begin her second war patrol.
Third war patrol
The commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral
Conversion to kaiten carrier
The last surviving Type B2 submarine, I-44 was selected for conversion to carry kaiten suicide attack torpedoes. While she was under repair, her 140-millimeter (5.5 in) deck gun was removed to make room on her afterdeck for fittings to allow her to carry four kaitens abaft her conning tower and her aircraft hangar and catapult were removed from her foredeck to make room forward of her conning tower for the fittings for two more kaitens.[1] In addition, a Type 22 surface-search radar also was installed aboard her.[1]
The Japanese originally intended to assign I-44 to take part in the first operational use of kaitens, but cancelled her participation in the mission in early November 1944.[1] In early February 1945, she received orders to proceed to the kaiten base at Otsujima along with the submarines I-368 and I-370 to begin kaiten-handling training.[1]
First kaiten mission
On 19 February 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima began with the U.S. landings on Iwo Jima.[1] That day, I-44, I-368, and I-370 were assigned to the Chihaya Kaiten Group, with orders to attack Allied ships off the island.[1] I-44 was the last of the three submarines to get underway, departing Otsujima at 09:00 on 22 February 1945 for her fourth war patrol and first kaiten mission.[1] She was on the surface recharging her batteries 48 nautical miles (89 km; 55 mi) southwest of Iwo Jima on 25 February 1945 when two or three Allied warships — which her lookouts identified as destroyers or submarine chasers — sighted her and forced her to dive.[1] She remained submerged for 47 hours, during which the carbon dioxide levels inside her reached 6 percent, before she could break contact and surface safely.[1]
I-44 reached her patrol area south of Iwo Jima late on 26 February 1945.
On 6 March 1945, the 6th Fleet cancelled all submarine operations in the Iwo Jima area, and I-44 headed for Japan.[1] She disembarked her kaitens and their pilots at Otsujima on 9 March and on 11 March she arrived at Kure, where Miwa relieved her commanding officer of command.[1]
Second kaiten mission
Between 26 and 29 March 1945, U.S. forces landed in the
Loss
I-44 was lost sometime in April 1945, and the circumstances of her loss remain unknown.
On 29 April 1945, a
On 2 May 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared I-44 to be presumed lost in the Okinawa area with the loss of all 134 men aboard — 130 crewmen and four embarked kaiten pilots.[1] She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 June 1945.[1]
Notes
- ^ 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 Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2014). "IJN Submarine I-44: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ^ a b Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2019). "IJN Submarine I-53: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ^ Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander (2019). "IJN Submarine I-36: Tabular Record of Movement". combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
Sources
- Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander. IJN Submarine I-44: Tabular Record of Movement. Retrieved on September 16, 2020.