 I-176, lead submarine of the class that includedI-177 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Submarine No. 155 |
| Builder | Kawasaki,Kobe, Japan |
| Laid down | 10 March 1941 |
| Renamed | I-77 on 17 December 1941 |
| Launched | 20 December 1941 |
| Renamed | I-177 on 20 May 1942 |
| Commissioned | 28 December 1942 |
| Fate | Sunk byUSS Samuel S. Miles off Palau, 3 October 1944 |
| Stricken | 1 March 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Kaidai type,KD7-class |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 105.5 m (346 ft 2 in) |
| Beam | 8.25 m (27 ft 1 in) |
| Draft | 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range |
|
| Test depth | 80 m (262 ft) |
| Complement | 86 |
| Armament |
|
I-177 was anImperial Japanese NavyKaidai-typecruiser submarine of the KD7subclass commissioned in 1942. She served duringWorld War II, patrolling offAustralia, taking part in theNew Guinea campaign, operating in theNorth Pacific, and participating in thePalau campaign before she was sunk by thedestroyer escortUSS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) in 1944, with no survivors.
Built byKawasaki atKobe,Japan, thesubmarine waslaid down asSubmarine No. 155 on 10 March 1941.[1][2] She was both renumberedI-77 and attached provisionally to theSasebo Naval District on 17 December 1941.[2]Launched on 20 December 1941,[1][2] she was renumberedI-177 on 20 May 1942.[1][2] She was completed andcommissioned on 28 December 1942.[1][2]
Upon commissioning,I-177 was assigned to the Kure SubmarineSquadron in theKure Naval District.[1][2] On 25 February 1943, she was reassigned to SubmarineDivision 22, which in turn was assigned directly to the6th Fleet, an element of theCombined Fleet.[1][2] Submarine Division 22 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 3 in the 6th Fleet on 15 March 1943.[1][2] On 30 March 1943,I-177 departedKure, Japan, in company with hersister shipI-178 bound forTruk Atoll, which she reached on 7 April 1943.[1][2]
I-177 got underway from Truk on 10 April 1943, assigned a patrol area off the east coast ofAustralia together withI-178 and the submarineI-180.[1][2] She was nearBrisbane, 20 nautical miles (37 km; 23 mi) southeast ofCape Byron on 26 April 1943 when she attacked anAlliedconvoy and sank the Britishcargo shipLimerick at28°54′S153°54′E / 28.900°S 153.900°E /-28.900; 153.900 (Limerick).[1][2] The convoy′s escorts counterattacked, dropping twodepth charges, butI-177 escaped damage.[1][2]
During the predawn hours of 14 May 1943,I-177, operating on the surface 40 nautical miles (74 km; 46 mi) east ofBrisbane, sighted the 3,222-ton Australianhospital shipAHS Centaur 24 nautical miles (44 km; 28 mi) east-northeast ofNorth Stradbroke Island.[2][3]Centaur had departedSydney,Australia, on 12 May 1943 bound forPort Moresby,New Guinea, viaCairns, Australia, to evacuate sick and wounded personnel during fighting in theNew Guinea campaign,[2][4] and was steaming northward in darkness[4] displaying the lights and markings required of a hospital ship in wartime under theHague Convention,[5]I-177 nonetheless submerged toperiscope depth and fired atorpedo atCentaur at 04:10 which struck her at 04:15.[2][6][7] The torpedo ignited a fuel tank, setting the ship ablaze.[6]Centaur rolled to port and sank within three minutes in 550 meters (1,804 ft) of water at27°17′S154°05′E / 27.283°S 154.083°E /-27.283; 154.083 (AHSCentaur).[2]I-177 surfaced nearby, then departed the area.[2]Centaur′s survivors drifted until 15 May 1943, hearingI-177′sdiesel engines as she passed through the area of the sinking again on the surface in the early-morning darkness of 15 May, before aRoyal Australian Air ForceAvro Ansonpatrol aircraft sighted them clinging to debris.[2][8] TheUnited States NavydestroyerUSS Mugford (DD-389) departed Brisbane to come to their assistance, arriving on the scene at 14:00 on 15 May and pulling them from the water.[2][8] Of the 332[8] or 333 (according to different sources) crew, patients, medical staff, and passengers on boardCentaur, only 64 survived.[2][8]I-177 concluded her patrol with her return to Truk on 23 May 1943.[2]
Following the end of thePacific War in August 1945, Australianwar crimes investigators investigated whetherI-177 and hercommanding officer,Commander Hajime Nakagawa, were responsible for sinkingCentaur, but they were unable to establish this beyond reasonable doubt. Several of the investigators suspected that Nakagawa andI-177 were most likely responsible. Nakagawa survived the war and refused to speak on the subject of the sinking ofCentaur, even to defend himself. However, Nakagawa was charged with ordering themachine-gunning of survivors from torpedoed ships on three different dates in February 1944 while in command of the submarineI-37. He was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment atSugamo Prison as a Class Bwar criminal. He died in 1991.[9]
I-177 departed Truk on 14 June 1943 to begin her second war patrol, again in an area off the east coast of Australia.[1][2] Almost immediately after arriving off Australia, she received orders on 30 June 1943 to move to theSolomon Islands betweenSanta Isabel Island and theNew Georgia Islands – where U.S. landings began theNew Georgia campaign that day – to attack U.S. landing forces offRendova Island.[1][2] She arrived in this new patrol area on 6 July 1943,[2] but her patrol was uneventful. On 20 July 1943, she was reassigned to theSoutheast Area Fleet,[2] and she concluded her patrol with her arrival atRabaul onNew Britain in theBismarck Archipelago on 24 July 1943.[1][2]
Upon arriving at Rabaul,I-177 was assigned to the support of Japanese forces fighting on New Guinea in the New Guinea campaign. She departed Rabaul on 7 August 1943 to make her first supply run to New Guinea.[1][2] She arrived atLae, New Guinea, on 9 August,[2] unloaded her cargo there, and headed back to Rabaul, which she reached on 11 August 1943.[1] Her next supply run began with her departure from Rabaul on 22 August 1943;[1] she unloaded at Lae on 24 August[2] and returned to Rabaul on 26 August 1943.[1] On 30 August 1943, Nakagawa leftI-177 to take command of the submarineI-37,[10] and Lieutenant Commander Zenji Orita becameI-177′s new commanding officer.[1][2]
I-177 began her third supply run on 1 September 1943, when she departed Rabaul in company with the submarineRo-106 for another trip to Lae,[1][2] where she arrived on 3 September and unloaded her cargo.[2] She made port at Rabaul on 5 September 1943.[1][2] She put to sea from Rabaul on both 6 and 8 September 1943, returning the same evening on both occasions.[2]
I-177 got underway from Rabaul on 10 September 1943[1][2] for her fourth supply run to Lae, which was threatened by a nearby landing on theHuon Peninsula by theAustralian Army′s9th Division that had taken place on 4 September 1943[2] as theSalamaua–Lae campaign neared its end. On 13 September, she received orders to divert to attack Allied landing forces atFinschhafen, New Guinea, but she found no targets there and resumed her voyage to Lae.[2] By the time she reached Lae on 14 September 1943, it was under attack by Allied forces.[2] She unloaded her cargo and put back to sea, where during the evening of 14 September she detected thepropeller noises of what her crew assessed as several U.S. Navy destroyers at a range of a few thousand yards while she was on the surface.[2] Assuming that the destroyers had detected her onradar, she submerged to hertest depth of 100 meters (328 ft) to await a depth-charge attack, but none came.[2] Orita concluded that the destroyers had failed to gainsonar contact onI-177 because of her depth and the negative effect ofthermoclines on sonar performance.[2] WhileI-177 was at sea, Submarine Division 22 was disbanded on 15 September 1943, and she was reassigned directly to the 6th Fleet.[1][2] She returned to Rabaul on 17 September 1943,[1][2] completing the Imperial Japanese Navy′s last supply run to Lae.[2]
On 19 September 1943,I-177 departed Rabaul′sSimpson Harbour to conduct deep-diving tests, then returned to the harbor later in the day.[2] On 21 September, she got underway from Rabaul for a supply run to Finschhafen.[1][2] While at sea, she received orders on 22 September to attack Allied landing forces in the Finschhafen area, so her crew dumped her deck cargo overboard and she headed for the landing area, which she reconnoitered on 23 September.[2] She did not attack any ships there, and proceeded to Finschhafen, where she unloaded the rest of her cargo on 24 September during lulls in Allied air attacks.[2] She again reconnoitered the landing area on 25 September 1943 and detected several Allied ships, but made no attacks.[2] She returned to Rabaul on 26 September 1943.[2]
On 2 October 1943,I-177 set out from Rabaul on her first supply run toSio, New Guinea.[1][2] She arrived there on 4 October, unloaded her cargo,[2] and returned to Rabaul, which she reached on 6 October.[1][2] On her second run, she departed Rabaul on 8 October,[1][2] unloaded at Sio on 10 October,[2] and returned to Rabaul on 12 October 1943.[1][2] That day, theUnited States Army Air ForcesFifth Air Force attacked Rabaul in what at the time was the largest air raid of the Pacific war, with 349 aircraft striking Rabaul's airfields andSimpson Harbour off Rabaul.[2] Moored in deep water,I-177 submerged and avoided damage during the raid.[2]
In October and November 1943,I-177 continued to make supply runs to Sio, departing Rabaul on 19 October,[1][2] visiting Sio on 21 October,[2] and returning to Rabaul on 23 October;[1][2] getting underway from Rabaul on 26 October,[1][2] discharging cargo at Sio on 28 October,[2] and arriving at Rabaul on 30 October 1943;[1][2] putting to sea from Rabaul on 2 November,[1][2] delivering her cargo at Sio on 4 November,[2] and making port at Rabaul on 6 November 1943;[1][2] and leaving Rabaul on 9 November,[1][2] calling at Sio on 11 November,[2] and returning to Rabaul on 13 November 1943.[1][2] On 20 November 1943, she departed Rabaul in company with the submarineRo-108 for her seventh supply run to Sio,[1][2] where she unloaded her cargo on 22 November.[2] She returned to Rabaul on 24 November 1943.[1][2]
In the immediate aftermath of theBattle of Cape St. George, fought on the night of 24–25 November 1943 in the waters betweenBuka Island andCape St. George onNew Ireland,I-177 got underway from Rabaul on 25 November to search for survivors of the sunken destroyerYugiri; she rescued 279 men and the submarineI-181 rescued 11.[1][2] AsI-177 returned to Rabaul, a U.S. NavyLockheed PV-1 Venturapatrol bomber ofPatrol Squadron 138 (VP-138) attacked her off Cape St. George on 26 November 1943, but she avoided damage.[2] She returned to Rabaul later that day, loaded provisions, and put back to sea the same day,[1] then again returned to Rabaul on 29 November 1943.[1][2]
I-177 loaded supplies for New Guinea at Rabaul on 30 November 1943,[2] and returned to her routine of supply runs: She departed Rabaul on 3 December 1943,[1] called at Sio on 5 December,[2] and returned to Rabaul on 7 December,[1] then got back underway on 12 December 1943,[1] visited Sio on 14 December,[2] and returned to Rabaul on 15 December.[1] Once again bound for Sio, she departed Rabaul on 16 December 1943[1] and discharged her cargo at Sio on 17 December,[2] then conducted a brief patrol south ofMarcus Bay on the coast of New Britain from 18 to 20 December[1][2] before returning to Rabaul on 21 December 1943.[1]
After leaving Rabaul on 23 December 1943[1] and discharging her cargo at Sio on 25 December 1943,[2]I-177 sighted several Alliedamphibious landing ships,[2] but did not attack them. She returned to Rabaul on 27 December 1943,[1] then put back to sea on 28 December[1] to make her first and only supply run toGarove Island, where she arrived on 30 December 1943.[2] She again made port at Rabaul on 1 January 1944.[1]
On 3 January 1944,I-177 departed Rabaul to begin her twelfth Sio supply run.[1][2] While at sea, she was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 1 on 5 January 1944.[2] She arrived off Sio at sunset on 8 January 1944 and made contact with Japanese troops ashore.[2] Adaihatsubarge came alongside and began loading cargo fromI-177, and a boat set out from shore carrying the commander of the18th Army,GeneralHatazō Adachi, the commander of the 7th Base Unit,Rear AdmiralKyuhachi Kudo, and ten of their staff officers.[2] Meanwhile, the U.S. NavyPT boatPT-146 detectedI-177 onradar at a range of 5,000 yards (4,600 m) and headed towardI-177 in company withPT-143.[2] One ofI-177′s lookouts spotted the approaching PT boats, promptingI-177 to submerge and Adachi′s boat, which had made it about halfway toI-177, to return to shore.[2] The two PT boats continued to search the area, later making a radar contact at a range of 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) and sightingI-177′speriscope at a range of 200 yards (180 m).[2] Each of them dropped two depth charges, butI-177 escaped damage.[2]
I-177 returned to Sio on the evening of 9 January 1944, but again found U.S. PT boats in the area, so she signaled Japanese forces on New Guinea that she would return on the evening of 10 January and requested their support in driving off the PT boats.[2] When she surfaced off Sio on 10 January, the PT boatsPT-320 andPT-323 approached, butI-177, armeddaihatsu barges, andsokoteis (armored barges armed withtankgun turrets) engaged the two PT boats and drove them off, andI-177 suffered no damage.[2] After taking Adachi and Kudo and their staffs aboard, she left Sio for the last time and proceeded toMadang, New Guinea, where her passengers disembarked at around 12:00 on 11 January 1944.[1][2] She returned to Rabaul on 15 January 1944.[1][2]
I-177′s arrival at Rabaul occurred a few days after the Japanese had decided to abandon it as a submarine base.[2] After only a brief stop, she got underway again on 15 January 1944, leaving Rabaul for the last time, calling at Truk from 18 to 20 January, and then heading for Sasebo, which she reached on 27 January 1944.[1][2] She underwent repairs at Sasebo.[1][2]
On 25 February 1944,I-177 was assigned to theNortheast Area Fleet for operations in theNorth Pacific.[2] After completion of her repairs, she departed Sasebo on 22 March 1944 and headed north, arriving atŌminato, Japan, on 25 March 1944.[1][2] She departedŌminato on 11 April 1944 to operate in the waters off theAleutian Islands, then returned to Ōminato on 27 May 1944.[1][2] She again put to sea from Ōminato on 8 June 1944 to conduct a war patrol in the North Pacific east of theKuril Islands.[1][2] It was uneventful, and after making an overnight stop at Ōminato from 22 to 23 June 1944, she headed for Yokosuka, where she arrived on 25 June 1944 and began repairs.[1][2] When Submarine Division 22 was disbanded on 10 August 1944, she was reassigned to Submarine Division 34.[1][2]
TheBattle of Peleliu andBattle of Angaur began in thePalau Islands on 15 September 1944 whenUnited States Marine Corps forces landed onPeleliu andUnited States Army forces onAngaur.[2] On 19 September 1944,I-177 departed Kure, Japan, with the commander of Submarine Division 34 embarked to conduct a war patrol off the Palaus, offHalmahera in the Japanese-occupiedNetherlands East Indies, and offMindanao in thePhilippine Islands.[1][2] When she arrived in her patrol area off the Palaus on 24 September 1944, she received orders to reconnoiterUlithi Atoll in theCaroline Islands.[2]
I-177 had completed her reconnaissance of Ulithi and was on the surface returning to her patrol area off the Palaus when a U.S. NavyPBM Marinerflying boat ofPatrol Bomber Squadron 16 (VPB-16) detected her on radar on the evening of 1 October 1944.[2] As the aircraft approached,I-177crash-dived, but not before the Mariner′s crew identified her as a Japanese submarine.[2] The Mariner dropped aMark 24 FIDOacoustic homing torpedo which inflicted heavy damage onI-177.[2] The Mariner then passedI-177′s position to a nearbyhunter-killer group centered around theescort aircraft carrierUSS Hoggatt Bay (CVE-75), which began a search forI-177.[2]
Hoggatt Bay was north-northeast of Angaur at 03:11 on 3 October 1944 when she made radar contact onI-177 at a range of 20,000 yards (18,300 m).[2] Thedestroyer escortUSS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) was detached fromHoggatt Bay′s screen to investigate.[2] At 04:40,Samuel S. Miles′s lookouts sightedI-177 on the surface and she steered towardI-177.[2]I-177 crash-dived, butSamuel S. Miles gained sonar contact on her.[2]Samuel S. Miles fired a salvo of 24Hedgehog projectiles, and then a second salvo that sankI-177 at07°48′N133°28′E / 7.800°N 133.467°E /7.800; 133.467 (I-177) with the loss of all 101 men on board, about 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from where the PBM attacked her.[2]
On 4 October 1944, the Japanese transmitted an order toI-177 to return after completing her reconnaissance of Ulithi Atoll, but she never acknowledged the order.[2] On 18 November 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy declared her to be presumed lost with all hands in the Palaus area.[2] The Japanese removed her from thenavy list on 1 March 1945.[2]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1943 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
