More submarines found off Hawaii

On Thursday March 17th . . . the Hawai'i Undersea Research Lab (HURL) discovered the wreck of the Japanese World War II submarine I-401 sunk during target practice in 1946. . .

The I-401 was one of 3 aircraft carrying submarine built in 1944. These were the largest diesel electric submarines ever built comparable in size to the largest present day nuclear submarines. . .

The war ended before the I-401 could accomplish its mission of launching its 3 folding wing planes to attack and destroy the Panama Canal. The submarine was brought by a U.S. crew back to Hawai'i (story at www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/ [well worth the read -- D.]). The I-401 was sunk by torpedoes in a target practice exercise in 1946 to prevent its technology being surrendered to the Russians under a war end agreement. . .

If you think of the I-401 not as an oversized submarine, but as a submersible aircraft carrier with a surfacing-to-launch time of under 45 minutes and a dive time of under a minute, the Soviets' interest would be obvious.

On March 15th, HURL also discovered the S-19 a World War I vintage submarine scuttled off Pearl Harbor in about 1938.

Posted by David on March 23, 2005 7:36 AM