Maritime Archaeology/Marine Heritage
I-401: Largest diesel submarine ever built, found off
of Barbers Point, Mar 2005.
On Thursday March 17th during a
training exercise on a new navigation system, the
Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Lab (HURL) discovered the
wreck of the Japanese World War II submarine I-401 sunk
during target practice in 1946. The wreck of the I-401
was found using the new track Link 5000 HA navigation
system provided by NOAA's Ocean
Exploration Program. The wreck was found in 870m
of water off Barbers Point, Oʻahu. 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. They were 20 years ahead of their time. The
wreck sits upright on the bottom 5 stories high and 400
feet long. 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 Hawaiʻi
(story at www.pacerfarm.org/i-400/
). 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.
The cold war was just beginning.
On March 15th, HURL also discovered
the S-19 a World War I vintage submarine scuttled off
Pearl Harbor in about 1938. It sits upright on the
bottom in about 400m of water. Having completed this
test and training mission HURL has begun a 5 month
expedition to Samoa and New Zealand to dive on a series
of giant volcanoes forming the eastern edge of the
Indian Australia Tectonic Plate which suffered a major
earthquake and tsunami on Dec 26, 2004 on its northern
edge.
See Sunday's Star
Bulletin Article.
Photos below are courtesy of John M
Johnson GM3, U.S. Crewmember of I-400. Submitted by his
son.
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