SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

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Originally Posted by nikimcbee (Post 2451202)

Fascinating!

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The conning tower hatch was found to be unlocked (without a special wrench, it could only be unlocked from inside), and no trace of the crew within. Only a set of coveralls and a pair of shoes (now on display at a shrine on the grounds of the JMSDF Officer's Candidate School in Eta Jima, Japan) were found inside. It has not been proven but indicators suggest that the crew abandoned their sub in quiet waters up against the O'ahu coastline. At that point, they vanished from history. It is possible that the crew drowned while making their way to shore, or that they were shot by US patrols and their bodies dumped in a common grave. But was there another possibility? Could they have possibly escaped from their sub and made their way ashore; if so, what then? On one of the charts recovered from Sakamaki's boat,marke a house in Pearl City near the PAA Clipper landing, owned by Dr. Yokichi Uyehara, was described as "Uyehara sanitarium rakuzanso ("happy mountain retreat"). Nearby, a "boat landing" and a "white man's house" are marked for the submariners' information

http://i-16tou.com/crews/map2.jpg

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this map was instantly recognisable as an escape and evasion map. Why else would a submariner need to know how to get around O'ahu on foot? On the back of one of the charts, there is an interesting handwritten notation. Under the heading, "Articles to carry when escaping," two methods for leaving the sub are detailed: first, when alongside the mother sub; second, when going ashore. If the crew was going aboard the mother sub, they were to wear their service uniform. If going ashore, then they were instructed to go naked (the assumption here is that they would strip down to their traditional undergarment, the fundoshi)....It also helps to explain the set of coveralls found in the sub raised from the Keehi Lagoon (spare coveralls were not carried aboard the midget subs, so someone left without their clothes). Those crewmembers were evidently following their escape directions. I asked Vice Admiral Kazuo Ueda about the reasoning behind the instruction to go ashore naked and his response was that it would make it easier for the crew to blend in with the Japanese population on the island.

Well I've mellowed with the years and good submarining is good submarining! Those torpedo tubes are empty and 'rusticle' data indicates they were fired. And, if the rooster-tailing midget sub #5 in my video post above-probably torpedoing the USS West Virginia- made it to the West Loch to lay low after sending a 'success' signal 12 hours after the attack; and the crew later unlocked their hatch and abandoned their coveralls for a mile swim to shore and then, in their skivvies to Dr. Yokichi Uyehara's 'happy house' in Pearl City....we have a pretty cool movie plot here!:hmmm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAvqTOzyUzs & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY-pRa-TOhg < 1 unexploded sub 1000lb torpedo was recovered inside Pearl. Airborne torpedoes were 500 lbs....One dud and one hit on the USS West Virginia imho. For the record: Dr Urehara was a Tokyo medical school grad and 1917 immigrant to Hawaii, whose 1930 purchase water-front home directly on Pearl Harbor had been a meeting place for visiting Imperial Navy Japanese officers. Letters were found in his home reminding him of his duty to his 'mother country'. He was arrested in Feb 25, 1942 by the FBI, having fled to his hospital's basement after the attack.....No details of the outcome are recorded.