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Submarine aircraft carriers of the Japanese Empire.

Two submarine aircraft carriers will be able to attack the continent from different sides to its entire depth. That is, in fact, there will be no place left where the American population would feel completely safe

Alexey Overchuk

The United States is called the hegemon of the World Ocean - this status is ensured by aircraft carrier strike groups. All great powers are developing a system to counter them, but counteraction is not the same as an alternative, much less a challenge. However, such a challenge could be a Russian nuclear submarine aircraft carrier. And this idea is not as paradoxical as it seems at first glance.

At the General Staff of the Russian Navy, portraits of great Russian naval commanders are hung on the walls. These people opened up such territories for our country as the Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Truk and much more. Now these resorts belong to the USA, France or the British Commonwealth, but they could and even wanted to become part of Russia.

But Alexander I refused to accept the King of the Hawaiian Islands as a subject. Alexander II gave Alaska for next to nothing. Alexander III did not want to occupy land in New Guinea. Russian emperors avoided getting involved with such territories for one simple reason: Russia did not have and still does not have a truly powerful navy that could, if necessary, blockade any country in the world in any corner of the globe, as the Americans can do.

The experience of the world wars has shown that the Black Sea and Baltic fleets are easily blocked not even by cruisers or battleships, but by ordinary boats. The operation in Syria proved that without a powerful fleet it is extremely difficult to help overseas allies. However, Russia still mainly builds frigates, corvettes, combat boats, landing assault boats, and auxiliary vessels, that is, ships for sailing in shallow waters. The output is a fleet for blind defense.

To dominate the world, you need space. It is necessary to have at least one classic aircraft carrier strike group on a combat campaign in each sea-ocean - or something that could replace it. One of the most ambitious and breakthrough projects in this sense can be considered the idea of an underwater nuclear aircraft carrier.

Rodents for Uncle Sam

The first people to think about underwater aircraft carriers were in samurai Japan. In 1932, the I-2 submarine of the J-1M project was launched from the stocks, inside which there was a sealed hangar for the Caspar U-1 reconnaissance aircraft.

Despite a number of failures and difficulties associated with this know-how, Japanese sailors came to the conclusion that an underwater aircraft carrier was not such an absurd idea. By 1935, the improved submarine I-6 was built. However, the military did not like the fact that the plane always had to be lowered into the water by a special crane.

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese naval forces immediately received three improved reconnaissance boats on board - I-9, I-10 and I-11. It was the submarine I-9 that eventually launched a plane into the sky to film the results of the attack on the American base. And on September 9, 1942, an even more advanced Project B1 submarine struck the first blow directly on the United States: a Yokosuka E14Y aircraft dropped several incendiary bombs on a forest in Oregon, but the Americans were saved by luck and rainy weather - the fire did not break out.

The crown of Japanese thought was the boat I-400, about 120 meters long. The submarine carried 20 torpedoes and four aircraft, which were armed with two 250-kilogram bombs. The Japanese even wanted to dump special containers with rodents infected with cholera and anthrax into the United States. Did not work out. But the I-400 series submarines became the largest submarines in the world.

At the end of the war, the sea samurai possessed dozens of aircraft-carrying submarines different classes and modifications. This submarine fleet could deliver over fifty aircraft with biological or chemical weapons. And then history would have taken a completely different path.

The American military was shocked when they realized what kind of trouble had passed their prosperous continent. And the conclusions drawn were comprehensive.

In March 1946, in full accordance with previously reached agreements, Moscow demanded that Soviet specialists be given access to Japanese submarine aircraft carriers. After that, the Americans simply sank all the Japanese submarines. This is another fateful turn of history that never happened: if the Soviet Union had received samurai technology in those years, the hegemony of the United States and Britain in the World Ocean would have come to an end sooner or later.

Germany, England and France also tried to create underwater aircraft carriers, but did not advance further than experimental models with a small reconnaissance aircraft. After a series of failures, the Europeans gave up on the ambitious project and turned to the surface fleet.

Deadly Russian"Pheasant"

Today, rumors are actively circulating on the Internet that Russia is also creating a nuclear submarine aircraft carrier. At the same time, the messages are illustrated with a picture of a huge submarine with an airfield on its back, where modern fighters are preparing to take off.

This project has already received a ton of criticism - every single Kingston of a nuclear submarine has been ridiculed. But the question is, where does the information come from that an underwater aircraft carrier will look exactly like this? It is clear that a backbone airfield simply will not allow the submarine to either swim underwater or surface. This is just an artist's fantasy.

The airfield should be streamlined, under the hull of the boat itself. Instead of the designer's take-off fighters, sailors will most likely use tailsitter-type VTOL attack drones, that is, an aircraft that can take off and land in a vertical position. It is reliably known that such a device is already being developed for the Russian Ministry of Defense, and its name is “Pheasant”.

After lifting off from the launch pad, this machine gains altitude, speed and then switches to the usual horizontal flight mode. At the same time, the Pheasant can carry on board not only reconnaissance equipment, but also strike systems. Its estimated speed is 350-400 kilometers per hour, its flight range is two thousand kilometers.

A nuclear submarine can have several dozen such machines on board - a lot of them can fit upright. The same applies to ammunition for the Pheasant weapons.

By firing these machines from missile silos or launching a flock from the surface, the nuclear-powered submarine aircraft carrier quickly retreats to the intended assembly site. Meanwhile, a swarm of drones unexpectedly attacks an American group of ships, a naval base, or rushes to strike 500 kilometers deep into the continent. After this, the remnants of the detachment can return to the gathering place for repairs, maintenance and replenishment of ammunition.

The Russian military will not have to spend money on expensive training and equally expensive maintenance for naval aviation pilots. Moreover, the cost of the Pheasant is much less than a modern fighter, and the loss of a drone will not be perceived by anyone as a tragedy.

But the main advantages of a nuclear submarine aircraft carrier are its stealth and the sudden appearance of combat drones over the enemy. Any American aircraft carrier with a group of ships is like a cemetery orchestra, heard a mile away. And tracking a nuclear submarine is almost impossible. It could appear almost anywhere off the US coast and strike.

From the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States, the average distance is about 4,500 kilometers. Two submarine aircraft carriers will be able to attack the continent from different sides to its entire depth. That is, in fact, there will be no place left where the American population would feel completely safe.

If such a project can be implemented, Russia will become the most powerful maritime power. But classic aircraft carriers have already outlived their usefulness.

There are many known cases when, in a training battle, such ships were hit with impunity by submarines of various classes. The Americans were successfully “drowned” by the Swedes, Canadians, French, British and even the Czechs and Chileans.

According to experts, in a modern war any aircraft carrier will survive for no more than two hours, and pilots, taking off from their floating airfield, can look for an alternate landing site in advance.

And the day is not far when US aircraft carriers will remind us not of formidable and deadly weapons, but of the elusive Joe from the joke - who needs him?

I recently heard about underwater aircraft carriers and decided to look for material on the Internet. First I found an article by Tim Skorenko, and later more detailed information about the Japanese project. I post it in the same order (Vengador)

Of course, there were many projects similar in principle to aircraft-submarines. The most characteristic - and fully realized - were the so-called “submarine aircraft carriers” - submarines carrying aircraft.

In 1942, the construction of similar devices began in Japan, and in 1944, two aircraft carrier submarines I-400 and I-401 were launched. They carried three specialized Seiran M6A fighters. Light aircraft were launched on the surface of the boat using a catapult, the launch was carried out in 30 minutes. The aircraft could independently return to the ground base after the operation. However, there was a modification of the Seiranov without a chassis - for kamikazes. Their launch was easier, 14 minutes for everything. But the end of the war was approaching. The construction of the remaining laid down boats (numbers 402, 403 and 404) was suspended due to the high cost of the project. Only 20 “Seirans” were produced. The cockpits of the fighters were sealed in case they had to launch directly from under water. In addition, two light submarines I-13 and I-14 were manufactured to carry one fighter. The first combat "swim" of the submarines was planned for August 17, 1945, but they did not reach the target, then it was postponed until August 25, and on September 2 Japan capitulated, never allowing the ambitious project to be realized. However, the Japanese managed to conduct combat tests of the small aircraft carrier submarine I-25. In September 1942, a seaplane took off from a prototype of such a boat and dropped two incendiary bombs in the forests of Ohio. The effect was practically zero: the forest fire did not start. But we can say that such designs were still used for combat purposes.

It wasn't just Japan that built submarine aircraft carriers. Back in 1928, the HMS M2 boat was converted in Great Britain for take-off and landing of light seaplanes. The submarine sank in 1932, and a similar experience was never repeated in England. The only similar French attempt was the submarine Pirate, built in 1930 and sank in 1942. In the USSR in the 1930s, special submarines were developed for similar purposes (14-bis series). The aircraft for them were developed by I.V. Chetverikov (project SPL-1). The tiny plane could be prepared for takeoff in literally five minutes, and the container for it was a pipe with a diameter of 2.5 and a length of 7.5 m. The plane was tested and set several international speed records in the class of small seaplanes, and was also successfully demonstrated at International Airshow in Milan in 1936. But after work on carriers for Chetverikov’s aircraft was stopped (1938), the project lost relevance.

In Germany, a similar project was developed in 1939-1940. Light aircraft Ar.231 V1 and Ar.231 V2 were designed. Is it true, long time required for assembly (10 minutes), and the incredibly difficult control of the resulting aircraft brought the project to naught. Another German attempt was the design of the Fa-330 reconnaissance gyroplane for take-off from confined spaces, but this unit also performed poorly during testing.

Japanese submarine carriers

In November, American researchers of the depths and secrets of the ocean from the Hawaii Underwater Research Laboratory HURL (about which, we note, there are very strange rumors) discovered the sunken boats I-201 and I-14, at a depth of 800 meters. The remains of I-401 were discovered 4 years ago. It is unlikely that they will be raised. Although, of course, they would be very interesting as a museum exhibit

Underwater aircraft carrier in computer graphics

H.I.J.M.S. I-400 and its sisters
In many ways, the submarine H.I.J.M.S. I-400 and its sisters were decades ahead of their time. They were the largest submarines in the world and remained in this rank until the 60-70s, when nuclear missile submarines appeared gigantic size. However, when it comes to diesel-electric submarines, the Japanese remain unsurpassed to this day. On the deck of the Japanese giants, there were huge hangars about 34 meters long and 4 meters in diameter, containing bomber aircraft. At the end of the war, Japan created a technical miracle and built the first and probably the only submarine aircraft carriers in the world. A miracle from a military point of view, although meaningless, is still a miracle. The boats were equipped with a snorkel (a device like a periscope to provide air to diesel engines when traveling underwater), a radar station, detectors of working enemy radars, and huge fuel tanks, with a fuel reserve that allowed the boats to travel 37,500 miles without refueling - that is, one and a half times go around the Earth. It was armed with 8 torpedo tubes, a 140 mm gun, a 25 mm anti-aircraft gun, and three triple machine gun mounts. The main weapons, three M6A1 Sheiran (Thunderstorm from the Blue) torpedo bombers, were housed in a hangar, they were launched by a catapult on the upper deck and were designed and built specifically for these boats. The planes had a length of 11 meters, a wingspan of 12.4 meters, a bomb load of 800 kilograms, and a range of 654 miles. The Japanese, however, would not have been Japanese if they had not provided for another option for increasing the range - if necessary, if the Motherland orders it so to speak, additional fuel tanks were attached to the aircraft and they could hit a target at a maximum distance of more than 1500 miles, and in the process they died yourself. The planes were amphibious, that is, with floats, and were stored in the hangar with the floats disconnected and the wings folded. When returning from a mission, the aircraft splashed down like an ordinary amphibious aircraft, and then was lifted on board by a powerful crane. Even the Japanese failed to attach a runway to a submarine, that is, to create an aircraft carrier in the full sense of the word...
Experienced technical personnel could prepare the aircraft for departure in 7 minutes. Behind the hangar in the inter-hull space on the starboard side there was a room for repairing and testing aircraft engines, another room was an arsenal where 4 aircraft torpedoes, 15 bombs and ammunition for cannons and machine guns were stored. Ammunition for deck artillery and machine guns was stored in sealed containers on the upper deck. The double hull of the boat contained cabins and sleeping places for 145 people, but in reality the crew was larger. When H.I.J.M.S. I-400 surrendered to the US Navy, there were 213 people on board, the prisoners said that there were usually 220. As experience has shown, it was precisely this number of people on board that could ensure the fastest possible preparation of the boat for launching aircraft, from the moment of surfacing to launch all three planes took only 45 minutes. The boat's cruising range and aircraft flight range allowed it to strike the Panama Canal or San Francisco, New York or Washington. All options for such attacks were considered, planned and calculated by strategists in Tokyo.

The design and construction of the boats were carried out in the strictest secrecy; construction of the entire series was completed at the end of 1944. The boats were consolidated into Division No. 1, headed by Captain Tatsunosuke Arizumi:
H.I.J.M.S. I-13, commander Ohashi, 2 aircraft;
H.I.J.M.S. I-14, commander Tsuruzo Shimizu, 2 aircraft;
H.I.J.M.S. I-400, commander Toshio Kusaka, 3 aircraft
H.I.J.M.S. I-401, commander Shinsei Nambu, 3 aircraft.
10 boat-based aircraft were consolidated into attack squadron No. 2.

The first task of the division was to be an operation according to a top-secret plan developed at the General Staff of the Japanese Navy, the initiator and main developer of which was Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Isaburo Ozawa. The plan anticipated Hollywood horror films, it was supposed to strike the most densely populated areas Pacific Islands and the West Coast of the USA with bacteriological weapons - rats and insects infected with microbes of bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid and other epidemic diseases. The germs and carriers, as well as the technology for their propagation, were bred and developed in the notorious laboratory of General Ishii, in Harbin, Manchuria, and successfully tested on the Chinese and Europeans.
However, among the Japanese strategists and senior military leadership, not everyone was crazy; on March 26, 1945, the Chief of the General Staff of the Japanese Ground Forces, General Yoshiro Umezu, put a ban on the plan for this operation, explaining to the distraught Admiral Ozawa that “bacteriological warfare will not be a war against the United States, it will turn into a war against all humanity.”
Alternative plans were chosen, conventional bombing of either San Francisco, Washington and New York, or the Panama Canal. We settled, as one would expect, on the Panamanian version. Strikes on the largest cities of the United States would have a purely psychological, propaganda character - well, what harm could five to ten randomly dropped bombs cause to huge cities? But a strike on the three Gatun locks of the Panama Canal, had it led to their destruction, would have had serious consequences, since the Panama Canal would have been closed for weeks and even months, which in turn would have complicated US military operations in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans .

By that time, in the spring of 1945, Japan was already in a desperate situation; there was a shortage of everything, especially fuel. For the division's military campaign to the Panama Canal and return, each boat required 1,600 tons of diesel fuel; at the Kure naval base, where the division was stationed, there was simply no such amount of fuel. I-401 was sent behind him, she was supposed to temporarily transform from an underwater aircraft carrier into an underwater tanker and deliver fuel to Kure from Dairen, Manchuria. The boat was unlucky; on April 2, in the Inland Sea of Japan, it collided with one of the many mines that American B-29s tirelessly filled the waters of Japan with. The boat, damaged by a mine explosion, returned to the base and was repaired; fuel was delivered to its sister, the boat I-400. By the beginning of June, all the boats were finally completely ready for the trip; they even had fake chimneys installed on them for camouflage. The division proceeded through the Sea of Japan and the Tsushima Strait to Nanao Bay, the western coast of Honshu, where it had to carefully prepare for a future attack, for which they even built full-scale models of the Gatun locks. It was possible to make several training attacks, but the preparations were far from being carried out in full, due, again, to the desperate situation of the country - there are mines all around, constant American air raids, a shortage of all the essentials and, above all, fuel, including aircraft.

Boat officers before leaving for the last trip

However, even that preparation was not required. Japan's position deteriorated so quickly that the attack on the Panama Canal had to be abandoned. In the Pacific Ocean, more than 3,000 ships and vessels of the United States and allies were pulled up to the shores of the sacred Yamato, preparing for Operation Olympic - the invasion of the Japanese Islands. It would be possible to completely destroy all the locks of the Panama Canal and, to be sure, cover it with earth; this would not have any effect on the actions of Japan’s opponents. Therefore, the First Division urgently came up with a new mission - to go to the Ulihi Atoll and attack the invasion fleet concentrated there. The division commander tried to insist on striking the canal, but, in the Japanese style and spirit, they explained to him that “there is no point in putting out the fire on Mount Fuji if it is already licking the sleeves of your kimono.” In accordance with the new orders, I-13 moved to Ominato Base, on the northern tip of Honshu, on July 4. There she took on board two C6N2 reconnaissance aircraft of Akajimo Ayagumo (Motley Cloud), and went to the atoll, passing through the Tsugaru Strait. On July 14, I-14 set off after her, and on the 23rd, the last two boats of the Division, I-400 and I-401, left Ominato, each on their own course. The rendezvous was set at a point southeast of Ulikha, three weeks later.
On this first and last combat mission, I-13 was lost, presumably sunk by the destroyer Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) and patrol aircraft from the escort carrier U.S.S. Anzio (CVE-57). Other boats were not very lucky either. I-401 was hit by a severe storm and a short circuit on I-400 resulted in a fire. On August 4, I-14 pulled into Truk, Japan's few remaining outposts in the Pacific. It was supposed to deliver reconnaissance aircraft, already mentioned by Ayagumi, to the atoll; it was on the basis of the data they collected that suicidal attacks by the remnants were to be carried out Japanese fleet to the gigantic power of the United States and its allies. Not only boats of the First Division were to take part in the attack, but also ordinary ones, with human torpedoes on board, the so-called. Kaiten.
But even here the Japanese were unlucky. Truk became something of a training ground for the new B-29 aircraft being flown to Japan via Guam. On Truk, they bombed and smashed everything they could, including reconnaissance aircraft. How this adventure would have ended is unknown, but on August 15, the divine Emperor Hirohito suddenly took and announced the surrender of the Land of the Rising Sun. The emperor showed true concern for the country and people, but many military men, hereditary samurai, so to speak, could not come to terms with this. The commander of the First Division almost became agitated. However, fortunately, nothing worked out for him, and after a military council with his subordinates, he, gritting his teeth and rattling his sword, ordered black flags to be hung on the flagpoles, a sign of surrender. They burned all the documents, destroyed other secrets that were being destroyed, fired all the torpedoes, and launched the planes from catapults into the sea, where they met their end.

The Americans did not learn about the existence of Project I-400 boats until the very end; they became acquainted with the boats only after the surrender, already at the base in Sasebo. Meanwhile, a new threat has emerged. The USSR demanded that all or part of the boats be handed over to him, preferably all. The Americans, when the threat of the Russians capturing one of the boats became too great, sank it near Nagasaki, an operation eloquently called the End of the Road. It was I-401. The USSR did not let up, because there were still two boats left. Since by that time it was already clear that the ally, the USSR, turned out to be no worse than the recent enemies, they decided to transfer the remaining two boats to Hawaii. They transferred, but this did not reassure Moscow. There was nothing to be done, the remaining two, I-14 and I-401, had to be sunk in the Pacific Ocean near Oahu, Hawaii. They were not just sunk, but, having decided to gain at least some benefit, they were sunk by torpedoes and used as targets.

Characteristics of the boat I-401
Entered service: January 8, 1945
Lowered the flag: Surrendered to the US Navy ship USS Segundo on August 29, 1945
31 May 1946 sunk as a target near Pearl Harbor
Displacement: 5307 tons on the surface, 6665 tons submerged.
Length 122 meters
Width 12 meters
Draft 7 meters
4 diesel engines 7700 hp each (5700 kW); 4 electric motors of 2400 hp each. (1800 kW)
Speed 18.75 knots on the surface, 6.5 knots submerged.
Cruising endurance 37,500 miles at 14 knots
Max test immersion depth 100 meters
Full-time crew 144 people
Armament: 8x533 mm bow torpedo tubes, 20 Type 95 torpedoes
One 140 mm deck gun
Three triple installations of 25 mm machine guns
One 25 mm anti-aircraft gun
3 Aichi M6A1 Sheiran aircraft

The idea was like this...

Aircraft carriers in American captivity

The fastest submarines of World War 2 - I-200 series
In 1938, the Imperial Japanese Navy created an experimental fast submarine to evaluate the prospects of such submarines. For reasons of secrecy, the boat was named very simply - Ship No. 71. With a surface displacement of only 230 tons and a length of 43 meters, she showed an amazing underwater speed for that time - more than 21 knots. The Ship No. 71 project formed the basis for the creation of the I-200 series of boats. In 1942, militaries around the world realized that in order to successfully combat enemy anti-submarine forces and carry out combat missions to destroy transport and ships, submarines required high underwater speed, low noise and an increase in the duration and range of cruising under water. Understanding came with the accumulation of combat experience and, most importantly, the rapid development of anti-submarine warfare capabilities, especially clearly demonstrated by the Allies in the spring-summer of 1943 in the Atlantic. The General Staff of the Japanese Navy demanded that engineers, designers and shipbuilders create a submarine for the Navy that has a high underwater speed. It was planned that a series of such boats would be built and put into operation in 1945; the project was called “Ships No. 4501-4523”. The General Staff formalized its request with order number 295, dated October 29, 1943. The boat was required to develop an underwater speed of 25 knots; later, for purely practical reasons, the requirement was reduced to 20 knots. To meet the requirements of the admirals, the designers had to do the following:
- adopt a single-hull design, abandoning the generally accepted double-hull design (strong and lightweight body);
- place the main ballast tank higher than on conventional boats to increase the center of gravity;
- give the hull a smooth, streamlined shape to reduce water resistance;
- make the deckhouse as small as possible, remove guns from the upper deck, replace the wooden flooring with metal - also to reduce resistance;
- install snorkel;
- install larger than usual horizontal rudders.
The result is a boat with fast, streamlined lines and a huge number of batteries compared to conventional boats. She developed a speed of 19 knots, twice as high as contemporary boats of American or other design. The diving depth was 110 meters, it was armed with 10 Type 95 torpedoes, 4x533mm torpedo tubes. On the upper deck there were two retractable 25mm anti-aircraft guns. The boats were designed for further mass production, with sections to be built in large factories and then transported to shipyards for assembly.

The Americans received three boats of this series, I-201, I-202 and I-203. Again, due to the urgent demands of the USSR to transfer these boats to it, it was decided to destroy them. I-202 was sunk in Japanese waters, I-201 and I-203 were taken to Hawaii, where they were also sunk in the spring of 1946, and were finally used as targets. Boat characteristics:
Displacement: 1290 tons surfaced, 1503 tons submerged.
Length: 79 meters.
Width: 9.2 meters.
Height: 7 meters, from keel to upper deck.
Engines: two Mitsubishi Model 1 diesel engines, 2750 hp each. (2,050 kW)
4 electric motors of 5000 hp each. (3,700 kW). Two screws.
Speed: 15.75 knots on the surface, 19 knots submerged.
Endurance: 15,000 miles at 6 knots; 7800 miles at 11 knots; 5800 miles at 14 knots. Submerged 135 miles at 3 knots.
Crew: 31 people.

Conclusion - were the Japanese ahead of their time?
During World War II, Japan undoubtedly had the most diverse submarine fleet. Her fleet included human torpedoes; mini-submarines; conventional medium-range submarines; supply submarines built specifically for the needs of the army; PL long range, many with reconnaissance aircraft on board; and finally, high-speed submarines and submarine aircraft carriers capable of carrying up to 3 torpedo bombers. The Japanese built something that no one could build anywhere until the advent of the era of nuclear submarines - Japanese diesel boats have remained unsurpassed in size and cruising range to this day. And only Japan had aircraft-carrying boats; no other country in the world had anything like it.
During World War II, only 56 submarines with a displacement of over 3000 tons were built in the world, 52 of them were Japanese. 65 Japanese boats had a cruising range of more than 20,000 miles; the Allies did not have a single boat with such capabilities. By 1945, there were 39 submarines in the world with a power of more than 10,000 hp, all Japanese. The Japanese submarine fleet included 78 mini-submarines capable of reaching a submerged speed of 18.5-19 knots, and another 110 had a speed of 16 knots. At the end of the war, Japan built 4 medium submarines with a submerged speed of 19 knots.
The Japanese submarine fleet was armed with the best torpedoes of the 2nd World War, Type 95. Instead of compressed air to burn kerosene, the fuel for torpedoes, the Japanese used pure oxygen, thanks to which Japanese torpedoes were three times longer than the Allied torpedoes in range, and in addition, they gave less noticeable track. Japanese torpedoes had the largest warhead, 550 kg, and most importantly, they were equipped with a single contact fuse, which made them much more reliable than the American Mark 14 type. The Japanese also developed an electric torpedo, Type 92. Electric torpedoes had much more modest performance characteristics compared to ordinary ones, but they were much more secretive.
With such impressive characteristics, the Japanese submarine fleet achieved surprisingly modest results during the fighting of World War II. The main culprit for the failures of Japanese submarines was the Japanese admirals, who initially incorrectly defined the main tasks of the submarine fleet. The entire naval doctrine of Japan was determined by the hangover of the Tsushima victory; it was believed that decisive success could be achieved only in one or two pitched battles, so the boats were assigned the tasks of scouts and hunters of warships. During the initial stage of the war, the Japanese managed to achieve a number of victories; in 1942, they sank two aircraft carriers, one cruiser, several destroyers and other ships, but that was where the successes ended. The rapid development of Allied anti-submarine defenses neutralized the full power of the Japanese submarine fleet, which was still aimed at destroying warships, not transports. There is no doubt that if during the war the Japanese admirals had “restructured” and redirected the boats to transport, the United States and its allies in the Pacific would have had a much harder time.
But fortunately for the Allies, the Japanese command blindly followed the outdated pre-war doctrine, and therefore the Japanese submarine fleet sank during the war only 184 cargo ships with a total gross tonnage of 907,000 GRT. Germany, for example, sank 2840 ships with a total capacity of 14.3 million GRT, the USA 1079 ships with a total capacity of 4.65 million GRT, Britain - 493 ships with a total capacity of 1.52 million GRT.
Of course, Japanese boats attacked and sank transports, but not in the same quantities and not as required by the war in the Pacific. For the most part, the boats scoured the ocean in search of American squadrons and fleets, carried out reconnaissance flights that were as daring as they were senseless, and as a result achieved very little with very high losses comparable to the losses of the incredibly active and productive German submarine fleet . In total, during the war, the Japanese fleet had 174 boats (excluding mini-submarines), 128 were lost. In percentage terms, comparable to German losses. For example, of the 30 submarines that took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, not one reached the end of the war; all of them died. Of particular note are the actions of the supply boats that delivered various supplies to the garrisons on the numerous Japanese-occupied islands of the Pacific Ocean. Of course, it was necessary to supply the garrisons, but using boats as supplies was a very energy-intensive and costly affair. By and large, the supply boats did not justify themselves, because they wasted a huge amount of fuel, which was extremely valuable for Japan.

I read a lot of literature about the war in the Pacific Ocean and about the Japanese fleet in general. I want to say that I have more than once encountered critical statements regarding the actions of the Japanese fleet and Japanese admirals; they were very rigid, conservative, and did not respond to the changes that were taking place. One samurai spirit, even equipped with magnificent weapons, was not enough. The spirit of the samurai, as we know, was unbending, but war required something else, a bendable, flexible mind, the ability to instantly take into account all changes in the enemy’s weapons, tactics and strategy, and find equivalent quick responses to these changes. Of course, I was surprised to learn about such impressive successes of Japan in building a submarine fleet. However, I cannot agree that Japanese boats were far ahead of their time. The Japanese are amazing people; give them an ordinary screwdriver and they will squeeze things out of it that no one would even think of. It will be self-illuminating and self-twisting, self-regulating and something else, that is, the very idea, the principle of a screwdriver, the Japanese will squeeze dry, pull out absolutely everything that is humanly possible. But they didn’t invent it, the screwdriver. That's the point.
In enthusiastic descriptions of Japanese boats by Americans, attention is necessarily drawn to the fact that high-speed boats were faster than the famous German Walter boats. But no attention is paid to the fact that such a high speed of Japanese submarines was not based on something fundamentally different; the Japanese, as usual, developed it to its possible logical conclusion and milked 100 percent of existing ideas, projects and technologies, their own and others. Whereas the brilliant Walter came up with something fundamentally different, and so different that Russia still cannot build boats whose power plants would work on this principle. Walter’s invention is already more than 70 years old, and only a few countries can still bring it to life. This is what it means to “overtake time.” With all due respect to the Japanese...

And these are pictures and photos from webpark:

The concept of a submarine-launched aircraft is as old as naval aviation itself. As early as January 6, 1915, the modified hydroplane “ Friedrichshafen"was lowered from the deck of the German submarine U-12. In the fall of 1917, in the same Germany, “ Brandenburg", already adapted for storage directly on board a diesel submarine.

Between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second, virtually all the leading naval powers seriously considered the possibility of launching aircraft from submarines. But only in Japan this concept has undergone significant changes. This episode even had a title, "Sen Toki". From being an auxiliary means of reconnaissance, airplanes have almost become the main weapon of submarines. The appearance of such an aircraft for a submarine as "Seyran", turned out to be actually an element of a strategic weapon, which included a bomber aircraft and an underwater aircraft carrier. The plane was designed to bomb targets that no ordinary bomber could reach. The main bet was made on complete surprise. The idea of a submarine aircraft carrier was born in the minds of the Imperial Japanese Naval Headquarters a few months after the start of the war in the Pacific Ocean. It was intended to build submarines that were superior to everything created before - specifically for transporting and launching attack aircraft. A flotilla of such submarine aircraft carriers had to cross the Pacific Ocean, launch their aircraft immediately before the chosen target, and then dive. After the attack, the planes had to go out to meet the submarine aircraft carriers, and then, depending on weather conditions a method of herding the crews was chosen. After this, the flotilla plunged under water again. For a greater psychological effect, which was placed above physical damage, the method of delivering the aircraft to the target should not have been disclosed.

Next, the submarines had to either go out to meet supply ships to receive new aircraft, bombs and fuel, or act in the usual way, using torpedo weapons. The program, naturally, developed in an atmosphere of increased secrecy and it is not surprising that the Allies first heard about it only after the surrender of Japan. At the beginning of 1942, the Japanese High Command issued orders to shipbuilders for the largest submarines, built by anyone until the beginning of the atomic age in shipbuilding. It was planned to build 18 submarine aircraft carriers. During the design process, the displacement of such a submarine increased from 4125 to 4738 tons, and the number of aircraft on board from three to four. Now it was up to the plane. The fleet headquarters discussed this issue with the concern “ Aichi", which, starting in the 20s, built aircraft exclusively for the fleet. The Navy believed that the success of the whole idea depended entirely on the high performance of the aircraft. The aircraft had to combine high speed to avoid interception with a long flight range of 1500 km. But since the aircraft was intended for virtually one-time use, the type of landing gear was not even specified. Hangar diameter submarine aircraft carrier was specified at 3.5 m, but the fleet required that the aircraft fit in it without disassembly.

The first Japanese submarine capable of carrying aircraft was built in 1932. The I-2 boat of the J-1M project had a sealed hangar for transporting the aircraft. The dimensions of the hangar made it possible to hold the light reconnaissance Caspar U-1, a German aircraft of the 1920s, produced in Japan under license. Only one copy of the J-1M submarine was built. Despite the ongoing full swing In preparation for the coming expansion, the Japanese were in no hurry to build a submarine aircraft carrier fleet. The I-2 was as much a military submarine as it was a test submarine: building an aircraft-carrying submarine presents many unique challenges. For example, sealing a small crew hatch is much easier than preventing water from entering through cracks in a large hangar hatch. In addition, it was necessary to create a compact and load-lifting crane: the J-1M project did not include a take-off ramp, so the aircraft had to take off and land from the water. To be transported to the surface of the water and lifted onto the boat, the latter had to have a crane. At first I had to suffer with the tap - salty sea water had an extremely bad effect on its mechanisms and sometimes parts jammed. However, the crane and hangar design were eventually completed. The fundamental possibility of creating an aircraft carrier submarine carrying attack aircraft was proven back then.

By 1935, Japan's fleet of submarine aircraft carriers was replenished with another boat. It was I-6 Project J-2. It was distinguished from its predecessor by a number of design changes. It was a little larger, had better running characteristics, and in the hangar bigger size could carry one reconnaissance aircraft of the Watanabe E9W type. Although it made its first flight at the same time the boat was launched, it was the E9W that subsequently became the basis of the I-6's aircraft armament. Thanks to a reasonable approach to testing the previous submarine aircraft carrier, Japanese engineers managed to create a more advanced design without repeating a number of mistakes. However, the plane still took off from the water. If landing on floats did not cause any complaints from anyone - it is not difficult to imagine the size of a submarine equipped with a full-fledged flight deck - then the need to first launch the aircraft, after which it could take off, was the cause of complaints. In particular, this fact was the reason that the J-2 project was able to “give birth” to only one aircraft carrier submarine.

The next Japanese submarine aircraft carrier project was the J-3. It was a more serious submarine: the hangar could already accommodate two aircraft, and for their takeoff there was a springboard and a catapult. In 1939, the first boat of the series, I-7, was launched. A little later, I-8 was also completed. The aircraft armament of these two submarines were Yokosuka E14Y aircraft. These seaplanes were much better than the previous ones, although their characteristics still could not compete with other Japanese bombers. And the payload of four 76-kilogram bombs was clearly insufficient. Nevertheless, the E14Y was quite good as an armed reconnaissance aircraft for submarines.

A few months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the I-9 entered service with the Japanese Navy. She became the lead submarine of Project A1. Subsequently, two similar submarines were built, designated I-10 and I-11. With a solid displacement of about 4,000 tons and six torpedo tubes, these boats also had on board one Yokosuka E14Y aircraft and a supply of various weapons for them. Notably, the A1 was the first Japanese submarine aircraft carrier design that did not have any operational limitations associated with the hangar hatch design. The designers successfully dealt with the problem of sealing it, and the A1 project could safely operate at depths of up to 100 meters without the risk of flooding the aircraft room. At the same time, the external contours almost did not spoil the streamlining of the submarine and did not “eat up” the speed and range. The lead boat of the project, designated I-9, namely its aircraft, took photographs and films of the results of the attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

As a result, on May 15, 1942, requirements appeared for an experimental bomber “for special missions.” The chief designer of the aircraft was Norio Ozaki. The development of the aircraft, which received the corporate designation “AM-24” and the short “M6A1”, progressed smoothly. The plane was created for the engine " Atsuta"- licensed version of a 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine " Daimler-Benz"DB-601." From the very beginning, the use of detachable floats was envisaged - the only dismantled part " Seirana". Since the floats significantly reduced the aircraft's flight performance, provision was made for releasing them in the air if such a need arose. In the submarine hangar, accordingly, mountings for two floats were provided.

In November 2008, American researchers of the depths and secrets of the ocean from the Hawaii Underwater Research Laboratory HURL (about which, we note, there are very strange rumors) discovered the sunken boats I-201 and I-14, at a depth of 800 meters. The remains of I-401 were discovered 4 years ago. It is unlikely that they will be raised. Although, of course, they would be very interesting as a museum exhibit.

In many ways, the submarine H.I.J.M.S. I-400 and its sisters were decades ahead of their time. They were the largest submarines in the world and remained in this rank until the 60-70s, when gigantic nuclear missile submarines appeared. However, as far as I know, when it comes to diesel-electric submarines, the Japanese ones remain unsurpassed to this day. On the deck of the Japanese giants, there were huge hangars about 34 meters long and 4 meters in diameter, containing bomber aircraft. At the end of the war, Japan created a technical miracle and built the first and probably the only submarine aircraft carriers in the world. A miracle from a military point of view, although meaningless, is still a miracle. The boats were equipped with a snorkel (a device like a periscope to provide air to diesel engines when traveling underwater), a radar station, detectors of working enemy radars, and huge fuel tanks, with a fuel reserve that allowed the boats to travel 37,500 miles without refueling - that is, one and a half times go around the Earth. It was armed with 8 torpedo tubes, a 140 mm gun, a 25 mm anti-aircraft gun, and three triple machine gun mounts. The main weapons, three M6A1 Sheiran (Thunderstorm from the Blue) torpedo bombers, were housed in a hangar, they were launched by a catapult on the upper deck and were designed and built specifically for these boats.

The planes had a length of 11 meters, a wingspan of 12.4 meters, a bomb load of 800 kilograms, and a range of 654 miles. The Japanese, however, would not have been Japanese if they had not provided for another option for increasing the range - if necessary, if the Motherland orders it so to speak, additional fuel tanks were attached to the aircraft and they could hit a target at a maximum distance of more than 1500 miles, and in the process they died yourself. The planes were amphibious, that is, with floats, and were stored in the hangar with the floats disconnected and the wings folded. When returning from a mission, the aircraft splashed down like an ordinary amphibious aircraft, and then was lifted on board by a powerful crane. Even the Japanese failed to attach a runway to a submarine, that is, to create an aircraft carrier in the full sense of the word...

Experienced technical personnel could prepare the aircraft for departure in 7 minutes. Behind the hangar in the inter-hull space on the starboard side there was a room for repairing and testing aircraft engines, another room was an arsenal where 4 aircraft torpedoes, 15 bombs and ammunition for cannons and machine guns were stored. Ammunition for deck artillery and machine guns was stored in sealed containers on the upper deck. The double hull of the boat contained cabins and sleeping places for 145 people, but in reality the crew was larger. When H.I.J.M.S. I-400 surrendered to the US Navy, there were 213 people on board, the prisoners said that there were usually 220. As experience has shown, it was precisely this number of people on board that could ensure the fastest possible preparation of the boat for launching aircraft, from the moment of surfacing to launch all three planes took only 45 minutes. The boat's cruising range and aircraft flight range allowed it to strike the Panama Canal or San Francisco, New York or Washington. All options for such attacks were considered, planned and calculated by strategists in Tokyo. The design and construction of the boats were carried out in the strictest secrecy; construction of the entire series was completed at the end of 1944.

The boats were consolidated into Division No. 1, headed by Captain Tatsunosuke Arizumi:

H.I.J.M.S. I-13, commander Ohashi, 2 aircraft;

H.I.J.M.S. I-14, commander Tsuruzo Shimizu, 2 aircraft;

H.I.J.M.S. I-400, commander Toshio Kusaka, 3 aircraft

H.I.J.M.S. I-401, commander Shinsei Nambu, 3 aircraft.

10 boat-based aircraft were consolidated into attack squadron No. 2.

At the end of autumn 1944, the Imperial Navy began training Seiran pilots; flight and maintenance personnel were carefully selected. On December 15, the 631st Air Corps was created under the command of Captain Totsunoke Ariizumi. The corps was part of the 1st submarine flotilla, which consisted of only two submarine aircraft carriers- I-400 and I-401. The flotilla consisted of 10 " Seyranov" In May, submarines I-13 and I-14 joined the flotilla and were involved in crew training. Seiranov". During six weeks of training, the time to release three " Seiranov" from a submarine, the time was reduced to 30 minutes, including the installation of floats; however, in battle it was planned to launch aircraft without floats from a catapult, which required 14.5 minutes.

However, among the Japanese strategists and senior military leadership, not everyone was crazy; on March 26, 1945, the Chief of the General Staff of the Japanese Ground Forces, General Yoshiro Umezu, put a ban on the plan for this operation, explaining to the distraught Admiral Ozawa that “bacteriological warfare will not be a war against the United States, it will turn into a war against all humanity.”

Boat officers before leaving for the last trip

Alternative plans were chosen, conventional bombing of either San Francisco, Washington and New York, or the Panama Canal. We settled, as one would expect, on the Panamanian version. Strikes on the largest cities of the United States would have a purely psychological, propaganda character - well, what harm could five to ten randomly dropped bombs cause to huge cities? But a strike on the three Gatun locks of the Panama Canal, had it led to their destruction, would have had serious consequences, since the Panama Canal would have been closed for weeks and even months, which in turn would have complicated US military operations in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans By that time, in the spring of 1945, Japan was already in a desperate situation; there was a shortage of everything, especially fuel. For the division's military campaign to the Panama Canal and return, each boat required 1,600 tons of diesel fuel; at the Kure naval base, where the division was stationed, there was simply no such amount of fuel. I-401 was sent behind him, she was supposed to temporarily transform from an underwater aircraft carrier into an underwater tanker and deliver fuel to Kure from Dairen, Manchuria. The boat was unlucky; on April 2, in the Inland Sea of Japan, it collided with one of the many mines that American B-29s tirelessly filled the waters of Japan with. The boat, damaged by a mine explosion, returned to the base and was repaired; fuel was delivered to its sister, the boat I-400. By the beginning of June, all the boats were finally completely ready for the trip; they even had fake chimneys installed on them for camouflage. The division proceeded through the Sea of Japan and the Tsushima Strait to Nanao Bay, the western coast of Honshu, where it had to carefully prepare for a future attack, for which they even built full-scale models of the Gatun locks. It was possible to make several training attacks, but the preparations were far from being carried out in full, due, again, to the desperate situation of the country - there are mines all around, constant American air raids, a shortage of all the essentials and, above all, fuel, including aircraft.

On this first and last combat mission, I-13 was lost, presumably sunk by the destroyer Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) and patrol aircraft from the escort carrier U.S.S. Anzio (CVE-57). Other boats were not very lucky either. I-401 was hit by a severe storm and a short circuit on I-400 resulted in a fire. On August 4, I-14 pulled into Truk, Japan's few remaining outposts in the Pacific. It was supposed to deliver reconnaissance aircraft, already mentioned by Ayagumi, to the atoll; it was on the basis of the data they collected that suicidal attacks by the remnants of the Japanese fleet on the gigantic power of the United States and allies were to be carried out. Not only boats of the First Division were to take part in the attack, but also ordinary ones, with human torpedoes on board, the so-called. Kaiten.

But even here the Japanese were unlucky. Truk became something of a training ground for the new B-29 aircraft being flown to Japan via Guam. On Truk, they bombed and smashed everything they could, including reconnaissance aircraft. Soon a fire broke out on the flagship due to a short circuit. This forced the start of the operation to be postponed until August 17, two days before which Japan surrendered. But even after this, the headquarters of the Japanese fleet planned to carry out an attack on August 25. However, on August 16, the flotilla received orders to return to Japan, and four days later - to destroy all offensive weapons.

How this adventure would have ended is unknown, but on August 15, the divine Emperor Hirohito suddenly took and announced the surrender of the Land of the Rising Sun. The emperor showed true concern for the country and people, but many military men, hereditary samurai, so to speak, could not come to terms with this. The commander of the First Division almost became agitated. However, fortunately, nothing worked out for him, and after a military council with his subordinates, he, gritting his teeth and rattling his sword, ordered black flags to be hung on the flagpoles, a sign of surrender.

Flagship commander underwater aircraft carrier I-401 captain 1st rank Arizumi shot himself, and the crew ejected the planes without pilots and without starting the engines. On I-400, the planes acted more simply, and the torpedoes were simply pushed into the water. Thus ended the suicide operation, in which kamikaze pilots and the latest torpedo bombers based on the world's largest submarines. Even in this case, along with the use of the most advanced and modern weapons, Japanese engineering and military thought could not do without the help of kamikazes. All this once again testifies to the adventurism of the top military leadership, fixated on the use of suicide bombers, relying on the “Japanese spirit” and developing the most incredible weapons systems in the hope of a miracle.

Aircraft carriers in American captivity

All " submarine aircraft carriers"were delivered for study to the US Navy base Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), but already in May 1946 they were taken to sea, shot by torpedoes and scuttled due to the fact that Russian scientists demanded access to them.

In March 2005, an underwater expedition from the University of Hawaii discovered a sunken Japanese vessel on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near the Hawaiian island of Oahu. submarine"I-401". Acting director of the Underwater Research Laboratory at the University of Hawaii, John Wiltshire, said that the remains of the hull of the I-401 submarine, which had broken into two parts, were found at a depth of 820 meters and visually examined using a descent underwater vehicle. “I-402” was decided to be converted into submarine. Construction was stopped in March 1945 at 90% completion.

Characteristics of the boat I-401

Displacement: 5307 tons on the surface, 6665 tons submerged.

Length 122 meters

Width 12 meters

Draft 7 meters

4 diesel engines 7700 hp each (5700 kW); 4 electric motors of 2400 hp each. (1800 kW)

Speed 18.75 knots on the surface, 6.5 knots submerged.

Cruising endurance 37,500 miles at 14 knots

Max test immersion depth 100 meters

Full-time crew 144 people

Armament: 8x533 mm bow torpedo tubes, 20 Type 95 torpedoes

One 140 mm deck gun

Three triple installations of 25 mm machine guns

One 25 mm anti-aircraft gun

3 Aichi M6A1 Sheiran aircraft

Summarize. This is what he writes Voitenko M.D.:

"During World War II, Japan undoubtedly had the most diverse submarine fleet. Its fleet included man-torpedoes; mini-submarines; conventional medium-range submarines; supply submarines built specifically for the needs of the army; submarines long-range, many with reconnaissance aircraft on board; and finally, high-speed submarines and submarine aircraft carriers, capable of taking on board up to 3 torpedo bombers. The Japanese built something that no one could build anywhere until the advent of the era of nuclear submarines - Japanese diesel the boats remained unsurpassed in size and cruising range to this day.And only Japan had aircraft-carrying boats, no other country in the world had anything like it.

During World War II, only 56 submarines with a displacement of over 3000 tons were built in the world, 52 of them were Japanese. 65 Japanese boats had a cruising range of more than 20,000 miles; the Allies did not have a single boat with such capabilities. By 1945, there were 39 submarines in the world with a power of more than 10,000 hp, all Japanese. The Japanese submarine fleet included 78 mini-submarines capable of reaching a submerged speed of 18.5-19 knots, and another 110 had a speed of 16 knots. At the end of the war, Japan built 4 medium submarines with a submerged speed of 19 knots.

The Japanese submarine fleet was armed with the best torpedoes of the 2nd World War, Type 95. Instead of compressed air to burn kerosene, the fuel for torpedoes, the Japanese used pure oxygen, thanks to which Japanese torpedoes were three times longer than the Allied torpedoes in range, and in addition, they gave less noticeable track. Japanese torpedoes had the largest warhead, 550 kg, and most importantly, they were equipped with a single contact fuse, which made them much more reliable than the American Mark 14 type. The Japanese also developed an electric torpedo, Type 92. Electric torpedoes had much more modest performance characteristics compared to ordinary ones, but they were much more secretive.

With such impressive characteristics, the Japanese submarine fleet achieved surprisingly modest results during the fighting of World War II. The main culprit for the failures of Japanese submarines was the Japanese admirals, who initially incorrectly defined the main tasks of the submarine fleet. The entire naval doctrine of Japan was determined by the hangover of the Tsushima victory; it was believed that decisive success could be achieved only in one or two pitched battles, so the boats were assigned the tasks of scouts and hunters of warships. During the initial stage of the war, the Japanese managed to achieve a number of victories; in 1942, they sank two aircraft carriers, one cruiser, several destroyers and other ships, but that was where the successes ended. The rapid development of Allied anti-submarine defenses neutralized the full power of the Japanese submarine fleet, which was still aimed at destroying warships, not transports. There is no doubt that if during the war the Japanese admirals had “restructured” and redirected the boats to transport, the United States and its allies in the Pacific would have had a much harder time.

But fortunately for the Allies, the Japanese command blindly followed the outdated pre-war doctrine, and therefore the Japanese submarine fleet sank during the war only 184 cargo ships with a total gross tonnage of 907,000 GRT. Germany, for example, sank 2840 ships with a total capacity of 14.3 million GRT, the USA 1079 ships with a total capacity of 4.65 million GRT, Britain - 493 ships with a total capacity of 1.52 million GRT.

Of course, Japanese boats attacked and sank transports, but not in the same quantities and not as required by the war in the Pacific. For the most part, the boats scoured the ocean in search of American squadrons and fleets, carried out reconnaissance flights that were as daring as they were senseless, and as a result achieved very little with very high losses comparable to the losses of the incredibly active and productive German submarine fleet . In total, during the war, the Japanese fleet had 174 boats (excluding mini-submarines), 128 were lost. In percentage terms, comparable to German losses. For example, of the 30 submarines that took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, not one reached the end of the war; all of them died. Of particular note are the actions of the supply boats that delivered various supplies to the garrisons on the numerous Japanese-occupied islands of the Pacific Ocean. Of course, it was necessary to supply the garrisons, but using boats as supplies was a very energy-intensive and costly affair. By and large, the supply boats did not justify themselves, because they wasted a huge amount of fuel, which was extremely valuable for Japan.

In enthusiastic descriptions of Japanese boats by Americans, attention is necessarily drawn to the fact that high-speed boats were faster than the famous German Walter boats. But no attention is paid to the fact that such a high speed of Japanese submarines was not based on something fundamentally different; the Japanese, as usual, developed it to its possible logical conclusion and milked 100 percent of existing ideas, projects and technologies, their own and others. Whereas the brilliant Walter came up with something fundamentally different, and so different that Russia still cannot build boats whose power plants would work on this principle. Walter’s invention is already more than 70 years old, and only a few countries can still bring it to life. This is what it means to “overtake time.” With all due respect to the Japanese...

The Americans did not learn about the existence of Project I-400 boats until the very end; they became acquainted with the boats only after the surrender, already at the base in Sasebo. Meanwhile, a new threat has emerged. The USSR demanded that all or part of the boats be handed over to him, preferably all. The Americans, when the threat of the Russians capturing one of the boats became too great, sank it near Nagasaki, an operation eloquently called the End of the Road. It was I-401. The USSR did not let up, because there were still two boats left. Since by that time it was already clear that the ally, the USSR, turned out to be no worse than the recent enemies, they decided to transfer the remaining two boats to Hawaii. They transferred, but this did not reassure Moscow. There was nothing to be done, the remaining two, I-14 and I-401, had to be sunk in the Pacific Ocean near Oahu, Hawaii. They weren’t just sunk, but, having decided to gain at least some benefit, they were sunk by torpedoes and used as targets.”

What now?

However, now the leadership of the US Navy seems to have decided to return to this project again. True, it is planned to equip the submarine not with an ordinary aircraft, but with a Switchblade drone. At the same time, it will be possible to launch it directly from under the water, that is, the boat does not need to float to the surface. The aircraft itself, according to the developers, can be equipped rocket weapons or small bombs.

According to the project, the takeoff of this UAV will look like this: a submarine in an underwater position swims up to the coast or an enemy ship and throws out a special container with a carefully packaged drone and launcher from the airlock to remove debris. By the way, the container’s ascent speed must be controlled by a computer—this allows the submarine to retreat to a safe distance and escape. After surfacing, the container is stabilized on the surface using an anchor weight, deploys the launcher and launches the Submarine Launch Vehicle (SLV) UAV.

According to preliminary calculations, devices like Switchblade can be launched from a periscope depth or even greater. Without a doubt, such a method gives the commander of a submarine or an operator on the other side of the planet a unique opportunity to “look around” and hit an important point target with the help of stealth, high-precision weapons, without exposing the submarine itself to the risk of being discovered or destroyed (as happened in its time with an underwater aircraft carrier Surcouf). Communication with the UAV is carried out via a satellite channel using a special inconspicuous tethered buoy, also located in a container equipped with a satellite communications transceiver.

The design of the drone is currently being actively refined, which, according to military plans, will be tested at the RIMPAC exercises next year. If everything goes well, this device will go into service with several submarines at once. The commanders of the submarine fleet are looking forward to these tests - according to them, for the first time they will have the opportunity to look at the surrounding situation not only with the help of a periscope, which is of insufficient height and does not allow them to assess the situation at a great distance from the submarine. And also carry out the destruction of the target without the risk of giving away the location of the submarine.

The original article is on the websiteInfoGlaz.rfLink to the article from which this copy was made -

Throughout the Second World War, each of the participating countries developed its own superweapon, which would one way or another change the balance of power. The Germans worked on the V-2, the Americans designed atomic bomb, The Soviets did not look far and settled on the Katyusha. But the Japanese approached this idea with all the sophistication and unprecedented ingenuity.

The failed experiment with kaiten torpedoes, about which, was only part of a larger plan to create a Japanese superweapon. In 1943, the development and creation of the supersubmarine I-400 began, the largest submarine of all time during World War II, which was at least two decades ahead of its time.

Submarine aircraft carriers in the First World War

The First World War marked the beginning of the development of familiar military vehicles, improved prototypes of which are still in use today. The planes of that time, contrary to popular belief, did not immediately become military unit. Fragile structures still felt uncertain in flight and served more often for reconnaissance or logistics. The same could not be said about submarines - there were more than 250 of them in service in the major fleets of the world. Submarines have proven to be excellent weapons, as evidenced by the early successes of the German submarines U-26 and U-9. The second even achieved triple success, sinking three British cruisers in one battle. This greatly alarmed the military powers, as the threat emanating from under water became a new problem.

Submarine U-9

The Germans were the first to try to combine the two elements, underwater and air: in 1915, it was decided to deliver the FF-28 seaplane to the English Channel on the U-12 submarine. The seaplane took off, reached the Thames and returned safely to base. This experiment showed that transportation increases the combat radius of an aircraft. True, the submarine was in a submerged position, which makes it not entirely clear what the trick was, since in this position the submarine was not difficult to detect.

In 1917, a competition was announced for the creation of reconnaissance aircraft, in which aircraft designer Ernest Heinkel took part. The U-142 submarine with special hangars for on-board aircraft did not show good results: during tests, extremely low stability and poor controllability were revealed in both positions of the submarine. When diving, the boat swayed from side to side at an angle of 50 degrees and could capsize. The tests were shelved and later stopped altogether due to military restrictions received by Germany. The Americans and the French also developed their own versions, but they were not particularly successful.

Ernest Heinkel

aircraft designer

Submarine cruiser Surcouf

Japanese developments

After the end of the war, Japan, having received colonies in China, the Caroline and Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean, continued to nurture imperial plans for complete dominance in the Asian region. While the Japanese could keep the situation under control on and under water, things were more complicated with the air.

Instead of developing aviation separately, in 1925 the Japanese created their first submarine aircraft, the Yokosho 1-GO, which was used in conjunction with the I-21 minelayer. To store the aircraft, a hangar was equipped on the minelayer, in which the aircraft was transported. But the plane could only take off from water. The submarine transported it only to the place where the plane took off, being in flight for no more than two hours, after which it landed on the water and, with the help of a crane, was moved back to the hangar on the submarine.

In 1929, the foundation was laid for the I-5 submarine, also for reconnaissance. The submarine is based on the Junyo Sensuikan (submarine cruiser) type. The disassembled aircraft was housed in two hangars: one for the fuselage, the other for wings and floats. The parts were removed from the hangars by crane and assembled on the upper deck within half an hour. The design worked only in calm conditions: with a slight swell, the hangars were flooded with water, and in this case, even removing the seaplane from there became impossible. After assembling the aircraft on the upper deck of the submarine, it was launched into the air using a pneumatic catapult.

At the height of World War II, the E14Y1 aircraft made its first aerial bombardment of US territory. The plane flew deep into the mainland and dropped only two incendiary bombs on forest area state of Oregon. The practice of such small attacks allowed Japan to inflict minor attacks on the United States, which only irritated the American command. But by 1943, the United States partially equipped its borders with an anti-aircraft shield, which significantly reduced the success of the Japanese. By the end of the year, the Japanese almost completely abandoned the use of this practice; there were not enough pilots, plus the launch of each aircraft required good weather and lengthy preparation. So it was decided to create a submarine that could carry out full-fledged bomb attacks. The Panama Canal was chosen as the target, making it possible to block the water artery from Atlantic Ocean in Quiet.

Submarine I-400

Max. depth

100 meters

Command structure

144 people

SPEED

18.75 knots on the surface and 6.5
knots underwater

Construction proceeded quite quickly, as all efforts and maximum available funds were devoted to development. First, it was necessary to develop a submarine hull that could float stably on the water and launch aircraft even in rough water conditions. A design option was proposed: by connecting two round cylindrical structures that formed something similar to an inverted figure eight. To solve the problem with the length of the boat, all four diesel engines were placed side by side, split into pairs. Fuel tanks and aviation fuel tanks were placed outside the submarine, thereby freeing up space inside.

The submarine's armament consisted of 20 torpedoes, 1,400-millimeter siege deck weapons, three installations of 25-millimeter machine guns, one anti-aircraft gun and three Aichi M6A1 Sheiran aircraft. The engine used was four diesel engines of 7700 hp each. With. and four electric motors AD of 2400 hp each. With. The boat went under water in 70 seconds. A cylindrical hangar (3.5 meters in diameter and 37.5 in length) for storing three aircraft was located above the hull in the central part of the boat. The take-off launch trolleys were specially designed for new aircraft. The trolley had a hydraulic suspension, this made it possible to change the angle of attack by 3.5 degrees when launching from a catapult, and with the suspension it was also easier to lower and tilt the plane when rolling into a hangar.

The overall assembly of the aircraft, which involved five mechanics, was completed within six minutes, and full time The readiness of the aircraft from the moment of ascent was about 15 minutes, disassembly - two minutes. To quickly start up planes, the Japanese came up with a truly masterful idea - to preheat fuel in tanks and serve it already warm.

Airplane floats were stored below deck. When assembling the aircraft, the floats were conveyed to the deck along rails. On the port side there was a 12-ton crane that folded into a deck recess. The crane was still needed to receive the aircraft after they splashed down.

To remain undetected and reduce radar and acoustic signature, the hull of the giant submarine was lined with a rubber compound that did not reflect sound waves sonar. But still, even despite all these measures, the noise of the substrate remained quite high. A total of three I-400 submarines were built out of a planned 18. The first sank already on December 30, 1944, the second - a year later, in 1945, the third was completed until 1945, but never set sail. There was also a fourth, but as a result of US airstrikes it was sunk near the shipyard.

Operation Hikari

The original plan was for the flotilla to sail south from the Japanese Islands, passing through Indian Ocean, enters the Atlantic, after which it moves north to the Caribbean Sea to strike the Panama Canal from an unexpected direction.

At the last moment the operation was revised and a flotilla was sent to destroy American aircraft carriers, located near the Ulithi Atoll. Operation Hikari did not involve the return of the M6A1 Seiran aircraft. All pilots had to become kamikazes to maximize damage to the United States. To do this, the planes took off without floats so that they would not return under any circumstances.

They say that the pilots were mentally prepared for their last flight. The submarine admiral presented each pilot with a personal samurai sword with a dedicatory engraving. And so on July 27, 1945, two submarines I-400 and I-401 with six bombers headed for Truk Atoll. The attack was scheduled for August 17, but already on August 15, an announcement was made on the radio about the complete surrender of Japan. The submarines were ordered to urgently return to port, raising black flags, destroy all documentation and sink all six aircraft. When folded, the M6A1 Seiran aircraft were mounted on catapults and thrown into the sea.

25-th of August American destroyer The Weaver intercepted the submarine and the crew boarded. The Japanese did not show military heroism and surrendered to the Americans; The US soldiers bluffed their way into convincing the Japanese to proceed to the port, otherwise they intended to do it themselves, even though they had no idea how to operate I-400. The size and design of the boat amazed the Americans; they had never seen anything like it before.

On the last day of summer, August 31, the submarine entered Tokyo Bay, and commander Ryunosuke Arizumi locked himself in the hold and shot himself, leaving a suicide note in advance in which he asked that his body be wrapped in a naval flag and thrown into the ocean. In September 1945, the boats were towed to an American naval base in the Hawaiian Islands, and a year after the study they were sunk near the island of Ohau. The second boat was blown up a little later. This was done to prevent the USSR from getting to secret developments.

After the war

Already in the 1960s, it became clear why the United States sank all the submarines. After all, submarines capable of carrying and launching nuclear warheads were actually developed on the basis of the I-400. Only the submarines did not launch aircraft that carried warheads, but independently launched a nuclear projectile after emerging from the sea.

New time has ground up all previous developments, and the result is what we have today - ballistic missiles, which are capable of hitting a target at a very long distance. Who knows what the outcome of World War II would have been if Japan had created its submarines at least two years earlier. However, such odious and fantastic developments of the mid-20th century opened up radically new prospects for the development of weapons and the use of tactics.

Submarines capable of carrying and launching nuclear warheads were actually developed from the I-400.

During the First World War, many types of weapons showed and proved their importance. For example, tanks demanded a revision of the doctrine of trench warfare, and submarines became a real wonder of sea battles. Naturally, some heads began to get quite original ideas by “crossing” several new types of weapons. Thus, already in 1915, the first projects of a submarine capable of transporting an aircraft appeared. Naturally, the airplane was planned to be used for reconnaissance purposes. Further, this idea will be repeatedly revised and developed, but in the vast majority of cases, projects for new “submarine aircraft carriers” will largely repeat the original idea.

Of all the projects of submarine aircraft carriers created between the world wars, the work of Japanese designers deserves special attention. At a certain point, the military leadership of the Land of the Rising Sun proposed making the plane not only through the eyes of a submarine, but also its long hand with a sword. Indeed, the carrying capacity of even purely reconnaissance light aircraft made it possible to carry a couple of small bombs on board. It is quite clear that this will not be enough for a full bombing, but sometimes two or three bombs are enough. True, the effect of such an attack will be rather psychological.

The first Japanese submarine capable of carrying aircraft was built in 1932. The I-2 boat of the J-1M project had a sealed hangar for transporting the aircraft. The dimensions of the hangar allowed it to hold the light reconnaissance Caspar U-1, a German aircraft of the 1920s, produced in Japan under license. Only one copy of the J-1M submarine was built. Despite preparations for the coming expansion in full swing, the Japanese were in no hurry to build a submarine aircraft carrier fleet. The I-2 was as much a military submarine as it was a test submarine: building an aircraft-carrying submarine presents many unique challenges. For example, sealing a small crew hatch is much easier than preventing water from entering through cracks in a large hangar hatch. In addition, it was necessary to create a compact and load-lifting crane: the J-1M project did not include a take-off ramp, so the aircraft had to take off and land from the water. To be transported to the surface of the water and lifted onto the boat, the latter had to have a crane. At first I had to suffer with the crane - salty sea water had an extremely bad effect on its mechanisms and sometimes parts jammed. However, the crane and hangar design were eventually completed. The fundamental possibility of creating an aircraft carrier submarine carrying attack aircraft has been proven.

By 1935, Japan's fleet of submarine aircraft carriers was replenished with another boat. It was I-6 Project J-2. It was distinguished from its predecessor by a number of design changes. It was slightly larger, had better performance characteristics, and the larger hangar could carry one reconnaissance aircraft of the Watanabe E9W type. Although it made its first flight at the same time the boat was launched, it was the E9W that subsequently became the basis of the I-6's aircraft armament. Thanks to a reasonable approach to testing the previous submarine aircraft carrier, Japanese engineers managed to create a more advanced design without repeating a number of mistakes. However, the plane still took off from the water. If landing on floats did not cause any complaints from anyone - it is not difficult to imagine the size of a submarine equipped with a full-fledged flight deck - then the need to first launch the plane into the water, after which it could take off, was the cause of complaints. In particular, this fact was the reason that the J-2 project was able to “give birth” to only one aircraft carrier submarine.

The A1 project to some extent became the basis for subsequent series of Japanese aircraft carrier submarines. So, in a matter of months, boats of the following projects were designed and put into series:
- A2. In fact, it was a modernization of the A1 with the addition of a number of new systems. The equipment associated with the aircraft has not undergone any changes. One boat built;
- AM. Deep modernization A1. The length of the hull was reduced, which, however, did not prevent the hangar from being enlarged to accommodate a second E14Y aircraft. The boats of this project, I-13 and I-14, were ready only in 1944.

Developments on the projects of the “J” and “A” families made it possible to collect all the necessary experience and already in the summer of 1942 an even more advanced boat I-15 of project B1 was launched. By 1944, 20 of these submarines with designations from I-15 to I-39 will be built. It was the Project B1 submarine that became one of the first Japanese aircraft carriers to participate in strikes against the United States. On September 9, 1942, the crew of a Yokosuka E14Y aircraft, consisting of pilot N. Fujita and gunner Sh. Okuda, dropped several incendiary bombs on a forest in Oregon. Shortly before the operation, which later became known as the “Lookout Air Raid,” there was rain and high humidity in foliage, soil, etc. in that area. prevented the incendiary bombs from doing their job. The carrier's only strike on the continental United States was unsuccessful.

Project B1, like the previous A1, became the basis for a whole family. So, several of its upgrades were carried out: B2, B3 and B4. They differed from each other in technical features and the number of boats manufactured. After twenty submarines of the B1 variant, only six B2 and three B3/4 submarines were made. At the same time, the construction of eight B2 and twelve B3/4 was canceled. By the end of 1943, when this decision was made, Japan needed other weapons for its fleet.

However, the reduction in construction volumes did not affect the overall plans of the Japanese command. Back in 1942, the design of a new type of underwater aircraft carrier, designated I-400, began. Submarines with an underwater displacement of more than 6,500 tons and a length of about 120 meters were supposed to have an underwater range of 110 kilometers and a surface range of more than 60 thousand km. Moreover, they had to carry 20 torpedoes and 3-4 aircraft. The Aichi M6A Seiran aircraft was developed specifically for the I-400 boats. This aircraft could already carry serious weapons in the form of two 250-kilogram bombs or one 800-kg caliber bomb. In addition, the possibility of using special containers with disease-carrying rodents was seriously considered. Just one dump of such a container on the continental United States could lead to serious consequences. And the submarine’s cruising range allowed it to go beyond the Pacific Ocean.

The photo shows the lead submarine of the I-400 series the day after its delivery to the Americans. Japanese I-400 series submarines were the largest submarines before the advent of nuclear submarines. Their design was started by Admiral Yamamoto, who needed an underwater aircraft carrier capable of carrying seaplanes armed with an 800-kg bomb or air torpedo. This aircraft was the Aichi M6A “Seiran” (Mountain Haze), which, by the way, did not receive a nickname from the Allies, and was one of the few late Japanese aircraft. Of the 18 boats planned for construction, only 3 were completed, but they did not take part in hostilities

The lead boat of the I-400 project was laid down in February 1943. The Navy wanted to receive 18 of these submarines. However, just a few months after the laying of the first submarine in the series, plans had to be cut in half. The constant deterioration of the situation at the fronts led to the fact that by the end of the war, out of the planned six submarines, the Japanese managed to lay down only six. As for the completion of construction, four boats were launched, but only three were put into operation. The design of these boats is of some interest. The body contours were non-standard for such equipment of Japanese and foreign production. Thus, to ensure the necessary internal volume and maintain acceptable dimensions in the bow, the boat’s hull had an 8-shaped cross-section. Toward the central part, the cross-section smoothly turned into something like a “∞” sign, and the stern again looked like a figure eight. This profile of the double-hulled boat was due to the fact that the technical specifications required large quantity fuel on board, and a separate hangar led to an increase in the vertical dimensions of the structure. Therefore, a sealed tubular hangar with a diameter of about 3.5 meters was placed in the middle part of the boat, under the wheelhouse. Due to the shape of the middle part of the hull, it did not lead to a significant increase in the height of the boat. When ready for use, the boat could carry three M6A aircraft. Before takeoff, the submarine surfaced, the sailors opened the hangar doors, installed the plane on the catapult (on the bow of the boat), unfolded its planes, and the pilot took off. The plane landed on the water, from where a crane lifted it. In addition to three aircraft ready for takeoff, a fourth could be transported in the disassembled hangar, but the volume of the room was only enough for three assembled ones.

The Japanese aircraft-carrying submarine I-401 is moored at Pearl Harbor. American military experts are studying the internal structure of the boat, one of three aircraft-carrying boats of the I-400 series that surrendered to the Americans.

Due to constant problems with resources, the lead boat of the I-400 project was commissioned by the Japanese Navy only on December 30, 1944. On January 8 of the next 45th she was followed by I-401 of the same project, and the third I-402 became a warship only at the end of July. Of course, these submarines never had time to do anything to change the situation at the front. In August 1945, a few days before the end of World War II, the crews of the boats decided to surrender to the Americans. The I-400 and I-401 boats did not have time to fight normally in just a few months of their combat work. So, first they received an order to attack the Panama Canal locks. However, the fleet leadership soon realized the futility of such an operation and canceled its order. Now the submarine aircraft carriers had to go to the Ulithi Atoll and attack those stationed there American ships. On August 6, the boats went to sea, but returned a couple of days later - there was a fire on I-400 and repairs were needed. I-401, in turn, could not cope with the task on its own. The re-entry was initially planned for the 17th. Then the start of the operation was postponed to August 25, but in the end, on the 20th, the boat commanders received an order to destroy all offensive weapons. Fulfilling this order meant only one thing: the aircraft carrier boats would no longer be able to do anything to save Japan from defeat. The crew of I-400 fired torpedoes into the sea and dropped the planes into the water. The captain of the boat I-401, Arizumi, having given the order to do the same, shot himself.

Japanese aircraft-carrying submarine I-401, which surrendered to the Americans, is moored in Tokyo Bay

The history of Japanese submarine aircraft carriers ended in the spring of 1946. After delivery to the Americans, the Project I-400 boats were delivered to Pearl Harbor, where they were carefully studied. In March 1946, the Soviet Union, in accordance with existing agreements, demanded that the United States provide access to Japanese miracle weapons. Not wanting to share the trophies, the American command gave the order to destroy them. On April 1, not far from Pearl Harbor, the boat I-402 was shot down by torpedoes, and on May 31, I-400 and I-401 went to the bottom.

Information sources:
http://korabley.net/
http://voenchronika.ru/
Magazines “Marine Collection” and “Technology for Youth”

Japan's Secret - submarine aircraft carrier (USA, UK) 2009

In the spring of 1946, 8 months after the end of World War II, a decision was made in the United States at the highest government level: one of the most advanced systems Japanese weapons was sent to the seabed to avoid falling into the hands of Soviet Union. We will learn about how the course of World War II could have changed if the Japanese had carried out their project...

How the course of World War II might have changed if the Japanese had carried out their project to create a giant submarine aircraft carrier.

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