Kamakazis

[JoeCorrado]

Not exactly a Kamikaze attack, but;

While moving towards my second patrol area in the East China Sea, early 1942 I was careless by running on the surface, during daylight hours at 512 tc, when I was attacked by a lone Japanese aircraft (Kawasaki Ki-45 I think) - He seemed just as surprised as I was - he noticed me late and came screaming in at a steep angle, firing machine guns along the way... for my part, I was just into an emergency dive but not quite under the waves... conning tower still very much exposed.


Long story short, he could not pull out of the dive and crashed into the sea just off my port bow causing minor damage to my forward tubes which fortunately my repair team was able to repair. For a moment there, I thought that my patrol would end before getting started due to the damaged bow tubes.

Like I said, not a kamikaze attack in the technical sense, but pretty darned close in results!

[Admiral8Q]

Historically, the Japanese had no interest in enemy submarines. Probably because they thought of them as a defensive weapon rather than offensive. When they attacked Pearl Harbor, they ignored the subs, which would later on be their undoing. Kamikazis were aimed at big ships like carriers and battleships, never at tiny ones like subs. The Japs thought big. But it was the small things that multiplied and crippled them ultimately.