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Hey folks,
For the submarineophiles out there.....
Mike Mcdiarmid and I attended an interesting presentation
at NOAA yesterday on the wreck of the Japanese WWII sub
I-52.
The sub was one (of 4?) of a class of vessels developed
toward the end off the war to carry assorted freight (ie:
gold, molybdenum (sp?), tin, quinine, rubber -strapped to
the outside of the hull, and other stuff) essentials to the
ailing German forces at ports in France.
The subs were very large for that time, had garages on deck
(also seen in some of today's subs), heavy offset bollards,
a small derrick, and track system for loading of cargo.
They were even capable of carrying two planes (and
one-half plane in spares) and launching limited air
operations at sea.
The I-52 was sunk as the result of Allied breaking of the
German and Japanese codes. Upon discovery of a planned
rendevous with a German U-boat, a small carrier group (a
tiny carrier built from a liberty ship and carrying seven
planes) was sent to intercept.
Although the carrier missed the rendevous, one of their
planes was able to find the I-52 using newly developed sonar
bouys and launched an acoutic tracking torpedo (I may have
this name wrong). This technology was so new, that the
inventor was in one of the three spaces available on the
plane that sunk the sub.
The sub is in 17,000 fsw and has been found and partially
photographed by members of a recent expedition using a
leased Russian research vessel and the expertise of a lot
of interesting folks.......
This is probably enough detail to get folks interested (and
I should really get back to work), so I will direct you to
the official expedition website where there are more
detailed explanations, photos, etc.
Point browser to: <http://www.mersci.com/>
Interesting stuff, enjoy.
Pat Moran
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