SENSUIKAN!

© 2006-2019 Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp
Revision 3

1 March 1945:
Sasebo Navy Yard. Laid down as Submarine No. 4911, the lead boat of the Sen-Taka Sho (High-speed Small Type) class. [1]

5 April 1945:
Provisionally numbered HA-201 and attached to Sasebo Naval District.

15 April 1945:
Lt Sato Yoshikazu (70)(former torpedo officer of I-361) is appointed the Chief Equipping Officer (CEO).[2]

23 April 1945:
Launched as HA-201.

31 May 1945:
Sasebo. HA-201 is completed and registered in the IJN. Attached to Sasebo Naval District. Assigned to Captain Koizumi Kiichi's SubDiv 33, Kure Submarine Flotilla for working-up. Lt Sato Yoshikazu is the Commanding Officer.

20 July 1945:
Reassigned to SubDiv 52 under Captain Yokota Minoru (former staff operations officer at SubRon 11). Continues working-up in Inland Sea.

2 September 1945:
Surrenders at Sasebo.

2 November 1945:
Reassigned to Japanese Submarine Division Three under LtCdr (later Captain) Paul R. Schratz with HA-202, HA-203, HA-205 and HA-210.

30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

26 March 1946:
Washington, DC. At a Submarine Officer's Conference, attended by former ComSubPac Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, it is decided to dispose of all remaining captured Japanese submarines by sinking.

1 April 1946: Operation "Road's End":
Goto Islands. HA-201 is tied to the mammoth Sen-Toku I-402 aviation gasoline tanker submarine and used for target practice by USS EVERETT F. LARSON (DD-830) and GOODRICH (DD-831) after the rest of the former IJN boats are scuttled. At 1624 the two submarines go down 16 miles off Kinai Island on bearing 090 just beyond the 100-fathom line at 32-37N, 129-17E.

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Authors' Notes:
[1] The HA-101 class were conceived as supply submarines. HA-201, on the other hand, was a high-speed attack craft, somewhat similar to the German Kriegsmarine's Type XXIII.
[2] Lt Sato's first name has several possible readings.

Thanks go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan, Mr. Derek Waller of the UK and the fellow submarine enthusiast Steven Eckhardt of Australia.

– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.

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