Kaiten is the top-secret Japanese suiciding submarine which started developing in 1943-1944, and that's two years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Japan needed something to stop the U.S. from advancing. USS Mississinewa, the Miss as nicknamed by its crew. was a fast-fleet oiler that's heading towards the battlefront in mid-1944. In the timeline below, I'm going to be marking Kaiten events blue and USS Mississinewa red.
7 December 1941 Bombing of Pearl Harbor
4 June 1942 Battle of Midway
3 March 1943 Petition from Kuroki to Yamamoto to develop Kaiten.
9 April 1943 Death of Yamamoto, in Solomon Islands aerial ambush.
18 May 1944 Testing of USS Mississinewa (AO-59), a newly developed oiler.
19 June 1944 Battle of Philippine sea, made Japan's situation even worse. *
25 July 1944 Sea trial of two Kaitens by the co-inventors.
26 August 1944 USS Mississinewa arrives in Admiralty Islands.
20 October 1944 Japan's Kamikaze crew formed, after overwhelming losses in Formosa.
21 October 1944 USS Mississinewa enters Ulithi Lagoon, first time.
9 November 1944 Kikusui Mission departed from Japan, three submarines each carrying four kaiten.
19 November 1944 Japan Submarine I-37 sunk by USS Conklin (DE-439), more Japanese resource & manpower lost.
20 November 1944 USS Mississinewa sunk by kaiten coinventor Sekio Nishina, sixty-three crew lost.
23 January 1945 Attack on Ulithi Atoll, the death of Yoshimoto.
24 July 1945 A kaiten destroyed by USS Underhill with sacrifices.
15 August 1945 Japan surrenders. VJ day.
*The Battle of Philippine Sea, Japanese lose three aircraft carriers and had to fight defensively for the fact that they didn't have enough aircraft carriers to go offensive, which changed the war from invading the USA to defending themselves.
*Information for Timeline comes from the book Kaiten by Joy Waldron and Mike Mair.
4 June 1942 Battle of Midway
3 March 1943 Petition from Kuroki to Yamamoto to develop Kaiten.
9 April 1943 Death of Yamamoto, in Solomon Islands aerial ambush.
18 May 1944 Testing of USS Mississinewa (AO-59), a newly developed oiler.
19 June 1944 Battle of Philippine sea, made Japan's situation even worse. *
25 July 1944 Sea trial of two Kaitens by the co-inventors.
26 August 1944 USS Mississinewa arrives in Admiralty Islands.
20 October 1944 Japan's Kamikaze crew formed, after overwhelming losses in Formosa.
21 October 1944 USS Mississinewa enters Ulithi Lagoon, first time.
9 November 1944 Kikusui Mission departed from Japan, three submarines each carrying four kaiten.
19 November 1944 Japan Submarine I-37 sunk by USS Conklin (DE-439), more Japanese resource & manpower lost.
20 November 1944 USS Mississinewa sunk by kaiten coinventor Sekio Nishina, sixty-three crew lost.
23 January 1945 Attack on Ulithi Atoll, the death of Yoshimoto.
24 July 1945 A kaiten destroyed by USS Underhill with sacrifices.
15 August 1945 Japan surrenders. VJ day.
*The Battle of Philippine Sea, Japanese lose three aircraft carriers and had to fight defensively for the fact that they didn't have enough aircraft carriers to go offensive, which changed the war from invading the USA to defending themselves.
*Information for Timeline comes from the book Kaiten by Joy Waldron and Mike Mair.
*Japan mother submarine I-47 and I-36, each carried four kaiten while heading to Ulithi on November 9, 1944.
|
*USS Mississinewa (AO-59), the Miss, fueling. It's a fast-fleet oiler, one of the most advanced ones at the time. |
"Heroic? I suppose it was a temporary insanity. You don't wake up thinking "I'm going to be a hero today." You do your best because you don't want to lose any more lives. Your fellow soldiers were closer to you than your family."
----Daniel Inouye (1924-2012), late U.S. senator from Hawaii. Lost an arm on the battle April 21, 1945, but also took out a machine gunner's nest with a grenade.
----Daniel Inouye (1924-2012), late U.S. senator from Hawaii. Lost an arm on the battle April 21, 1945, but also took out a machine gunner's nest with a grenade.
|
|
|
The First picture on the left is another picture of the sinking of USS Mississinewa, the second picture is kaiten pilots salutes Adm Niwa as pilots board kaiten, Nishina is the second from the left. The third picture, are Murderers Row at Ulithi Harbor.
