Japanese submarine I-25
Encyclopedia
was a B1-Type (I-15 Class)
submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy
that served in World War II
, took part in the Attack on Pearl Harbor
, and carried out the only aerial bombing on the continental United States during wartime; during the so-called Lookout Air Raid; and the Bombardment of Fort Stevens
, both attacks occurring in the state of Oregon
, USA.
I-25, of 2,369 tonnes (2,600 tons), was 108 m (354 ft) long, with a range of 25928 km (14,000 nmi; 16,111 mi), a maximum surface speed of 43.5 km/h (22.2 kn; 27 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 15 km/h (8 kn; 9 mph). She carried a two-seater Yokosuka E14Y
reconnaissance
floatplane
, known to the Allies
as "Glen". It was disassembled and stowed in the front of the conning tower
.
Meiji Tagami who had graduated from Class 51 at Etajima, Hiroshima
. 26-year-old Lieutenant
Tatsuo Tsukudo was the Executive Officer
(XO) on I-25. I-25 departed Yokosuka on 21 November 1941 in preparation for hostilities.
I-25 and three other submarines patrolled a line 222 km (120 nmi; 138 mi) north of Oahu
during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
. After the Japanese aircraft carrier
s sailed west following the attack, I-25 and eight other submarines sailed eastwards to patrol the west coast of the United States. I-25 patrolled off the mouth of the Columbia River
. A scheduled shelling of American coastal cities on Christmas
eve of 1941 was canceled because of the frequency of coastal air and surface patrols.
I-25 attacked a cargo ship 16 km (9 nmi; 10 mi) off the US coast. The ship managed to escape but ran aground at the mouth of the Columbia River. I-25 then returned to Kwajalein atoll
, arriving on 11 January 1942 to refuel and be refurbished.
on 5 February for its next operational patrol in the south Pacific. Tagami's orders were to reconnoitre the Australia
n harbours of Sydney
, Melbourne
and Hobart
followed by the New Zealand
harbours of Wellington
and Auckland
.
I-25 travelled on the surface for nine days, but as she approached the Australian coastline, she only travelled on the surface under the cover of night.
On 13 February, I-25 sank the United Kingdom
merchant ship "Derrymore" at 05°18′S 166°20′E. On Saturday 14 February, I-25 was within a few miles of the coast near Sydney. The searchlights in Sydney could clearly be seen from the bridge of I-25. Tagami then took I-25 to a position 190 km (102.6 nmi; 118.1 mi) south east of Sydney.
A number of days of rough swell prevented an immediate launch of the "Glen" floatplane. They stayed submerged during the day and went back to the surface at night. Finally on Tuesday 17 February, Warrant Flying Officer
Nobuo Fujita
took off in the "Glen" for a reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour
. The purpose was to look at Sydney's airbase. By 0730, Fujita had returned to I-25 and disassembled the "Glen" and stowed it in the watertight hangar. Commander Tagami then pointed I-25 southwards on the surface at 26 km/h (13 kn; 16 mph). By midday on Wednesday 18 February, they were nearly 740 km (399.6 nmi; 459.8 mi) south east of Sydney still heading southwards.
Their next mission was a similar flight over Melbourne. Tagami decided to launch the aircraft from Cape Wickham
at the northern end of King Island at the western end of Bass Strait
about half way between Victoria
and Tasmania
. The floatplane was launched on 26 February for its reconnaissance flight to Melbourne over Port Phillip Bay.
Fujita's next reconnaissance flight in Australia was over Hobart on 1 March. I-25 then headed for New Zealand where Fujita flew another reconnaissance flight over Wellington on 8 March. Fujita next flew over Auckland on 13 March, followed by Fiji
on 17 March.
I-25 returned to its base at Kwajalein on 31 March and then proceeded to Yokosuka for refit. I-25 was in Yokosuka drydock number 5 on 18 April 1942 when one of the Doolittle Raid
B-25 Mitchell
bombers damaged Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūhō
in adjacent drydock number 4.
.
Shortly after midnight on 20 June 1942 I-25 torpedoed the new, coal-burning Canadian freighter Fort Camosun off the coast of Washington. The freighter was bound for England with a cargo of war production materials including zinc, lead, and plywood. One torpedo struck the port side below the bridge and flooded the 2nd and 3rd cargo holds. Canadian corvettes Quesnel
and Edmundston reached the stricken freighter after dawn and rescued the crew from lifeboats. Fort Camosun was towed back into Puget Sound for repairs, and later survived a second torpedo attack by I-27 in the Gulf of Aden in the fall of 1943.
On the evening of 21 June 1942, I-25 followed a fleet of fishing vessels to avoid minefields near the mouth of the Columbia River
, in Oregon
. I-25 fired
seventeen 14-cm (5.5-inch) shells at Battery Russell, a small coastal army installation within Fort Stevens
which was later decomissioned. Fort Stevens was equipped with two 10-inch disappearing gun
s, some 12-inch mortars, 75-mm field guns, .50-caliber machine guns, and associated searchlights, observation posts, and secret RADAR
capability. Damage was minimal. In fact, the only items of significance damaged on the fort were a baseball backstop and some power and telephone lines.
The incoming shell fire had a highly stimulative effect on the personnel at Battery Russell. Men leaped out of bed, crashing into things in the dark -- turning on a light would be unthinkable -- as they scrambled to battle stations in their underwear.
“We looked like hell,” Capt. Jack R. Wood, commander of the battery, told historian Bert Webber later. “But we were ready to shoot back in a couple of minutes.”
But when gunners requested permission to open fire they were firmly refused. In part this was because the submarine's location remained uncertain because of difficulties evaluating reports from different observation points; it was, after all, 10 miles from shore. Furthermore, authorities later stated they wished to avoid revealing the locations of their guns to what they believed to be a reconnaissance mission. The sub may also have been out of range of Battery Russell's artillery; the mechanism used with the 10-inch disappearing guns limited their upward travel, which limited their effective range to less than 10 miles. If the guns opened fire, the sub would be able to report back to Toyko that a fleet of surface ships could simply heave to, 10 miles from shore, and pound Battery Russell with impunity, then sail right on into the Columbia -- where, among other juicy targets, Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation
, one of Henry Kaiser's shipyards, was cranking out Liberty ships at a rate of more than one a week. This, obviously, was not something the Navy could take a chance on.
So Battery Russell sat there and took it -- a total of 17 shell hits -- without a single shot in reply.
It was a turning point for American Coastal artillery
, and the failure to respond caused re-evaluation of men and artillery allocated to coastal defense.
Following his successful observation flights on the second and third patrols, Warrant Officer
Nubuo Fujita was specifically chosen for a special incendiary bombing mission to create forest fires in North America. I-25 left Yokosuka on 15 August 1942 carrying six 76 kg (168 lb) incendiary bomb
s. On 9 September, the crew again deployed the "Glen", which dropped two bombs over forest land near Brookings
, Oregon
. This attack by an enemy airplane was later called the "Lookout Air Raid", and was the only time that the continental United States was ever bombed by enemy aircraft during wartime.
Warrant Officer Fujita's mission had been to trigger wildfire
s across the coast; at the time, the Tillamook Burn
incidents of 1933 and 1939 were well known, as was the destruction of the city of Bandon, Oregon
by a smaller out-of-control wildfire in 1936. But light winds, wet weather conditions and two quick-acting Fire Lookouts
kept the fires under control. In fact, had the winds been sufficiently brisk to stoke widespread forest fires, the lightweight Glen may have had difficulty navigating through the bad weather. Shortly after the Glen seaplane had landed and been disassembled for storage, I-25 was bombed at 42°22′N 125°12′W by a United States Army A-29 Hudson piloted by Captain Jean H. Daugherty from McChord Field near Tacoma, Washington
. The Hudson carried 300-pound general purpose demolition bombs with delayed fuzes rather than depth charges. The bombs caused minor damage, but quick response by a Coast Guard cutter and three more aircraft caused I-25 to be more cautious on a second bombing raid on 29 September 1942. The Glen seaplane was assembled and launched in pre-dawn darkness using Cape Blanco Light
as a reference. The plane was heard at 0522 by a work crew at the Grassy Knob Lookout 7 miles east of Port Orford, Oregon
; but fire crews from the Gold Beach Ranger Station were unable to locate any evidence of the two incendiary bombs dropped.
The Glen seaplane was again recovered, but I-25 decided not to risk a third flight with the two remaining incendiary bombs
At 0415 4 October 1942 I-25 torpedoed the 6600-ton tanker Camden enroute from San Pedro, California, to Puget Sound with a cargo of 76000 barrels (12,083,034.4 l) of gasoline. The damaged tanker was towed to the mouth of the Columbia River. When its draft was discovered to be too great to reach repair facilities in Portland, Oregon, another tow was arranged to Puget Sound; but the tanker was destroyed on 10 October by a fire of unknown origin during the second tow.
On the evening of 5 October 1942 I-25 torpedoed and sank the Richfield Oil Company tanker Larry Doheny. The cargo of 66000 barrels (10,493,161.5 l) of oil was lost with 2 of the tanker's crew and 4 members of the United States Navy Armed Guard
. Survivors reached Port Orford, Oregon
on the evening of 6 October.
Two submarines were sighted on 11 October 1942 about 800 miles off the coast of Washington as I-25 was returning to Japan. I-25 fired its last torpedo at the lead submarine, which sank in 20 seconds with the loss of all hands. I-25 reported sinking an American submarine, but the submarine was actually Soviet L-16
which was sailing with L-15 enroute from Vladivostok
to the Panama Canal
via Unalaska, Alaska
and San Francisco. United States Navy Chief Photographer's Mate Sergi Andreevich Mihailoff of Arcadia, California
, was aboard L-16 as a liaison officer and interpreter, and was killed with the remainder of the submarine crew. The United States Navy Western Sea Frontier denied loss of any submarine and withheld information about the Soviet loss because, at the time, the Soviet Union was officially neutral in the war between Japan and the United States.
off the New Hebrides
islands on 25 August 1943.
B1 type submarine
The Type B1 submarine were the most numerous submarine class of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II...
submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
that served in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, took part in the Attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, and carried out the only aerial bombing on the continental United States during wartime; during the so-called Lookout Air Raid; and the Bombardment of Fort Stevens
Bombardment of Fort Stevens
The Bombardment of Fort Stevens occurred in June 1942, during early months of the Pacific War. An Imperial Japanese submarine fired on the United States military installation, Fort Stevens which was protecting the Oregon side of the Columbia River's Pacific entrance.-Bombardment:The Japanese...
, both attacks occurring in the state of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, USA.
I-25, of 2,369 tonnes (2,600 tons), was 108 m (354 ft) long, with a range of 25928 km (14,000 nmi; 16,111 mi), a maximum surface speed of 43.5 km/h (22.2 kn; 27 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 15 km/h (8 kn; 9 mph). She carried a two-seater Yokosuka E14Y
Yokosuka E14Y
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Francillon, Ph.D., René J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-370-30251-6....
reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
floatplane
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
, known to the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
as "Glen". It was disassembled and stowed in the front of the conning tower
Conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer can con the vessel; i.e., give directions to the helmsman. It is usually located as high on the ship as practical, to give the conning team good visibility....
.
First Patrol
In World War II, I-25 served under the command of Lieutenant CommanderLieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Meiji Tagami who had graduated from Class 51 at Etajima, Hiroshima
Etajima, Hiroshima
is a city located on the island of Etajima in Hiroshima Bay in southwestern Hiroshima, Japan.The city was formed on November 1, 2004 from the merger of the town of Etajima from Aki District with three towns from Saeki District: Nōmi, Ōgaki, and Okimi.As of March 1, 2008 population data, the city...
. 26-year-old Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Tatsuo Tsukudo was the Executive Officer
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
(XO) on I-25. I-25 departed Yokosuka on 21 November 1941 in preparation for hostilities.
I-25 and three other submarines patrolled a line 222 km (120 nmi; 138 mi) north of Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. After the Japanese aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s sailed west following the attack, I-25 and eight other submarines sailed eastwards to patrol the west coast of the United States. I-25 patrolled off the mouth of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
. A scheduled shelling of American coastal cities on Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
eve of 1941 was canceled because of the frequency of coastal air and surface patrols.
I-25 attacked a cargo ship 16 km (9 nmi; 10 mi) off the US coast. The ship managed to escape but ran aground at the mouth of the Columbia River. I-25 then returned to Kwajalein atoll
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
, arriving on 11 January 1942 to refuel and be refurbished.
Second Patrol
I-25 left Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall IslandsMarshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
on 5 February for its next operational patrol in the south Pacific. Tagami's orders were to reconnoitre the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n harbours of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
followed by the New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
harbours of Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
and Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
.
I-25 travelled on the surface for nine days, but as she approached the Australian coastline, she only travelled on the surface under the cover of night.
On 13 February, I-25 sank the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
merchant ship "Derrymore" at 05°18′S 166°20′E. On Saturday 14 February, I-25 was within a few miles of the coast near Sydney. The searchlights in Sydney could clearly be seen from the bridge of I-25. Tagami then took I-25 to a position 190 km (102.6 nmi; 118.1 mi) south east of Sydney.
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
Nobuo Fujita
Nobuo Fujita
was a Warrant Flying Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy who flew a floatplane from the long-range submarine aircraft carrier , and conducted the only wartime aircraft-dropped bombing on the continental United States of America, which became known as the Lookout Air Raid...
took off in the "Glen" for a reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
. The purpose was to look at Sydney's airbase. By 0730, Fujita had returned to I-25 and disassembled the "Glen" and stowed it in the watertight hangar. Commander Tagami then pointed I-25 southwards on the surface at 26 km/h (13 kn; 16 mph). By midday on Wednesday 18 February, they were nearly 740 km (399.6 nmi; 459.8 mi) south east of Sydney still heading southwards.
Their next mission was a similar flight over Melbourne. Tagami decided to launch the aircraft from Cape Wickham
Cape Wickham
Cape Wickham is the most northerly point of King Island, Tasmania. From here, it is to Cape Otway on the Australian mainland. In the 19th century, ships coming from Europe would sometimes attempt to sail between Cape Wickham and Cape Otway to cut down on the required travelling time to Sydney,...
at the northern end of King Island at the western end of Bass Strait
Bass Strait
Bass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
about half way between Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
. The floatplane was launched on 26 February for its reconnaissance flight to Melbourne over Port Phillip Bay.
Fujita's next reconnaissance flight in Australia was over Hobart on 1 March. I-25 then headed for New Zealand where Fujita flew another reconnaissance flight over Wellington on 8 March. Fujita next flew over Auckland on 13 March, followed by Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
on 17 March.
I-25 returned to its base at Kwajalein on 31 March and then proceeded to Yokosuka for refit. I-25 was in Yokosuka drydock number 5 on 18 April 1942 when one of the Doolittle Raid
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, on 18 April 1942, was the first air raid by the United States to strike the Japanese Home Islands during World War II. By demonstrating that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, it provided a vital morale boost and opportunity for U.S. retaliation after the...
B-25 Mitchell
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
bombers damaged Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūhō
Japanese aircraft carrier Ryuho
The was a Japanese Light aircraft carrier. Sole ship of her class, she was converted from a submarine tender. During World War II she operated mainly as aircraft transport but did participate in the First Battle of the Philippine Sea.-Conversion and commission:...
in adjacent drydock number 4.
Third Patrol
While outbound past the Aleutian Islands for a third war patrol off the west coast of North America, I-25s Glen seaplane overflew United States military installations on Kodiak Island. The surveillance on 21 May 1942 was in preparation for the northern diversion of the Battle of MidwayBattle of Midway
The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
.
Shortly after midnight on 20 June 1942 I-25 torpedoed the new, coal-burning Canadian freighter Fort Camosun off the coast of Washington. The freighter was bound for England with a cargo of war production materials including zinc, lead, and plywood. One torpedo struck the port side below the bridge and flooded the 2nd and 3rd cargo holds. Canadian corvettes Quesnel
HMCS Quesnel (K133)
HMCS Quesnel was a of the Royal Canadian Navy that took part in convoy escort duties during World War II. Named after Quesnel, British Columbia, she was built by the Victoria Machinery Depot Company Ltd...
and Edmundston reached the stricken freighter after dawn and rescued the crew from lifeboats. Fort Camosun was towed back into Puget Sound for repairs, and later survived a second torpedo attack by I-27 in the Gulf of Aden in the fall of 1943.
On the evening of 21 June 1942, I-25 followed a fleet of fishing vessels to avoid minefields near the mouth of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
, in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. I-25 fired
Bombardment of Fort Stevens
The Bombardment of Fort Stevens occurred in June 1942, during early months of the Pacific War. An Imperial Japanese submarine fired on the United States military installation, Fort Stevens which was protecting the Oregon side of the Columbia River's Pacific entrance.-Bombardment:The Japanese...
seventeen 14-cm (5.5-inch) shells at Battery Russell, a small coastal army installation within Fort Stevens
Fort Stevens (Oregon)
Fort Stevens was an American military installation that guarded the mouth of the Columbia River in the state of Oregon. Built near the end of the American Civil War, it was named for slain Civil War general and former Washington Territory governor, Isaac Stevens. The fort was an active military...
which was later decomissioned. Fort Stevens was equipped with two 10-inch disappearing gun
Disappearing gun
A disappearing gun is a type of heavy artillery for which the gun carriage enabled the gun to rotate backwards and down into a pit protected by a wall or a bunker after it was fired...
s, some 12-inch mortars, 75-mm field guns, .50-caliber machine guns, and associated searchlights, observation posts, and secret RADAR
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
capability. Damage was minimal. In fact, the only items of significance damaged on the fort were a baseball backstop and some power and telephone lines.
The incoming shell fire had a highly stimulative effect on the personnel at Battery Russell. Men leaped out of bed, crashing into things in the dark -- turning on a light would be unthinkable -- as they scrambled to battle stations in their underwear.
“We looked like hell,” Capt. Jack R. Wood, commander of the battery, told historian Bert Webber later. “But we were ready to shoot back in a couple of minutes.”
But when gunners requested permission to open fire they were firmly refused. In part this was because the submarine's location remained uncertain because of difficulties evaluating reports from different observation points; it was, after all, 10 miles from shore. Furthermore, authorities later stated they wished to avoid revealing the locations of their guns to what they believed to be a reconnaissance mission. The sub may also have been out of range of Battery Russell's artillery; the mechanism used with the 10-inch disappearing guns limited their upward travel, which limited their effective range to less than 10 miles. If the guns opened fire, the sub would be able to report back to Toyko that a fleet of surface ships could simply heave to, 10 miles from shore, and pound Battery Russell with impunity, then sail right on into the Columbia -- where, among other juicy targets, Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation
Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation
Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was a World War II emergency shipyard located in Portland, Oregon, United States, that built over 1000 Liberty and Victory ships between 1941 and 1945. It was closed after the war ended....
, one of Henry Kaiser's shipyards, was cranking out Liberty ships at a rate of more than one a week. This, obviously, was not something the Navy could take a chance on.
So Battery Russell sat there and took it -- a total of 17 shell hits -- without a single shot in reply.
It was a turning point for American Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
, and the failure to respond caused re-evaluation of men and artillery allocated to coastal defense.
Fourth Patrol
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
Nubuo Fujita was specifically chosen for a special incendiary bombing mission to create forest fires in North America. I-25 left Yokosuka on 15 August 1942 carrying six 76 kg (168 lb) incendiary bomb
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
s. On 9 September, the crew again deployed the "Glen", which dropped two bombs over forest land near Brookings
Brookings
- Organizations :* Brookings Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.- Places :* Brookings, Oregon, USA* Brookings, South Dakota, USA* Brookings County, South Dakota, USA- People :* Robert S...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. This attack by an enemy airplane was later called the "Lookout Air Raid", and was the only time that the continental United States was ever bombed by enemy aircraft during wartime.
Warrant Officer Fujita's mission had been to trigger wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
s across the coast; at the time, the Tillamook Burn
Tillamook Burn
The Tillamook Burn was a series of forest fires in the Northern Oregon Coast Rangeof Oregon in the United States that destroyed a total area of 355,000 acres of old growth timber in what is now known as the Tillamook State Forest. The fires spanned the years of 1933–1951. By association, the name...
incidents of 1933 and 1939 were well known, as was the destruction of the city of Bandon, Oregon
Bandon, Oregon
- Economy :Like many communities on the Oregon coast, Bandon had significant fishing and timber industries, which were greatly diminished by the 1980s, though some remnants still exist. Bandon's current economy revolves around wood products, fishing, tourism, and agriculture...
by a smaller out-of-control wildfire in 1936. But light winds, wet weather conditions and two quick-acting Fire Lookouts
Fire lookout
A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a fire lookout tower. These towers are used in remote areas, normally on mountain tops with high elevation and a good view of the surrounding terrain, to spot smoke caused by a wildfire.Once a possible fire...
kept the fires under control. In fact, had the winds been sufficiently brisk to stoke widespread forest fires, the lightweight Glen may have had difficulty navigating through the bad weather. Shortly after the Glen seaplane had landed and been disassembled for storage, I-25 was bombed at 42°22′N 125°12′W by a United States Army A-29 Hudson piloted by Captain Jean H. Daugherty from McChord Field near Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
. The Hudson carried 300-pound general purpose demolition bombs with delayed fuzes rather than depth charges. The bombs caused minor damage, but quick response by a Coast Guard cutter and three more aircraft caused I-25 to be more cautious on a second bombing raid on 29 September 1942. The Glen seaplane was assembled and launched in pre-dawn darkness using Cape Blanco Light
Cape Blanco Light
Cape Blanco Light is a lighthouse located on Cape Blanco, Oregon, United States.-Construction of the light:In a deed recorded in 1867, John D. and Mary West sold the United States a tract of land...
as a reference. The plane was heard at 0522 by a work crew at the Grassy Knob Lookout 7 miles east of Port Orford, Oregon
Port Orford, Oregon
Port Orford is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It is on the southern Oregon Coast, at the northern end of what coastal Oregonians call the Banana Belt, because the weather from Port Orford south is noticeably warmer than the weather north of nearby Cape Blanco...
; but fire crews from the Gold Beach Ranger Station were unable to locate any evidence of the two incendiary bombs dropped.
The Glen seaplane was again recovered, but I-25 decided not to risk a third flight with the two remaining incendiary bombs
At 0415 4 October 1942 I-25 torpedoed the 6600-ton tanker Camden enroute from San Pedro, California, to Puget Sound with a cargo of 76000 barrels (12,083,034.4 l) of gasoline. The damaged tanker was towed to the mouth of the Columbia River. When its draft was discovered to be too great to reach repair facilities in Portland, Oregon, another tow was arranged to Puget Sound; but the tanker was destroyed on 10 October by a fire of unknown origin during the second tow.
On the evening of 5 October 1942 I-25 torpedoed and sank the Richfield Oil Company tanker Larry Doheny. The cargo of 66000 barrels (10,493,161.5 l) of oil was lost with 2 of the tanker's crew and 4 members of the United States Navy Armed Guard
United States Navy Armed Guard
United States Navy Armed Guard units were established during World War I in an attempt to provide defensive firepower to merchant ships in convoy or merchant ships traveling alone...
. Survivors reached Port Orford, Oregon
Port Orford, Oregon
Port Orford is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It is on the southern Oregon Coast, at the northern end of what coastal Oregonians call the Banana Belt, because the weather from Port Orford south is noticeably warmer than the weather north of nearby Cape Blanco...
on the evening of 6 October.
Two submarines were sighted on 11 October 1942 about 800 miles off the coast of Washington as I-25 was returning to Japan. I-25 fired its last torpedo at the lead submarine, which sank in 20 seconds with the loss of all hands. I-25 reported sinking an American submarine, but the submarine was actually Soviet L-16
Leninets class submarine
The Leninets or L-class were the second class of submarines to be built for the Soviet Navy. They were minelaying submarines and were based on the British L-class submarine, HMS L55, which was sunk during the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Some experience from the previous...
which was sailing with L-15 enroute from Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
to the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
via Unalaska, Alaska
Unalaska, Alaska
Unalaska is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off of mainland Alaska....
and San Francisco. United States Navy Chief Photographer's Mate Sergi Andreevich Mihailoff of Arcadia, California
Arcadia, California
Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....
, was aboard L-16 as a liaison officer and interpreter, and was killed with the remainder of the submarine crew. The United States Navy Western Sea Frontier denied loss of any submarine and withheld information about the Soviet loss because, at the time, the Soviet Union was officially neutral in the war between Japan and the United States.
Loss
I-25 was sunk less than a year later by the destroyerDestroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
off the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
islands on 25 August 1943.
External references
- Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Dieter Jung, Peter Mickel. Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869-1945. United States Naval Institute, 1977. Annapolis, Maryland, USA. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Aviation History article