SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2009 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

26 April 1942:
Sasebo Navy Yard. I-32 is completed at the Sasebo Navy Yard and attached to the Kure Naval District. Cdr Ikezawa Masayuki is Commanding Officer.

16 May 1942:
Assigned to SubRon 1's SubDiv 15.

16 June 1942:
Departs Kure.

30 June 1942:
Departs Truk to patrol off the Australian coast.

14 July 1942:
I-32 is in SubRon 1's SubDiv 15 with I-31 and 1-33.

4 August 1942:
W Australia. 300 miles off Albany. I-32 shells 9, 424-ton Australian troop transport KATOOMBA. The transport sends out an S.O.S. that she is being chased and shelled by a submarine, but she escapes.

28 August 1942:
Passes S of Australia. Arrives at Georgetown, Penang, Malaya.

6 September 1942:
Departs Penang.

13 September 1942:
Arrives at Truk.

30 September 1942:
Departs Truk for Japan because of a leaking tank.

13 October 1942:
Arrives at Kure. Undergoes repairs.

1 November 1942:
LtCdr Hori Takeo relieves LtCdr Ikezawa.

4 December 1942:
Departs Kure for Rabaul.

December 1942-June 1943:
Based at Rabaul. Patrols in the south Pacific and participates in several supply missions to Buna, New Guinea.

10 June 1943:
Returns to Kure.

16 August 1943:
Departs Kure for Lae, towing an "unkato" supply container. Later diverted to patrol off the East Coast of Australia.

10 December 1943:
Truk. HEIAN MARU transfers torpedoes to I-32.

20 December 1943:
Returns to Kure for an overhaul.

10 January 1944:
LtCdr Imoto Masayuki (former CO of I-153) relieves LtCdr Hori.

31 January 1944: American Operation "Flintlock" - The Invasion of the Marshalls:
Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 lands the 4th Marine Division and the Army's 7th Infantry Division that capture Kwajalein, Roi-Namur and Majuro atolls.

25 February 1944:
Departs Kure.

6 March 1944:
Arrives at Truk.

13 March 1944:
I-32 departs Truk on a supply mission to Wotje, Marshall Islands.

15 March 1944:
Enroute, I-32 receives a signal that orders LtCdr Inamoto to intercept an enemy task force off Wotje.

23 March 1944:
I-32 sights Task Force 53 and radios its position. This is the last message received from I-32.

The signal is intercepted by Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific's (FRUPAC) codebreakers. A hunter-killer group of Cdr W. T. McGarry's USS HALSEY POWELL (DD-686), HULL (DD-350), LtCdr J. P. Ingle's MANLOVE (DE-36) and Lt W. S. O'Kelly's submarine chaser PC-1135 is dispatched to intercept I-32. They rendezvous at Erikub Atoll.

24 March 1944:
50 miles S of Wotje. At 0422, a submarine running on the surface is picked up by MANLOVE's SL radar at five miles. MANLOVE closes to 3,000 yards. The submarine crash dives, but is quickly reacquired by the destroyer escort's sonar. HALSEY POWELL expends all of her depth charges in a series of attacks on the submarine. Then MANLOVE attacks with depth charges and 7. 2-inch Mark 10 "hedgehog" projector charges. PC-1135 also attacks with 7. 2-inch spigot mortar-fired "Mousetrap" bombs. The submarine - probably I-32 - sinks at 08-30N, 170-10E.

24 March 1944:
Presumed lost with all hands.

10 June 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Note:
Special thanks go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.

– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp

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