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Japanese submarine I-44
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Japanese submarine I-44
I-44 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type B2 submarine. Completed and commissioned in January 1944, she served in the late stages of World War II, she conducted war patrols in the Pacific Ocean as a conventional submarine before she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She then conducted kaiten operations during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa before she was sunk in April 1945.
I-44 was laid down on 11 June 1942 by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal at Yokosuka, Japan, with the name Submarine No. 374. Eventually named I-44, she was launched on 5 March 1943. She was completed and commissioned on 31 January 1944.
Upon commissioning, I-44 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 6th Fleet. Once her workups were complete, she called at the Tokuyama Fuel Depot from 28 to 29 March 1944 to refuel.
On 31 March 1944, I-44 and the submarines I-183, Ro-47, Ro-116, and Ro-117 received orders to deploy in the Pacific Ocean east of Palau to intercept a Palau-bound United States Navy task force. She got underway from Agenosho Bay that day, but received a recall order on 5 April 1944. She arrived at Kure on 14 April 1944. After her arrival at Kure, I-44 became the first Japanese submarine fitted with the Type 13 air-search radar.
I-44 was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in Submarine Squadron 1 in the Advance Unit in the 6th Fleet on 28 April 1944. In May 1944, she and the submarines I-36, I-38, I-41 and I-53 and the auxiliary submarine tender Tsukushi Maru began training in the Seto Inland Sea off Nasakejima for Operation Tatsumaki ("Tornado"), which called for the submarines to transport modified Type 4 Ka-Tsu amphibious tracked landing craft, each armed with two 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedoes, from Kure to Majuro. After the submarines launched the Ka-Tsu vehicles, the operation called for the vehicles to proceed to shore, move overland across the atoll's islands, then enter the water in the lagoon and attack Allied ships with torpedoes. Operation Tatsumaki later was postponed pending the correction of defects found in the Ka-Tsu vehicles and eventually was canceled entirely.
On 15 May 1944, I-44 departed Kure along with I-41 and I-53 to begin her second war patrol. The three submarines were assigned to picket duty off the Bismarck Archipelago, northeast of New Ireland and north of Kavieng. One source has suggested that the U.S. submarine USS Permit (SS-178) torpedoed and damaged I-44 on 26 May 1944, but Japanese sources do not confirm this. Instead, while I-44 was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of 27°02′N 151°00′E / 27.033°N 151.000°E on 27 May 1944 and operating her new air-search radar, an Allied plane surprised her and scored several near-misses; Japanese historians disagree on whether the radar set was defective or its inexperienced operator made mistakes while still learning to use it properly. She crash-dived, but several patrol vessels then attacked her, scoring several more near-misses. She rigged for silent running, and eventually broke contact with them. With her periscopes, her main switchboard, and many of her instruments damaged and a leak in her bow section, she surfaced after escaping the Allied vessels. She soon sighted a U.S. Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber flying nearby; unable to submerge again, she evaded the plane by escaping into a rain squall. She reached Kure on 5 June 1944 and underwent repairs there.
The commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, activated Operation Shō-Gō 1 for the defense of the Philippine Islands on 13 October 1944. With her repairs complete, I-44 got underway from Kure on 19 October 1944 for her third war patrol, assigned a patrol area east of the Philippines and off Leyte as part of Submarine Group B, which also included the submarines I-38, Ro-41, and Ro-43. She was in the Bashi Channel in darkness on 20 October 1944 when an explosion in her automatic trim system pressure tank killed three members of her crew, wrecked her gyrocompass, and disabled one of her propeller shafts. Forced to return to Japan for repairs, she arrived at Kure on 22 October 1944.
The last surviving Type B2 submarine, I-44 was selected for conversion to carry kaiten suicide attack torpedoes. While she was under repair, her 140-millimeter (5.5 in) deck gun was removed to make room on her afterdeck for fittings to allow her to carry four kaitens abaft her conning tower and her aircraft hangar and catapult were removed from her foredeck to make room forward of her conning tower for the fittings for two more kaitens. In addition, a Type 22 surface-search radar also was installed aboard her.
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Japanese submarine I-44
I-44 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Type B2 submarine. Completed and commissioned in January 1944, she served in the late stages of World War II, she conducted war patrols in the Pacific Ocean as a conventional submarine before she was converted into a kaiten suicide attack torpedo carrier. She then conducted kaiten operations during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa before she was sunk in April 1945.
I-44 was laid down on 11 June 1942 by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal at Yokosuka, Japan, with the name Submarine No. 374. Eventually named I-44, she was launched on 5 March 1943. She was completed and commissioned on 31 January 1944.
Upon commissioning, I-44 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 11 in the 6th Fleet. Once her workups were complete, she called at the Tokuyama Fuel Depot from 28 to 29 March 1944 to refuel.
On 31 March 1944, I-44 and the submarines I-183, Ro-47, Ro-116, and Ro-117 received orders to deploy in the Pacific Ocean east of Palau to intercept a Palau-bound United States Navy task force. She got underway from Agenosho Bay that day, but received a recall order on 5 April 1944. She arrived at Kure on 14 April 1944. After her arrival at Kure, I-44 became the first Japanese submarine fitted with the Type 13 air-search radar.
I-44 was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in Submarine Squadron 1 in the Advance Unit in the 6th Fleet on 28 April 1944. In May 1944, she and the submarines I-36, I-38, I-41 and I-53 and the auxiliary submarine tender Tsukushi Maru began training in the Seto Inland Sea off Nasakejima for Operation Tatsumaki ("Tornado"), which called for the submarines to transport modified Type 4 Ka-Tsu amphibious tracked landing craft, each armed with two 450-millimeter (17.7 in) torpedoes, from Kure to Majuro. After the submarines launched the Ka-Tsu vehicles, the operation called for the vehicles to proceed to shore, move overland across the atoll's islands, then enter the water in the lagoon and attack Allied ships with torpedoes. Operation Tatsumaki later was postponed pending the correction of defects found in the Ka-Tsu vehicles and eventually was canceled entirely.
On 15 May 1944, I-44 departed Kure along with I-41 and I-53 to begin her second war patrol. The three submarines were assigned to picket duty off the Bismarck Archipelago, northeast of New Ireland and north of Kavieng. One source has suggested that the U.S. submarine USS Permit (SS-178) torpedoed and damaged I-44 on 26 May 1944, but Japanese sources do not confirm this. Instead, while I-44 was on the surface in the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of 27°02′N 151°00′E / 27.033°N 151.000°E on 27 May 1944 and operating her new air-search radar, an Allied plane surprised her and scored several near-misses; Japanese historians disagree on whether the radar set was defective or its inexperienced operator made mistakes while still learning to use it properly. She crash-dived, but several patrol vessels then attacked her, scoring several more near-misses. She rigged for silent running, and eventually broke contact with them. With her periscopes, her main switchboard, and many of her instruments damaged and a leak in her bow section, she surfaced after escaping the Allied vessels. She soon sighted a U.S. Navy PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber flying nearby; unable to submerge again, she evaded the plane by escaping into a rain squall. She reached Kure on 5 June 1944 and underwent repairs there.
The commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, activated Operation Shō-Gō 1 for the defense of the Philippine Islands on 13 October 1944. With her repairs complete, I-44 got underway from Kure on 19 October 1944 for her third war patrol, assigned a patrol area east of the Philippines and off Leyte as part of Submarine Group B, which also included the submarines I-38, Ro-41, and Ro-43. She was in the Bashi Channel in darkness on 20 October 1944 when an explosion in her automatic trim system pressure tank killed three members of her crew, wrecked her gyrocompass, and disabled one of her propeller shafts. Forced to return to Japan for repairs, she arrived at Kure on 22 October 1944.
The last surviving Type B2 submarine, I-44 was selected for conversion to carry kaiten suicide attack torpedoes. While she was under repair, her 140-millimeter (5.5 in) deck gun was removed to make room on her afterdeck for fittings to allow her to carry four kaitens abaft her conning tower and her aircraft hangar and catapult were removed from her foredeck to make room forward of her conning tower for the fittings for two more kaitens. In addition, a Type 22 surface-search radar also was installed aboard her.
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