Chapter 7 Chapter II Submarine Operations in the Eastern Pacific

The first months of the war were marked by many unpleasant surprises and heart-wrenching events. In December 1941, when the submarine Yi｜169 was performing a reconnaissance mission at the entrance of Pearl Harbor, it was trapped in the anti-submarine net and could not get out.The boat tried to escape by using methods such as forward and reverse and water injection, but none of them worked.At that time, the enemy's destroyer was patrolling back and forth above its head, and the submarine could be spotted by the noisy direction finder of the enemy ship at any time.Since the ventilator could not be turned on to adjust the air, the carbon dioxide content in the boat continued to increase, making it difficult to breathe, and the crew were in danger of suffocation.In desperation, the captain ordered to retreat at full speed again, and the submarine suddenly broke free from the anti-submarine net.At this time, there was not much oxygen left in the boat, and there was no way out except to surface and fight to the death with the enemy destroyer.When the submarine surfaced, officers and men were prepared for the worst.But there were no destroyers nearby, and it was pitch black all around.However, it is still possible for the enemy to appear at this time.Soon, sure enough, several destroyers were suddenly discovered.Yi｜No. 169 quickly dived into deep water.This time it stayed in the water for a long time; ten minutes of staying on the water surface had already provided enough fresh air in the boat.The destroyer did not find the submarine, and left quickly. At that time, the US destroyer had not installed radar, and Yi｜169 was finally out of danger because of its strict observation.

Submarine I | 170 never came back after attacking Pearl Harbor.It was only learned after the war that the boat was attacked by a Dreadnought dive bomber (Russian version editor's note: Douglas Aircraft Company SBD | Type 6.) from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier.The submarine was seriously injured and unable to submerge, and was subsequently bombed and sunk by another aircraft (Note: According to reports from the United States, the Yi｜170 submarine was sunk about 200 nautical miles northeast of Oahu Island.). The Yi｜24 submarine sailed from the base again on January 3, 1942, heading for the waters of the Hawaiian Islands. On January 10th we were notified by another submarine that it had sighted a Lexington aircraft carrier.We joined Diving Team 2 and started chasing the aircraft carrier.We tracked the enemy ship with a radio direction finder and pursued it over the water for two days at a speed of 20 knots.Unfortunately, the valve of the submersible, which had been repaired in Kwajalin Island before the voyage, broke down again. We had to repair it ourselves, and finally eliminated the problem.In this way, the submarine can perform speed dives when necessary.

On the afternoon of January 12, the No. 6 submarine suddenly discovered an enemy aircraft carrier (Jack press: Saratoga).It dives underwater and attacks.Two torpedoes hit the target.At the time we thought the carrier had been sunk, but in reality it escaped with injuries.Nevertheless, this partial victory greatly boosted the morale of the submarine crews chasing the aircraft carrier. About a week later, we began to operate in the enemy's communication line along the northeast coast of the Hawaiian Islands.We were sailing at a depth of 27 meters when we suddenly heard continuous explosions.We estimated that this might be an airplane bombing us, but we don’t know how the enemy found us. After a while, the captain raised his periscope, but there was no oil stain on our boat exposed on the water.The reason why the enemy dropped the bomb is really puzzling.Perhaps the reconnaissance plane dropped the bombs before landing to lighten the burden before completing its daily flight missions.

Since enemy ships were rarely dispatched, we decided to return to Japan on January 20th.We were ordered to bombard Midway on our return voyage. On the evening of January 22, we approached the island in stealth with the submarine I|18.The sky was full of stars that night.Due to the proximity to the island, the watchmen stepped up observation.As we sailed into the island, we spotted a warship, which seemed to be a patrol ship, and immediately dived to avoid detection.Shortly thereafter we surfaced again and sighted Midway.We identified the island before dark.At dawn the next day, we dived again.As we approached Midway we spotted a large merchant vessel at anchor, with the torpedo tubes immediately at the ready.Unfortunately, the merchant ship was parked behind the reef, unable to torpedo it.As a result, we had to wait for the appointed bombardment time to arrive.At lunch, we all had a lively debate about whether to bombard if we didn't arrive at the designated location on time.I am in favor of shelling.There were still five minutes before the appointed time when we surfaced to prepare for the bombardment.I am the deputy commander and I am in charge of controlling the balance of the submarine in the boat, so I don't know the situation above. After we fired two or three shells, the enemy coastal artillery fired back at us, so we dived quickly.According to the captain, what we shot seemed to be the hangar, and after the fifth round, it seemed that the shore was on fire.In fact, this is the fire of the enemy's coastal artillery, not the hit we imagined.The first shells fired from the shore fell near the bows of our boats, which proved that the shore batteries were fired upon us.We were supposed to fire seven rounds, but because we were forced to dive, only six were fired.The Yi｜18 submarine was also fired by the enemy, without even firing a single shell.As noted above, the shore bombardment was a total failure.It would be better to wait for the anchored merchant ships to lift anchor and leave the port.

We sailed underwater for about four hours, then surfaced and headed west.Near the Ogasawara Islands, we entered the storm zone.Waves rolled over the foredeck and hit the protective glass of the bridge.I handed over the watch duty to the navigator, and went down to change the clothes that were wet by the waves.Suddenly there was a crash, a piece of shattered glass fell from the hatch, and a cry for help was heard at the same time.I hurried to the bridge and found that all the people on it, including the captain, had blood on their faces.It turned out that the waves broke the protective glass on the bridge, and the glass fragments injured the personnel on the bridge.I had no choice but to take over the duty shift and give first aid to the injured.