A photo produced by an uncredited photographer reveals a group of Japanese sailors waving the Nisshoki from the deck of submarine I-361 as she prepares to skim the open ocean like a leviathan of the deep, close to the Hikari Naval Base on the 23rd of May, 1945.
The scene is electrifying and energetic. Of men going into battle confident of victory. Yet belies the grim reality that’s clearly apparent in the cigar-shaped Kaiten torpedo, held fast to the deck of the submarine – a symbol of Japan’s desperation and the disciplined fanaticism of a proud martial nation standing on the brink of defeat.
Though Kaiten is a Japanese word that literally means a Turn for Heaven, in the year 1944, it had additionally represented hope and the promise of a better future for the Empire of Japan.
Produced prior to the era of guided missiles, it was the name of a special submersible Japan had used to at first gain a decisive edge in a losing war and later in an attempt to negotiate a more favourable peace.
In essence, a modified torpedo that could be manoeuvred by a human pilot to explode ships, more predictably than conventional torpedoes, the Kaiten was the naval version of the Kamikaze, with one crucial difference.
Sealed coffins.
Unlike the Kamikaze, once the Kaiten was launched from its mothership, the fate of the pilot was doomed. If the pilot was not blown out of the water by enemy guns or had exploded on impact with the target. He had faced the grim fate of perishing in the cold sea, as a return was never possible.
While Kaitens were initially not deployed by the Japanese Navy as suicide crafts, and had come with ejector buttons. The propensity of their operators to willingly embrace death had subsequently resulted in later versions being produced as sealed coffins, without even the option to open the hatch from inside.
The pilots who operated these submersibles were young and bold men groomed in the Japanese Bushido code of honour, stories of Samurai and the 47 Ronin. Proud to serve their country and emperor, they had preferred death over dishonour and courage over disgrace. Not just for their own selves, but also for their families, regiments and military units – groomed as they were in centuries-old traditions.
Inventor of the Kaiten.
The Kaiten’s inventor was Hiroshi Kuroki. A young Lieutenant and submariner with a promising career in the Japanese Navy, Hiroshi had conjured up the idea of these submersibles after Japan’s defeat at Midway – a battle that was fought between the 4th and 7th of June, 1942, in the North Pacific Ocean.
The near-annihilation of the Japanese imperial fleet at Midway had convinced Hiroshi that for Japan to win the war, a destructive weapon was required, and shortly afterwards, he had conjured up the idea of the Kaiten torpedo.
An extreme idea.
Hiroshi’s innovation, however, had not been immediately implemented by the Japanese high command. Inspite of the heavy defeat at Midway, his idea had been felt to be ‘too extreme’ even in the martial echelons of Japan’s warrior society. His proposal had at first been dismissed with a sympathetic attitude and praise for his devotion to service and country.
Hiroshi nonetheless had persisted, and for the next two years, he had continued in his endeavour to have his project sanctioned by his superiors and the war ministry. At a point in time, he had even gone to the extent of penning a letter in his own blood for Admiral Yamamoto, the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Eventually, with the war going against Japan and the future terribly bleak, Hiroshi had been granted permission to create a prototype.
Fate of the ten submariners.
The primary reason why Hiroshi’s concept of the Kaiten had been ultimately approved wasn’t for the fact that the Japanese high command had thought it to be an effective weapon. But because it had reminded them of the fate of ten submariners, who, in their mini-submarines, had attacked ships at Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December, 1941.
Nine of these submariners, upon death, had been edified as heroes, while the tenth, upon capture, had been decried, shamed and dishonoured by the Japanese public.
Which, more than anything else, had revealed to the Japanese high command the overshadowing popularity of the Japanese Navy over the Japanese air force, and more importantly, the powerful sentiment Japan had for heroic deaths.
Development of the Kaitens.
The actual development of the Kaiten had begun in 1944 at the Kure Naval shipyard, some 20-odd kilometres away from the city of Hiroshima. By which time, Japan had been reeling from multiple defeats on multiple fronts.
Her resources, fuel and experienced manpower had sharply diminished, and an imminent invasion of her homeland had become an undeniable reality.
Though Hiroshi did not live to use his Kaiten in battle. Having drowned at the bottom of the Tokuyama Bay during a training session in 1944.
Japan had ultimately produced some six variants of the Kaiten, based on different types of torpedoes. In total, Japan is believed to have manufactured an estimated 410 Kaitens. All of which had been operated by young men between 17 and 28 years of age.
Almost all Kaiten pilots had perished at sea with their submersibles blown out of the water before impact.
The Japanese submarine I-361, which can be seen in the photo, was a transport ship tasked with ferrying troops and equipment through hostile territories, especially where enemy air superiority was intense.
Built at the Kure Naval Shipyard near Hiroshima in 1943, the submarine was later used as a mothership for launching Kaitens. On the 30th of May, 1945, the I-361 was destroyed by U.S. warplanes, East of Okinawa (see Farbound.Net story: The storm before the atom bomb).
The photo here is a possible depiction of the I-361 departing the Hikari Naval Base in Honshu, en route to participating in the battle of Okinawa, some 8,521 miles away, where it was eventually destroyed. The photo is now archived by Wikipedia.
