IJN Submarine RO-114:
Tabular Record of
Movement
© 2001-2017 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp
Revision 3
12 October 1942:
Senshu, Tanagawa Ward (near Osaka).
Laid down at Kawasaki Jukogyo K.K. as a 525-ton (standard) Kaisho (KS)
Type submarine No. 405.
19 June 1943:
Launched as RO-114,
towed to Kawasaki's Kobe shipyard thereafter.
8 October 1943:
Lt (Cdr, posthumously) Kawashima Mamoru (64)
(former torpedo officer of I-34) is appointed the Chief Equipping Officer
(CEO).
20 November 1943:
Completed and based in the Kure Naval District. Lt
Kawashima Mamoru is the Commanding Officer.
25 November 1943:
Assigned to SubRon 11 for working-up.
20 December 1944:
Lt Kawashima is ordered to attend the special
course at the Kure Submarine School to learn about Type 92 electric torpedoes.
7 February 1944:
Directly attached to Grand Escort Command HQ to
conduct anti-submarine operations in Nansei Shoto (Ryukyus) area.
20 February 1944:
Reassigned to SubDiv 30 in Rear Admiral (later Vice
Admiral) Ichioka Hisashi's (former CO of KATORI) SubRon 8.
11 March 1944:
Departs Kure under the Grand Escort Command for an ASW
patrol off the Nansei Shoto (Ryukyu Islands).
25 March 1944:
SubDiv 30 is disbanded. RO-114 is reassigned to SubDiv 51.
30 April 1944:
Lt (LtCdr, posthumously) Ata Yoshihiro (65)(former
torpedo officer of I-38) is appointed the CO.
1 June 1944:
Departs Kure for Saeki.
4 June 1944:
Departs Saeki for Saipan.
Early June 1944:
Arrives at Saipan.
11 June 1944:
Departs Saipan on her first war patrol off Saipan.
12 June 1944:
The RO-114 reports her arrival at her assigned station.
13 June 1944: Operation A-GO: The Defense of the Marianas:
In Tokyo,
Admiral Toyoda Soemu, (former CO of HYUGA), CINC, Combined Fleet, activates A-GO
and orders Vice Admiral (Admiral, posthumously) Takagi Takeo (former CO of
MUTSU), CINC, Sixth Fleet (Submarines) to redeploy his boats to the Marianas.
From his Headquarters on Saipan, Takagi orders his 18 available submarines to
deploy E of the Marianas.
15 June 1944: American Operation "FORAGER" - The Invasion of Saipan:
Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Richmond K. Turner's Task Force 52 lands Marine
LtGen Holland M. Smith's V Amphibious Corps and the invasion begins.
Communications between Takagi's Advance Expeditionary Force (Sixth Fleet) are
disrupted by the invasion. Command of the Sixth Fleet's submarines passes to
ComSubRon 7's Rear Admiral Owada Noboru (former CO of YAMASHIRO) at Truk. Owada
orders most of the Sixth Fleet's submarines, including RO-114, to withdraw from
the Marianas.
16 June 1944:
Reassigned to "C" patrol unit with RO-113, RO-115 and
RO-117.
17 June 1944:
80 miles W of Tinian, Marianas. Cdr W. C. Winn's USS
WADLEIGH (DD-689) and Cdr Warner R. Edsall's MELVIN (DD-680) of Task Group 52.4
are on a screening patrol when they make strong sonar contacts with a submarine.
Both destroyers attack with depth charges and sink the submarine - probably
RO-114 - at 15-02N, 144-10E.
12 July 1944:
Presumed lost with all 55 hands in the Philippines area.
10 August 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.
Authors' Note:
Thanks go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.
– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.
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