SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2003 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

31 January 1944:
Kobe. The RO-47 is completed at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, commissioned in the IJN and based in the Maizuru Naval District. LtCdr Nishiuchi Shoichi. is the Commanding Officer.

27 March 1944:
Departs Kure. Following an air strike on Palau, the RO-47, I-44, I-183, RO-116 and the RO-117 are ordered to proceed to an area E of Palau.

5 April 1944:
Ordered to return to Kure.

13 April 1944:
Arrives at Kure.

14 May 1944:
Reassigned to SubDiv 34, Sixth Fleet.

13 June 1944: Operation "A-GO" - The Defense of the Marianas:
Admiral Toyoda Soemu, (former CO of HYUGA), CINC, Combined Fleet, activates A-Go and orders Vice Admiral Takagi Takeo (former CO of MUTSU), CINC, Sixth Fleet (Submarines) to redeploy his boats to the Marianas.

14 June 1944:
Departs Yokosuka to patrol off Saipan.

15 June 1944: American Operation "FORAGER" - The Invasion of Saipan, Marianas:
Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Richmond K. Turner's Task Force 52 lands Marine LtGen Holland M. Smith's V Amphibious Corps and the invasion of Saipan begins.

July 1944:
Communications between Takagi's Sixth Fleet on Saipan are disrupted by the invasion. Command of the Sixth Fleet's submarines passes to Rear Admiral Owada Noboru (former CO of YAMASHIRO), ComSubRon 7 at Truk. He orders most of the Sixth Fleet's submarines to withdraw from the Marianas.

10 July 1944:
Vice Admiral Miwa Shigeyoshi (former CO of KINU) at Kure assumes command of the Sixth Fleet from Rear Admiral Owada at Truk.

Departs her patrol area.

16 July 1944:
Arrives at Maizuru. Repairs and overhaul. Later transferred to Kure.

1 Aug ´44:
Lt Ishikawa Nagao is posted as the RO-47's next CO.

15 September 1944: American Operation "STALEMATE II" - The Invasion of the Palaus:
Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. Halsey's Third Fleet lands the First Marine Division on Peleliu and the Army's 81st Division on Angaur Island.

17 September 1944:
Departs Kure to attack American amphibious forces invading Peleliu, Palau. The RO-47 is sent to an area S of Palau

24 September 1944:
Lt Ishikawa is ordered to proceed at full speed to the E of Palau. The RO-47 is not heard from thereafter.

26 September 1944:
NE of Palau. LtCdr E. K. Winn's McCOY REYNOLDS (DE-440) is making a solitary run from Peleliu to Guam to join Task Force 57. At 0103, the McCOY REYNOLDS' SL radar detects a target on the surface at 9,200 yards. When LtCdr Winn challenges, the contact disappears from his SL radar.

Sonar reports an underwater contact at 2,500 yards. At 0218, the McCOY REYNOLDS fires a barrage of twenty-four Mark 10 ahead-thrown "hedgehog" projector charges. The first salvo misses. LtCdr Winn makes six more attacks until 0615 when a heavy underwater explosion is felt. Soon, diesel oil and splintered wood planking spread across the surface at 09-19N, 136-44E. They signal the end of the submarine - probably the RO-47.

2 November 1944:
Presumed lost with all 76 hands off the Palaus.

10 March 1944:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Note:
Special thanks for help in preparing this TROM go to Dr. Higuchi Tatsuhiro of Japan.

– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.

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