Sunk: The Story of the Japanese Submarine Fleet, 1941-1945

by Mochitsura Hashimoto

Author Mochitsura Hashimoto was one of only four Japanese submarine captains to survive. Shortly before the end of WW2 he inflicted the greatest single loss on the U.S. Navy in its history, when he torpedoed and sank the USS Indianapolis -- soon after it had delivered parts for the first A-bomb on Hiroshima to the US base on Tinian! The title, however, refers to the fate of the Japanese submarine fleet. It's the story of the bravery of doomed men in a lost cause, fighting impossible odds. The kaitens or human torpedoes were not the only submarine the whole war in the Pacific was suicide from the start. So why did Japan go into the war? Hashimoto is sharply critical of the recklessness and unpreparedness of Japan's top brass. With an introduction by Cmdr. Edward L. Beach, author of the best-seller "Submarine!"

Genres: Japan, World War II, Nonfiction

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Mochitsura Hashimoto was a Japanese officer and a submarine commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is mainly a collection of anecdotes on The Pacific War by one of the few surviving Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine captains (Hashimoto). There is a small attempt to organize the stories into tactical and operational-level and strategic operations. It was a disappointment to me. It failed to educate me on the tactics, operations and strategies of the IJN’s submarine service during the Pacific War.

First, this is a slim book in English translation. It’s only about 135-pages of narrative and an additional 20-pages of Appendix. The type is at least 12pt and set double spaced. The Appendix contains mostly tabular data on the IJN wartime submarine arm’s performance and the boat list. In addition, the translation by Colegrave while adequate was not the work of an experienced, professional, Japanese-to-English writer. Finally, this book was copyrighted in 2010 by a very small publishing firm (Progressive Press). Not a lot of resources were put into making this book as polished a work as it could have been.

This book is a collection of Hashimoto-san’s wartime reminisces, loosely organized into topical areas . Information from IJN archives has been worked into the stories to provide factual information beyond his observations. In places Beach adds footnotes from USN public sources providing corrections and additional information. The stories of the patrols can be interesting. However, you’d need to have already had some familiarity with WWII-era submarine technology and operations to appreciate them. Although the stories are not in chronological order, a close reader of the book will be able to see the changes in the IJN’s submarine service's organizational behavior as the war progressed.

Pre-war and wartime Japanese submarine technology is scantily covered. I was left with the impression that IJN ‘fleet boats’ (I-series) had technological parity with the USN’s boats at the start of the war. However, the IJN had superior and working torpedoes at the beginning of the war. Details of boat performance such as descriptions of: surface speed, submerged speed and cruising range of the Japanese boats, are provided in the Appendix. Although, in the context of the stories IJN boats appear to be similar to early war German and American boats. Oddly, the IJN never developed use of the snorkel. This is despite have a technical exchange with their German allies. Stories set later in the war describe the need for and use of radar, midget submarines and the human guided torpedoes (kaiten).

The book includes some good, first-person narrated, war stories. There is a lot of combat ship handling information. However, at no point does the author clearly describe and summarize fleet boat tactics, doctrine, and strategy during the beginning, middle and end-periods of the war. Frankly, the book’s chapters seemed weird to me. Firstly, they are not in chronological order, or grouped into topic related sections. Operational chapters like, “Bombardment by Submarine” and historical chapters like “The Air Attack on the Truk Base” could appear side-by-side. This resulted in a peculiar interleaving of operational detail and historical events. Only by reading all the chapters and paying attention to Hashimoto-san’s narrative while noting the reference date of the chapter could the details of tactics, operations and strategy be gleaned by example. However, I did find the discussion included in “Bombardment by Submarine” to be interesting in its detail regarding caliber, and gun laying. I would have liked to have read a "Torpedo Attack by Submarine" chapter, which was not included. Meanwhile, I have read better USN descriptions of the suppression of the IJN Truk Fleet Base. The exception in this chapter being Hashimotos-san’s description of the boats lengthening their hawsers and submerging at dockside with the first sound of the air raid siren. Finally, the "Conclusion" chapter was incomprehensible to me.

A serious opportunity was missed by the technical editor (Beach). Submarine ‘kills’ of all combatants reported by the boats have historically been inaccurate. Occasionally, Beach would correlate a Hashimoto claim with a USN historical report in a footnote. For example, correcting the claim of a sister I-boat’s sinking of a “Texas-class Battleship” to a Northampton-class cruiser. However, these efforts were only occasional. Beach was more diligent about verifying I-boats sunk by the USN to corroborate the stories. Several times I resorted to my own copies of Pacific naval war histories by Ian W. Toll and Samuel Eliot Morrison to add more detail. A comprehensive correlation by the author or editors would have been welcome.

Map usage was minimal. There are some photographs of merit, but very few photographs at all. Use of charts and diagrams was non-existent.

I did not learn what I expected to learn from reading this book. It was not The Story of the Japanese Submarine Fleet. The primary object of the book was Hashimoto-san’s wartime missions and patrols. Great detail on ‘life aboard an IJN submarine during the Pacific War’ was found. However, discussions of tactical and operational-level operations and strategy were superficial. Finally, this book would only be helpful as a supplementary text to someone who was already read-up on WWII IJN submarine and submarine operations in general. As a primary source on the IJN’s submarine arm, I'd look for another book.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sunk is cross between autobiography and general history of the Japanese submarine effort in World War II. Hashimoto was the captain of the I-58 which sank the U.S.S. Indianapolis at the end of the war resulting in the loss of over 800 US sailors. Sunk was interesting in that it shone a light on a subject that could have been probably addressed in a chapter of a book and expanded to show the submarines were good, the crews were good but the leadership failed the Japanese submarine force. An example is Hashimoto fighting to keep a radar already installed on his submarine but engineering admirals insisted that the radar installed was only meant for aircraft. Hashimoto eventually received a radar unit but only after many submarines had been sunk and Hashimoto had close calls.

Where Hashimoto stumbles is his recounting of sinking the Indianapolis. He claims not to have used his kaiten or suicide mini submarines or human piloted torpedoes. This was a target that was a capital ship it seems unreasonable he did not use the best weapon at his disposal which were the kaiten. The author of the forward Edward Beach discusses this. While published in 1954 Hashimoto doesn't have Japanese claims of sinking verified. The most glaring omission of the book is Hashimoto's participation in Captain McVey's (CO Indianapolis) court martial. I wanted to know what Hashimoto felt or perceived of that trial. The only hint comes with him saying once sighted it was a matter of time. Still Sunk is a great introduction to the Japanese submarine effort in World War II.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book. There are some collateral bits and pieces of information on international contacts in the Imperial fleet, and on independence movements in colonies, not much but sprinkled here and there that will make you appreciate the complexities of the decolonization politics.

[Todd Kyser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good perspective

Have read much about US Submarine ops but this is a different perspective in helping to understand the differences between the US success and Japanese
ineffectiveness. Recommend this read.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a waste of life

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

General overview of Japanese submarine operations in World War II. Although written by a sub commander, it’s very light on personal detail.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting to hear the experiences of a Japanese submarine commander during World War Two.

[Lew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book on the Japanese submarine fleet and it's actions during WWII. This was written in the fifties in Japan. This was a translated version. With all my WWII readings, I had never realized how ineffective Japanese subs were and how they were not used as successfully as the Germans in the Atlantic or the success the US subs had on the Japanese war effort. A lot more has come out since this book was written as not all US records of ships sunk had been released. The one infamous claim for the author is that his sub sank the USS Indianapolis.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mainly read this (well bits and pieces) for research. I am working on a novel with my cousin about submarines.

So basically I was getting my submarine lingo in tact. Managed to get some ideas to work off. Sweet cover though.