Advertising

The Seattle Times Company

NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource | Free Classifieds | seattletimes.com

The Seattle Times

Nation & World


Our network sites seattletimes.com | Advanced

Originally published Monday, March 21, 2005 at 12:00 AM

E-mail E-mail article      Print Print view      Share Share

Japanese WW II sub found off Oahu

The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii. A research team from the...

HONOLULU — The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii.

A research team from the University of Hawaii discovered the I-401 submarine Thursday during test dives off Oahu.

"We thought it was rocks at first, it was so huge," said Terry Kerby, pilot of the research craft that found the vessel. "It's a leviathan down there, a monster."

The submarine is from the I-400 Sensuikan Toku class of subs, the largest built before the nuclear-ballistic-missile submarines of the 1960s.

They were 400 feet long and nearly 40 feet high and could carry a crew of 144. The submarines were designed to carry three "fold-up" bombers that could quickly be assembled.

Kerby said the main hull is sitting upright and is in good shape. The I-401 numbers are clearly visible on the sides, and the anti-aircraft guns are in almost perfect condition, he said.

An I-400 and I-401 were captured at sea a week after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Their mission, which was never completed, reportedly was to use the aircraft to drop rats and insects infected with bubonic plague, cholera, typhus and other diseases on U.S. cities.

When the bacteriological bombs could not be prepared in time, the mission reportedly was changed to bomb the Panama Canal. Both submarines were ordered to sail to Pearl Harbor and were deliberately sunk later, partly because Russian scientists were demanding access to them.

The submarine found Thursday is the second Japanese vessel discovered off Oahu by the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory. In 2002, researchers found the wreckage of a much smaller Japanese sub that was sunk on Dec. 7, 1941, off Pearl Harbor.

E-mail E-mail article      Print Print view      Share Share

More Nation & World

UPDATE - 01:12 AM
Round 2: Snow slams Mid-Atlantic, points north

UPDATE - 12:53 AM
Officials: Afghan avalanches kill 157 people

UPDATE - 12:46 AM
Political supporters clash in streets of Sri Lanka

UPDATE - 12:32 AM
Storm dumps rain, hail, snow in SoCal

UPDATE - 12:30 AM
World stocks rise as Europe debt crisis fears ease

More Nation & World headlines...

advertising


Get home delivery today!

Video

Advertising

AP Video

Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech

Marketplace

Open Houses

Find this weekend's open house listings.
Or search by location:

nwautos

Fatal crashes are down in Washington, and a national used-car database goes onlinenew
Associated Press Study: Fatal crashes down in Washington Last year Washington's roads were the scene of the fewest fatal crashes since 1955. According...
Post a comment

 
Most read
Most commented
Most e-mailed
 
 

Most viewed imagesMore

Advertising