SENSUIKAN!
IJN Submarine HA-209:
Tabular Record of Movement
© 2006-2019 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 2
7 May 1945:
Sasebo Navy Yard. Laid down as the Sen-Taka Sho
(High-speed Small Type) class Submarine HA-209 (previously numbered No.
4919 and provisionally attached to Sasebo Naval District on 5 May).
31 May 1945:
Launched as HA-209.
15 June 1945:
Lt (later Vice Admiral, JMSDF) Tsunehiro Eiichi
(71)(former gunnery officer of I-165) is appointed the Chief Equipping
Officer (CEO).
4 August 1945:
Completed and commissioned in the IJN. Assigned to
SubDiv 52 under Captain Yokota Minoru (former staff operations officer at
SubRon 11). Lt Tsunehiro Eiichi is the Commanding Officer.
11 August 1945:
Departs Sasebo for Kure, making an overnight stop
at Imari Bay, Kyushu.
12 August 1945:
Departs Imari Bay for Moji Bight that morning.
Awaits off Mutsure Island until the area is swept for mines, then makes an
overnight stop at Moji.
13 August 1945:
Departs Moji that morning. Proceeding surfaced off
Hesaki Lighthouse, HA-209 activates an acoustic mine. Two lookouts are blown
overboard while a fire breaks out aft and a minor leak appears in the main
ballast tanks. The submarine goes dead in the water. A minesweeper takes her
in tow and proceeds to Mitsubishi's Hikoshima Shipyard, Shimonoseki, where
HA-209's two Type 95 torpedoes are landed.
15 August 1945:
In the morning, HA-209 is dry-docked at Hikoshima
Shipyard. At noon, Emperor Hirohito (Showa) broadcasts an Imperial Rescript
that calls for an end to hostilities.
18 August 1945:
At the request of her CO, HA-209 is undocked. The
crew runs her aground in shallow water off the nearby Ganryu Jima Island,
Shimonoseki Strait. Initially a skeleton crew of nine remains aboard.
Late September 1945:
The wreck HA-209 is inspected by the USN
representatives. It is decided to destroy it on site.
11 November 1945:
The wreck of HA-209 is blown up by a USN
demolition team.
30 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.
August-November 1946:
Shimonoseki. The wreck of HA-209 is raised
and scrapped at Mitsubishi's Hikoshima Yard.
Authors' Notes:
Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr.
Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan and the fellow submarine enthusiast Steven
Eckhardt of Australia.
– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.
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