''Ha-103'' was an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. Completed and commissioned in February 1945, she served during the final months of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, conducting a supply run and operating on

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

picket duty. She surrendered at the end of the war in September 1945 and was

scuttled Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...

in April 1946.

Design and description

The ''Ha-101''-class submarines were designed as small, cheap transport submarines to resupply isolated island garrisons. They displaced surfaced and submerged. The submarines were long, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

of . They were designed to carry of cargo.Carpenter & Dorr, p. 140 For surface running, the boats were powered by a single

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

that drove one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

. When submerged the propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater.Chesneau, p. 204 On the surface, the ''Ha-101''s had a range of at ; submerged, they had a range of at . The boats were armed a single mount for a Type 96

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

.Bagnasco, p. 195

Construction and commissioning

''Ha-103'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 29 June 1944 by

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, as ''Small Supply Submarine No. 4603''. She was launched on 21 October 1944 and was named ''Ha-103'' that day. She was completed and commissioned on 3 February 1945.

Service history

Upon commissioning, ''Ha-103'' was assigned to Submarine

Squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, de ...

11 for workups. On 15 April 1945, she was reassigned to Submarine Division 16 for supply operations. She got underway from

Kure is a port and major shipbuilding city situated on the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. With a strong industrial and naval heritage, Kure hosts the second-oldest naval dockyard in Japan and remains an important base for the Japan M ...

, Japan, on 16 April 1945 for her first supply run, bound for

Minamidaitōjima , also spelt as Minami Daitō or Minami-Daitō, is the largest island in the Daitō Islands group southeast of Okinawa, Japan. It is administered as part of the village of Minamidaitō, Okinawa. Shimajiri District, Okinawa, Shimajiri District, O ...

in the

Daitō Islands The are an archipelago consisting of three isolated coral islands in the Philippine Sea southeast of Okinawa. The islands have a total area of and a population of 2,107. Administratively, the whole group belongs to Shimajiri District of Okinawa ...

southeast of

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

. After arriving there, she unloaded her cargo, embarked stranded

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

pilots for transportation to Japan, and quickly departed for her return voyage, reaching Kure on 22 April 1945. On 29 April 1945, ''Ha-103'' was reassigned to Submarine Unit No. 1, and she departed Kure that day to operate south of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

picket duty. She returned to Kure on 20 May 1945. Hostilities between Japan and the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

ended on 15 August 1945, and on 2 September 1945, ''Ha-103'' surrendered to the Allies at Kure. On 2 November 1945, she was reassigned to Japanese Submarine Division Two under

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

command along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s , , , , , and . In November 1945, the U.S. Navy ordered all Japanese submarines at Kure, including ''Ha-103'', to move to

Sasebo is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

, Japan.

Disposal

The Japanese struck ''Ha-103'' from the Navy list on 30 November 1945. She was among a number of Japanese submarines the U.S. Navy

off the

Goto Islands GoTo (goto, GOTO, GO TO or other case combinations, depending on the programming language) is a statement found in many computer programming languages. It performs a one-way transfer of control to another line of code; in contrast a function ca ...

Operation Road's End The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarines were the largest submarines of World War II and remained the largest ever built until the construction of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in the 1960s. The IJN called this type of submarine . The ...

on 1 April 1946, sinking at .

Notes

References

* * * * * * , ''History of Pacific War Extra, "Perfect guide, The submarines of the Imperial Japanese Forces"'', Gakken (Japan), March 2005, * Ships of the World special issue Vol.37, ''History of Japanese Submarines'', , (Japan), August 1993 * The Maru Special, ''Japanese Naval Vessels No.43 Japanese Submarines III'', Ushio Shobō (Japan), September 1980, Book code 68343-43 * The Maru Special, ''Japanese Naval Vessels No.132 Japanese Submarines I "Revised edition"'', Ushio Shobō (Japan), February 1988, Book code 68344-36 *

Senshi Sōsho The , also called the , is the official military history of Imperial Japan's involvement in the Pacific War from 1937 to 1945. The task of compiling the official account of the Japanese involvement in World War II began in October 1955 with the op ...

Vol.88, ''Naval armaments and war preparation (2), "And after the outbreak of war"'', Asagumo Simbun (Japan), October 1975 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ha-103 Ha-101-class submarines Ships built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries 1944 ships World War II submarines of Japan Maritime incidents in 1946 Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Shipwrecks of Japan