Verwandte Artikel zu Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines...

Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Their Plan to Change the Course of World War II - Hardcover

Geoghegan, John

 
9780307464804: Operation Storm: Japan's Top Secret Submarines and Their Plan to Change the Course of World War II
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0307464806 ISBN 13: 9780307464804
Verlag: Presidio Press, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

The riveting true story of Japan's top secret plan to change the course of World War II using a squadron of mammoth submarines a generation ahead of their time

In 1941, the architects of Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor planned a bold follow-up: a potentially devastating air raid--this time against New York City and Washington, DC. The classified Japanese program required developing a squadron of top secret submarines--theSen-toku or I-400 class--which were, by far, the largest and among the most deadly subs of World War II. Incredibly, the subs were designed as underwater aircraft carriers, each equipped with three Aichi M6A1 attack bombers painted to look like US aircraft. The bombers, called Seiran (which translates as “storm from a clear sky”), were tucked in a huge, water tight hanger on the sub’s deck. The subs mission was to travel more than half way around the world, surface on the US coast, and launch their deadly air attack. This entire operation was unknown to US intelligence, despite having broken the Japanese naval code. And the amazing thing is how close the Japanese came to pulling off their mission.

Meticulously researched and masterfully told, Operation Storm tells the harrowing story of the Sen Toku, their desperate push into Allied waters, and the dramatic chase of this juggernaut sub by the US navy. Author John Geoghegan’s first person accounts from the last surviving members of both the I-401 crew and the US boarding party that captured her create a highly intimate portrait of this fascinating, and until now forgotten story of war in the Pacific.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

John Geoghegan has written extensively about aviation history, underwater exploration and marine engineering for theNew York Times Science Section, Smithsonian Air & Space, WIRED, Popular Science, Aviation History, Military Heritage, Flight Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1

Face-off

The USS Segundo (SS 398) was five days out of Midway heading toward Japan when her crew received news that the Japanese government had accepted peace terms. As the submarine’s executive officer, Lt. John E. Balson, noted in the boat’s Fifth War Patrol Report:

heard the good word of the surrender—and in eleven lanChapter 1

Face-off

The USS Segundo (SS 398) was five days out of Midway heading toward Japan when her crew received news that the Japanese government had accepted peace terms. As the submarine’s executive officer, Lt. John E. Balson, noted in the boat’s Fifth War Patrol Report:

heard the good word of the surrender—and in eleven languages, too!1

Balson was second in command of the Balao-class sub, one of the newest U.S. fleet boats. Nicknamed “Silent Joe” for his reticent manner, Balson was responsible for ensuring that the captain’s orders were carried out in a correct and timely manner. He’d been with the Segundo since before her commissioning and had served on all five of her war patrols. Twenty-eight years old and already balding, Balson was a man of sly wit if few words. His all-cap entry was an uncharacteristic display of emotion for the normally phlegmatic officer. Then again, the war with Japan was finally over.

The Segundo had been patrolling the Kuril Islands when the cease-fire was announced. She hadn’t seen much activity except for a few Russian vessels.2 Nevertheless, the Sea of Okhotsk could be dangerous. Sometimes when fog blanketed the ocean’s surface, the Segundo’s sail protruded as much as 10 or 15 feet above the cloud bank, making the sub perilously visible. Other times the water was so calm, you could hear a bird take off, which meant the Segundo’s engines could be heard as well. And it was cold even in August—so cold, in fact, that you had to recycle the boat’s vents, or the valves froze, preventing the sub from diving.3

These weren’t the only ways the Kurils could kill you. The Russians had been threatening to invade Hokkaido, and Japan was close enough that a stray mine or determined patriot could still sink the sub. But now that the war was over, there was no point remaining in the area.

On August 24, 1945, the Segundo was ordered to Tokyo Bay to represent the U.S. submarine force at the upcoming surrender ceremony. The invitation was an honor for the Segundo’s crew, but they weren’t ready to relax just yet. They were still in enemy territory, and though the cease-fire agreement specified that the Japanese military were to lay down arms, some units hadn’t got the message.

It was two weeks since the Japanese emperor had asked his subjects to “endure the unendurable,” and the Segundo was heading to Tokyo with orders to mop up remnants of the once-formidable Japanese fleet.4 Not much was left of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), and what was, wasn’t expected this far north. There was isolated resistance though so the Segundo continued on a wartime footing.

So far the patrol had proven uneventful.5 There’d been one encounter with a Japanese fishing boat, but as Balson noted: “there wasn’t much fight coming from him and none from us . . . [so we] called it a draw and retired from the scene.”6

The Segundo had been an aggressive boat despite the diminishing number of enemy targets. Her first skipper, Cdr. James Douglas Fulp, Jr., had been assigned to the sub while she was still under construction at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire. Fulp had put an indelible stamp on the boat’s crew while commanding her first four war patrols. During that time, he’d sunk two Japanese warships, eight merchants, and seven sampans and earned the Segundo a total of four battle stars. These results weren’t surprising given the fact that Fulp was an experienced sub captain. Tall, athletic, and matinee-idol handsome, he radiated the kind of confidence his men had come to respect. He was 34 (old for a sub captain) and quiet by nature. But that only contributed to his command presence.

Fulp prosecuted the war with just the right balance of aggressiveness and caution. His crew knew he was somebody they could count on to sink a combatant ship and get them home safely. They also appreciated his fairness. Some commanding officers (CO) were despots, but Fulp was even-handed when dealing with his men. He never dressed them down in front of one another, and he listened more than he spoke. Though he could be remote, that wasn’t unusual for a CO. It was better for Fulp to be distant than overly familiar, since the crew’s lives depended on his objectivity. In other words, the Segundo’s first skipper had everything a crew liked in a sub captain: he was mature, steady, and reliable. They happily served under him.

All this had changed, however, before the Segundo departed on her fifth and final war patrol. The sub was still in Midway undergoing refit when Fulp received orders transferring him to Pearl Harbor. He had eight war patrols under his belt and was due for rotation. But Fulp had built the Segundo into a formidable fighting machine. And if it’s true that a combat submarine operates like a family, then Fulp’s departure was like depriving the crew of their father. The men were sorry to see him go.

Unfortunately, the boat’s new skipper, Lt. Cdr. Stephen Lobdell Johnson, was a different breed of captain. He was younger than Fulp and brash with a cockiness that put his crew on edge. The first time S1c (seaman first class) Richard “Fox” Binkley saw Captain Johnson at Midway, his new skipper was shooting dice with the men. To Binkley, Johnson didn’t make a good impression. He acted more like a crew member than an officer, not the kind of captain he was used to serving under.7

Lt. (jg) Victor Horgan also had concerns about his new CO. Horgan had overheard the tall, lanky Johnson tell his officers, “When we get off this patrol, they’ll be throwing medals down our hatch.” Was this the kind of guy you could respect? Horgan wasn’t sure.8 He too had seen Johnson play dice with the men. It wasn’t how the CO of a combat submarine, not to mention an Annapolis graduate, was supposed to act.9

In fact, the more the crew saw of Johnson, the more they worried he was a “Hollywood skipper.” He may have had other capabilities, but he was noticeably lacking in Fulp’s gravitas. It almost seemed as if the Segundo was the 29-year-old Johnson’s first command. It wasn’t, it was his third. If his officers had known this, it would have worried them all the more.10

Horgan wasn’t the only one who sensed a problem. One night before the Segundo left on her fifth war patrol, he went drinking with his fellow officers at a Midway bar. While his friends drank beer and gossiped about their new CO, Horgan played a slot machine. Frustration had been building ever since Johnson’s arrival, and the beer loosened their tongues. As the night wore on, a consensus grew that it might be time to ask off the boat.

While Horgan played the slots, Lt. (jg) Lewis Rodney Johnson (no relation to Captain Johnson) called over:

“You going to stay with the boat, Vic?”11

Horgan was tired of losing to the aptly named one-armed bandit and moved to a new machine. Pulling the lever, he stood motionless as a jackpot fell into place. Not believing his luck, he switched to another machine, and the same thing happened. Trying a third machine, he again hit the jackpot. Horgan was feeling lucky.

“Yeah, I’ll stay,” he said.

“We will too, then.”

And that was the...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Presidio Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2013
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0307464806
ISBN 13 
9780307464804
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Auflage
1
Anzahl der Seiten
528
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
MUSIC STORE professional GmbH
22188841282
Lars.Mueller@musicstore.de

Istanbulstr. 22-26
Köln
51103
Deutschland