In the Second World War, the Empire of Japan had a large and versatile submarine force with many very innovative designs. However, they were not utilized to their full potential, to the detriment of the Japanese war effort. However, Japanese submarine designs were so advanced that they influenced subsequent American submarine technology in the Cold War and Japan also produced a number of very successful submarine commanders who accomplished great deeds for the Emperor and people of Japan.
Lt. Commander Takakazu Kinashi, captain of I-19 who, on September 15, 1942 made the single most successful submarine attack in history when he fired one salvo of torpedoes that took out the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, damaged the battleship USS North Carolina and sank the destroyer USS O'Brien.
Lt. Commander Yahachi Tanabe, captain of I-168 who, at the Battle of Midway, shelled Midway island, steered under a screen of destroyers and sank the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and the destroyer USS Hammann. Tanabe and his sub survived a massive counter-attack to return home to Japan.
Commander Yokota Minoru, captain of I-26, sank a lumber freighter off California and another freighter later as well as shelling a lighthouse that caused all such installations to be shut down. Biggest hits were the crippling of the carrier USS Saratoga and the sinking of the cruiser USS Juneau (with the Sullivan brothers), making I-26 the third most successful Japanese sub by tonnage sunk.
Commander Matsumura Kanji, captain of I-21, was the most successful submarine commander to hunt the Australian coast. He sank an oil tanker off the Canadian coast, shelled Australian shore facilities and in total sank about 40-45,000 tons of shipping in 2 patrols around Australia.
Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of I-58, damaged two American destroyers with Kaiten suicide torpedoes but achieved his greatest success with the conventional sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis just after it had delivered the first atomic bomb to Tinian.
Lt. Commander Meiji Tagami, captain of I-25, who sank one merchant ship while on the way to fly recon missions over Australia. He went on to shell the Oregon coast and to use his scout plane to drop incendiary bombs on the American Pacific Northwest to start wildfires.
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