I-124 Japanese Submarine

''I-124'', originally named ''Submarine Minelayer No. 52'' and then named ''I-24'' from before her launch until June 1938, was an of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict, she operated in support of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and was sunk during anti-shipping operations off Australia in January 1942.

After she was renumbered ''I-124'' in 1938, the number ''I-24'' was assigned to a later submarine which also served during World War II.

Design

''I-124'' and her three sister ships — ''I-21'' (later renumbered ), ''I-22'' (later renumbered ) and ''I-23'' (later renumbered ) — were the Imperial Japanese Navy's only submarine minelayers.Boyd and Yoshida, p. 18. They were known in Japan by the type name , commonly shortened to .

The ''Kiraisen''-type design was based on that of the Imperial German Navy minelaying submarine , a Type UB III submarine which was the largest of seven German submarines transferred to Japan as a war reparation after World War I and served in the Imperial Japanese Navy as ''O-6'' from 1920 to 1921. Like ''UB-125'', the ''Kiraisen''-type submarines had two diesel engines producing a combined , could carry 42 mines and had four torpedo tubes and a single deck gun — a gun on the Japanese submarines in contrast to a gun on ''UB-125''. Compared to the German submarine, they were larger — longer and displacing 220 more tons on the surface and 300 more tons submerged — and had a longer range both on the surface — farther at — and submerged — farther at . They were slower than ''UB-125'' both surfaced and submerged, carried two fewer torpedoes and could dive to only compared to for ''UB-125''.

Construction and commissioning

Built by Kawasaki at Kobe, Japan, ''I-124'' was laid down on 17 April 1926 with either the name ''Submarine No. 60''I-124 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 8 February 2022
/ref> or ''Submarine Minelayer No. 52'', according to different sources. She was launched on 12 December 1927 and renamed ''I-24'' that day. She was completed and commissioned on 10 December 1928.

Service history

1928–1937

Upon commissioning, ''I-24'' was attached to the Yokosuka Naval District and assigned to Submarine Division 9 in the Yokosuka Defense Division in the district. On 11 December 1933, Submarine Division 9 was reassigned to the Yokosuka Guard Unit or Yokosuka Guard Squadron in the Yokosuka Naval District.

While conducting deep diving trials with her sister ship '' I-23'' on 25 May 1935, ''I-24'' suffered damage to her main ballast tanks. She was placed in reserve that day to have her ballast tanks reinforced. On 15 November 1935, Submarine Division 9 was reassigned to the Yokosuka Defense Squadron in the Yokosuka Naval District, and, with her ballast tank work complete, ''I-24'' returned to active service that day, but in 1936 all four submarines of her class had their designed diving depth limited to .

Second Sino-Japanese War

On 7 July 1937 the first day of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident took place, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. In September 1937, Submarine Division 9, consisting of ''I-23'' and ''I-24'', moved to a base at Tsingtao, China and began operations in northern Chinese waters as part of a Japanese blockade of China.Boyd and Yoshida, p. 54. On 1 December 1937, Submarine Division 13 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 3 in the 4th Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet, and in December 1937, the light cruiser arrived at Tsingtao to serve as flagship of Submarine Squadron 3, which consisted of Submarine Division 13 (made up of '' I-21'' and ''I-22'') as well as Submarine Division 9 (''I-23'' and ''I-24'').

''I-24'' was renumbered ''I-124'' on 1 June 1938, freeing up her previous number for the new submarine , whose keel was laid that year. On 20 June 1938, Submarine Division 9 was assigned to the Gunnery School in the Yokosuka Naval District. In an effort to reduce international tensions over the conflict in China, Japan withdrew its submarines from Chinese waters in December 1938,

1939–1941

On 1 May 1939, Submarine Division 9 was placed in the Third Reserve in the Yokosuka Naval District, and it moved to the Second Reserve in the district on 15 November 1939. On 20 March 1940, ''I-124'' herself was placed in reserve at Yokosuka. While in reserve, ''I-124'' and all three of her sister ships — which, like her, had been renumbered on 1 June 1938, ''I-21'' becoming ''I-121'', ''I-22'' becoming ''I-122'' and ''I-23'' becoming ''I-123'' — underwent conversion into submarine tankers. Retaining their minelaying and torpedo capabilities, they were modified so that each of them could carry 15 tons of aviation gasoline with which to refuel flying boats, allowing the flying boats to extend their range during reconnaissance and bombing missions by meeting the submarines in harbors and lagoons for more fuel.

''I-124'' was recommissioned on 24 April 1940, and on 1 May 1940 Submarine Division 9 was assigned to Submarine Squadron 5 in the 4th Fleet. ''I-124'' soon began a lengthy training cruise in the Pacific in company with ''I-121'', ''I-122'', and ''I-123'':I-123 ijnsubsite.com 19 September 2018 Accessed 7 February 2022
/ref>
/ref>
/ref> The four submarines departed Sasebo, Japan, on 16 May 1940 and visited the waters of the Caroline Islands, Marshall Islands, and Mariana Islands before concluding their cruise with their arrival at Yokosuka, Japan, on 22 September 1940. On 11 October 1940, ''I-124'' was one of 98 Imperial Japanese Navy ships that gathered along with more than 500 aircraft on the Japanese coast at Yokohama Bay for an Imperial fleet review — the largest fleet review in Japanese history — in honor of the 2,600th anniversary of the enthronement of the Emperor Jimmu.

Submarine Division 9 was reassigned directly to the Yokosuka Naval District on 15 November 1940. On 1 May 1941, the division was assigned to Submarine Squadron 6 in the 3rd Fleet, a component of the Combined Fleet, and ''I-123'' and ''I-124'' were based at Kure. From 7 to 9 April 1941, temporarily substituted for ''I-124'' as flagship of Submarine Division 9. ''I-123'' again took over from ''I-124'' as flagship of Submarine Division 9 on 2 August 1941.

As the Imperial Japanese Navy began to deploy in preparation for the impending conflict in the Pacific, ''I-123'' and ''I-124'', under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kishigami Koichi, moved from Yokosuka, Japan, to Samah on Hainan Island in China, where ''I-124'' arrived on 27 November 1941 in company with the submarine tender . She received the message "Climb Mount Niitaka 1208" ( ja, Niitakayama nobore 1208) from the Combined Fleet on 2 December 1941, indicating that war with the Allies would commence on 8 December 1941 Japan time (7 December 1941 on the other side of the International Date Line in Hawaii, where the war would begin with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor).

World War II

First war patrol

On 7 December 1941, ''I-124'' laid 39 Type 88 Mark 1 mines off Manila Bay in the Philippines. ''I-124'' then proceeded to an area southwest of Lubang Island to provide weather reports and to stand by to rescue Japanese aircrews downed in air strikes on Manila launched from Formosa after hostilities began.

On 8 December 1941, Pacific campaign of World War II began in East Asia. On 10 December 1941, ''I-124'' torpedoed and sank the 1,523- gross register ton British cargo ship ''Hareldawns'' — which was on a voyage from Hong Kong to Singapore — off western Luzon at and took her captain prisoner. She concluded her patrol with her arrival at Cam Ranh Bay in Japanese-occupied French Indochina on 14 December 1941.

The mines ''I-124'' laid off Manila Bay sank the 1,881-gross register ton American merchant ship ''Corregidor'' on 17 December 1941 at and the 1,976-gross register ton Panamanian-flagged cargo ship ''Daylite'' on 10 January 1942, also at .

Second war patrol

''I-124'' got back underway from Cam Ranh Bay on 18 December 1941 to begin her second war patrol. By 22 December she was patrolling off the entrance to Manila Bay. She then proceeded via Mindoro Strait to the Sulu Sea. Reassigned with ''I-121'', ''I-122'' and ''I-123'' to Submarine Group "A" on 26 December 1941, she concluded her uneventful patrol on 31 December 1941, arriving at newly captured Davao on Mindanao in company with ''I-122''. The rest of Submarine Squadron 6 — ''I-121'', ''I-123'' and ''Chōgei'' — soon joined them there.

Third war patrol

Submarine Squadron 6 received orders to operate next in the Flores Sea and the Torres Strait north of Australia. On 10 January 1942, the four submarines departed Davao, commencing ''I-124''′s third war patrol. ''I-124'' reached her patrol area off the western entrance of the Clarence Strait off Australia′s Northern Territory on 14 January 1942. That day, she sighted the United States Navy heavy cruiser and destroyers and , which were returning to Australia from a sweep in the Banda Sea, but was unable to gain an attack position. On 16 January she laid 27 mines near Darwin, Australia. Four Japanese mines that washed ashore near Darwin on 11 February 1942 may have been laid by ''I-124''.

On 18 January 1942, ''Houston'' reported sighting two Japanese submarines — probably ''I-123'' and ''I-124'' — west of Darwin. At 17:40 on 19 January, ''I-124'' reported the arrival at Darwin of three Allied transports escorted by a destroyer. She repeated the report at 22:36, which was the last time the Japanese ever heard from her. Allied codebreakers intercepted the signal and warned Allied forces that ''I-124'' was off Darwin.

Loss

On 20 January 1942, ''I-124''′s sister ship ''I-123'' conducted an unsuccessful torpedo attack in the Beagle Gulf west of Darwin at against the U.S. Navy fleet oiler , escorted by ''Alden'' and ''Edsall''. ''Trinity'' sighted the wakes of three of ''I-123''′s torpedoes and reported the attack, after which ''Alden'' carried out a depth charge attack. ''Alden'' soon lost contact with ''I-123'', which escaped unscathed and departed the area. ''Trinity'', ''Alden'' and ''Edsall'' continued their voyage and reached Darwin safely.

When news of the attack reached Darwin, the Royal Australian Navy corvettes , and put to sea to search for ''I-123''. ''Deloraine'' reached the vicinity of the attack first. In the meantime, ''I-124'' also had arrived in the area and she fired a torpedo at ''Deloraine'' at 13:35. ''Deloraine'' turned to starboard and the torpedo passed astern of her, broaching as it passed through her wake. ''Deloraine'' established asdic contact on ''I-124'' at 13:38 and dropped six depth charges at 13:43. She sighted oil and air bubbles on the surface after the attack. After ''Deloraine'' dropped another pattern of depth charges, ''I-124'' briefly broached at , exposing her bow and periscope, down 5 degrees by the stern and listing 20 degrees to port. Before ''I-124'' fully submerged again, a depth charge from ''Deloraine''′s port depth charge thrower landed from her periscope and a U.S. Navy OS2U Kingfisher floatplane from the seaplane tender arrived on the scene and dropped a bomb at the same spot. When ''I-124'' submerged, she settled on the seabed in of water. ''Deloraine'' again depth-charged the stationary submarine at 13:56, then noted more oil, bubbles and particles of TNT on the surface. At 14:30 she made another underwater contact to the southeast and conducted two more attacks there, expending the last of her depth charges and noting more oil and bubbles rising to the surface.

''Lithgow'' relieved ''Deloraine'' on the scene by 17:10. By 18:39 ''Lithgow'' had made seven attacks, expending all 40 of her depth charges, and she observed diesel oil and bubbles on the surface. ''Katoomba'' arrived at 17:48 and deployed a grapnel to drag the bottom for ''I-124''. The grapnel made contact, but broke off when ''Katoomba'' attempted to recover it. ''Alden'' and ''Edsall'' joined the Australian ships at 18:59. ''Edsall'' detected a contact at the edge of the oil slick and dropped five depth charges at 19:40, noting three explosions. ''Alden'' attacked a contact of her own after 19:55.

''Deloraine'', which had departed the area, returned at 03:05 on 21 January 1942 and made another submarine detection, which she attacked three times. The boom defence vessel joined her and began a series of attempts to locate ''I-124'' on the ocean floor. ''Katoomba'', which also had left the scene, returned around 11:55, but at midday, the weather in the area deteriorated and no further attacks took place. ''Delorainee'' claimed two submarines sunk and ''Katoomba'' claimed one. In reality, ''I-124'', sunk with the loss of all 80 men on board, was the only submarine present and she was the first Japanese warship sunk by the Royal Australian Navy and fourth Japanese submarine lost in World War II.

On 26 January 1942, ''Kookaburra'' returned to the scene with a team of 16 U.S. Navy divers from the submarine tender . The fourth and fifth divers identified a large submarine on the sea bottom with one hatch apparently blown open. It was the first confirmation of the demise of ''I-124''. The divers recorded the location of her wreck as .

The Japanese struck ''I-124'' from the Navy List on 30 April 1942.

Attempted salvage and protection as war grave

''I-124'' has been surrounded by controversy since her loss. During World War II there were claims that two submarines had been lost in the operations off Darwin; that her crew remained alive for some time; and that divers heard crew movement inside her hull. Later both Japanese and American sources reported that "the ''I 124'' with her Division Commander Keiyu Endo, embarked, sank with all those on board in water only forty feet 2.2 metersdeep. US Navy divers were sent down and entered the submarine and removed naval codebooks, a godsend for the Navy codebreakers at Pearl Harbor". However, this was later disproved by maritime archaeologist Dr M. McCarthy in his unpublished departmental report.McCarthy, M., 1990
HIJMS Submarine I 124
Report Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Maritime Museum, No 43. Available in PDF format. This was published with additional information, including details about the Japanese crew by naval historian Dr. Tom Lewis in his book ''Sensuikan I-124'', later re-published as ''Darwin's Submarine I-124''.

McCarthy and Lewis set out how the submarine was indeed the subject of diving attempts soon after the action, with the Royal Australian Navy and United States Navy both trying to access it to recover codebooks. However, the initial dives did not enter the wreck and diving later was curtailed because the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942 made it seem too dangerous to anchor ships over the site to support divers.

Though relatives of the crew attempted to organise the recovery of the crew's remains for cremation in accordance with Japanese custom, ''I-124'' was then left undisturbed until 1972, when its location was rediscovered following a six-week search. Trade Winds Ltd. and Lincoln Ltd. Salvage Company (T&L Salvage) of the New Hebrides purchased the salvage rights for the submarine from the Australian government. The wreck was found to be mostly intact in of water with several holes near the conning tower and at least one "blown" hatch. The salvage company believed the submarine was carrying large quantities of mercury when she sank and offered to sell the wreck and any remains of its personnel to the Japanese government for A$2.5 million.An excerpt from a report 'History'. A copy of which is in the Flamingo Bay Research Pty Ltd archives and on AFP I 124 file. See precis in McCarthy, M., 1990. HIJMS Submarine I 124. Report_ Department of Maritime Archaeology. Western Australian Maritime Museum, No 43 The Japanese consul-general in Australia advised T&L Salvage that any salvage required the approval of the Japanese government, which it was not willing to give as it considered the site to be war grave. The Australian government found that it legally held no control over the wrecked submarine. The matter was further complicated by infighting within the salvage company, which led to a split in April 1973 when one of the salvors threatened to drop explosives on the submarine if a Japanese decision was slow in forthcoming. The controversy gained much media attention. Both salvage groups attempted to claim the right to salvage ''I-124'', but withdrew their claims by the end of 1974, one willingly, the other after pressure from the Australian government, which had come to join the Japanese in considering the shipwreck a war grave.

In December 1976, the matter of ''I-124'' was raised in the Parliament of Australia during discussion of a bill that would protect all shipwrecks in Australian waters. The bill was enacted as the '' Historic Shipwrecks Act'' at the end of 1976. The salvor, Harry Baxter, carried through on a threat to use explosives on the wreck, damaging the conning tower and causing its aft section to come loose. In response, ''I-124'' was placed under the enhanced level of protection offered by the legislation, with an exclusion zone placed around the wreck in July 1977. The salvage team reports indicated that the submarine still carried mines, which led to the Royal Australian Navy sending the minehunter to locate and defuse them. Divers from the minehunter found no mines or explosives at the wreck site.

A team from the Western Australian Museum led by Dr. M. "Mack" McCarthy aboard the research vessel ''Flamingo Bay'' carried out a subsequent investigation of the wreck in March 1989. The expedition found that the location of the submarine was incorrectly recorded on charts and corrected it to , a point due south of Penguin Hill on Bathurst Island. The researchers also disproved rumours that a second submarine had been sunk off Darwin at the same time, that the U.S. Navy had salvaged Japanese codebooks from the wreck, and that mercury was aboard ''I-124'' when she sank, which was the reason given in the 1970s for removing the wreck. Subsequent research by Tom Lewis further disproved these rumours, as well as claims that ''I-124'' was involved in the sinking of the Australian light cruiser in November 1941.

In November 2022, the ABC reported that a team of divers had completed a three-year mission to create a 3D map of I-124.

Memorial

In 2017, the Australian Japanese Association of the Northern Territory (AJANT) erected a memorial plaque for ''I-124'' and her crew at the Dripstone Cliffs in Darwin, Australia.Australian Japanese Association of the Northern Territory: ''I-124'' Japanese Submarine Memorial Plaque Accessed 7 May 2022
/ref> A dedication ceremony for the plaque took place at Parliament House in Darwin on 17 February 2017 in connection with the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin in 1942. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the memorial on 17 November 2018 and laid a wreath in memory of the crew of ''I-124''.Clure, Elias, and Bridget Judd, "Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pays tribute to 'forgotten' crew killed off Darwin in World War II," ABC News, 17 November 2018 Accessed 7 May 2022
/ref> On 18 February 2019, AJANT planted a memorial pongamia tree (''Millettia pinnata'') at the site in connection with the commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin in a ceremony attended by Administrator of the Northern Territory Vicki O'Halloran, the Japanese ambassador to Australia, and the U.S. Consul General to Australia.

Virtual dive experience

In October 2021, the Government of Australia's Northern Territory and the Australian Institute of Marine Science collaborated to map the wreck of using remote sonar sensing equipment.Anonymous, "Take a Virtual Dive to Sunken Sub," ''World War II'', June 2022, p. 11. Dr John McCarthy, a maritime archaeologist at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, then collaborated with the Northern Territory Heritage Branch to use the sonar data to create a "virtual dive experience" on the wreck, with narration in both English and Japanese. Both the English- and Japanese-narrated versions of the video were posted on YouTube and the Oculus platform ahead of the 80th anniversary of the sinking of ''I-124'' on 20 January 2022.

References

Bibliography

*Boyd, Carl, and Akihiko Yoshida. ''The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1995. .
* Lewis, Tom. ''Sensuikan I-124''. Darwin: Tall Stories, 1997.
* Lewis, Tom. ''Darwin's Submarine I-124.'' South Australia: Avonmore Books, 2011.
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External links

''Sensuikan'' I-124



The I-124: A Japanese submarine wreck in the Clarence Strait
by Peter Dermoudy

Australasian Underwater Cultural Heritage Database: Shipwreck ''I-124''


* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_jXSdVU8No Video "I-124" on YouTube
Video_"I124_Japanese_Submarine_Commemorative_Plaque_[English
/nowiki>"_on_YouTube.html" ;"title="nglish">Video "I124 Japanese Submarine Commemorative Plaque [English
/nowiki>" on YouTube">nglish">Video "I124 Japanese Submarine Commemorative Plaque [English
/nowiki>" on YouTube
Video "The memorial service of submarine I 124 【伊124号潜水艦慰霊式】 20 January 2020" on YouTube

Video "Virtual dive on the wreck of I-124, a WWII Japanese submarine, off Darwin Harbour, Australia" in English on YouTube

Video (旧日本海軍伊１２４潜水艦へのバーチャルダイビング（日本語版)" ("Virtual diving to the former Japanese Navy I-124 submarine (Japanese version)") in Japanese on YouTube

Team of divers complete three-year mission to create 3D map of sunken World War II Japanese submarine
ABC News

{{DEFAULTSORT:I-124
I-121-class submarines
Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries
1927 ships
Mine warfare vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy
World War II minelayers of Japan
Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan
World War II submarines of Japan
Japanese submarines lost during World War II
Submarines sunk by Australian warships
World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean
Shipwrecks of the Northern Territory
Maritime incidents in 1935
Maritime incidents in January 1942
Australian Shipwrecks with protected zone
Ships lost with all hands