Wreck of HIJMS RO-112
Philippines /
Cagayan Valley /
San Vicente /
World
/ Philippines
/ Cagayan Valley
/ San Vicente
World / Philippines / Cagayan / Aparri
military, navy, shipwreck, submarine
Laid down in 1942 at the Kawasaki's Shipyard in Kobe, HIJMS RO-112 commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy in September 1943 and joined Submarine Squadron 8 in the IJN Eighth/Southeast Area Fleet. After training in Japanese home waters and off Surabaya, Java, the RO-112 departed on her first war patrol to the Australian coast on January 1st, 1944.
Finding no kills in the East Indies and with American forces on the advance in the Pacific, the RO-112 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 7 and shifted her homeport to Saipan in mid-1944, where she would spend the next seven months hunting and reporting the movements of American ships advancing towards the Palau and Bismarck Islands. The American Invasion of the Philippines in October 1944 prompted the RO-112's reassignment to Philippine waters as part of Submarine Division 34, IJN Sixth Fleet. Alternating her homeport between Mako, Takao and Kure, the RO-112 and her crew operated in Philippine waters through February 9th 1945, when she departed Takao enroute for Luzon with orders to evacuate stranded pilots and return them to Takao.
Two days out, the RO-112 and her crew were making their approach to Aparri on the surface shortly after sundown when they were picked up by the radar on the USS Batfish (SS-310), a patrolling American submarine also running on the surface, well North of Camiguin Island. Unsure of her contact's nationality, the Batfish approached cautiously to a distance of 1300 yards where her lookouts spotted the RO-112 at 2037hrs. The RO-112's crew also spotted the US ship, and the submarine quickly dove beneath the surface and continued on her track, hoping to elude the enemy ship.
The Batfish and the RO-112 both lost contact with each other over the next half hour and the crew of the RO-112 soon decided to return to the surface to resume their high-speed run to Luzon. At 2105 hours, the sound of the RO-112's tanks blowing and her breaking the surface were picked up by the crew of the Batfish, who triangulated the contact to be approximately 8,650 yards away. As the RO-112 got underway on the surface once again, the Batfish also came up and began closing the distance between the two ships over the next hour. After closing to within 6000 yards of the submarine, the Batfish again submerged and closed in on the RO-112 as she passed near Camiguin Island. As the RO-112 passed the Southern tip of Pamuktan Island at 2202hrs, the Batfish fired a spread of four torpedoes from 880 yards away into the course of the RO-112 and watched as the first of the shots slammed into the midship of the submarine and detonated.
The RO-112 was struck almost directly beneath her bridge by the torpedo, which detonated on contact and split the submarine in half with the force of its explosion. Crew onboard the sub not killed outright were likely knocked senseless from the impact, and as the two sections of the hull settled back into the sea and began quickly sinking there was little chance for escape. The RO-112 sank with all 61 of her crew in a matter of seconds at this location at 2205hrs on February 11th, 1945.
www.combinedfleet.com/RO-112.htm
Finding no kills in the East Indies and with American forces on the advance in the Pacific, the RO-112 was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 7 and shifted her homeport to Saipan in mid-1944, where she would spend the next seven months hunting and reporting the movements of American ships advancing towards the Palau and Bismarck Islands. The American Invasion of the Philippines in October 1944 prompted the RO-112's reassignment to Philippine waters as part of Submarine Division 34, IJN Sixth Fleet. Alternating her homeport between Mako, Takao and Kure, the RO-112 and her crew operated in Philippine waters through February 9th 1945, when she departed Takao enroute for Luzon with orders to evacuate stranded pilots and return them to Takao.
Two days out, the RO-112 and her crew were making their approach to Aparri on the surface shortly after sundown when they were picked up by the radar on the USS Batfish (SS-310), a patrolling American submarine also running on the surface, well North of Camiguin Island. Unsure of her contact's nationality, the Batfish approached cautiously to a distance of 1300 yards where her lookouts spotted the RO-112 at 2037hrs. The RO-112's crew also spotted the US ship, and the submarine quickly dove beneath the surface and continued on her track, hoping to elude the enemy ship.
The Batfish and the RO-112 both lost contact with each other over the next half hour and the crew of the RO-112 soon decided to return to the surface to resume their high-speed run to Luzon. At 2105 hours, the sound of the RO-112's tanks blowing and her breaking the surface were picked up by the crew of the Batfish, who triangulated the contact to be approximately 8,650 yards away. As the RO-112 got underway on the surface once again, the Batfish also came up and began closing the distance between the two ships over the next hour. After closing to within 6000 yards of the submarine, the Batfish again submerged and closed in on the RO-112 as she passed near Camiguin Island. As the RO-112 passed the Southern tip of Pamuktan Island at 2202hrs, the Batfish fired a spread of four torpedoes from 880 yards away into the course of the RO-112 and watched as the first of the shots slammed into the midship of the submarine and detonated.
The RO-112 was struck almost directly beneath her bridge by the torpedo, which detonated on contact and split the submarine in half with the force of its explosion. Crew onboard the sub not killed outright were likely knocked senseless from the impact, and as the two sections of the hull settled back into the sea and began quickly sinking there was little chance for escape. The RO-112 sank with all 61 of her crew in a matter of seconds at this location at 2205hrs on February 11th, 1945.
www.combinedfleet.com/RO-112.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ro-100_class_submarine
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 18°52'59"N 121°50'0"E
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