KUSENTEI!

© 2008-2009 Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall

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1942:
Nigata. Laid down at the Nigata Iron Works yard as subchaser No. 443.

1942:
Launched and renumbered CH-43

7 April 1943:
Completed and registered in the IJN.

11 October 1943:
La Pérouse/Soya Strait, Northern Japan. At about 0830, the spotter for a 6-inch coast artillery battery on Soya Misaki promontory sights Cdr Dudley W. Morton’s USS WAHOO (SS-238) is exiting the Sea of Japan on the surface. The battery opens fire. WAHOO submerges and continues on course, but leaves a trail of oil from a previous encounter. The battery commander calls for air support.

About an hour later, an E13A1 Jake" anti-submarine floatplane No. 19 from Wakkanai arrives. At 0920, the Jake detects the widening oil slick and sees the conning tower of the submarine. The E13A1's pilot drops two bombs on WAHOO. Two more E13A1s of the same unit arrive and drop a total of six depth-charges. At 1145, the first floatplane directs CH-15 to the scene. At 1203, the submarine is located and CH-15 drops two series of nine and seven depth-charges. At 1218, CH-15 drops a single depth-charge and is relieved by CH-43.

At 1221, CH-43 drops six depth-charges. At 1330, auxiliary minesweeper Wa-18 arrives. As a result of these attacks, WAHOO is sunk with all hands at 45-13N, 141-56E. [1]

23 January 1944:
CH-43 departs Moji with subchaser CH-41 escorting convoy No. 131 consisting of 10 unidentified merchant ships.

28 January 1944:
Arrives at Takao.

31 January 1944 :
CH-43 departs Takao for Cap St Jacques, Indochina with subchaser CH-41 and auxilary gunboat HAUSHAN (KAZAN) MARU escorting convoy No. 357 consisting of TSUKUBA and ANKO MARUs and 11 unidentified merchant ships.

E 7 February 1944:
Arrives at St Jacques.

9 February 1944:
S China Sea, off Southern Indochina. At about noon, while TONAN MARU No. 2 is enroute to Nagasaki, LtCdr Thomas W. Hogan’s USS BONEFISH (SS-223) torpedoes and damages her at 11-30N, 109-08E. Hogan claims four hits out of five torpedoes he fires.

Later that day, USN codebreakers intercept and decrypt a message that reads: "Order to Subchasers No. 21, 41, and 43 to attack the submarine that attacked TONAN MARU No. 2."

6 March 1944:
CH-43 departs Takao for Cap St Jacques via Yulin, China with subchasers CH-21 and CH-41 and auxilary gunboat PEKING MARU escorting convoy TASA-08 consisting of NICHIREI, LONDON, ISHIKARI and TOYOKUNI MARUs and four unidentified ships.

8 March 1944:
SE of Hong Kong. At 1455, LtCdr Lowell T. Stone’s USS LAPON (SS-260) torpedoes and damages TOYOKUNI MARU. She loses power and goes dead in the water. NICHIREI MARU takes her in tow.

9 March 1944:
At 0150, while NICHIREI MARU is still towing TOYOKUNI MARU, LAPON torpedoes NICHIREI MARU. LtCdr Stone also torpedoes and hits TOYOKUNI MARU again. She floods and sinks. At about 0500, NICHIREI MARU sinks. The escorts, including an aircraft, counterattack, but fail to damage LAPON.

10 March 1944:
Arrives at Quinhon, Indochina.

14 March 1944:
Arrives at St Jacques, Indochina.

17 May 1944:
CH-43 and CH-41 depart Manila escorting a convoy consisting of WALES, BIZEN and TOYO MARUs.

20 May 1944:
Arrives at Victoria, Labuan Island.

22 May 1944:
At 0600, departs Victoria.

24 May 1944:
At 0244, LtCdr Lowell T. Stone's USS LAPON (SS-260) torpedoes and sinks BIZEN MARU at 07-30N, 109-08E. At 0404, LAPON torpedoes and sinks WALES MARU at 07-20N, 109-03E.

26 May 1944:
Arrives at Saigon.

9 June 1944:
CH-43 departs Manila with kaibokan SHIMUSHU and FUKUE and subchaser CH-9 escorting convoy MASA-06 consisting of nine unidentified merchant ships.

E 12 June 1944:
SHIMUSHU and FUKUE are detached from the convoy and return to Manila.

E 15 June 1944:
CH-19 is detached from the convoy.

20 June 1944:
Arrives at Singapore.

25 June 1944:
At 1240, CH-43 departs Saigon with CH-19 escorting convoy SAMA-08 consisting of MATSUKAWA and YAMAMBUKI MARUs.

26 June 1943:
Off Nha Trang Bay. TSURUSHIMA MARU joins the convoy.

30 June 1944:
At 0312, LtCdr Arthur E. Krapf's USS JACK (SS-259) torpedoes and sinks TSURUSHIMA MARU. The convoy scatters. At 0422, JACK torpedoes and sinks MATSUKAWA MARU at 14-25N, 119-45E. Later that day, the remaining ships arrive at Manila.

24 July 1944:
CH-43 departs Singapore escorting convoy SHISA-24 consisting of two unidentified merchant ships.

27 July 1944:
Arrives at St Jacques.

8 August 1944:
CH-43 departs St Jacques escorting convoy SASHI-32 consisting of two unidentified merchant ships.

13 August 1944:
Arrives at Singapore.

30 August 1944:
CH-43 departs Singapore escorting convoy SHISA-26 consisting of two unidentified merchant ships.

2 September 1944:
Arrives at St Jacques.

29 October 1944:
CH-43 departs St Jacques with kaibokan CD-20 and stores ship KURASAKI escorting convoy SATA-01 consisting of three unidentified merchant ships.

3 November 1944:
Arrives at Yulin. KURASAKI is detached.

4 November 1944:
CH-43 departs Yulin. Two unidentified merchant ships join the convoy together with kaibokan CD-34, auxiliary netlayer KAINAN MARU and auxiliary subchaser KASUGA MARU.

12 November 1944:
Arrives at Keelung, Formosa. At 1800, departs Takao with minesweeper W-38, patrol boats PB-38 and PB-101, auxiliary subchaser SHOWA MARU No. 2 and an unidentified warship escorting convoy TAMA-31B consisting of MANJU MARU, five Navy LSTs and an Army LST.

15 November 1944:
Anchors off west coast of Formosa.

19 November 1944:
At 1700, arrives at Santiago Island Strait.

20 November 1944:
At 1030, departs Santiago Island Strait.

21 November 1944:
At 1500, arrives Manila.

28 November 1944:
LtCdr Carl Tiedeman's USS GUAVINA (SS-362) attacks the convoy at 12-54N, 109-21E without success, but eludes counterattacks by CH-43.

At 1549, USN codebreakers intercept a message from CH-43 that says: “Four torpedoes fired at us at 1549 in position 12-54 N., 109-20 E. We attacked immediately --- ---. Dropped 6 depth charges in the vicinity with unknown results. No damage to convoy.”

28 December 1944:
South China Sea, off Cape Varella, Indochina. CH-43 is escorting a convoy from Hainan Island to Saigon consisting of ex-fleet supply ship NOZAKI and CHEFOO MARU when the convoy is attacked by LtCdr Otis R. Cole’s USS DACE (SS-247). Cole torpedoes and sinks NOZAKI 50 miles NE of Nha Trang. DACE also damages CHEFOO MARU at 12-36N, 109-38E.

29 December 1944:
Off Camranh Bay, Indochina. Destroyers KAYA, SUGI and KASHI find and rescue 25 NOZAKI survivors.

12 January 1945:
South China Sea. Off Camranh Bay. Carrier aircraft of Vice Admiral John S. McCain's Task Force 38 attack and sink CH-43.

3 May 1947:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Note:
[1] In July 2006, the Russian dive team “Iskra” located and photographed wreckage of WAHOO lying in about 213 feet (65 meters) of water in the La Perouse (Soya) Strait between the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Russian island of Sakhalin.

Thanks go to John Whitman for info on USN intercepts of IJN messages.

-Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp and Peter Cundall.

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