Japanese submarine I-26
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Commissioned: | 6 November 1941 |
| Struck: | 10 March 1945 |
| Fate: | Sunk in action, 26 October 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 2,584 tons surfaced 3,654 tons submerged |
| Length: | 108.7 m (356.5 ft) |
| Beam: | 9.3 m (30.5 ft) |
| Draft: | 5.1 m (16.8 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 diesels: 12,400 hp electric motors: 2,000 hp |
| Speed: | 23.5 knots (44 km/h) surfaced 8 knots (15km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 14,000 nm at 16 knots (26,000 km at 30 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 100 m (300 ft) |
| Complement: | 94 officers and men |
| Armament: | 6 × 533 mm torpedo tubes fwd (17 torpedoes) 1 × 140 mm/50 cal. gun |
| Aircraft carried: | one seaplane |
I-26 was a Japanese B1 type submarine which saw service in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She was completed and commissioned at the Kure Dockyard on 6 November 1941, under the command of Commander Yokota Minoru.
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[edit] Patrols on the US and Canadian West Coast
On 7 December 1941, the I-26 sank the U.S. Army chartered schooner Cynthia Olson[1] 300 nmi (550 km) off the coast of California — the first American merchant ship to be sunk by a Japanese submarine in the war.
In the evening of June 20, 1942, while patrolling off the coast of British Columbia, I-26 surfaced and shelled the lighthouse and radio-direction-finding (RDF) installation at Estevan Point.[2] This simple act caused a disproportionate effect on coastal shipping, as all lighthouses along the coast were then extinguished for fear of their use by enemy vessels.[3]
In the Afternoon of June 20 1942 I-26 torpedoed the freighter Fort Camosun carrying munitions off the cost of Cape Flattery Washington
[edit] Pacific actions
On 31 August 1942, she crippled the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) at with one torpedo hit (out of six launched).[4]
On 13 November, during the Third Battle of the Solomon Sea (American: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal), she also hit the badly-damaged cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) at . I-26’s torpedo set off Juneau’s magazine, blowing the ship in half; only ten of the ship's 650-man crew were ultimately rescued, not including the five Sullivan brothers.[5]
On the night of 25–26 October 1944, in the aftermath of the Battle off Samar, I-26 attacked USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) off Leyte. I-26 was sunk by either USS Coolbaugh (DE-217) or USS Richard M. Rowell (DE-403).
The last contact with I-26 was on 25 October; she was officially presumed lost east of Leyte on 21 November 1944. I-26 was finally removed from the Navy List on 10 March 1945. I-26 was the IJN's third highest scoring submarine in terms of tonnage sunk, sinking more than 51,500 tons.
[edit] Commanding officers
- Cmdr. Minoru Yokota — 6 November 1941 – 18 September 1943
- Lt. Cmdr. Toshio Kusaka — 18 September 1943 – 1 August 1944
- Lt. Cmdr. Shoichi Nishiuchi — 1 August 1944 – 26 October 1944 (KIA)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Artfiberglass.com, The SS Cynthia Olson
- ^ Historylink.org, Japanese submarine sinks the SS Coast Trader on June 7, 1942.
- ^ Rc-sub.com, Japanese "B" Class Project
- ^ USS Saratoga Association, Saratoga V
- ^ History.navy.mil, Juneau
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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