IJN Campaign - notes and infos

[Takao]

Been there, done that. When you start hallucinating, it is time for bed.

[keltos01]

so all we need now is someone like Peabody to write us a campaign with that data ? We already have three different japanese subs to choose from, the Kaidai 4 I made is the closest ship to the I 7, I could transform her to have 6 tubes forward I think, in a little while though as it's not the only project I'm working on.
keltos

[keltos01]

Philippines :

a rather lackluster operation for the submarines... only two minelaying subs I23 and I 24 of squadron 6 were in support of the attack :
thier mission was to patrol the waters around Luzon to support air assault by rescuing japanese pilots shot down, and to lay mines. The I23 layed 40 mines at the east end of Manilla bay and the I24 layed 39 in Balabac straight between Palawan and Borneo. Only the I24 sank a small cargo ship on 10 December.

December 23-24, 1941
I-66 (Cdr. Yoshi tome) sank the Dutch submarine K-XVI (Lt. Cdr. L.J. Jarman) while it was returning from attacking Japanese shipping near Kuching.

Dutch East Indies : started Dec 26 1941.

I1 through I7 took part. They were to patrol their asigned areas to detect enemmy retreats or reinforcements and to attack any enemy ship sighted.

group A Java sea and Sunda straight (six fleet subs, two coastal subs, four minelaying subs)

group B Bay of Bengal (six fleet subs)

group C east coast of the Celebes then between java and Australia. (seven ocean cruising subs I1 through I7)

• January 4-9, 1942

The IJN's Subron 4 (Rear-Admiral Etuzo Yoshi tomi) submarines attacked shipping in the Netherlands East Indies.
I-57 (Cdr. Nakashima) sank one ship of 3077 tons and I-56 (Cdr. Ohashi) sank three ships of 7957 tons and torpedoed two more of 5065 tons south of Java.
I-58 (Cdr. Kitamura) sank one ship of 2380 tons in the Java Sea.
I-55, RO-33, and RO-34 are unable to sink any ships in the Anambas area.

January 9 - February 9, 1942
I-65 (Lt.Cdr. Harada) operated in the Java Sea and then off Rangoon and sank two ships of 6105 tons.
I-66 (Cdr. Yo****ome) operated in the Java Sea and then off Rangoon and sank three ships of 10530 tons
I-59 (Cdr. Yoshimatsu) sank one ship of 4184 tons south of Java and one unidentified ship near Sabang.
I-60 is sunk by the British Royal Navy (RN) HMS Destroyer Jupiter in the Sunda Strait on January 17.


Japanese submarine I-60

January 21-25. 1942
I-55, I-59, I-62, I-64, I-65, and I-66 formed a patrol line in the Ambon Sea to cover the Kendari Landings.


• February 4-18, 1942
I-55 (Cdr. Nakajima) sank one off Java and one ship near Makassar for a total of 6546 tons. The I-55 reported sinking two more ships, but these are unconfirmed.
I-56 (Cdr. Ohashi) sank one ship of 979 tons and another unidentified ship in the Sunda Strait.

• February 5-7, 1942
RO-34 (Lt.Cdr. Ota) encounters a Royal Navy force consisting of the HMS cruiser Exeter, HMS destroyers, Encounter and Jupiter, with the Royal Australian Navy cruiser (RAN) Hobart, NW of the Sunda Strait, but is unable to make a successful attack.
RO-34 also attacked and missed a Dutch Destroyer in the same area.

• February 9-17, 1942
The IJN deployed Subron 4 against the merchant ships loaded with refugees from Singapore, which are proceeding to Sumatra and Java. The merchant ships are escorted by the HMS cruiser Durban, the HMS destroyers Jupiter and Stronghold, and RAN corvettes.
I-55 (Lt. Cdr. Nakajima) sank the ammunition ship Derrymore (4799 tons) N. of the Sunda Strait.
I-56 (Cdr. Ohashi) torpedoed a ship from convoy JS.1 in the Sunda Strait.

Japanese submarine I-55





Japanese submarine I-53





Japanese submarine I-58

info found on : http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/jap_subs.html

[nikimcbee]

I think an in depth Guadalcanal camp would be fun, or the opening moves of the US West Coast.

[keltos01]

Submarine reconnaissance for carrier strike force in the Indian Ocean :

Vice admiral Nagumo returned from Pearl to japan for supplies after the
air assault there to prepare for the next operation : a dash in the
indian Ocean with air attack planned against Trincomalee, Columbo and Ceylon.
Combined fleet headquarters wanted submarines to reconoiter enemy waters
around Ceylon and the west coast of India.

Submarine Squadron 2 (I1 through I7) commanded by Rear adm. Hisashi Ichioka,
was assigned the mission.

None of these boats had a clean cut mission other than to reconnoiter for
air strike operations. I7 sank the 9,415 ton British Gelnshiel.

I4, I5, I6 patrolled along the west coast of india, near the Maldives,
I 5 near cape Cormorin and the southern tip of India, I 6 off Bombay.
7 cargo ships sunk.
air results :

HMS Hermes light aircraft carrier sunk
HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire heavy cruisers sunk. There was
subsequently no effective british naval shield covering the western
and northwestern approaches to Australia.

[keltos01]

The midway and aleutians operations :
The japanese navy lacked plans after the southern important territories
were occupied in April 1942. Yamamoto advocated more offensive operations
such as the invasion and occupation of the hawaiian islands.
The navy advocated expansion to the southeast, the occupation of Fiji
and the Samoan islands would cut off Australia from the US.
The initial goals of these operations were the occupation of Midway,
Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and the ALeutians. The purpose was
to establish a defensive line far from the heart of the empire.

MI
Ten submarines of the third and first submarine groups were assigned to
picket lines A and B, to the north and to the south of the French Frigate Shoals,
for interception of US naval forces en route to Midway.
They should have been there May 30th, but were late, thus arriving after the
US forces had gone through the area.

The loss of 4 aircraft carriers on 4 june was devastating to the japanese
navy but Yamamoto still hoped that the submarines could deliver a fatal
blow to the US forces around Midway. Their picket line was east of midway
along meridian 168-40 w. they were then moved west of midway then back east but
not in time to catch the US carriers en route to Hawaii.

[keltos01]

Alaska operation AL:

Submarines of the First submarine group proceeded to the northern pacific and to the
coast of Alaska to carry out reconnaissance missions :

the I 25 was off Kodiak by 24 May. I 19 was near Dutch Harbor by 28 may
I 15 was off the central Aleutians and I 17 was off the western Aleutians.
These submarines remained on their respective stations until operation AL
was concluded, then they started to shift their patrol areas towards the
west coast of the US.