Wreck of HJIMS Minesweeper W-38

Built in late 1943 and commissioned as the W-38 in June 1944, HIJMS Minesweeper W-38 was immediately assigned to the 21st Minesweeper Division based at Moji. Seeing little service as a Minesweeper, the W-38 was forced by Japan's critical loss of Convoy Escort ships to be refitted as an Anti-Submarine convoy escort.

Departing on her first convoy on July 29th, 1944 bound for Miri, Borneo, the W-38 and the convoy were only two days out of port when they were attacked by an American Submarine Wolfpack consisting of the USS Parche (SS-384) USS Steelhead (SS-280) and USS Hammerhead (SS-364). On July 31st, the subs attacked and despite the efforts of the W-38 and other convoy escorts four transports are sunk and two damaged, resulting in the loss of over 4000 Japanese troops on the ships. On her return convoy from Miri in late August, W-38's convoy is again attacked by American Submarines with a further two transport ships sunk.

W-38 continued her increasingly dangerous work through the rest of 1944 and despite the best effort of her crew, each convoy she escorts comes under attack by marauding US Submarines. On her final convoy escort from North San Fernando in the Philippines to Takao with her sistership W-39, she came under concentrated air attack by US Navy planes on October 18th, 1944. The US pilots all but ignored the W-38 and W-39 and sunk all four ships of the convoy while they were anchored overnight in a protected harbor.

With no further ships to escort from the Philippines, the W-38 was ordered to steam for Takao to join up with a new convoy of ships. Inclement weather surrounded the ship, giving her crew on watch a difficult job of spotting enemy ships or planes. During the night of November 20th, the W-38 was spotted by the Radar onboard USS Atule (SS-403) which was running on the surface and charging her batteries. Unable to visually target the W-38 due to rain squalls, the Atule instead raced ahead to outflank the slow moving Minesweeper.

At 0500hrs on November 20th, the W-38 emerged from a rain shower and was continuing on her course when two torpedoes were seen passing across her Bow. With only a few seconds warning, the W-38 was rocked by a massive explosion directly beneath her smokestack which knocked out her engines. Wallowing to a halt, the W-38 quickly began to sink by the bow as her crew attempted to abandon ship, but within three minutes of being hit, the W-38 sank Bow-first at this location at 0503hrs on November 20th, 1944. Most of her crew went down with the ship and dozens more that made it off were killed in the water when her armed depth charges exploded beneath them.

www.combinedfleet.com/W-38_t.htm