Wreck of the Japanese Submarine I-401

[woofiedog]

A story of the Submarine I-401...

The wreck was found in 870m of water off Barbers Point, Oahu. The I-401 was one of 3 aircraft carrying submarine built in 1944. These were the largest diesel electric submarines ever built comparable in size to the largest present day nuclear submarines. They were 20 years ahead of their time.


http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_15.BMP

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_12.BMP

Links:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/I-401.html
http://www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/

http://www.hikokiwarplanes.com/images/i-400/mark-books2.jpg

[AVGWarhawk]

She was a big one! :o Nice post!

[FIREWALL]

Amazeing. Thx.

[stuntcow]

Great looking boat or boot if you like. Thanks for the info.

[SteamWake]

I wanna know how they stored that plane in that tube !

[Engel]

they twisted the Wings 90° and fold it toward the body of the plane. They had 3 (in Words THREE) planes in it and the initial use was to bomb the S**t out of the Suez Canal to prevent the evil americans to deploy reinforcements and resources. The so used Aichi M6A where special build with the floaters attached to the body not the wings IIRC.....
Pretty brillinat stuff if u ask me as so much Nippons sons invented but never had the chance to use it to its full extend *sigh*

[Steel_Tomb]

:o...wow...perhaps thats why I'm getting so many aircraft bombing me there must be a "jap-pack" of those stalking me lol :arrgh!:

Back OT, that sub was many years ahead of its time, good job they didn't get them until so late in the war otherwise they might have caused a few problems. Saying that...it would be pretty hard to miss it with the depth charges lol its hhhuuugggeee!

[kakemann]

Look at that deckgun! :o

[WWII44]

A story of the Submarine I-401...

The wreck was found in 870m of water off Barbers Point, Oahu. The I-401 was one of 3 aircraft carrying submarine built in 1944. These were the largest diesel electric submarines ever built comparable in size to the largest present day nuclear submarines. They were 20 years ahead of their time.


http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_15.BMP

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_12.BMP

Links:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/I-401.html
http://www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/

http://www.hikokiwarplanes.com/images/i-400/mark-books2.jpg
THe Americans captrued the I-400s and study 'em but when the Russians wanted to have a look at them the Americans sunk 'em that why the found the wreck of the I-401 off Oahu.

P.S. I herd this on Silent Service (it was on Jap Subs)

[Mudrik]

Awesome sub. Glad they aren't in SH4.

Here's a bit more information about these subs if anyone is interested

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400_type_submarine

[sqk7744]

Great Posting!

Thanks Woofie! and Mudrik for the info link:

"The I-400 was originally designed so that it could travel round-trip to anywhere in the world, and it was specifically intended to destroy the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal). A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work on the first one was started in January 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure%2C_Hiroshima) arsenal. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five, and only three (I-400 at Kure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure), and the I-401 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-401) and I-402 at Sasebo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasebo_Navy_Yard)) were completed." -from Wikipedia

Imagine 18 of these puppies... "Calling All ship Mod Designers."
http://www.compuglobalhypermeganet.tv/images/sh4/I-400.jpg

[Chock]

If you fancy a bit of fiction involving one of these subs, it features in the Clive Cussler novel Black Wind, not a bad yarn if a little 'boy's own' ish.

Not the only sub so carry aircraft, the I-400 was nevertheless one of the better attempts at pulling it off, something of an obsession for the Japanese apparently, with many of their subs being converted into vessels capable of launching a scout aircraft.

Of the three I-400s completed, only two were of the aircraft-carrying type, a third was fitted out as a tanker transport. Incidentally, I-400s were actually designed to carry four aircraft, one in spares form, with the other three partially dismantled and apparently able to be put together and launched in about 30 minutes (seems unlikely to me). Performance was 18.7 knots on the surface, 6.5 knots submerged.

More impressive than this sub for me though was the Japanese I-201, which although never used operationally, was similar in performance to the German Type XXI, not surprising since it looked very similar and even had MAN engines. The I-201 had some cool features, such as AA guns which retracted into the hull and electric engines which could shift it along at 19 knots underwater for about an hour.

I'm personally hoping that the SH4 devs have a Jap sub add-on planned for us. Although most Jap subs never really did that much operationally, I think it would offer some great 'what if?' scenarios, and Japanese military operations is certainly a neglected genre as far as simulations go. You could be damn sure such an add-on would sell well to the Japanese, so UBISOFT have got plenty of motivation to make one!

[sqk7744]

I guess you could tinker with the Mission editor and take the Toku Class sub, have it submerge at such and such a time, then spawn a seaplane F1M Pete search plane to fly on into a target way behind the lines... but a true I400 would be neat to see!

[McBeck]

A story of the Submarine I-401...

The wreck was found in 870m of water off Barbers Point, Oahu. The I-401 was one of 3 aircraft carrying submarine built in 1944. These were the largest diesel electric submarines ever built comparable in size to the largest present day nuclear submarines. They were 20 years ahead of their time.


http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_15.BMP

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/images/I-401_12.BMP

Links:
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/I-401.html
http://www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/

http://www.hikokiwarplanes.com/images/i-400/mark-books2.jpg THe Americans captrued the I-400s and study 'em but when the Russians wanted to have a look at them the Americans sunk 'em that why the found the wreck of the I-401 off Oahu.

P.S. I herd this on Silent Service (it was on Jap Subs)
OK, so thats why! I was just wondering what it was doing so close to Pearl Habor! :hmm:

[subsailor]

Great Posting!

Thanks Woofie! and Mudrik for the info link:

"The I-400 was originally designed so that it could travel round-trip to anywhere in the world, and it was specifically intended to destroy the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal). A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work on the first one was started in January 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure%2C_Hiroshima) arsenal. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five, and only three (I-400 at Kure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kure), and the I-401 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_submarine_I-401) and I-402 at Sasebo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasebo_Navy_Yard)) were completed." -from Wikipedia

Imagine 18 of these puppies... "Calling All ship Mod Designers."
http://www.compuglobalhypermeganet.tv/images/sh4/I-400.jpgActually, There were several Aircraft carrier submerables. What was brought back to Pearl Harbor after the war was the I-400, I-401, both sister-ships and the smaller I-14. All three were outfitted to carry/lunch aircraft. The I-14 is distinguishable by the lack of a "wave guard" mounted on the front of the conning tower. The I-400,& 402 both had the lower "wave guard" mounted. Check out: http://news.webshots.com/album/551294877dRtTJI