SOKAITEI!

© 2008 Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall

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E 1943:
Tokyo. Laid down at Ishikawajima Zosensho K.K. as minesweeper No. 419.

1943:
Launched and numbered W-34.

29 May 1944:
Completed and registered in the IJN. Lt Komori Bin is the Commanding Officer.

1 July 1944:
W-34 is assigned to the 10th Special Base Force of the Southwest Area Fleet's First Southern Expeditionary Fleet and based at Singapore, Malaya.

6 July 1944:
At 1245, W-34 departs Miike, Kyushu for Takao, Formosa with destroyer HATSUSHIMO, kaibokan CD-1 and CD-22 escorting convoy MOMA-02 consisting of SEATTLE, SHOZAN, JINZAN, TOKUSHIMA, HIZAN (HIYAMA), KOKKA, YASUKUNI and RYOFU MARUs.

12 July 1944:
Arrives at Takao.

14 July 1944:
At 1900, W-34 departs Takao for Manila with kaibokan KUSAGAKI, CD-1, CD-22 and minelayers MAESHIMA and ENTO escorting convoy TAMA-21C consisting of MANTAI, MITSUKI, JINSAN, SEATTLE, YASUKUNI, TENSHIN, YAMATAMA, SAINEI, HIZAN (HIYAMA), KOKKA, SHOZAN and SHOEI MARUs and tankers SHONAN, MITSU, AYAGIRI and AYAZONO MARUs.

16 July 1944:
At 0946, LtCdr Harold E. Ruble's USS PIRANHA (SS-389) torpedoes and sinks SEATTLE MARU at 19-17N, 120-15E. The ship was carrying 4, 285 IJNAF personnel. HIYAMA and SHOZAN MARUs rescue all but 286 of the airmen. Over the next six hours, Captain William V. O'Regan’s wolf pack consisting of LtCdr Duncan C. MacMillian's USS THRESHER (SS-200), LtCdr (later Rear Admiral) Novell G. Ward's GUARDFISH (SS-217) and Ruble's PIRANHA closes in and decimates the convoy.

At 2300, MacMillian's THRESHER torpedoes and sinks SAINEI MARU at 18-53N, 119-32E. At 2350, Ward's GUARDFISH torpedoes and sinks JINZAN MARU. Two minutes later, Ward torpedoes and sinks MANTAI MARU.

17 July 1944:
The attacks continue. At 0034,Ward's GUARDFISH torpedoes and sinks HIYAMA MARU. W-34 and CD-1 rescue survivors. At 0345, MacMillian's THRESHER torpedoes and sinks SHOZAN MARU at 18-50N, 119-43E. W-34 and CD-1 rescue the survivors.

19 July 1944:
At 1920, convoy TAMA-21C arrives at Manila

23 July 1944:
At 0700, W-34 departs Manila with subchaser CH-21 escorting convoy MASA-09 consisting of RAKUYO and CHINZEI MARUs. and tanker NICHINAN MARU.

28 July 1944:
At 1800, arrives at St Jacques.

1 August 1944:
At 1100, W-34 departs Cape St. Jacques (Saigon) for Singapore escorting EIFUKU, NICHINAN and RAKUYO MARUs.

4 August 1944:
At 0150, anchors in the Kuantan Sea, E of Malaya. At 1010, departs.

5 August 1944:
At 1430, arrives at Singapore.

16 October 1944:
Hiyoshi. Headquarters, Combined Fleet's at Keio University. Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Kusaka Ryunosuke (41)(former CO of AKAGI) releases a dispatch that assigns W-34 to Vice Admiral Kurita Takeo's (38)(former CO of KONGO) First Striking Force's 1st Supply Force with tankers ITSUKUSHIMA, NICHIEI, YUHO, OMUROSAN, RYOEI and BANEI (MANEI) MARUs and kaibokan CHIBURI, minelayer YURISHIMA, kaibokan CD-19 and CD-27.

30October 1944:
Departs Brunei for Singapore in company of KISHINAMI, escorting HAGURO and the damaged MYOKO.

3 November 1944:
Arrives at Singapore.

19 November 1944:
At 1000, W-34 departs Singapore with subchaser CH-35 escorting a convoy consisting of tankers NICHINAN, RITSUEI, SHONAN, SHOEI and AYAYUKI MARUs. At 1837, Lt C. R. Pelly's British submarine HMS SRATAGEM torpedoes and sinks NICHINAN MARU at 01-36N, 102-53E.

26 November 1944:
Arrives at Belawan and SHOEI MARU is detached. Later that day, at 1900, the convoy arrives at Pangkalansusu.

4 April 1945:
W-34 departs Surabaya with torpedo boat KARI and minesweeper W-12 escorting light cruiser ISUZU. Off Paternoster Island, the ISUZU group is sighted by a wolf pack led by Cdr (later Rear Admiral) Francis D. Boyle's CHARR (SS-328) with LtCdr Herman E. Miller's USS BESUGO (SS-32l) and LtCdr William B. Parham's GABILAN (SS-252), but aircraft force the pack to dive and they are unable to attack.

6 April 1945:
Boyle's wolf pack is alerted about the position of the Japanese ships by an "Ultra" signals-intelligence message from ComSubPac at Pearl and takes up position near Bima Bay. They are joined by ComSubSoWestPac's British submarine HMS SPARK.

Kupang Harbor. At dawn, ISUZU embarks an army detachment and departs for for Sumbawa Island. North of Sumbawa she is attacked by ten B-25 "Mitchell" bombers of the Dutch 18th Squadron based at Batchelor airfield S of Darwin, Australia. ISUZU is slightly damaged by near-misses off her starboard bow by some of the sixty 300-kg bombs dropped. Later, she lands troops at Bima Bay, on the NE coast of Sumbawa.

Near Flores Island, Netherlands East Indies. ISUZU is hit in the bow section by bombs from Consolidated B-24J "Liberator" bombers of the RAAF's No. 21 and No. 24 Squadrons based in Northern Australia. Two B-24's are shot down by Japanese aircraft. [1]

Sape Strait, between Sumbawa and Komodo islands. About 1600, Miller's BESUGO fires nine torpedoes at the ISUZU group. They miss ISUZU, but one sinks W-12.

7 April 1945:
At 0220, W-34 departs Bima with ISUZU and KARI. CHARR makes radar contact at 14,000 yards and Boyle alerts GABILAN.

60 miles NW of Bima. At 0605, ISUZU is struck by a torpedo fired by Parham's GABILAN. The torpedo hits portside below the bridge and causes flooding forward. ISUZU's speed falls below 10 knots, she takes on a list and is down by the bow.

At 0827, while ISUZU's crew is performing emergency repairs, Boyle's CHARR fires four torpedoes at her from 1,200 yards. She is hit portside near the aft engine room by two torpedoes. Boyle fires two more torpedoes and gets another hit. At 0843, ISUZU's bow breaks off. At 0846, she capsizes to port and sinks at 07-38S, 118-09E. W-34 and KARI counter-attack CHARR, but Boyle goes deep and evades.

W-34 and KARI rescue 450 of ISUZU's crewmen.

21 May 1945:
E of the Java Sea. Off Kepulauan, Java. W-34 is hunting for an enemy submarine tha attacked two Japanese freighters in the area the previous afternoon.

At about 0200, Cdr Cassius D. Rhymes’ submerged USS CHUB (SS-329) picks up a sonar echo and closes. Rhymes fires five torpedoes at the sonar return. One torpedo hits and sinks W-34 06-18S, 116-14E. The fate of Lt Komori and his crew is unknown.

10 June 1945:
Removed from the Navy List.

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Authors' Notes:
[1] Dutch sources claim the aircraft and the squadrons involved in the strike were: No. 18 Dutch Squadron - 10 B-25s, No. 2 RAAF Squadron - 10 B-25, and No. 82 RAAF Wing - 9 B-24s. Two of the B-24s that attacked about 20 minutes later were shot down by Japanese Army fighters (probably Nakajima KI-43 "Oscars" and/or Nakajima KI-44 "Tojos").

Thanks for assistance with IJN COs go to Matthew Jones of Tennessee. Thanks for assistance also go to fellow researcher Sander Kingsepp of Estonia.

-Bob Hackett and Peter Cundall.

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