Rendering of a Japanese Type A Ko-hyoteki class mini-submarine

Recently we observed the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The December 7, 1941 attack brought the United States into World War II, a global conflict where over 400,000 U.S. military personnel would lose their lives. Japan’s main attack on Pearl Harbor consisted of a striking force of six aircraft carriers which launched 408 aircraft. Lesser known is that a Japanese submarine force was positioned offshore to launch five small mini-submarines intended to penetrate into Pearl Harbor, this is their story:

The Japanese Type A Ko-hyoteki class mini-submarine was 78 feet long, 6 feet wide and 6 feet in height. They were built in three sections, and then bolted together. Carrying two torpedoes and a crew of two; they were powered by an electric motor using multiple batteries. Due to their limited range because they were battery-powered, the mini-submarines were designed to be carried on a full size “mother” submarine, and then transported to where they were intended to be used.

The five Japanese mini-submarines to be used in the attack on Pearl Harbor were specially modified with unique figure 8 torpedo guards on the bow, extra air tanks and other modifications. Five Japanese full size I-Boats (I-Boat was the Japanese designation for a full size ocean going submarine) were assigned to carry the five mini-subs to Pearl Harbor, they were I-16, I-18, I-20, I-22, and I-24. The Japanese Navy also sent other I-Boats to be positioned around Hawaii during the attack to rescue downed airmen and/or the mini-sub crews if needed. The ten sailors manning the five mini-submarines were: Masaharu Yokoyama, Tei Uyeda, Akira Hiroo, Yoshio Katayama, Shigemi Furuno, Shigenori Yokoyama, Kazuo Sakamaki, Kiyoshi Inagaki, Naokichi Sasaki, and Naoji Iwasa, who was the overall commander of the mini-submarine group.

The five I-Boats carrying the mini-submarines arrived off of Hawaii on December 5, 1941 and took up position off of Pearl Harbor. At 12:42am on the morning of December 7th, the first mini-submarine was launched ten miles from the entrance of Pearl Harbor. The rest of the mini-subs were launched shortly thereafter with the last one being launched at 3:33am. The plan called for the mini-subs to penetrate Pearl Harbor, launch their torpedoes at U.S. Battleships, and then exit the harbor and meet up with the “mother” I-Boats off of Lanai Island, which was Southeast of Pearl Harbor.

The channel into Pearl Harbor was guarded by a floating two section anti-torpedo net, which hung down 35 feet and was designed to stop torpedoes from being fired into the harbor. However the nets had been opened around 2:00am on the morning of December 7th, and were not closed until 8:46am, which allowed plenty of time for the mini-submarines to enter the harbor that morning. Even though the United States was not at war yet, U.S. Ships were instructed to attack any suspected threat to Pearl Harbor.

Outside of Pearl Harbor, the Minesweeper USS Condor sighted what it thought was a submarine periscope two miles from the harbor entrance at 3:42am and called the Destroyer USS Ward to investigate, but nothing was found. At 5:45am, the Cargo Ship USS Antares was in the channel heading into Pearl Harbor when its crew saw what looked like a small submarine following them. Again the USS Ward came to investigate and at 6:37am sighted the submarine with the help of a U.S. Navy PBY Patrol Plane. Captain William Outerbridge on the USS Ward had been captain of the Ward for only two days, which was his first command. Ordering his crew to attack the submarine, they fired on it at 6:45am with the Ward’s 4-inch guns and hit it. The Ward’s crew saw the mini-submarine stop, and then sink with the Ward dropped depth charges as it passed over the last position of the sinking mini-sub. (Depth charges were explosive containers dropped into the water set to explode at a certain depth) At 6:53am Captain Outerbridge sent the following message to U.S. Navy Headquarters at Pearl Harbor: “We have attacked, fired upon, and dropped depth charges upon submarine operating in defensive sea area.”

This warning unfortunately raised no alerts at U.S. Navy Headquarters and less than an hour later at 7:50am the first Japanese bombers and torpedo planes arrived, attacking the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor and the nearby military installations. The attack was a complete surprise with the Japanese planes sinking seven U.S. ships including four battleships and seriously damaging nine other ships. Also destroyed were 188 aircraft at the nearby air bases. Killed in the attack were 2,402 U.S. Military Personnel and 57 Civilians.

During the air attack, two more Japanese mini-submarines were sighted. The first by the Destroyer USS Helm at 8:17am when it sighted a submarine hung up on a reef outside of the harbor entrance. The Helm fired on the mini-sub, but it managed to get off the reef and escape. Inside Pearl Harbor a few minutes later at 8:30am, the Minesweeper USS Zane sighted another possible mini-submarine inside of Pearl Harbor and sent out the alert: “Japanese Sub in Harbor”. The Destroyer USS Monaghan responded and sighted the mini-submarine just as it fired a torpedo at the Seaplane Tender USS Curtis, the torpedo missed. The mini-sub then fired its 2nd torpedo at the USS Monaghan as it raced in to attack, guns blazing, this torpedo also missed and exploded on the harbor shore. The mini-submarine then completely surfaced apparently damaged. USS Monaghan proceeded to ram the mini-submarine, dropping depth charges as it passed over, sinking it.

After the Japanese air attack ended, Pearl Harbor was a mess; ships were burning and exploding, harbor installations wrecked, sailors were trapped in some of the sunken ships, and frantic rescue and firefighting efforts started. Several other unconfirmed mini-submarine sightings were reported both inside and outside the harbor throughout the day. Later that night at 11:41pm, Japanese Submarine I-16 heard by radio from the mini-submarine it had launched crewed by Masaharu Yokoyama and Tei Uyeda, the message was “successful attack”. At 1:11am in the morning on December 8th, the same mini-submarine radioed “unable to navigate”. This was the last contact the Japanese Navy had with any of the mini-submarines, the “mother” I-Boats waited in vain for two nights off of Lanai Island for the mini-submarines and their crews.

On the morning of December 8th, Japanese Sailor Kazuo Sakamaki was found unconscious washed up on a beach on the Southeast side of Oahu, taken prisoner he became the first prisoner-of-war held by the United States. His mini-submarine was found abandoned shortly thereafter with its torpedoes still loaded wallowing in the surf a short distance away. The body of the other crewmember, Kiyoshi Inagaki was found later that day on the beach, he had apparently drowned. Interrogation of Sakamaki revealed that his mini-submarine was the one that was sighted by the USS Helm. The compass had stopped working and the mini-sub had been damaged after hitting several reefs resulting in some of the batteries breaking open releasing toxic fumes. Sakamaki had activated the self-destruct charge (which failed to work) and then abandoned the submarine with Inagaki. This submarine was later salvaged and went on tour in the United States during World War II to raise money for the war effort. It is now on display at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Mini-submarine found beached off Oahu

The mini-submarine sank by the USS Monaghan inside of Pearl Harbor was raised in the days after the attack. The body of one crewman was removed and buried, while the other was unable to be removed from the badly wrecked submarine. Both submarine and the dead sailor within were used as landfill at the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base where they remain to this day. An investigation after the war ended revealed that this was the submarine manned by Naokichi Sasaki and Naoji Iwasa, who was the commander of the Pearl Harbor mini-submarine attack group.

Japanese mini-submarine which was sank by the USS Monaghan during the Pearl Harbor attack.

The Japanese also launched mini-submarine attacks on Sydney Harbor in Australia and on Diego Suarez Harbor in Madagascar during World War II. The War in the Pacific ended with Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945. Kazuo Sakamaki, who was taken prisoner the day after the Pearl Harbor attack was released after the War and worked for Toyota for many years, he passed away in 1999. The fate of the other three Pearl Harbor mini-submarines and their crews remained a mystery.

In 1960, U.S. Navy divers who were undergoing training found a slightly damaged Japanese mini-submarine in the shallow waters of Keehi Lagoon near Honolulu. The hatch was open and no human remains were found inside suggesting that the crew had possibly escaped. Both torpedoes were still loaded indicating that it had never fired its torpedoes. Further investigation revealed that this was probably the mini-submarine manned by Shigemi Furuno and Shigenori Yokoyama of which no trace has ever been found. The U.S. Navy raised the submarine and gave it to Japan in 1962 where it is displayed as a memorial at the Japanese Naval Academy in Etajima City, Japan.

Japanese Mini-submarine being salvaged, was found in Keehi Lagoon off of Honolulu in 1960.

In August 2002, the Pisces IV and Pisces V, two deep diving research submarines operated by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory found a sunken Japanese mini-submarine in 1200 feet of water South of Pearl Harbor. Pictures revealed a prominent shell hole in the top part of the mini-submarine, this damage and the location it was found at meant that this was the one sank by the USS Ward before the air attack started, leaving only one submarine unaccounted for.

During the search for the mini-submarine sank by the USS Ward, another sunken Japanese mini-submarine was found disassembled in its three sections off of Hawaii. The sections of the submarine were scattered on the seafloor among damaged U.S. landing craft and other miscellaneous debris that was obviously dumped offshore by the U.S. Navy. Each of the three sections of the mini-submarine had steel cables attached to them as if it had been salvaged previously. The center section looked like it had been damaged by an internal explosion. At the time it was assumed this submarine was a war prize as the U.S. Navy had captured other Japanese Type A Ko-hyoteki class mini-submarines during World War II in Guadalcanal, Okinawa, and Kiska, Alaska. However, research after the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory dived on this wreck again in 2009 revealed that the bow section of this mini-submarine had the figure 8 torpedo guard attached. Documentation showed that only the five Pearl Harbor mini-submarines were ever fitted with these unique figure 8 torpedo guards. If this was the final missing Pearl Harbor mini-submarine, when was it salvaged, why was there no record showing it as being found, and what happened to the crew? Researchers came to the conclusion that the submarine may have been salvaged from the West Loch (loch is a word that means lake or sea inlet) of Pearl Harbor in 1944.

In 1944 the West Loch of Pearl Harbor was a staging area for U.S. Navy “Landing Ships Tanks” (LSTs) and other amphibious attack ships for an invasion of the Japanese-held Mariana Islands. On May 21, 1944 an explosion occurred in one of the LSTs, The explosion was heard miles away, followed immediately by more explosions, sparking fears of another Japanese attack or an earthquake. A chain reaction of explosions was started as fire and debris rained down on the fuel and ammunition stored on the decks of other LSTs. Eleven buildings on the shore were destroyed, and several vehicles were blown on their side. The fires burned for over 24 hours, 6 LSTs were sunk and 163 men lost their lives. The incident was declared “Top Secret” and a “Press Blackout” was ordered following the incident. Survivors and eyewitnesses were not permitted to ever mention the incident. The wreckage was quickly cleared in a secret salvage operation and dumped at sea, leaving only the beached rusted bow of one LST in the loch as present-day evidence of the disaster. The incident was not made public until 1960.

Researchers now believe that the Japanese mini-submarine was found during the secret salvage operation and dumped at sea with the debris from the disaster. It was then re-discovered years later during the search for the mini-submarine sank by the USS Ward. The torpedo tubes were empty indicating that it had fired its torpedoes and no obvious sign of the two-man crew was seen in the wreckage. The internal damage in the center section looked like it had come from the self-destruct charge. It is now believed that this was the mini-submarine manned by Masaharu Yokoyama and Tei Uyeda, who had radioed their “mother” submarine on the night of December 7th, 1941. It’s assumed by some researchers that they managed to penetrate into Pearl Harbor and fire their two torpedoes. Afterwards they entered the then unoccupied Pearl Harbor West Loch to avoid detection. Their batteries had probably started to go dead; unable to escape they activated their self-destruct charge.

If the crew managed to escape to land, what happened to them and the crew from the mini-submarine found in Keehi Lagoon near Honolulu? The crews had been instructed that if they had to abandon their submarines to go ashore and try to mingle in with the large Japanese-American population of Hawaii at the time, but no evidence that they did so ever turned up. None of the I-Boats stationed around Hawaii returned with any of the mini-submarine crews. Three days after the Pearl Harbor Attack, planes from the Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise surprised the I-Boat I-70 on the surface near Hawaii and sank it with no survivors. This was the only Japanese I-Boat loss during the Pearl Harbor Mission. After the War ended, Japanese research indicated that the I-70 had been out of its patrol area and closer to Hawaii than it was supposed to be when it was sank; did the I-70 move in close to Hawaii and rescue some of the mini-submarine crewmen only to be sunk? The mystery of the whereabouts of these two mini-submarine crews remains unanswered to this day.

The 10 Japanese sailors who manned the five mini-submarines in the Pearl Harbor attack.

I was in my early thirties, when I had an inner-ear problem that landed me in the hospital for an overnight stay. Before I was discharged, Dr. Cash told me to see a cardiologist as soon as possible. My heart rate had dropped to below 30 beats per minute during the night and he thought I needed a pace-maker. Being a normal male homo sapien, I told him “okay” with no plans to ever fill that prescription. I felt fine and believed the hospital’s machines must have been broken.

Everything went along quite well until Dr. Cash made a call to our home. Being the dad of a pre-school child, I figured staying around a while longer was important, so I scheduled an appointment with the head of cardiology at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. I arrived on time for my appointment, but was not prepared to take a stress test; therefore, I took it in my socked feet. After several minutes on the dreaded treadmill, and hearing the doctor and technicians talk about my heart rate going up and then falling sharply, I was ready for a rest. I had been instructed that if I had intense pain to let them know and the test would end immediately. Finally I had taken all I could, so I told them, “Stop, I am truly hurting!”

Immediately, I was laid on my back and stethoscopes flew into action, checking my chest, back, arms, legs, and even my neck. After what I felt was a long investigative procedure, the doctor asked me where I felt pain. “It’s the bottom of my feet, Doctor!” When my bloodied socks were removed, blisters that had busted were noted. That was my only encounter with a treadmill test!

Three days later, I returned to Memphis to see the cardiologist and get the results of my torturous medical procedure. He began by asking me about my childhood. Where did I live? Where did I attend school? What did I do at home and in school? When I mentioned that I lived on a small farm in Oklahoma and ran track for the Catossa Indians, his interest was peaked. How old was I when I ran track and what was my speciality? I proudly reported that I was the only student in the 8th grade that could break a five-minute mile. I continued boasting that I often went to track meets in which I had no competition, because few boys ran the mile in that part of the nation.

Finally, the diagnosis came – I had an “athletes heart”. He told me that because of my training, my heart was stronger than normal, rested better than normal, and although my body would wear out, my heart would remain beating! That was good news then, but now, at my age, I am not sure I want my heart to outlive the rest of me!

The way I got running the mile was that I was about the slowest sprinter in our school. I played other sports but most of the time I came in last or next to last when we ran. Trying to improve my running, Coach Cagle told me to try running with my work boots on over plowed ground. I liked it! Later he would suggest that I run with my coat on and carry the heaviest items that would fit in my pocket. I liked it! I wanted to excel at something in sports, and it seemed that I may have found my place. I could run – never faster – but farther than other kids.

There are many lessons that I have learned over the years as I reflect on my achievements. 1. The only way to successfully run the big race is to train hard for lesser distances. 2. Tackle little problems with diligence. 3. Expect a little pain along the way because training is always hard work. 4. Never complain about what others can do better than you, but seek one area where you might excel and work hard at it. 5. Train hard over the short haul because you are conditioning yourself for greater victories in the long race of life.

Take the measure of the problem you are now facing. Is it a giant or is it little things that are ganging up on you? If you do not know which it is, you cannot prepare to defeat it. When facing a giant, you need to prepare your “big guns”. But, when you are seeing little things ganging up on you, you need your “shot gun”! The rifle will drop a single giant with only one piece of lead, but the little things will require a larger blast with many small pieces of lead being propelled forward toward the problem area.

We need to learn to win some small victories every day. Some days the battle will be as small as curbing one little appetite, but other days it will be as large as changing an attitude to a more appropriate one. It is in the small victories of life that we are preparing for big achievements.

Now that it has been decades since I have “run a block”, I have learned that it is not about “manpower” or “horsepower”, but it is about God’s power. When we submit ourselves to God and appropriate His daily strength, we will find winning a daily experience and losing will be thrown out of our vocabulary! All homo sapiens are fools who set out to run a marathon when they have not yet run a mile!

Timothy David Reneau

John and Sarah Kay Reneau of Port O’Connor are pleased to announce the arrival of their son, Timothy David Reneau, born January 19, 2012, and weighing-in at 6 pounds, 7 ounces.

Proud grandparents are Merlin and Louise Reneau of Grand Prairie, Texas and Robert and Sarah Atteberry of Lawtey, Florida.

Watch the Dolphin’s fishing pages for a photo of little Timothy with his first catch in just a few years!

Since I believe this years election is the most important in my lifetime, the most important issues are ignored or confused by the Mainstream Media, and the American People are pounded by disinformation from political parties, lobbyists, and dozens of special interest groups, many of them with unconstitutional stated agendas, I have donated several books to the Seadrift Library.  Hopefully people will check out and read them and thereby gain a new perspective and a true understanding of where the United States of America is now and the real threats that confront us.

I think the greatest and most pressing threat is the destruction of the Dollar and our national economy. For people that want to understand the Federal Reserve and how “our money” is created, I strongly recommend The Creature from Jeykll Island, fifth edition by G. Edward Griffin. It is a thick somewhat intimidating book, filled with detailed, documented information, but is well written and reads like a mystery novel or horror thriller. Every American needs to read and understand this book.

 The Shadow Party, or How George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and the Sixties Radicals seized control of the Democratic Party (2006) by David Horowitz and Richard Poe, I highly recommend, especially to older Democrats (like me) that are wondering what happened to our Party that used to stand up for “the Little Guy”, the farmers, small businesses, workers, property owners, for States’ Rights, property rights, and less Federal interference. Now they may like to call themselves “Progressives”, but they are Big Government Socialists pushing for Federal control of every aspect of our lives. They are Elitists that think they know how to run our lives better than we do, see our Constitutional freedoms as an impediment to be overcome by activist judiciary, and believe that our National sovereignty should be sacrificed to a New World Order run by a United Nations controlled by their fellow International Elitists. But it is “for our own good”! David Horowitz is a self-described “Red diaper baby”, raised by card-carrying Communist activist parents, and was a Communist activist as a young man before he realized the wisdom of Constitutional Government. Also I donated None Dare Call It Conspiracy (1974) and The Planned Destruction of America (1993) to further demonstrate that this Elitist New World Order conspiracy is not new, and is most certainly not limited to the Democrat Party! The Democrat Party is the ‘point of spear’ for this Elitist drive for the ‘socialization’ of America because their DNC leaders have decided to use the Party that way for their own power, even if it harms most of their Democrat supporters and America in general.

Glenn Beck’s The Original Argument is a rewrite into modern English of many of the Federalist Papers explaining the intent and advantages of the Constitution.

Sheriff Richard Mack wrote From My Cold Dead Fingers, Why America Needs Guns (1994) in answer to the the Clinton Gun Ban and the small book, The County Sheriff, America’s Last Hope (2009) to explain that County Sheriffs have the Lawful Right and Constitutional Duty to defend their citizens from usurpation of power by Federal Agencies and unconstitutional actions by Federal officers. Citizens should elect, support, and volunteer for Sheriffs that understand and follow their Constitutional duty. That includes Sheriff Reserves, posse, or militias as necessary in a shrinking economy (and budgets), especially when anti-Constitutional and criminal groups threaten open violence in the streets.

Also I included Demonic – How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America by Ann Coulter. An often sarcastic, even humorous comparison of the current Groupthink, Political Correctness, and violence compared to the French Revolution and other socialist revolutions.

Lastly, 5 books on investing and strategies for protecting your assets in an economic melt-down or collapse and a copy of the NRA’s  The Basics of Personal Protection, a Practical Handgun Handbook is a beginner’s book especially geared for women that may help anyone thinking of getting a handgun and possibly a concealed carry permit.  Yes, Virginia, there is a word in the dictionary for people that don’t own guns – Victim.

New At The Library: A way to go online and learn to become proficient in many computer programs that can be modified for you. Currently, the main library in Port Lavaca has classes for all residents online in the following software programs: Computer & Internet Basics, E-mail Basics, Social Media (Facebook, etc.), OpenOffice, and Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook. All you have to do is to visit our Library, sign up at the desk and then go online. What a painless and non-stressful way to learn!

There is always something special about renewing the acquaintance of an author previously enjoyed, but had been put aside later. This was the case for me with Dick Francis, an Englishman and a former steeplechase jockey for the Queen Mother. Mr. Francis writes mysteries, all connected in some manner with the world of racing; his style of writing is crisp and easily read. His plots are well thought out and the characterizations of the people in his books are totally believable. Obviously, I enjoy his books and I was delighted to discover several I’d not read in the past. Proof will tell you more about the distilling, bottling and sales of single malt scotch than you can imagine, and Comeback takes you from Miami to England and the involvement of a group of veterinarians and their work. We also have a number of other books as written by Dick Francis that I’m certain you will enjoy.

A new author at our Library is Ben Coes who has written two books: Power Down and Coup D’etat, starring Dewey Andreas, a former soldier and member of First Special Forces Operational Detachment, or Delta. He has spent the last year recuperating on a ranch in Australia from a bullet wound inflicted by a terrorist who is determined to succeed in killing him. Then, from Australia we jump to Pakistan, a country that is extremely unstable with the new government as formed by a blind power-hungry cleric. But the plot jumps when Pakistan drops an atomic bomb on Northern India, thereby setting the stage for World War III and the annihilation of the peoples of Earth.

I found this book somewhat difficult to read; almost every page was alive with initials or acronyms for government agencies both in the United States and throughout the world. But the worst problem for me was the lack of the development of Mr. Coes’ characters. His devotion was strictly to the plot, which did move. But with the lack of pure characterizations, the plot was insufficient. However, male readers seem to enjoy the writing; guess it’s a girl thing to desire believable people in a book!

TO OUR WINTER TEXANS:

The Port O’Connor Library is located at 6th & Adams next door to the Fire Station. Our hours are:

Monday: 9 — 1; 2 — 6

Tuesday: 9 — 1; 2 — 6

Wednesday: 1 — 6

Thursday: 12 — 5

Friday: CLOSED

Saturday: 9 — 1

Sunday: CLOSED

We welcome any visitor in this area to our Library during those hours; we currently have 5 computers available for use, and an outstanding selection of books and DVDs Just takes a current Library card and we will be happy to issue one!

We still have books for sale at the Library, thankfully, with donations from residents coming in regularly. Luckily for Shirley and me we have received a number of current books that cover a variety of subjects; even some for handcrafting special items. The monies received from these sales go to add to our DVD collection and to purchase additional books – many times those missing from a series. Do come and check them out! You won’t be disappointed!

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down.”
Karin Gillespie