US carriers were a favored prey for japanese submarines in the eastern Solomon. On the afternoon of 13 September, japanese planes sighted an american carrier 200 miles southeast of San Cristobal Island.
Carrier Wasp fell prey to Commander
Takaichi Kinashi in
I-19, stationed near the center of the picket line, about 140 miles southeast of San Cristobal Island.
At noon on the 15th he heard several propeller sounds, 50 minutes later he sighted a carrier, a cruiser, and escorting destroyers at a distance of 8 miles.
On two occasions the carrier changed course on the inside, thus receding the range while also presenting a more favorable angle on bow.
Finally, at 1345, the
I-19 fired six torpedoes at the carrier target, with a 50 degrees angle on bow and a range of a 1000 yards.
Three of I-19's type 95 torpedoes hit the Wasp, and three other approached another carrier group built around the Hornet (CV-8) some eight miles
away.
One torpedo hit the battleship
USS North Carolina, another hit the Destroyer
O'Brien causing the ship later to break in two, the sixth ran along without hitting anything.
COmmander Kinashi's attack was one of the most successful of the war. Although an element of chance favored Kinashi's hits on the North Carolina and teh O'Brien, this remarkable salvo offers ample evidence of the superiority of japanese torpedoes.