Japanese Secret Weapons
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The I-401 aircraft submarine was 400 ft. long, 39 ft. high, could dive to 330 ft., with a crew of 144, a range of 37,000 mi., and carried 3 bombers with foldup wings. The I-400 and I-401 sailed for the U. S. West Coast in 1945 in Operation PX to deliver bacteriological bombs, but both were captured at sea before launching any planes. Both were scuttled in 1946.
photo from starbulletin |
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Japan sent five Type A midget submarines to Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, and were launched by larger subs. The USS Ward sank one midget sub, and another was never found. Three were salvaged, including the Ha-19 immediately after the Dec. 7 attack.
photo from NHC |
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Kaiten suicide midget submarine, 45 ft. long, 1.55 ton explosive charge on its front, operational after 11/10/44, sank 2 American ships with 162 killed, at loss of 106 kaiten pilots
photo from NHC |
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Kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. fleet starting Oct. 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The USS St. Lo was sunk Oct. 25.
photo from USS Essex |
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Japan launched 9000 balloon bombs after 11/3/44; 1000 reached the U.S. and 285 were sighted; 6 hikers were killed 5/5/45 in Oregon
photo from USAF |
Links:
- Anatomy of a secret sub, (midget submarine) Star Bulletin, September 1, 2002
- Hunt for the Last Mystery Shipwreck, (midget submarine) Naval History, April 2003
- The Search for the World War II Japanese Midget Submarine Sunk off Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory , 12/20/2003
- Japanese Balloon Bombs from USAF
- Japanese Secret Weapon against the US
- Kaiten Memorial Museum
- Kaiten Special Attack Submarine sank USS Underhill destroyer
- Kaiten type human torpedoes from Naval Historical Center
- Kamikaze from USS Essex
- Nuclear Weapons Program from FAS
- Type A, B & C Midget Submarines from Naval Historical Center
- Wikipedia list of Japanese Weapons of WWII
Books:
- Breuer, William B. Secret Weapons of World War II - book
- Grunden, Walter E. Secret Weapons and World War II: Japan in the Shadow of Big Science - book
- Harris, Sheldon H. Japanese Biomedical Experimentation During the World-War-II Era - book
- Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb. New York: Marlowe & Co., 1995.
- Low, M. L. "Japan's Secret War? 'Instant Scientific Manpower and Japan's World War II Atomic Bomb Project" Annals of Science, July 1, 1990, Volume 47, Number 4, page 347.
- Mikesh, Robert C. Japan's World War II Balloon Bomb Attacks on North America. Smithsonian Books, 1990.
- Shapley, Deborah. "Nuclear Weapons History: Japan's Wartime Bomb Projects Revealed" Science, 1978.
- Yokota, Yutaka. Kamikaze Submarine. Leisure Books,1962. - book
WWII Timeline start | Links | Topics | Pictures | Maps | Documents | Bibliography | revised 11/1/05 by Schoenherr