Wreck of HIJMS I-3

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, submarine

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HIJMS I-3 was a Type J-1n Submarine in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Sino-Japanese and Second World War, having commissioned into active service with the Second Fleet at the Yokosuka Naval District.

After extensive service off China, the I-3 shifted to the Sixth Fleet and the Pacific Ocean in late 1941 where she was assigned to cover the mouth of Pearl Harbor during the December 7th, 1941 raid. Finding no targets to attack, she returned to Japan where she was refitted for duty in the Indian Ocean, where she would spend her time through July 1942 hunting British Naval and merchant shipping. After brief duty in the Aleutian Islands supporting Japanese forces invading Kiska in the summer of 1942, the I-3 was diverted and reassigned South to the Solomon Islands in August, where American forces were assaulting Guadalcanal.

Arriving at Truk in September 1942, the I-3 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 1 of the Eighth Fleet and spent the next three months operating as a member of the "Tokyo Express", making several clandestine supply runs to support ground Japanese ground forces on Guadalcanal and across the Southern Solomon Islands. After loading up materials and munitions at the Shortland Islands, the I-3 departed for Guadalcanal on December 7th, 1942, and arrived off the shores of Kamimbo Point in the predawn hours of December 9th to discharge her cargo.

Secured to a small barge, the crew of the I-3 hurriedly offloaded their submarine before morning's light brought American patrol planes and ships up the coastline. Sharp-eyed lookouts aboard the I-3 were first to sight two US PT Boats making their way through the pre-dawn fog and ordered the barge cast off and the crew to battle stations. Unfortunately for the I-3, the two PT Boats also sighted the vulnerable I-3 on the surface at 0652hrs and quickly moved in to attack.

As the two PT Boats quickly closed in on the I-3, the submarine fired a pair of torpedoes out of her Stern tubes as her crew raced below decks, but both were evaded and then countered with a spread of torpedoes from the PT Boats themselves at 0703hrs. The I-3's Captain attempted to steer away from the onrushing torpedoes but didnt have enough speed to make sharp turns and was all but powerless to stop one of the shots from slamming into the Stern of the I-3, while a second torpedo passed beneath her hull. Seconds after the first impact, live warheads in the I-3's Stern torpedo room detonated and destroyed the after half of the sub, which then quickly sank at this location on December 9th, 1942 with 90 of her crew. Four of her crew were blown off the deck by the explosion and made it safely ashore, where they were rescued by Japanese forces.


www.combinedfleet.com/I-3.htm