Shinyo (suicide boat)

The Shin'yō (Japanese: 震洋, "Sea Quake") were Japanese suicide boats developed during World War II. They were part of the wider Japanese Special Attack Units program.

Characteristics

These fast motorboats were driven by one man, to speeds of around 30 knots. They were typically equipped with two depth charges as explosives or a bow-mounted explosive charge. Those equipped with depth charges were not actually suicide boats, as the idea was to drop the depth charges and then turn around before the explosion took place. Although the chances of boat and crew surviving the wave from the explosion might seem slim, a small number of crewmen successfully escaped.^[1]

Approximately 6,200 Shin'yō were produced for the Imperial Japanese Navy and 3,000 Maru-ni for the Imperial Japanese Army.^[2] Around 400 boats were transported to Okinawa and Formosa, and the rest were stored on the coast of Japan for the ultimate defense against the expected invasion of the Home islands.

Operational results

• January 10, 1945: Sinking of American ships USS LCI(G)-365 (Landing Craft Infantry - Gunboat), USS LCI(M)-974 (Landing Craft Infantry - Mortar) and crippling of USS War Hawk (an auxiliary transport) in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines.
• January 31, 1945: Sinking of USS PC-1129 (Submarine chaser) off Nasugbu in Luzon, Philippines.
• February 16, 1945. Sinking of USS LCS(L)-7 (Landing Craft Support - Large), LCS(L)-26, and LCS(L)-49 off Mariveles, Corregidor Channel, Luzon.
• April 4, 1945. Sinking of USS LCI(G)-82 (Landing Craft Infantry - Gunboat) and USS LSM-12 (Landing Ship Medium) off Okinawa.
• April 27, 1945. Crippling of USS Hutchins (DD-476) in Buckner Bay, Okinawa.

Photos

References

External links

• Japanese suicide weapons
• Grave markers at sea: Record of sea-based special attack shinyo boats - review of memoir written by former Shin'yō pilot