Fresh out of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal with her deck guns still to be fitted, Japanese submarine I-58 parts the calm waters of Tokyo Bay with her 335 feet long hull, during a trial run in 1944. Onboard, an enthusiastic crew keeps a watchful eye to ensure she is completely seaworthy.
Japanese submarine I-58.
Widely known as the submarine that sunk the USS Indianapolis with a volley of six torpedoes, two out of which hit and toppled the ageing ship in 12 minutes(See Farbound.Net story: The ship that delivered the atom bomb)to usher in the worst naval disaster of World War II, the I-58 was an innovation of her time and a technologically advanced deep runner of the sea.
Constructed between 1942-43 at the naval arsenal of Yokosuka near Tokyo, the submarine had a cruising range of 15,000 miles and an underwater displacement of 3,000 tons.
Furthermore, during this phase of the war, she was also one of the best Japan had possessed in her armoury and had outmatched her U.S rivals in both weaponry and stealth. Equipped as she was with anti-aircraft radar, an arsenal of advanced Type 95 torpedoes and four Kaiten suicide submersibles.
When the I-58 was commissioned for service.
The I-58 had begun her service on the 13th of September in 1944 with the imperial Japanese submarine fleet at Sasebo in Nagasaki – which during the war was a major naval base and had a bustling population of 225,000 inhabitants.
She was manned by a crew of 105 sailors, who had lived and worked in her cramped confines with just enough room to manoeuvre past each other on daily duties. Her first open seas patrol was in January 1945.
From January to July in 1945, she had prowled the ocean, stalked and attacked merchant convoys and armed naval ships with her Kaitens, yet had failed to sink a single one.
Sinking of the USS Indianapolis.
On the 30th of July in 1945, however, providence had put the USS Indianapolis right in her path in the Philippines sea. The USS Indianapolis having completed its mission of transporting uranium and plutonium core to the Titian island was on its way to the island of Leyte in the Visayas archipelago for a training program.
The ship was completely oblivious to the presence of enemy submarines in the neighborhood, let alone the I-58. Despite the fact that U.S. code breakers had intercepted communication between the I-58 that was on patrol in the area and Japanese admiralty, previously.
Although it is quite possible, the I-58 may have first sighted the Indianapolis at Okinawa, as the Kamakazi mangled ship had limped into the captured Japanese fleet anchorage on the island of Kerama Retto and then made a run for repairs to the U.S., with an escort of twelve heavily armed naval ships.
Her success had come about unexpectedly on this day in July – as she had emerged from the depths of the ocean to replenish her oxygen supply and recharge her batteries in the dark, and by chance alone had spotted the lone Indianapolis in the distance.
Having assumed the heavy cruiser in the dark to be an Idaho class battleship, the I-58 had subsequently fired six torpedoes at an interval of four seconds -with each preset to run at a depth of twelve feet and at a peed of 46 knots per hour.
Two out these six torpedoes had hit and toppled the Indianapolis.
Keeping with her usual battle drill, she had then submerged to reload and had resurfaced only an hour later to check for flotsam and debris. Immediately afterwards, she had fled the scene, to avoid a counter-attack from any destroyer escort or aircraft that may have been in the vicinity.
Here in the icy cold waters of the Philippines sea, her attack on the USS Indianapolis was spurred neither by any personal motive or vengeance. Nor was it undertaken with foreknowledge of the fate that had awaited the sailors left afloat in the shark-infested waters. It was but a brief encounter of two opposing enemy ships in a violent and massive war.
A controversial sinking.
The sinking of the USS Indianapolis by the I-58 was once considered to be controversial. In the U.S at the time, many had believed that the I-58 had brought down the Indianapolis not with its arsenal of conventional Type 95 torpedoes but with its Kaiten submersibles.
Furthermore, the entwined fate of ship and submarine also did not end with the sinking of the Indianapolis and the decommission of the I-58 from the Japanese navy after the war.
Only Japanese commander to stand in as a witness in a U.S military trial.
Shortly after the surrender of Japan in September 1945, the I-58 had emerged once again from the depths to face the USS Indianapolis – this time in a court room.
In a military trial that was held to implicate Charles McVay III (captain of the USS Indianapolis) for negligence of duty that led to the death of some 880 of his crewmen, the captain of the I-58, Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, was called to Washington to testify against Charles McVay.
On the 13th of December in 1945, Mochitsura Hashimoto testimony was recorded in court. In his testimony and in response to the question as to whether he had deployed the Kaiten to bring down the Indianapolis, Hashimoto clearly stated to the use of conventional Type 95 torpedoes.
Furthermore, when questioned if it was possible for the I-58 to hit the Indianapolis, if the ship had engaged in a zigzag manoeuvre, Hashimoto had stated that he would have successfully hit the ship with a spread of torpedoes even if it had used the manoeuvre. Failing to use the zigzag manoeuvre to evade the torpedoes, was one of the charges levied against captain Charles McVay.
Mochitsura Hashimoto was the only Japanese commander to stand in as a witness in a U.S. Military trial during World War II, and against a U.S. commander. Hashimoto had also stood by the statements he made in the U.S. court for the rest of his life.
The photo.
This photo of the I-58 from 1944 was possibly taken by a member of the imperial Japanese navy or a technician at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. During the first day of the trial run, leakage had been discovered on board the I-58 and immediately attended to, and which had led the submarine to function smoothly on the second day.
Presently the I-58 lies at the bottom of the East China Sea, off the coast of the Goto Islands near Nagasaki. She was scuttled in 1946 by the U.S. navy, after her surrender at Kure in Hiroshima, Japan, 1945. Her target, the USS Indianapolis lies on the seabed of the Philippines sea.
I F I This is an Independent story produced to highlight this featured Vintage photo of Japanese submarine I-58 from 1944. The I-58 is widely known to be the Japanese submarine that sunk the USS Indianapolis. The story also highlights the court trial of commander Charles McVay III, captain of the Indianapolis and the testimony of Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of the I-58. It has been created from facts curated out of literary and historical sources. I
