http://kgmb9.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=3939



We are getting our first look at a high-tech sub - that the U.S. kept under wraps.

A Japanese war weapon so sophisticated - the military decided to sink it after World War II.

Now - almost 60 years later, UH researchers gave us a tour - and it's a story you'll see only on KGMB9.

"We are right up next to what appears to be anti aircraft gun turrets."

The researchers on board the undersea explorer are rediscovering history.

"It is a one, that's definitely a one."

The Japanese war sub known as i-401 now sits on the sandy ocean floor. It's one of three, 4-hundred foot subs.

Once, they were the best of their kind. Known for their abilities above and below the ocean surface.

"These were amazing subs they were the largest built at the time," UH professor John Wiltshire said. "They were designed to launch aerial strikes from a sub."

"So these are aircraft carrying submarines."

The subs were supposed to have launched planes to attack the Panama Canal. Instead, the war ended. They were turned over to the U.S. military. Which studied them. And then destroyed them. So other countries couldn't learn their secrets.

"After the U.S. navy found as much as they could about these submarines the three of them were sunk in target practice off Barbers Point and alas, for the Russians accidentally, they were sunk."

"Nothing to share."

Now, six decades later, UH researchers are using a new navigation system.

"Check that out that's a huge gun."

New technology. Bringing to light, the technology of old.

"The main part of the hull is in beautiful shape," Wiltshire said. "The coning tower is very clear."

"It's an amazing submarine sitting upright on the bottom."

Now that the U.H. knows its new navigation system works, it's on to new discoveries.

The research team is headed to the South Pacific for a five-month study of underwater volcanoes.

Found this story this AM on CNN website. Always knew that Clive had good research, but this is BLACK WIND, no!!! Still in the middle of the book, so don't give it away.

Considering what the Japanese had to work with-limited resources-it is amazing what they built for WWII. Both submarines and airplanes. They did think out of the box.

Makes me glad the ordinance wasn't finished in time or the war may have taken a turn. :unsure:

This story talks of this also.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4301993/detail.html

UPDATE


An undersea photo reveals an antiaircraft gun on the sunken Imperial Japanese Navy's I-401 submarine. The vessel was found in waters off the coast of Kalaeloa.

During test dives Thursday, the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory's Pisces submarines found the remains of the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-401 submarine, a gigantic underwater aircraft carrier built to bomb the Panama Canal.

"We thought it was rocks at first, it was so huge," said Pisces pilot Terry Kerby. "But the sides of it kept going up and up and up, three and four stories tall. It's a leviathan down there, a monster."

It is not the first World War II-era "monster" that the HURL scientists have found. Last year, off Pearl Harbor, they located the wreck of the gigantic seaplane Marshall Mars, one of the largest aircraft built and used as a transport plane by the U.S. Navy. Two years earlier in the same area, the HURL crew also found the wreckage of a Japanese midget sub that was sunk on Dec. 7, 1941.

The latest HURL discovery is from the I-400 "Sensuikan Toku" class of submarines, the largest built prior to the nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the 1960s. They were 400 feet long and 39.3 feet high, could reach a maximum depth of 330 feet, and carry a crew of 144.


An undersea photo reveals the bridge of the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-401 submarine. The Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory's Pisces submarines discovered the "monster" in waters off Kalaeloa on Thursday.

Each carried three fold-up bombers inside a watertight hangar, plus parts to construct a fourth airplane. The bombers, called Seiran or "Mountain Haze," could be made ready to fly in a few minutes and had wing floats for return landings. Fully loaded with fuel, the submarines could sail 37,000 miles, one and a half times around the world. Three were captured at the end of the war, as well as a slightly smaller test design called the I-14.
Their first mission was called "Operation PX," a plan to use the aircraft to drop infected rats and insects with bubonic plague, cholera, dengue fever, typhus and other diseases on American West Coast cities. When the bacteriological bombs could not be prepared in time, the target was changed to the Panama Canal.

I-400 and I-401 were captured at sea a week after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. The commander committed suicide and the huge submarines' mission was never completed.

I-400, I-401 and I-14 were ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor in late 1945 with an American prize crew, who smuggled Japanese war souvenirs in the aircraft hangars. Also along to be evaluated were I-201 and I-203, two top-secret Imperial Navy submarines that were twice as fast as American designs.



The submarines were greeted with ceremonial brass bands in early 1946, but within a few months it was decided to scuttle the Japanese designs, partly because Russians scientists were demanding access to them. On May 31, 1946, I-401 and the other four top-secret Japanese submarines were sunk by torpedoes from the American submarine USS Cabezon. I-401 was last seen sinking by the stern, vanishing until last week.
"It's about 820 meters down, off the coast of Barbers Point," said HURL Acting Director John Wiltshire. "The bow is broken off just forward of the aircraft hangar -- it looks like it came apart as it was sinking, as the two pieces aren't far apart and they're connected by a debris field."

According to Pisces VI pilots Kerby and Colin Wolleman, the "debris field" is a twisted landscape of gigantic metal pieces ripped into jagged shreds.

"We had to be very careful approaching that thing," said Wolleman.

Nearby, the Pisces V crew consisted of John Smith, Max Cremer and Steve Price, and the submersibles helped each other illuminate a path through the wreckage.

"The main hull is sitting upright on the bottom, and it's in great shape," said Kerby. "The I-401 numbers are clearly visible on the sides of the conning tower, and the antiaircraft guns are in almost perfect condition."


Officers of the I-400 submarine gathered for one last portrait as Americans captured it and the I-401 at sea a week after the Japanese surrendered in 1945.

With only a few hours available before setting off on a research trip to Samoa, the HURL scientists noted the location of the I-401 for future exploration.
Also discovered last week was the American submarine S-19, a World War I-era design that was deliberately scuttled in 1938 to meet treaty obligations.

"The S-boat wasn't much of a surprise, because we had a good idea of where she might be," said Kerby.

He said the S-19 is lying on her starboard side, and many of the external parts, such as the propellers and conning tower, were removed prior to scuttling.

"We came up to her from behind, and you could tell immediately she was from a different era," said Kerby. "Almost a turn-of-the-century, Jules Verne look to her. Lots of big rivets."

http://starbulletin.com/2005/03/20/news/story1.html

awesome photos. I guess we can thank our lucky stars these subs weren't used for what they were intended for. I hpe we get to see more photos of the monsters of the sea.