Wreck of HIJMS I-15

Solomon Islands / Makira and Ulawa / Kirakira /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, submarine

The I-15 was the lead boat of the Type B-1 Class of Submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, laid down at the Kure Navy Yard and commissioned into service in September 1940 as a member of the Yokosuka Guard District.

Joining the IJN 6th Fleet as a member of the Advance Expeditionary Force in Submarine Squadron 1, the I-15's first War Patrol took her to the waters North of Oahu during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, where remained waiting to attack any US Navy vessels which left port to intercept the Japanese Combined Fleet. Finding no contacts to report, the I-15 continued Eastward to the US West Coast, where she operated through the end of the year before returning to Japan. Ordered North in the Spring of 1942 to provide advanced recon of the Aleutian Islands for their planned invasion by the Japanese in June, the I-15 and her crew were assigned to the waters off the Solomon Islands for their third War Patrol, the I-15 departed Japan on August 15th and began extensive operations around the disputed island of Guadalcanal on the 23rd. Forming part of the Japanese Submarine force which exacted a heavy toll on American warships at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, I-15 terminated her 3rd patrol at Truk in late September and was quickly reprovisioned for her next patrol. Dispatched to waters South of Guadalcanal and carrying extra fuel stores aboard to serve as a mobile Seaplane refueling platform, the I-15 supported Japanese recon efforts on American sea and ground forces into early November from her position off the Indispensible Strait.

Surfacing as usual well after dark off Cape Rechereche to recharge her batteries and make herself available to support any seaplane operations in the area, the I-15 was still operating on the surface when her large outline was spotted by lookouts aboard the Guadalcanal-bound Highspeed Minesweeper USS Southard (DMS-10) at 0230hrs. Likely unaware of the enemy ship's presence in the darkness, the sudden sound of gunfire and several fountains of water rising around the I-15's hull as the Southard opened fire caused Commander Nobuo Ishikawa to order I-15 into a crash dive to escape her onrushing attacker.

Successfully bringing his Submarine out of the line of fire and into a position to fire two torpedoes at the enemy ship, CDR Ishikawa's shots sailed wide of the Southard, which then ran down the slow-moving I-15 and dropped several strings of depth charges onto her position, heavily damaging the Submarine but not causing her to sink. Directing onboard salvage efforts in total silence as he maneuvered the I-15 away from several attacks by the Southard over the next eight hours, CDR Ishikawa and his crew did their best to elude their attacker but by 1000hrs onboard leaks had grown unmanageable and the boats batteries were running low on power. Left few options, I-15's Skipper ordered the ship to surface in the hopes of making a stand with her deck gun while using her still-available high speed and potent torpedoes to damage, destroy or escape the Southard.

Blowing her ballast tanks and breaking the surface at this location at 1003hrs, the I-15 found herself roughly a mile distant from the USS Southard and unable to settle properly on the surface due to depth charge-inflicted hull damage. With the wallowing and swamping deck preventing her gun crews from getting topside to operate her deck gun, I-15 presented a clear target to gunners on the Southard who promptly sent several salvos of 4-inch shells into the I-15's hull and conning tower which more than likely caused uncontrollable flooding to the already damaged Submarine. Remaining on the surface barely four minutes, the I-15 rapidly submerged once again at 1007hrs and plunged uncontrollably to the ocean floor with all 92 hands on November 10th, 1942.

www.combinedfleet.com/I-15.htm
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   10°12'59"S   161°8'59"E
This article was last modified 11 years ago