SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2017 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 4

1 May 1943:
Laid down at Kure Navy Yard as a Type D1 "Tei-gata" transport submarine No. 5463.

20 October 1943:
Renumbered I-363 and provisionally attached to Yokosuka Naval District.

12 December 1943:
Launched.

5 June 1944:
Lt (later LtCdr) Araki Asakichi (64)(former CO of RO-59) is appinted the Chief Equipping Officer (CEO).

8 July 1944:
Kure Navy Yard. I-363 is completed and attached to Yokosuka Naval District. Lt (promoted LtCdr 15 October) Araki Asakichi is the Commanding Officer. Assigned to SubRon 11 for working-up.

8 August 1944:
Departs Hikari.

15 September 1944:
Reassigned to Rear Admiral Owada Noboru's (former CO of YAMASHIRO) SubRon 7, Sixth Fleet.

9 October 1944:
I-363 departs Yokosuka for Mereyon Islet, Woleai Atoll, with 90 metric tons of of cargo, including 75 tons of food and supplies.

21 October 1944:
Arrives at Truk. She receives 10 additional tons of supplies (uniforms and food) from the CO of the 50th Infantry Division for the starving garrison of Mereyon Island.

24 October 1944:
Departs Truk for Mereyon.

28 October 1944:
Arrives at Mereyon Islet, unloads 5 tons of fuel and other supplies, embarks seven passengers and departs that day.

31 October 1944:
Returns to Truk. Unloads 33 tons of fuel oil. Embarks 82 IJNAF pilots.

2 November 1944:
Departs Truk for Yokosuka.

15 November 1944:
Arrives at Yokosuka.

30 November 1944:
Departs Yokosuka for a training exercise. Returns on that same day after the CO, LtCdr Araki Asakichi, is injured.

2 December 1944:
Lt (promoted LtCdr 1 May 1945; Cdr, posthumously) Kihara Sakae (66)(former CO of I-362) is appointed the CO.

10 December 1944:
Departs Yokosuka with 88 tons of food, 10 tons of ammunition and 10 tons of other supplies for the garrison on Minami Torishima (Marcus) Island.

17 December 1944:
Arrives at Marcus Island, unloads her cargo and embarks 60 passengers.

26 December 1944:
Arrives at Yokosuka. Begins an overhaul.

5 March 1945:
Departs Yokosuka on on her second supply mission to Minami-Torishima.

13 March 1945:
Arrives at Minami-Torishima and unloads supplies.

20 March 1945:
SubRon 7 is deactivated. I-363 is transferred to SubDiv 15.

26 March 1945: American Operation "Iceberg" - The Invasion of Okinawa:
The 77th Infantry Division lands on the Kerama Islands and captures its anchorage. On 1 April, Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Raymond A. Spruance's Fifth Fleet, including more than 40 aircraft carriers, 18 battleships, 200 destroyers and over 1,000 support ships surround Okinawa. LtGen Simon B. Buckner Jr's Tenth Army (7th, 77th, 96th Infantry, 1st, 6th Marine divisions) makes amphibious landings and, in a three-month campaign, takes the island from LtGen Ushijima Mitsuru's 32nd Army.

30 March 1945:
I-363 returns to Yokosuka. Her deck guns and Daihatsu landing craft fittings are removed and she is converted to carry five kaiten (Turning of the Heavens) human torpedoes.

28 May 1945: The Eighth Kaiten Mission:
I-363, still under LtCdr Kihara, is in the "Todoroki" (Thunderclap) group with I-36, I-165 and I-361. She departs Hikari for an area between Okinawa and the Ulithi Atoll.

15 June 1945:
500 nms SE of Okinawa, I-363 sights a convoy, but the sea is too rough to launch kaitens, so LtCdr Kihara decides to attack with his conventional torpedoes. He claims one merchant sunk, but postwar it is determined that none were damaged.

18 June 1945:
I-363 is recalled to Hirao.

28 June 1945:
Returns to Hirao, proceeds to Kure on the following day.

8 August 1945: The Ninth Kaiten Mission:
I-363 departs Hikari for an area 500 miles N of Palau as the last ship of the "Tamon" Kaiten Group group with I-47, I-53, I-58, I-366 and I-367.

12 August 1945:
I-363 is diverted to the Sea of Japan to defend against a possible Soviet invasion.

14 August 1945:
NW of Kyushu. I-363 is strafed by aircraft from Task Force 38 and receives minor damage, but two crewmembers are killed.

18 August 1945:
Returns to Kure.

2 September 1945:
Surrenders.

27 October 1945:
Departs Kure for Sasebo.

29 October 1945:
10 miles off the Miyazaki coast. At 1245, I-363 hits a mine laid during the war and sinks. Ten sailors are rescued, but LtCdr Kihara and 35 sailors are lost.

10 November 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

26 January 1966:
Refloated by Fukada Salvage Company and scrapped at Etajima Island. Her periscope is now displayed at I-363 memorial at the Nagasako (former IJN) Cemetery at Kure.

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Authors' Notes:
Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan. Thanks for help with the COs in Rev 1 also go to Steve Eckhardt of Australia.

– Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

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