 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Japan | |
| Name | Submarine No. 375 |
| Builder | Sasebo Naval Arsenal,Sasebo, Japan |
| Laid down | 15 July 1942 |
| Renamed | I-45 on 5 February 1943 |
| Launched | 6 March 1943 |
| Completed | 28 December 1943 |
| Commissioned | 28 December 1943 |
| Fate | Sunk 29 October 1944 |
| Stricken | 10 March 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Type B2 submarine |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 356.5 ft (108.7 m) |
| Beam | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Range | 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Test depth | 100 m (330 ft) |
| Complement | 114 |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 1 xfloatplane (removed October–February 1945) |
| Aviation facilities | Hangar andcatapult (removed October–February 1945) |
I-45 was anImperial Japanese NavyType B2 submarine. Completed and commissioned in December 1943, she served inWorld War II, patrolling in thePacific Ocean and taking part in theMarianas campaign, thePhilippines campaign, and theBattle of Leyte Gulf before she was sunk in October 1944.
I-45 waslaid down on 15 July 1942 by theSasebo Naval Arsenal atSasebo,Japan, with the nameSubmarine No. 375.[1] On 5 February 1943, she was renamedI-45 and provisionally attached to theYokosuka Naval District.[1] She waslaunched on 6 March 1943[1] and completed andcommissioned on 28 December 1943.[1]
Upon commissioning,I-45 was attached formally to theYokosuka Naval District and was assigned to SubmarineSquadron 11 for workups in theIyo-nada in theSeto Inland Sea.[1] She called at theTokuyama Fuel Depot from 22 to 23 February 1944 to refuel.[1]
On 25 March 1944,I-45 was reassigned to Submarine Division 15 in the6th Fleet.[1] She departedKure, Japan, that day to begin her first war patrol, assigned a patrol area in the Pacific Ocean east of theMarshall Islands.[1]
Alerted byUltra intelligence information to the operations ofI-45 and the submarinesI-16,I-36, andI-38 between the Marshalls and Hawaii,United States Pacific Fleet Headquarters organizedTask Group 11.1 — aUnited States Navyhunter-killer group consisting of theescort aircraft carrierUSS Altamaha (CVE-18) and thedestroyer escortsUSS Cabana (DE-260),USS Elden (DE-264),USS Harold C. Thomas (DE-21), andUSS Wileman (DE-22) — on 30 March 1944 to find and sink them.[1][2] The group′s first success[2] against the submarines came at 14:08 on 4 April 1944, when aTBM-1C Avengertorpedo bomber and anFM-2 Wildcatfighter ofComposite Squadron 66 (VC-66) fromAltamaha flying 108 nautical miles (200 km; 124 mi) west of the carrier spottedI-45 on the surface recharging herbatteries 650 nautical miles (1,200 km; 750 mi) northeast ofMajuro.[1] While the WildcatstrafedI-45, the Avenger attacked her withrockets anddepth charges.[1]I-45 suffered a direct hit on herstern and developed a serious leak.[1]I-45′scommanding officer ordered her to go to full speed astern and dive.[1] The aircraft crews last sawI-45 settling in a large oil slick with no forward momentum and received credit for sinking a submarine.[1]I-45, meanwhile, submerged.[1] When her commanding officer then ordered full speed ahead, her crew lost control of her and she began a rotating dive.[1] She reached 490 feet (149 m) before her crew could stop her descent, and she finally stabilized at 330 feet (101 m).[1]
Although she survived the attack,I-45 had suffered heavy damage, forcing her to return to Japan.[1] She reachedYokosuka, Japan, on 15 April 1944[1] and in late April began repairs atKure Naval Arsenal at Kure which lasted until late May 1944.[1]
On 12 June 1944, U.S. landings onSaipan began both theBattle of Saipan and theMarianas campaign, and on 13 June the commander-in-chief of theCombined Fleet,AdmiralSoemu Toyoda, activated Operation A-Go for the defense of theMariana Islands.[1] On 28 June 1944,I-45 departed Yokosuka in company with the submarineI-55 bound forTinian in the Marianas and carrying anUnkato cargo container[1] — a 135-foot (41.1 m) submersible cargo container that could carry up to 377 tons of supplies, designed for a one-way trip in which the cargo′s recipients released, recovered, and unloaded it[3] — loaded with weapons and ammunition.[1] Encountering heavy seas during her voyage,[1] she was redirected toGuam to pick upImperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilots who were stranded there.[1] She attempted to contact Japanese forces ashore on Guam on both 14 and 16 July 1944 to deliver herUnkato and pick up the airmen, but failed on each occasion because of a communications mix-up.[1] After the second failure, she dumped theUnkato container overboard and headed back to Japan.[1] She arrived at Yokosuka on 27 July 1944, and later moved to Kure.[1]
The commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, AdmiralSoemu Toyoda, activated Operation Shō-Gō 1 for the defense of thePhilippine Islands on 13 October 1944.[1]I-45 departed Kure on the same day to begin her second war patrol, assigned a patrol area in thePhilippine Sea.[1] U.S. forces landed onLeyte in the Philippines on 20 October 1944, beginning both theBattle of Leyte and thePhilippines campaign, and the Japanese naval reaction to the invasion resulted in theBattle of Leyte Gulf of 23–26 October 1944.[1] On 24 October 1944, the second day of the battle,I-45 and the submarinesI-26,I-37,I-53,I-54, andI-56 were designated Submarine Group A under the direct command of the commander-in-chief of the 6th Fleet,Vice AdmiralShigeyoshi Miwa,[1] andI-45 received orders to move to patrol station "Re" off the northeast coast ofMindanao.[1]
On 29 October 1944, thedestroyer escortsUSS Eversole (DE-404) andUSS Richard S. Bull (DE-402) were in thePhilippine Sea steaming fromSan Pedro Bay in the Philippines to rejoinTask Unit 77.7.1 whenEversole picked up a doubtfulsonar contact 60 nautical miles (110 km; 69 mi) east ofDinagat Island at 02:10.[1] She soon lost the contact, but at 02:28, two torpedoes struck her, causing her to lose all power and take on a 30-degree list.[1] Her crew began to abandon ship at 02:40, and in less than 15 minutesEversole sank stern-first at10°18′N127°37′E / 10.300°N 127.617°E /10.300; 127.617 (USSEversole).[1]I-45 surfaced at around 03:00 and circled the site of the sinking, briefly opening fire on survivors in the water with herType 96 25mmantiaircraft gun.[1] She dived at around 03:20.[1]
At 03:25 a large underwater explosion occurred, apparently from the sunkenEversole, killing about 30 survivors in the water and injuring others.[1] The explosion alertedRichard S. Bull, which arrived on the scene and began a rescue operation while the destroyer escortUSS Whitehurst (DE-634), which had been detached from the screen of a passingfleet oiler unit, providedantisubmarine cover.[1] By 06:30,Richard S. Bull had pulled the last of 139 survivors from the water, three of whom later died.[1] Including them,Eversole′s crew suffered 77 dead in the sinking.[1]
Meanwhile, at 05:45Whitehurst detected a submerged submarine — probablyI-45 — on sonar 85 nautical miles (157 km; 98 mi) northeast ofSiargao, about 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) from the site ofEversole′s sinking.[1] AfterWhitehurst made three unsuccessfulHedgehog attacks,[1] the submarine — whichWhitehurst′s commanding officer later described as displaying "excellent evasive tactics and maneuverability,"[1] continually turning away from attacks and presenting her stern andwake toWhitehurst[1] — tried to escape at a depth of 225 feet (69 m).[1] At 06:48,Whitehurst conducted a fourth Hedgehog attack, which this time resulted in five or six small explosions, followed by a large underwater explosion that disabledWhitehurst′s sound gear and heavy rumbling noises.[1]Whitehurst resumed her search for the submarine at 07:20 and noted a large amount of oil on the surface as well as wood and other debris, some of which hermotorwhaleboat recovered.[1] She suspended her search at 12:15.[1] The explosions, oil, and debris marked the sinking of the submarine, presumablyI-45, at10°10′N127°28′E / 10.167°N 127.467°E /10.167; 127.467 (I-45).[1]
The 6th Fleet issued orders toI-45 on 5 November 1944 to move to a new patrol area east ofLamon Bay, but she never acknowledged them.[1] On 2 December 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy declaredI-45 to be presumed lost off the Philippines with the loss of all 104 men aboard.[1] She was stricken from the Navy list on 10 March 1945.[1]
