SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2011 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 5

10 October 1927:
Laid down at Sasebo Navy Yard.

24 April 1929:
Launched as I-60.

24 December 1929:
Completed, commissioned and attached to the Sasebo Naval District. LtCdr Hayashi Kiyosuke (43)(former CO of RO-67) is appointed Commanding Officer. [1]

24 December 1929:
1-60 is completed at the Sasebo Navy Yard, commissioned in the IJN and is based in the Sasebo Naval District.

1 December 1930:
LtCdr Shimamoto Hisagoro (44), former CO of RO-27, is appointed CO.

1 December 1931:
LtCdr Kijima Moritsugu (44), former CO of I-21, is appointed CO.

15 November 1933:
LtCdr Kijima Moritsugu is relieved by an unknown skipper.

22 July 1936:
While anchored in Terajima Strait along with the other boats of her squadron during the warlike exercises, I-60 is swamped by heavy seas and receives minor damage to her superstructure. The starboard anchor chain and a 5-meter workboat are lost.

1 December 1936:
LtCdr Otani Kiyonori (49), former CO of I-22, is appointed the CO.

15 December 1938:
LtCdr Nakagawa Hajime (50) is appointed CO.

2 February 1939:
Bungo Strait, 60 miles NW of Mizunoko Light. In the early morning, the boats of SubRon 1 are en route to their assigned stations to participate in simulated attacks against surface vessels commencing at 0730.

I-60's sister ship I-63, under LtCdr Sano Takao (former CO of I-53), arrives at her prescribed station off the Mizunoko Light. At 0430 she stops the diesels and waits for sunup with all running lights on.

LtCdr Nakagawa Hajime's surfaced I-60 is likewise heading towards her assigned station at 12 knots. As a result of a navigation error she passes through the area assigned to I-63. Around 0500 I-60's Watch Officer spots two white lights in the gloom. The lookouts mistake them for two sampans slightly apart. The Watch Officer decides to proceed between the fishing boats. When only about 220 yards away, he realizes his mistake, tries to turn away, but it is too late!

Aboard I-63, LtCdr Sano, summoned to the bridge, orders: "All ahead, full!" and "Close all watertight doors!" but it is too late! I-60 rams I-63, slashing open her starboard ballast tank and the auxiliary machinery compartment. In but a few minutes, I-63 sinks in 320 feet of water, taking 81 men with her. I-60, with a crushed bow buoyancy tank, rescues LtCdr Sano and six crewmen.

After the accident, a Court of Inquiry finds that I-60 had unsatisfactory lookout procedures and inadequate management of the watch officers. The court also concludes that I-60's navigation error contributed to the accident. LtCdr Nakagawa, who at the time of collision was off the bridge and below, assumes full responsibility for the accident. He is tried by court-martial and suspended from duty. He is promoted Cdr later than his contemporaries. In October 1940, he is reassigned as CO of I-58.

LtCdr Sano becomes CO of I-70 and is lost on 10 December 1941 off Hawaii.

10 March 1939:
LtCdr Nakagawa is replaced by Cdr Yamada Takashi (49), former CO of I-64.

1 December 1939:
LtCdr Koike Itsu (52), former CO of I-121, is appointed CO.

20 March 1940:
LtCdr Hanabusa Hiroshi (51), former CO of I-121, is appointed CO.

6 January 1941:
The flag of SubDiv 28 is temporarily transferred from I-59 to I-60.

29 January 1941:
The flag of SubDiv 28 is returned to I-59.

10 April 1941:
Placed in 3rd reserve at Sasebo for modernization, later transferred to Tama Zosensho shipyard, Tamano.

20 May 1941:
I-60 is appointed the new flagship of SubDiv 28.

1 July 1941:
LtCdr Kono Masamichi (52), former CO of I-121, is appointed CO.

31 October 1941:
LtCdr Kono Masamichi is replaced by LtCdr Hasegawa Shun (57).

8 December 1941: The Attacks on Malaya, the Philippines and Pearl Harbor:
While nominally assigned to the Malaya Invasion Force, I-60 undergoes modernization at Tama Zosensho shipyard. Probably during that modernization Type 15 torpedo tubes are fitted with impulse tanks. Following a brief working-up, I-60 is transferred to Kobe later that month.

26 December 1941:
Reassigned to Submarine Unit B, earmarked for the operations in the Indian Ocean.

31 December 1941:
Departs Kobe for Davao in company of I-59 with ComSubDiv 28, Captain Kato Yukio aboard.

3 January 1942:
Java, Netherlands East Indies. The ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) Command is set up. The Eastern Fleet under Rear Admiral Karel W. F. M. Doorman is based at Surabaya in Java and includes destroyer HMS JUPITER.

5 January 1942:
Arrives at Davao, refuels.

10 January 1942:
Departs Davao with I-59 on her first war patrol in the area at the southern entrance to the Sunda Strait. ComSubDiv 28, Captain Kato, is still aboard.

11 January 1942: Operation "H" - The Invasion of the Celebes, NEI:
Vice Admiral Takahashi's forces invade Menado and Kema, covered by SubRon 5's I-59, I-62, I-64, I-65 and I-66. After this action is completed, I-59 is ordered to detach for Penang, Malaya via the western coast of Sumatra after patrolling her assigned area.

16 January 1942:
Early in the morning, I-60 arrives at her patrol area and transmits a situation report that night. This is the last message received from her.

17 January 1942:
Java Sea, 25 miles NNW of Krakatoa Island. LtCdr Norman V. J. T. Thew's destroyer HMS JUPITER is escorting the former passenger-liner SS WASHINGTON, now the troop transport USS MOUNT VERNON (AP-22), en route to Aden after debarking British and Canadian troops troops at Singapore.

Detached from escorting MOUNT VERNON, HMS JUPITER races to respond to a distress message from a nearby merchant. After a two-hour ASDIC hunt, JUPITER detects an underwater contact and delivers two devastating depth-charge attacks. The heavily damaged I-60 surfaces astern of JUPITER – too close for her to use her main armament.

I-60 is damaged and unable to dive, but Hasegawa attempts to fight the destroyer with his 4.7-inch deck gun. JUPITER alters course and opens fire with her starboard Oerlikon AA gun. As I-60's sailors emerge from the conning tower to man the deck gun, they are raked by 20-mm fire. As they fall, other crewmen run to take their place. I-60 manages to get off seven to eight shells a minute, even though the Oerlikons keep picking off the gun crew.

One of I-60's 4.7-inch rounds puts JUPITER's open twin-gun mount "A" out of action, killing three men and wounding nine. JUPITER then fires two torpedoes at the submarine, but these also miss.

JUPITER's remaining four 4.7-in guns score two or three hits on I-60; her deck gun is no longer manned, but she returns fire from a 7.7-mm machine gun. Smoke pours from the listing submarine.

JUPITER closes on I-60 at full speed, silencing her machine gun with 20-mm fire. Another 4.7-inch shell hits I-60 between the stern and conning tower. An internal explosion occurs, after which smoke and flames emerge from the conning tower, which now seems to be on fire.

JUPITER passes 15 feet abeam of I-60 and drops a shallow-set depth charge. Its explosion blows a sailor out of the conning tower and a sheet of flame rises to 15-20 feet from it. I-60 sinks by the stern in 500 fathoms of water at 06-19-30S, 104-49-20E. Only three of I-60's crewmen are picked up and taken prisoner, one of whom later dies. 84 submariners are lost. [2]

10 March 1942:
Removed from the SubDiv 28 list. Captain Kato is promoted Rear Admiral, posthumously and LtCdr Hasegawa is promoted Commander, posthumously.

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Authors' Notes: [1] Different sources suggest different dates for I-60's completion. 24 December 1929 appears in the authoritative "Showa Zosenshi" shipbuilding history, while other sources suggest 20 December.

[2] The contemporary British record of the sinking of I-60 states that "The enemy submarine was fought with great determination, her gun's crews being continually reinforced from inside the submarine until put out of action." From the interrogation of one of the two survivors the British naval intelligence concluded that I-60 had departed Kobe on 2 January 1942.

Thanks go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan and Mr. Jean-Francois Masson of Canada. Special thanks also go to Mr. Klemen Lužar of the Netherlands, webmaster of the superb "Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942" website, for providing additional details about the sinking of I-60.

-Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp

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