I-400 carrier sub

[Billy Joe Bob]

Can anyone shed some light on this behemoth?




the first time i saw it was in Heros of the Pacific

i then researched it and found it to be real but not much info on it

[RedDg]

She was a hell of a sub!

http://www.combinedfleet.com/sen_toku.htm

[AKSnake]

I will try to find a web site that I found years ago that told of an aircraft launched from a Japanese sub off the coast of Southern Oregon during WWII. They actually dropped bombs, incendiaries, to try to start a massive forest fire, but failed due to the wet climate and time of year. If I can come up with it, I will post it. They actually made two flights.
Snake

I found this on a Google search:
http://history1900s.about.com/library/prm/bljapanesebombwc2.htm

[crowMAW]

Weren't they planning on using that to launch an air raid to bomb a ship in the Panama Canal and block it?

[EdXCal]

That they were! But they didn't bomb the US, they used high alt balloons with bombs and I believe timers, to drop the bombs, they burned alot of forest, but no one was ever hurt. As for the subs, there was about 3 of them I believe, but they got recalled back to Japan before they got to the canal and were ordered to ram into US ships but the surrender happend before they got back, so they saw no action.

Edward

[FiLtH]

I read a thing on them a few weeks back from my ww2 magazine.  I believe thats the class that made technology trade runs to germany.

[Westy]

"thats the class that made technology trade runs to germany."


Yes!  And according to the Nippon46.com website that uber-sub was going to sail to San Fran, come up to launch depth and fly off a new fighter designed by Kurt Tank on May 7th, 1945. This plane would then drop the German nuke smuggled out by Heisenbergs team before Berlin fell.

rare color photo:





* And you can see where Grumman once again[/B] ripped of the FW-190 in designing thier F-14. Note the wing spar and wide landing stance for starters!

[Furball]

Originally posted by Westy
* And you can see where Grumman once again ripped of the FW-190 in designing thier F-14. Note the wing spar and wide landing stance for starters! [/B]

aaahahaha

[Saxman]

Actually, those balloon bombs DID kill. I think it was three people on a school outing in Oregon.

I'm pretty sure the I-400s weren't involved moving cargo, the Germans used some of their own U-boats, and I think the Japanese actually had specialized subs for that purpose, too.

[Hoarach]

If I remember right there were 2 or 3 made.  

Also if I remember right is that the Japanese had them sunk when the war was over to prevent them falling into enemy hands.

[Vulcan]

IIRC 3 I-400's were on the way to drop either biological or dirty nukes on the USA when Japan surrendered...

WW2: Japan's Secret Biological Weapons Program
Posted by Alan Bellows on October 23rd, 2005 at 5:13 pm
In 1945, just after Japan surrendered to the United States to end the second world war, a Japanese I-400 class submarine– the likes of which Americans had never seen– surrendered to a Navy destroyer. The Americans were surprised at the submarine's enormous size, and subsequent inspections continued to astonish. It was about 60% larger than the largest US submarines, twice as fast as the fastest US subs, and had the fuel capacity to travel around the Earth one and a half times before refueling. Perhaps most impressively, it was also an aircraft carrier.

The submarine had space for three specialized Japanese airplanes, called Seiran, which translates literally to "storm out of a clear sky." Before the Japanese surrender, this particular submarine's original mission had been to secretly sail westward from Japan to the US east coast, where an attack would be unexpected, and use its three aircraft to drop rats and fleas infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases upon New York, Washington D.C., and other cities along the eastern seaboard. When problems made that plan infeasible, the sub was retasked to bomb the Panama canal from the east, but the end of the war arrived before the crew could carry out its mission.

By the end of World War 2, Japan had done quite a bit of experimentation with germ warfare, mostly in the form of infected fleas. The program got its start in the 1930s when Japan occupied Manchuria, and later in their invasion of China. These biological weapons were developed at Japan's Unit 731, an installation disguised as a water purification plant. The Allied forces had long suspected that Japan was utilizing germ warfare against China, but was unable to conclusively prove their suspicions during the war.

When America was attacked by Japanese balloon bombs, US officials were concerned that these might include some of Japan's infected flea payloads, but no such biological balloon bombs were ever discovered.

Several epidemics of cholera, typhoid, anthrax and bubonic plague were reportedly caused in China by Japan's "Uji" bombs, which were designed specifically to burst hundreds of feet above the ground, and rain infected fleas upon the populace. By some estimations, these attacks triggered outbreaks which killed as many as 50,000 Chinese people over six years. According to Chinese reports, infected houses, hospitals and other buildings were burned and had to be left untouched for decades, and fears of further outbreak still haunt the cities today.
 

[NUKE]

Originally posted by Hoarach
If I remember right there were 2 or 3 made.  

Also if I remember right is that the Japanese had them sunk when the war was over to prevent them falling into enemy hands.

The pic from the link in the first post shows one beside a US submarine tender after the war.

[NUKE]

Vulcan, those Japanese plans just reinforce to me how desperate and crazy there were.

I mean, 3 planes dropping who knows what? Not gonna put a dent in the USA. They were just nutjobs.

[rshubert]

quote:

In 1945, just after Japan surrendered to the United States to end the second world war, a Japanese I-400 class submarine– the likes of which Americans had never seen– surrendered to a Navy destroyer. The Americans were surprised at the submarine's enormous size, and subsequent inspections continued to astonish. It was about 60% larger than the largest US submarines, twice as fast as the fastest US subs, and had the fuel capacity to travel around the Earth one and a half times before refueling. Perhaps most impressively, it was also an aircraft carrier.


/unquote

Pure, unmitigated baloney.

Yes, it was big.  1800 tons or so larger than our 1930 Narhwhal class boats, Narwhal and Nautilus.

The French 1930 Surcouf carried float planes, and had a dual 8-inch gun turret.  It displaced about 3800 Tons, and went 18 Kts on the surface, 10 Kts submerged.  Range was 10000 miles or so.  Design depth was 250 feet.

Our Balao (improved Gato, 132 built 1942-44) class boats went 20 knots on the surface, and a range of 12000 miles.  They carried no seaplane.  Design depth was 400 feet.

The I-400 did have a long, loong range of 37000 miles.  Design depth was 330 feet.  Two were built.

IMO, putting that quantity of resources into carrying three floatplanes was a huge waste, worthy only of desperate men losing a war.

[FiLtH]

Ya I guess I had them confused with another special built Japanese sub built for trade with Germany. I found the article on the I-400s, but cant find the other article on the tech trade. This was from WW2 magazine. Apparantly of the 18 planned only the I400,401,402  were completed.