Saturday, November 14, 2009

Japanese WWII Supersubs Found Off Hawaii

November 13th Chicago Tribune article by Thomas H. Maughn II.

It was announced Nov. 12th that two very high tech Japanese World War II submarines that were scuttled by the US Navy after the war off Hawaii have been found. They were sunk to prevent their advanced technology from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union as the Cold War began to warm up.

One of the subs, the I-14 was the largest non-nuclear one ever made with the ability to sail around the world one and a half times without refueling. It was 400 feet long, 40 feet high and had a crew of 144. It could launch two folding wing bombers that could be used on kamikaze missions against US cities like New York and DC.

The second one, an attack submarine called the I-201 had a sleek design that resembled the ones used today. It could go more than twice as fast as any US sub when submerged.

The war ended fortunately for us so neither was ever used. They were among five that were captured at the end of the war by the US and sunk off Oahu after US technicians had learned all their secrets.

Col. Robert Hackett said, "In their time, they were very revolutionary.

The Lost Past Found, Always Neat. --Cooter

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