Japanese submarine I-17
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| Career (Japan) |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Yokosuka Navy Yard |
| Commissioned: | 24 January 1941 |
| Fate: | Sunk on 19 August 1943 by HMNZS Tui and US Kingfisher float-planes |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,584 tons surfaced 3,654 tons submerged |
| Length: | 356.5 feet (108.7 m) |
| Beam: | 30.5 feet (9.3 m) |
| Draft: | 16.8 feet (5.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 diesels: 12,400 hp (9,250 kW) Electric motors: 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) |
| Speed: | 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h) surfaced 8 knots (15 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 14,000 nautical miles (25,928 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 100 m (330 ft) |
| Complement: | 94 officers and men |
| Armament: | 6 × 533 mm forward torpedo tubes 17 torpedoes 1 × 140 mm 50 calibre gun |
| Aircraft carried: | 1 Yokosuka E14Y seaplane |
I-17 was a Japanese B1 type submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy which saw service during World War II. She was the first Axis ship to shell the United States mainland.
Contents |
[edit] Service
[edit] Pearl harbor
During the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 I-17 patrolled north of Oahu. Its mission was to reconnoiter and engage any ships that tried to sortie from Pearl Harbor.[1]
[edit] Shelling the US mainland
On 23 February 1942 I-17 achieved some notability as the first Axis ship to shell the United States mainland. A few minutes after 7 pm she surfaced a few hundred yards off a beach 10 miles (16 km) north of Santa Barbara, California. Over 20 minutes she fired 17 shells from her 140 mm gun at the giant Richfield aviation fuel storage tanks on the hill behind the beach. The shots were mostly wild, one landing more than a mile inland. The closest shell exploded in a field 30 yards (27 m) from one of the tanks. The shelling did only minor damage to a pier and a pumphouse, but news of the shelling triggered an "invasion" scare along the West Coast.[1][2]
The following night the anti-aircraft defences in Los Angeles exploded into action in response to an imagined invasion (later to be known as the Battle of Los Angeles, against a supposed UFO). During a 30 minute fusillade, guns hurled 1,440 rounds of 3-inch (76 mm) and 37 mm ammunition into the night sky, and about ten tons of shrapnel and unexploded ammunition fell back on the city. [3]
[edit] Supply missions to Guadalcanal
In November 1942 I-17's 140 mm deck gun was removed and she set out for Guadalcanal on the first of many supply missions.[1]
[edit] Battle of the Bismarck Sea
On 2 March 1943 in the battle of the Bismarck Sea a Japanese convoy carrying troops to Lae was bombed and strafed by USAAF and RAAF planes for three successive days. All of the eight transports and cargo vessels in the convoy and four of the eight escorting destroyers were sunk. The Japanese in lifeboats, rafts and in the water were strafed by planes and PT boats. The I-17 was directed to the area.
On 5 March two PT boats, PT-143 and PT-150, discovered I-17 with three lifeboats full of survivors from the Bismarck Sea battle. The submarine was taking them on board. The I-17 crash dived as the PT boats strafed and fired torpedoes at her. The PT boats then sank the lifeboats with machine gun fire and depth charges. Several hours later, the I-17 resurfaced and picked up 33 surviving soldiers.
The following day I-17 rescued another 118 soldiers and 4 sailors. She then sailed to Lae and disembarked her 155 passengers.[1][4]
[edit] Torpedoing the Stanvac Manila
On 24 May 1943 100 miles (160 km) south off Noumea . I-17 sighted the 10,169 ton Panamanian flagged tanker Stanvac Manila. The tanker had six PT boats on board as cargo. At 0407, I-17's torpedo hit the tanker, flooding the engine and fire room and disabling all power and communications. At 1205 the Manila sank, taking the two PT boats PT-165 and PT-173 with her.[4] About 1300 the destroyer USS Preble arrived and towed three of the surviving PT boats, PT-167, PT-171 and PT-174 to Noumea. The remaining boat, PT-172, made Noumea under her own power. One life was lost.[1]
[edit] Loss
On 19 August 1943 40 miles (64 km) SE off Noumea. The I-17's Glen floatplane reconnoitered and spotted a convoy that has just cleared the harbour. After stowing the plane, the I-17 set out after the convoy. The New Zealand armed trawler HMNZS Tui, escorting the convey, picked up a submarine contact. She made an initial run over it without using depth charges, a second run dropping two depth charges, and a third run throwing another two depth charges. Then Tui lost contact.[5]
OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes of the US Scouting Squadron VS-57, from New Caledonia, joined the search[6] one of these planes indicated that Tui should investigate smoke on the horizon. The submarine was sighted on the surface and Tui opened fire at maximum range, scoring one and possibly two hits. The two shells exploded ahead of the periscope, with the submarine severely damaged and slid down beneath the waves, leaving a trail of bubbles and oil marking her path.
The submarine surfaced quickly five minutes later with the bow exiting at a steep angle. The floatplane strafed the deck of the large submarine keeping the submarine crew from manning the deck gun, briefly, and when the submariners reached their gun stations the sky was filled with anti-aircraft fire.
The Kingfishers then dropped further depth charges and the submarine sank at .[4] Ninety-one crewmen were lost. The Tui rescued six survivors who said that Tui's depth charge attacks had damaged the submarine and forced it to the surface and that the Kingfisher depth charges had finally sunk her.[5]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e Tabular Record of Movement: HIJMS Submarine I-17
- ^ California State Military Museum: The Shelling of Ellwood
- ^ Young, Donald J. Phantom Japanese Raid on Los Angeles Word War II Magazine, September issue 2003
- ^ a b c Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II: Chapter V: 1943
- ^ a b Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Page 327-328, Official History.
- ^ Carr, Jess W Vs-57 and the sinking of japanese submarine I-17, Naval Aviation News, Sept-Oct issue, 2001
[edit] References
- McDougall, R J (1989) New Zealand Naval Vessels. Page 59-61. Government Printing Office. ISBN 9780477013994
- Parshall, Jon; Hackett, Bob and Kingsepp, Sander. Imperial Japanese Navy Page: HIJMS Submarine I-17: Tabular Record of Movement. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- Official Chronology of the US Navy in World War II: Chapter V: 1943
- Waters, Sydney David (1956) The Royal New Zealand Navy, Official History.
[edit] Further reading
- Harker, Jack (2000)The Rockies: New Zealand Minesweepers at War. Silver Owl Press. ISBN 0959797998
[edit] External links
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