SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2006 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

25 May 1944:
Kobe. I-12 is completed at Kawasaki's shipyard and registered in the Yokosuka Naval District. She is assigned to SubRon 11, Sixth Fleet. Cdr Kudo Kaneo (former CO of I-20, I-155) is Commanding Officer.

15 September 1944: American Operation "Stalemate II" - The Invasion of the Palaus:
Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. Halsey's Third Fleet lands the First Marine Division on Peleliu and the Army's 81st Division on Anguar Island.

20 September 1944:
Departs Kobe. Works up enroute to Kure.

30 September 1944:
Arrives at Kure. The staff of the Combined Fleet decide to dispatch one long-range submarine to disrupt enemy communications between Hawaii and the West Coast in early October.

4 October 1944:
Reassigned directly to the Sixth Fleet. I-12 departs Kure via the Sea of Japan and the Tsugaru Strait to attack shipping along the American West Coast, then the Hawaii area, Tahiti and E of the Marshalls.

7 October 1944:
I-12 spends the night in Hakodate Bay, then continues her voyage through Tsugaru Strait.

29 October 1944:
North Pacific. Cdr Kudo attacks a merchant enroute from San Francisco to Honolulu. At 2105, I-12 hits the 7,176-ton American "Liberty" ship JOHN A. JOHNSON with two torpedoes. JOHNSON is abandoned and breaks in half. I-12 surfaces and shells both sections of the ship. They sink at 29-36N, 141-43W. I-12 then rams a lifeboat and makes its way among JOHNSON's lifeboats spraying the survivors with machine guns and pistols, killing six men. That same day, the remaining survivors are picked up by USS ARGUS (PY-14) on patrol out of San Francisco. [1]

An IJN radio intercept center at Owada, Saitama prefecture, picks up several messages concerning the sinking of JOHN A. JOHNSON, but erroneously concludes that two different vessels had been sunk by I-12.

2 November 1944:
Captain (Rear Admiral-Ret) Clarence Wade McClusky Jr's USS CORREGIDOR’s (CVE-58) and hunter-killer group Task Group 12.3 detach to find and destroy I-12. CORREGIDOR makes its first attack on an unidentified submarine, followed by a second attack two days later. [2]

13 November 1944: :
100 miles WSW of Los Angeles, California. USCG cutter ROCKFORD (PF-48) and minelayer USS ARDENT (AM-340) are escorting a six-ship convoy from Honolulu to the American mainland. At 1232, ARDENT makes a sonar contact with a submarine ahead of the convoy. After 1241, ARDENT makes two "Hedgehog” projector charge attacks with negative results. At 1308, ROCKFORD makes another attack with 13 Hedgehogs. Fifteen seconds later, three distinct detonations are heard, followed four minutes later by numerous underwater explosions.

ARDENT makes two more attacks and ROCKFORD drops 13 depth charges. After more explosions, contact with the submarine is lost at 31-55N, 139-45E. Water and air bubbles appear on the surface along with oil and debris, including teak planks, ground cork, pieces of varnished wood, and a piece of an instrument case inscribed with Japanese characters. Both warships receive equal credit for the probable destruction of a Japanese submarine, probably I-12.

20-31 December 1944:
The Owada center informs the Sixth Fleet HQ about the sinking of an Allied transport and a tanker in mid-Pacific. I-12 is credited with both sinkings.

2 to 5 January 1945:
The Owada center intercepts three separate submarine sighting reports by USN ships and aircraft relayed to Pearl Harbor. The Sixth Fleet staff concludes that I-12 is still operating off Hawaii.

15 January 1945:
The Owada center receives a garbled message from a Japanese submarine N of the Marshalls (14N, 171E), reporting a contact with enemy. The Sixth Fleet HQ concludes that it was sent by I-12.

31 January 1945:
I-12 is presumed lost with all 114 hands in mid-Pacific area.

10 August 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Author's Notes:
[1] The survivors from JOHN A. JOHNSON describe I-12 as a very large submarine, painted black (or dark grey) above the waterline, light grey below the waterline, with a white six-inch horizontal stripe running around the stern.

[2] Captain McClusky was USS ENTERPRISE’s air group CO during the Battle of Midway.

Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.
– Bob Hackett

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