SENSUIKAN!
HIJMS Submarine I-1 : Tabular Record of Movement
© 2001 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
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10 March 1926:
Completed at Kawasaki, Kobe and commissioned in the IJN as the SS-74. Later redesignated as the I-1. The I-1 is home-ported at the Yokosuka Naval Base for crew rotations and repairs.
25 August 1941:
Cdr (later Rear Admiral, posthumously) Ankyu Eitaro (former CO of I-23 and I-53) assumes command.
10 November 1941: Operation "Z":
At Saeki Bay. In Vice Admiral Shimizu Mitsumi's (former CO of ISE) Sixth Fleet
with Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Yamazaki Shigeaki's (former CO of old CA YAKUMO) SubRon 2. The I-1 is in Captain (later Rear Admiral) Shimamoto Kyugoro's SubDiv 7 with the I-2 and the I-3.
Admiral Shimizu convenes a meeting of all his commanders aboard his flagship, the light cruiser KATORI. Cdr Ankyu and the other commanders are briefed on the planned attack on Pearl Harbor.
23 November 1941:
SubRon 2 departs Yokosuka for the Hawaiian Islands.
7 December 1941: The Attack on Pearl Harbor:
Off Hawaii. Stationed in Kauai Channel between Oahu and Kauai. SubRon 2 is arrayed to the northeast and northwest of Oahu. Its mission is to reconnoiter and attack any ships that try to sortie from Pearl Harbor.
15 December 1941:
SubRon 2 bombards Kahului, Maui.
31 December 1941:
The I-1 shells the harbor at Hilo, Hawaii.
December 1941:
SubRon 2 departs the eastern Pacific for Japan via the Sixth Fleet's headquarters at Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands.
11 January 1942:
The I-1 is assigned to patrol an area 500 miles SW of Oahu, Hawaii, but develops diesel trouble and has to be relieved by the I-6. In the I-1's place, the I-6 torpedoes and damages heavily the USS SARATOGA (CV-3).
1 February 1942:
Returns to Yokosuka for repairs. After its boats complete a refit and overhaul, SubRon 2 departs for Kendari, Celebes in the Dutch East Indies.
5 February 1942:
The I-1 is assigned to the Dutch east Indies Invasion Force in Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Ichioka Hisashi's (former CO of CL YURA) SubRon 2 with the I-2, I-3, I-4, I-6 and flagship I-7.
22 February 1942:
SubDiv 7 departs Staring Bay in Sulawesi, Celebes and heads for Australian waters. SubRon 2's other submarines go on patrol in the Indian Ocean.
3 March 1942:
Off western Australia. The I-1 sights smoke from the 8,806-ton Dutch steamer SIANTAR that is enroute to Australia from Tjilatjap, Java. The I-1 submerges immediately and later fires torpedoes at the SIANTAR, but they all miss. Then the I-1 battle surfaces and opens fire with her deck gun. The SIANTAR, an armed cargo vessel, returns fire but scores no hits. The I-1 hits the SIANTAR with 30 to 40 direct hits and sets the steamer afire. The I-1 fires a last torpedo and sinks the SIANTAR several hundred miles NW of Shark Bay at 21-20S, 108-45E.
16 March 1942:
Vice Admiral, the Marquis, Komatsu Teruhisa (former CO of CA NACHI) assumes command of the Sixth Fleet (Submarines).
27 March 1942:
The I-1 departs Australian waters and returns to Yokosuka for repairs.
18 April 1942: The First Bombing of Japan:
Vice-Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. ("Bull") Halsey's Task Force 16
USS HORNET (CV-8), cruisers, destroyers and an oiler accompanied by the USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), cruisers, destroyers and another oiler approach to within 668 nautical miles of Japan. Led by Lt Col (later General/Medal of Honor) James H. Doolittle, 16 Army North American B-25 "Mitchell" twin-engine bombers of the 17th Bomb Group takeoff from Captain (later Admiral) Marc A. Mitscher's carrier HORNET and strike targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe.
Yokosuka. The I-1's crew on deck witness the raid. A B-25 damages the dry-docked carrier RYUHO undergoing conversion from the submarine depot ship TAIGEI.
1 May 1942:
Captain (later Vice Admiral, posthumously) Tamaki Tomejiro is assigned as ComSubDiv 7 in SubRon 2.
June 1942:
SubRon 2 is assigned to support operations in the Aleutians.
11 June 1942:
The I-1 departs Yokosuka for the Aleutians.
1 August 1942:
Returns to Yokosuka. The I-1 is adapted to a cargo role. Her aft 140-mm. (5.5-inch) gun is removed to make room for a 46-foot Daihatsu barge. Mountings are installed to stow the barge.
7 August 1942: American Operation "Watchtower" - The Invasion of Guadalcanal, Solomons:
Rear Admiral (later Admiral) Richmond Kelly Turner's Amphibious Task Force 62, covered by Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Frank J. Fletcher's Task Force 61 and Rear Admiral (later Admiral) John S. McCain's Task Force 63's land-based aircraft, lands Maj Gen (later General/Commandant) Alexander A. Vandegrift's 1st Marine Division on Florida, Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo and Guadalcanal opening a seven-month campaign to take the island.
8 September 1942:
Departs Yokosuka for Truk.
14 September 1942:
Arrives at Truk.
17 September 1942:
Departs Truk to participate in the Guadalcanal campaign. Based at Rabaul, New Britain.
26 October 1942:
New Guinea. The I-1 evacuates Japanese troops from Goodenough Island in the Admiralties to Rabaul.
31 October 1942:
Cdr Ankyu, who has dengue fever, is relieved of command by LtCdr Sakamoto Eiichi (former CO of RO-33, I-54). After recovering from his illness, Ankyu is reassigned as the CO of the I-38.
16 November 1942:
Truk. Vice Admiral Komatsu convenes a meeting of his submarine captains. He announces that the submarine force has been ordered by Admiral Yamamoto, CINC, Combined Fleet to organize a supply system for the IJA garrison on Guadalcanal.
20 November 1942:
Returns to Yokosuka for repairs to her port diesel engine.
3 January 1943:
Departs Yokosuka for Rabaul.
10 January 1942:
The I-1 arrives on Truk and receives a Daihatsu barge.
20 January 1943:
Arrives at Rabaul. The I-1 takes aboard a load of rice, bean paste, curry, ham and sausages, all in rubber containers loaded into the Daihatsu barge. The three-man crew of the barge is also embarked.
24 January 1943:
The I-1 departs Rabaul for Buin to pick up supplies for a resupply mission to Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands.
29 January 1943:
Sealark Channel, Kamimbo Bay, Guadalcanal. LtCdr Sakamoto evades patrol craft in the channel and arrives close to shore near the part of the island that is under Japanese control.
The bay is patrolled by two Royal New Zealand converted trawlers of the 25th Minesweeper Flotilla: LtCdr (later Vice Admiral Sir) Peter Phipps' HMNZS MOA and LtCdr Bridson's KIWI. The I-1 has a crew of 82 aboard. At 1830, she surfaces off Kamimbo, but the phosphorescent water reveals her silhouette and the KIWI spots her. The I-1 dives.
An ASDIC operator identifies an echo that he picks up at 1,600 meters as a submarine. The MOA remains on course and acts as the ASDIC vessel. The KIWI alters course and comes to full speed for a depth charge attack. She drops a pattern of six depth charges. The depth charges knock out the I-1's port electric engine and flood her aft storeroom. All of the submarine's lights go out and she falls abruptly to 595 feet (330 feet below her test depth of 265 feet). She hits bottom and damages both forward torpedo rooms.
After another depth charge attack, LtCdr Sakamoto decides to surface and battle it out. The I-1 uses her diesel engines to make for Guadalcanal in an attempt to escape into the darkness.
The KIWI and the MOA turn towards the I-1 and fire high explosive and star shells. The submarine replies with her forward deck gun, two shells pass over the KIWI and three shells pass close to the MOA. The I-1 tries to reach the land, making 11 knots on her starboard diesel engine.
The KIWI prepares to ram while the MOA fires illuminating star shells. The I-1 alters course slightly to starboard. The KIWI hits her on the port side abaft the conning tower and holes it. The KIWI backs off and rams the submarine again. Japanese troops in full packs on the submarine's deck are forced to jump overboard. As the KIWI backs away, her gunners fire into the landing barge strapped to the submarine's after deck. The barge bursts into flame and lights up the area. The I-1's gun crew fires a few rounds at the KIWI but miss. Then the KIWI's guns cut down the I-1's gun crew and her captain, LtCdr Sakamoto.
The KIWI mounts a third ramming and lands on the submarine's deck, then bounces off. The I-1's navigator, a Kendo 3rd dan swordsman, accompanied by the First Lieutenant attempt to board the KIWI with swords in hand, but are unsuccessful. The Executive Officer, Lt (later LtCdr) Koreeda Sadayoshi (later CO of RO-115 and CO of the "Kaiten" base at Hikari), tries to run the submarine aground as the stern goes underwater. At 2040, the I-1 runs hard aground on a submerged reef off Kamimbo.
The I-1 sinks at 09-13S, 159-40E, but her bow remains out of the water. The MOA stands off waiting for dawn. At first light, she sees the battered fore part of the I-1 sticking about 40 feet out of the water at a 45 degree angle. The MOA captures the I-1's navigator before IJA shore artillery drives the corvette off.
About 26 of the I-1's crewmen are lost in the attack. Fifty-five crewmen crawl ashore carrying current codebooks, but they leave a case containing the past and future codes aboard. The crew destroys the current code books, but over 200,000 pages of the remaining code books, charts, manuals, the ship's log and other secret documents fall into Allied hands. Code books captured from the wreck are sent to CINCPAC at Pearl Harbor. When the IJN Naval General Staff's 10th Department learns of the loss, all current codes and "tables of random numbers" are changed, but the JN-25 code remains in use.
2 February 1943:
During the night five crewmembers and 11 Japanese soldiers attempt to blow up the wreck using two depth charges. The resulting explosion is too weak to destroy the wreck.
10 February 1943:
The Japanese, still concerned about the possible compromise of their codes, try to destroy the I-1. Eight carrier Aichi D3A2 "Val" dive-bombers, escorted by 28 carrier "Zeke" fighters and 14 from the 2nd (later 582nd) NAG, bomb the wreck and hit her once near the conning tower. About one fifth of the I-1 still sticks out of the water.
11 February 1943:
The I-2, with the XO of I-1, Lt Koreeda aboard, departs the Shortland Islands to sink the wreck.
13 February 1943:
The I-2 fails to locate the I-1 in the dark.
15 February 1943:
The I-2 makes another try, but again fails to locate the I-1.
1 April 1943:
Removed from the Navy List.
Ca. 1970:
An Australian treasure hunter, in search of valuable metals, blows up the bow section of the I-1. This causes a great deal of damage since there are one or two live torpedoes still inside. The bow section of the sub is still there, but split open. The front one-third of the submarine is destroyed but the remaining section is still intact. The I-1 lies with her bow in 45 feet and her stern in 90 feet of water.
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Author's Note: Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.
– Bob Hackett
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