SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2002 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

10 December 1928:
Completed at Kawasaki's Kobe Yard and commissioned in the IJN as the SS-60.

I June 1938:
Renumbered as the I-124.

1 May 1941:
The I-124 is based at Yokosuka with the I-123 in Cdr Endo Keiyu's SubDiv 9 of Rear Admiral Kono Chimaki's SubRon 6, Third Fleet.

November 1941:
The I-124, under LtCdr Kishigami Koichi, departs Yokosuka for Samah, Hainan Island, China.

1 December 1941:
The I-124 and the I-123 depart Samah for the Philippines.

2 December 1941:
The coded signal "Niitakayama nobore (Climb Mt. Niitaka) 1208" is received from the Combined Fleet. It signifies that hostilities will commence on 8 December (Japan time). Mt. Niitaka, located in Formosa (now Taiwan), is then the highest point in the Japanese Empire.

6 December 1941: Operation "M":
Vice Admiral Takahashi Ibo's (former CO of KIRISHIMA) Third Fleet, Southern Force, Philippines Seizure Force departs Palau.

8 December 1941:
The I-124 lays 39 mines off Manila Bay, Philippines, then proceeds to an area SW of Lubang Island. She performs weather reporting and stands by to rescue aircrews downed in air strikes on Manila launched from Formosa.

10 December 1941:
The I-124 torpedoes and sinks the 1, 523-ton British freighter HARELDAWINS off western Luzon, Philippines. Later, SubRon 6 operates west of Mindanao.

11 December 1941: Operation "M"- The Attack on the Southern Philippines:
Vice Admiral Takahashi's force invades Legaspi, Philippines, then Davao (19-20 December) and Jolo (24 December).

14 December 1941:
Arrives at Camranh Bay, Indochina.

18 December 1941:
Departs Camranh with the I-122 for the Philippines.

22 December 1942:
Patrols the entrance to Manila Bay, then proceeds south via the Mindoro Strait into the Sulu Sea.

31 December 1941:
Arrives at Davao, Philippines with the I-122. There she is joined by SubRon 6's flagship, the 6,600-ton submarine tender CHOGEI and the I-121 and I-123.

5 January 1942:
SubRon 6's I-124, -121, -122 and the I-123 operational area is in the Flores Sea and the Torres Strait N of Australia. SubRon 6 departs Davao to reconnoiter the Port Darwin area, northern Australia.

9 January 1942: Operation "H" - The Invasion of the Celebes, Netherlands East Indies:
Vice Admiral Takahashi's Netherlands East Indies Force invades Menado and Kema (11 January), Kendari (24 January), Ambon (30 January) and Makassar (9 February).

10 January 1942:
SubRon 6 and the I-124, with ComSubDiv 9 Cdr Endo aboard, depart Davao for northern Australia.

That same day, one of the mines the I-124 laid the previous month in Manila Bay sinks the 1, 976-ton Panamanian-flagged freighter DAYLIGHT.

12 January 1942:
125 miles SW of Darwin. The I-124 lays 39 mines in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

14 January 1942:
The I-124 sights the USS HOUSTON (CA-30) and two destroyers but is unable to gain an attack position. She takes up patrol off the western entrance to Darwin.

15 January 1942:
The I-124 heads for an area near Timor.

16 January 1942:
The I-124 lays 27 mines near Darwin where over 40 Allied ships are in the harbor.

17 January 1942:
180 miles NW of Darwin. The HOUSTON (CA-30) reports sighting two Japanese submarines. The USS EDSALL (DD-219) detaches to hunt for the submarines, but finds nothing.

19 January 1942:
The I-124 sends her last signal reporting the arrival at Darwin of three transports escorted by a destroyer. The signal is intercepted by Allied codebreakers who warn that the I-124 is approaching Darwin.

20 January 1942:
60 miles W of Darwin. The old destroyers USS ALDEN (DD-211) and the EDSALL are escorting the 5, 375-ton oiler USS TRINITY (AO-13) to Port Darwin when the TRINITY reports that three torpedoes were fired at her. The ALDEN carries out an unsuccessful depth charge attack and loses contact.

21 January 1942:
Early in the morning, the ALDEN makes contact and drops six depth charges but without result. A plane from the old aircraft transport USS LANGLEY (AV-3) reports attacking a submarine. The ALDEN steams to the reported position, sees an oil slick and attacks. After dropping her last depth charge, she returns to port. That afternoon, while taking on fuel from the oiler BRITISH SAILOR, the ALDEN is ordered to accompany the EDSALL to the location of the earlier attack.

The Australian corvettes HMAS DELORAINE, LITHGOW and the KATOOMBA are ordered to the scene. LtCdr Desmond A. Menlove's new DELORAINE arrives first.

LtCdr Kisagami sets up on this new threat and fires a torpedo with a shallow depth setting at the DELORAINE. At 1335, the corvette's starboard lookout reports "torpedo approaching, Green 100". The DELORAINE turns hard starboard at full speed and the torpedo passes ten feet astern.

The corvette's ASDIC locates the I-124 about 2,500 yards ahead and creeping south. The DELORAINE drops pattern after pattern of depth charges. Then the bridge lookout reports a conning tower breaking surface. The DELORAINE rolls a depth charge close alongside of the I-124. The submarine submerges, but air bubbles and oil rise to the surface.

The ALDEN and EDSALL arrive, accompanied by a Consolidated PBY "Catalina" flying boat and two American floatplanes, to find the DELORAINE dropping depth charges. The Americans patrol near the submarine contact but are unable to locate the oil slick because of a heavy rainsquall. The LITHGOW and the KATOOMBA patrol another area.

The overpressures created during the depth charge attacks deform the thin seals of the I-124's hatch gaskets and she takes on water. She sinks with 80 crewmen in the western entrance of the Clarence Strait at 12-05N, 130-06E. After the action, the DELORAINE claims two, and the KATOOMBA one, submarine sunk. The I-124 is the first IJN warship sunk by the Royal Australian Navy. Later, divers from the submarine tender USS HOLLAND (AS-3) dive the wreck site.

21 January 1942:
Presumed lost off Darwin. Cdr Endo is promoted Captain posthumously and LtCdr Kishigami is promoted Commander posthumously.

11 February 1942:
Four Japanese mines, possibly laid by the I-124, wash ashore near Darwin.

30 April 1942:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Notes:
The I-124 lies upright in 140 feet of water outside Darwin Harbor. Her conning tower is largely disintegrated. She is declared a war grave and is also protected under the Australian Historic Shipwrecks Act. Vessels are prohibited from anchoring within 500 meters of the wreck.

Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan and Steve Eckardt of Australia. – Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.

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