Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Wars and ConflictsΒ  permalink

WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by WarsawPact (U1831709) on Friday, 20th November 2009

  Remarkable!
  
  "Aware of its inferiority in surface ships in the Pacific theatre, the Japanese Navy wished to take the fight to the enemy and the I-201 was given the task of approaching the US coast, surfacing, preparing and launching its aircraft within minutes.
  
  Designed as underwater aircraft carriers, they were able to stow three Aichi light bombers, with folded wings, in a hangar on the deck. The aircraft were designed to be catapulted from the deck and were fitted with floats to allow them to land on water once they returned from their missions.
  
  At 400ft long, the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-400 class were the largest submarines of the war and remained the largest constructed until the first nuclear ballistic missile boats rolled down slipways in the 1960s.
  
  The I-14 carried enough fuel to travel 37,000 miles – or around the world one-and-a-half times – and was three times the size of other submarines of the time. It had a crew of 144, displacement of 5,223 tons and a maximum operating depth of 330ft.
  
  Each of the Aichi Seiran bombers – whose existence was unknown to Allied intelligence – was able to carry an 800kg bomb over a distance of 650 miles at a speed of 295mph. A crew of four could ready the aircraft in 45 minutes after it emerged from the hangar on the deck and before it was launched from a 120-foot catapult on the deck."
  
  
  
  
  

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Grand Falcon Railroad (U3267675) on Friday, 20th November 2009

  Sounds pretty good but lets be frank 4 light bombers operating to attack anything but the most precision of targets (and given poor Japanese avionics/EW systems) would have been useless (unless just keeping the good people of San Diego awake with airraids is worthwhile) in the context of the whole war.
  
  Japan would have better off developing a long range bomber with which to attack deep into India - or actually instead of using all it's resources to attack right across the Pacfic to attack only in one direction.

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by WarsawPact (U1831709) on Friday, 20th November 2009

  I agree that the physical damage wouldn't have amounted to much, but the psychological effects on the American public and the consequent redeployment of anti-air and anti-submarine resources along the western US coastline, could have been significant.

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by PaulRyckier (U1753522) on Friday, 20th November 2009

  Warsaw Pact and Great Falcon,
  
  there is also the documentary that I saw some days ago while on the E-mail list of the Geographic Magazine:
  
  
  I see that it doesn't "work" directly to the video. So you have to click on "video" and so you can watch the three videos by clicking on the images.
  
  Great Falcon that was alo the opinion I had after watching the videos, but nevertheless I think Warsaw Pact has also a point.
  
  Warm regards to both,
  
  Paul.

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message4

• Message 5

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Mutatis_Mutandis (U8620894) on Friday, 20th November 2009

  This programme was the somewhat irrational outgrowth of the more sensible practice of using floatplane-carrying submarines for reconnaissance. Before the war, the Japanese Navy was considering submarine attack groups consisting of a mixture of three types: The 2400-ton A1 type submarine as command vessel; a C1 attack boat with eight torpedo tubes; and a B1 reconnaissance submarine with a long range and floatplanes to scout for targets. A B1, the I-25, was responsible for the only bombing attack on the mainland USA during the war, with its E14Y floatplane.
  
  Building a 4000-ton submarine armed with attack aircraft stretched the concept too far. Psychological effect -- perhaps. I remember seeing, in the naval museum in San Francisco, newspapers printed in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour, in which the headline news was the presence of Japanese aircraft over the Golden Gate... But by 1944 there was little reason to expect more panic.
  
  In late 1944, the did become more IJN realistic about the results that could be expected. After production facilities were damaged by an earthquake and bombing, further production of the M6A Seiran was abandoned.
  
  However, the planned but never executed mission to attack the Gatun locks of the Panama canal, could have had some impact. If they had succeeded in damaging the locks, restricting shipping through the Panama canal, the flow of forces from Europe (were the fighting was about to end) to the Pacific would have been delayed. It would not have changed the outcome of the war.
  

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message5

• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by FormerlyOldHermit (U3291242) on Monday, 23rd November 2009

  Although the payload would be quite small, apparently the plan was to drop incendiary devices on Californian forests and create forest fires.

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message6

• Message 7

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by Mutatis_Mutandis (U8620894) on Tuesday, 24th November 2009

  The specialized 'submarine carriers' would carry the M6A Seiran, which could lift a respectable warload: A torpedo or an 800 kg bomb, similar to carrier-based attack aircraft.
  
  The single attack with light incendiary bombs was executed by a E14Y reconnaissance floatplane from a a scouting submarine, a much lighter and smaller aircraft.
  
  The other method by which the Japanese tried to start forest fires was by floating balloons with on incendiary payload across the Pacific at high altitude, on the "jet stream".

  Link to this forum: WWII Japanese Submersible Aircraft Carriers

  Report message7

Back to top