''I-29'', code-named ''Matsu'' (松, Japanese for "pine tree"), was a

B1 type submarine The , also called was the first group of boats of the Type B cruiser submarines built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1940s. In total 20 were built, starting with , which gave the series their alternative name. Design and descri ...

of the

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 ...

used during

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 ...

on two secret missions with Germany. She was sunk while returning from the second mission.

Construction

This was the most numerous class of Japanese submarines – almost 20 were built, of which only one () survived. These boats were fast, had a long range, and carried a seaplane, launched via a forward

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...

. The keel of ''I-29'' was laid on 20 September 1939 at the

Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama. History In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate government established the ...

and launched on 29 September 1940. She was commissioned on 27 February 1942, into the 14th submarine squadron under the command of Lieutenant Commander (later Captain) Izu Juichi (伊豆壽市).

Yanagi missions

The

Yanagi missions The , or more formally the , were a series of submarine voyages undertaken by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Second World War, to exchange technology, skills and materials with Japan's Axis partners, principally Nazi Germany. These v ...

fell under the

Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive military ...

which provided for an exchange of personnel,

strategic material Strategic material is any sort of raw material that is important to an individual's or organization's strategic plan and supply chain management. Lack of supply of strategic materials may leave an organization or government vulnerable to disru ...

s and manufactured goods between Germany, Italy and Japan. Initially, cargo ships were used to make the exchanges, but when that was no longer possible submarines were used. Few submarines attempted this trans-oceanic voyage during World War II: (April 1942), (June 1943), (October 1943) and the German submarines (August 1943) and (May 1945). Of these, ''I-30'' was sunk by a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

and ''I-34'' by the British submarine . Later, the famous Japanese submarine would also share their fate. In 1945 the German ''U-234'' had completed part of the voyage to Japan when news of Germany's surrender to 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 ...

was announced, and the submarine was intercepted and boarded off

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

; this marked the end of the German-Japanese submarine exchanges.

Service history

Missions

''I-29'' participated in missions supporting the

Operation Mo or the Port Moresby Operation was a Japanese plan to take control of the Australian Territory of New Guinea during World War II as well as other locations in the South Pacific. The goal was to isolate Australia and New Zealand from the Allied ...

attack on

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, and also in the futile search for

Task Force 16 Task Force 16 (TF16) was one of the most storied task forces in the United States Navy, a major participant in a number of the most important battles of the Pacific War. It was formed in mid-February 1942 around ''Enterprise'' (CV-6), with Vic ...

which had launched the

Doolittle Raid The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in April 1942. ''I-29''s reconnaissance of

Sydney harbour Port Jackson, consisting of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers, is the ria or natural harbour of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (p ...

on 23 May 1942 resulted in the

attack on Sydney Harbour In late May and early June 1942, during World War II, Imperial Japanese Navy submarines made a series of attacks on the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle. On the night of 31 May – 1 June, three ''Ko-hyoteki''-class midget submarine ...

by Japanese

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

First exchange

In April 1943, ''I-29'' was tasked with a ''Yanagi'' mission. She was commanded by Captain Masao Teraoka, submarine flotilla commander – indicating the importance of the trip. She left

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

with a cargo that included two tons of gold as payment from Japan for weapons technology. She met ''Fregattenkapitän'' Werner Musenberg's Type IXD-1 U-boat, on 26 April 1943 off the coast of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. During this meeting that lasted over 12 hours due to bad weather, the two submarines swapped several important passengers. ''U-180'' transferred Netaji

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

, a leader of the

Indian Independence Movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

who was going from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

to Tokyo, and his adjutant, Abid Hasan. ''I-29'' in turn transferred two Japanese Navy personnel who were to study U-boat building techniques in Germany: Commander (later posthumously promoted to rear admiral) Emi Tetsushiro, and Lieutenant Commander (later posthumously promoted to captain) Tomonaga Hideo (who was later connected with the German submarine ). Both submarines returned safely to their bases. ''I-29'' landed her important passengers at Sabang on

Weh Island Weh Island (Indonesian: Pulau Weh), often known as Sabang after the city of which the island is administrated, is a small active volcanic island to the northwest of Sumatra, 45 minutes by fast regular ship or 2 hours by ferry from mainland, ...

, located to the north of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

on 6 May 1943, instead of

, to avoid detection by British spies. Bose and Hasan's transfer is the only known record of a civilian transfer between two submarines of two different navies in World War II.

Second exchange

On December 17, 1943, ''I-29'' was dispatched on a second ''Yanagi'' mission, this time to

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, under star Japanese submarine Commander

Takakazu Kinashi , was a submarine commander in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. He is noted for the sinking of the American aircraft carrier and destroyer and severely damaging the battleship with a single spread of six torpedoes as captain of ...

Japan's highest-scoring submarine "ace".Commanding , Kinashi torpedoed and sank the U.S.

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

and damaged both the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

and the

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

during the same attack. ''O'Brien'' later sank as a result of the torpedo damage and ''North Carolina'' was under repair at Pearl Harbor until November 16, 1942 At

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

she was loaded with 80 tons of raw rubber, 80 tons of

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

, 50 tons of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

, two tons of

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

, and three tons of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

and coffee. In spite of Allied

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...

decrypts of her mission, ''I-29'' managed to reach Lorient on 11 March 1944. On her way she was refueled twice by German vessels. Also, she had three close brushes with Allied aircraft tracking her signals. One of which was an attack by six

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

aircraft including two Mosquito F Mk. XVIII fighters equipped with 57 mm cannon from

No. 248 Squadron RAF No. 248 Squadron was a squadron of the Royal Air Force, active immediately after World War I, and again during World War II. Service history First World War 248 Squadron RAF was formed at Hornsea Mere in the East Riding of Yorkshire in August 1 ...

off Cape Peñas,

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, at , and the protection provided to her during the entry into Lorient by the Luftwaffe's only long range maritime fighter unit, ''V Gruppe/

Kampfgeschwader 40 ''Kampfgeschwader'' 40 (KG 40) was a Luftwaffe medium and heavy bomber wing of World War II, and the primary maritime patrol unit of any size within the World War II Luftwaffe. It is best remembered as the unit operating a majority of the four-eng ...

'' using

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called ''Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fast ...

s. At least one Ju 88 was shot down by British fighters over Spanish waters. The ''Kriegsmarine'' also provided an escort of two destroyers and two torpedo boats.Goss 1997, pp. 153–154 She left Lorient 16 April 1944 for the long voyage home with a cargo of 18 passengers, torpedo boat engines,

Enigma Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...

coding machines, radar components, a

Walter HWK 509 The Walter HWK 109-509 was a German liquid-fuel bipropellant rocket engine that powered the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and Bachem Ba 349 aircraft. It was produced by Hellmuth Walter Kommanditgesellschaft (HWK) commencing in 1943, with licensed p ...

A rocket engine, and

Messerschmitt Me 163 The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as th ...

and

Messerschmitt Me 262 The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed ''Schwalbe'' (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or ''Sturmvogel'' (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the Germa ...

blueprints for the development of the rocket plane

Mitsubishi J8M The Mitsubishi J8M ''Shūsui'' (Japanese: 三菱 J8M 秋水, literally "Autumn Water", used as a poetic term meaning "Sharp Sword" deriving from the swishing sound of a sword) was a Japanese World War II rocket-powered interceptor aircraft close ...

. After an uneventful trip she arrived at Singapore on 14 July 1944, disembarking her passengers, though not the cargo.

Sinking

On her way back to

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, she was attacked at Balintang Channel,

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an im ...

, near the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

by Commander W. D. Wilkins' "Wildcats" submarine task force: , and . From using

signal intelligence. During the evening of 26 July 1944, she was spotted by ''Sawfish'' which fired four torpedoes at her. Three hit ''I-29'', which sank immediately at . Only one of her crewmen survived. Kinashi was honored by a rare two-rank posthumous promotion to rear admiral.

Media

* ''I-29'' is the submarine shown in the 2004 Bollywood film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero where Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose travels with the German submarine U-180 around the Cape of Good Hope to the southeast of Madagascar, where he is transferred to the I-29, greeted aboard by her captain Masao Teraoka and continues the rest of the journey to Imperial Japan.

Notes

Sources

* * Paterson, Lawrence. ''Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-Boats in the Indian Ocean.'', Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004, , 287 pgs. Chapter II

External links

Photo of 1/48 scale replica of I-29

Blueprints of B-1 class Japanese submarine

I-29 pictures of crew stay in France taken by Kriegsmarine. Album stolen by a GI in Lorient in 1945 and found c. 1994 in a Hawaii flea market (French)courtesy www.lazaloeil.com View a 1942 German propaganda newsreel on arrival in Lorient and stay of I-30 which inaugurated the Yanagi missions to Europe Courtesy www.lazaloeil.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:I-029 Type B1 submarines Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal 1940 ships World War II submarines of Japan Japanese submarines lost during World War II Shipwrecks in the Luzon Strait World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Subhas Chandra Bose Ships sunk by American submarines Maritime incidents in July 1944 Submarines sunk by submarines