IJN
Marc Montocchio 2001
Sinking
History
Sunk in 20m of water, off New
Hanover,
about 100m from the Taisyo Maru,
that was sunk by B-25s of the 345th BG.
Clark
Anderson reports:
"Kevin Baldwin, the owner/captain of the Tiata, told me
he knows a guy who actually contacted one of the crew of the mini-sub and got
the story of what happened that day. What I was told was this:
The mini-sub had just been taken off the mother sub to be provisioned. The two counter-rotating props were still tied together and the sub's tie-down tackle was still attached. It was supposed to be provisioned from this freighter, then put back on the mother sub to be deployed to wherever they were going. The (345th BG) B-25s came in from the west and sank the freighter. They also got the tanker [Taisyo Maru].
I have seen pictures of this raid in Warpath Across the Pacific. You can clearly see the mini-sub on the surface next to the burning freighter, the picture taken from the tail of the B-25 that did the bombing run. The mini-sub is sunk in exactly the same position as seen in the photograph.
According to Kevin, the mini-sub wasn't hit, but the mother sub had taken off. The mini-sub's crew realized they were the only thing left afloat in the anchorage and if any more bombers showed up, they'd be history. The mini-sub wasn't provisioned or ready for sea, so they couldn't run. So they scuttled the sub with the assumption that they'd raise it when the coast was clear, which, of course, it never was.
Kevin told me he saw that the props were still tied together when he first dove on the wreck in the 1970s. I looked but couldn't tell, but, hey, there's 60 years of growth on there. I could barely make out one of the prop blades. The tie-down tackle is clearly visible on the bow and stern, though."
