Chapter 14 CHAPTER IX SUPPLY TO THE DEFENDERS OF GUADAL CANAL

In July 1942, I graduated from the advanced course of the submarine school and was appointed as the captain of No. 31, Yokosuka Naval Base.Once aboard we were occupied with moment-to-moment drills and much-necessary experiments and studies. One day, a truck suddenly drove up on the wharf near the military port, and the truck was full of sacks of rice.A representative from the command asked us to conduct an unusual experiment of launching sacks of rice from torpedo tubes.At this time, the situation on Guadalcanal was so serious that it was very dangerous for our submarine to unload food to the island guards on the surface.So someone came up with the idea of ​​launching bags of grain out of torpedo tubes.

We spent three days experimenting with various methods.We launched cracker boxes full of rice, but a third of the boxes were crushed by the high pressure from the torpedo tubes, and the rice was scattered all over Tokyo Bay.Later, we put the rice in rubber bags, put them on the deck, and fixed them with special devices (collars).The submarine can be submerged and the collar released from inside the boat.Finally, we also experimented with launching rice in a torpedo-shaped wooden cylinder, but the wooden cylinder also burst like a rice bag.Before the test, we knew that this wooden torpedo would not work.Because when launching the wooden barrel, high pressure is needed to overcome the pressure of the seawater outside the board, but the wooden barrel cannot withstand such a large pressure; if high pressure is not used when launching, the wooden barrel cannot be launched.

At the end of the test, the commander of the Yokosuka base was in a bad mood. He told us about the difficult situation of the garrison on Guadalcanal Island and asked us to continue the test in this area. Due to the enemy's air superiority and our lack of airfields, our surface ships continued to suffer heavy losses.Therefore, destroyers and submarines have become the only means of transporting food to the garrison of Guadalcanal Island. After the failure of our army's third general offensive, it is actually impossible to repair the airport on the island.Therefore, the fate of the island guard troops depends entirely on whether the submarine can transport food there.

On the flagship of the submarine fleet at Turok, a meeting was held at which the current situation was discussed.The senior officers and submarine captains of the various teams believed that the delivery of food was not a matter for submarines, and they firmly opposed the use of submarines to die in order to deliver food to the troops guarding the island.But the Commander of the Submarine Fleet announced that it was the Emperor's order that His Majesty wanted us to deliver food to the defenders of Guadalcanal at any cost.The opponents fell silent.The submarine thus becomes a transport ship.At the time, most submarines were searching for enemy ships in the Pacific, Indian and Australian waters.After the above determination was made, they were all transferred to the waters of Guadalcanal Island.All submarines had one gun removed, leaving only two torpedo tubes aboard each boat.Although dismantling weapons can free up more places to load food, it greatly weakens the combat effectiveness of submarines.

On November 16, 1942, the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet issued an order which read as follows: The submarine was to load provisions at Buin Harbor, Bougainville, and proceed to Camimbo, Guadalcanal, along a route southwest of the New Georgia Islands.One submarine should be dispatched per day.If there are destroyers participating in the transportation at the same time, another route and active sea area should be specified for the destroyers so as not to affect the submarine's actions.When there are a large number of ships serving as transportation, the transportation activities of submarines can be stopped.In order not to interfere with the actions of our pocket submarines, all routes should pass south of Savo Island.The unloading of grain should mainly be carried out in the dark hours after sunset.

Although we suffered heavy losses, the food delivery to Guadalcanal continued from November 1942 to early February 1943, when our troops completely withdrew from Guadalcanal. three months. In early December 1942, eleven submarines followed the same method and delivered food to Buna, New Guinea. By January 1943, about 20 submarines (including the newest submarines) were serving as transport workers, and on February 7, all our troops withdrew from Guadalcanal Island.At this time, only two submarines continued to deliver food to New Guinea. Our method of delivering supplies is gradually improving.Initially, bales of rice were passed from inside the boat before being moved to the motorboat.Later, we packed the rice in rubber bags and fixed them on the deck.Since the rubber bag leaks, wooden barrels have been used instead of rubber bags since January. If the submarine is in danger when it surfaces at the designated unloading location, the crew can untie the barrel's fixing rope from the boat and float the barrel to water surface.

In the second half of January we used what is known as a cargo tube on Guadalcanal, and the unloading point was stipulated at Cape Esperance.The cargo tube is very similar to a landing craft with a deck. It can carry two tons of materials and uses two torpedoes as engines. It can travel at three knots and has a radius of movement of 3,650 meters.It is piloted by one person, and the driver can enter the cargo tube from the submerged submarine. When we delivered supplies to the defenders of Guadalcanal Island, we also used another method: put the food in a special tank, and then use the submarine to tow the tank.The tank can carry fifty tons of cargo and can be submerged with the submarine that tows it.However, this approach has not been widely adopted.

In early 1943, as the enemy gradually strengthened its forces on Guadalcanal, our chances of success dwindled.Still, one submarine a day fed the island's defenders, because there was nothing else to do.This method of supply was used until the end of the fighting on the island. On January 26, the I｜1 submarine left Rabaul under the command of the new captain, Lieutenant Sakamoto, and was expected to arrive at Guadalcanal Island three days later to unload supplies at night.During this period, supplies were delivered to the island every other day, as one submarine carried enough food to feed the 30,000 garrison on the island for two days.It takes four days for the submarine to make a round trip.After leaving Bougainville, the sub was submerged day or night; it only surfaced for four hours when it needed to recharge.The unloading location is still Cumming wave.

The submarine usually approaches anchorage in a semi-submerged state at dusk and passes the reef after careful reconnaissance.This time, Yi|1 was still sailing along a commonly used channel.But when passing the reef, as soon as the submarine raised its periscope, it was attacked by an American torpedo boat behind it.The torpedo boat strafed with its machine guns and fired torpedoes at the submarine from a distance of about 1,800 meters. Sakamoto immediately gave up his plan to cross the reef.Without waiting for the periscope to drop, he changed course and ordered to dive to a depth of twenty-seven meters in order to evade enemy attacks.The depth charge immediately exploded overhead, causing the hull to vibrate violently.The lights in the boat suddenly went out, the main switch on the switchboard was shaken off, all the motors stopped rotating, the steering gear failed, and various pumps stopped working.In addition, the high-pressure gas line was damaged, the battery failed, and the center cabin was in chaos.The submarine lost control and sank to the bottom of the sea with a bow trim of 45°.Unsecured cargo and items rolled toward the bow.Sakamoto ordered: Drain the main tank, back at full speed!Yi｜1's normal dive depth is 58 meters, and the pointer of the depth gauge is already at 137 meters.Apparently the depth gauges had become wildly inaccurate following the depth charges.While being frightened to death by the rapid dive of the submarine, a sailor in charge of the elevator at the stern reported that the pointer of the depth gauge did not move.The sub soon began to surface.But at this time someone reported: the torpedo cabin was flooded!The trim of the bow increases, and the food loaded on the boat slides to the bow.The submarine popped out of the water, but then sank again.Due to the excessive bow trim, it is practically impossible for the submarine to navigate underwater.Finally, the submarine touches the bottom of the sea.The time has come for urgent measures to be taken.After some efforts, the submarine finally surfaced and opened fire on the enemy destroyers and torpedo boats.Everyone on the bridge, except the navigator, was knocked down.The navigator grabbed the gangway and slid quickly to the center cabin, and shouted loudly: "Everyone, take your sabers, everyone, take your sabers!"This was the first news of the situation on the deck that the crew in the boat heard.The deputy captain took his saber and ran to the bridge, only to find that all the gunners had been knocked down and the captain was gone.He immediately called the reserve gunners.In the hazy twilight, he spotted a torpedo boat to the left rear of the submarine that for some reason was not firing.

Yi｜When No. 1 left Rabaul, the port diesel engine did not work.Therefore, it can only sail with one diesel engine, and the speed does not exceed twelve knots, so it is very difficult to maneuver.Nevertheless, the deputy chief suddenly turned the submarine to the left in an attempt to approach the enemy torpedo boat.The navigator was a good fencer. He held a saber and wanted to jump onto the torpedo boat, but the railing of the torpedo boat was too high. He held on to the railing with one hand, but his body was hanging in the air, so he couldn't jump over.At this time, the torpedo boat left the submarine, and the enemy opened fire on the submarine again. There were about three or four enemy ships around.After a while, the gasoline in the motorboat on the stern deck caught fire. The bright flames were like a big torch, and the enemy could clearly see the submarine, but the submarine could not see them.The enemy also turned on the searchlights, and two submarine hunters fired at the submarine with 50mm artillery and 20mm cannon.It was difficult to gauge the exact number of the enemy at the time, but in addition to the submarine hunters there were at least two torpedo boats.Yi｜1 continued to shoot with artillery, but the enemy boat had already circled to the stern of the submarine, which was very beneficial to the enemy.When the submarine was refitted, the stern gun was removed in order to accommodate the motorboat at the stern, so the situation of the submarine was very disadvantageous.The sub's machine guns fired tracer shells at a torpedo boat attacking from the stern, and some submariners fired rifles at the torpedo boat, but to no avail.On the contrary, the enemy fired accurately at the submarine, which was clearly illuminated by the fire, and the command room of the submarine was pierced with many holes by shells.The steering gear was also damaged and had to be switched to manual steering.

The torpedo boat fired three torpedoes at the submarine, but none of them hit.Just as the deputy chief was concentrating on giving the order, a shell from a 140mm artillery hit a submarine hunter, and the boat sank amidst the cheers of the submarine crew. At this time, an enemy torpedo boat on the starboard side of the submarine suddenly launched an attack, and the submarine crew immediately counterattacked with rifles.After a while, the enemy boat stopped firing, probably because its ammunition had been exhausted, but it still continued to approach the submarine, hit the submarine, and then sailed away. Yi｜No. 1 was on the verge of extinction after an hour and a half of hard work.The water tank is full of holes.The deputy chief decided to run the boat aground and sailed towards the shore.After running aground, the stern of the boat sank in the water, while the bow of the boat slanted out of the water, and the hull tilted sharply to port (Note: According to US data, Yi｜1 was destroyed by the Wingless Bird at 21:05. Attacks by two corvettes, the Moa and the Moa. The Zodiac rammed the I|1 twice and fired a number of shells at it, and then the Moa continued to bombard the ship and forced it to run aground.).The crew on the upper deck immediately left the boat and went ashore, but the more than 30 crew members in the cabin could not escape, because the seawater suddenly poured in and blocked their way out. The fifty survivors gathered on the shore, They had two sabers and three rifles in all.It is worth noting that although Yi｜1 was beaten with loopholes everywhere, it was still supported on the water surface for a long time, which was due to the continuous work of the low-pressure drainage pump.Under normal circumstances, the low-pressure drainage pump can only work continuously for fifteen minutes, because it will heat up quickly. When the submarine was about to sink, the crew prepared to destroy the secret documents, but only part of them were actually destroyed.In order not to attract the attention of enemy planes, this part of the document was just torn into pieces, buried in the sand, and not burned.Some secret documents still remained on the boat, which might fall into the hands of the enemy, so the command ordered the crew to destroy them as well.For this reason, under the command of an officer, three sailors came to the place where the submarine ran aground in the dark and blew up the submarine.The crew who disembarked later were evacuated by destroyers.In order to ensure that the secret documents would not fall into the enemy's hands, a submarine was ordered to completely blow up the Yi|1 that had sunk to the bottom of the sea.A plane was also sent to complete the same task, but it did not find the wreckage of the boat (Note: According to American sources, despite the above measures taken by the Japanese, the Americans still recovered many of the wreckage from the sunken Yi｜1 document.).