SENSUIKAN!

© 2001-2003 Bob Hackett & Sander Kingsepp

19 May 1944:
Tamano. The RO-49 is completed at Mitsui's shipyard and registered (commissioned) in the IJN's Maizuru Naval District. That same day she is reassigned to SubDiv 33 for working up. LtCdr Fumon Shozo is the Commanding Officer.

25 May 1944:
LtCdr Fumon is relieved. A new CO is not immediately posted. Lt Yuchi Atsushi, the XO/Torpedo Officer is the acting CO.

10 July 1944:
LtCdr Oba Saichi (former XO/Torpedo Officer of I-32) is posted as the RO-49's next CO.

5 August 1944:
LtCdr Sugamasa Tetsuaki (former CO of RO-109) assumes command from LtCdr Oba.

15 August 1944:
The RO-49 is reassigned to SubRon 11.

13 October 1944: Operation "SHO-I-GO" - The Defense of the Philippines:
Tokyo. Admiral Toyoda Soemu, CINC, Combined Fleet, orders the SHO-I-GO plan activated.

20 October 1944: American Operation "KING TWO" - The Invasion of Leyte, Philippines:
Admiral (later Fleet Admiral) William F. Halsey's Third Fleet of 738 ships including 18 aircraft carriers, six battleships, 17 cruisers, 64 destroyers and over 600 support ships land the Army's X Corps (24th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions) and the XXIV Corps (7th, 77th and 96th Infantry Divisions) that begin the campaign to retake Leyte.

23 October 1945: Operation "TA" - The Reinforcement of Leyte:
Vice Admiral Mikawa Gunichi (former CO of KIRISHIMA), CINC, Southwest Area Fleet, commences Operation TA to provide reinforcements, supplies and munitions to the IJA's forces engaging the American invasion forces on Leyte. Between this day and 11 December 1944, nine major convoys attempt the 600-mile passage from Manila to Ormoc Bay, Leyte.

10 November 1944:
The RO-49 is reassigned to SubDiv 34 in Vice Admiral Miwa Shigeyoshi's (former CO of CL KINU) Sixth Fleet (Submarines).

16 November 1944:
Departs Kure on her first war patrol. Her assigned area is E of Luzon.

28 November 1944
The RO-49 damages her hydrophone heads in rough seas and the patrol is terminated.

7 December 1944:
Returns to Kure.

1 January 1945:
The RO-49 is in SubDiv 34, Sixth Fleet. Departs Kure on her second war patrol to operate E of the Philippines.

4 January 1945:
The RO-49 is redirected to the western coast of Luzon, Philippines.

9 January 1945: American Operation "MIKE ONE" - The Invasion of Luzon:
Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Thomas C. Kinkaid's Task Force 77 lands almost 175,000 men of LtGen (later Gen) Walter Krueger's Sixth Army at Lingayen Gulf under the cover of Vice Admiral (later Admiral) Jesse B. Oldendorf's TG 77.2 bombardment force and aircraft of Rear Admiral (later Vice Admiral) Calvin T. Durgin's TG 77.4. In a five-month campaign, the Sixth Army defeats General Yamashita Tomoyuki's 14th Army Group's defenders.

12 January 1945:
55 miles WNW of Iba, Luzon, Philippines. LtCdr Sugamasa attacks units of Task Force 77. He reports sinking an "IDAHO-class" battleship, but his report is not substantiated postwar. Sugamasa also sends a sighting report about two carriers and three battleships under heavy escort.

1 February 1945:
Returns to Kure.

21 January 1945:
LtCdr Sugamasa receives an order to return to base.

5 February 1945:
LtCdr Sugamasa is relieved by LtCdr Go Yasuo.

16 March 1945:
Transfers to Saeki.

18 March 1945:
Departs Saeki on her third war patrol to operate SE of the Nansei Shoto (Ryukyus). She is accompanied by the I-8, RO-41 and the RO-56.*

25 March 1945:
LtCdr Go sends a situation report. It is the last signal received from the RO-49.

26 March 1945: American Operation "ICEBERG" - The Invasion of Okinawa:
The 77th Infantry Division lands on the Kerama Retto, Ryukyus and captures its anchorage.

That same day, a submarine -possibly the RO-49 -attacks Task Group 54. 3. At 0932, lookouts aboard the USS WICHITA (CA-45) spot a periscope to starboard. The WICHITA makes an emergency turn to starboard and evades a torpedo. The USS ST LOUIS (CA-49) also reports sighting torpedo tracks. Neither cruiser is damaged. The submarine evades and escapes counter-attack.**

1 April 1945:
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 and 1st, 6th Marine divisions) makes amphibious landings and takes the island from LtGen Ushijima Mitsuru's 32nd Army.

5 April 1945:
Off Kumejima, near Okinawa. LtCdr R. R. Pratt's USS HUDSON (DD-475) is on radar picket duty. She receives a signal of a submarine sighting from LCS-115. At 0345, she detects it with her SG radar. As Pratt approaches to investigate, the HUDSON fires a starshell that forces the submarine to dive. The contact is lost.

The HUDSON reacquires the contact on sonar and begins the first series of attacks that range over the next six hours. In all, she drops six barrages of depth charges that sink a submarine - possibly the the RO-49 - at 26-22N, 126-30E.***

15 April 1945:
Presumed lost with all 79 hands SE of Okinawa.

25 May 1945:
Removed from the Navy List:

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Authors' Notes:
*Author/historian Kimata Jiro notes that about that time, the USS GURNARD (SS-254) was attacked by an unidentified submarine that could have been the RO-49.

** Author Jurgen Rohwer speculates that the attack was made by RO-49, but Japanese sources credit the Okinawa-based midget C (No. 60) of the 2nd Squadron, led by Lt Kawashima Gen and further indicate that it took place on 27 March.

**Some accounts claim that the RO-49 was sunk in the Bungo Suido on 24 February 1945 by the USS LAGARTO (SS-371), but these accounts are clearly wrong since the RO-49 was active and filing reports a month later. The submarine that the LAGARTO sank was the I-371 as in her TROM.

Japanese sources suggest that RO-49 was already MIA on 5 April 1945 and that the submarine the HUDSON sank was the I-56.

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

– Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp.

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