Sunken Aircraft Carrier Submarine Found off Hawaii Coast!

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Cool story. The I-400 was a japanese submarine that served as an aircraft carrier. Total length was a whopping 400 ft with a hangar measuring 150ft.

The Americicans sank it in 1945 off Hawaii's coast to keep the Russians from stealing the tech.

I never knew a sub could serve as an aircraft carrier!!!! I would imagine it would be an amazing weapon.

Apparently this was the first of three built by the Japanese tho Admiral Yamamoto order 18 more. The U.S. didn't even know they existed until the Japanese surrendered!!!! Wow!!

Each of these subs housed 3 seiran bombers. Man, this is cool!!

en.m.wikipedia.org...

I heard the plan for these was to take the planes and attack the locks on the Panama canal with torpedoes.
This would have forced the US to move ships from the East coast all the way South through Tierra Del Fuego at the tip of Chile adding weeks to any sea voyage.

This shows the problems involved with weapons planning, development and implementation. By the time the subs were ready nearly the whole Pacific Ocean was a US Navy lake.

they experimented early in the war with a "kit" plane. a japanese sub surfaced off of oregon and the "kit" plane was put together and placed in the water. it then took off and dropped two small bombs on an oregon town, causing minor damage. the pilot survived the war and returned to the town in the late 90's and presented the town with his family's ancestral sword.

blackthorne
they experimented early in the war with a "kit" plane. a japanese sub surfaced off of oregon and the "kit" plane was put together and placed in the water. it then took off and dropped two small bombs on an oregon town, causing minor damage. the pilot survived the war and returned to the town in the late 90's and presented the town with his family's ancestral sword.

This is the stuff they don't teach you!! Thanks for the post.

web.oregon.com...

Heres a link to the Oregon attack. I was unaware that this happened. I am amazed!!!

Hi plane-sub fans !

If you look at " good " TV, like " PBS ", you WILL know about
those subs, and LOTs of other good stuffs, often times
BEFORE reading it on a forum !!! B-)

This is it, long ago:
www.vpt.org...
www.vpt.org/show/9761/904

Blue skies.

C-JEAN
Hi plane-sub fans !

If you look at " good " TV, like " PBS ", you WILL know about
those subs, and LOTs of other good stuffs, often times
BEFORE reading it on a forum !!! B-)

This is it, long ago:
www.vpt.org...
www.vpt.org/show/9761/904

Blue skies.

I did watch a show on pbs years ago about a ww2 plane that was found (somewhere icy) and some gentlemen tried to get it up and running again. I believe then plane was named Key Bird(???). Great show. One of the mechanics pass away from illness before it was finished. Actually now that I'm typing this i believe while they were starting it the plane caught fire.

I saw an artist impression photo very recently of a modern design concept of this.

The idea is awesome.....theres been talk about how aircraft carriers that we know are outdated and do not fit into modern day warefare etc.

But a submersable aircraft carrier would be seriously a potent weapon.

The pic looked like a really wide submarine. The top was a landing and takeoff strip. So the sub surfaces, openings on top open up lifting planes to the runway and off they go.

You could literally deliver unbeknowned to the enemy, a massive aresenal of aircraft/helicopters/military personal by surprise a couple hundred metres off shore.......SURPRISE!

reply to post by catfishjoe


It was a B-29. They were taxiing to the runway on the ice, and someone left a can of kerosene on top of a heater. It tipped over and started a fire and the plane burned to the ground. It would have been the second B-29 in flying condition.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


They had sailed from Japan, and had reached a refuel point, but it had a US ship parked there, so they were supposed to move onto an alternate point, when they were ordered to surrender, because the war was over. Both subs were taken to Hawaii, along with another one based on improved U-boat technology from Germany, where they were examined by the US Navy. They were all sunk off Hawaii, because under the treaty they would have had to allow the Soviet Union access to them.

The sad end of "Kee-Bird":

en.wikipedia.org...

Submarine launched aircraft were more common than you might imagine, the first were operated in WWI:

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by squarehead666


Thanks to both of you. I watched it when I was a teenager and though it was a really good show.

catfishjoe

C-JEAN
Hi plane-sub fans !

If you look at " good " TV, like " PBS ", you WILL know about
those subs, and LOTs of other good stuffs, often times
BEFORE reading it on a forum !!! B-)

This is it, long ago:
www.vpt.org...
www.vpt.org/show/9761/904

Blue skies.

I did watch a show on pbs years ago about a ww2 plane that was found (somewhere icy) and some gentlemen tried to get it up and running again. I believe then plane was named Key Bird(???). Great show. One of the mechanics pass away from illness before it was finished. Actually now that I'm typing this i believe while they were starting it the plane caught fire.

I think the plane was a B29, the engines were replaced, and when tested, one caught fire, but there were no extinguishers to put out the engine fire, so it spread and destroyed most of the aircraft, damn shame.

reply to post by catfishjoe

Very cool. I wrote a paper on this for one of my classes. We were supposed to defend or oppose the US for dropping the atom bomb. Submarines with launch decks were key to Japan's delivery method when and if they were capable of creating the bomb. Some sources suggests that Japan was much closer to developing the bomb than we think. S&F

www.procomtours.com...

The sen toku. Awesome!!!

Pic's or it didn't happen..
second line for fun

reply to post by Zaphod58


Thanks for expanding my knowledge on that.
I wasn't aware of the deal we had with the Soviets.
Even if they did only declare war on Japan after we had dropped the atom bomb.
Damn Stalin - had to put his nose in everything,

reply to post by Asktheanimals


I used to live in Hawaii, so I have had a fascination with the Pacific theater since I was a kid. When I'd go to the hangar my father worked in I had to drive right past the Wing Headquarters buildings that still had the bullet holes in them from being strafed (they were barracks on that day). They still have the flag that was flying on display inside. Some of the hangars still had the original ceilings in them from prior to 1941 too, until they finally had to be replaced.